_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5">The sacred clearing y before them, bathed in a strange light that seemed to pulse with the rhythm of a massive heartbeat. Alexander paused at the edge, one hand raised to halt the team's advance. Beyond the threshold of ancient trees, the rgest pnts of the meadow grew in a perfect circle—their leaves and stems swaying despite the absence of wind.

  "Remember Elder Thorne's warning," Alexander said quietly. "The Colossus draws strength from the sun. We'll have the best chance during cloud cover."

  Elijah checked their water reserves, the gss vials glinting as he redistributed them among the team. "Everyone has enough? Once we're in, there's no coming back for supplies."

  Valeria adjusted her bow, eyes fixed on the center of the clearing where the ground seemed to pulse. "Those crystalline formations Elder Thorne mentioned—they'll be the eyes. Primary targets."

  "And the water weakness," Riva added, patting the specialized pouches at her belt. "Hit it when it's charging a beam attack."

  Alexander nodded but couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Their four-person team had proven effective against standard enemies and even the previous guardians, but this confrontation felt different. The intelligence they'd gathered suggested the Meadow Colossus was a significant step up in complexity.

  "We're missing something," he murmured, more to himself than the others.

  "What do you mean?" Elijah asked.

  Alexander shook his head. "I'm not sure. Our approach is sound, but..." He studied the clearing again, noting the various positions and angles. "Our team makeup. It feels like we need... something else. Someone who could..." He trailed off, unable to articute the gap he sensed in their capabilities.

  Valeria's impatience showed in her stance. "We can analyze team composition ter. Our window of cloud cover won't st forever."

  She was right. Alexander pushed the thought aside and focused on the immediate challenge. "Standard formation. Riva, you'll need to be particurly mobile. Elijah, stay in the defensive pocket but be ready to advance when we create openings."

  They moved into the clearing as one unit, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then the ground at the center began to rise.

  The Meadow Colossus emerged in a shower of soil and tangled roots. It towered nearly twenty feet tall, its body a massive weave of living pnts—grasses formed sinuous muscles, wildflowers clustered in vibrant patches, and thick vines served as a rudimentary skeleton. Most disturbing were its eyes—perfect crystalline formations that caught the light, focusing it into deadly beams.

  "Spread out!" Alexander shouted as the first sor beam carved a smoking line across the ground where Riva had stood a second earlier.

  They executed their pnned opening, surrounding the entity from three sides while Elijah maintained a position that allowed him to support any team member. Valeria's arrows struck true, but merely embedded themselves in the woven pnt matter without causing significant damage.

  "It's too dense," she called out, reaching for her specialized arrows.

  Alexander engaged directly, his bde slicing through tangles of vegetation only to have them reweave almost immediately. The guardian was far more resilient than Elder Thorne had described. Something was definitely off in their approach.

  The Colossus swept a massive arm composed of intertwined vines across the clearing, forcing everyone to dive or jump to avoid being battered. As Alexander rolled to his feet, he saw Riva struggling to extract herself from grasping roots that had erupted from the ground beneath her.

  "Riva's pinned!" he shouted.

  Elijah was already moving, a water vial in hand. He spshed its contents across the animated roots, which immediately became sluggish and began to droop. Riva wrenched herself free, nodding thanks as she limped to safer ground.

  "The water works," Elijah confirmed, "but we need more of it—and better application."

  The Colossus's crystalline eyes began to glow with intensifying light—the prelude to another beam attack. Alexander frantically analyzed the situation. Their current approach wasn't working; they needed to adapt.

  "Elijah! Can you infuse your healing with water?" he called out, ducking behind a boulder as the sor beam scorched the air where he'd stood.

  His brother looked startled for a moment, then understanding dawned. "I can try!"

  While Valeria and Riva maintained harassment attacks to keep the guardian's attention divided, Elijah closed his eyes in concentration. The next time he cast a healing ward over Alexander, there was a distinct dampness to the energy that settled on his skin.

  "It's working," Alexander confirmed. "Now we need to weaponize it."

  What followed was a desperate dance of trial and error. Alexander coordinated attacks while adapting their strategy on the fly, directing Elijah to modify his techniques in real-time. When Elijah managed to infuse a water burst into one of Valeria's arrows, it struck the Colossus's midsection and caused an entire section to droop uselessly.

  "That's it!" Alexander shouted. "Valeria, target the supporting vines with water arrows. Riva, get behind it and cut through when sections weaken!"

  Yet even as they found effective tactics, the guardian adapted too. It began summoning smaller pnt entities from the surrounding meadow, overwhelming their position with waves of animated vegetation.

  "We can't keep up with all of them," Valeria warned, her quiver dangerously empty.

  Alexander felt the gap in their team capabilities more acutely than ever. They needed someone who could deal with multiple targets simultaneously, perhaps through some area-effect technique or technological solution. The water weakness was clear, but their methods of exploiting it were too limited.

  A sor beam caught Riva's shoulder, sending her spinning to the ground with a cry of pain. Elijah rushed to her side, applying healing while Alexander and Valeria desperately tried to hold the guardian's attention.

  "We need to end this now," Alexander decided. "All-in attack on the crystal eyes. It's our only chance."

  Gathering their remaining water resources, they unched a coordinated assault. Elijah infused Alexander's bde with moisture while Valeria used her st specialized arrows to target the left crystal eye. Alexander charged forward, dodging animated roots and vines, unching himself in a desperate leap toward the right eye.

  His bde struck true, the water-infused edge causing the crystal to crack and then shatter in a blinding fsh of released energy. Simultaneously, Valeria's arrow struck home, fracturing the second eye. The Meadow Colossus thrashed wildly, its form beginning to unravel as the controlling force dissipated.

  With a final, shuddering convulsion, the massive pnt entity colpsed into an inert heap of vegetation.

  The silence that followed was broken only by their bored breathing. Alexander helped Riva to her feet while Elijah checked everyone for injuries.

  "That was too close," Valeria said, retrieving what arrows she could from the guardian's remains.

  Alexander nodded, the feeling of something missing in their team still nagging at him. "We need to reconsider our approach for future guardians. This was floor three—they'll only get harder from here."

  As the Colossus's remains settled back into the earth, glittering objects became visible among the decomposing pnt matter. They gathered their rewards: vials of rare wildflower essence, equipment with subtle elemental properties, and specialized components that would allow them to modify their existing gear for elemental affinities.

  Most importantly, at the far side of the clearing, a passage had appeared in the ancient tree line—the way forward to Floor 4.

  "We should rest before proceeding," Alexander said, examining a curious blue-tinted bde attachment. "And figure out how to better exploit elemental weaknesses going forward."

  Elijah was checking his neural interface dispy. "We've unlocked specialization options for our equipment. Maybe that will help."

  As they gathered their rewards and tended to their injuries, Alexander couldn't shake the persistent thought that their team was missing a critical component—some capability or perspective that would complete their approach. What that might be, he couldn't yet say, but he suspected they would discover it soon enough.

  For now, they had survived the Meadow Colossus. Floor 4 awaited.