Episode 5 — Chains of the Bone-Winged Beast
The cavern shook like the dungeon itself was alive.
Vert stood ankle-deep in black blood, smirk curling across his face as the ceiling split wide. Chains rattled, snapping loose from the stone. A massive figure descended, wings of jagged bone spreading with a deafening crack. Its body was stitched together with iron hooks, its mouth sewn shut with rusted wire, yet the roar it released ripped the cavern like thunder.
The hunters outside would never know this boss existed. Most challengers never survived this deep. But Vert wasn't most.
His blue veins pulsed brighter, burning like neon lightning beneath his pale skin. He tilted his head, voice calm, disrespectful.
"Now this looks fun."
⸻
The beast lunged. Chains shot forward like vipers, hooks whipping through the air. Vert moved, his body a blur of instinct. One chain slammed into the ground where he'd been standing, stone exploding into shards. Another lashed across his arm—skin tore, blood sprayed.
His veins ignited, knitting the wound instantly.
The monster screeched, white fire blazing in its sockets.
Vert smirked wider. "Keep trying."
He rushed forward, weaving through the storm of chains. His fist smashed into its leg, bone cracking under the impact. The creature staggered, shriek muffled by its wired mouth.
[Level Up: 19]
⸻
The chains retaliated, wrapping around Vert's torso, crushing tight. Ribs creaked under the pressure. The beast yanked him upward, slamming him against the cavern wall hard enough to crater the stone. Dust and blood filled the air.
[Warning: Severe Damage.]
For a moment, the chains crushed the air from his lungs. His vision flickered.
Then Vert laughed. Low. Savage.
"You think that'll stop me?"
His veins blazed hotter, glowing down his arms like molten rivers. With a violent twist, he tore the chains apart, links snapping like brittle glass. He dropped from the air, landing in a crouch, smirk never fading.
"Try harder."
⸻
The fight raged across the cavern. Chains lashed, wings smashed pillars into dust, hooks split stone. Vert darted through it all, body deflecting blows, countering with brutal precision. His strikes were close and gory—elbows splitting bone, knees crushing joints, fangs ripping through the beast's flesh.
Every kill mattered. Every shred of its body devoured gave him more.
[Level Up: 20]
[Defense Increased.]
The boss screamed, flailing wildly. Vert seized one of its bone-wings, snapping it clean off in a spray of black ichor. He beat it across the face with its own limb, laughter echoing through the cavern.
Blood rained down like baptism.
⸻
The beast stumbled back, shrieking, chains thrashing desperately. Vert didn't relent. He launched upward, fists smashing into its chest again and again until ribs caved inward.
He tore its wired mouth open with his bare hands, hooks snapping, jaws splitting wide. The creature's true roar finally erupted, shaking the cavern with raw fury.
Vert shoved his arm down its throat, eyes blazing with blue fire.
"Shut up."
With a savage pull, he ripped its core free—a pulsing, bone-white heart glowing with molten light. He sank his fangs into it, devouring the essence in one merciless bite.
The beast convulsed, chains shattering, wings collapsing. Its body crumbled into black ash, leaving only silence.
[Level Up: 21]
[Boss Defeated.]
[Permanent Stat Increase Applied.]
⸻
Vert stood alone in the cavern, dripping with gore, veins glowing brighter than ever. His hoodie clung to his frame, shredded and soaked, but his smirk was sharp, arrogant, untouchable.
The dungeon walls pulsed, almost alive, whispering with hunger. More monsters stirred deeper in the abyss, restless now that one of their masters had fallen.
Vert licked blood from his fingers, eyes cold and distant.
"This place never ends. Perfect."
⸻
Far above ground, in a guild chamber bathed in candlelight, reports slammed onto oak tables. Survivors from other dungeons whispered of a figure moving deeper and deeper, slaughtering endlessly, leveling without pause.
One officer whispered, trembling:
"He's not clearing dungeons. He's eating them."
Another slammed his fist down. "Then he isn't just a bounty target anymore. He's an extinction threat."
But in the abyss, Vert only laughed, his voice echoing through black stone.
The dungeons were limitless.
The monsters were infinite.
And so was his hunger.
[To Be Continued…]