"Let's dance, you piece of shit."
Yuto lunged forward like an arrow spit by a god of the abyss. The blade in his hand was no longer a piece of metal—it was a scream. A fragment of his own pain transformed into a cut. The aberration, now revealed under the pulsating light of the organic room, was a gigantic goblin, nearly twice the height of a man, but hunched over like an animal. It had a single eye in the center of its forehead, and scars pulsing with black veins all over its body. Its nails were sharp as bone daggers.
The Boss Goblin let out a guttural roar that reverberated through the bowels of the living dungeon.
Yuto dodged to the side as the monster struck the ground with a makeshift club—some wretch's femur. The impact cracked the ground. Fragments of flesh and stone flew into his face.
"Are you nervous, you bastard?"
He slashed horizontally, aiming for the creature's open, exposed belly. The cut was clean, deep. Thick, greenish blood gushed out like vomit. But the creature laughed.
Laughed.
And with his other hand, he grabbed Yuto by the leg.
"Fuck..."
**CRASH.**
Yuto's body was thrown against the wall like a rag doll. The world shook. Bones cracked. His vision went black for a second. The taste of iron filled his mouth.
"Get up..."
He tried to move his arms, but his body felt like lead and needles.
"Tsk... ah... hah... son of a..." He spat blood, teeth, and pride.
The Goblin Boss was crawling, even with its intestines hanging out like slimy snakes. Its single eye fixed on him, hungry.
Yuto tried to roll away. Pain exploded in his side.
He cracked a rib. Maybe two. Maybe more.
The beast lunged upward.
**THUD!**
Yuto instinctively raised the Blade of Nothing. He plunged it into the creature's shoulder, pinning it mid-leap. But the weight fell on him anyway. The world went dark. The monster's putrid breath burned his skin. Claws tore at his chest. His scream was swallowed in his own saliva.
"You will die here."
The voice returned.
"Again."
The Goblin Boss roared in his face, its green saliva burning Yuto's skin. The monster's arm gripped his throat. Pressed. Squeezed.
**CRACK.**
Yuto felt his own jawbone dislocate. The pain was sharp, but no greater than the hatred.
"NO," he growled, his eyes trembling. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME."
He thrust his fingers into the creature's eyes. The goblin screamed. The grip on its neck eased. Yuto turned his head and sank his teeth into the monster's neck.
He bit down hard.
He tasted pus, blood, and rotting flesh.
The monster recoiled, howling in panic, but it was too late. The Blade of Nothing screamed along with it. Yuto rose up on the fly, swinging his sword and slashing at the creature's knee. The goblin fell to the side.
Yuto fell with it, gasping, his legs wobbly, his heart hammering like a demon trapped in his chest.
"I'M... STILL... NOT... FINISHED..." he spat, staggering toward the creature, which crawled in agony.
**SHLACK.**
The first blow severed an arm.
**SHLACK.**
The second, a leg.
**SHLACK.**
The third ripped open its belly even further.
The Head Goblin shrieked, but Yuto couldn't hear it anymore.
He was drowning.
In hatred. In resentment. In nothingness.
He plunged the blade into the creature's skull.
And pressed.
He pushed.
Until he heard the **sound of the world breaking**.
Until its single eye burst like a disgusting bubble.
Silence.
Blood ran down like rain.
**[Enemy Eliminated: "Devoured Goblin Boss"]**
**[Experience Gained: 940]**
**[Level Up: Level 1 → Level 3]**
**[Stats automatically distributed.]**
**[New Ability Unlocked: "Kill or Be Killed (Passive)"]**
> When your health drops below 20%, your damage and speed increase by 35%. Your body ignores non-fatal wounds for 30 seconds.
>
Yuto fell to his knees, gasping.
His blood and the monster's mingled on the hot ground. He looked at himself—his open chest, his torn arms, his jaw hanging open. Everything hurt. Everything burned.
But...
He was alive.
And deep within the pain, the agony, the exhaustion, he smiled.
"This is it... this is what it's like... to be alive..."