They looked utterly exhausted, but with enough fury and pride left to keep their backs straight. Kallan looked dirty, bruised, and angry in a way that made the sweat on his skin seem secondary to the hatred in his face. Cecil and the others were just as worn down, though they carried themselves with the bitter confidence of people who had suffered too much to back down now.

Kallan’s eyes immediately locked onto Lancet. "You really think we’re going to let you get the Boss kill and claim the artifact?" he snapped. "No fucking way."

Lancet smiled faintly. "Thunderboy, you made it!" he said with a mocking tone. "I’ve got to say, your trick back there was pretty smart."

Kallan’s brows pinched together slightly. "What trick?"

"The vines," Lancet said, shrugging casually. "Separating us so we’d waste time. It was a good move."

Kallan’s eyes widened a fraction. "You knew?"

Kasto blinked and looked between them. "Wait. That was them?"

Lancet smirked. "Of course." He locked eyes with Kallan. "So far, we haven’t met any beasts that can manipulate plants. But your teammate, Lingram—he’s eliminated now—is a Verdant Mage. I put two and two together."

Kallan’s jaw tightened.

The anger that flashed across his face had the shape of someone who had been caught too cleanly to recover with pride alone.

"So what now?" he demanded. "You can’t harm us in here, you know that."

He gave a short, strained smirk, trying to push the disadvantage back into something that looked like control.

"With that fluctuating Grace of yours, I bet you can’t even harm us at all."

Lancet let out a quiet breath and lifted one hand slightly. "I don’t want to harm you."

Kallan frowned, clearly expecting something nastier.

Lancet looked from the Elementalists to the Kongs and then back again. "In fact," he said, "I’m suggesting we work together."

"Huh?" Kasto muttered under his breath.

"We’ll need each other’s help if we’re going to defeat those big bad things," Lancet said, pointing his free hand toward the roaring Kongs.

That caught both teams off guard. Kasto glanced at him. Vera did too. Even the Elementalists looked thrown by it.

Frieda’s expression shifted first. She did not seem pleased, but she was the quickest to recognize that the chamber itself was not forgiving hesitation.

Cecil tilted his head. "That might actually be a good move," he whispered to Kallan.

Leslie, however, shook her head at once. "No. But if we do it, let’s use the chance to stab them in the back. Especially Lancet."

Frieda looked toward the Kongs, then back at the chamber floor, then back at the beasts. Her face had gone tight with the realization of how weak everyone already was. "We’re not exactly in a position to reject help."

Kallan glared into the opening, seeing those giant gorillas. At first, fear gripped him, then his mind ignited with an idea.

He raised a hand, silencing the rest of his team. Everyone looked at him.

"If we’re really weak," Kallan whispered to them "then we shouldn’t fight at all. Let us stay back. Rest. Then we swoop in when you’ve got the upper hand. We’ll steal both the kills and the artifact that way."

The announcer’s voice crackled from above, thrilled by the tension.

"Oh, now this is delicious!" he called. "Looks like Lancet Leogardt has offered an alliance, and Elementalist-D is deciding whether to agree. Remember everyone, Alliances are not against the rules!"

The floating cameras drifted closer, eager to catch every expression.

Kallan raised his voice so Lancet would hear him clearly over the heat and the distant growls of the Kongs. "No deal, Lancet! You just want to use us as meat shields! We’re not doing your dirty work!"

"Ooh! A flat-out rejection!" the Announcer’s voice boomed through the speakers. "Elementalist-D is choosing to play their own game. Seeing how tired they are, this seems like a risky play, but no one knows whether it will work or not!"

Lancet sighed, shaking his head. "Have it your way."

He turned his back on the Elementalists and looked at his squad. "Take formation. Call your Summons. We’ve been saving our Grace and holding back all day. Now, it’s time to go all out."

"And Lancet accepts the challenge!" the Announcer raved. "Summoner-D is gearing up!"

"Metalhead! Let’s go!" Kasto yelled, pushing one hand out. His massive, plated mecha materialized with a heavy, metallic thud that shook the floor.

"Arise," Min Tu commanded coldly. The air warped, and her Skeleton Soldier stepped forward, its cleaver scraping against the stone, the flames in its eye sockets burning with violent intensity.

"Booster!" Dane shouted. The Astral-Claw Ursine tore through the fabric of space, its galaxy-fur shimmering, letting out a roar that challenged the Kongs.

"Forest Stag!" Vera called out, her hands glowing green as the massive, spectral emerald deer materialized, bathing the team in its soothing, restorative aura.

Lancet stood at the front, his eyes locked on the beasts.

With all that noise, the Four-Armed Kongs had finally noticed the tiny pests that had wandered into their lair.

The guardian Kongs let out a deafening, chest-pounding roar and charged, the ground quaking beneath their massive strides.

"Get ready!" Lancet yelled.

But suddenly, the Kong at the right coiled it’s legs, and with terrifying, explosive power, it launched itself over the center of the chamber in a soaring arc so massive it seemed to tear the air apart.

At first Lancet thought it was coming for them.

Then he realized the trajectory was wrong.

The beast was sailing past them, and heading straight toward the Elementalist group.

Kallan’s eyes widened in alarm just before the Kong came down.

The beast’s combined smash hit the ground where Elementalist-D had been standing with devastating force.

The impact detonated through the chamber in a shockwave of dust, heat, and broken stone.

Kallan, Leslie, Cecil, and Frieda froze in absolute, paralyzing horror. The Kong’s intelligence was exactly what Lancet had warned about; it recognized the weak, injured targets trying to hide in the backlines.

The Kong reared back. Its top two arms raised high into the air, fists locked together like a fleshy sledgehammer. Simultaneously, its bottom two massive hands violently clapped together in front of its chest.

BOOM!

A localized kinetic shockwave erupted from the clap, rippling upward and surging into the beast’s descending upper fists, multiplying the crushing force exponentially.

The strike was not a simple punch. It was a crushing double-impact, a leap designed to turn landing force into a killing blow.

The fists slammed into the rock where the Elementalists stood.

Before the pulverized stone could even settle, three brilliant, blinding pillars of blue light erupted from the dust, taking three of the Elementalist students back to the platform.

"OH!" the Announcer screamed, his voice cracking with pure hype. "The Bosses aren’t ignoring the bystanders! Leslie, Cecil, and Frieda are instantly eliminated by the safety teleport! The Kong went straight for the weakest links using that deadly shockwave-smash!"

When the dust cleared, only Kallan remained. He had managed to dive backward, but he was backed into a corner, completely alone, his eyes wide with unadulterated terror. The towering Kong turned its gaze down to him, baring its yellowed fangs.

"No!" Kallan screamed. Desperation took over. He thrust both hands forward, unleashing a blinding, jagged bolt of pure yellow lightning directly at the beast’s chest.

The lightning hit the Kong’s chest with a crack of bright force—

And the beast barely moved.

Its fur smoked slightly, but that was pretty much it. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The beast didn’t even flinch. It tanked the electrical surge, its thick, rocky muscle grounding the attack completely.

With a low, rumbling growl, the Kong pulled back one of its lower arms and delivered a thunderous, backhand punch that connected squarely with Kallan’s chest.

BZZZT!

The final blue pillar flashed, consuming the Lightning Mage just before his ribs could shatter.

"AND KALLAN IS OUT!" the Announcer roared to the screaming stadium. "A devastating miscalculation! And now, Elementalist-D has been completely wiped from the Dungeon!"

Cheers and boos filled the platform.