The moment Ash's hand brushed the crystal, the hall came alive.
Runes flared across the mirrored floor, crimson veins of light racing toward the throne. The air thickened, heavy with power that hadn't moved in centuries. The eight statues kneeling before the dais began to tremble. Metal groaned. One by one, they lifted their heads.
Helms turned. Hollow eyes ignited blue.
The sound of grinding steel filled the chamber as the statues stood. Each towered over Ash, easily twice his height. Greatswords, halberds, and curved sabers gleamed in their hands, the blades glowing faintly with abyssal energy. They formed a line before the throne—eight soldiers of the void.
The System chimed.
[Hostile Entities Detected: AbyssalSoldiers ×8]
[Level Range: 200–220]
[Dungeon Defense Protocol Engaged]
Ash exhaled, a half-laugh, half-groan. "Of course."
The nearest soldier moved first, faster than stone should. Its greatsword came down like a guillotine. Ash ducked under the swing and slipped backward, shards of mirrored floor exploding where the blade struck. The sound was deafening.
He vanished.
Vector Rift tore him from one spot and dropped him behind the creature. His sword came down in a flash of black light, slicing through the joint of its armor. The blow severed a limb. Smoke poured out from inside the hollow shell before the soldier fell and crumbled to ash.
Seven left.
The others moved together, a disciplined wall of steel. A halberd caught him mid-step, the strike grazing his armor and forcing him off balance. The impact felt like being hit by a charging bull. His ribs screamed, but the armor absorbed most of the damage.
Ash triggered Abyssal Fortify. The plates of the armor pulsed once, hardening. The next strike landed but failed to break through.
He countered, swinging his sword in a two-handed arc. AbyssalResonance flared, his HP bleeding away as his sword ignited with red-black light. He cut through the halberd's haft, then through its wielder. The soldier's chest split open, smoke and light pouring from within before it disintegrated.
[Enemies Defeated: 2/8]
Ash barely had time to breathe. Two more came from either side. He ducked low, parrying the first blow with the flat of his sword, the second with his armor. Sparks scattered like fireflies. He spun, VectorRift pulling him through the smallest gap, and drove his sword backward into one soldier's spine.
The blade hummed with resonance, drinking energy as it cleaved. The armor dissolved. He didn't stop moving—he couldn't. The other soldier's weapon came from above, a vertical chop that cratered the floor when he dodged.
He swung upward, catching the soldier under its helm. The edge of the sword bit through. The glow in its eyes vanished. The body toppled, collapsing into gray ash.
[Enemies Defeated: 4/8]
Halfway.
Ash's breathing came ragged now. His mana burned low, every Rift jump costing more than the last. The air itself seemed to fight him. He could feel the dungeon resisting his movement, pressing back against his will.
Another soldier lunged, spear thrust aimed for his chest. He sidestepped, grabbed the shaft, and ripped it free. He reversed the weapon and drove it through the soldier's torso. The creature froze mid-step, smoke leaking from the cracks in its armor.
[Enemies Defeated: 5/8]
Three remained.
They moved as one, shields raised, weapons aligned. Coordinated—too coordinated. Ash's vision blurred; his stamina bar flickered warning red.
"Fine," he hissed. "Let's burn it all."
He activated AbyssalResonance again. Pain stabbed through his ribs as health bled away, but the sword screamed with energy. The edge shimmered, vibrating with black fire.
He met their charge head-on.
The first strike split the air, his blade cutting clean through two shields. The impact shattered his armor's outer layer, but the EchoShield trait caught the backlash, storing the force. The next swing he released it—an explosion of kinetic energy that blasted the soldiers backward.
They staggered. He didn't. VectorRift blurred his body into afterimages. One strike to the neck, another through the core, a third splitting the helm of the last soldier standing.
Silence.
The eight soldiers collapsed simultaneously, falling into heaps of hollow armor that dissolved into dust.
[All Hostiles Eliminated]
[Experience Acquired → Level 50]
[Base Stats +110 each]
[Free Stat Points +110]
[Rewards Granted → 1 200 000 Gold | 250 Mana Stones]
The glow of the System faded, leaving him panting in the dark.
He straightened slowly, his sword tip dragging against the floor. The black mana aura faded from the blade, replaced by a faint hum. His armor reformed, its sheen duller but intact. His body ached in places even the System's regeneration couldn't fix.
A new window appeared, cold and clear.
[Level Cap Reached for Unassigned Class]
[Excess EXP Stored. To progress beyond Level 50, select Class Path.]
Three translucent panels unfolded before him.
[Class Selection Available]
1. AbyssalVanguard — Frontline hybrid specializing in adaptive combat and shielded counterattacks. Inherits limited abyssal resistance.
2. ArcaneDevourer — A mana-driven combatant who absorbs ambient or enemy mana to empower attacks and spells. Each absorption risks overload and physical backlash. Specialization: burst combat and anti-magic resistance.
3. ParadoxReaver — Unique anomaly class. Born from instability within Origin synchronization. Specialization: entropy manipulation, skill transference, stat inversion, and energy corruption. Unknown evolutionary path. Requires Origin synchronization ≥ 2.
Ash stared at the third panel longer than the others. The word "Paradox" glowed faintly brighter, pulsing with each heartbeat.
[Warning: Class path 'ParadoxReaver' cannot be reversed once selected.]
He almost reached out. Almost.
The ground rumbled.
The throne behind the fallen soldiers cracked down the center, light spilling from within. A shadow rose from the fracture, tall enough to brush the ceiling. A sword the size of a pillar dragged behind it, carving lines into the mirrored floor. The air bent around the figure like gravity had forgotten its rules.
The System's voice returned, urgent this time.
[Boss Entity Detected — AbyssalKing (Lv 500)]
[Abyssal Dungeon Structural Integrity: 8% and falling]
[Final Objective: Defeat the AbyssalKing]
Ash raised his head. The crown etched into the figure's helm glowed like a dying sun. The pressure from its presence alone cracked the tiles beneath his feet. It stepped forward once, and the entire hall shook.
Ash's fingers tightened on his sword hilt. "So this is what you were guarding."
The King lifted its weapon, the movement slow but heavy enough to make the air scream. Every nerve in Ash's body went cold.
"Not yet," he muttered, glancing at the flickering class-selection window. "I'll deal with you later."
He raised his sword and stepped forward to meet the giant.
The King's blade came down, and the dungeon roared.