The moment Metatron crossed the shimmering threshold, silence swallowed the world behind him. The hum of the crowd, the crunch of snow, even the wind—gone. What replaced it was a cold, hollow stillness.
The Frostvale Dungeon stretched before him like a frozen cathedral—pillars of ice spiraling upward into darkness, the floor a slick sheet of glassy frost. The air shimmered faintly with digital particles, and his visor adjusted automatically, displaying data streams across the HUD.
> [Environment Detected: Frostvale Dungeon – Tier C]
[Recommended Level: 12+]
[Solo Entry Confirmed – Scaling Difficulty: Active]
Metatron smiled faintly. "Perfect."
He stepped forward, boots crunching against ice. The Snow Hunter Mk II visor flickered with real-time analysis—thermal scans, sound pulses, and tactical overlays. Shapes appeared ahead: frost beasts, spectral wolves with translucent bodies and blue fire burning in their eyes.
The first lunged.
Metatron sidestepped smoothly, his pistol flashing once. The muzzle flare burned cyan through the mist. One precise shot to the head—
> [Frost Wraith defeated – 70 XP gained]
He moved like liquid shadow, weaving between enemies with machine-like rhythm. Each motion was measured, calculated; every breath, every pivot optimized through the visor's HUD feed. The integrated earbuds pulsed faintly with heartbeat synchronization feedback, keeping his adrenaline perfectly balanced.
As the last of the frost beasts faded into digital mist, a notification pulsed:
> [Checkpoint Unlocked – Sublevel 1 Cleared]
Metatron knelt, inspecting the glowing core left behind by one of the beasts. It pulsed faintly, emitting low-frequency energy.
> [Item Obtained: Frost Core Fragment]
[Use: Upgrade Material – Enhances Cold Resistance by 8%]
"Not bad," he murmured, slotting it into his inventory.
Then, a low rumble shook the chamber. The ice beneath his feet splintered. Cracks raced outward, and the temperature on his HUD dropped another ten degrees. From the chasm ahead, something massive stirred—metallic armor scraping ice, frost steam curling from vents along its body.
> [Boss Detected – Frost Titan Prototype – Level 15]
Metatron's eyes narrowed behind the visor. The Frost Titan rose, towering and mechanical, its core glowing faintly beneath layers of armor. Its heavy steps made the entire chamber quake.
He switched combat modes.
> [Combat Style: Burst Precision Activated]
[Tactical Awareness: Predictive Combat Path – Online]
The visor projected combat lines across the environment—weak points, ricochet angles, motion delays. Metatron moved, dodging the Titan's first massive swing by a hair's width. The air blast alone sent frost spiraling behind him.
Three shots to the left knee. A fourth to the exposed vent. Sparks exploded.
> [Critical Hit – Armor Integrity -12%]
"Just like that," he muttered, sliding behind an ice pillar as the Titan roared. He could feel the heat of its plasma vents against the frozen air. The earbuds buzzed with proximity warnings and voice-synced tactical data—his design working flawlessly.
Minutes passed in a brutal, rhythmic exchange of gunfire and evasions. Finally, the Titan staggered, its glowing core exposed. Metatron aimed, locked on, and whispered under his breath—
"End program."
One final shot.
> [Boss Defeated – 2,500 XP gained]
[Level Up – Level 11 Reached]
[Dungeon Reward: Frost Titan Blueprint (Epic)]
As the Titan dissolved into shimmering code, the dungeon began to thaw. The walls melted into streams of light that circled around him like auroras, drawn into his visor's data core.
Metatron stood silently amidst the glow, snowlight dancing over his armor.
A quiet message blinked at the edge of his HUD:
> [Special Transmission Incoming – Unknown Source Detected]
He froze. The signal wasn't from Star Company—it was encrypted, fragmented, and carried a faint emblem: a silver wing with a single eye at its center.
His grip tightened around his pistol.
"Looks like someone's watching," he said quietly.
And just like that, the light faded, and the dungeon collapsed into darkness.