The faint warmth of the fire still clung to life, spitting trembling flames amid the metallic shadows of the abandoned meeting room. The smell of burnt gasoline hung heavy in the air, mixing with smoke that slipped through the cracks in the ceiling. Ethan opened his eyes slowly, his breath forming white clouds before him.
His body still ached, heavy as lead, but the fatigue bar now blinked with relief:
[Fatigue: 12/100]
He had slept as much as he could. The shadows had kept the fire alive, feeding it with the last scraps of wood and debris scattered through the building. Now, the orange glow lit his tired features, reflecting in the gray pupils hidden beneath the shadow of his hood.
He rose slowly, feeling the armor cold against his skin. A few energy bars and careful sips of water warmed by the fire followed. The meal was simple, but the heat restored clarity to his mind and strength to his muscles.
While eating, he summoned the interface:
🌀 [SHADOW ADAPTATION SYSTEM — ACTIVE]
· Level: 32
· Species: Human
· Class: Shadow Monarch
Attributes:
• Strength: 60
• Constitution: 70
• Agility: 60
• Intellect: 60
• Perception: 60
Physical Condition: Stable
HP: 805 / 805
MP: 690
Fatigue: 15 / 100
✨ Available Points: 10
Skills:
[Authority of the Ruler]
[Shadow Regeneration – Active during rest]
He stared at the available points, thoughtful. The cold was relentless, but now it wasn't just endurance he needed. What was coming would demand speed— the ability to react before his opponent.
"Agility," he muttered, confirming the command.
The lines of the interface glowed and vanished, confirming the allocation. He felt his body grow lighter, his reflexes sharper, as if every fiber of muscle responded with newfound precision.
Then, as he analyzed his status, something else caught his eye.
A skill he hadn't noticed before stood among the others.
[Shadow Swap] —Allows the user to instantly switch positions with one of their shadows.
Ethan raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't noticed it before—probably because he had been too focused on surviving the frozen city. Now the new ability pulsed before him like a freshly forged blade.
He clenched his fist, a half-smile forming beneath the cloth that covered his face.
"This will come in handy."
He rose to his feet, stretched his shoulders, and adjusted the long coat. The fire still burned faintly behind him, but there was nothing left to wait for. The boss was out there, somewhere beyond the storm. And he was ready to face it.
"It's time," he murmured to himself.
With a single command, he gave the order to his shadows.
"All of you… return. Except you."
The shadows that had been guarding the building retreated, sliding back into the darkness pulsing beneath his feet. One by one, they were absorbed into his own shadow, vanishing in silence until only a single Hell Pride remained—one of his weaker summons.
The lone Hell Pride stood, its scythe dragging along the frozen ground. The spectral figure lifted its head, awaiting the order.
Ethan fixed his gaze in the direction where he had heard the roar the night before. The storm raged like a beast, the wind bending dead trees and tearing iron plates from the ruins. He knew—that was where the boss awaited.
"Go," he commanded.
The Hell Pride advanced, unfazed by the cold. Through their link, Ethan watched, seeing through the specter's eyes as it trudged across the frozen city.
The blizzard howled, but the creature pressed on until it reached the wall of ice at the heart of the storm. There, an invisible barrier shimmered beneath every blue lightning bolt that split the skies. The Hell Pride tried to advance, but was repelled by an unseen force, as if the very air had turned solid.
Ethan clenched his fists.
"Found it."
He felt the bond between them pulse. The new ability echoed in his mind, as if the System itself were whispering.
"Swap," he said firmly.
In an instant, Ethan's body was swallowed by the darkness beneath his feet. His vision warped, and when it cleared again, he was no longer inside the building. The freezing air struck him head-on, and before him, the icy vortex churned, repelling the snow around it like an endless tide. Behind him, the Hell Pride reappeared where he had once stood.
Ethan canceled the shadow extraction, and the specter vanished back into the void.
He raised his hand and touched the barrier. The System responded immediately.
[User Recognized]
[Access Granted]
The barrier flared, opening into a spinning circle of energy, and Ethan stepped through without hesitation.
Ethan crossed the threshold, the cloth over his face soaked with snow and ice.
The roar of the blizzard vanished in an instant.
And the world inside was something else entirely.
Above him, for the first time in days, the wind had ceased — the sky was clear, vast, and blue. But all around, colossal walls of snow spun like a cyclopean prison.
He took a few steps forward, each one echoing into the emptiness.
The air seemed to vibrate.
As if something was about to emerge.
From deep within the wall of snow, a heavy sound began: a rhythmic impact, massive, like colossal paws crushing the frozen ground.
THUM. THUM. THUM.
With each strike, the ice cracked, shards splintering and falling from the swirling maelstrom. Ethan steadied his stance, eyes locked on the storm.
And then… the shadows parted.
A monstrous silhouette began to emerge.
First came the three wolf heads, fangs like blades, eyes glowing RED, flaring like beacons in the night. Then the massive torso followed, its entire length covered in plates of ice, forming a natural armor that gleamed beneath the pale light. Black chains clung to its back, dragging across the ground and clattering like death's own bells.
Cerberus. The Guardian of Ice.
The roar that burst from its three mouths shook the ground and hurled the wind in every direction. Ethan planted his feet, swallowing hard beneath the improvised mask.
The mission updated immediately.
[⚠️ DANGER DETECTED.]
[NEW QUEST GRANTED: DEAL WITH THE DUNGEON BOSS.]
Ethan didn't wait.
"Arise!" he roared, his voice echoing into the void.
His shadow spread outward in waves across the cracked ice, and from it emerged, one by one, his summons: the Hell Prides, the Abyss with their blazing blue eyes, and finally, the colossal figure of the Hell Vanguard. The air trembled, and dozens of pairs of shadowy eyes glowed all around him like embers in the dark.
Ethan raised his arms. Ebony & Ivory materialized in bursts of black light, heavy and flawless in his hands. Without giving the boss a chance to react, he opened fire. The shots boomed like thunder, sparking against the icy carapace that shielded Cerberus's massive legs.
"Go for the legs! Bring him down!" he commanded.
The shadows obeyed instantly. The Hell Vanguard blinked forward in a distorted flash, appearing before one of the colossal limbs and delivering a devastating slash with his azure scythe. The impact tore a deep gouge through the ice, cracks spiderwebbing across the frozen ground.
The Abyss raised their flaming scythes and hurled them in blazing arcs. Each blade detonated upon impact, scattering shards of burning ice in every direction. The Hell Prides leapt like predators in the storm, driving their blackened blades into the exposed joints between the armor plates.
Cerberus roared, the deafening sound echoing like an avalanche. His icy armor began to glow, radiating an even deadlier chill that spread through the battlefield.
Then, with a brutal snap, the entire ground froze solid. Stalagmites of ice erupted from every direction, sharp as spears, obliterating several of Ethan's shadows in an instant.
"Tsk…" He grit his teeth, barely dodging a spear of ice that tore through the spot he had been a heartbeat earlier.
The monster didn't relent. All three heads lunged at once, fangs like massive blades snapping to shred anything in reach. One bite crushed two of his summons instantly, obliterating them into dispersing shadows. Ethan felt the System draining his mana, struggling to bring them back.
The left eye of the central head flared crimson. A glow raced down its jaws, and a colossal iceberg shot forth, hurtling straight at Ethan.
He vaulted over it, using the Ruler's Authority to propel himself higher, the surge of force giving him extra distance. Without hesitation, he aimed midair and unleashed a storm of bullets toward the beast.
Cerberus only seemed to grow more enraged. He conjured a wave of shards that tore across the battlefield like a storm of arrows.
Ethan crossed his arms into an X, invoking Ruler's Authority once more. The invisible barrier deflected the largest fragments, but the impact still ripped through him when a shard pierced his leg and another slammed into his shoulder.
"Damn it!" he snarled through the searing pain.
But there was no time to breathe. Still midair, Cerberus lunged with startling speed for such a colossal beast, the shadow of its three heads engulfing the battlefield.
The impact of the paw strike was brutal, crushing him midair and slamming him against the frozen ground. The beast's massive weight followed immediately, pinning him as if he were trapped beneath a living mountain.
The ice groaned under the pressure, cracks spiderwebbing in every direction. Ethan gasped, his right arm throbbing with a wound torn open by the beast's claws, blood streaming down skin already marked by the cold. From his forehead, a red line blurred his vision.
The central head's jaws opened wide, fangs glowing with frost and vapor. A wave of freezing breath cascaded over him—death itself ready to swallow him whole.
"Swap!" Ethan roared, his voice hoarse, nearly drowned beneath the crushing weight.
In an instant, his body was devoured by shadow, and a Hell Pride appeared in his place, trapped under the colossal paw. The summon could do nothing—shredded to nothingness by Cerberus's fangs. Ethan reappeared several meters behind, staggering, his body trembling, blood running down his face and from the torn wound on his arm.
In the corner of his vision, the System blared:
[HP: 307 / 805]
The beast lifted its head again, enraged by the trick, all three pairs of blazing red eyes locking onto him with renewed hatred.
Ethan wiped the blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, his eyes burning with defiance.
"You'll have to do better than that, bastard."
He clenched his teeth, his arm throbbing in pain, but he didn't hesitate.
"Abyss!" — he roared, his voice echoing across the frozen battlefield. " Shatter the armor on that leg!"
The shadow demons obeyed at once. Their flaming scythes were hurled in unison, tracing luminous arcs through the white air. Each impact detonated against the icy shell, carving out craters of fire that melted through entire layers of frost. Incandescent fragments rained in every direction, illuminating the storm like infernal fireworks.
Cerberus's flesh began to show beneath the shattered plates—raw muscle exposed, veins pulsing like frozen rivers of energy. The beast roared, a deafening sound that made the snow tremble like a war drum.
" Vanguard!" — Ethan roared, and the colossal shadow obeyed.
In a distorted flash, the Hell Vanguard teleported across the battlefield, appearing right before the wounded leg. Its scythe swung down in a brutal arc, tearing through flesh down to the bone. The impact reverberated like thunder, and blood sprayed outward, freezing the instant it touched the ground.
Cerberus faltered, but retaliated with violent fury—azure flames exploded from its fangs, freezing vapors sweeping across the battlefield like a glacial breath. A dozen of Ethan's summons were obliterated in an instant.
The system flashed:
[Shadows Remaining: 13/30]
[MP: 242/690]
Ethan did not retreat.
" Swap!" — he shouted.
In a blink, Ethan switched places with a nearby shadow, reappearing at its side just before the ice could crush him. Another shot—and he vanished again, emerging several meters ahead. He leapt from shadow to shadow, each exchange tearing at his breath and draining his mana, but keeping him outside the fatal line of the attacks. Until finally, his boots struck the ground beside the Vanguard.
He wasted no time. Sprinting at full speed, his heartbeat thundered like a war drum.
He unleashed the Ruler's Authority to hurl his body forward, the air around him exploding with invisible energy. And then, in a single motion, he concentrated the full strength of his arms and legs, delivering the strike—a direct kick against the Hell Vanguard's scythe.
The impact rang out like a fractured thunderclap. The blade of darkness pierced deep, slicing through tendons and bone in the already weakened leg.
A brutal crack echoed across the battlefield.
Cerberus's foreleg snapped apart under the devastating blow.
The giant could not withstand it.
Its massive body crashed into the ice, the impact so colossal that fractures spread in every direction.
Ethan wasted no time.
"Heads! Now!"
The shadows surged forward in unison. The Hell Prides hurled themselves at the blazing eyes of the beast, trying to blind them. The Abyss pierced the icy plating of its necks, their scythes detonating in bursts of fire. The Hell Vanguard warped repeatedly across the battlefield, striking down again and again like a living guillotine.
Ethan sprinted, his guns firing without pause, the magical bullets ricocheting against the armored hide and chipping fragments of ice from the monster's heads.
For a moment, it seemed the strategy was working. One of the heads staggered, its right eye bursting into flames as a shadow drove itself deep inside. The creature roared in agony, the sound reverberating like a thousand thunderclaps.
But then—the counterattack came.
Suddenly, Cerberus's entire body glowed with a blinding blue light. Shards of ice rose like blades, and a glacial explosion swept across the field. The wave of frost hurled Ethan and his shadows back as if they were straw dolls.
He was flung through the air, colliding against massive chunks of ice hurled in the blast, the impact tearing the air from his lungs and opening fresh wounds across his body.
When he crashed to the ground, the system screamed in red:
[HP: 232/805]
Gasping, Ethan dug his hands into the ice, forcing himself up while the cold seared his flesh. Cerberus rose once more, limping now with only one foreleg intact, its three heads turning toward him, eyes blazing with fury.
Ethan spat blood onto the ice, furious at the creature's sudden strike.
"Bastard."
The three heads lunged in unison, sweeping across the ground with brutal speed and force, trying to annihilate every shadow around them.
[Shadows Active: 17/30]
[MP: 87/690]
Ethan was running out of mana. That's when he knew he had to change his strategy. He had to end this—fast.
" Vanguard!"
At his command, the colossal shadow moved. The Hell Vanguard hurled its scythe toward Ethan, and at the very moment Cerberus tried to clamp its jaws shut on him, the shadow intercepted, prying the beast's fangs apart and holding them with brute strength, its massive form dragged backward across the ice.
Ethan seized the opening. Surging forward with the Emperor's Touch amplifying his momentum, a guttural, primal roar tore from his throat as he brought the weapon down—severing the beast's other foreleg in a single devastating strike.
His mana reserve screamed in warning.
[MP: 33/690]
The crash was cataclysmic. The infernal hound lost all balance and slammed into the ice.
An avalanche of snow rose like a white curtain, swallowing the entire field. The impact reverberated like a hollow thunder, and for an instant, all Ethan could hear was his own heartbeat pounding inside his skull, muffled by the roar of the wind.
He gasped for breath, his body bleeding, his arm throbbing, blood streaming down his forehead and dripping onto the frozen ground.
[MP: 33/690] flashed in red at the corner of his vision.
His shadows regrouped around him, awaiting the command.
From the white haze, three silhouettes slowly rose.
Cerberus's heads, still bound to the massive body that lay fallen, lifted once more—ruby eyes blazing amid the torrents of falling snow. Dark-blue blood poured from its mutilated forelegs, freezing the instant it touched the ice.
And then came the voice.
Not a roar, but words—heavy, guttural, like boulders dragged across the ocean floor.
" Human.." — the sound echoed from all three mouths, each in a different tone, weaving into a supernatural resonance. — " Few have come this far. Few have dared to challenge me and live. I offer you a pact. Spare me… and I will grant you power. I will turn my very essence into a weapon… eternal ice at your command."
The air seemed to lock inside Ethan's chest. He knew this scene. He had seen it before… in the game he had played so many times in his past life.
Ethan stood still, his ragged breaths forming clouds before his face.
For a moment, he only stared. His heart still hammered, adrenaline burning through every fiber.
Then, an ironic smile curved his lips.
"You're mistaking me for someone else." — He raised his pistols. "I don't need you alive."
He pointed forward, his eyes blazing.
"Finish him."
The shadows obeyed his command at once. Like a swarm of starving ants, they swarmed over the fallen colossus. Hell Prides climbed the massive body, their blades stabbing into the joints and the blazing eyes of the beast's heads. A deafening roar erupted from all three maws as the first eye was pierced, blue blood spraying like liquid frost.
The Hell Abyss followed. Each one raised its flaming scythe, hurling it in blazing arcs that exploded against the icy armor. Burning fragments scattered like shards of stars, and every detonation made Cerberus's body shudder in pain. The joints began to split, cracks spreading like crystalline webs.
" GRRRROOOOAAAAAAAAH! " — the roar reverberated like a thousand thunders, shaking the snow around them. The colossus thrashed, but it was surrounded. The more it struggled, the more shadows scaled its back, gouging out its eyes, tearing into its neck with blades of darkness.
Then, a rift of pure darkness split the air. The Hell Vanguard teleported, appearing above the creature like a death sentence. Its scythe came down in a devastating arc, tearing through the flesh of the infernal hound's back. The giant of shadows clung to the beast's body and began ripping it apart, forcing the ice plates to shatter with grotesque cracks.
Cerberus's three maws opened in desperation, trying to summon another frozen blast — but before it could react, a dozen Hell Prides drove their blades into its jaws, locking them shut. At the same time, the Abyss detonated the last of its hind legs, reducing them to smoldering wreckage.
The colossus howled, every sound drowned by the flood of shadows covering its body. The Hell Vanguard raised its scythe one final time, and Ethan, with a single gesture, channeled [Authority of the Ruler] to empower the strike.
The final impact thundered like a world split apart.
Cerberus's left head was torn off in an explosion of darkness and fire. The right collapsed soon after, shredded by consecutive blasts from the Abyss. The central head, still gasping and struggling, received the finishing blow.
Ethan dashed forward, leaping across the beast's blood-soaked back. With both pistols aimed straight into the monster's gaping maw, he unleashed a storm of bullets.
The magic rounds tore through its skull, and the Hell Vanguard finished the execution with a clean strike, severing the final head.
Silence fell like snow.
Cerberus's colossal body convulsed one last time before collapsing onto the ice, making the entire battlefield quake. The chains bound to its back snapped apart, echoing like funeral bells.
Ethan stood before the fallen creature, chest heaving, breath misting in thick clouds. Blood trickled down his forehead and arm, yet his eyes gleamed in the dimness—cold, resolute.
The System chimed:
[BOSS DEFEATED: GUARDIAN CERBERUS]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level: 32 → 40]
🆙 [YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 40!]
[40 Attribute Points acquired.]
[Special Dungeon Reward granted!]
A flash of light flared before him, and slowly, a chest materialized out of nothing, suspended in midair by ethereal chains. A sight he had already witnessed before—until the chest vibrated, and suddenly split into two.
[ETHEREAL CHEST – UNIVERSE: DEVIL MAY CRY - X2]
Rarity: S-Rank
Function: When opened, this chest grants a random item from the current universe.
Possible items range from common artifacts to legendary relics.
Note: Once opened, the obtained item cannot be exchanged or returned.
[Special Extraction available]
Activate Shadow Extraction? (Y/N)
Ethan smiled at that moment.
"You're far more useful this way."
[Activate Shadow Extraction?] (Y)
Then he said.
"Arise"
(Continue...)
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