The final few minutes in the collapsing Labyrinth of Ending were an agonizing test of Lee's will. The dimension was folding in on itself, the swirling warp energy intensifying into a deafening roar. Lee endured the pain of the Slime Lord Core integration, his Absolute Eye locked onto the fracturing reality.
Current Integration: $49.8\%$
Time Remaining: 00:00:03
"Hold, Lee! Hold! It's ready to tear you apart!" Hanabi's mental voice was barely a whisper against the psychic storm.
Lee gritted his teeth. He focused the raw, surging power into his Soul Seal, clamping down on the final, volatile remnants of the dark energy.
Current Integration: $100\%$ Complete.
The moment the integration finished, the energy surrounding Lee stabilized, but the Labyrinth did not. Instead, the entire dimension imploded into a singular point of blinding, crushing force.
Simultaneously, a series of urgent, system-wide notifications—louder and more absolute than anything before—slammed into Lee's consciousness.
[System Notification: Achievement Acquired!]
Title Condition Exceeded: Annihilation of Self-Created Apex Anomaly (Slime Lord).
Title Updating…
Title: Master of Annihilation has been obtained.
Title: Master of Annihilation is currently updating...
Title: Destruction God of Lower Realms has been obtained.
Warning: New Title Active. Authority Conflict Detected.
Event: Lower Realm Dimension Lock Disengaged.
The world around Lee evaporated. The sheer metaphysical weight of the title Destruction God of Lower Realms—a concept of absolute cosmic dominion—sent a shockwave through the reality of the Lower Realm he currently occupied (the former Earth and its associated dungeons).
The Labyrinth of Ending and its surrounding dimension, unable to contain the latent power radiating from Lee, ceased to exist. In a flash, Lee was violently wrenched through space.
Lee slammed onto hard, hot earth, skidding several feet. The fall should have torn his skin and broken bones, but the deep lacerations that appeared on his arms and legs immediately sizzled, faded, and vanished, healed by the newly integrated Slime Lord Core energy, now part of his Prana/CON network.
He slowly rose, his newly acquired title shimmering faintly in his Absolute Eye.
The air was heavy, humid, and thick with heat—a suffocating contrast to the cold, acrid air of the Labyrinth. The landscape was desolate: cracked earth, sparse, withered vegetation, and a towering, monolithic gray wall marking the inner boundary of the dungeon floor. Above, the sky was a sickly yellow, illuminated by a pulsing red light high overhead—the omnipresent aura of the Tower of Abyss.
Around him, huddled in bewildered groups, were hundreds of people—men, women, and teenagers. They were dressed in ordinary street clothes, work uniforms, and even pajamas. They were all staring at each other with blank, confused terror.
"What… where are we?" someone whimpered.
"I was driving to work!" a man in a business suit shouted, clutching his briefcase.
The collective annoyance over the heat quickly gave way to confusion as no one could rationally explain the sudden mass teleportation.
"Lee! We made it! But where are we?!" Hanabi's mental voice, though still weak, was now clear and immediate. "You need to move! Get away from the crowds!"
"I know," Lee muttered, his voice barely audible. He could feel the crushing pressure of hundreds of unAwakened minds around him—a sea of fear and confusion. He quickly moved toward the periphery, seeking the cover of a cluster of thorny, red bushes.
Suddenly, a sound echoed across the entire dungeon floor. It wasn't loud, but it resonated perfectly in every single ear, cutting through the murmuring chaos.
$^{\text{ "Attention, inhabitants of the new Level 1." }}$
The collective chatter ceased instantly. Everyone looked up, searching for the source.
High above the crowd, a small, shimmering portal opened—no larger than a dinner plate. A tiny figure, a Fairy with gossamer wings and skin that glowed with pure, emerald light, emerged.
The Fairy's voice, though impossibly small, was amplified by a booming, systemic effect.
"The Tower requires participants. Your previous lives are forfeit. Two commands for your immediate attention:"
"One: Check your personal Inventory. All essential goods have been quantified."
"Two: You have ten minutes of free flow time. Follow the instructions delivered to your System Interface."
With that, the Fairy gave a dismissive flick of its hand, and the tiny portal snapped shut, leaving the populace in stunned silence.
Panic rippled through the crowd. People were frantically slapping their wrists, staring blankly, realizing they now had an interface thrust upon them.
Lee ignored the panicking masses. Hanabi's voice was sharp with urgency.
"That fairy… I know that symbol. It's the herald of the Tower's structure. We're in a live dungeon, Lee. A real, massive dungeon! You must prepare a weapon now!"
Lee nodded, pulling up his own interface. He checked his inventory, which was sparse.
[Inventory: (1) School Uniform Clothes, (1) Bare Shoes, (1) F-Rank Gauntlet (Right), (1) Dark Mana Concentration Core (Sealed)]
He equipped the gauntlet. It was a flimsy, thin leather wrist guard—useless junk that must have been classified based on its material.
"Hanabi, look at this. F-Rank Gauntlet. Durability is near zero. It won't stop anything," Lee projected, turning the worn leather in his hand.
"The rank doesn't matter, Lee. The material does! That leather is from a Redwood Beast—it's a superb conduit for certain alchemic compounds! Look around you—the bushes! The red, thorny bushes!"
Lee followed her mental direction. The sparse vegetation surrounding them was indeed an aggressive, thorny bush, its roots a striking crimson.
"You need to find the root of that Red Thistle Bush! Grind the root into a powder, and use that powder to cleanse the gauntlet! Hurry! We don't have much time!"
Lee immediately dropped to his knees, his newly acquired strength making the tearing of the earth easy. He found a thick crimson root, broke it off, and quickly ground it against a stone, creating a fine, rust-red powder. He meticulously rubbed the powder into the F-Rank leather gauntlet.
While Lee was consumed by this strange ritual, he felt a gaze fixed upon him. Using the passive effect of his Absolute Eye, he subtly shifted his view.
Near a crumbling, dry well—still far enough from the main crowd to avoid attention—stood a tall, slender man. He wore a crisp, white Doctor's Coat, bizarrely out of place in the humid wasteland. The coat was clean, unblemished, and embroidered on the shoulder with a small, stylized medical cross logo.
But the man was not treating anyone. He was holding a wickedly sharp, silver Shuriken in his right hand, twirling it slowly, completely unbothered by the chaos. His expression was one of cold, detached observation. Lee noticed a name patch stitched onto the coat pocket: "Zanis."
Zanis was watching the entire scene—the panic, the tears, the frantic checking of inventory—with unnerving calm. He wasn't focused on the crowd, but specifically on Lee's unorthodox actions: the digging, the powder, the strange ritual with the worthless gauntlet.
Lee quickly finished the cleaning process, ignoring Zanis for the moment, and slipped the gauntlet onto his right wrist.
The ten minutes of 'free flow time' vanished instantly. A synchronized chime echoed across the entire Level 1 floor.
[Tower of Abyss Dungeon Level 1: Trial Begins.]Mission: Survival. Survive 100 Waves of Monster Attacks.Failure Condition: Death of All Participants.
Panic escalated into hysteria. Screams erupted as the reality of their situation sank in. They were trapped, forced into a death match, given a horrifying metric for failure.
Lee, however, felt a strange surge of calm—the effect of his Absolute Eye rendering the fear of others meaningless.
He focused his Will Force into the powdered leather gauntlet. The red powder instantly vaporized, fueling the leather. The F-Rank Gauntlet glowed fiercely, reforming and hardening the leather into a complex, segmented brace of gold and bronze.
[F-Rank Gauntlet Upgraded!]New Item: A+-Rank Gauntlet of the Sun King (Incomplete)Description: Artifact of a bygone era. Grants enhanced STR and Will Force channeling. Requires further refinement.
Zanis, standing by the well, finally ceased twirling his shuriken. His cold eyes narrowed, fixed entirely on the golden light emanating from Lee's arm.
Lee looked at the oncoming chaos. Most people were cowering, heads bowed in prayer or despair—the 'Trail of Strength vs. Rationality' falling squarely on the side of paralyzing fear.
Lee prepared to engage the new Gauntlet.
A guttural moan filled the air. Along the base of the massive dungeon wall, ten figures appeared—lurching, shambling Zombies. Their movements were slow, but their intent was clear.
"Wave 1! Only ten!" someone yelled with terrified relief.
"Wait, Lee! Do not engage yet!" Hanabi ordered, her voice sharp with tactical caution. "Watch the others! We need information! Stall! Hide!"
Lee didn't argue. He pulled back behind the thorny bushes, taking cover.
The ten Zombies slowly shuffled toward the closest group of panicked civilians. The civilians, armed only with inventory knives or bare hands, were quickly overwhelmed. Screams punctuated the air as the zombies bit and clawed.
The moment a civilian was killed and infected, their body jolted and stood up, joining the shambling horde.
"Lee! Look! The Zombies multiply! The infection rate is $100\%$!" Hanabi shrieked. "The initial ten are now thirty! The crowd is just feeding the waves!"
Lee felt a cold knot tighten in his gut. His Absolute Eye instantly calculated the danger: by stalling, he had allowed the first wave to convert the crowd into fodder, exponentially increasing the current threat.
Wave 4 arrived, and the entire floor of the dungeon was now carpeted in the rotting, lurching forms of nearly two hundred zombies, created from the original mob. The non-infected survivors were few and scattered, fighting desperately and running low on stamina.
Even Lee, boosted by his new healing factor and the Sun King Gauntlet, was breathing heavily. He had managed to survive the initial chaos, but exhaustion was setting in.
Suddenly, a larger, darker figure emerged from the horde, its movements faster, its eyes glowing with a terrifying, primal intelligence.
[Warning: Boss Monster Detected]Monster:The Dread Host (Intelligent Zombie Lord)
The Dread Host let out a calculated roar, directing the horde toward Lee's position.
Lee raised his A+-Rank Gauntlet of the Sun King. Its golden surface gleamed, ready to channel his Will Force.
Meanwhile, across the clearing, Zanis, the Doctor, was finally showing signs of physical strain. He was flawlessly parrying attacks with his shuriken, using it like a razor-edged boomerang, but the exhaustion of four waves was visible.
A system notification popped up, visible only to Zanis.
[Zanis has met Class Change Requirement: Level 10 Achieved.]Available Jobs:Normal: Warrior, Tank, Fighter, Healer Rare Job: Arcanist Blade
The man in the Doctor's coat, faced with a survival decision and a career path, did not choose the logical Healer role tied to his profession, nor the tactical Arcanist Blade.
Zanis calmly twirled his shuriken one last time, ignoring the prompt for his Rare Job. He chose the most direct, brutal option, selecting the Warrior Class. His white coat flashed briefly with a new, crimson aura—the mark of a melee fighter.
As Zanis made his choice, Lee prepared to unleash a devastating Will Force strike on the advancing Dread Host, his journey into absolute power now tied to a battle for basic survival alongside the enigmatic Doctor Warrior.