The bandage was tight. Too tight.
"You're cutting off circulation," Kaelen said, his voice flat.
Seraphina flinched, her fingers trembling as she loosened the knot on his forearm. She was pale, her golden hair matted with grime, the arrogance of the 'Ice Queen' stripped away to reveal a terrified girl.
"I... I'm sorry," she stammered.
Kaelen didn't reply. He flexed his hand, testing the mobility. The regeneration from the Hyena kill had fixed the bone, but the muscle was still tender. He looked at Seraphina. She was limping, favoring her right leg where the lizard had bitten her.
"Can you run?" he asked.
"I think so," she whispered, though her face grimaced in pain.
"Good. Because if you lag behind, I leave you."
He didn't say it to be cruel. He said it because it was a fact. In the Abyss, carrying dead weight was a sentence.
He turned and pushed deeper into the tunnel. The air was getting thicker here, heavy with sweet, rotting pollen. His [Abyssal Sight] picked up heat signatures ahead—hundreds of tiny ones.
"Wait," Seraphina hissed, grabbing his shoulder. "Do you smell that?"
Kaelen slapped her hand away. "Don't touch me. And yes. Spores."
He pointed ahead. The tunnel opened up into a massive, domed chamber. Unlike the grey limestone behind them, this room was a nightmare of color. Bioluminescent fungi covered every inch of the walls—pulsing blues, sick greens, and violent purples.
And in the center, suspended by thick, white webs that spanned the entire ceiling, hung a nightmare.
[Mycelium Weaver (Rank E - Elite)]
It was a spider, but wrong. Its body was made of calcified fungal plates, and instead of eyes, it had clusters of sensory stalks that twitched in the stagnant air. It was huge—easily the size of a carriage.
Below it, guarding the only exit tunnel, were the bones of previous victims. Some were human.
"The Gatekeeper," Kaelen muttered. "Of course. The System wouldn't let us walk out the front door."
Seraphina covered her mouth to stifle a scream. "It's... it's a Weaver. We need a Fire Mage. We can't fight that with a rock, Kaelen!"
"We don't need fire," Kaelen said, his eyes locking onto the glowing red sack on the creature's abdomen via his thermal vision. "We need bait."
He looked at her.
Seraphina stepped back, realizing what he meant. "No. No! You said I belonged to you! You can't just feed me to it!"
"I'm not feeding you to it," Kaelen said, his tone devoid of comfort. "I'm using you to distract it. Spiders sense vibration. You're going to run to the left wall and scream. Loudly."
"I can't! It will kill me!"
Kaelen grabbed her collar, pulling her face close to his. His eyes were cold, abyssal pools.
"The Weaver might kill you. I will kill you. Right now. Choose."
Tears streamed down her face, but she nodded. The fear of the man in front of her outweighed the fear of the monster.
"Go." Kaelen shoved her.
Seraphina stumbled, then ran toward the left wall, dragging her injured leg. She picked up a loose stone and hurled it, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Over here! You ugly freak!"
The Weaver dropped.
It moved with terrifying speed for its size, descending on a silk line. Its sensory stalks snapped toward the noise. It let out a chittering screech that sounded like tearing metal and charged at Seraphina.
'Perfect.'
Kaelen didn't run away. He ran toward the charging beast, staying in its blind spot—directly behind its thorax.
The Weaver raised its front legs, scythe-like claws ready to impale the girl. Seraphina curled into a ball, screaming.
Kaelen slid on his knees across the slick fungal floor, passing directly under the beast's elevated abdomen.
He saw it. The heat signature. The Core.
It wasn't protected by chitin like the rest of the body. It was soft, pulsing with heat.
"Open wide," Kaelen snarled.
He drove the obsidian shard upward with every ounce of [STR] the System had given him.
SQUELCH.
The rock buried itself to the hilt in the soft flesh.
SCREEEEEECH!
The Weaver thrashed, abandoning Seraphina. It spun around, trying to crush the parasite beneath it. A massive leg slammed down inches from Kaelen's head, cracking the stone floor.
Kaelen rolled, narrowly avoiding being skewered. He was covered in yellow, corrosive ichor. It burned, but he ignored it. He scrambled up the beast's back, grabbing onto the fungal plates.
"Get off!" The Weaver bucked like a wild horse, smashing against the wall.
Kaelen's grip held. He wasn't just holding on; he was climbing toward the head. The System notifications were flashing red in his vision.
[Warning: Enemy entering Berserk State.] [Warning: Neurotoxin detected in air.]
"Die!" Kaelen reached the cluster of sensory stalks. He didn't have a weapon anymore; the shard was stuck in its gut.
So he used his hands.
He plunged his fingers into the soft, wet cluster of eyes/stalks and ripped.
The creature convulsed. Kaelen didn't stop. He tore, clawed, and gouged. He was a savage, a beast worse than the one he was riding.
Finally, the Weaver's legs gave out. It crashed to the floor, twitching.
Kaelen lay on top of it, chest heaving. He could feel the life fading from the monster beneath him. And with it, the familiar, addictive pull of the [Sin Eater].
He placed his bloody hand on the creature's shattered skull.
"Devour."
The black mist erupted, thicker than before. It wrapped around the giant carcass. The Weaver dissolved, its mass flowing into Kaelen like water down a drain.
[Ding!]
[Boss Defeated: Mycelium Weaver (Rank E)]
[Achievement Unlocked: Giant Slayer.]
[Experience Gained (Massive).]
[Level Up!] [Level Up!]
[Current Level: 4 (Tier 0)]
[Loot Acquired:] 1. Weaver's Silk Gland (Crafting Material) 2. Fungal Core (Consumable)
[Skill Acquired: Shadow Step (Active)]
[Effect: Burst of movement speed that renders the user invisible to thermal and vibration sense for 2 seconds. Cost: 10 Stamina.]
Kaelen slid off the dissolving corpse. He felt... intoxicated. The power rush was incredible. He stood up, wiping the ichor from his face.
Seraphina was still curled up against the wall, shaking. She looked up at him.
To her, he didn't look like a savior. He looked like the King of the Abyss.
"Get up," Kaelen commanded, extending a hand. "We have an exit to find."
She hesitated, then took his hand. Her grip was weak, submissive.
"You... you killed it," she whispered.
"We killed it," Kaelen corrected her. "You make good bait, Lionheart."
He turned to the tunnel the Weaver had been guarding. But as he stepped over the threshold, he stopped.
There was no sunlight. No exit to the surface.
The tunnel led to a massive, iron gate. And stuck into the center of the gate was a sword.
Not just any sword.
It was a standard-issue instructor's blade. And pinned to the gate by the blade was a torn piece of a uniform.
Instructor Vance.
Kaelen's father.
Kaelen walked up to the gate, his blood running cold. He pulled the fabric loose. It was old, stained with dried blood, but the name tag was legible.
"This..."
Kaelen's voice trembled with a rage that eclipsed even the System's influence.
"This isn't just a monster pit."
"That's..."
Seraphina gasped, recognizing the name.
"That's your father's... but he died in the War of the North five years ago."
"Did he?"
Kaelen gripped the hilt of the sword.
"Or was he thrown down here too?"
[Ding!]
[Hidden Plot Thread Discovered: The Vance Lineage.]
[Quest Updated: The Truth of the Abyss.]
[Objective: Find the remains of Instructor Vance beyond the Iron Gate.]
Kaelen looked at the dark corridor beyond the bars.
"They didn't just kill me," he whispered, a smile twisting his face—a smile so terrifying Seraphina took a step back.
"They tried to bury the evidence."