I landed at the top of the stair, right where it climbed into the shadowed ceiling, ready to leap into battle if something jumped out at me. With Alpha's title boosting my stats so high, a smart boss would already be running.

The stairs remained empty, so I jogged up. Then up, and up some more. The stair climbed for at least half a mile, occasionally taking a turn and switchbacking higher and higher up through the heart of the mountain. Faint light filtered down through the claustrophobic, enclosed stair, but I couldn't tell the source.

As I climbed and climbed, the long slog actually got boring. To pass the time, and to ensure I returned to full fighting form, I took out the Death by Chocolate cake I'd gotten from Paul. I cut off a big piece with one of my knives and bit into it with eager anticipation.

If anything, that cake Paul had gifted me from his personal stores was even better than the one I'd sampled in the council chamber. Soft, spongy layers of cake, separated by slightly bitter raspberry cream to counter the sweet chocolate, sheathed in dark chocolate icing, and topped with more fresh raspberries made a perfect storm of awesomeness. Before I realized it, I'd consumed half the cake, and it took an effort of will to put the other half back instead of just finishing it. Good thing my mental resistance was so high.

Finally the light grew brighter and the stair topped out at a spacious corridor with an airy feel. After the tight confines of the stairs, a hallway 20 feet wide and half again as high felt wonderful. The floor was tiled in pure white ceramic squares, while the whitewashed walls held dozens of brightly colored paintings in ornately carved wooden frames. They depicted scenes from a world that couldn't be Arasha. At least not any part of Arasha I'd seen so far.

Vast, gilded palaces and enormous cities with towering spires suggested populations in the millions. I could not tell the races, though, as people were more like impressions than detailed parts of the images. Quite a few of the paintings depicted grand arenas that would put the Colosseum in Rome to shame, big enough to seat at least a hundred thousand spectators. Some had multiple fight pits, while others sported competitions stacked high into the air, each bout a free floating circular, sand-floored arena.

"Someone's really into the whole gladiator scene," I muttered, and my words echoed down the long, empty hallway.

The air smelled faintly of flowers and weirdly of ash, and the walls and floor reflected so much light, it dazzled the eyes. Then I reached a simple sign hanging on a blank section of the wall.

"Turn back now if you wish to live."

"Seems a bit rude," I said, but Cyrus did not respond. That probably didn't bode well. I proceeded, but passed several more signs.

"Bravery is celebrated. Stupidity leads to the grave."

"Consequences of your rash actions rest solely upon your shoulders."

"Just leave. You are a waste of time."

"You have been warned."

Okay, that was getting weird. I thought back to the indications I'd gotten that I was entering a dangerous place the first time I climbed to Bristleback's sacred clearing. I'd ignored the warnings and nearly died. These warnings lacked the same subtlety, but my confidence wavered for the first time. Was I still just as big an idiot for proceeding?

"In for a penny," I muttered, bolstered by scanning my hugely boosted stats again. Totally different situation.

"That's the reckless Lucas we love!" Cyrus exclaimed.

"Maybe I should turn around after all." If Cyrus was that excited, whatever waited could not be good. He knew my stats, so could maybe have a twist planned to nullify them? I wouldn't put it past him.

"Nonsense. You never back down. Think of the loot and experience you'd lose."

I did love loot, and I did need more experience, but I didn't want to die up there. If I ran into something I couldn't handle, chances were good Ruby, Tomas, and the others would come searching and get killed too.

Cyrus was right, though. I didn't want to leave, not yet. Didn't mean I wouldn't take precautions. So I triggered Energy Ward, then a potion of Earth Armor. A new layer of stony armor spread across my body, improving my defenses a lot without noticeably dampening my ease of movement. I probably should have used one of those potions against Alpha to save my poor jacket some of the beating it took.

Feeling confident again, I marched around the only corner in the long hall and entered an huge antechamber. At least 100 feet across and nearly that high, the vast, empty space served to highlight a 50-foot tall set of double doors that looked like they were made of pure gold. The impressive doors were inscribed with soft lines that gave the sense of a vast audience staring down at me.

"If I win, can I keep the doors?"

Cyrus chuckled. "You'll forget about the doors."

Lots of treasure then. Sweet. I approached the doors, trying to puzzle out how to open them. They lacked handles or visible locks. Two strides away, the doors rang like a giant gong and swung silently inward. That was convenient. I stepped through.

Inside, I entered a grand suite like one might find in a 5-star hotel lobby, except this one was built on the scale of giants. Wood-paneled walls ringed three sides, ornate pillars marched along the outside edges, gorgeous tapestries big enough to cover moving trucks hung on the walls, and breathtaking murals painted onto the ceiling hundreds of feet overhead rivaled the Sistine chapel for pure grandeur.

Half a dozen couches and twice as many plush armchairs clustered in groups across the football stadium sized room. Some ringed thick rugs 100 feet across, while other groups were situated near a huge bookshelf, an easel with a partially-finished painting of a duck, and a fancy table with a tower of cakes and sandwiches and a fountain spewing what might just be blood,

On the far side of the room, inside an ornately carved fireplace made from black stone, big enough to roast an entire ox, roared a bonfire emitting purple and yellow flames. A giant figure rose from a chair next to the fire and turned toward me. Their aura filled the huge space and the force of it made me take an involuntary step back. Identify triggered instantly, despite the distance.

"Velexis Shadrael, elite demon boss. Level 66. Known as the Midnight Huntress, Velexis likes to relax in peace when not engaged in a hunt, and she punishes any unlucky intruders with overwhelming violence. And you were doing so well."

Uh oh. She sounded terrifying, and whenever Eva got snarky like that, I could bet I was in trouble. My previous confidence vanished.

Velexis had to stand 40 feet tall, twice the height of the Rockslide Ogre and most of the ogres and trolls I'd faced in recent days. Still, I knew how to fight giants. I gathered my frayed confidence again. Her levels might be higher, but I didn't feel the same abject terror as when I'd first seen the Ironwood Colossus.

I zoomed in my vision to study my opponent. Her face was like the perfectly preserved facade of a corpse, with smooth, bone-white skin, black eyes like voids from hell, long midnight hair streaked with crimson hanging in dreadlocks to her waist, and surprisingly, long, pointed ears like fairytale elves. She wore a black, form-fitting tunic that extended down her arms and up her neck to her chin, while flimsy, billowy layers of fabric swirled around her legs.

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Her voice seemed to pierce the distance between us, a sultry hiss that set the hairs of my neck and arms standing straight up. "Can you not read, fool?"

"Sorry about that. I got caught up in all the paintings. I'm a huge art afficianado. Figured there might be more top-tier works in here, and boy was I right. I have to say, I love your taste in decor."

She sighed deeply and waves of darkness billowed out of the bonfire behind her, circling her like a living shroud. Crimson lightning crackled in the depths of the darkness, and the power of her aura intensified enough to make me gulp. She was obviously one tough demon cookie.

Her voice grew louder, filled with annoyance. Somehow it felt like the sounds cut at my ears as it passed through. "You have interrupted my leisure, a crime I do not leave unpunished. For annoying me today with your filthy presence, I promise lingering agony before I allow you to enjoy the final sweet embrace of death."

"That's pretty poetic, but you should have started running already." I couldn't let her be the only one making empty threats, and I pulled Earthshaker Maul from my inventory.

A giant scythe, a full 20 feet long, with a blade that stretched over 15 feet, appeared in her hands. Oh, hell. I hated scythes. They were just so freakishly nasty.

Without warning, the billowing layers of shadow encircling Velexis rose up around her, concealing her from view. A whooshing sound to my right made me turn, and for a heartbeat I froze. Velexis had teleported across the room and was already swinging that ghastly scythe like she was reaping grain.

I barely registered the danger before the scythe slammed into my chest like a diving airplane. No way my Mammoth hide jacket could stop a blow like that. Maybe not even all my layered armor together, including my Earth Armor.

An explosion of green foam blasted out the front of my jacket, and a powerful impact staggered me back a couple steps. I gaped, not understanding the sticky foam coating my body and her scythe. Had my blood changed to foam?

Then it hit me. The Death Catcher waffle magical air bag had deployed. Yikes. Her first hit would have done more than 50% damage.

Velexis scowled in annoyance at the foamy gunk marring her black steel scythe blade, but that didn't stop her from smoothly shifting to an overhand strike that sent the sharp edge of the scythe whistling down toward my head.

I shook off my initial shock at the surprise attack and sidestepped with the help of Energy Ward. Power roared into me from my defensive aura's drain, and Velexis's scowl deepened.

"You had to interrupt my perfectly good evening, and now I have to swing more than once to remove you, vermin?" Velexis hissed, advancing and sweeping the huge scythe into a complex series of strikes that flowed smoothly from one to the next. It was a beautiful display of weapon mastery, but I didn't appreciate it under the circumstances.

I danced and dodged with helpful nudges from Energy Ward as it tried to deflect the mighty swings. It wasn't nearly as effective as usual, though. With my Maul, I tried deflecting and looked for an opening, but she was too fast, her attacks too overwhelming.

So I jumped back and poured mana into my Stiletto Quiver, firing off 20 Stygian Ichor poison-laced crystal blades, followed by just as many exploding ones. Most of them deflected away when they pierced the billowing layers of shadow still encasing Velexis, but a handful penetrated.

Clangs of blades striking her clothing made it clear it was made of far harder stuff than the cloth it appeared. Half a dozen exploding blades detonated across her torso, and that made her snarl with anger.

The distraction gave me a second to better set myself, dump my Maul into my inventory, and replace it with my blades. My short swords weren't ideal against such a long weapon, but they were better than the maul. As well as I could maneuver the 3000 pound head, it was still too slow.

Incredibly, even with the huge boost to my Agility from my last title, I'd struggled to keep up with the demon boss. So I also triggered a potion of Road Runner to double my speed, and prepared to cast Soul Ravage to try slowing her down.

Velexis shocked me by laughing with glee as a wave of shadows rose to conceal her once more. I spun, swords up, ready for another ambush, but Velexis reappeared across the giant room. Her laugh echoed to me and her sultry voice seemed to purr this time.

"Now this is indeed a surprise. A wielder of the sword is a far more welcome intruder than a brute with a silly maul."

"Always happy to make my opponents smile before I kill them."

She laughed again and her tone turned more formal. Tilting her head up toward the high ceiling, she declared, "An interesting opponent has entered my domain, and his aura is clearly tier-1. I invoke the Challenge Option clause."

"Body advancement accepted, but abilities and spells remain tier-0" Cyrus's voice boomed like thunder.

"Fine," she said, sounding pleased but still annoyed somehow.

"Um," I started, and Cyrus interrupted in a more conversational tone, sounding like he was leaning against a nearby pillar.

"This is too good, Lucas! Velexis is a unique boss we arranged to bring here just for you humans. To make the game fair, like all bosses from higher-tiered worlds, she was forced to accept a temporary restraint to limit her powers to tier-0 equivalents. That gives any baby humans who make it this far a chance."

This was sounding so very bad. "You can't mean—"

"Oh, yes I can!" Cyrus chortled. "Velexis just invoked a clause no one ever thought could be activated. It allows her restraints to loosen enough for her levels to become tier-1 equivalents."

My earlier confidence vaporized and I glanced toward the doors. Velexis already seemed insanely tough, but if she suddenly gained several times her previous strength, I was dead. I'd hit level 29 as a tier-1 human, so I could have faced a level 66 tier-0 boss with reasonable hopes of success.

"Wait, is she limited to 40% efficiency like me?"

Cyrus hesitated for a second, then his booming voice rang through the chamber again. "Tier-1 body allowed for the duel, but efficiency reduced to 40% to match the challenger."

Velexis hissed in anger. "Forty? What useless idiot evolves at 40%?"

"Hey, I'm new to all this," I shouted back.

"Not for long," she growled. "Do you have any idea how insulting it is to fight at 40% efficiency when I've always managed perfect evolutions?"

"Apparently not." Then I added to Cyrus. "Hey, is she going to remain level 66?"

"Indeed she will."

"That's not fair!"

"When are boss battles fair?" Cyrus laughed.

I growled in annoyance, but didn't respond. Instead I focused on calming my racing heart and preparing for battle. She might be giant-sized and more than twice my level, but she wasn't made out of ironwood like the Colossus. That thing had sheer overwhelming physical might and defenses to augment its levels. Velexis had a head I could take off.

Still, I didn't like the match-up. Suddenly the enormous boost from my Alpha title felt lacking. It gave me a 235% total bonus to some of my stats. Would that be enough to keep up with a tier-1 level 66 demon boss?

Probably not. Time to go.

Except the huge golden double doors slammed shut with a boom that echoed across the vast room. "Well, Schumann."

I hadn't spotted any other exits. I didn't even bother trying to pound on the doors. It seemed clear I was trapped in the boss room until one of us died.

"I'd like to challenge the decision to accept her request to upgrade to tier-1."

"Nice try, Lucas, but it's happening. Don't focus on the challenge in front of you, but on the opportunity to shine."

"Oh, shut up," I growled, focusing on the distant Velexis again, my heart pounding, my hands suddenly sweaty on the pommel of my blades. What had I just gotten myself into?

Across the room, shadows billowed up around Velexis and I scurried several feet to my left, turning to scan all around me, ready for another ambush, but she did not move. Instead, her form shrank to the size of a 10-foot tall Amazon. The smoke cleared to reveal a very different woman.

When I zoomed my vision on her, I had to stare. Her demonic visage had transformed into a flawless, inhumanly perfect elven face, framed by flowing, black tresses. She now had an athletic figure sheathed in tight black leathers under epic steel armor that covered most of her body with plates worked in intricate patterns.

Her scythe was gone too, replaced by a pair of straight longswords with runes carved onto the crossguards. The blades might look simple, but when I triggered Spellseer's Gaze, mana boiled around them like they were each the heart of a mighty spell vortex. Strangely, Identify triggered again.

"Sixel Elaris, elite tier-1 boss. Level 66 elf princess. Now you've done it. In her duelist form, Sixel, the Grindstone Blade, is renowned to possess unrivaled Speed and Agility and is the undisputed grand champion of the elite death battle tournaments."

If anything, it sounded like she had evolved to a more dangerous form. Still, I'd far rather deal with an oversized human opponent with swords than try to fight her giant demoness form with that insane scythe.

"Perhaps today's interruption is not a total waste after all. You carry those blades like you're not a dunce." Her voice had changed from the sultry demoness tone to a much higher-pitched timbre. As Sixel, she sounded warm and friendly, despite those swords.

"And you haven't cut off a finger yet. Looks like we're about even."

She laughed once more, the sound like a beautiful choir. "Even, you say? What a delightfully stupid claim."

I shrugged. "There's one way to find out."

"Then I officially challenge you to a duel."

"How about we settle this over a dessert-eating contest?"

"Cakes are only for winners."

"Then which do you recommend I start with after I take off your head?" I was stuck there. Didn't mean I'd let her see how terrified I felt.

"Now you're becoming a bore again," she warned, her tone turning icy and wisps of shadow beginning to swirl around her legs.

I didn't want to deal with angry demon scythe reaper again, so I shrugged. I'd come for a fight. I was about to get a lot more than I'd bargained for, but even tier-1 bosses couldn't fight without a head.

"Then I officially accept."

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