The wasteland stank of blood.
Not the sharp iron tang of fresh wounds—this was heavier. Rotting. Clinging. It soaked the earth, choked the air, seeped into my lungs until every breath was corruption itself.
My army stood in silence.
Dozens of hunters. Dozens of elites. Dozens of me.
A grotesque choir, waiting for my command.
And above us, the Tower shifted.
[System Alert: Authority Evolution Detected.]
[New Classification Assigned: Calamity-Class Entity.]
[Warning: Your presence destabilizes Floor 10.]
[Triggering Calamity Quest Chain.]
The world rippled like heat haze.
The sky blackened, bleeding into ink. Stars blinked into being where there had been only sun. And from those stars, something looked down.
Something vast. Something ancient.
The whispers in my skull grew louder. Not the faint background hum I'd grown used to—this was deafening, intimate, pressing against the marrow of my bones.
Child of death.
Bearer of rot.
Will you serve?
I clenched my teeth, laughter bubbling up despite the pain.
"Serve?" I spat on the ground. "No. I'll feast."
The whispers… chuckled.
[Calamity Quest Chain Activated.]
Quest I: Establish Dominion.
Objective: Spread your Authority across the Tenth Floor. Mark it as your Domain.
Reward: ???
Failure: Erasure.
My lips curled into a smile.
So this was how the Tower played with its toys. Hunters fought for floors. Gods fought for faith. And now me? I was being told to claim a world.
How delightful.
"March," I whispered.
The army moved.
Every step they took left blackened footprints in the dirt, corruption seeping into the ground. Flowers wilted. Stones cracked. The wasteland itself seemed to rot.
The Tower had asked me to spread my Dominion.
Very well.
I would spread it until not a single corner of this floor remembered light.
Hunters hiding in the ruins watched us approach.
Their whispers were frantic.
"It's him. The Necromancer…"
"He killed the Elite Squad. I saw it—I saw him cut them down!"
"Run. Just run. We can't fight that. We can't—"
Too late.
My corpses surged forward.
The hunters screamed, scattering like insects. But corpses don't tire, don't slow, don't show mercy. One by one they fell, blades through throats, jaws ripping flesh.
Their bodies twitched, then rose, eyes blank, joining my ranks.
[You have slain a C-rank Challenger.]
[Skill Acquired: Tracking Instincts (C-rank).]
[You have slain a B-rank Challenger.]
[Skill Acquired: Thunder Arrow (B-rank).]
The flood of skills rushed into me. Too many to sort. Too much to process. But I didn't need to. My corpses wielded them instinctively, each one an extension of me.
Arrows of lightning cracked across the night. Hunters fell in burning heaps.
I laughed, spreading my arms as blood misted the air.
"Sing for me! Sing my song, Tower!"
Hours passed. Days, maybe.
Time was a blur.
Every ruin we passed, every survivor we found—they all became part of the choir. The Tenth Floor wept.
Until finally…
The ground itself trembled.
[Warning: Floor Guardian has awakened.]
[Floor Guardian resists Dominion.]
[Floor Guardian is approaching.]
A roar shattered the sky.
From the horizon, a beast emerged.
It was enormous, its body coiling like a mountain range in motion. Scales black as void, eyes molten gold. Its maw could swallow cities whole.
A Wyrm, the Tenth Floor's natural guardian.
It had slumbered for centuries, until my corruption dragged it awake.
Hunters once prayed for the Guardian's help. Now it came not to protect them, but to devour me.
Perfect.
The Wyrm lunged, its body crashing down like an avalanche.
My army scattered, hundreds of corpses leaping aside. Entire buildings crumbled under its weight.
I stood in the center, grinning up at the beast.
"Big." My hand twitched toward my sword. "But not big enough."
The Wyrm roared, its breath a storm of molten fire.
Half my army burned instantly, bodies reduced to ash.
But the ash twitched. Reformed. Stood again.
The beast's eyes narrowed.
Good. Let it learn despair too.
"Attack!" I screamed.
Dozens of me surged forward, blades glowing with stolen skills. Elites hurled magic, flames, storms, holy light twisted into necrosis.
The Wyrm lashed out, tail sweeping, smashing a dozen corpses into pulp.
But each one rose again.
And again.
And again.
The battle raged.
Every time I died beneath claw or flame, I rose again, another Seo-jin crawling from my corpse.
Soon the battlefield was swarming with me.
A hundred Seo-jins.
Laughing. Bleeding. Singing as we hacked at the beast's scales.
[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]
Each notification blurred into another. Each death added to the chorus.
The Wyrm thrashed, its body tearing through cities, carving valleys into the earth.
But no matter how many of me it killed, more came.
A tide of death it could not outlast.
Finally, my blade found its throat.
Steel pierced scale.
Blood erupted, black and steaming.
The Wyrm shrieked, a sound that shattered glass for miles. Its body writhed, collapsing into the ruins, its blood flooding streets like rivers.
I stood atop its head, drenched in gore, panting, smiling.
[You have slain the Floor Guardian.]
[You have absorbed Guardian Essence.]
[Skill Acquired: Cataclysm Breath (A-rank).]
[Calamity Quest Progress: Dominion Established.]
[Reward Unlocked: Throne of Bone.]
A throne rose from the earth beneath me, sculpted from ribcages and skulls, humming with necrotic power.
I sat.
The corpses knelt.
And the whispers applauded.
Good.
Yes.
Spread further. Higher. Hungrier.
Hunters far away saw the sky crack.
They fell to their knees, weeping.
"The Guardian is dead…"
"He killed the Wyrm…"
"He's not a hunter anymore. He's—he's a Calamity."
They began whispering a new name.
Not Necromancer. Not Seo-jin.
Overlord.
I leaned back on my throne, fingers tapping the armrest.
The Tower had asked for Dominion. I had given it Dominion.
Now it would ask for more.
And I would take.
[Calamity Quest II Unlocked: Challenge the Heavens.]
Objective: Face another Calamity-class entity on Floor 11.
Failure: Erasure.
I licked my lips, grinning wide.
Another Calamity, hm?
Finally. Something that wouldn't die easy.
I stood, my throne crumbling into dust behind me.
"Army," I said softly.
They rose as one, countless corpses, countless echoes of me.
"Climb."
The stairway to Floor 11 opened.
The world groaned.
And I ascended, laughing into the dark.