Yul barely had time to react. One moment, she stood beside Tae Hyun and Jinhwan, gazing at the trembling altar. The next, the world around her warped.
With a sudden wrench in her chest, reality seemed to fold inward. She felt her body pulled through a rift of shadows, soundless and infinite. Then—silence.
Yul opened her eyes.
Endless night.
She stood alone beneath a sky without stars, surrounded by colossal mountains. These peaks were not made of stone, but of writhing shadow—shifting and alive, as though breathing with an ancient will. The air was still, yet heavy, as if time itself held its breath. There was no path, no sky, no moon. Only her, and the weight of the abyss.
Then she felt it.
A pressure in the air—like gravity, emotion, and destiny all rolled into one.
The ground quaked.
From behind the largest mountain, something stirred. She didn't see it move—she felt it approach, as if the world bowed before its presence. A figure emerged, vast and incomprehensible.
The Abyssal Dragon.
Towering like a mountain of living shadow, the creature's scales drank light and soul alike. Not merely black—they were the color of void, etched with violet and crimson hues that shimmered in the gloom. Each scale looked like an obsidian shard, pulsing with ancient, malignant power.
Its wings unfurled, stretching across the sky like torn banners of a dying god. Veins of blue-black energy pulsed through them, flickering like slow heartbeats. With every beat, shadows deepened.
Its head was angular, crowned by spiraling horns that seemed forged from nightmares. Burning amethyst eyes locked onto Yul, and her knees buckled. The swirling madness within those pits threatened to swallow her whole.
From its back writhed tendrils of shadow-mist, whispering in forgotten tongues.
It opened its mouth—not to roar, but to breathe.
A wave of entropy surged forth—black fire mixed with the howling essence of annihilation. The ground where it landed did not burn. It unraveled. Rocks turned to dust, and dust faded into nothing.
Upon its chest was etched a sigil of the void—alive, glowing, a brand of cosmic origin.
This was no beast.
This was a god of endings.
And then—it spoke.
"Welcome, my daughter."
---
Far away, in the stone chamber beneath the altar, Tae Hyun and Jinhwan staggered as the tremors ceased.
"Yul?!" Tae Hyun called, but she was gone.
Before either could act, a hissing noise echoed.
The walls split, and out crawled a dozen figures—reptilian, humanoid, eyes glowing red.
Lizard men.
Their black-scaled bodies glistened like oil, and jagged bone-plates jutted from their backs and shoulders. They carried crude but deadly weapons—blades made of bone and obsidian.
Tae Hyun didn't hesitate. He rushed forward, twin daggers flashing.
Steel clashed against claws. He ducked under a swinging axe, rolled, and struck upward—dagger piercing through a lizard man's jaw. Jinhwan moved beside him, his movements fluid yet violent. His glaive spun, carving arcs of red as he swept through two enemies at once.
"They just keep coming!" Jinhwan growled, blood spraying his cheek.
Tae Hyun nodded, his body a blur of motion.
But soon, they began to push back. Step by step, slash by slash, they thinned the enemy. Tae Hyun used feints and counters, overwhelming their brute strength with finesse. Jinhwan's strikes grew heavier, more desperate, until his glaive smashed through armor like paper.
In minutes, the final lizard man fell with a guttural hiss, his throat slit.
Then the altar cracked.
A fissure split down its center. The stone crumbled away.
Something stirred beneath.
A dragon—not massive like the Abyssal, but still terrifying in form. Four times the length of a man, its wings folded tightly around its serpentine body. Its scales shimmered with a blend of crimson and black, each glinting like polished stone.
Two twisted horns curled from its head, and jagged spikes ran down its spine. Even dormant, it radiated heat and menace.
Tae Hyun and Jinhwan took a step back, eyes wide.
The dragon opened one eye.
Chapter End.