Darkness pressed against Kail like a living thing.
He opened his eyes to a ceiling of bone—rib-like arches curving overhead, pulsing faintly with sickly green veins. A drop of something warm landed on his cheek. He wiped it with trembling fingers.
Blood.
Not his.
Not yet.
The ground beneath him was wrong. It wasn't stone. It was textured, ridged—like the inner lining of a creature's throat.
A dungeon.A very old, very wrong dungeon.
Kail forced himself upright, every muscle screaming protest. His breath came sharp and uneven, as if the very air resisted entering his lungs.
Where… where am I?
His mind was hazy, but one image burned through the fog—
Adrian's hand on his chest.A smile that wasn't a smile.A hard shove.
Falling.
He clenched his teeth. Not now.
A low growl vibrated through the cavern.
Kail's eyes snapped up.
A creature crawled out of the darkness on limbs too long for its body—each joint bending sideways, skin stretched thin over blackened bone. Its skull had no eyes, only hollow sockets leaking wisps of shadow. Its jaw hung open too wide, a line of serrated teeth clicking.
A Devourling.
He didn't know how he knew that. The name slithered into his mind like a memory that didn't belong to him.
The creature tasted the air with a twitching purple tongue. Then it turned its empty gaze toward him—
—and screamed.
Not a roar. A layered, broken shriek, like a dozen voices trapped inside its throat.
Kail stumbled back.
The monster lunged.
Instinct screamed. He dove aside. Claws tore open his shoulder, hot blood spilling down his arm. He hit the ground hard, breath knocked from his lungs.
The Devourling stalked forward, savoring the moment.
I'm going to die here.
Then—another memory.
Adrian's voice, soft, false:
"Trust me, Kail. I'd never betray you."
A spark of rage cracked through him.
The Devourling leapt.
Kail grabbed a jagged bone shard from the floor and slammed it upward. The shard tore into the creature's neck. He twisted, ripping its malformed jaw open further, shoving the bone deeper—
The Devourling spasmed and collapsed.
Kail staggered back, panting, vision blurring.
Then—
A sound that did not belong.
[System initializing . . .]
He froze.
Another chime.
[Initialization complete.][Skill awakened: DEVOUR — Level 1]
He blinked. "A system…?"
But a third notification appeared.
[A devourable essence is present.][Would you like to DEVOUR?][Y/N]
His gaze drifted to the corpse.
Everything in him screamed no.
But everything that remembered Adrian whispered, never be weak again.
"…Yes."
The air warped.
The corpse dissolved into black smoke that shrieked in a pitch only he could hear. The smoke funneled violently into his chest—
Kail screamed.
His bones burned. His muscles tightened. His heart stuttered. His vision went white, then red.
Then—silence.
[Devour successful.][Physical attributes increased.][Trait acquired: FERAL INSTINCT][Hunger +1]
Kail rose unsteadily.
The dungeon wasn't quiet anymore.
He heard things moving in the tunnels—skittering claws, heavy footsteps, wet breaths. Dozens of heartbeats thudding through the stone.
Something massive stirred deeper within.
Kail's expression hardened.
"If this world wants a monster…"
His pupils thinned, reflecting the green glow.
"…I'll become one."
The tunnels trembled as the enormous presence awakened.
Kail didn't flinch.
He stepped forward.