The massive stone doors of the Labyrinth loomed before them.
Separating the Floor 1 tutorial zone from the true nightmare of Aethelgard, the colossal iron-wrought gates had remained open for three years. The darkness inside seemed to breathe, exhaling a damp, metallic chill that smelled of old blood and rusted steel.
Kael and Aria stood before the gaping maw.
"You can't just walk in there like that," Aria said.
Her voice was still trembling. Just minutes ago, she had watched this man atomize a Floor 54 boss with a casual punch. Yet, looking at him now, the cognitive dissonance was almost too much to bear.
She gestured wildly to his outfit.
"You're wearing a Beginner's Tunic. Your defense is literally zero. And... you don't even have a weapon!"
"I have my fists," Kael replied simply.
He raised his right hand. As he slowly clenched his fingers, the air around his knuckles visibly warped. A low, synthetic whining sound filled the air, like a server rack overheating. The game engine was audibly groaning under the strain of rendering the sheer kinetic potential of his strength stat.
"Besides," Kael added, his face completely deadpan. "I don't think I can equip high-tier gear anyway. The system might crash."
He turned his gaze back to the dark corridor of the Labyrinth.
Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward.
CRACK.
It wasn't a normal footstep. The cobblestone beneath his basic, worn leather boot didn't just break—it splintered into a massive web of glowing blue fissures. The fracture spider-webbed ten feet in every direction, violently tearing up the terrain.
Aria recoiled, throwing her arms up as a localized earthquake rattled the plaza.
"Kael, what did you do?!" she shrieked.
"I just... walked."
Kael looked down at his foot. A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck.
Carefully, deliberately, he lifted his other foot and placed it down.
BOOM.
Another crater formed. The ground shook violently, and the stone pillars framing the Labyrinth entrance began to pixelate, their textures tearing at the seams.
...
[WARNING: Physics Engine Strain Detected.]
[Local environment integrity dropping.]
...
Kael froze.
He wasn't just overpowered. He was a walking data overflow.
Aethelgard's physics engine was meticulously crafted by the developers to handle players up to Level 100. It was designed to calculate the impact of high-tier magic and mythic-weapon strikes.
But at Level 9999, Kael's passive kinetic energy was literally breaking the environment. The game was trying to apply real-world physics to a digital body carrying the weight of a dying star.
"I have to hold back," Kael muttered.
His breathing turned shallow. He didn't dare move an inch.
"If I move too fast, or if I hit the ground too hard, I might shatter the floor's rendering logic completely."
Aria stared at him, the initial awe slowly being replaced by a creeping, suffocating horror.
"What happens if the logic shatters?" she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"If the floor deletes itself with us standing on it," Kael said, his eyes fixed on the digital fissures glowing beneath his boots, "we fall into the digital void. We get erased. No microwave pulse to the brain. Just... deletion."
He wasn't a savior.
Aria realized it with a sickening jolt. Kael was an unexploded nuclear bomb, and the trigger was his own two feet.
She took a shaky breath and slowly walked up beside him.
"Then we move slowly," Aria instructed.
She reached out and firmly grasped his hand. Her mythic-tier gauntlet felt cold against his bare skin.
"Like walking on thin ice, Kael. Heel to toe. Breathe through it."
Kael looked at her hand, then up at her face. The hollow, exhausted look in her eyes had been replaced by a fierce, desperate focus.
"We aren't walking up the stairs," Aria declared, pointing toward a glowing blue platform situated just inside the Labyrinth's safe zone. "The main teleporters are still active. We take the shortcut."
"Where to?" Kael asked, carefully shifting his weight to avoid causing another fissure.
"Floor 50," Aria replied, her grip tightening. "The frontline's last safe bastion. We start there."