The floor beneath Kael shuddered, ancient stone breaking apart under the Undead Warlord's final desperate strike. He had been standing near the edge, trying to flank the enemy while the others fought in formation. He barely had time to register the widening cracks before the ground yawned open.
"Kael!"
The shout came from above—Arven's voice, desperate and raw. For the briefest moment, Kael felt hope. He looked up, seeing Arven's hand reaching down through the settling dust. They had trained together since childhood, sworn oaths of loyalty when no one else believed in him. If there was one person who would never let him fall, it was Arven.
But before Kael's hand could grasp his, another voice rang out. Cold. Sharp.
"Don't waste your strength. He's dead weight."
The Crown Prince. His golden armor gleamed faintly even in the dust-choked air, his expression carved in disdain.
Arven's hand faltered. His eyes shifted between Kael's outstretched hand and the Prince's commanding gaze. Hesitation wavered there—hesitation that cut deeper than any blade.
"Arven…" Kael's voice cracked.
Then the stone gave way completely, and Kael's world turned into freefall.
The cavern walls blurred into streaks of shadow. Kael's scream was ripped from his lungs, drowned by the rush of air that howled in his ears. His stomach lurched violently. For endless heartbeats, there was nothing but the abyss pulling him down.
Then—
Crash!
Icy water slammed into him like a wall, the impact sending pain lancing through every bone. Darkness swallowed him whole. His chest burned as water filled his mouth, his arms flailing in blind desperation. Somehow, he forced his body upward, breaking the surface with a ragged gasp.
He coughed, each breath ragged and wet, fighting the current until his hand caught on jagged stone. Dragging himself onto the slick cavern floor, he collapsed face-first, vomiting water.
His entire body screamed in agony. His HP was at the very edge of critical. But he was alive. By all rights, a fall from twenty floors high should have broken every bone in his body. The only reason he lived was the subterranean lake.
His luck was cruel, but not absent.
Kael forced himself to sit up. His vision swam, but he could just barely make out the cavern around him.
The chamber stretched endlessly, the faint glow of minerals lining the jagged walls. Strange fungi pulsed with pale blue light, casting the cavern in ghostly hues. Stalactites hung like the teeth of some slumbering beast, dripping steadily into the black waters below.
And the silence.
It was not the silence of peace, but the silence of something waiting.
From far-off tunnels came roars—inhuman, guttural, echoing so deeply it made Kael's blood run cold.
"This… this is the hidden floors…" His whisper trembled. He had heard of them only in whispers: places beneath the official labyrinth, so deep and so dangerous that even royal expeditions had never returned. A place twenty floors deep, cut off from the surface.
If he was truly here… then he was already as good as dead.
Beside him, a faint glow flickered.
"—No."
Kael dragged himself forward, nearly slipping on the slick stone. There, collapsed and trembling, was his Fire Spirit. Its once-bright flames had dimmed to ember glow. Its body wavered, unstable, a wound of darkness burning across its small chest where the Warlord's attack had struck.
"You… you protected me." Kael's throat tightened as he reached for it. His fingers hovered just above the flickering warmth, as though touching it would shatter what little remained.
The Fire Spirit flickered weakly, its ember eyes struggling to stay alight. Its breathing—if the shallow pulses of flame could be called that—was shallow, fading.
"Don't you dare leave me too." Kael's voice cracked. The words tore out of him in a whisper, breaking under the weight of everything. He had already lost Arven's trust. The Prince's betrayal had shoved him into the abyss. He would not—could not—lose this small companion that had never abandoned him.
But the Fire Spirit dimmed further.
Kael's heart pounded in terror.
And then—
[System Notification][Condition Fulfilled: Your summon has taken fatal damage to shield you.][Final Requirement Met.][Unique Skill Awakened — Evolution.]
Kael gasped as the abyss itself seemed to ignite. The Fire Spirit's body erupted in light, flames surging wildly, throwing shadows across the cavern walls. The burning brilliance seared his vision as something far greater than mere fire coursed into being.
[Evolution: Your summons can surpass their natural boundaries. They may evolve into higher forms, adapting endlessly to your will and survival.]
Knowledge flooded Kael's mind, alien and overwhelming. He saw visions—beasts growing beyond their ranks, skeletons gaining new forms, spirits reforging themselves into greater entities. Summons that could change. Summons that could grow.
"No one… no one in history…" Kael's whisper trembled. He had studied enough grimoires to know the truth: Summons were fixed, bound by the form they were conjured in. At most, they could grow stronger within their limits. But evolve? That was blasphemy.
And yet here it was, burning before his eyes.
[Your Common-Rank Fire Spirit has begun Evolution.][Path: Common → Uncommon.]
The Fire Spirit screamed—not in pain, but in exultation. Its body burst apart into pure flame, reshaping. The ember core at its center condensed into molten brilliance, brighter, sharper. Its small, flickering body stretched, forming sharper lines, like a creature reforged in the heart of a volcano.
The cavern walls glowed red as its flames roared higher, defying the abyssal dark.
Kael shielded his face, his heart racing. His companion was reborn before his eyes.
And deep inside him, something else burned—something far more dangerous than fire.
Resolve.
Soaked and trembling, Kael forced himself to his feet. His body was battered, his strength nearly gone, but his spirit was alive with fury.
Arven's eyes, wavering with hesitation, haunted him. The Prince's cold words cut him deeper than the fall ever had.
"They called me dead weight." His voice was raw, breaking against the cavern walls. "They pushed me aside… abandoned me."
He clenched his fists, the glow of his evolving spirit flickering at his side.
"I'll survive this abyss. I'll carve my way back, no matter how deep I've fallen." His teeth grit, his voice lowering to a growl. "And when I return, I'll show them the true meaning of strength."
The abyss gave no answer, save for the echo of monstrous roars in the distance. Yet Kael no longer trembled.
He was not powerless anymore.
With Evolution, his summons would grow endlessly.
And with that power, he would claw his way back to the surface.