The cavern's ceiling was obscured by shadows, looming high above them and disappearing into darkness. The uneven stone walls glowed eerily with dim blue crystals that protruded at irregular intervals, casting everything in ghostly light.
This place felt... stable, in stark contrast to the shifting tunnels behind them. The air, however, was still heavy with something invisible but palpable. Like gloom or pressure. Or, like standing at the bottom of a deep ocean.
Kael's pulse slowed as he looked around carefully, taking in every detail. The wraiths had stopped at the threshold, held back as though restrained by some invisible force. That could also mean something..., something they feared existed here.
Reiner rolled his shoulders and straightened, trying to project confidence. His breathing was still irregular, but he did a good job masking it. "Anyone hurt?"
Luthen grimaced, flexing his shoulder where the wraith had latched onto him. Black frost still clung to the edges of his armor, slowly melting. "Nothing serious. I've had worse."
Sera examined her bow with a silent curse and frustrated pout. "My arrows went straight through them unless I hit their cores directly. We were lucky to escape."
Kael remained silent, fingers wrapped tight around the Abyssal Fang Dagger's grip. It had reacted again during the fight.
The wraith he'd struck with the blade had been absorbed, just like the Shadow Maw before it. Energy flowing directly into the weapon, then into him. But there was no time to analyze it now.
Oris moved slowly around the perimeter, studying the walls with his staff held ready. "This place... doesn't feel like the others. It's almost like a sealed chamber, built for some specific purpose."
Reiner frowned, following the mage's gaze. "You think this is a dead end?"
"Not necessarily," Oris said carefully, pointing downward. "Look at the ground."
Kael's gaze followed. The stone beneath their feet was smoother than the rough dungeon tunnels they'd traversed. And etched into it, barely visible in the low light, were faint lines forming complex patterns. Geometric shapes interlocking in ways that seemed intentional.
Runes.
These runes were old ones, nearly worn away by time.
Mira knelt down, running her fingers over the faded markings. "I think we're the only group that encountered this chamber recently. Also, something was here long before us." She frowned, tracing one of the patterns. "And whatever it was left something behind. Or... sealed something away."
A low thrum echoed through the cavern, felt more than heard.
Everyone stiffened.
Kael took a step forward, drawn toward the center of the chamber by instinct he didn't fully understand. Beneath his boots, the patterns pulsed faintly, responding to his presence. His primal energy stirred in return, creating a silent hum that reverberated through his bones.
Suddenly, the air cracked.
A jagged line of deep violet energy split the ground in front of them, tearing through stone like a wound carved into reality itself. The rift pulsed, edges crackling with unstable power.
The group immediately fell back, weapons raised.
"What the hell—" Luthen began, but stopped mid-sentence as the earth gave way beneath the rift. Stone crumbled, revealing a pitch-black void below that seemed to swallow light itself.
Something began to rise from the abyss.
A hand.
Not a fleshy hand, but pure abyssal mist swirling and condensing into a massive clawed form.
The fingers stretched abnormally long, gripping the rift's edges and pulling. Something larger followed, dragging itself up from the depths below.
A deep growl rumbled from the darkness, vibrating through the chamber.
Then it emerged fully.
A towering shadowy entity. Its body was vaguely humanoid but constantly warping, never quite solid. It had no familiar features — no mouth, no nose — save for two blazing white eyes that burned with far more consciousness than the wraiths possessed.
A system notification appeared before Kael's vision.
---
[SYSTEM ALERT!]
[Half-Step Primal Beast: Feral Abyssborn
Status: Unstable Manifestation]
---
Kael felt his stomach tighten.
A Half-Step Primal Beast.
This wasn't an ordinary dungeon creature. It looked like something else entirely. Something connected to the Abyss, not just corrupted by it. And it was staring directly at him.
A low, barely comprehensible whisper slithered through the cavern, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
"You... are not one of them."
The voice wasn't spoken aloud. It resonated directly in their minds, sounding cold and ancient.
Then it moved. Faster than something its size had any right to.
It lunged at Kael, clawed fist shooting out like a spear. He barely had time to twist his body, rolling to the side. The stone where he'd stood exploded into fragments, the impact alone sending dust and debris flying into the air.
A crater remained where the blow had landed.
"Spread out!" Reiner ordered, drawing his blade smoothly. His voice carried authority despite the fear evident in his eyes.
Luthen and Sera were already moving, flanking the creature from opposite sides. Mira and Oris began preparing spells, hands moving in practiced patterns.
Kael didn't hesitate. He charged forward, dagger blazing with faint crimson light as he aimed for what should be the creature's core, a center mass where the mist seemed densest.
The blade sank into the mist-like body...
And passed straight through.
Kael's eyes narrowed. It had no physical form. His dagger could wound wraiths at least, but this thing was different. It was more stable and real, despite being made of nothing solid.
The Abyssborn's head swiveled toward him with unnatural fluidity. "Interesting."
Its arm swung out in a wide arc, too fast to dodge completely.
Kael managed to raise his arm defensively, but the impact still caught him. The force sent him flying backward, his body slamming into the cavern wall with bone-jarring impact. Pain exploded through his ribs, white-hot and immediate.
But something else happened.
The moment the Abyssborn's strike made contact, the primal energy within him responded. Heat flooded through his system, and the pain began to dull almost immediately, not healing to be exact, but managing the damage in a controlled manner.
---
[Abyssal Endurance Activated]
[Damage threshold increased temporarily]
[HP degradation slowed]
---
Kael's vision refocused quickly. His wounds weren't healing rapidly, but the ability kept him functional, dulling the worst of the pain and preventing shock from setting in.
He forced himself to his feet, mind already racing through options.
"Kael!" Mira called out, genuine concern in her voice. "Are you—?"
"I'm fine," he cut her off, gaze never leaving the Abyssborn. "Physical attacks don't work on it. It has no real body."
Reiner cursed under his breath. "Then how the hell do we kill it?"
Oris stepped forward, staff glowing with golden light. "If it's without a physical body, then it's still tethered to the rift." His tone was calm, analytical despite the danger. "We need to sever that connection."
Mira's eyes lit up with understanding. "The runes on the ground. They were probably sealing it, keeping this chamber stable. If we can reactivate them..."
Kael's mind worked quickly, connecting the pieces. The markings and the rift. The wraiths' refusal to enter the chamber. This creature wasn't supposed to be here in an F-Rank dungeon. It had been sealed away, probably for centuries. And something had disturbed its sleep, maybe them.
Kael's jaw tightened. "I'll keep it distracted."
Reiner looked at him sharply. "Can you handle it alone?"
"No time for debate." Kael adjusted his grip on the dagger, lowering into a fighting stance. "Focus on the runes. I'll buy you time."
The Abyssborn watched him, its warping form pulsing rhythmically. The white eyes flickered with something that might have been recognition. "You carry our mark," it whispered in the same incomprehensible tone, voice like wind through a graveyard. "Yet you resist the call. Why?"
Kael ignored its words. Philosophy could wait. Right now, survival was all that mattered.
He darted forward, feinting left then cutting right, avoiding another devastating claw strike by inches. The beast was fast, but Kael was almost as fast, enhanced by his traits and pushed to his limits by necessity. He kept its attention fixed solely on him, weaving between attacks, never staying still.
Behind him, Oris and Mira were already working. Bright lines of golden energy began tracing over the faded runes, reactivating ancient patterns long dormant.
Reiner hovered nearby, sword ready. "Hurry," he muttered. Luthen stayed on the periphery, waiting for an opening that might never come.
Kael saw his chance. The Abyssborn pulled back, gathering energy for what looked like a devastating area attack.
Instead of retreating, Kael charged straight at it. He ran directly into the path of the incoming blow, then at the last possible second, dropped into a slide. The clawed hand passed over him, missing by a hair's breadth.
As he slid beneath the creature's extended arm, he lashed out with his dagger. Not to wound, but to disrupt.
The blade pulsed faintly.
The Abyssborn recoiled, and for the first time, its form wavered. The mist lost cohesion for just a moment, revealing something darker underneath.
Oris caught sight of it. "Now!"
Mira slammed her palm down on the completed rune circle. The entire cavern shook violently. The runes blazed to life, glowing brilliant gold, then erupted upward in pillars of pure sealing energy.
The beams struck the Abyssborn from multiple angles, lancing through its shifting form. The creature screamed, a sound like tearing metal and breaking glass combined.
A shockwave burst outward. Kael was thrown back before he could react, landing hard in a roll. His eyes stayed locked on the beast as he came up in a crouch.
Behind the Abyssborn, the rift began to collapse in on itself, violet energy imploding.
"No—" The creature's voice grew weaker, distorted. "This... is not... the end... You will... remember..."
Its form unraveled rapidly as the rift closed. With one final screech that echoed through the chamber, it dissolved into nothing, pulled back into whatever abyss it had crawled from.
Silence fell over the chamber.
Kael remained kneeling, breathing hard.
Slowly, the group began to lower their weapons.
"Is it... gone?" Sera asked quietly.
Oris nodded, though he looked pale. "The seal is restored. It won't return. Not from here, at least."
Reiner sheathed his sword with shaking hands. "What the hell was that thing?"
No one had an answer.
But Kael knew one thing for certain: the dungeon's corruption was deeper than anyone realized.
And somehow, it was connected to him.