Another grueling boss fight had just ended, and the smell of burnt wood and charred flesh was heavy in the air. Ingrid was quietly chanting her prayers of healing, going from one combatant to the next. Her hands were covered in a calming white glow, and when she passed them over a wound, torn skin and muscle knitted themselves back together, blood ceased to flow. When she had moved on, she left not even dents and tears in their armor to show where they'd been attacked.

The most recent champion to challenge their progress had been a wicker man, a twenty-foot-tall construct of dried branches and kindling, with a person inside of it. The man's pleas for help had soon turned into screams of anguish as the wicker man burst into flame, and his shrieks continued as the wicker man had charged into their midst, slashing at them with burning, three-foot-long fingers barbed with thorns.

The adventurers had attacked him furiously, but the giant construct seemed to weather their blows without apparent pain, and though it was composed of burning wood, the form itself was springy and highly resistant to being cut or broken. It was ultimately an act of frustration by Hiro that showed them how to defeat the creature; the warrior had finally tired of the screams coming from the creature's chest, and had lashed out with a long, heavy spiked flail. The spiked ball managed to slide in under the wicker man's rib cage, and there was a crunch as the screaming changed in tone. At the same time, the giant construct stumbled backwards, barbed arms flailing in apparent pain though no sound came out of its featureless face.

Hiro himself seemed surprised at the effectiveness of his gesture, and was almost decapitated when the wicker man suddenly surged forward again, launching an even more vicious series of attacks that forced him to concentrate solely on dodging and gave him no time to launch a counterattack. Avril had noticed the strike, however, and launched a lightning bolt into the same area of the flames that Hiro's flail had smashed into. There were more shrieks and the wicker man staggered again. "Attack into the chest cavity, if you can! The only way to hurt this thing is to take out the poor suffering bastard inside!"

The wicker man had not lasted much longer after that, and it finally collapsed into a pile of charred wood upon the stone ground. Right after it collapsed, a chunk of wall had slid aside, revealing a large hidden door that led onwards. Ingrid had suggested they stop for a breather and to get their wounds patched up, and everyone had readily agreed.

"How long is this dungeon, anyway?" Lilith groused, kicking at the still-smoking body of the wicker man. "It seems like we've been in here for days."

"That's because we have been," Avril replied. "They really went all out when they designed this final dungeon. It could take months to explore everything in here ... as for how far we have to go, I'm unable to tell without a glimpse outside."

After a few more minutes, everyone was fully recovered from the fight, if a bit weary of the constant fighting. They assembled before the newly exposed door, and as usual, Tyrion was first through the door. He whistled and looked back at Avril. "Well, you asked for a look outside ... check this out."

The doorway led to a short passage, at the other end of which they could see the familiar warmth of sunlight. Ingrid actually gave a rousing cheer at the sight, then had the grace to look embarrassed by her outburst. "Sorry, it just feels like so long since we've last seen the sunlight. I've been going a little stir-crazy inside this giant tree."

The passage led outwards to a ledge, and from here they could look out and see a magnificent view of Midgard. The entire landscape that they could see was covered in the signs of war. At some distance from Yggdrasil, human and Vanir armies clashed with hordes of giants, demons and other monsters. From this distance, it was difficult to see who was winning, but she thought she could just make out the banner of Olaf Baldurson. The old raider had made himself useful after all. Closer to the base, they could make out the small outpost that they had stopped at before going on to the world-tree itself. It, too, seemed under attack, and this defense was being led by a motley assortment of garishly dressed characters that were too mismatched to be anything but adventurers like themselves.

Avril had moved out onto the ledge by this point. It was about five feet wide, broad enough for even Tyrion to walk comfortably, and continued out of sight around the curve of the giant tree. A closer look showed that the ledge was on a upward slope, and likely spiralled its way up the tree. Looking up, she could see her suspicion was correct, as she saw the bottom of another ledge that continued upwards.

Tyrion was looking expectantly at her, and she turned her attention to estimating the height they had climbed up until now. "We seem to be about halfway up the trunk ... 56.7%, to be exact," she said, her eyes sliding up the side of the trunk to the dense foilage that seemed to reach straight out of the atmosphere. "I'd estimate that we're still a few days from the top, but we're making good time. I can almost smell Ragnarok's stench from down here."

Lilith tapped her on the shoulder. Avril turned, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but then the succubus pointed with a clawed finger at a shadow that was descending from the treetops, heading straight for them. "That might not be Ragnarok that you're smelling ... but it's definitely a dragon."