The world shifted again.
Light folded.
Space bent—
And Drax landed.
Heat hit him instantly.
Floor Three.
A desert stretched endlessly in every direction, dunes rising like waves frozen mid-motion. The sky above burned a dull gold, heavy and oppressive, like it was pressing down on the land itself.
No wind.
No sound.
Just stillness.
Drax stood there, hands in his pockets, eyes scanning the terrain.
"…Desert, huh."
The ground beneath him trembled.
Then—
It burst open.
A massive earth worm erupted from below, its body thick as a skyscraper, its circular maw lined with spiraling rows of jagged teeth. Sand exploded outward as it lunged straight for him—
Drax stepped aside calmly.
The creature slammed back into the ground, disappearing as if it had never existed.
Then another.
And another.
The desert came alive.
Multiple earth worms began surfacing and diving rapidly, moving beneath the sand like sharks in water, waiting for the perfect angle to strike.
At the same time—
The horizon shifted.
A swarm approached.
Giant centipedes.
Hundreds of them.
Their bodies glistened like polished armor, legs moving in synchronized waves as they rushed toward him with terrifying speed.
Drax counted roughly.
"…Around two hundred."
He cracked his neck slightly.
"Not bad."
The ground exploded again—three worms lunging simultaneously from different angles.
Drax moved.
He leapt into the air, summoning his weapon.
The Abyssal Blade formed instantly in his hand—black, sharp, alive with quiet hunger.
He twisted mid-air and slashed downward.
The blade cut clean across the first worm—
But stopped shallow.
The creature screeched, diving back into the sand with minimal damage.
Drax landed lightly.
"…Hmm."
He glanced at the blade.
Then back at the shifting ground.
"Stage Three bodies," he muttered. "Durable."
The centipedes reached him.
They attacked in waves.
Drax moved through them effortlessly—dodging, weaving, cutting—but even as he sliced through segments, they didn't slow down.
Regeneration.
Adaptation.
Durability.
And the worms—
They were worse.
Constant ambush.
No fixed position.
Attack, retreat, reposition.
Again and again.
Drax kept moving.
Minutes passed.
Then longer.
Still no progress.
He tried to call it—
Nothing.
The Black Sea didn't respond.
He paused mid-step.
"…Oh."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"So that's how it is."
Restriction.
This floor wasn't about overwhelming force.
It was about adaptation.
About using what remained.
Drax exhaled slowly.
"Alright."
He let the blade rest at his side.
"Let's take the route that's more fun."
The monsters rushed him again.
He didn't dodge this time.
He walked forward.
And activated it.
Devour.
It wasn't flashy.
No explosion.
No visible surge.
Just—
Absorption.
The air shifted subtly.
The centipedes slowed.
Their movements became slightly less precise.
The worms beneath the sand hesitated—just for a fraction of a second.
Drax smiled.
"…There you are."
He stepped into the swarm.
Now, every movement mattered.
Every cut wasn't just damage—
It was extraction.
Essence.
Life force.
Structure.
Everything they were—
He took.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
A centipede lunged—
He sliced it in half.
Its body convulsed—
And collapsed faster than before.
Another attacked—
Same result.
The worms emerged again—
This time slower.
Their bodies slightly thinner.
Drax moved faster.
Cleaner.
More efficient.
The desert began to change.
The monsters weakened.
He strengthened.
His Abyssal World expanded with every step, every strike, every breath.
The balance tipped.
Then shattered.
Energy surged violently within him.
His inner world evolved again.
Stage Four.
The Abyss deepened.
Widened.
Stabilized.
New power flooded through him.
Mephilisto appeared beside him briefly, her expression more serious now.
"Now that you're Stage Four," she said, "you can finally use something decent."
Drax didn't stop moving.
"…I can feel it."
"Abyssal Combat has evolved," she continued.
"—into The True Abyss."
Drax's eyes sharpened.
"…Yeah."
He exhaled.
"Feels right."
A worm burst from beneath him—
He stepped on its head and launched himself backward, landing far from the remaining swarm.
He looked at them.
All of them.
"…But one thing got my attention."
He raised his hand.
"Monarch's Domain."
Darkness exploded outward.
The entire desert—consumed.
The sand turned black.
The sky dimmed.
The monsters froze.
The worms couldn't retreat into the ground anymore.
They were trapped.
Bound.
Controlled.
Drax opened his eyes slowly.
"Your in my territory now."
He lifted his blade.
Held it to his right side.
Closed his eyes.
Everything went still.
Then—
"Abyssal Sever."
He vanished.
Reappeared behind them.
Silently.
The world paused.
Then—
Everything split.
Every monster.
Every worm.
Every centipede.
Up to a hundred slices each.
Clean.
Instant.
Absolute.
They didn't even realize they had died.
Their bodies collapsed.
Their essence surged.
All of it—
Devoured.
Silence returned to the desert.
Drax stood still, blade resting at his side.
The darkness receded.
The domain vanished.
The voice returned.
"Floor Three Completed."
White light formed beneath his feet.
"Proceeding to Floor Four."
Drax exhaled once.
"…Keep it coming."
The world fractured.
And he disappeared.