I Ascend Alone-Chapter 149: Entering the Dungeon - Everdeep Bastion

A calamity was coming. Not the kind that broke cities, but the kind that could swallow the world.

"I can't afford to wait."

The key shimmered again, responding to my resolve.

[ System Notice ]

➤ "Endless Key recognizes user: Abyss Monarch."

➤ "Would you like to open a passage to Everdeep Bastion?"

-

I didn't hesitate. My finger moved.

[ Yes. ]

The Endless Key pulsed once, then unraveled.

The metal warped, twisting like liquid shadow into a ring of black symbols that spun in the air, etching themselves into space itself. A sound followed—low, deep, like a massive lock turning beneath the world.

Then space split open.

I stepped forward without looking back. And the world disappeared.

-

[ Everdeep Bastion – Floor 1 / ??? ]

The moment I arrived, a pressure slammed into me.

Like the air was too heavy.

Dark stone stretched out in every direction, laced with ancient runes I couldn't read. Torches burned with pale silver fire, casting light that didn't warm.

And above me, the ceiling disappeared into shadow.

No welcome. No sound. Just silence.

The System chimed again.

[ System Notice ]

➤ You have entered Everdeep Bastion – A Sovereign-Class Dungeon.

➤ Total Known Floors: 1000.

➤ Exit Conditions: You may leave at will—except while engaged in combat.

➤ Warning: Monsters here scale beyond standard measure. No mercy. No rest. No limit.

-

The moment of stillness shattered.

From the shadows at the far end of the chamber, movement stirred—low growls, the skitter of claws, and the rising hum of something wrong. Dozens of eyes blinked open in the darkness.

Then the swarm came.

Beasts of ash and bone. Hulking fiends stitched from shadow. Crawling horrors with too many limbs and no mouths, all converging on my position like a tide of nightmare.

The ground trembled beneath their charge.

Vorathos emerged from my shadow first, his blade already gleaming with voidlight. "Permission to engage, my Liege?"

Umbraezar stepped beside him, phantom limbs unraveling with a hiss. "Allow me to cull the weak, Master. They are beneath you."

I raised a hand—calm, firm.

"No."

They both paused, startled.

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I glanced at them, voice level. "Save your strength. You'll need it when we reach the deeper levels. These things aren't worth your blades."

Their gazes held mine for a moment—then they both nodded and stepped back.

"Understood," Vorathos said.

Umbraezar folded his arms, his presence still radiating pressure. "Then let them witness what the Abyss taste like."

I reached into the void of my authority—and pulled.

[ Summon: Abyssal Knight – Dusk Reaver ]

The ground cracked.

A figure rose from the abyss, armored in jagged obsidian, his greatsword nearly as tall as himself. The torches flickered as if afraid of his presence. His helm glowed faintly from within, not with fire—but with void.

Dusk Reaver, the Abyssal Knight.

He dropped to one knee before me for only a second, then turned to face the oncoming horde.

[ Abyssal Pact: Fenrir – Awakened Form ]

A rift tore open behind me, howling wind spilling from its depths. Then he leapt forth—Fenrir, reborn.

No longer just a warhound. His body was massive now, sleek muscle wrapped in shadowsteel fur, abyssal runes glowing across his flanks. Black horns curled from his skull, and his fangs shimmered like onyx blades. He growled once, and the temperature plummeted.

A single bark shattered the nearest enemy into mist.

He stepped forward, each movement oozing authority.

And then, I raised my hand once more.

[ Summon: Six Elites Abyssal Orc ]

Six shadows twisted and grew, taking form.

Each orc was nearly ten feet tall, plated in dark abyssal armor fused into their skin. Their eyes burned crimson. Great axes, jagged spears, and blackened cleavers hung in their hands, crackling with cursed energy.

They knelt in unison.

I pointed forward.

"Wipe them out."

Withut hesitation, they nodded once and surged forward like a wave of war.

Fenrir led the charge, vanishing in a flash of abyssal mist and reappearing in the middle of the swarm. He tore through a beast in a blur, his claws dragging glowing streaks through the air. Behind him, the orcs roared and smashed into the fray with brutal, coordinated strikes—precision born of endless death.

And Dusk Reaver moved with silence, but every swing of his blade took down five enemies at once. His greatsword carved lines of glowing destruction through the monsters, each impact pulsing with abyssal gravity.

The room shook with every kill.

Screams. Growls. Explosions of dark light.

And I stood at the center of it all—watching.

Calculating.

'This was just floor one. If the swarm here was this intense... then the deeper floors would be chaos incarnate.'

The last beast screeched—a warped, six-eyed chimera of bone and bile—before Fenrir lunged, clamping his jaws around its throat and snapping it in two. The creature's body dissolved into vapor before it even hit the stone.

Silence returned.

Only the slow drip of ichor and the hiss of lingering energy remained.

The battlefield was littered with corpses—if you could even call them that. Shattered remnants of shadowbeasts, twisted limbs, splintered fangs, and broken forms smeared across the ancient black stone.

And in the center of it all, my summons stood tall. Triumphant. Unharmed.

A deep rumble echoed from the far wall, and with it, a portion of the chamber began to shift.

Stone grated against stone.

Then a vertical fracture split open, releasing a hiss of dark mist.

A black portal, swirling with layered runes and abyssal glyphs, formed in the center of the broken wall. The void beyond it shimmered, hungry and vast.

[ System Notice ]

➤ All enemies eliminated.➤ Access to Everdeep Bastion: Floor 2 unlocked.➤ You may proceed when ready.