[The Crucible of Chains 5] - Trials of the Furnace Gauntlet

For a moment, everything was still.

Raven stood before the twin passageways inside the forge chamber—two sealed doors, one to the left, the other to the right. The stone beneath his feet pulsed faintly with residual heat, and the worn forge glyph etched into the center of the floor remained dark, dormant.

A message still hovered in his peripheral UI.

[Crucible Pathway – Inaccessible]

Power Source: 0/2 Active Bellows]

Only one route was available.

Raven exhaled slowly and turned toward the left path. The Bladed Furnace.

Duskrunner stood beside him, low to the ground, ears twitching at every metallic groan that echoed through the ancient forge. Phantom Seer, meanwhile, hovered just behind—its multi-eyed gaze fixed on the dark corridor ahead, unreadable as always.

"This fork first," Raven muttered. "We need to trigger the left bellow before the right one unlocks."

As his boots crossed the threshold, a familiar feeling sank in—a tension that settled behind his ribs and crawled up his spine like a parasite from the abyss. His heart beat faster, and his senses sharpened.

It had been a long time since he'd felt it this clearly.

Adrenaline.

Not from PvP, not from guild wars, not from player-run politics—but from this. Dungeons. The soul of Primordial Abyss. The thing that separated casuals from killers.

And right now, the game wasn't treating him like a legend. It was treating him like a trespasser.

The moment Raven stepped deeper into the corridor, the environment shifted.

The smooth floor slanted forward with a metallic grind, and the air pressure shifted with a sudden whoosh—followed by a dull clang. Runes along the walls sparked to life, glowing with a dangerous, rhythmic pulse. Something ancient had stirred. Machinery long dormant roared beneath the surface.

[🔥 Environmental Hazard Active: The Furnace Gauntlet]

[⛓ Crucible Path Locked Behind – Forward Route Only]

"You feel that?" Raven muttered, voice low.

Duskrunner growled softly in response. Phantom Seer whispered, "The forge breathes again."

The temperature climbed steadily with each step. Sweat clung to Raven's skin despite the layered buffs on his armor. But it wasn't just the heat that made his muscles tighten.

It was what it meant.

One mistake here wasn't just a death. It was an equipment drop. And if he died now, halfway through Emberstone Burrow, he'd lose the rare chain enhancements he had socketed into Dominion Chain, along with his recent trinket haul.

He'd have to go back to farming. Re-clearing event zones. Gathering rune shards. Rebuilding.

And in the new launch economy, even one reset could cost him a week.

This was the real Primordial Abyss. And this dungeon—this dungeon remembered how to kill.

🔥 The Furnace Gauntlet

The corridor opened into a long tunnel carved from obsidian and slag, with half-melted pillars and scorch marks lining every surface. A red-hot glow pulsed from beneath the floor, illuminating embedded rune channels. Ahead, the hall split again—only this time, not with choices.

With traps.

As Raven moved forward, the floor shifted with a hard click.

Initiating: Golem Bellows System.

Ancient crucible arms descended from above, dragging scorched metal rods into place. Vents along the walls hissed open.

A heavy stomp echoed from the shadows.

Then came the first wave.

Four half-dormant dwarven golems, their joints fused with cinder-cracked stone and their chests glowing like furnace bellies. Their limbs were uneven, many dragging makeshift arms built from forge parts. They had no eyes—just ember cores flickering behind carved faceplates.

Raven narrowed his eyes. "Bellows-class golems. Slower than scouts, but high burst output…"

Before he could finish the sentence, one of them slammed its arm into the wall.

The hallway erupted.

Twin arcs of fire shot from vents in an X pattern, converging on their position.

"Spread!" Raven barked, diving left.

Duskrunner vanished in a blur of shadows, teleporting to higher ground on a collapsed girder. Phantom Seer drifted upward, passing straight through solid stone with Phantom Step, its aura casting warped mirages all around them.

Raven tucked into a roll, heat licking at his cloak as fire roared past. One more second and he'd have been toasted.

"This is worse than I remember," he growled, lashing his chain toward the nearest golem. It snagged a loose gear on its shoulder and jerked it forward, just enough to cause imbalance.

Duskrunner dove from above, claws glowing with stacked Alpha's Wrath, carving deep into the creature's core casing.

Two golems reacted with delayed precision, arms turning toward the illusions Phantom Seer had scattered like chess pieces across the battlefield.

The third, however, didn't take the bait.

It charged straight at Raven, arms glowing red as steam hissed from its elbows.

Too fast.

He dashed sideways, his boots slipping slightly on the heat-glossed floor. The golem's molten punch shattered the ground behind him.

[Bellows Chamber Integrity: 64%]

Then came the second wave with a deep sickening rumble.

Another pair of golems slammed through a side chamber, dragging half-melted weapons.

"Of course there's more."

Raven twisted, Phantom Bind snapping him to the opposite end of the hallway, just behind one of the incoming enemies. He jammed the dagger-tip of his chain into the exposed vent at the golem's spine.

A blast of pressurized steam detonated from the point of impact, and the golem seized violently before collapsing.

One down.

Phantom Seer's Haunting Mirage flared again, creating a group of shadowy silhouettes sprinting toward the golems. Confused by sensory distortion, they struck the wrong targets, flailing wildly.

Duskrunner capitalized, darting from shadow to shadow, eviscerating their exposed cores.

As the last of them fell, Raven finally allowed himself a breath.

But it was short-lived.

⚔️ Mini-Boss: The Branded Tyrant

The ground shook.

From a reinforced furnace gate at the end of the hall, a sound emerged—like a forge drawing breath.

Then it shattered open.

The Branded Tyrant stepped through. Once a dwarven guardian, it now resembled a monstrous fire ogre—its body warped and swollen with ember corruption, its skin blackened stone laced with glowing magma veins.

Chains dragged behind its arms like severed furnace tubing. An enormous brand glowed across its chest, constantly sizzling, pumping smoke with every heartbeat.

[Mini-Boss Detected: Branded Tyrant – Level 22]

[Weakness: Heart exposed after 3 consecutive parries of heavy attacks]

"Looks like it still remembers me," Raven muttered, adjusting his grip on Dominion Chain.

The brute roared and charged.

The fight began.