Round 135

The walls' synchronized breathing stopped completely, replaced by an ominous silence that felt heavier than any coordinated rhythm could manage. The fungal growths lining the corridor seemed to pulse in unison with Halie's corrupted right arm, tendrils writhing beneath translucent skin—20 seconds until coordination fails completely. Jeane maintained her 20m barrier radius around Silra despite arcane strain building from downstairs proximity. "You're proposing we gamble our entire operational advantage on a sixty-second window while feeding upstairs intelligence exactly what it needs for complete divine magic countermeasures," Jeane said, her wings trembling visibly from the strain of containing Silra's corruption. The air between them crackled with barely controlled power.

Halie shook her head, the gentle face now set in grim determination. "I understand your tactical assessment clearly now—you're saying that maintaining this channel for sixty seconds feeds the enemy intelligence upstairs exactly what it needs to develop permanent resistance against divine magic." She held up her corrupted arm, tendrils writhing beneath translucent skin. "But here's what you're not considering: if we let Silra lose her arm and retreat, every step forward becomes riskier terrain navigation through increasingly hostile ground with expanding acid pools. A purified corridor now creates safe passage immediately rather than later when our options are worse."