The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 7 - Chapter 43 - The Key

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Wolf

I continue hunting down the monsters one after another, regardless of the type. All while devouring the fire with my lunar ice. And over time, I kill each and every one of the bosses.

Until all five bosses are dead, leaving me with just the other two requirements left needing to be fulfilled.

I need to find the exit leading to the next floor, and I need to find the key to said exit.

But it doesn’t take long to realize something’s happening after killing the bosses.

The fire energy in the floor isn’t decreasing as I devour it.

It’s increasing.

More and more, I find the fire energy just increasing in density over time. To the point that even the air itself is starting to light on fire just from the fire elemental energy increasing the temperature of everything in the floor.

Although thanks to the natural lunar ice energy I emit just from existing, the area around me is still cold instead of warm. Cold enough that there’s little flakes of snow in the air from the moisture freezing. Just from me being here.

Which makes it look even stranger when said snow falls into the fire catching in the air outside of the range of my natural lunar ice energy.

I continue moving through the floor while occasionally spreading my Domain out and freezing and devouring everything. Only to pull it back, allowing flames to reemerge as more fire energy appears to take the old fire energy’s place.

It’s almost like some sort of dam was broken the moment I killed the bosses. Releasing an infinite amount of fire energy into the floor.

I glance at the chat while looking around for the key and exit.

[Imagine if this was the old Wolf. The one from the start of the dungeon that was weak to fire.]

[He’d be dead by now.]

[Totally dead.]

[Without a doubt.]

[But now he’s too powerful for something like this to hurt him.]

[Phoenix will have to try harder than this to win!]

Hmm…

I turn my attention away from the chat as I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Specifically that the fire energy seems to be stronger in one direction than the others.

So I begin following the fire energy in the hopes that something is located at the place where it’s at its purest.

I continue devouring the fire energy a I go. Meanwhile I find more and more fire energy the deeper I get.

All the way until I find a place where all of the air is set ablaze. To the point that everything I can see is fire, lava, and magma.

Everything’s burning.

I move even deeper into the flames before finally finding the source of it all.

And the source itself?

It’s a large key.

I identify the thing before frowning at the description above it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Item | Floor Key | Tier 9

This item unlocks the exit to the four hundred and ninety-first floor of the Beta Dungeon.

System Favor: This item is safe to use and was made by the Progenitor of Fire and Birds herself.

This item constantly produces fire energy while also drawing in fire energy from Phoenix’s Domain directly. Spreading that very energy across the floor in the process until it is used to unlock the exit.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Yeah, that’s what I thought it was.

That or the exit.

The source of the fire energy I mean.

As for the key itself? It is black and red in color. Although mostly red.

And the thing is emanating so much heat that it actually burns my hand just from touching it. Even with my naturally emitted lunar ice energy.

Although when I spread my Domain just slightly past my skin, it stops the key from hurting me.

The key also has a phoenix head engraved on the side of it, and the back end of it is in the shape of a feather.

So it’s obvious who made and designed this key.

Anyway, I try to put it into my storage ring, only for it to not go in. All while still pumping out fire energy.

I frown as I start to move through the floor again with the key floating next to me, held by my Domain as it devours all the fire energy released by the key. And time just continues passing as I search for the exit.

Ever so slowly, I feel my exhaustion growing more and more thanks to constantly using my Domain to suppress the key.

Days pass.

Then weeks.

And eventually entire months begin to pass while I search the floor for that stupid freaking exit.

All the way until I finally find the exit after half a year of searching. At which point my energy is almost completely depleted.

So I use the key on the door, opening it and finally deactivating the key in the process. Leaving the fire energy finally on the verge of running out.

In fact, the key doesn’t just deactivate.

It vanishes entirely.

But there’s one thing that bothers me even more about the floor.

The fact that there is no reward.

No mini boss chest. No positive chest. No nothing.

There isn’t a reward at all for clearing the floor.

“How stingy…” I mutter after staring at the exit that is in the form of a glowing red portal.

Of course, a message from the System telling me about a message from Phoenix appears in my vision after saying that. But I completely ignore it without even reading the message.

Because there’s no reason to read a message from such a petty person.

With that in mind, I summon my expanded system store and begin to rest in bed. Just finally taking a break from that hell-hole of a floor.

The System should let me rest here for a while. At least a few months or so.

I let out a sigh of relief before falling asleep.