Reincarnated with the Country System-Chapter 258 - – The Sixth Floor: The Crucible of Flame

The rift above the Drowned Sanctum yawned wide, a gash of molten light splitting the air. Static hummed across their armor as the energies surged. The joint force—reduced now to half its original number—stood on the threshold.

Raihan, still cradling the crystalline Core from the Leviathan's remains, looked into the blazing portal.

"The Crucible of Flame," he said. "The sixth seal."

Kain adjusted his gauntlet's calibrations, triple-checking the environmental seals. "We're getting thermal spikes. If this intel's right, what's on the other side is barely survivable."

Vera, still smudged with soot and blood from the previous fight, let out a humorless laugh. "What in this dungeon is survivable?"

Kain gave a sharp nod. "Let's move."

They stepped through.

The transition was violent.

Flames licked the edges of their perception. Heat slammed into them, not like standing near a furnace—but like falling into the throat of a sun. Armor systems flared, shields auto-engaged, and environmental seals hissed with rapid compensations.

When their vision adjusted, what greeted them was nothing short of otherworldly.

The Sixth Floor was not a cave, nor a chamber. It was a foundry-realm. Spanning miles, the land rose and dipped in jagged mountains of obsidian and blacksteel. Rivers of molten gold ran like veins through the terrain, glowing so brightly it hurt to look directly at them. Magma geysers burst into the air in rhythmic intervals, as if the entire world were breathing in flame.

Massive forge-structures, clearly not of human origin, hovered above the rivers—levitating on anchors of gravitational runes and forgotten magics. Some pulsed with residual life, smoke still drifting from their chimneys. Others lay shattered, their interiors exposed like broken clockwork hearts.

A circular construct rose in the far distance—an anvil the size of a city, suspended above a whirlpool of golden fire.

"The Crucible," Raihan whispered. "It's real."

"Where the gods forged their weapons," said Kain. "Now it forges guardians."

...

The terrain was treacherous. Lava-tubes glowed beneath cracked stone. Bridgeways of steel and bone crisscrossed ravines. No natural wind existed, but currents of thermal pressure caused perpetual updrafts and sudden blasts of heat.

Kain's team deployed scout drones. "Mapping now. I want thermal anomalies flagged. Also, keep an eye out for defensive constructs—we're not walking into another Leviathan blind."

Vera's squad, down to six operatives, began setting up signal repeaters. Magic-infused crystals were embedded into the ground to stabilize comms—mana interference was at 60%, fluxuating.

"Magnetic distortion here is insane," she muttered. "We're in a place where physics is only a polite suggestion."

Raihan walked to the edge of a lavaflow and crouched. "This is divine fire… altered. Twisted. Used as fuel. We are not meant to be here."

Kain gave a dry glance. "Yeah, well, no one told the dungeon that."

They reached the first barrier two hours in: a wall of pure flame, hundreds of feet high, rippling with runes of containment. A colossus stood guard—a golem of fire-glass and iron, embedded into the rock.

As they approached, its eyes ignited.

Kain raised a hand. "Engage tactically. Not brute force."

But the guardian moved first.

It tore itself from the rock with a shriek of superheated metal. Its body reformed mid-stride, flame whipping around its limbs like a cloak. With a roar that cracked obsidian, it slammed a hammer into the earth—shockwaves blasted out, tossing half the team to the ground.

"Scatter!" Vera shouted. "Don't cluster!"

Kain rolled under a molten swing and launched a gravity spike. The pulse slammed into the golem's left leg, locking it mid-step. Raihan used the moment to surge in, his blade aflame with holy fire. With a cry, he slashed upward—divine steel met infernal alloy, and sparks like comets lit the air.

It stumbled, but did not fall.

Vera's team launched arcane netting—runes flared as they latched onto the golem's limbs. Kain followed with an EMP charge from his wrist-cannon. The combined impact finally brought the creature to one knee.

"Hit the core!" Kain barked.

Raihan sprinted up its arm like a stairway. With a final cry—"By the Flame Unbroken!"—he drove his sword into the guardian's chest. The creature detonated in a pulse of heat and smoke.

The flame wall behind it parted, revealing a bridge of solid light.

"Looks like you earned us a path," Kain muttered, catching his breath.

The final approach to the Crucible was like entering a star.

The heat rose again—systems strained. Shields fluctuated. Mana fields bent like sails in a storm.

The anvil they had seen earlier loomed ahead, suspended by chains of light above a swirling vortex of golden fire.

And atop the anvil stood their true opponent.

A towering figure—twice the height of a man—clad in armor forged from celestial ore and volcanic glass. A crown of flame hovered over its head, and in its hand was a hammer made from the core of a collapsed star.

"The Flame-Warden," Raihan breathed. "The sixth seal incarnate."

The Warden spoke, voice echoing across the crucible: "Who seeks the seventh path? Who dares the flame of judgment?"

Kain stepped forward. "We're not here for judgment. We're here for the Core."

"You seek power you do not understand," the Warden replied. "Prove your worth—or burn."

The battle began in silence—and then fire.

The Warden moved with terrifying speed, hurling the hammer. It smashed the ground, splitting the platform into hexagonal sections. Magma rose through the cracks.

Kain flew through the air, dodging debris, launching pulse-blasts that curved mid-flight. Vera's last turret deployed mid-fall, locking onto the Warden's head. It fired—only for the projectile to melt mid-air.

Raihan soared upward on wings of flame, summoned by an ancient prayer. He clashed blades with the Warden mid-air. Sparks flew. The air screamed.

"Your flame is stolen!" Raihan shouted. "Return to rest!"

The Warden countered. "My flame is purpose!"

Their clash lit the sky.

On the ground, Kain and Vera coordinated attacks. Grav-mines detonated under the Warden's feet. Arcane sigils flared along the anvil's edge, activated by Vera's runes. Kain drove a plasma spike into the anvil's core—destabilizing the gravity field.

The Warden stumbled.

That was all Raihan needed.

He gathered everything—faith, fury, memory—and dove like a meteor. "Let the fire remember the first light!"

His sword pierced the Warden's chest.

The guardian howled, light bursting from its wounds.

With a final scream, it disintegrated—leaving only a pulsing ember of white fire.