Gardener of Eden

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Field Boss Ice Elemental

A thin trail of smoke from Seraphina’s heating stove drifted upward through a small ventilation hole at the apex of the igloo. In the quiet, freezing expanse of Floor 7, that faint scent of warmth was a beacon to the local predators.

To maintain their strength, Squad 07 established a strict three-man guard rotation. While three slept soundly in the radiant heat of Rowan’s domain-built sanctuary, the other three stood vigilant outside the entrance, their figures blending into the swirling whiteout.

The setup proved its worth almost immediately. Over the course of six hours, three separate packs of Frost Wolves—sleek, icy-furred beasts with glowing azure eyes and crystalline fangs—prowled out of the blizzard, drawn directly to the igloo.

The rotation held flawlessly. Whether it was Caelen and Barney holding the line while Mirei picked off flankers, or Rowan, Lyra, and Seraphina executing quick, quiet elemental bursts, each pack was systematically neutralized without waking the sleeping half of the squad.

Whenever Rowan took his watch, his trusty hoe made quick work of the fallen monsters. Using his refined soil-mana touch to process the beasts before the bitter cold could ruin the spoils, he harvested every usable component cleanly into his system inventory:

- 13 Frost Wolf Pelts

- 25 Wolf Claws

- 11 Wolf Fangs

By the time the six-hour rest concluded, the last wolf pack was dealt with and the heavy blizzard outside had settled into a quiet, crystalline mist.

Inside the shelter, the entire squad awoke completely refreshed, their health and mana reserves fully restored and their bodies shielded from the floor’s passive freezing dampener.

Lyra stretched her arms, stepping out of her plush sleeping bag with a bright, satisfied smile. ”That was easily the best sleep I’ve had since we cleared Floor Four.”

Rowan stood up, adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat with a cool smirk as he reviewed the new materials in his storage. ”And a profitable nap, too. We’ve collected enough prime wolf materials to fund our squad. Get your gear secured—we push deeper into the Glacial Trench.”

***

Rowan tapped the iron butt of his trusty hoe against the center of the ice dome, channeling a brief pulse of domain mana that cleanly collapsed the igloo back into a harmless drift of powdery snow. With their gear packed and reserves full, Squad 07 pushed deeper into the winding, shadow-draped depths of the Glacial Trench.

They hadn’t traveled far before the low whistle of the blizzard was drowned out by the thundering crashes of high-level magic, shattered ice, and desperate battle cries.

Rounding a colossal obsidian ridge, the party emerged onto an elevated balcony overlooking a massive ice amphitheater. In the cavern center stood a towering Glacial Sovereign Ice Elemental—a thirty-foot behemoth composed of dark blue permafrost, spinning frost shards, and a blinding crystalline core. Half a dozen rival adventurer squads were already locked in chaotic combat around it, throwing fireballs, kinetic slashes, and barrier spells, but the boss’s massive area-of-effect frost blasts were steadily wearing them down.

”A field boss!” Lyra exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with fiery excitement.

Field bosses were a rare, highly coveted anomaly between floors. Unlike standard dungeon bosses locked in sealed chambers, field boss rewards were calculated directly by the Tower’s system based strictly on Total Damage Output and Tactical Contribution.

”Quickly, let’s engage! Rewards are based on damage dealt!” Lyra leapt forward without hesitation, her radiant longsword igniting with holy flame as she sprinted straight down the icy incline toward the fray.

”Lyra, wait for—and she’s already gone,” Barney muttered, sighing heavily as he tightened the straps on his tower shield and began jogging down after her.

Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, a cool, calculating smirk forming on his face as his sharp eyes quickly analyzed the chaotic battlefield.

”Don’t just fling raw damage into its armor like those other squads,” Rowan commanded smoothly, stepping down the slope alongside Caelen, Mirei, and Seraphina. ”The system measures effective contribution. Look at its lower joints—the frost armor there is regenerated by ambient ground mana. If we sever its connection to the floor, every hit from Lyra and Caelen will deal double damage.”

”On it,” Caelen said, his eyes narrowing as Edge of the First Warden hummed with dense kinetic energy. ”Barney! Cut off the left flank and clear the add spawns!”

”Seraphina, prep high-tier damage-amplification flasks,” Rowan ordered, raising his hoe as his core mana surged with the vibrant, golden-emerald light of his Gardener of Eden authority. ”Mirei, cover Lyra’s entry. Let’s claim the lion’s share of this boss reward.”

Lyra’s radiant longsword struck first, carving a blazing golden fissure across the elemental’s lower limb, closely followed by Caelen’s sweeping kinetic cleave. At the exact same second, Rowan drove the butt of his hoe into the obsidian ground, channeling his domain mana to cleanly sever the ambient frost feeding the boss’s self-repair mechanism. The localized armor shattered, causing Squad 07’s opening burst to deal amplified, critical damage.

The Glacial Sovereign roared, its blinding azure core flaring deep crimson as its threat focus snapped entirely onto the newcomers.

Colossal fists of solid permafrost slammed down toward Lyra and Caelen with terrifying speed, threatening to crush them against the slick ice floor. But Barney was already moving. Sweeping in front of the DPS line like an unyielding wall, Barney planted his boots into the black ice and raised his massive tower shield. BANG! The first colossal fist collided with his barrier, sending a shower of glowing frost sparks into the blizzard, but Barney absorbed the force with an expert side-parry, turning the giant arm away. When the second fist came crashing down, he locked his shoulder and braced, deflecting the heavy strike directly into the ground to keep his team completely untouched.

Across the icy amphitheater, the surrounding adventurer groups took notice immediately.

Panic rippled through the rival squads as they watched Squad 07’s damage contribution bar rapidly climb up the public field-boss tracker. With a new, highly coordinated squad entering the fray, the system’s reward distribution threatened to shrink significantly for everyone else unless they maintained top-tier damage percentages.

”Push your output! Don’t let them snatch the primary drop!” a rival frontliner bellowed to his team.

Desperate to secure their share of the loot, the other groups dramatically increased the intensity of their attacks. Raging fireballs, lightning spears, and heavy martial arts techniques rained down on the Glacial Sovereign in a chaotic frenzy. The battlefield turned into a blinding spectacle of overlapping magic as every squad dumped their heavy cooldowns at once to out-damage Squad 07.

Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, watching the sudden escalation with a cool, calculating smirk.

”They’re burning through their mana pools out of panic,” Rowan noted smoothly, his sharp eyes tracking the unstable fluctuations in the ice elemental’s glowing core. ”Keep your rhythm steady, team. Let Barney hold the aggro, let them exhaust their big spells, and we’ll take the core when the behemoth staggers.”