The ground seemed to pulsate.
Yuto stopped at the edge of the entrance, staring at the living immensity before him. The dungeon wasn't made of stone like the last. It was flesh. Organic tissue. A corridor that twisted in involuntary spasms, as if breathing—or digesting.
**[Location Detected: Heart of Twisted Flesh – Level 15 Training Dungeon]**
**[Warning: Dimensional instability conditions detected. Elevated risk of anomalies.]**
"Great... I've already started to get screwed."
He advanced.
The Blade of Nothingness clinked at his back, pulsing with a strange restlessness—as if it knew where they were.
The air was hot and humid, with the acidic smell of congealed blood. The walls moved in slow contractions. From time to time, eyes open between the flesh watched him, blinking erratically. Some wept pus.
Others... smiled.
Yuto swallowed hard and continued forward.
"Let's see what you have for me, little hellion."
The sticky ground squeaked with every step. Thick veins ran along the entire path, pulsing in an irregular rhythm. Sometimes, he could swear he heard a **heart** beating in the distance. A gigantic, sick drum, keeping time to madness.
And then... came thescreams.
Not his.
Of others.
Echoes of human, or almost human, voices that seemed trapped in the walls, crying, laughing, moaning in pain.
"Kill me... kill me... kill me...!"
"He's still inside me... he won't come out... he won't come out..."
"Yuto..."
He stopped.
He turned his face slowly.
"What?"
"Yuto..." whispered a female voice, identical to Lianne's. "Why did you leave me?"
"Shut up," he growled.
But the voices only grew louder.
"You're going to kill us too, Yuto... just like you did to the goblins... just like you're going to do to her."
"YOU WON'T!" he shouted.
The Blade of Nothing vibrated violently. The voices ceased.
For a few seconds.
Then, something fell from the ceiling.
THUMP.
It was a misshapen creature, the size of a man, but with three heads sewn onto a single neck. Its arms were multiple, made of grotesquely glued-together remains of limbs. Each hand held a weapon: a cleaver, a chain, a bone fork.
And it laughed.
**[Monster: Flesh Aberration – Level 12]**
Yuto got into position.
"Let's see if I can handle this..."
The monster lunged.
Too fast.
Yuto rolled to the side, dodging one of the blades, and countered with a horizontal slash. The Blade of Nothing pierced the creature's flank but got stuck in its dense flesh.
The aberration spun and slammed it with its chain.
CRACK.
Yuto was thrown against a living wall. It embraced him.
Literally.
Tentacles of flesh gripped him like intestines. Spikes began to emerge from the flesh, trying to pierce his skin.
"SON OF A BITCH" he roared, straining his leg and breaking free with a desperate heave. He rolled to the ground, bleeding, but free.
The monster was waiting for him.
Yuto run.
He jumped.
He brought the blade down on top of the creature's head.
The sword screamed—a roar of denial, of rage, of fury.
The blow split one of the heads in half.
But there were still two left.
The creature roared, slashing down with the cleaver. Yuto blocked with his left arm, which was partially opened.
Pain exploded.
But he didn't stop.
Kill or Be Killed activated.
His body ignored the pain. Adrenaline burned in his veins. His speed doubled.
He cut off one of the monster's legs.
The ground shook.
Another head was severed.
The creature tried to scream, but Yuto plunged the Blade of Nothing into its neck.
"Stay still."
SHLACK.
Silence.
**[Enemy Eliminated: "Flesh Aberration"]**
**[Experience Gained: 420]**
**[Progression: 72% to Level 5]**
Yuto fell to his knees.
Hot blood ran down his face. The air was pure acid. But he laughed.
"This… this is training…"
Then, the system spoke.
**[Approaching the central area of the Dungeon: "Pulsating Heart"]**
**[The main entity approaches.]**
He stopped laughing.
"Main entity?"
**[Name: "Embryo of Pain"]**
**[Level: ???]**
Yuto stood up, his eyes wide.
In the background, he heard the sound of something crawling.
Ten… no, twenty legs.
A gigantic body.
And a baby's cry.
"Ah... fuck..."
"Plick... Plick... Plick..."
The sound of a viscous liquid dripping echoed in the living, pulsating corridor.
Yuto walked with his fists clenched, the Blade of Nothing heavy on his back, his body covered in dried wounds and congealed blood. His eyes, half-closed, never left the end of the corridor where a sickly greenish light pulsed—in time with the gigantic heart he now realized was "alive" beneath his feet.
"Knock... Knock... Knock..."
A metallic sound accompanied his steps.
It was the system.
"Ready, Yuto?"
"This thing isn't like the goblins, nor like that freak. It's the kind of enemy that laughs while it chews you up. Literally."
Yuto didn't answer.
His eyes fixed. His mind focused.
But the system persisted.
"You know what's most interesting? It doesn't kill out of hunger. It doesn't hunt out of instinct. It wants you to suffer. The *Embryo of Pain* takes pleasure in the pain of others. And guess what? It enjoys it even more when the pain comes from someone who's already broken inside."
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Everything. You're a walking feast, Yuto."
Yuto stopped.
Before him, the final room opened.
It was... a womb.
A gigantic womb of living flesh, pulsing in shades of dark red and necrotic green. In the center, bound by umbilical cords made of black veins, was it.
The Embryo of Pain.
It was human in form... partially. A grotesque baby, ten feet tall, with blind eyes, its mouth open in a constant cry. His body was covered in scars, deformed hands, and extra mouths sprouting from his abdomen. But the worst part was the aura. Dense. Almost tangible. It was like diving into a sea of pure agony.
**[DUNGEON BOSS DETECTED]**
**[Embryo of Pain – ???]**
**[Status: Summoning Painful Memories]**
—"Painful memories"...?
The walls shook.
And the world changed.
Suddenly, Yuto was no longer in the dungeon.
He was in Tokyo.
It was raining.
He was on the roof of the building... the same building.
The younger boy's body—himself—was on the edge.
"Please... no!" Yuto screamed, running toward him.
But the boy turned.
It was him. Pale, hollow-eyed.
"You already jumped." He just doesn't remember the fall.
Yuto tried to touch him, but his hand passed right through. An illusion.
And then the scene changed again.
Now he was at school.
Alone in the classroom.
Laughter echoed. Laughter.
"Look at that emo again."
"Leave that trash there, he reeks of depression."
"I doubt he'd have the courage to kill himself."
Yuto trembled.
"This isn't real..."
"No. But it's you." the system said.
The scene distorted.
Yuto saw his mother's face. Her empty eyes. The news on television about his father's murder. The abandonment. The rejection.
"Knock. Knock. Knock."
The system laughed.
"That's what you are, Yuto. Pure pain. The Embryo recognizes you. You're one of us."
The world spun.
Yuto returned to the dungeon.
He was kneeling, vomiting blood.
The Embryo now floated above the ground, its tentacles lashing like whips. Its mouths screamed simultaneously:
"IT HURT SO MUCH! I LOVE THIS! MORE! MORE!"
"[Status: Immediate Attack]"
Yuto struggled to his feet.
"No more ghosts."
He activated his ability.
**[Kill or Be Killed – Active]**
His muscles tensed. His body burned. Pain turned to fuel.
The creature lashed out with tentacles.
Yuto leaped over it, spinning the Blade of Nothing in the air and delivering a crosscut that ripped open part of the monster's torso.
Pus oozed.
Screams of agony echoed. Not from the monster - from children, women, old men, as if each wound opened a forgotten memory.
Yuto fell to his knees. The weight of the voices crushed him.
But he forced himself to his feet.
"I AM NOT YOU! I WILL NOT BE YOU!"
The Embryo tried to swallow him whole, opening a jaw in its belly. Yuto ran straight, slid underneath, thrust his sword straight into the creature's spine.
CLANG.
The blade screamed.
The monster roared.
Yuto didn't stop.
"DIE!"
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Blow after blow. Each cut a scar that closed over again. Each wound healing on its own.
Until...
The system's voice came:
"Yuto. A weak spot. In the chest. Heart beating out of rhythm. Go. Now."
Yuto drove the sword deep, piercing the flesh, tearing until it reached the center of his chest. A throbbing bubble of raw flesh and purple light pulsed there.
He screamed.
And drove the blade in with all his strength.
BOOM.
Light.
Scream.
Silence.
--
When he opened his eyes, Yuto was lying at the dungeon's exit.
Breathing heavily. But... alive.
**[Level 15 Training Mission: COMPLETE]**
**[Reward: Massive EXP Granted]**
**[Yuto Kurogane — Level 4 → Level 9]**
**[Skill Learned: "Immunity to Madness I"]**
**[Attribute Awakened: Mental Resistance]**
The system spoke, its tone... almost admiring.
"You survived, Yuto. Impressive. I expected you to break."
Yuto stared up at the purple sky of Ervanth.
He smirked.