Floor 17 — The Abyssal Descent

February 10, 2012 - 11:15 PM

(Kaiser Everhart)

The air down here tasted like rusted iron and damp soil.

We had been walking for another hour. The descent to Floor 17 was a lot quieter than I expected, but the silence felt heavy. The kind of heavy that presses against your eardrums.

I adjusted my grip on Scarlet. She was still fast asleep, her breathing finally slow and steady.

But her right hand was clamped onto my jacket like a vice. Her small fingers had twisted the fabric into a tight knot, her knuckles completely white.

I stopped walking for a second. I reached down and gently tried to pry her fingers open.

Scarlet let out a distressed groan in her sleep. Her brow furrowed, her body shivering slightly as she instantly tightened her grip even more, pulling herself closer to my chest. She mumbled something completely incoherent, her ears drooping.

I let out a slow breath, giving up. I let my hand drop.

"Man, you are so whipped."

I looked up. Axel was walking a few paces ahead, his axe resting lazily on his shoulder. He looked back at me with a massive, annoying grin on his face.

"I’m just saying," Axel continued, pointing at her hand. "If you try to explain that to Elfie, she’s going to go crazy."

"Do I need to remind you about the `xX_Shadow_Romeo_Alpha_Xx` chat logs?"

Axel’s grin vanished instantly. He zipped his fingers over his lips and turned back around, marching forward in total silence.

"Good." I muttered, adjusting Scarlet’s weight.

We walked for another five minutes. The bioluminescent moss on the walls here was a sickening, dull purple, casting strange, elongated shadows on the floor.

"Hey, Kaiser?" Axel asked, not looking back. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Make it fast."

"Instructor Aisha told us not to go deeper. She literally said there was a massive monster surging up from the lower levels. So why did we go down to Floor 17?"

I stepped over a massive crack in the stone. "Because I lied to them."

Axel stopped walking. He slowly turned around, his eyes wide. "What?"

"I didn’t know our exact coordinates on Floor 16." I explained calmly. "The atmospheric pressure and the geothermal depthing were too erratic. The numbers didn’t align with standard dungeon metrics. If I gave them Floor 16’s math, Columbina would have opened a portal inside a solid rock wall."

"So..."

"So, I calculated the acoustic volume and gravitational deflection for a specific cavern on Floor 17." I stated. "I gave them the coordinates for a place we hadn’t reached yet. We are currently walking to our extraction point."

Axel stared at me for a long time.

"You are insane."

"I am practical."

Suddenly, the floor beneath us vibrated. It wasn’t a small tremor. It felt like a massive heartbeat echoing through the bedrock.

A horrific, deafening screech tore through the darkness ahead of us.

"Get behind me." I ordered instantly, my voice dropping.

Axel didn’t argue. He stepped back, gripping his battle axe with both hands. The blue lightning crackled around the blade, illuminating the cavern.

From the shadows, a towering nightmare stepped into the light.

It was a cathedral of rotting muscle and pale, twisted bone. Sickly thorns erupted from its spine. Its skull was completely eyeless, smooth and blank, until the bottom half split open into a horrifying maw of endless, razor-sharp teeth. Putrid webbing dripped from its waist and its unnaturally long arms.

And it wasn’t alone.

Crawling out from the shadows behind it were dozens of high-ranking monsters. Armored beetles, giant arachnids, shadow beasts, and stalkers. A completely chaotic mix of species that should have been tearing each other apart.

Instead, they stood in complete formation behind the bone-plated giant. They weren’t its pack. They were terrified of it. They were following it out of pure, survival-driven submission.

"Axel." I whispered, not taking my eyes off the boss. "Keep Scarlet safe."

A heavy, grating voice echoed directly in my head.

Flecks of meat. You dare stand in my path.

Axel flinched violently, looking around in terror. "Did... did it just speak into my brain?!"

I stared at the eyeless skull. "You can communicate. That makes this easier."

I am Necros Osiris. The Apex of the Abyss. You are food.

"Let’s not waste time fighting." I said flatly, ignoring its theatrics. "You let us be, we let you go. Win-win."

The monster let out a guttural, vibrating laugh that shook the dust from the ceiling.

Arrogant flesh. I will crush your bones into dust. I will devour your organs, and I will leave the scraps for my army to feast upon.

I looked past it, scanning the horde of monsters waiting in the dark.

"If you challenge me, you will be decimated." I said, my tone completely deadpan.

I have seen death a thousand times, human. I am not scared of your pathetic magic.

"Well, I’ll show you more than that."

I reached down, grabbing Scarlet’s wrist to pry her off my jacket so I could draw my combat dagger.

Scarlet groaned loudly. "No..."

I pulled harder.

"No, no..." she mumbled, shaking her head in her sleep and burying her face directly into my chest, her fingers locking tighter.

I paused.

I looked at her hand. I looked at the towering bone-monster preparing to slaughter us.

"Timeout." I said loudly, raising my free hand toward Necros.

The massive monster froze, its jaw hanging open in sheer confusion. What?

I looked at Axel. "This girl is officially clinging to me. You must go fight it."

Axel pointed a trembling finger at himself. "Who? Me?!"

"Yes, you."

"Sir, are you out of your mind?!" Axel hissed, his eyes wide with panic. "That thing is the size of a building! It has an army! I am a first-year student!"

"You’re the alpha wolf. The secret weapon of Class C." I reminded him.

"I made that up! I’m a fraud! I’m going to die!"

"Just pull her off me." I sighed.

Axel rushed over. He grabbed Scarlet’s arm and tugged. Scarlet instantly whimpered, her face contorting in pain as she clung to my shirt for dear life.

Axel let go immediately, holding his hands up. "Bro, I can’t do it! It hurts her!"

I stared at the ceiling for two seconds.

"I’ll get her off." I said, sitting down heavily on a nearby boulder. "Go fight it and win. You got this, alpha."

Axel stared at me, his face completely drained of color.

Necros Osiris tilted its massive skull, watching this absurd exchange. It watched Axel step forward, his axe sparking weakly, while I sat down on a rock, completely ignoring the apocalypse to deal with a sleeping elf girl.

You send the weakling to die first? The voice echoed in Axel’s head.

Axel swallowed hard. He planted his feet, forcing a terrified scowl onto his face.

"I’m not a weakling, you ugly bone-freak." Axel shouted, his voice cracking slightly.

I will tear your spine through your throat.

"Yeah? Well, my axe is going to... cut your face! If you had one!"

Your confidence is a pathetic mask, human.

"I don’t wear masks! I’m a wolf!"

You are meat.

"I am the alpha!"

I am the end of your bloodline.

"I don’t even have a bloodline! I’m from the suburbs!"

DIE!

Necros roared, a sound that shattered the stalactites above us. The monster army surged forward like a tidal wave of claws and teeth.

"Come on!" Axel screamed.

He swung his battle axe. A massive arc of blue lightning exploded across the cavern, blindingly bright.

The first wave of beasts took the hit. The electricity chained between them, roasting their flesh and dropping them to the stone floor in twitching heaps.

Axel didn’t stop. He pushed forward, spinning the heavy axe with desperate, panicked momentum.

An armored beetle lunged at him. Axel ducked under the mandibles, driving the sparking blade directly into its underbelly. The electric shock cooked the insect from the inside out, popping its shell open with a sickening crunch.

He kicked the carcass away and fired a condensed bolt of lightning from his left hand, blasting a stalker out of the air before it could land on him.

Not bad, alpha. I thought, carefully trying to pry Scarlet’s pinky finger loose.

But Axel was fighting the minions.

Necros moved.

For a creature that massive, it was impossibly fast. It cleared the distance in a single, terrifying leap.

Axel looked up just in time to see the giant shadow block out the light.

He raised his axe to block.

Necros slammed its long, bone-plated arm down. The impact sounded like a cannon firing.

Axel was crushed down to one knee, the stone floor shattering beneath him. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the sheer force bypassed his block and fractured his ribs.

Weak.

Necros raised its other hand. Dark, purple mana swirled violently in its palm, condensing into a heavy, suffocating spell of necrotic energy.

Axel gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. "Not yet!"

He poured every ounce of his remaining mana into his weapon. The lightning didn’t just crackle; it shrieked.

Axel threw his entire body upward, parrying the bone arm just enough to swing his axe in a desperate, upward arc.

The blade bit deep into the bone armor on Necros’s chest. A massive surge of electricity erupted directly into the monster’s nervous system.

Necros roared in genuine pain, stumbling backward.

But it didn’t fall.

The dark mana in its hand detonated. A shockwave of pure force hit Axel point-blank.

Axel was launched through the air like a broken doll. He flew backwards, his axe clattering against the stone.

I stood up. I caught him out of the air, absorbing the momentum with my legs.

Axel coughed, blood spilling down his chin. His trench coat was shredded, his chest heavily bruised, and his breathing was ragged.

"Sir..." Axel wheezed, his eyes rolling back slightly. "I... I got one hit in..."

"It’s all good now." I said, gently lowering him to the stone next to the sleeping Scarlet. "You did your best."

I stood back up.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling the heavy, dense muscle coil under my skin. I looked at the towering bone monstrosity recovering from the electrical shock.

It was time to work.

I stepped forward. The Kyoketsu-shoge—a heavy, curved reaper blade attached to a long metal chain—slipped from my sleeve into my right hand. In my left, I held my combat dagger in a tight reverse grip.

Necros Osiris roared, sending three armored beetles rushing at me. Their mandibles clicked rapidly, looking to sever my legs.

I didn’t step back. My eyes tracked their movement.

Heavy frontal carapace. Exposed neural joints underneath the mandibles.

I whipped the chain forward. The reaper blade hooked the first beetle’s front leg, ripping its balance out. As it stumbled, I closed the distance with a rapid step. I drove my dagger upward, sliding the blade perfectly into the soft gap beneath its armored neck. The strike severed its neural column instantly.

The second beetle lunged. I dropped low, spinning on my heel to dodge its mandibles, and dragged the heavy reaper blade across its underbelly. The sharp metal tore through the softer tissue, spilling its organs onto the stone.

The third tried to snap at my waist. I vaulted over its head, planting my hand on its shell to flip completely over it. I landed squarely on its back and drove my dagger straight down through the thin gap in its carapace, piercing its brain.

Three dead in three seconds.

The other monsters hesitated.

What are you? Necros’s voice echoed in my head. It sounded less dismissive now, laced with a dark, heavy frustration. You move like an assassin. But I sense no magic in your attacks.

"I just eat a lot of vegetables." I said, pulling the chain back to catch the reaper blade.

Necros swung its massive bone-plated arm at me. The sweep was wide and devastating, designed to crush me against the cavern wall.

I didn’t try to block a strike from a building-sized monster. I dropped into a low slide, passing flawlessly underneath the sweeping arm. I whipped the shoge blade upward as I slid, slicing deep into the exposed, rotting muscle beneath the bone armor.

Necros roared in pain, bringing its other fist down like a hammer to crush me.

I pushed off my back foot, rolling out of the impact zone just as the stone shattered into dust. Using the momentum of the roll, I threw the dagger from my left hand. It sank perfectly into the gap of the monster’s shoulder joint, momentarily jamming the cartilage.

You fight... differently. Necros communicated, ripping the dagger out of its shoulder and tossing it aside with grudging respect. The Beyonders rely on light. They stand still and use magic to its summit.

"Mages are lazy." I said, pulling another dagger from my belt. "They forget they have legs."

Two stalkers tried to ambush me from the shadows behind my back. I heard the faint scrape of their claws against the rock.

I didn’t turn. I sidestepped the first one, letting its momentum carry it past me, and slashed its throat with the reaper blade. The second leaped at my head. I threw my left elbow backward with brutal precision, catching it directly in the windpipe. I followed up with a spinning crescent kick to its jaw, snapping its neck with a loud crack.

I let out a slow breath, keeping my stance loose. Wing Chun principles: deflect, redirect, strike the central axis. My heart rate hadn’t even spiked.

The monster army around us started backing away. They were predators, and predators only attack when they have the advantage. Right now, they were watching a single human dismantle their strongest without taking a single hit.

I have slaughtered hundreds of your kind. Necros spoke, its heavy voice rumbling with undeniable curiosity and respect. But I have never seen one fight with only their flesh.

"First time for everything." I said, twirling the reaper blade by the chain.

The cave fell into a tense, heavy silence. The lesser monsters were fully retreating into the shadows, terrified of the violence. It was just me and the bone giant.

Tell me your name, human.

"Kaiser."

Kaiser. The monster repeated it. Your physical speed is impossible. Is your mana drained from the boost? Will you falter soon?

"I don’t use mana." I said, staring up at its eyeless skull. "I have zero capacity. Which means I don’t get tired. I won’t ever run out."

Zero? Impossible. How do you survive the abyss without the light?

"By understanding how the dark works."

You speak like a creature of the depths, not a Beyonder.

"I’ll take that as a compliment." I said, resting the dagger at my side. "Since you’ve been stuck down here reconstructing every cycle, tell me something. How does this dungeon actually function? What’s at the bottom?"

You seek the bottom? Foolish flesh. No kind has ever reached Floor 100. Not the elves, not the beasts, not the humans.

"Why not? It’s just a hole in the ground."

It is a living prison. It is not meant to be conquered. There is a secret buried at the absolute depth.

"What kind of secret?"

A truth the dungeon protects. It breathes, it remembers, and it waits for the one who can survive the final descent.

"Sounds like a fun field trip."

You will not see it. Necros roared, its posture widening as dark mana began to crackle around its spine. Even if you are strong, I will not give up! I will not yield!

"You don’t get it." I said, my voice dropping to a cold, flat tone.

I pointed my reaper blade at the shadows behind the giant.

"Down here, the ecosystem is simple. Monsters follow the strongest predator in the room. They followed you because you killed the wardens and the tyrants."

Necros paused, turning its massive skull to look behind it.

The dozens of stalkers, crawlers, and armored beetles weren’t preparing to charge. They were huddled together in the dark, shivering. Their eyes darted nervously between Necros and me. They were completely hesitant.

"Look at them." I said calmly. "They aren’t fighting alongside you anymore."

Necros let out a confused, furious growl, stepping toward its army. They flinched and backed further away, recognizing the shift in the hierarchy.

"In this battle, Necros," I said, adjusting my grip on the heavy chain.

"You’re no longer the strongest."

Necros let out a screech that shook the cavern walls. The bone armor along its spine expanded, long jagged spikes protruding outward as its hollow ribs flared. Dark purple mist poured from its split jaw.

It went into a frenzied charge.

Its speed tripled. It lunged forward like a rabid animal, tearing up the stone floor with its massive claws, striking in a flurry of chaotic, lethal swipes.

I moved.

My body shifted, ducking beneath the first swipe by a fraction of an inch. I spun, letting the second claw slice through the empty air where my shoulder had been, and backflipped over a tail-sweep, landing lightly on a rock.

Axel watched from the corner, his jaw hanging open in sheer disbelief. He had never seen anyone move like this—defying gravity, flowing through a storm of claw strikes with absolute, inhuman grace, all without a single spark of mana.

I dashed past Necros, sprinting directly toward the pack of shivering monsters huddled in the shadow of the cavern wall.

Necros turned to charge, but froze. If it launched a sweeping attack now, it would crush its own army.

I stood right in front of the huddled beasts. I looked at the giant beetles and arachnids, my voice steady and cold.

"Look at him." I said, my voice echoing in the cave. "The apex is wounded."

The monsters shifted, their mandibles clicking in agitation.

"He is bleeding." I pointed the reaper blade at Necros’s chest. "Help me dethrone the empty, dying apex. Fight along with me."

They cannot understand your words, human! Necros’s voice boomed in my mind, laced with rage. They are beasts! They do not speak your tongue!

"They don’t need to understand my words." I replied, my eyes locked on the giant arachnid closest to me. "They can read the tone. They can feel the frequency of the true apex."

I lunged forward, swinging the Kyoketsu-shoge.

I used the chain to its full extension, swinging the curved blade in a whirling circle of steel. I leaped into the air, executing a tight backflip over a claw strike, and sliced the shoge deep into Necros’s left knee joint.

I bounced off the wall, using the stone as a springboard to launch myself over its shoulder. In mid-air, I spun, dragging the hooked blade across its neck, carving a deep wound that sprayed dark, necrotic blood.

Suddenly, a giant arachnid in the shadows clicked its legs. It lunged.

It didn’t jump at me. It leaped straight onto Necros’s wounded knee, sinking its fangs into the exposed flesh.

Necros roared in shock, crushing the spider with its fist. But the spell was broken. Three winged gargoyles took flight, diving from the ceiling to tear at the monster’s neck. A centipede-like crawler surged forward, secreting acid onto the monster’s heel.

"They are loyal to no one, Necros." I mocked, landing lightly on the stone. "They are only loyal to the strongest."

Necros fought like a cornered beast, tearing the gargoyles apart and stomping the crawler into mush. But the wounds were accumulating. It was slow. Its movement was heavy.

I went serious.

I moved with god-tier speed, becoming a blur of motion. I closed the distance in a fraction of a second. The metal chain of the shoge whipped through the air, wrapping around Necros’s arm so fast the links screamed. It bound its limb to its torso before it could swing.

I stepped onto its knee, launched myself upward, and delivered a brutal kick to its jaw, sending the giant monster staggering backward and upward.

While it was mid-air, I pulled the chain.

I anchored my feet, using my body weight and leverage to swing the massive monster by its bound arm. With a heavy groan, I slammed Necros Osiris face-first into the cavern floor. The stone shattered, a massive shockwave of dust and debris erupting outward.

Necros lay cratered in the stone, its bone armor cracked. The remaining monsters immediately began creeping forward, their jaws snapping as they prepared to feast on the fallen king.

How... Necros’s telepathic voice was faint, trembling. How did you turn them?

"These monsters aren’t conscious." I explained, walking slowly toward it. "They sense by patterns. They track the sound of the heartbeat, the scent of fresh blood, and the frequency of physical vibration."

Patterns?

"Yes. They saw you getting wounded, and they felt my heart rate remaining perfectly flat. Their instinct realized the gap in power. They can’t differentiate between friend and foe—only their own species. For others, they simply swarm whoever is losing."

You learned this... here?

"I spent the past day analyzing their pathing." I said. "It’s simple biology."

Necros let out a low, rattling chuckle that turned into a cough of dark blood.

A human... it communicated, a strange sense of praise in its tone. The sole human who fought me alone. No mages. No beyonders. Just pure, terrifying physical power. I cannot be mad at this loss.

"What do you mean by that?"

The mages who reach my layer... they are cowards. They team up. 5, 10, 20 of them, spamming spells from behind walls to wear me down. I hate them. None of them are strong. They rely on pathetic numbers to win.

"And the beyonders?"

They are anomalies. Creatures who can one-shot me with a single wave of their hand. But you... you fought me with your hands. You took my army.

I raised my eyebrow. "A beyonder can one-shot you?"

Yes. The monsters of the deep fear them.

Around us, a group of armored beetles hissed, lunging forward to tear into Necros’s chest to finish him off.

I moved instantly. Two quick sweeps of my daggers severed their heads, dropping them dead.

Necros stared up at me, shocked. You... protect me?

"Go back to your layer." I said, wiping the blood off my dagger. "If I kill you, the instructors will find your core. That brings unwanted attention to me. I prefer to stay under the radar."

Necros felt a wave of unfamiliar emotion. A human showing him mercy. Not fear. Not hatred. Just total, practical indifference.

Who are you? it demanded. What are you truly?

"I already told you." I said, slipping the daggers back into my sleeves.

"I’m just a normal human being."

Necros slowly rose to its feet, the cracked bone armor on its chest grating against the stone. I watched it quietly, my hand resting near my waist. It briefly shifted its massive weight back into a defensive stance, but then stopped.

Slowly, deliberately, the massive bone giant sank onto one knee. It bowed its eyeless skull, lowering itself in profound respect.

Behind it, the remaining arachnids, crawlers, and gargoyles saw their leader bow. Following the biological hierarchy, they too lowered their heads, kneeling or settling flat against the cavern floor in front of me.

I smirked, a brief, silent expression that vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"What... what is actually happening right now?" Axel stammered, walking over slowly. He was still limping, his clothes scorched and torn, holding a sleeping Scarlet in a clumsy bridal carry.

Scarlet let out an annoyed, sleep-addled whimper. She squirmed in Axel’s arms, her forehead creased in irritation as she tried to pull away from his touch, clearly rejecting him even in her subconscious.

"No clue." I lied smoothly, looking back at the kneeling monsters.

In my lifetime, human, Necros’s telepathic voice resonated in my mind, quieter now, devoid of the previous rage. I have met sorcerers and champions. But you are the only one I have bowed to in defeat. You possess the strength of the depths.

"Thanks." I muttered. "I’ll keep that in mind."

A hum of magical energy vibrated through the air. A few meters away, a circular rift of blue and gold stardust began to tear open, slowly expanding into a portal. The instructors had finally aligned their coordinates.

I reached down, drew my combat dagger, and casually sliced three shallow cuts into my own forearms.

Axel gasped, his eyes widening. "Are you insane?! Why are you stabbing yourself?!"

"If we teleport back and I don’t have a single scratch on me after clearing Floor 17, the instructors will start asking questions." I explained, wiping the blade and sheathing it. "I have a specific cover story in mind. Give me Scarlet."

I took Scarlet from his arms. The moment my hands slid under her back, her fingers shot out, gripping the fabric of my jacket in a tight, possessive hold. Her head settled comfortably against my shoulder, a tiny, peaceful sigh escaping her lips.

"See?" Axel grunted, rubbing his bruised ribs. "She’s like a magnet."

I ignored him and looked back at the kneeling bone giant. "Necros. I need a favor."

The giant tilted its head slightly. Speak.

"I need you to kneel in front of him." I pointed at Axel.

Axel’s jaw dropped. Necros’s posture stiffened immediately, a wave of telepathic anger flooding the mental link.

I am the apex of the lower layers! Necros snarled. I will not bow to that weakling! The alpha of nothing!

"Please?" I said, keeping my face completely deadpan. "I really don’t want the instructors looking at me. Just do it, cuh. The next time I visit your floor, I’ll bring you some high-quality icecream as a gift."

Necros stared at me for a long, agonizing moment. It let out a deep, telepathic sigh of absolute frustration, then slowly shifted its massive body, bowing its head directly toward a petrified Axel.

Axel looked like he was about to pass out from sheer terror and confusion.

I adjusted Scarlet’s weight, ensuring her head was supported, and stepped toward the glowing rescue portal.

Everything went exactly according to plan.

The prions are denatured, Scarlet is safe, and Axel’s massive ego is intact enough to act as the perfect alibi. The instructors will see a battered group, a heroic ’alpha’ who defeated a floor boss, and a magicless civilian who barely survived with minor cuts.

The best-case scenario.

If I looked perfect, the instructors would search for the anomaly. And right now, I needed the academy to keep looking the other way.

"Let’s go." I told Axel, stepping into the light.

*

Result Announcement

February 10, 2012 - 11:30 PM

(Apollo Einstein)

The grand hall of the academy was suffocatingly quiet.

Columbina stood at the center of the podium. Before her sat the entirety of Class A, B, and C. She held a stack of evaluation papers in her hand, her posture rigid and her expression utterly unreadable.

"The monthly exam results will be delayed." Columbina announced, her voice carrying through the silent hall. "You will receive them shortly, but we have a priority matter to address. A group from Class C is currently trapped deep within the dungeon."

A wave of panicked murmurs rippled through the seats.

Down in the third row, a blonde girl—Leena—covered her mouth, her eyes tearing up in worry for Elfina. A tall boy next to her, Rigel, placed a firm, steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Silence." Columbina ordered. The hall instantly quieted down. "They have managed to contact us and provide their coordinates. Wait here."

Columbina stepped down from the podium, walking directly toward where I stood near the heavy oak doors. Sukuna and Aisha were waiting with me.

"Sukuna." Columbina said, not breaking her stride. "Stay here and watch the students."

"Huh?"

Sukuna crossed his arms, his cursed marks shifting slightly against his skin. "I want to come. A deep-floor extraction sounds a lot more entertaining than babysitting."

"It’s a rescue, not a hunt." Aisha snapped, her eyes narrowing. "We don’t need your bloodlust down there."

"Both of you, stop." Theodor Russell stepped out from the shadows of the corridor. The elderly instructor adjusted his spectacles, his aura calm and heavy. "I will supervise the students. Go fetch the lost kids."

We didn’t waste another second.

The four of us moved to the main courtyard. Aisha channeled her mana, her hands glowing with pure, celestial light as she began weaving the spatial tear.

"Coordinates." Aisha demanded, straining against the dimensional pressure.

I pushed my glasses up, reading from my notes. "Acoustic density of twelve kilopascals. Geothermal gradient shifting by three degrees. Elvian coordinates: Sector 4, Node 17."

The air tore open. A brilliant portal of blue and gold stardust stabilized in front of us.

"Weapons drawn." Columbina ordered, pulling a pair of curved daggers from her waist. "Floor 17 is hostile territory."

We stepped through the rift.

The immediate scent of blood, ozone, and rotting meat hit my lungs. I expected total chaos. I expected to find three mangled corpses surrounded by a swarm of abyssal predators.

Instead, my brain completely stalled.

At the center of a shattered, cratered cavern stood Axel. His coat was shredded, his body battered and bruised, but he stood tall, his battle-axe resting on his shoulder in a legendary, heroic pose.

In front of him, the S-rank floor boss—the bone-plated nightmare known as Necros Osiris—was on one knee. Its massive, eyeless skull was bowed in absolute submission. Dozens of high-tier monsters groveled behind it.

Impossible.

I stared at the scene, my mind racing through centuries of magical history.

A mindless dungeon boss and its horde... kneeling for a human? Who is that kid?

"That beast..." Sukuna muttered, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and pure predatory excitement. "That’s an S-ranked anomaly. How the hell did a first-year defeat it?"

Columbina and Aisha didn’t speak. They stepped forward, their mana surging, fully prepared for combat if the giant monster made a single twitch.

I did the math in my head. If the four of us fought Necros Osiris together, we could kill it. But it would cost us a massive amount of mana and a heavy fight. Yet, looking at the cratered stone and the sheer destruction around us... that kid had managed to solo it.

How strong does a teenager have to be to force an apex predator into submission?

"H-Help!"

A weak, trembling voice broke my thoughts.

Off to the side, sitting in the dust, was Kaiser Everhart. He looked pathetic. His clothes were covered in dirt, and a sleeping Scarlet was huddled against his chest. He was trembling, staring at the monsters with wide, terrified eyes.

"P-Please, get us out of here!" Kaiser stuttered, his voice cracking. He pointed a shaking finger at the massive bone giant. "W-We found that thing... we were going to die! But Axel—Axel came and fought it! He protected us!"

I looked at Kaiser closely. He had shallow cuts on his arms and bruises forming on his skin.

Minor blunt force trauma and scrapes. I deduced quickly. Probably from tripping and falling against the cavern walls in a panic while Axel did the heavy lifting.

I looked back at Axel. The boy was bleeding heavily, his ribs clearly fractured, his skin scorched by his own lightning. He looked like a warrior who had just fought a one-man war.

He really is the secret weapon. I thought, utterly stunned.

Columbina stepped forward, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Axel, then at the massive, kneeling bone giant. "Axel. What is this?"

Axel scoffed, shifting the heavy battle axe on his shoulder. He flicked a speck of dust off his shredded sleeve with a haughty sniff. "Just a typical Tuesday, Instructor. An alpha does what an alpha must."

"Do not play games, boy." Columbina said, her voice dropping to a dangerously quiet pitch. "A first-year student does not subjugate an S-rank boss."

"Well, this first-year does." Axel declared, puffing out his chest. "I walked down here, saw these ugly bugs harassing my classmates, and decided to show them the absolute power of the Dark Wolf. They surrendered. Naturally."

Columbina’s expression remained completely blank. She didn’t buy a single word.

Sukuna sneered, walking around the kneeling Necros. "Surrendered? A beast of the abyss doesn’t know the concept. If you beat it, why is it still breathing?"

"I chose to show mercy." Axel said, looking down at the monster. "Shoo."

Necros Osiris didn’t move. It simply stared forward with its eyeless, bone-plated face, completely ignoring him.

Axel blinked, clearing his throat. He pointed a finger at the darkness. "I said, shoo. Begone, creature of the dark."

Necros remained dead silent, still kneeling.

"Doesn’t look like it’s shooing." Sukuna mocked, a dark grin spreading across his face. "Why don’t you go punch it again to prove it, kid?"

Axel crossed his arms, raising his chin dramatically. "The Dark Wolf does not prey on the weak. It is beneath my pride."

Aisha hurried past them, kneeling down next to me and the sleeping Scarlet. "Are you three alright? It’s over now. You’re safe."

"W-We are okay, Instructor!" Kaiser stammered, his body shivering as he held Scarlet closer. "It was... it was terrifying. The cavern collapsed, and these monsters came out of nowhere. We couldn’t do anything."

"And Scarlet?" Aisha asked, looking at the sleeping girl.

Columbina walked over, her sharp gaze landing on Scarlet’s arm. She knelt, inspecting the skin. "This isn’t a normal bite. Look at the necrotic pattern around the puncture mark. The cell decay is advanced, yet... her vital signs are completely stable. How is she even breathing?"

"Axel healed her." Kaiser said quickly, his voice still shaky. "He... he used some weird electrical chemistry magic. I don’t understand it, but he forced the poison out."

Columbina frowned. "Electrical chemistry?"

"Yes!" Kaiser nodded rapidly, playing the role of a clueless civilian. "He was incredible, Instructor. He solo’d every single monster from Floor 11 to Floor 17. He was moving like lightning, throwing monsters into the walls, and blasting that giant bone beast with a massive storm."

Kaiser continued, his eyes wide in fake admiration. "I’ve never seen anything like it. If Axel wasn’t here, Scarlet and I would have been eaten in seconds. He didn’t even hesitate. He just charged right into the horde."

Axel nodded solemnly, placing a hand over his heart. "It was a heavy burden, but a true leader carries his team. I did what had to be done."

"Right." Columbina said, her tone dripping with disbelief.

Axel turned back to the giant monster. "Go. Shoo now."

This time, the heavy chain of the shoge shifted slightly under my sleeve. I let out a low, imperceptible vibration through my foot into the stone.

Necros Osiris slowly stood up. The massive bone giant turned around and melted back into the shadows of the deeper tunnels. The surrounding arachnids and crawlers immediately scrambled after it, vanishing into the darkness.

I watched them go.

Monsters in these lower floors follow a strict hierarchy of power. If they respect and submit to Axel... then logically, he is the strongest among them. There is no other explanation.

*

The Anomaly

February 10, 2012 - 11:35 PM

(Kaiser Everhart)

Everything went exactly according to plan.

I watched Apollo nod to himself, rationalizing the hierarchy of the deep. I highly doubted Columbina bought a single word of the story, but Axel’s kidney-touching acting was profound enough to serve as an unbreakable alibi. They had no proof otherwise.

I let out a quiet sigh. It was finally over.

Aisha walked over to me, offering a gentle smile. "You did well surviving this long, Kaiser. You can give Scarlet to me now. I’ll take her."

I tried to gently pry Scarlet’s hands off my jacket. "Scarlet. Let go."

"No..." Scarlet mumbled stubbornly in her sleep, her grip tightening like a vice around my collar.

Aisha let out a soft, amused giggle. "She seems quite attached to her savior."

Sukuna chuckled from the side, rolling his shoulders. "Careful kid, that’s how they get you. First they hold your jacket, next thing you know they’re stealing your wallet."

Apollo pushed his glasses up. "Wallet? mine is always empty."

"Let’s just go back." Axel groaned, rubbing his lower back. "My back is killing me from carrying this entire team."

I was about to stand up when the cavern temperature suddenly dropped below freezing.

"Exinanire spatium... devorare lucem."

An unknown, hollow voice echoed through the massive cavern. It was spoken in perfect, ancient spellwork. It didn’t sound human. It sounded like a cosmic frequency, vibrating against our very skulls.

Before the instructors could react, the darkness at the edge of the cavern violently warped.

The dozens of retreating monsters—the arachnids, crawlers, and gargoyles—were suddenly ripped backward. A terrifying gravitational force pulled them into the air. They screeched in panic before their bodies violently compressed, ripping to pieces in a shower of blood and crushed bone.

Necros Osiris froze. The massive bone giant slowly turned its skull toward the tunnel.

"Is this... celestial magic?" Aisha whispered, her mana flaring instantly as the S-ranks drew their weapons.

A lone figure walked out of the shadows.

It was Elfina.

Her uniform was completely drenched in blood. Her pink hair was matted with crimson. She walked with a slow, eerie grace, completely ignoring the towering bone giant standing in front of her. Her pink eyes, usually bright and full of life, were entirely dead and lifeless.

Who is this...? Necros’s telepathic voice bled into my mind, laced with pure, terrifying panic. That mana... it is the void. It is the end!

The giant monster’s primal instincts screamed in fear.

Elfie stopped walking. Her lifeless eyes scanned the cavern until they landed on me.

"Kai..." She murmured, her voice soft but echoing unnaturally. "You’re okay..."

Then, her eyes slowly dragged down. She noticed the shallow cuts on my arms. And then, her gaze locked onto Scarlet, who was still tightly gripping my chest in her sleep.

The temperature in the room dropped again. The life drained completely from Elfie’s eyes.

"Locus interitus."

She spoke the incantation without breaking eye contact with me.

Necros Osiris, fearing for its very existence from the sheer magnitude of the cosmic energy, let out a desperate roar. It lunged at Elfie, bringing its massive bone claws down to crush her.

Elfie simply raised her left hand.

A sphere of pure, crackling purple energy materialized in her palm. It looked like a miniature galaxy, swirling with dark matter and purple lightning.

She fired the purple orb.

The moment it made contact with Necros, the giant boss was ripped off the ground. The purple singularity expanded, pulling the massive, building-sized monster into the air. Necros screeched as its dense bone armor shattered. The gravity scaled infinitely, shrinking the S-rank boss into a tiny, compressed ball of flesh and bone, before detonating.

Pop.

The giant was reduced to a violent mist of blood and dust. In less than a second, nothing was left.

The instructors stood frozen in absolute shock.

"How did she get here?!" Columbina demanded, her daggers drawn.

"Her classmates reported her missing this morning." Aisha said, her voice trembling slightly. "But I didn’t realize she had somehow teleported directly into the dungeon!"

Sukuna stared at the tunnel she had just walked out of. "That kid is coming from the direction of Floor 18. Don’t tell me she climbed her way up just to find them."

Elfie didn’t look at them. She kept walking until she was standing right over me. Up close, she looked horrifying. Her face was speckled with monster blood, her dress stained red, projecting an aura of pure, suffocating horror rather than the cute girl I knew.

"You’re not hurt around you?" Elfie asked, staring down at me with an empty gaze.

"I’m okay, Elfie." I said carefully. "How did you get here? What—"

"She looks okay to me." Elfie cut me off, her voice flat and cold. She pointed at the sleeping Scarlet in my arms. "Let her go."

"She’s unconscious, Elfie." I said, trying to pry Scarlet’s hands off my jacket again. But the blonde girl stubbornly refused to budge, gripping me tighter.

Elfie stared at Scarlet’s hands. She stared for a long, agonizing second.

Slowly, Elfie lifted her blood-drenched hand. I saw the terrifying, swirling galaxy patterns beginning to conjure at her fingertips.

The air distorted with killing intent.

"If she doesn’t let go, Kai," Elfie whispered, her pink eyes hollow. "I’ll remove her arms."

NNow this is a big problem... I couldn’t use force against a girl who just casually vaporized an S-rank boss into microscopic dust. The sheer density of the cosmic mana rolling off her body was practically suffocating my lungs. This was no longer a rescue mission, it was a high-stakes hostage negotiation.

What had gotten to elfie? She sounds so cold and aggression. If I tried to explain my situation to her, she would only see a blonde elf hugging me. My only option was to shake off scarlet. I needed to pry Scarlet off without triggering Elfie’s galaxy-collapsing spell.

I grabbed Scarlet’s wrists and systematically began unlatching her fingers one by one.

With a sharp twist, I managed to break Scarlet’s vice grip and stepped back.

I quickly pushed Scarlet toward Aisha, who caught her effortlessly. "She got poisoned by a paralyzing agent and fell into a healing sleep." I explained, raising my hands to show I wasn’t holding anyone. "Axel was busy fighting the entire cavern, so I had to carry her."

Elfie’s deadly gaze shifted away from Scarlet. She turned her lifeless eyes toward Axel, giving him a cold, piercing side-eye.

"Thank you for protecting Kai." Elfie said flatly.

Axel let out a heavy sigh, his tense shoulders dropping slightly. But the pressure immediately spiked again when Elfie added, "You won’t need to do it again."

Elfie turned back to Aisha. "Take them back. I want to talk to Kai for a moment."

"The portal will close once we exit." Columbina stated, crossing her arms, entirely unintimidated by the blood-drenched girl. "We are not leaving students behind."

"I can make portals of my own." Elfie replied, her voice empty. "It won’t be an issue."

Columbina’s eyes narrowed, clearly irritated by the blatant disregard for academy protocol.

"Let them be." Apollo stepped in, pushing his glasses up with a calm smile. "If Elfina here can traverse the abyss and reach Floor 17 on her own, I’m certain she can find her way back. Let the kids have a moment."

Apollo subtly winked at Sukuna.

Sukuna frowned, clearly not understanding the social cue. "I don’t really care. Her power is amusing, though." The cursed instructor turned around, walking into the stardust portal.

"Follow along."

Columbina clicked her tongue and stepped through. Aisha gave me one last worried look before carrying Scarlet into the rift.

Axel was the last to go. His eyes were glued to Elfie. He had never seen her like this. The pretty, beautiful leader of Class C was completely gone.

Yeah, me neither.

"Soo... uhh, Elfie." I said, pointing my thumb over my shoulder. "Let’s go too."

I turned around to walk toward the spot where we could open a portal.

Elfie’s hand shot out. She gripped my wrist with terrifying, bruising strength. She pulled me close, her blood-stained dress brushing against my jacket.

"I won’t let you leave." She whispered, her voice trembling with dark, possessive energy. She raised her free hand, glowing with a soft, restorative light, and pressed it against the shallow cuts on my forearms. The skin knit together instantly, closing the wounds.

"Elfie, your hand..." I started, looking at the dried monster blood coating her fingers.

She didn’t answer. She just held my wrist, her eyes completely vacant. She was entirely lost.

I looked down. The stone ground beneath her feet was warped and cracked, looking exactly like it had been hit by severe radiation. She was passively emitting an unstable, destructive energy that I couldn’t even begin to calculate.

"Elfie, you can let go now." I said softly.

"I can’t." She replied strictly, her grip tightening until my bones ached. "If I do... you will go and carry another girl. You will leave me."

"I was just helping an ally."

"I don’t care." Elfie said, leaning her head against my chest. Her voice was terrifyingly calm.

"I came from Floor 27. It took me hours. I destroyed everything in my path. I’m just happy you’re safe."

"Floor 27?" My eyes widened. "Elfie, you didn’t have to do that."

"I don’t care about the dungeon." She whispered, her dark side fully consuming her rationality. "I can’t lose you, Kai. I won’t let anything touch you ever again. I’ll kill them all."

I looked down at her. Behind the terrifying aura, behind the blood and the cosmic mana, I saw the familiar, hollow loss in her eyes. The trauma of being left behind.

I stopped trying to pull my wrist away. Instead, I wrapped my free arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight, grounding hug. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Elfie flinched.

"I’m back, Elfie." I said quietly, gently patting her blood-matted hair. "I’m right here. I’m okay."

The dense, suffocating mana in the air suddenly wavered. I felt Elfie take a sharp, trembling breath. Her heartbeat, which had been racing frantically against my chest, started to slow down. Her grip on my wrist loosened slightly. The terrifying galaxy pattern on her fingertips dissolved into nothing, and her bright blue eyes slowly returned to normal.

"Kai..." She buried her face in my jacket, her voice breaking.

She’s still just a scared kid. I thought, resting my chin on her head. No matter how much world-ending power she holds, her psychological trigger is purely rooted in abandonment. As long as I stay with her, she won’t break.

"Let’s go back now." Elfie murmured softly into my chest. Her voice was returning to its normal, cute tone.

"But I won’t let go of your wrist."