The heavy worked-bronze doors gave way with a deep and prolonged echo that resonated throughout the environment, opening a passage into the central chamber of the twentieth floor. The room was a monumental circular arena, whose polished volcanic rock walls rose toward a sumptuous dome. Glowing cracks ran across the stone floor, radiating a reddish light and dense heat that gently distorted the appearance of the air.
At the back of the hall, positioned upon a platform raised by three monumental steps, stood a massive throne carved from black basalt. Upon it rested the imposing figure of the guardian of that sector.
Upon noticing our presence, the General-level demon slowly stood up. Its stature easily exceeded four meters in height. Its massive body was covered in armor made of thick, dark metal plates, adorned with spikes and grooves that channeled the reddish energy flowing from the very floor of the arena. In its right hand, it wielded a colossal battle axe, whose double blade exuded a dense vapor of demonic fire. Its eyes, glowing like living embers beneath a helmet with curved horns, fixed themselves upon our vanguard with an oppressive intensity.
"Invaders..." The General's voice echoed like a muffled thunderclap against the walls of the dome, making the stone ground tremble beneath the pressure of its presence. "You dare set foot in the domain of the twentieth floor. Here, your journey ends."
"Maintain formation!" I ordered in a firm and serene voice, drawing my runic sword with a precise movement as I advanced toward the center of the hall. "Follow the tactical plan! Vanguard on containment, support focused on the rear!"
"Understood!" Scarlet replied, positioning herself to my left with her longsword held in a high guard, ready to absorb any initial assault.
Without wasting time on defensive postures, the General lunged forward with surprising speed for its size. It descended the platform's steps in a single leap, raising the giant axe and delivering a devastating downward strike in our direction. The impact of the fire blade against the ground cracked the volcanic rock, sending a shockwave of flames and debris throughout the arena.
"Dodge and circle around!" I commanded, propelling my body toward the right in a fluid movement while Scarlet moved to the left.
The shockwave collided head-on with the golden light dome projected by Liriel, who had planted the base of her sacred staff into the ground to protect the support group. The barrier absorbed the impact flawlessly, dispersing the wave of heat without her assistant or Vespera suffering the slightest disturbance.
"Continuous pressure on the front sector!" Scarlet shouted, taking advantage of the demon's slow recovery from the heavy strike to advance through the exposed side. Her longsword cut through the air in a clean arc, striking the armor plate on the General's thigh. The impact generated a burst of incandescent sparks, opening a visible crack in the dark metal.
Taking advantage of the enemy's divided attention, I moved quickly into direct striking range. I channeled a concentrated flow of mana into my runic sword, causing the metal to glow with an intense silver hue. With a rapid sequence of three highly precise thrusts, I struck the joints of the General's shoulder and right arm armor, forcing it to retract its grip on the axe to prevent its tendons from being severed.
"The vanguard's speed is destabilizing his attack rhythm!" reported Liriel's assistant, quickly recording the data on her clipboard while monitoring the flow of energy throughout the battle. "The General's heavy armor prevents rapid responses to simultaneous lateral attacks!"
The General roared in anger upon realizing the futility of its brute strength against our coordinated movement. It swung the colossal axe in a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree horizontal arc, attempting to sweep away the vanguard and clear the space around it with a wall of demonic flames.
"Rai'kanna, Elara, interception!" I ordered, lowering my center of gravity to let the incandescent blade pass safely above my head.
Rai'kanna emerged like a swift shadow from the darkness of the side columns. With impressive agility, she leaped over the axe's rotating blade, using the enemy's own weapon as a platform to propel herself toward the General's back. Her twin blades delivered multiple crossing strikes to the rear of the neck armor, cutting the enchanted leather straps that held the head protection in place.
At the same time, Elara fired two energized arrows from the edge of the arena. The projectiles cut through the air with a sharp buzzing sound and struck the exposed joint of the demon's left elbow with surgical precision, interrupting the channeling cycle of its fire magic and causing the axe to swing uncontrollably.
"Opening in the upper guard!" Elara warned, instantly nocking another arrow onto her bow.
"Vespera, create the projection window!" I commanded, accelerating my run toward the throne's steps.
"Compression wind blast!" Vespera activated, projecting a dense column of focused air beneath my feet. The spell's force launched me vertically into the air, positioning me above the General's line of sight as it desperately attempted to regain control of its left arm.
While wielding the runic sword with both hands at the peak of that trajectory and observing the massive figure of the demon struggling against its own sluggishness, I allowed a calm and calculated thought to clear my mind. Fighting a General-level enemy is not a demonstration of brute strength, but rather a tactical equation of patience and precision. No matter how colossal the armor or how devastating the destructive power of a creature may be, invincibility is merely an illusion created by visual intimidation. When a team works in absolute synchrony, dismantling the opponent's defense layer by layer, even the most fearsome guardians of the tower reveal their physical limitations. Victory does not belong to the one who delivers the loudest blow, but to the group that executes the correct strategy without losing focus for a single second.
I descended in a devastating downward trajectory, aligning the tip of the runic sword with the opening in the shoulder armor that Rai'kanna and Elara had exposed. The sacred blade pierced through the dark metal and penetrated deeply into the creature's muscular structure, releasing a charge of arcane energy that shattered the energy selectors on the General's right side.
The demon released a deafening roar of pain, letting go of the battle axe's handle, which crashed loudly against the volcanic rock floor, cracking the marble plates and extinguishing its demonic flames.
"The enemy's axe has been disarmed!" Scarlet announced, advancing rapidly and positioning her longsword against the giant's exposed neck to prevent any attempt at a physical reaction.
"Excellent execution by everyone!" I praised, landing firmly and maintaining my combat stance while the silver energy of my blade continued sealing the opponent's mana points. "The General has lost its offensive combat capability. Keep the encirclement closed for the tactical finishing move!"
With the guardian of the twentieth floor disarmed, immobilized, and its defenses completely dismantled by the combined efforts of our Alliance, the battle in the central chamber had reached its decisive point.