The Moon Lion didn't move with the frantic energy of the monsters on the lower floors. It moved with the grace of a king. As Rudra charged, the artificial moon above glowed brighter, and the gravity in the room suddenly shifted.
Rudra felt his boots suddenly weigh a hundred kilograms. The marble floor beneath him cracked.
[Warning: Lunar Gravity Field Active.]
[Movement Speed reduced by 40%.]
The Lion swiped a silver paw. It was a lazy movement, but it carried the force of a falling building. Rudra crossed his arms, manifesting his Aura Armor to its maximum density.
BOOM!
The impact sent Rudra flying across the temple. He slammed into a marble pillar, the stone shattering behind him. But as the dust cleared, he stood up. The translucent wind armor around his arms had cracked, but his bones were intact.
"Level 5... it actually held," Rudra rasped, a grin spreading across his face.
"Rudra, get out of there!" Ananya screamed. She was already in motion, her feet barely touching the ground as she used her Level 3 Wind to "float" above the heavy gravity. "Its shield is made of pure starlight—physical attacks won't reach the skin!"
The Lion prepared to pounce, its silver mane bristling with electrical energy.
"I'm not going to hit it," Rudra shouted back. "I'm going to pull it! Ananya, prepare the Phoenix Gale! When the shield drops, you only have one second!"
The Vacuum Trap
Rudra planted his feet, ignoring the gravity that threatened to crush his knees. He gripped the Firangi with both hands and began to spin his Prana in a reverse vortex.
"Vayu-Siddhi: Vacuum Blade!"
Instead of pushing air out, the sword began to suck everything in. The silver mist, the dust, and even the starlight from the Lion's shield began to spiral toward the center of Rudra's blade. The Moon Lion roared, feeling its own protective aura being stripped away by the localized low-pressure zone.
The Lion tried to retreat, but the vacuum was too strong. It was dragged forward, its claws scraping deep grooves into the marble.
"Now!" Rudra yelled, his face turning red from the strain of holding a Level 8 beast.
The Double-Core Awakening
Ananya was already high in the air. She didn't look like the exhausted girl from the Seventh Floor. She looked like a goddess of war. She held her Khanda high, her left hand glowing with pale blue Wind and her right hand roaring with crimson Fire.
"You wanted to see the Phoenix?" she whispered.
She slammed her hands together. The two opposing forces—the cold wind and the hot fire—fought each other for a microsecond before fusing into a violent, spinning spear of violet plasma.
"Secret Art: Nirvana's Gale!"
She descended like a meteor. With the Lion's starlight shield stripped away by Rudra's vacuum, there was nothing to stop her.
The violet spear pierced the Lion's shoulder, driving it deep into the temple floor. An explosion of pure energy rocked the room, the shockwave so powerful it momentarily extinguished the light of the artificial moon.
The Silence of the Tenth
As the smoke cleared, the Moon Lion lay still. Its silver form began to dissolve into thousands of tiny, glowing motes of light. It wasn't a death of blood and bone, but a return to the Dhougen's essence.
Rudra fell to his knees, his Aura Armor vanishing as his Prana hit zero. His chest heaved, every muscle in his body screaming in protest.
Ananya landed softly a few feet away. She was pale, her hands trembling, but she was smiling. She looked at the center of the room, where the Lion had vanished.
A massive, ornate chest made of gold and blue crystal appeared in its place. Above it, a golden staircase spiraled even higher—beyond the "Beginner" floors.
[Ding!]
[Tenth Floor Boss: Defeated.]
[Achievement: First Clear (Synchronized).]
[Rewards: Calculating...]
"We did it," Ananya whispered, her voice cracking. "We actually survived the Tenth Floor."
Rudra looked at the golden stairs. He could feel a new, much darker energy coming from the floors above. This was just the beginning.
"The rewards first," Rudra said, pointing at the chest. "Then... we decide if we're strong enough for the Eleventh."
The Moon Lion had dissolved into a sea of silver light, and the massive, ornate treasure chest had materialized in the center of the hall. Rudra and Ananya had barely begun to process the rewards—his newly tempered Lunar Firangi and her Harmonic Manual—before the exhaustion truly hit.
They moved to the far edge of the temple to recover. They sat opposite each other, the silence of the room heavy with the scent of ozone.
"It seems like you've reached Level 5," Ananya said, her voice soft but filled with the weight of her own experience. She leaned back against a marble pillar, a tired smile on her face. "But from now on, it will be difficult to increase your levels. I've been stuck at Level 6 for ages; no matter how much I try, the wall won't break."
Rudra looked at his hands, feeling the dense new Prana in his veins. "Well... it seems difficult," he muttered, his eyes drifting shut.
A faint rustling sound nearby caught Ananya's attention. She stood up, peering into the shadows. "Rudra! I've found animals we can eat. Some rabbits and other small monsters have wandered in. Wait for me there; I'm going to catch them."
"Okay," Rudra said, his eyelids heavy.
The Ambush
Minutes passed. Rudra was drifting in that dangerous space between meditation and sleep. Suddenly, he felt it—the same cold, piercing Prana that had been watching him from the shadows since the very first floor. It wasn't a monster. It was a person.
He lunged for his Firangi, but a silver flash cut through the air. A small, black knife struck his blade with such force that it was torn from his hand, clattering across the floor.
Before he could even breathe, the woman in black was there.
She moved like smoke. Without a word, she delivered a brutal punch to his face, followed by a heavy kick to his stomach. The force was astronomical—Rudra felt his ribs groan as he was sent flying through the air. He hit the wall with a loud, echoing thud.
The Return
The sound echoed through the silent hall, reaching Ananya as she was gathering the meat. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew that sound—it was the sound of an impact.
"Rudra!"
She sprinted back, dropping several of the animals but clutching the rest. When she rounded the corner, her eyes widened. Rudra was slumped against the wall, and a woman in a black silk suit, holding a small, curved dagger, was walking slowly toward Rudra.
"STOP!" Ananya screamed.
The woman in black halted. She didn't look startled; she simply turned her head, her gaze cold and empty.