SSS-Rank Extra: I Got a Chaos System-Chapter 28: Warden of the Deep

The battlefield was silent now. The remanent smoke lingered in the air, the last embers of Kazuki's poultry-powered destruction flickering out.

The sky was restored to that peaceful blue again, as if nothing had ever happened throughout the frenzied combat against the monstrosity.

And yet, something remained.

Lillian wiped soot from her cheek, breathing heavily. The exhaustion from using her ice magic still clung to her limbs, but she forced herself to stand tall. She turned her gaze to the other side split open ground, a chasm of darkness.

A wound in the earth, stretching wide and deep, swallowing the remnants of the battlefield's destruction. It wasn't just an ordinary hole.

The faint wisps of humming sound thrumming beneath their feet. Air around it wavered unnaturally.

Kazuki strolled forward, up to the edge, peering into the darkness with his hands around his hips. "Well, that's ominous."

Lillian shot him a look. "We should leave. Right now."

Kazuki raised an eyebrow. "But don't you want to know what's down there?" He gestured dramatically. "Think about it! We just obliterated a giant flesh monster with divine poultry warfare, and this hole is just beside that abomination. Clearly, this is the part where we unlock some kind of hidden dungeon or secret boss."

Lillian pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kazuki, I swear to everything holy, if you jump in there—"

Kazuki took a step forward.

Lillian immediately grabbed his collar. "No."

"Aw, come on! Just a little peek?" He wiggled his fingers toward the chasm. "Maybe throw a rock in Or, I don't know, a chicken bone?"

Lillian took a sharp breath, attempting to contain the migraine, massaging her temples. "It might be unstable. Or worse, it might be alive."

Kazuki's eyes widened. "Alive?"

As if in response, the shadows on the floor of the chasm twisted. The air vibrated with a deep, humming thrum, and the ground beneath their feet trembled.

Lillian tensed. "Okay. Yeah. Definitely alive."

Kazuki grinned. "So we need to go take a look."

Lillian clenched her fists, her icy magic crackling at her fingertips. "We definitely, definitely don't."

Kazuki gazed at her, then at the emptiness, then at her. "Fine", throwing his hands up, he relented "But if something does come crawling out, I'm claiming first loot rights."

Lillian rolled her eyes, already regretting every life decision that had led her to this moment.

The second pulse resonated throughout the air. It was followed by soft whispers resonating from the bottom.

Kazuki and Lillian exchanged glances.

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"...You heard that, right?" Kazuki asked.

Lillian didn't respond.

The whispers deepened as Kazuki and Lillian stepped closer to the chasm. It was no longer just faint murmurs—it was voices, layered and endless, speaking in a language that clawed at the edges of their minds. The air grew heavier, pressing down on their lungs like an invisible weight.

Lillian glanced at Kazuki. "This is a terrible idea."

Kazuki grinned. "But we're still doing it?"

Lillian exhaled sharply. "Unfortunately."

They descended. The walls of the chasm were jagged, with scratches and cuts around it, as if carvings barely visible through the gloom. The further they went, the less the outside world seemed to exist. No wind. No sky. Only the abysmal darkness, stretching endlessly below.

And then the ground levelled.

There was an endless underground cavern spread out before them, the ceiling lost to darkness above. At the center, something improbably large—a black stone monolithic throne, chains draped upon it like a rusted steel prison. And with it...

Something slept.

It was a giant—no, something beyond a giant. A skeletal form, clad in fragmented armor, its surface etched with ancient runes pulsing with dying embers of blue fire. A massive greatsword was embedded into the ground beside it, its blade cracked but still seething with power.

The whispers had stopped.

Silence. A silence so complete it felt like reality itself had paused.

Then... a single ember within its hollow eye socket flickered to life.

Kazuki took a step back. "...Okay. That's new."

And then—

A status window snapped into existence before them, the bright, glowing letters cutting through the darkness like a knife.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

WARNING!

❖ Abyssal Warden Detected ❖

[Rank: ???]

[Threat Level: Calamitous]

[State: Dormant]

[Recommended Action: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Kazuki frowned. "Well, that's... encouraging."

The throne shook.

The chains rattled, as the shadows on the border of the room shifted.

As if sensing intruders.

Lillian grabbed Kazuki's arm. "We have to get out. Now."

A sudden pressure fell upon them so great, so inescapable, that it like an ocean upon a single bubble of air. Kazuki felt it in his own bones, in his own skull, as if some giant, otherworldly thing had set its eyes upon them.

He grunted. "Lillian—I can't move."

She attempted to speak, but nothing was coming out of her mouth. Her whole being was eager to flee, but her body would not listen. It was like gravity had been reversed, pulling downwards, holding them in place.

And then—

The corpses stirred from the ground all around them.

One by one, they rose.

A tide of the undead, shrouded in abyssal shadows, their bones laced with the same pulsing runes that marked the Warden. The darkness clung to them, shaping itself into armor, blades, claws.

The first corpse let out a dry, rattling breath. Then, all at once—

They screamed.

Lillian's breath hitched as she forced herself to move. "RUN!"

Kazuki didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed her wrist, yanking her back as the first wave of undead lurched forward, their skeletal hands clawing at the ground where they had just stood.

The abyss trembled. The Warden's fingers twitched.

The entire chamber shook.

Kazuki and Lillian sprinted back the way they came, the chasm's walls closing in, the shadows warping as though trying to drag them back.

Behind them, the chains groaned. A sound that echoed like the tolling of a bell.

Then, the first link shattered.

A monstrous, hollow breath filled the cavern. Something immense began to rise.

And the Abyssal Warden opened its eyes.