Chapter 39 – Thegg's Awakening: Massacre
[KUTO – NOBLE CLASS DUNGEON, BOSS ROOM –]
[PHASE 2: THEGG REGENERATED]
The floor still vibrated.
Not a normal tremor — but a constant, rhythmic pulse, as if the entire dungeon had become a living heart, beating in sync with something monstrous.
Thum-thum.
Thum-thum.
Thum-thum.
Thegg stood at the center of the destruction.
Bigger than before.
Not visually — but his presence had grown, expanding, pressing against everything and everyone like gravity multiplied a hundred times.
Every muscle of the colossal body pulsed — not conscious movement, but involuntary contractions of power barely contained within flesh.
Every scar — and there were hundreds covering chest, arms, back — glowed in intense crimson, forming patterns that constantly reorganized as if alive.
The runes etched into the skin were not tattoos. They were veins of pure energy, pumping something that was not blood but ancient magic through an impossible body.
The red eyes blazed — literally, ghostly flames leaking from the orbits, leaving trails in the air when the head moved.
They studied the battlefield.
Not predator searching for prey.
General evaluating enemies.
The air became dense — not just heavy, but viscous, like trying to breathe through thick, warm honey.
Every inhale burned the lungs. Every exhale came out in a reddish-tinted cloud.
The smell was unbearable — metallic, ancient blood, burned flesh, something rotten with no name but enough to churn the stomach at the mere sense of it.
Every step Thegg took made the floor tremble — not a metaphor, literal — cracks spreading in spiderweb patterns, stones falling from the ceiling with dull crashes.
Every crack of bone — when he moved, turned, even breathed — reverberated through the walls like distant thunder.
Shockwaves rolled across the room with each movement — invisible but felt, breaking minor spells still floating in the air, lifting dust and debris, making armor clink.
The entire dungeon seemed to experience his fury.
As if it were a sensitive organism, responding to Thegg's vital energy like a body reacting to a virus — trying to expel it, failing, succumbing.
---
On the ceiling — twenty meters above — Sensi, Sônia, and Selina floated.
Not strategy. Survival.
Keeping away from the ground, where Thegg dominated completely.
The three chanted frantically — hands moving in complex patterns, voices speaking words of power in unison that made the air vibrate.
Sensi — spiritual swords spinning around her in a deadly constellation, each translucent blade glowing pale blue.
Sônia — black flames twisting like living serpents, growing, intensifying, forming a crown of shadowy fire above her head.
Selina — arcane spheres floating, six of them, orbiting in a hypnotic pattern, pulsing with energy that distorted space around them.
They attacked simultaneously.
Spiritual swords fired — twenty of them, cutting the air with a high-pitched sound, converging on Thegg from different angles.
Black flames descended — a column of shadow fire enveloping the giant, temperature so intense that stones on the floor began to melt.
Arcane spheres exploded — multiple impacts, pure energy detonating in rapid succession.
The combined explosion filled the room.
Light. Sound. Heat. Destruction.
When the smoke began to dissipate —
Thegg stood upright.
Unharmed.
No — worse.
Absorbing.
The black flames that should have burned were being sucked into the runes, feeding them, making them glow brighter.
The arcane energy that should have obliterated was being dispersed by the red aura around him.
The spiritual swords that should have pierced were breaking upon contact with hardened skin.
The red eyes rose.
Focusing on the three mages on the ceiling.
And for the first time since he regenerated —
—he smiled.
---
Movement.
Thegg disappeared.
Not running. Disappeared — leaving only a trail of superheated air and delayed thunder.
He reappeared beside the axe he had thrown earlier — embedded in the wall fifteen meters away.
Pulled it out with a casual motion that made the entire wall crack.
Twisted his body — muscles swelling, runes glowing violently.
And threw.
---
The axe crossed the distance in a fraction of a second.
It did not fly. It cut reality — leaving a trail of vacuum, a sound like the world being torn in half.
Sensi saw.
Tried to dodge.
Too late.
The blade hit her waist.
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then her body split — two perfect halves, cut so cleanly that there was not even a sound.
Blood gushed — not dripped, gushed like a fountain, creating a crimson arc in the air before falling in a heavy rain.
Staining the floor.
Staining the walls.
Staining everything.
— SENSI! — Selina screamed, voice tearing her throat.
Sônia was petrified — body frozen, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream.
Sensi's body began to disintegrate — digital light particles detaching, floating, rising before vanishing.
Dead.
Second death.
Gunja. Sensi.
Who is next?
But Thegg did not stop.
---
He jumped.
Not a normal jump.
Colossal — four-meter-tall body soaring fifteen meters vertically, reaching the ceiling where the two remaining mages floated.
Landed on solid stone as if it were floor — feet adhering impossibly, defying gravity.
Selina reacted first — arcane sphere fired centimeters away.
Thegg punched.
Fist collided with pure energy.
BOOM.
The explosion hurled them in opposite directions — Selina flying uncontrollably, hitting the wall before beginning to fall.
Sônia tried to escape — body twisting, preparing teleportation.
Thegg kicked.
Colossal foot hitting her ribs with the sound of breaking wood.
Sônia was thrown like a doll — body spinning, hitting the ceiling three times before plummeting.
Both fell.
Fifteen meters.
CRASH. CRASH.
Impact raised dust, created craters where they landed.
Selina moaned — conscious but barely able to move.
Sônia was motionless — breathing but unconscious, blood dripping from nose and ears.
---
Thegg's eyes — still on the ceiling, still defying physics — turned.
Downwards.
Toward Célia.
The healer.
The only one who could bring the others back from the brink of death.
She was alone in the corner of the room — staff raised, hands trembling, eyes wide with absolute terror.
Thegg descended.
Not jumped. Descended — controlled, deliberate, landing with a sound that made the floor crack.
He began to walk.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Each step a sentence.
Célia backed up — back hitting the wall, nowhere to go.
— N-no… — voice coming out as a broken whisper. — Please…
Thegg picked up the second axe — which had fallen nearby.
Raised it.
Pulled his arm back.
Célia closed her eyes.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to—
THREW.
---
The axe spun through the air — perfect rotation, blade reflecting the light of dying torches.
Hit the neck.
Did not cut.
Decapitated — head separating from body in a clean motion, flying three meters before rolling on the floor.
The body remained standing for two seconds.
Then collapsed.
Blood black — not red, but black like oil — flowed like liquid mercury, creating a puddle that expanded slowly.
Particles began to detach.
Third death.
Gunja. Sensi. Célia.
Three.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Broken only by the heavy breaths of the survivors — ragged, irregular, desperate.
---
Jack roared — not words, just pure sound of rage, refusing to accept what he had just witnessed.
Charged.
Shield raised — cracked but still functional.
Sword pointed.
Thegg waited.
Jack got close.
Punched.
Not with an axe. With his fist.
The impact hit the shield.
CRASH.
Metal exploded — literally, fragments flying in all directions like projectiles.
The shockwave hurled Jack backwards — body flying fifteen meters, hitting the wall with force that cracked stone.
Collapsed.
Tried to get up.
Spat blood — a lot of blood, covering his chin, dripping to the floor.
Legs shaking — not obeying commands, muscles destroyed by internal impact.
I can't…
I can't move…
---
Haru emerged from the shadows.
Desperate.
Frantic.
Blades spinning, attacking tendons, joints, any visible weak point.
Thegg turned — casual movement, arm coming in wide arc.
Colossal hand grabbed Haru's head — fingers wrapping completely, squeezing.
Lifted him.
Haru screamed — sound muffled by the hand, legs kicking the air uselessly.
Thegg threw.
Body flying, hitting the wall with sound of multiple bones breaking.
Haru slid to the ground.
Did not move anymore.
---
Romeu and Dimitri — the last standing besides Kuto — attacked together.
Elemental arrows fired — fire, ice, lightning, all simultaneously.
Fireball exploding — smaller than before, mana reserves almost depleted.
Thegg advanced through the attacks.
Arrows burning before reaching him.
Fireball being dispersed by red aura.
Reached Romeu.
Double palm strike — both hands hitting sides of his head simultaneously.
CLAP.
Romeu collapsed — ears bleeding, eyes rolling, body convulsing before going still.
Turned to Dimitri.
Punched.
Fist hitting stomach.
Piercing through.
Not metaphor.
Literally piercing — exiting through back, covered in blood and fragments.
Dimitri's eyes widened.
Looked down.
At the arm passing through his body.
Then at Selina — fallen a few meters ahead, trying to rise.
Smiled.
Weak. Broken. But genuine.
— Seems like… — blood coming out with every word — …the idiot… saved the day… huh?
Thegg tore the arm out.
The body collapsed.
And began to disintegrate — faster than the others, particles rising in dense swarm.
[PLAYER ELIMINATED: DIMITRI]
[PERMANENT DEATH IN NEXUS]
Selina screamed — not human sound, but wounded animal, shattered.
Tears burning her eyes, body shaking violently.
— NO! — voice tearing. — NO NO NO!
Tried to get up.
Legs gave out.
Thegg began walking toward her.
Slow. Deliberate. Inevitable.
Raised the axe.
---
Kuto charged.
Did not think. Just moved.
[ADAPTIVE CLASS: FULL MODE]
All three stances simultaneously — not alternating, fused.
Rogue speed. Warrior strength. Elements spinning.
Twin swords blazing — red with fire, blue with lightning.
Struck Thegg from the side.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG.
Sequence of blows so fast they seemed simultaneous — cutting, piercing, burning, electrocuting.
Thegg turned.
Headbutt.
Forehead colliding with Kuto's face.
CRACK.
Nose breaking. Vision exploding white. Pain piercing skull.
Kuto was thrown backwards — body uncontrolled, hitting wall, sliding to the floor.
Tried to get up.
World spinning. Vision duplicated. Blood covering face.
No…
I can't…
Everyone is going to die…
---
Thegg stood before Selina.
Axe raised.
Ready to descend.
And then —
DING.
Sound echoed through the entire dungeon.
Not physical. Mental — touching directly inside the head of every living person.
[SYSTEM: XP FESTIVAL ACTIVATED]
[ALL PLAYERS WILL BE TELEPORTED IN:]
[3...]
Selina looked up — at the axe about to fall.
[2...]
Thegg began descending the blade.
[1...]
FLASH.
---
White light exploded.
Blinding. Absolute. Consuming everything.
When it dissipated —
The room was empty.
Only bodies.
Jack — leaning against the wall, unconscious but alive.
Haru — motionless on the ground, breathing weakly but alive.
Romeu — convulsing slightly, but alive.
Sônia — still unconscious, but alive.
Selina, Kuto — disappeared.
And then the bodies of
Romeu, Jack, Haru, and Sônia were all
Teleported as well.
And in the center of the room, surrounded by pools of blood, fragments of bone, battle debris —
Thegg remained.
Motionless.
Red eyes glowing in the darkness.
Crimson runes pulsing slowly.
Absorbing fear. Devastation. The death he had caused.
As if it were energy.
Fuel.
Food.
The entire dungeon trembled slightly — not from collapse, but something worse.
Satisfaction.
Like a living organism that had finally been properly fed.
And in the absolute silence, only one sound:
Thum-thum.
Thum-thum.
The heart of the dungeon.
Beating in sync with the monster that inhabited it.
--
[CONFIRMED DEATHS:]
- GUNJA (decapitated)
- SENSI (cut in half)
- CÉLIA (decapitated)
- DIMITRI (impaled)
[ORIGINAL GROUP: 10 MEMBERS]
[SURVIVORS: 6]
[XP FESTIVAL: ACTIVATED]
[NEXT CHAPTER: The Price of Information]