The air beneath the glowing doorway smelled of rust and stone, thick with a metallic tang that made Kai gag. It wasn't just blood—though that would come soon enough. It was older. Primordial. As if the dungeon itself had a heartbeat.
He took his first cautious step forward. The chains hanging from the ceiling above rattled softly, brushing against walls lined with jagged crystal. Every step he took echoed like a drumbeat, loud enough to wake something monstrous.
And then the floor shifted.
Not literally—it was a perception. The world around him distorted subtly, imperceptibly, like a reflection in broken glass. He blinked. The throne behind him shimmered and then vanished. Gone. The air thickened. The silence that followed was not empty—it was listening.
Kai swallowed. His fingers itched to touch the phone in his pocket. The Admin interface had not disappeared. Golden letters hovered before him, scrolling impossibly fast, displaying commands, abilities, system logs, warnings:
USER: UNKNOWN ADMIN
LEVEL: UNASSIGNED
ERROR DETECTED
POSSIBLE ABILITIES: INFINITE
Infinite. The word repeated in his mind like a mantra. Infinite power. Infinite possibilities. And, just as terrifying, infinite consequences.
He exhaled. Slowly. Carefully.
Step by step.
The first corridor stretched before him. The walls were jagged, crystalline, glinting faintly as if reflecting light from some unseen sun. Broken statues littered the ground, shattered humanoid forms, their faces frozen in screams. Dust swirled around his feet, reacting as though alive, brushing against him with every movement.
Kai stepped forward. The golden interface hovered closer. One line blinked insistently:
EDIT: ENABLE PERCEPTION ENHANCEMENT?
Curiosity gnawed at him. He pressed yes.
Immediately, the world exploded in detail.
Every crack in the stone walls, every microscopic speck of dust, every vibration of the air itself became visible. Tiny threads of energy snaked across the corridor. Heat signatures pulsed faintly in the distance. Movement. Not random. Intentional.
Monsters.
He saw them before they saw him.
OBJECTS OF THREAT: 3 detected. PRIORITY: HIGH.
The first was a hulking creature, more shadow than flesh, crouched near a broken archway. Its limbs were long and thin, ending in claws that could shred concrete. It sniffed the air, unaware of Kai's presence.
The second and third were smaller, spider-like. Their heads rotated unnaturally, multiple eyes reflecting light like shards of glass.
Kai's pulse raced—not from fear, but from clarity. He had power now. He was untouchable. And the System had no say in it.
The interface offered options, a long menu of abilities Kai did not understand but could intuitively control. He selected one:
EDIT: PAIN LIMITER OFF (TARGET: MONSTERS).
Instantly, a low vibration hummed through the floor. The three creatures shifted. The shadow beast let out a soundless scream. Its body began to glow faintly red, veins of light coursing unnaturally along its limbs. The spider-like monsters convulsed, their exoskeletons cracking.
Kai realized something horrifying—and exhilarating. By toggling a single command, he could change the world around him, and no one could stop him.
He moved cautiously, his steps silent thanks to the next interface command:
EDIT: STEP SILENTLY.
The shadows seemed to bend around him, the monsters oblivious to his presence. He smiled faintly. The first real thrill since being framed, since the world had labeled him a parasite.
And then he saw it.
A massive figure crouched at the end of the corridor. Its chest expanded and contracted, unevenly. Faint cracks ran along its skull-like face. But the eyes… the eyes glowed faintly gold.
It wasn't human.
It was a guardian.
CLASS: BOSS MONSTER. THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME.
Kai froze. His instinct screamed at him to run. But curiosity, that dangerous, irresistible spark, pulled him forward.
The Admin interface scrolled a warning:
USE OF ABILITIES MAY ALTER MEMORY. REPEATED USAGE HIGHLY DANGEROUS.
He hesitated. Then smiled.
He didn't care.
The first attack came without warning. The monster lunged, limbs like jagged iron spears.
Kai reacted instinctively. He selected another command:
EDIT: TELEPORTATION (SHADOW STEP).
The world twisted around him. In an instant, he vanished from the monster's line of sight and reappeared three meters behind it. The creature's claws tore through the floor where he had been standing.
Kai's breath came in shallow bursts. Every instinct screamed exhilaration. Every logical thought was drowned by the raw, addictive thrill of power.
EDIT: BULLET PREDICTION ENABLED.
He reached for a broken shard of metal on the ground—a crude weapon at best. But the interface showed every trajectory, every angle, every weak point in the creature's defenses.
He lunged. The shard struck the gold-glowing eye of the monster. The creature screeched, and the sound reverberated through the dungeon like thunder. Pain, amplified by his previous edit, seared through its body.
The smaller spider creatures skittered toward him, sensing blood, sensing weakness. Kai didn't panic.
EDIT: GRAVITY NULL.
The spiders fell upward briefly, their legs flailing uselessly as the gravity around him shifted. He kicked one into the wall. It shattered.
The shadow beast shrieked again, staggering. Kai's shard struck again, cracking bone, piercing sinew. The red glow intensified until the creature convulsed violently and collapsed.
He was panting, dripping sweat into the metallic floor. His body was fine. No scratches. No injuries. Nothing.
A thrill ran through him. He was untouchable. Untouchable. The word repeated in his head like a hymn.
Then the interface flashed another line:
WARNING: REPEATED ABILITY USAGE DETECTED. MEMORY INTEGRITY AT 97%.
Kai frowned. Memory integrity? His fingers shook. He didn't care.
The boss monster stirred again, crawling toward him. Its strength was immense, terrifying.
He stepped back. Every command in the Admin interface scrolled faster now, flashing impossible power options.
EDIT SELF → PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT
EDIT ENVIRONMENT → CREATE TRAP
DELETE DAMAGE LIMITERS → MONSTERS
Kai's pulse accelerated. He chose instinctively. He pressed:
DELETE DAMAGE LIMITERS.
The dungeon itself seemed to react. The boss monster roared, veins glowing brighter, muscles thrashing uncontrollably. It slammed the floor with fists, shaking the stone corridor.
Kai stepped aside easily, invisible, untouchable. The monster lashed out again. He teleported behind it, pressed another button:
SELF MODIFICATION: STRENGTH + SPEED MAX.
The shard in his hand became impossibly sharp, light as air but heavier than steel. He struck the monster again. A loud crack echoed as bone shattered.
It screeched. The golden glow dimmed in its eyes. The final blow came—he didn't even need to think. He pressed another command:
EDIT: CRITICAL HIT ENABLED.
The shard passed through the creature's chest. Light exploded outward. The dungeon trembled violently. Dust, debris, shards of crystal fell everywhere. The monster collapsed.
Silence returned.
Kai stood alone. Shards of broken stone reflected the faint glow of the Admin interface. His hands shook—not from fear—but from the exhilaration of absolute power.
He stepped over the remains. The interface scrolled endlessly:
USER: UNKNOWN ADMIN
MEMORY INTEGRITY: 92%
ABILITY USAGE: HIGH
WARNING: HUMANITY DELETING
Kai laughed softly. He didn't feel guilty. He didn't feel afraid.
The world had labeled him a parasite.
The System had ignored him.
Now?
He was untouchable.
He was infinite.
From the shadows, a sound echoed—a soft, deliberate clapping.
"Impressive," a voice said. Calm. Mechanical. Cold.
Kai turned. Across the corridor, a figure stepped from the darkness. Cloaked, hooded, and taller than any human should be. Only the golden eyes glowed beneath the hood.
"But don't get cocky. Floor One has just begun."
Kai's pulse raced.
Floor One…
He smiled faintly.
The dungeon had just become his playground.
And he was the predator now.