Tisnato Clavenna.
He had once been the emperor's most capable general, leading armies at his side.
Known throughout the military as the "Hell Demon."
That title spread by word of mouth among his comrades.
Because in battle, Tisnato fought with a ferocity that barely seemed human.
In every battle, he slaughtered thousands of enemies, and even when grievously wounded, he showed no fear toward the opposing army.
But sheer ferocity alone was far from enough to survive through countless wars.
What the soldiers envied even more was Tisnato's terrifying ability.
His monstrous vitality.
No matter how severe his injuries were at the end of a battle, after a period of recovery, he would always return to perfect condition and head back to the battlefield.
No one had ever seen Tisnato on the brink of death.
His comrades even joked that unless someone cut off his head, he simply could not die.
Yet even when enemy forces deliberately targeted his neck, he would somehow restore it and regain his fighting strength.
That horrifying vitality struck fear into people's hearts.
In one particularly brutal battle, he had single-handedly held the center of a sandstorm-covered battlefield.
Protecting thousands of wounded soldiers while they safely retreated.
Wielding his longsword like the reaper of death itself, he cut down every approaching enemy from horseback.
Even after his sword snapped and his spear shattered, even when his body became a target for arrows and lances, he still stood tall like a war god.
Yet even such a godlike figure...
After returning to Blyston and living there for twenty years, died in his own home.
After all, when it came to a man who had survived wars like those, his bizarre death at the end of his life could not be clearly defined.
Did he die from illness, or simply reach the end of his lifespan?
No one knew.
At that moment, the crow perched on Viktor's shoulder flapped its wings and flew down.
It landed atop the gravestone and lightly pecked at the stone.
Then Vega's single eye turned toward Viktor. With a faintly mocking tone, its voice echoed in Viktor's mind.
"Viktor, did your father fool you?"
"There's no body buried in here at all."
That's right. In truth, Tistonna's corpse was never buried beneath this gravestone.
Viktor knew this very well.
Back when he was still a player, grave robbing was hardly something he did rarely.
During his time as a player, he had even infiltrated the tomb of the old emperor Oberli.
After all, once every challenge in the game had been cleared, there wasn't much else to do except rob tombs.
And besides, grave robbing was absurdly profitable.
If players wanted to learn about characters that never actually appeared in the game and only existed within the background lore,
their only option was to start from those characters' tombs.
A final boss from Chapter Two like Viktor naturally attracted plenty of players who wanted to dig up information about him after his death.
And so, the players back then eventually found Tistonna's tomb as well.
At that moment, Helnarson walked before the enormous gravestone and bowed.
"Excuse me."
Then he extended two arms as thick as tree trunks, grabbed the gravestone, and exerted slight force.
The stone monument was ripped straight from the earth. Clumps of sand and dirt crumbled away as Helnarson lifted it into the air.
Once the gravestone had been removed, Viktor stared at the pitch-black soil and stepped forward.
The next second, a blast of air erupted from the ground beneath his feet, scattering the overgrown weeds.
The loose earth trembled faintly, like the mesh of some hidden trap.
The soil collapsed inward toward the depths below, and mechanical clicking mixed with the grinding of stone gradually rang out.
Rumble!
A staircase emerged from beneath the stone slabs on both sides of the soil, twisting downward in spirals into the depths of the earth.
Viktor looked down the distorted staircase, unable to see its end.
This was an underground catacomb.
In the game, there were many tombs players could explore.
Passages stretching from the surface down into the underground guided them toward unknown secrets.
And the treasures and antiques hidden within those tombs were often dazzling.
Of course, the monsters and challenges lurking inside were equally terrifying.
But Tistonna's tomb was somewhat unique.
Inside the catacomb, there was only a single road leading deeper within.
Viktor walked down the stairs and followed the lone path into the depths.
The pitch-black tomb sensed someone entering. One by one, lights ignited along the walls, burning with faint flames that illuminated the surroundings.
At the end of the path stood an enormous ancient stone gate before Viktor's eyes.
He raised a hand and gently pushed open the heavy stone doors.
Everything around him was illuminated by endless candlelight, revealing the grandeur and emptiness of the massive palace within.
Before Viktor sat a crimson suit of armor atop a treasure chest.
Inside the vast and empty hall, the magnificent scarlet armor rested quietly upon the chest.
The armor was covered in scars left behind by war, making one instinctively imagine the countless battlefields it had endured.
Dust covered its former glory like a layer of silent oblivion.
Yet when Viktor and Helnarson stepped into the hall, the dormant vitality hidden within seemed to awaken.
The crimson armor slowly raised its head, as though sensing something.
The hollow eyes beneath the helmet lit up, blazing with fire and radiating scorching light.
Even the gaps between the armor plates began burning with blazing flames.
In the blink of an eye, a crimson spear pierced through space itself.
A void rift exploded open in midair as the crimson light shot forward like a straight-falling meteor, thrusting toward Viktor's face.
But faced with the incoming spear attack, Viktor stood motionless, showing no intention of dodging.
The next second, a massive muscular arm stretched out before Viktor, one hand tightly gripping the incoming crimson spearhead.
The instant the spear's trajectory was halted, violent waves of dust erupted on both sides of the space it had cut through.
The terrifying gale rose into towering walls of sand, crashing wildly against the ancient mysterious palace.
Red light exploded across the air, and even the ground behind Viktor collapsed from the shock.
The next instant, the crimson armor flashed beside the spear in an instant movement, leaning forward as it appeared before Helnarson.
One hand gripped the spear shaft tightly as it drove the weapon forward with all its strength.
The force traveled through the spearhead into Helnarson's arm. The bear-man's blood surged violently as veins bulged across his body.
The two forces collided, making the spear tremble endlessly.
Meanwhile, Viktor calmly walked to the side of the armor as though nothing were happening.
His eyes slanted toward it, its HP bar and level clearly visible.
[Soul of Dugaron Clavenna: Hellfire General]
[Lv55]
The moment Viktor's gaze landed on the flickering name above the crimson armor, his tone suddenly turned ice-cold.
"You think you deserve the surname Clavenna?"
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he had already passed by the crimson armor and continued walking forward.
The only thing he left behind for Helnarson was a cold command.
"Deal with it."
Helnarson gripped the spear in reverse with one hand, the muscles in his arm bulging like mountains, savage light flashing through his eyes.
Even the surrounding sand and dust seemed to sense his intent, scattering to either side.
With the flow of his strength alone, Helnarson grabbed the spearhead backward and lifted the crimson armor into the air.
Then, using every ounce of strength in his body, he swung the spear, smashing the armor into the ground like a falling meteor.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion shook the hall. Cracks split viciously across the earth beneath the clouds of rising dust.
Under Helnarson's overwhelming blow, the crimson armor stopped moving.
It merely trembled faintly against the heavy floor before vanishing together with the spear.
Yet immediately afterward, another crimson beam pierced through space once more, tearing open a long void rift as it shot toward Helnarson.
Countless spear shadows surrounded his enormous body, but in his eyes, those rapid attacks were nothing more than sluggish movements.
A slight sway of his body was enough to evade the chaotic barrage of thrusts.
At the same time, his palm sharpened into a knife-hand strike aimed at the armor's neck.
The tremendous force not only pierced through the armor but also shattered the broken crimson earth below it.
Viktor never turned back. He only listened as the sound of the armor crashing against the ground gradually weakened behind him.
Soon, he arrived before the treasure chest the armor had been sitting on moments earlier.
The chest was entirely crimson, its edges plated with gold and studded with several gemstones.
A cross-shaped insignia was engraved on its top half, while the lower half was embedded into the ground.
Viktor stretched out a hand. Pale green ghostfire danced within his palm.
A flame only necromancy could summon.
He had once come here alone as a player.
Yet within this deep tomb, there had only ever been that general's soul carrying the surname Clavenna, guarding this place for who knew how many years.
As for the treasure chest, Viktor had never been able to open it.
Strictly speaking, the system surrounding the General Souls was rather interesting.
It belonged to a branch within the Stellar Empire's system.
But they had betrayed the Stellar Empire, turned toward darkness, and become enemies of the empire.
Naturally, this also meant that the former Clavenna family perhaps had some connection to the Stellar Empire.
And only later did Viktor finally understand where this tomb belonging to Tisnato truly led.
The undead fire transformed into a stream of energy and drilled into the chest's lock.
The crimson treasure chest slowly opened, and Viktor finally unveiled its mystery.
A cloud of smoke rose from the chest, completely enveloping Viktor.
He stood upright and looked around.
The smoke spread wider and wider, growing denser and denser.
Until the entire lost palace was submerged within it.
Viktor stared ahead. Deep within the hazy smoke, an orange flame ignited.
As the spark burst open, flames rolled out from the crack like the tongues of hell itself.
They spiraled upward like blazing serpents writhing through the air.
The firelight reflected across Viktor's cold face, sharpening his features.
Within his obsidian-like eyes, the raging inferno burned brightly.
"I still remember that I promised Leah I'd give her a gift."
Through the rising gates of hell, an enormous creature was reflected in Viktor's eyes.
Its entire body was wrapped in orange flames, covered in armor-like steel plating.
Steel thorns coiled around its three heads while long tongues greedily licked the air.
The flames seemed to become evil spirits wrapped around its body, struggling despairingly from the mouths of the three-headed hound.
Though its limbs continuously shattered apart, the mechanical body rebuilt itself within the flames, supporting the monstrous hound's massive frame.
Looking at the scene of hellfire burning beyond the gate, Viktor's voice remained calm as still water.
"A world only the dead may enter."
[Hell's Gatekeeper: Cerberus]