Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 145: Dungeon sealed

Chapter 145: Dungeon sealed

The air was cracked and broken, thick with the scent of ozone and burning metal.

The ground still trembled from the aftermath of the cube’s activation.

Behind them, the clone of Elius remained—trapped within the shimmering geometric prism of light, its five swords orbiting slower now, still slashing uselessly against the arcane containment. But none of them looked back.

Zhark, shoulders rising and falling with his heavy breaths, spat a glob of blood to the side and nodded toward the path ahead—the spiraling corridor that led directly into the core of the dungeon, the sealed zone they had been fighting to access.

"Let’s go," he muttered, his voice sharp with pain but firmer now, resolute.

Fraven hesitated only for a heartbeat, his violet eyes narrowing behind blood-smeared lenses as he turned toward the sealed gate. "You sure we can leave that thing behind?" he asked quietly. "The clone?"

Keith didn’t even pause. "It’ll disappear soon," he said, tone tight and focused. "It’s just a projection—an extension of Elius’s consciousness or the dungeon’s defense mechanism.

Once we complete the seal, once the real Elius is trapped... there’ll be nothing left to power it."

Shania stepped forward, silent as ever, her twin blades gleaming faintly with residual illusion magic. She glanced over her shoulder one last time at the flickering clone.

The swords were slowing even more.

"It’s unraveling," she said. "Like a dream that’s waking up."

"Then we move," Keith commanded. "Now."

And with that, the four descended into the deepest vein of the dungeon, where reality itself shimmered and twisted under their boots.

The light bent wrong here.

The walls pulsed like living veins of stone and flame. Magical density was so concentrated that even walking forward required conscious resistance, like pressing through thick walls of water.

Each step dragged.

Each breath burned.

But they advanced, side by side, toward the core: a glowing fissure, jagged and bleeding mana like a wound in space, held back by a spiraling cage of stone and binding runes carved into floating monoliths.

It was here the final seal had to be placed.

The location of the dimensional trap designed to hold Elius inside the dungeon—forever.

Keith’s fingers moved swiftly, pulling shimmering rods from his tactical pouch—each etched with impossibly complex arrays.

He began planting them, one by one, at the corners of the floating monoliths, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Fraven followed closely behind, guiding the rods into their sockets with telekinetic precision. Each time a rod locked in, a pillar of light shot skyward, connecting to the cage and reinforcing its framework.

Zhark stood back, guarding them.

Shania flickered between shadows, watching all directions.

It was working.

The seal was slowly taking shape.

But nothing this important ever went smoothly.

Because as the third rod clicked into place, the dungeon suddenly screamed.

No, not the walls. Not the air.

The dungeon itself.

The spiraling veins of magic flared—boomed—with a deep, echoing roar. The runes above shattered into chaotic light. A rift cracked open beside the seal site, and from its molten throat poured out the first of many horrors.

A creature made of molten iron and elemental flame, its form barely humanoid—bubbling, steaming, molten tears sliding down its face of metal plates and blazing runes. From its chest, fire jetted like a furnace. Its claws were red-hot swords.

It leapt.

Fraven reacted—but not fast enough.

"Keith—!"

Keith turned.

But the monster never reached him.

BOOM—!!!

A shockwave cracked through the chamber as Zhark intercepted it, his fist drenched in pure thunder. The impact disintegrated half the beast’s chest, sending it tumbling sideways in a molten heap.

It wasn’t dead.

It reformed—pulling in chunks of metal from the walls, glowing brighter.

Shania vanished. Reappeared behind it. Her blades went in and out—schlick—schlick—schlick—and the creature fell again, but only briefly.

It was then that Keith stepped forward, placed his hand on a rod, and whispered a command word.

The rod exploded into silver roots, wrapping around the monster like spider-silk chains—binding it in place, sealing its essence back into the dungeon.

"That’s one," he said breathlessly.

Another roar.

Two more fire-metal monstrosities dropped from above, limbs twisting like forged snakes, claws hissing against the stone.

And again—Keith moved.

One hand on a sigil, the other drawing rune powder across the air.

The first beast opened its mouth to unleash a jet of flame—but before it could, a spell-circle activated above it.

ZZZRRRRHHHTTTT—

A magnetic pulse slammed downward. The creature collapsed mid-spell, face-first into the dirt, crushed by its own weight.

The second lunged.

And Keith threw a dagger—not at the monster, but into the ground.

It landed perfectly on a seal node.

The rod activated.

A spike of frost surged upward, freezing the creature mid-air.

"Seal them," Keith ordered.

Fraven obeyed—his telekinesis locking the rods in place while Shania darted from shadow to shadow, cutting down any stray embers trying to manifest into more monsters.

Zhark stood in the center, thunder pulsing from his skin like a heartbeat, eyes scanning for any breach.

Three more rods. Then two.

And still more metal-fire monsters appeared, this time crawling from cracks in the floor like centipedes made of lava and gears. They hissed. Screeched. Spoke ancient tongues none of them understood.

Keith activated another trap glyph.

The monsters disintegrated instantly into shrapnel and ash.

"Almost done!" he barked.

Last rod.

It didn’t fit.

The socket was cracked.

"Fraven—!"

"I see it," the telekinetic snapped, eyes glowing. He reached out, hands twitching, and twisted the floating monolith with invisible pressure. It groaned. Shuddered.

Then realigned.

"Go!"

Keith rammed the rod home.

BOOOOOOOOM—!!

The entire dungeon shuddered.

A pillar of white-hot light shot from the center seal, connecting with every monolith, every anchor point.

The rift above snapped shut.

The crackling iron beasts dissolved, the air purified in an instant.

The light surged upward into the sky of the dungeon, piercing the heavens like a final exclamation.

And then silence.

The dungeon went still.

The heartbeat of mana receded.

The light dimmed—but did not disappear.

The seal was complete.

Elius, wherever he was inside—trapped, alone in the collapsing sub-dimension—was now contained.

Forever.

Zhark exhaled, falling to his knees.

Shania leaned against a monolith, her blades flickering out.

Fraven sat down and just stared at the seal, his eyes blank with exhaustion.

Keith, bloodied and breathless, gave the command to confirm:

"Dungeon is sealed. My older brother is... contained."

They had done it.

They had sealed away the enemy of gods.