Gardener of Eden

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Anemoi the Tempest Monarch

Mirei’s bowstring hummed like a plucked harp wire in the gale. Arrow after arrow streaked through the violent updrafts, her frost-infused shafts shattering the wings of the diving Zephyr-Claw Harpies mid-air. Down on the swaying basalt bridge, Caelen swept the Edge of the First Warden in a wide, rising arc, slicing through a pair of Gale-Rift Hawks as they attempted a sound-barrier strike. Beside him, Princess Lyra’s longsword flared with blinding sun-mana, her radiant golden aura cutting through the howling gusts to vaporize the remaining wind-beasts before they could touch the backline.

As the final avian terror dissolved into sparkling blue mana dust, three brilliant beams of golden light erupted simultaneously from the stone floor beneath their boots.

The surging light enveloped Caelen, Mirei, and Lyra as a resonant chiming echoed across the floating monoliths. The air trembled with a dense overflow of raw aura as all three hit Level 20.

A surge of refreshed vitality washed over them. Caelen flexed his fingers against the grip of his greatsword, his physical stamina and mana reserves expanding significantly to match the peak of Tier 2 combat standards. Lyra’s golden aura grew noticeably warmer and denser, wrapping around her armor like solid sun-glass, while Mirei’s eyes flickered with heightened sharp-shooting perception.

”Well, look at that,” Barney chuckled, leaning against his vanguard shield with a wide grin. ”Four level twenties in the squad now. Guess I’d better push myself if I don’t want to get left in the dust.”

”Congratulations, everyone,” Rowan said, stepping over the edge of the stabilized basalt platform. He adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat and leaned casually on the Hoe of the World-Tiller. ”Hitting level twenty right before a quadrant boss fight couldn’t be better timing.”

”My mana pool expanded significantly,” Lyra said, sheathing her gleaming blade as the golden leveling glow faded into her armor. ”The physical weight of the wind pressure doesn’t even bother me anymore.”

”My draw speed and arrow velocity just scaled up too,” Mirei added, nodding toward the highest floating spire looming in the distance through the storm clouds.

Atop that colossal, hovering peak, a violent swirl of storm-grey clouds and crackling ozone marked the domain chamber of Anemoi, the Tempest Monarch. With three of their core combatants now sitting at Level 20, Squad 07 turned toward the final challenge standing between them and the Ninth Floor.

***

For the next thirty minutes, the floating basalt platform became an impromptu training ground as the newly elevated Level 20 combatants adapted to their expanded capabilities.

Caelen executed a series of lightning-fast practice swings with the Edge of the First Warden, testing the sharp increase in his physical power. The massive blade moved with terrifying speed, cutting clean vacuum trails through the gale-force winds. Beside him, Princess Lyra concentrated her golden royal aura, compressing it from a broad light into a dense, armor-like barrier that brushed off the biting wind pressure with effortless ease.

Farther down the platform, Mirei drew her bowstring back to its absolute limit, taking aim at a fragment of drifting stone over two hundred meters away across the canyon. She released her arrow without looking; the shaft pierced the stone precisely through its center before the sound of the bowstring had even faded. Her refined dexterity and perception made tracking targets through turbulence feel second nature.

”All set?” Rowan asked, adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat as he watched the three finalize their recalibration.

”More than ready,” Caelen said, rolling his shoulders as he sheathed his sword with a clean metallic click. ”The difference in reaction speed and raw power is night and day.”

”Then let me clear the path,” Rowan replied, driving the wooden tip of the Hoe of the World-Tiller into the basalt floor.

Luminous green roots of domain mana surged from his boots into the suspended stone, reaching across the endless abyss to bind the remaining floating landmasses together. The swaying monoliths locked into place, forming a rock-solid causeway that led directly up the grand staircase of floating islands.

Squad 07 moved as a single, synchronized unit, effortlessly vaulting across the anchored platforms as the sky around them grew progressively darker. Atmospheric ozone crackled against their armor, and the howling winds deepened into a thunderous rumble.

At the absolute apex of the domain hovered the largest monolith in the North Quadrant—a jagged mountain of dark slate encased inside a raging, hurricane-force wind wall. Standing amidst the swirling tempest at the center of the peak was Anemoi, the Tempest Monarch, its translucent form forged from pure storm mana and eye-searing lightning, waiting for their challenge.

[Floor Quadrant Boss Identified]

Name: Anemoi, the Tempest Monarch

Title: Lord of the Skyward Spire

Level: 20 (Tier 2 Apex Monarch)

Type: Elemental Spirit / Monarch

Boss Overview & Traits

The Anchored Gale Core (Physical Weakness): Passively disperses 70% of physical damage through its intangible spirit form. However, when interrupting high-tier spells or piercing the center of its barrier, its spirit shell collapses to shield the fist-sized Gale Core in its chest—exposing it to 300% critical shatter damage from direct physical impact.

Gale-Rift Pressure: Emits a 360-degree shockwave of hyper-compressed air across a 20-meter radius, dealing heavy wind damage and applying extreme knockback designed to sweep unanchored targets off floating monoliths into the abyss.

Vacuum Blade Storm: Lashes out with invisible, razor-sharp ribbons of pressurized air that bypass physical armor defenses and inflict continuous wind-bleed ticks on impacted targets.

Gale Barrier Overdrive: Surrounds itself in a hurricane-force wind wall that deflects and reflects incoming physical arrows and projectiles directly back toward their source.

Eye of the Hurricane (30% HP Trigger): Creates a massive atmospheric vacuum across the arena, pulling all enemies into melee range while raining down crackling lightning strikes and destructive sonic pressure blasts.

The howl of the tempest atop the central monolith was deafening. Swirling clouds of grey fog and razor-sharp wind lashed against the floating island, turning every step into a grueling ordeal. Squad 07 quickly found themselves fighting a grueling battle of attrition.

Against a monarch forged of pure, intangible wind, Rowan’s Gardener of Eden authority faced its harshest counter yet. His usual devastating plant entanglements were ripped to shreds by atmospheric shear before they could even sprout, and his earth pillars were eroded into fine powder by Anemoi’s high-frequency pressure waves. Recognizing his offensive limitation early, Rowan immediately shifted his strategy from attack to total environmental defense.

Driving the Hoe of the World-Tiller deep into the basalt peak, Rowan anchored his squad to the core of the landmass. He summoned thick, iron-hard root barricades and petrified soil ramparts, creating a dense defensive bunker across the platform.

Whenever Anemoi unleashed its crushing Gale-Rift Pressure, Rowan’s rooted barriers absorbed the brutal kinetic shockwaves, preventing Barney, Caelen, and Lyra from being swept off the edge into the infinite abyss.

When the monarch fired relentless bursts of Vacuum Blade Storm, Rowan’s domain flora expanded instantly, taking the brunt of the atmospheric blades so Barney could keep the team shielded and healthy.

With Caelen and Lyra’s heavy melee slashes passing uselessly through 70% of the monarch’s intangible vapor form, the burden of dealing damage fell almost entirely onto Mirei.

Grounded behind Rowan’s protective root-walls, the Level 20 archer stood calm in the center of the storm. Her eyes, heightened by her recent level advancement, tracked the swirling currents of Anemoi’s Gale Barrier Overdrive.

The wind wall continuously attempted to reflect her projectiles back at the party, forcing her to time every single arrow with mathematical perfection. She waited for the microsecond pauses between the monarch’s spell casts—the exact moment its outer spirit shell shifted to protect its inner chest core.

With every heavy drawn frost arrow, Mirei chipped away at the entity. Her ice-coated shafts froze localized pockets of air surrounding the boss, briefly forcing the spirit vapor to solidify so Caelen and Lyra could land quick, secondary strikes.

Bit by grueling bit, through sheer defensive discipline and Mirei’s unwavering marksmanship, the squad wore the tempest down. A final, precise frost arrow shattered against the boss’s central chest aura, causing the monarch to shriek in atmospheric agony as its health bar finally ticked down to 50%.

Battered, drenched in sweat, and maintaining their footing only through Rowan’s immovable root lattice, Squad 07 readied themselves as the winds around the peak began to swirl with dangerous, unpredictable energy.