The odor hit him first.
Rotting flesh, metal, and wet stone mixed into a scent that ripped his stomach.
Kairo Kael's boots made squelching noises on the burned cavern ground as he fought deeper, muscles screaming with the snake fight. His chest hurt from bruised ribs, and his black hair clung to slick skin.
A sound emerged from ahead of him that made his blood freeze: thump… thump… thump….
With every vibration, the rocks beneath them trembled, echoing through the tunnels.
Then it appeared.
Seven meters of churning bulk. Gray flesh stretched tight over bulging shapes. One yellow eye glowed in its brow, trained on him. In its fist: a tree-trunk club wrapped in iron, swinging like a battering ram.
Kairo's red eyes narrowed. Level 4. Weak. Exhausted. Alive.
The ogre gave a deafening, cavern-shaking bellow and charged.
The First Clash
The club crumpled into the earth like a collapsing mountain. Rocks shattered in every direction. Kairo rolled away, the shockwave tearing through his chest. His sword was spindly and crudely made, barely a thing to use against this giant.
The ogre's second blow hit him across the side, slamming him against the wet stone. A pain tore through his ribs. He spat blood, struggling to stand.
Too hard… can't… not yet…
Kairo burst in, chopping the ogre's knee with a wild cut. Sparks flew as his sword barely touched the hard, stone-hard flesh. The ogre bellowed, kicked him away, and slammed him into the cavern wall.
Dust and stones rained down from the ceiling. His ribs groaned as if they'd snap. It hurt to breathe.
The ogre swung again, faster this time. Kairo parried, but the force bent the sword in his hand. Blazing pain coursed through his arm.
Near-Death Awakening
He stumbled backward, gasping for air. The ogre swung its massive club for the last time, poised to smash him.
Kairo's vision turned fuzzy. Blood gushed into his mouth. Searing agony whipped across every nerve. He slumped to the earth.
This… is it…
Then—a strange sensation. Chilly, unearthly, almost electrical. A voice inside his mind, low and mechanical, but with a lighthearted twang:
{Ding!}
[Near-Death Condition Met.]
[Adaptation Activated.]
[New Ability Acquired: Immortality]
The universe slowed down. Hurt still screamed, but Kairo realized—he could drop, break, bleed… and stand. All the shattered bones, all the injuries, all the hits that would kill him—alive.
The ogre swung. The club struck his shoulder. He screamed, pain wracking him—but he did not kill him.
For the first time, the red in his eyes burned bright, and a killer's calm washed over him.
He rose to his feet.
Predator's Turn
The ogre roared in fury. Every strike it made snapped ribs, tore flesh, and smashed muscle—but Kairo remained on his feet, unstopable.
He parried, deflected, countered. He struck at its legs, its midriff, its single baleful eye. Each movement calculated, deliberate.
The cavern trembled with the force of their combat. Pillars of stone fell apart. Debris and dust rained down from overhead. Water in nearby pools churned beneath the shockwave of each impact.
With a bound, Kairo jammed his sword into the ogre's eyehole. The monster let out a scream, staggered. Kairo jumped onto its knee, jammed his blade into its throat in one vicious motion.
The ogre crashed to the ground, causing earthquakes beneath it with its bulk. Debris clung to the air. There was silence.
System Awakens
Kairo gasped for breath. His body was bruised, bloodied, shattered—but not killed.
{Ding!}
[You have killed: Cyclopean Ogre (Rank C Boss)]
[Level Up! Level 4 → Level 7]
[Ability Unlocked: Immortality (Passive)]
You won't die from fatal wounds. Wounds linger but death is out of the question.
There was a flash of light before him. System AI, dormant until now, finally spoke:
"Condition Met — Sufficient Energy — System AI Has Activated"
"Hi Host :3"
Kairo's blood-red eyes tightened. He swiped at a gash on his cheek, struggling to breathe, and grinned weakly.
"What ?"
Status Panel – Post Ogre
Name: Kairo Kael
Race: Human
Level: 7
HP: ∞
Stamina: 60/60
Strength: 19
Agility: 22
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 15
Abilities:
Aquatic Respiration – Unlimited underwater breathing.
Swordsmanship (Novice) – Novice sword fighting knowledge.
Immortality (Passive) – Unable to be killed by fatal wounds. Pain and damage still occur, but death can't occur.
Passives:
Near-Death Adaptation – Activates under life-threatening conditions to give survival features applicable to immediate threats.
Kairo leaned into the blackness beyond the cavern. The echoes of the ogre's bellow shook the walls still, and deeper in the Eternal Torment, other dangers stirred.
"What Did Just Happen ."
Blood seeped from his sword and flesh. Agony coursed through every articulation.
But he remained. And now. actually invulnerable.