Chapter 2: The Ten-Minute Death Sentence
The silence of the chamber was gone, replaced by a sound that shouldn't exist in the physical world. It was a rhythmic, digital hum—the sound of a machine thinking inside Kaelen's soul. To any observer, Kaelen Thorne was a discarded pile of meat and broken bone, a messy stain against the ancient limestone of the Labyrinth. But within the private theater of his mind, a cold, blue interface was flickering into existence, sharp and crystalline.
**[Current Objective: Survive the Abyssal Lord's Hunger.]**
**[Time Remaining: 09:54]**
**[Condition: Host is in 'Critical Failure' state. Temporary measures required.]**
The Demon—the Lord-General candidate—tilted its massive, angular head. Its neck moved with a series of wet, clicking sounds, like bone grinding on bone. It was a creature of pure, abyssal instinct, and for the first time in its century-long existence, it was confused. It had felt the life-spark snuffed out of the small human. It had heard the spinal column snap with the distinct *crack* of dry kindling. It had even smelled the metallic tang of the "soul-leak" that happens at the moment of death.
And yet, the "meat" was currently twitching.
Kaelen's fingers, white and bloodless, scraped against the stone. He wasn't breathing—his lungs were still collapsed—but he was moving. It was as if invisible wires were hooked into his joints, yanking him upward.
**[Skill Granted (Temporary): 'Adrenaline Overclock']**
**[Description: The System is flooding your nervous system with artificial, high-frequency Aether. Pain receptors are being forcibly muted. Perception of time is being dilated by 15%.]**
The world suddenly changed. The dripping of blood from the ceiling slowed down, each droplet hanging in the air like a ruby bead. The Demon's movements, previously a blur of impossible speed, became readable.
With a sound like tearing sheet metal, the Demon uncoiled its body from the ceiling. It dropped, landing on all fours. The impact was so immense that the stone floor rippled like water. A shockwave of dust and pulverized bone swept outward, slamming into Kaelen. In his previous state, that wind alone would have finished him. Now, his body simply absorbed the blow, his feet sliding back six inches but remaining planted.
*I should be screaming,* Kaelen thought. He could see his left arm dangling at a sickening angle, the white of his humerus bone jutting through the skin. He could see it, but he couldn't *feel* it. The 'Overclock' had turned his body into a remote-controlled drone.
The Demon lunged.
It didn't run; it flickered. One moment it was twenty feet away; the next, its obsidian claw was a foot from Kaelen's throat.
*Move.*
The System didn't suggest the movement; it commanded it. Kaelen's legs fired with a sudden, violent burst of energy that tore the fibers of his hamstrings. He jerked to the right, a jagged, ugly movement.
*WHOOSH.*
The claw slammed into the cratered wall. The rock didn't just shatter; it was vaporized into a fine white powder. The sheer pressure of the air displaced by the strike peeled the skin from Kaelen's cheek, leaving a raw, red mark that didn't bleed because his heart wasn't pumping yet.
**[Time Remaining: 08:12]**
"Eight minutes," Kaelen wheezed. His voice didn't sound like his own. It was a dry, rasping sound, like wind blowing through a graveyard. "I just have to... not be there... when it hits."
The Demon let out a low-frequency vibration—a sound so deep it rattled Kaelen's teeth in their sockets. It was a sound of growing irritation. It wasn't used to its prey defying the laws of biology. It swung its tail, a ten-foot whip of serrated bone tipped with a venomous barb.
Kaelen threw himself flat, his face hitting the wet, fleshy moss of the floor. The tail-blade whistled inches above his spine, the sheer force of its passage creating a vacuum that nearly sucked the air out of his lungs. He scrambled on all fours, ducking behind one of the massive, rib-like bone arches that supported the ceiling.
**[Alert: Heart Rate is exceeding safe limits (220 BPM).]**
**[Warning: Physical vessel is reaching structural failure. Muscle tearing detected in 40% of the body.]**
"Keep... me... moving!" Kaelen snarled in his mind.
He knew this chamber. As a scout, he had spent the last twenty minutes subconsciously mapping the exits, the cover, and the debris. To the Silver-Rankers, this was a battlefield. To Kaelen, it was a puzzle.
The Demon circled the pillar. It was smart. It didn't just rush; it began to cut off his angles of escape. It moved with a terrifying, liquid grace, its claws clicking on the stone with the steady rhythm of a funeral march.
Kaelen's eyes darted around. He saw the remains of the Vanguard's gear—a shattered shield and a ruptured Aether-Tank. He also saw his own Aether-Sensor lying in the dirt, its brass casing cracked but the core still humming with a faint, unstable orange light.
*A gamble,* he thought. *The only thing a Level 0 can do against a God is cheat.*
He lunged for the sensor just as the Demon's head peered around the pillar. The creature opened its maw, a vertical slit lined with thousands of needle-teeth. A glow of ultraviolet fire began to build in the back of its throat—the "Abyssal Breath" that could melt reinforced steel.
Kaelen didn't run. He grabbed the sensor, his fingers slippery with his own gore, and jammed his thumb into the manual override. He felt the device begin to vibrate violently, the heat of the core burning his palm.
"Eat it!"
He didn't just throw it; he timed it for the exact moment the Demon exhaled.
The sensor flew true, disappearing into the violet furnace of the Demon's mouth. An instant later, the device's magi-tech core met the Demon's Abyssal fire.
*BOOM.*
It wasn't a world-ending explosion, but it was a concentrated burst of raw, unfiltered "White Aether" detonating inside a creature of "Black Mana." The reaction was violent. The Demon's head snapped back, its jaw disjointed by the force. It let out a shriek of genuine, high-pitched agony, black ichor spraying from its gums as it stumbled back, temporarily blinded by the sensory overload.
**[Time Remaining: 03:00]**
Kaelen didn't wait to admire his handiwork. He sprinted, dragging his broken leg behind him. He reached the center of the room, where the "Soul-Anchor" of the dungeon was located—a massive crystal that regulated the floor's difficulty.
He fell, his strength finally hitting a hard limit. The 'Adrenaline Overclock' began to flicker, and for the first time, the pain arrived. It was a tidal wave of fire, every broken bone and torn muscle screaming at once. He collapsed next to the anchor, his vision darkening.
Behind him, the Demon recovered. It was no longer curious. It was no longer annoyed. It was *enraged*.
The creature stood to its full height, its wings unfurling for the first time—huge, tattered membranes of shadow that seemed to swallow the bioluminescent light of the cave. It let out a roar that physically shook the dust from the ceiling, causing stalactites to rain down like spears.
It leaped. Not a flicker this time, but a heavy, deliberate pounce meant to crush Kaelen into a pulp.
Kaelen looked up, his eyes reflecting the descending shadow of death. He saw the Demon's eyes, burning with a promise of eternal suffering.
"Is this the end... of the second chance?" Kaelen whispered, a small, bitter smile touching his lips.
The Demon's claw reached out, the tip of a razor-sharp talon touching the skin of Kaelen's throat—
**[TIMER EXPIRED.]**
The world froze. Literally. The Demon was suspended in mid-air, its momentum halted by an invisible, absolute force.
**[Quest Complete: "The First Step of the Damned"]**
**[Calculating Rewards for Impossible Difficulty Achievement...]**
**[Reward 1: +10 Strength (Applied)]**
**[Reward 2: +10 Vitality (Applied)]**
**[Reward 3: +10 Agility (Applied)]**
**[Special Reward: Active Skill 'Blood-Lust Aura' Unlocked.]**
**[LEVEL UP!]**
**[Level 0 -> Level 1]**
**[Full Restoration of Physical Vessel Initiated. Reconstructing Soul Core... Done.]**
A pillar of golden and deep-blue light erupted from Kaelen's chest, blasting upward through the ceiling of the dungeon and into the sky above. The Demon was thrown back like a dry leaf in a hurricane, slamming into the far wall with a thunderous crash.
Kaelen felt it. The sound of his bones knitting together was like a symphony of dry wood snapping back into place. His missing arm didn't just heal; it regrew in a flurry of golden fibers, the new muscle denser and more defined than anything a human should possess. His skin took on a faint, metallic sheen. His mind, once clouded by the fog of F-Rank mediocrity, became as sharp as a razor.
He stood up. The movement was fluid, effortless. He didn't feel like a human anymore; he felt like a weapon that had finally been unsheathed.
**[New Quest: "The Executioner's Debt"]**
**[Objective: Slay the Abyssal Lord.]**
**[Note: You have survived the hunger. Now, make it fear yours.]**
Kaelen looked at the Demon as it scrambled to its feet, its violet eyes wide with a new emotion: *caution.* Kaelen gripped his rusted iron dagger. In his hand, the cheap weapon didn't feel like garbage anymore. With 10 points pumped into Strength and Agility, the air around the blade seemed to hum.
"You had ten minutes," Kaelen said, his voice now deep, resonant, and terrifyingly calm. "Now, I only need one."