The chamber opened before them, a vast, circular cavern. In the center, floating a meter off the ground above a pedestal of smooth, black stone, was an orb. It was the size of a man's head, a black so deep it seemed to absorb the faint light from Thalassa's luminous stone. Veins of dark purple swirled slowly beneath its surface, like a contained storm. The air here was different. The hum, once a distant annoyance, was now a palpable vibration that resonated in their bones, in their teeth. It smelled of the sharp scent of a gathering storm, of ancient and raw magic, and something else—a metallic, expectant smell.
Vespera stopped dead in the entryway, her eyes wide. "By the Flame... What is that thing?"
But Thalassa did not stop. She walked forward as if in a dream, her face a mask of terror and a strange, impossible familiarity. "Thalassa, wait," Ari said, but his voice sounded weak, choked by the energy in the room.
"I..." Thalassa whispered, her hand extending toward the floating orb, her voice a trembling echo. "I recognize it... It's... calling to me... it knows my name..."
The energy in the room crackled. Ari lunged and grabbed her arm, feeling the static raise the hairs on his skin. "Thalassa, no! Snap out of it! Get away from that thing! It's a trap!"
She turned to look at him, but her eyes were no longer her own. The icy blue was gone, replaced by a purple glow that reflected the orb's light. With surprising strength that caught him off guard, she broke free from his grasp. "I must..." she murmured, and turned back, walking the final steps to the pedestal as if she were a pilgrim reaching the end of her journey.
"Captain, don't do it!" Vespera shouted, taking a step forward.
But it was too late. Thalassa's hand, pale and trembling, touched the cold, smooth surface of the Orb of Primordial Chaos.
The silence that followed lasted an eternity and a fraction of a second.
Then, reality shattered.
An explosion of pure energy, a nova of black and purple light, erupted from the orb, engulfing Thalassa completely. The shockwave hit Ari and Vespera like an invisible hammer, throwing them backward. Ari slammed against the fleshy wall of the cave with a blow that knocked the wind out of his lungs. Vespera rolled across the floor, screaming in surprise and pain.
In the center of the energy storm, Thalassa was screaming. But it wasn't just a scream of agony. It was a primordial howl, a mixture of unbearable pain and terrifying ecstasy.
Ari, stunned, raised his head just in time to witness the metamorphosis.
Thalassa's templar plate armor, forged to withstand swords and spells, shattered like crystal. Metal plates flew in all directions, disintegrating before they hit the ground. Her body, suspended in the air within the vortex of energy, began to change. It elongated, her limbs growing slender and elegant. Her skin, already pale, lost all color, turning an almost luminous white, like polished marble.
Two protrusions sprouted from her forehead. With a wet, sickening sound of bone breaking through skin, two horns of obsidian black, smooth and elegantly curved back, forced their way out. Her ears stretched, becoming long and pointed, like an elf from legend. Her eyes, once blue, flooded with a brilliant blood-red, and her pupils contracted into intimidating vertical slits.
And her clothes... the linen tunic and leather pants dissolved, reforming from the dark energy itself. The shadowy matter wove itself around her, creating a regal, form-fitting dress of deep black that left her shoulders and back completely bare, accentuating her new, dangerous figure.
But the transformation was not just physical. Inside her mind, a torrent of impossible information bombarded her. Images that were not her own. A city of glass and steel skyscrapers. Neon lights. The smell of wet asphalt. The memory of a lonely death in an office, a face slumped over a keyboard, the victim of final exhaustion after a life given to work. She saw fragments of stories she didn't understand: cartoons with enormous eyes, black-and-white comics, video games about farm management and... and dungeons.
Her cry of pain transformed, broke, becoming a cry of pure and absolute existential confusion. "What...?! Tokyo?! This... this is an isekai! I'm... I'm the final boss!"
The residual energy from the explosion, a secondary wave of chaotic power, slammed into Vespera. She too screamed, a sharp, piercing shriek as the transformation hit her in a different way—more explosive, more... sensual.
Her templar clothes tore, not disintegrating, but reforming into strips of black leather and crimson silk that barely covered the essentials. Her body arched backward unnaturally. Her breasts swelled to an almost impossible size, overflowing the improvised leather corset. Her waist narrowed drastically while her hips and rear widened, creating an exaggerated and voluptuous hourglass figure.
With a tearing sound of skin and muscle, two leathery wings, like those of a giant bat, burst from her back, spattering the floor with drops of her own blood. Her red hair, once like autumn leaves, ignited, becoming a cascade of liquid fire that seemed to burn without flame.
Ari, his back against the wall, watched the dual metamorphosis with a mixture of absolute horror and a primal, lecherous fascination that shamed him. He saw the pain, the screams, the defilement of his friends... but his primitive brain couldn't help but register the terrifying beauty and raw erotic power their new forms emanated. It was like watching the birth of two terrible and magnificent goddesses.
As suddenly as it had begun, the energy subsided. The orb returned to its latent state, floating silently. Thalassa and Vespera fell to the floor, gasping, their bodies trembling from the shock of the transformation.
Silence. A dense, heavy silence.
And then, before the stunned eyes of the three, a translucent blue window of light flickered into existence in the air.
[Congratulations! The Dungeon Core "The Forgotten Labyrinth" has found a new Master!] [Initial Binding Bonus granted: 10,000 Dungeon Points (DP)] [Generating Character Sheets for those present...]
Ari blinked. "What the hell is that?"
Before anyone could answer, a second screen of light appeared, floating just in front of Thalassa, who was getting to her feet with an uncertain grace.
[CHARACTER SHEET: DUNGEON MASTER] Name: Thalassa Class: Demon Queen (Unique Class - Evolutionary) Level: 1 Unique Class Skills: ** * [Master's Eye (Passive)]: Allows sight through any point in the dungeon.** ** * [Sovereign's Will (Active)]: Allows spending DP to create/modify the dungeon.** ** * [Blood Pact (Active)]: Allows binding subjects, sharing power and senses.** ** * [Human Form (Active)]: Allows returning to original human appearance. Cost: 10 Mana/hour.**
Thalassa stared at the screen, her new reptilian-slitted red eyes wide with disbelief. She touched the blue light with a trembling finger. It was intangible. "Demon... Queen..." she whispered, her voice now a little deeper, with a melodic echo it didn't have before.
A third screen appeared in front of Vespera, who was awkwardly covering herself with her hands, her new figure feeling strange and alien to her.
[CHARACTER SHEET: FIRST GENERAL] Name: Vespera Class: Primordial Succubus (Rare Class - Evolutionary) Level: 1 Unique Class Skills: ** * [Aura of Lust (Passive)]: Emits an aura that causes arousal and weakens the will of nearby enemies.** ** * [Chains of Lust (Active)]: Manifests ethereal chains that immobilize enemies, feeding on their desire or fear to grow stronger.** ** * [Wings of the Night (Active)]: Allows flight.** ** * [Human Form (Active)]: Allows returning to original human appearance. Cost: 5 Mana/hour.**
"Succubus?" Vespera whimpered. "A succubus?! The Inquisition would burn me alive!"
But it wasn't just the sheet that horrified her. Next to the text screen, a three-dimensional projection of her had appeared. A perfect holographic representation of her new form, completely naked, rotating slowly in the air. It displayed every detail with clinical, shameless precision: her enormous breasts, her impossibly narrow waist, the exaggerated curve of her hips and rear, the bat-like wings folded on her back.
Finally, one last screen appeared, floating directly in front of Ari. He braced himself for the worst.
[CHARACTER SHEET: SUBJECT] Name: Ari Class: Human Priest (Common Class) Level: 1 Titles: Potential Consort (Unconfirmed)
Ari read the screen. And reread it. A nervous twitch developed in his eye.
"Common Class?!" he exclaimed, his indignation echoing in the cavern. "I've been casting holy shields and healing deadly poisons, and they call me 'Common'! And what is this 'Potential Consort'?! What kind of insult is that?!"
His complaint was cut short. His eyes went wide, fixed not on his own sheet, but on the naked hologram of Vespera still spinning lazily in front of him. The blue light delineated every curve, every shadow. He swallowed loudly, his throat suddenly very dry.
Vespera followed his gaze. Her face flushed a furious crimson.
"ARI!" she shrieked, lunging at him and covering his eyes with her hands, a gesture made rather clumsy by her new... proportions. "STOP STARING, YOU PERVERT!"
Ari smiled, sightless, as he felt her hands on his eyes and, more importantly, the warmth of her newly transformed body pressed against his back.
Hmm... Well, he thought to himself, the indignation over his own character sheet completely forgotten. Maybe this system isn't so rude after all. If it lets me see this... it can call me weak, common, and even "unconfirmed consort" all it wants.