In Another World With Omnitrix

The dungeon's pulse throbbed through the obsidian walls like a slow, monstrous heartbeat. After the collapse, the party had been split, not by choice or mistake, but by the very will of the dungeon itself.

The path behind Lyra and Saria had vanished—swallowed by a cascading collapse of crimson crystal and shifting earth. They now stood alone on a narrow ridge of twisted stone, overlooking a vast chasm illuminated by streaks of violet lightning arcing between floating rock platforms.

"Great," Saria muttered, brushing a layer of red dust from her shoulder. "Of all the people to get stuck with..."

"The feeling's mutual," Lyra said without turning, her eyes scanning the broken landscape. "And keep your complaints to a minimum. I need to hear everything this place does."

Saria gave a short laugh, unslinging her twin sabers and spinning one absently in her hand. "Still obsessed with control, I see."

Lyra's response was a curt glance. "Still obsessed with theatrics, I see."

A rumble echoed from below.

Cracks snaked across the ridge, and both women leapt back just in time as something surged up from the chasm.

It was larger than the construct they had fought earlier—twice the size, hunched, with elongated limbs of jagged obsidian crystal. Its chest cavity glowed with a warped relic core, spiraling with unstable energy. Several spiked protrusions emerged from its back, twitching like antennae, and its head was fused with broken tech—half-helmet, half-plate, buzzing with fractured signals.

"Another one?" Saria growled, already sliding into stance.

"Not the same," Lyra said, summoning a glyph of frost in her palm. "This one adapted."

The creature roared, a discordant, echoing sound that rattled the bones.

Then it charged.

Saria dashed to meet it, her form blurring in a streak of red light. She met the creature head-on, her first saber strike cutting across its arm—only to be deflected by a sudden hardening of the crystal skin.

"Damn thing adjusted!"

Lyra focused, summoning a wall of glacial ice in its path. The creature slammed into it, but instead of being stopped, it shattered through—crimson energy shielding its core.

It lunged at her.

Lyra shifted, sliding across the ground as frost exploded upward to catch the blow. The impact cracked the ice and sent her flying back.

Saria launched into a spinning leap, both sabers igniting with kinetic enchantments. She carved across the creature's back, slicing off one of the twitching crystal protrusions. It howled—then retaliated with a pulse of violet energy that knocked her back, skidding across the stone.

"You alright?" Lyra called, eyes narrowed.

"Save your concern," Saria muttered, pushing to her feet. "We kill it or we die. Those are the options."

The creature flexed its limbs again, then broke apart—its body fragmenting into six crystal shards, each glowing with corrupted mana. They hovered midair for a second—then shot toward Lyra and Saria like spears.

Lyra formed a dome of frost around herself while Saria used a high-mobility dash, weaving between projectiles.

They regrouped behind a chunk of jagged stone.

"We need to hit the core directly," Lyra said. "Its energy defenses adapt to external attacks. We go inside."

"Inside?"

"Crack its shell. Freeze the internal system. I'll open it. You get in."

Saria grinned. "Now you're speaking my language."

They moved together. Lyra stepped forward, glyphs forming in her wake as she summoned a storm of absolute cold—binding the creature's limbs in shifting arcs of enchanted frost. As the layers thickened, the beast slowed.

Saria charged.

With a cry, she leapt and drove both sabers into the creature's torso, anchoring herself just above the relic core. It screamed, arms flailing, but Lyra responded with a focused blast of mana that froze the crystal just as Saria plunged her sabers deep into the core.

A pulse of crimson and violet erupted.

The blast knocked them both down.

When the smoke cleared, the creature's body was cracked open like a broken sculpture. The core flickered, pulsing erratically, before going dim.

Lyra rose first, coughing slightly. "Report your injuries."

"Minor bruises. Back hurts. Pride intact," Saria answered, wiping blood from her cheek. "You?"

"Low mana threshold, no core damage."

They stood together for a moment in silence.

Then, a low humming echoed again.

Deeper this time.

Lyra looked toward the far side of the chasm. "There's more. That wasn't the apex. It was the scout."

"Of course it was," Saria muttered.

They started moving again.

Unspoken, but together.

Deeper into the echoing dark.

End of chapter.

Thank you for reading.