An Extra's POV: My Three Fiancees Hate Me-Chapter 278: army of undead

Riven walked over to the shattered remains, crouching to pick up the faintly glowing crystals scattered across the icy floor. He turned them in his hand briefly before slipping them into his inventory. The silence that followed was eerie, too still for comfort.

Then Twilight's voice echoed in his mind.

"Could it be that it's not actually magic that hurts them, but heat?" she suggested.

Riven paused. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Look around," she said. "It's freezing here, unnaturally so. Maybe the monsters on this floor aren't weak to magic itself… but to heat. Anything that raises the temperature might damage them."

Riven glanced around again, taking in the frost clinging to the stone, the air so cold it burned his lungs. Her words made sense.

"Heat-based weakness…" he muttered under his breath. "That would explain why the flames worked so well."

He gripped his sword a little tighter, watching as faint wisps of cold mist curled around his boots. "If that's the case," he said quietly, "then this entire floor might be alive, feeding off the cold."

Twilight's tone grew serious. "Then we'll need to burn our way through."

Riven nodded. "Yeah. Burn everything that tries to stop us."

He started forward again, his steps echoing faintly through the frozen silence as the crimson light of his blade flickered against the icy walls.

Riven ignited his blade, blue flames roaring to life along its edge. The light bathed the frozen tunnel. His footsteps echoed softly through the silence, the cold biting at him, trying to seep into his bones, but the heat of his flames carved a path through it.

Then he felt it, another presence.

It moved fast, cutting through the air toward him.

Riven spun, just in time to raise his sword. The impact rattled his arm, sparks and frost scattering as steel met unseen flesh. He gritted his teeth and poured more energy into his flames. The blue fire flared violently, burning through the invisible creature. It screeched, retreating in pain.

Riven didn't waste a second. He unleashed his Infernal Domain, and once again the silhouette of the monster appeared, distorted, humanoid, writhing in translucent agony.

He lunged. His blade pierced through its chest, straight into its heart.

Then he willed the flames to erupt.

The explosion of heat vaporized the creature, leaving only a crystal clattering to the icy ground.

He bent down and picked it up. "When you can see them and land a hit, it's much easier to kill," he said.

"Yeah, seems so," Twilight replied. "But let's confirm something, try using your blood magic this time. If it's really heat that hurts them, magic without fire shouldn't do anything."

Riven nodded. He slashed his palm lightly, crimson drops floating upward as he manipulated his mana. The blood gathered into a sphere above his hand, pulsing faintly.

He advanced cautiously. When another translucent figure appeared within his Infernal Domain, he hurled the sphere of blood magic straight at it.

The attack passed cleanly through. No reaction.

"Guess that settles it," he muttered. "It's heat, not magic."

The creature shrieked and charged. Riven swung once, clean, precise, and the invisible body split in two. Both halves dissolved into nothing, leaving behind another faintly glowing crystal. He picked it up without slowing.

"We have to move quickly," he said.

"Agreed," Twilight replied.

He broke into a run, his burning sword illuminating the icy tunnels as he cut through more of the translucent monsters along the way. Each one fell with a single strike, their remains scattering behind him like shards of glass. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

After several minutes, he reached a staircase spiraling downward. He stopped at the edge, staring into the depths below.

The air that drifted up was heavy, cold, but beneath that chill was something else: a strange, pulsing aura.

It crawled up his spine, sending an involuntary shiver through him.

Something down there was calling to him.

He had never gone this deep into any dungeon before. This would be his first time, and every instinct screamed that whatever waited below was not something ordinary.

Still, Riven tightened his grip on his flaming sword, took a deep breath, and began his descent.

Riven stepped onto the next floor and froze.

Before him stretched an army of undead.

They stood in endless ranks, a sea of hollow eyes and rusted armor stretching as far as he could see, hundreds of them, maybe more. Skeletal soldiers, twisted knights, rotting mages clutching staves that hummed with energy.

Then his system's voice blared in his head:

[The One Loved by Chaos has been activated.]

[The One Loved by Chaos has been activated.]

Twice.

Riven's pulse spiked. Sweat trickled down his forehead. "This is bad," he muttered under his breath.

He turned around, instinctively reaching for the staircase, but it was gone. The entrance he had come from had simply vanished, replaced by solid stone and darkness.

And then he saw it.

At the far end of the army stood the being that had taken Sophia. The creature's withered frame loomed in the distance, a glowing green orb swirling with energy in its hand. It was watching him. Waiting. Charging.

Riven's jaw clenched.

Running was the logical choice. The only choice. But after everything, after coming this far, he couldn't turn back. Not now. Not when he could finally see the thing that had stolen everything from him.

He took a single step forward.

And the army moved.

The floor trembled as hundreds of undead surged toward him, skeletons clattering, knights roaring, mages chanting in unison.

Riven roared back. He sprinted forward, leaping high into the air, his sword engulfed in roaring blue fire. He came down with a thunderous crash, flames erupting from the impact and sweeping across the battlefield, incinerating dozens at once.

"Where are they?!" he shouted, his voice echoing like thunder. "Where the hell are my friends?! Hand them over!"

He swung his blade again, and again, each strike sending bursts of flame and shockwaves tearing through the horde. Undead shattered, burned, and fell, but more kept coming.

Riven moved like a storm, each step fueled by rage and desperation. He blocked blades, parried spears, and deflected spells of dark energy that exploded around him. His movements were raw survival, yet precise.

He wasn't fighting for survival.

He was fighting to save his brother, his friend, his fiancée.

And he would burn this entire floor, this entire dungeon, if that's what it took to get them back.