Started with a 10,000x Multiplier in a Game World

Dante stood at the front of the heavy convoy, staring up at the jagged black peaks of the Obsidian Crags.

The twelve elite Imperial Guards formed a tight defensive circle around the Aetherium Crystal wagons, their massive silver tower shields raised against the impending threat.

"Outworlder Dan," the captain of the guard yelled, his voice strained as he scanned the empty, rocky slopes. "Why have we halted? We are entirely exposed in this chokepoint!"

Dante didn’t look at the NPC captain. His eyes were locked onto the sheer cliff face directly ahead.

"We halted because the road is rigged," Dante stated calmly.

The Cinder-Mage Assassins from the Sect of the Scorched Earth hadn’t just taken up sniping positions on the ridges. The [Dragon’s Insight] passive on Dante’s helmet illuminated the reality of their ambush. The entire narrow canyon path ahead of them was laced with overlapping, highly volatile proximity traps. They were glowing with aggressive, unstable red magic, perfectly camouflaged beneath the black volcanic dust.

If the convoy took another ten steps, the entire canyon floor would detonate, instantly incinerating the wagons and the squishy support players in the backline.

"Silas really wants to make sure I don’t get paid," Dante murmured.

"Boss," Casanova whispered over the party comms, clutching his lute nervously in the rear of the convoy. "If those are the guys who use un-cleansable soul-burn magic, we need to leave. Like, right now."

"We aren’t leaving," Dante replied.

Dante didn’t step forward to disarm the traps manually. He needed to clear the path, flush the assassins out of stealth, and keep the convoy completely unharmed.

He unclipped the [Mantle of the Void-Dragon].

[Skill Executed: Echoes of the Void]

The heavy, starry fabric of the cloak rippled violently. Three exact, physical duplicates of Dante stepped directly out of his shadow. The Shadow Clones wore identical dark purple armor and gripped flawless replicas of the [Dawn-Breaker Blade].

The Imperial Guards flinched as the three towering, golden-armored giants suddenly appeared.

"Go," Dante ordered the clones mentally.

The three Shadow Clones didn’t hesitate. They sprinted forward, charging blindly down the narrow, jagged path of the Obsidian Crags.

They hit the kill-zone.

The proximity traps triggered instantly.

The entire canyon floor erupted in a deafening, blinding chain reaction of superheated explosions. Pillars of raw, incandescent magma shot hundreds of feet into the air. The sheer kinetic force of the overlapping detonations physically shook the mountain range.

The three Shadow Clones were instantly, violently vaporized by the trap, their digital code entirely shredded by the intense thermal damage.

Dante didn’t care. They were expendable assets.

The explosion didn’t just clear the path. The massive thermal shock compromised the structural integrity of the fragile, volcanic canyon walls. The black rock groaned, cracked, and began to violently crumble.

Massive chunks of obsidian rained down, forcing the hidden Cinder-Mages to abandon their perfect stealth positions.

Dozens of elite assassins leaped from the collapsing cliffs, landing heavily on the newly cratered path. Their dark red scale armor and featureless obsidian masks gleamed ominously as they recovered their balance.

"They’re exposed!" Lila yelled, raising her Dark Demon staff from the center wagon.

The Cinder-Mages didn’t panic. Their NPC logic was incredibly disciplined.

They realized the traps had failed to kill the primary target. They immediately adapted. They raised their glowing, superheated staves in perfect synchronization, preparing to unleash a massive, coordinated barrage of defense-melting magma magic directly at the convoy.

"Mei! Guard the flanks!" Dante commanded.

"Batter up!" Mei cheered, stepping in front of Lila and bringing the massive, cast-iron [God-Slaying Skillet] up to intercept any stray spells.

Dante didn’t trigger [Phantom Dash]. He didn’t want to engage them in a chaotic melee brawl. He needed an absolute, immediate shutdown.

He opened his system interface, rapidly navigating his skill list.

[Skill Executed: Absolute Zero Field]

Because of his [Chrono-Shift] talent, the Zenith-tier ice magic triggered instantly.

Dante didn’t swing a sword. He slammed his dark purple gauntlet directly into the scorched, smoking earth of the canyon floor.

The world didn’t just freeze. It stopped.

A massive, rapidly expanding wave of pure, absolute-zero energy erupted outward in a 100-foot radius. The intense, ambient heat generated by the traps and the Cinder-Mages was violently, aggressively deleted from the atmosphere.

The Zenith-tier ice magic crashed over the organized formation of the assassins.

The Cinder-Mages, entities built entirely around the manipulation of primordial fire, were hit with the absolute, diametric opposite of their core element. The systemic shock was catastrophic.

The fifty elite assassins didn’t even have time to finish casting their magma spells.

They were instantly, flawlessly encased in massive, jagged pillars of translucent blue ice. Their avatars locked up completely, frozen mid-stride, their glowing red staves extinguished in a fraction of a second.

[Guaranteed Freeze Applied. Duration: 3 Seconds.]

"Now," Dante said quietly.

He didn’t need to attack them.

The secondary effect of [Absolute Zero Field] triggered.

The massive pillars of ice encasing the assassins violently shattered.

Because Dante possessed the [Frost-God Constitution], all ice-based damage was permanently doubled. The Zenith-tier shatter effect didn’t just deal 500% magical frost damage. It dealt 1,000% damage, backed by his monstrous Level 72 base stats.

*CRACK.*

The sound was deafening, like a massive glacier calving.

The fifty Level 60 Cinder-Mages were entirely vaporized. The sheer, overwhelming mathematical force of the frost explosion shattered their dark red armor and completely zeroed out their health bars in a single, devastating hit.

They exploded into massive showers of blue and silver polygons, scattering glowing high-tier loot across the frozen crater.

[Target Eliminated: Cinder-Mage Assassin x50]

[Experience Gained.]

The narrow canyon path was dead silent, covered in a thick layer of frost and digital ash.

Dante slowly stood up, brushing a few stray ice crystals off his gauntlet.

"Well," Casanova said, his voice trembling slightly over the party comms. "That was efficient."

"Keep your guard up," Dante warned, entirely ignoring the massive pile of loot.

His Intuition stat wasn’t silent. It was throbbing with a slow, heavy, aggressive rhythm.

The fifty assassins hadn’t been the main threat. They were just the frontline.

The thick, swirling ash cloud at the far end of the canyon slowly parted.

A single figure stepped out of the haze, walking calmly over the frozen remains of his elite squad.

He didn’t wear a featureless obsidian mask. He wore incredibly ornate, flowing robes woven from dark, shimmering magma. His face was pale and heavily scarred, his eyes burning with an intense, toxic white-hot fire. He carried a massive, two-handed staff topped with a jagged, pulsing core of pure volcanic rock.

[Entity Identified: Envoy Catacombs]

[Faction: Sect of the Scorched Earth]

[Tier: Celestial]

[Level: 80]

[HP: 3,500,000 / 3,500,000]

Dante’s eyes narrowed.

A Level 80 Celestial Boss. The Sect had sent one of their primary commanders to execute the hit.

"Envoy Catacombs," Dante noted aloud, stepping forward to put himself between the boss and the Imperial convoy. "Silas must have promised the Patriarch the world to deploy a Celestial."

The Envoy didn’t raise his staff. He looked at the frozen, shattered crater, then looked directly at Dante.

"Silas promised us the cure to our rotting curse," Catacombs spoke. His voice was a deep, rumbling earthquake. "He brought us a forgery. The Patriarch recognized the deception instantly."

Dante crossed his arms. "Then why are you here? If you know the contract was a scam, why ambush my convoy?"

Catacombs smiled. It was a cold, incredibly predatory expression.

"I do not care about the convoy, Outworlder," the Envoy stated, taking a slow step forward. "And I do not care about Silas. I am here for you."

The Envoy raised his left hand.

He wasn’t holding a weapon. He was holding a small, intricately carved medallion forged from incredibly dark, light-absorbing metal. The medallion pulsed with a sickly, bruised purple aura.

[Artifact Identified: The Ashen Seal]

[Tier: Holy-Forbidden]

"The Patriarch informed me that an anomaly wanders the continent," Catacombs continued, his white-hot eyes locking onto Dante’s gold armor. "A player who wields the shattered blade. A player who has claimed the legacy of the First Asura."

The Envoy’s smile vanished, replaced by an expression of absolute, fanatical fervor.

"The Sect of the Scorched Earth was forged in the fires of the First Cycle," Catacombs declared loudly. "We remember the chaos. We remember the slaughter. If you truly possess the Asura’s power, you are the greatest threat to this world. Or its greatest salvation."

"Are we taking a test?" Dante asked dryly.

"We are," Catacombs nodded. "I will push you to your absolute limits. If you break, you are unworthy, and I will reduce your code to cinders. If you conquer the flames... you will prove your right to the legacy."

Catacombs crushed the [Ashen Seal] in his fist.

The Holy-Forbidden artifact detonated.

It didn’t explode outward. The dark purple energy violently imploded, completely overriding the environmental parameters of the Obsidian Crags.

The towering black cliffs vanished. The sky vanished.

Dante didn’t have time to order his squad to retreat.

A massive, inescapable dome of solid, white-hot fire erupted from the ground, entirely isolating Dante and the Celestial boss in a perfectly circular, roaring inferno. The dome was fifty yards wide, and the heat radiating from the walls was absolute.

[System Event: The Crucible of Fire Initiated.]

[Warning: You are trapped in an inescapable duel. Outside interference is impossible.]

Dante looked around the massive arena of fire. He couldn’t see the convoy. He couldn’t see Lila or Mei. He was completely cut off.

"I have disabled your frost magic, anomaly," Catacombs announced, pointing his massive staff at Dante.

Dante checked his interface. The [Absolute Zero Field] skill icon was entirely grayed out, locked by the Holy-Forbidden artifact’s specific suppression code.

He couldn’t freeze the boss. He had to fight a master of primordial fire in an arena made of literal fire.

Dante drew the [Dawn-Breaker Blade].

"I don’t need ice to break you," Dante said.

He activated his primary combat stance.

[Skill Executed: Asura’s Descent]

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