Silence.
Yuto barely dared to breathe.
If he hadn't just evolved, he might not have sensed it at all—but now, his instincts screamed like sirens.
Something massive was moving through the tunnels.
Something wrong.
[Predator-Class Entity Approaching.]
[Threat Level: CRIMSON.]
Yuto didn't know what "Crimson" meant, but judging by the way the stone trembled beneath him… he guessed it meant "absolutely screwed."
He pressed flat to the tunnel wall, activating Stealth, shrinking back into a crevice. His body buzzed with the newly-evolved venom sacs, ready to spit—but he didn't move. Not yet.
Then it came.
A shadow blotted out the tunnel ahead.
The creature's shape was jagged, insectoid—but twisted. A centipede-like body covered in bone-like plates. Its legs dragged razor-sharp barbs against the rock as it slithered. Where a face should have been, there was only a mass of snapping mandibles and a single, vertical red eye—open, and furious.
[Name: Gorecent Stalker]
[Class: Predator]
[Level: ???]
[Status: Searching]
It was easily the size of a car. And it was looking for him.
Why?! Yuto thought, heart thudding. I'm just a damn bug!
As if hearing his thoughts, Nyx whispered coldly:
[Reminder: You bear the Mark of the Abyss. Predator-class entities are naturally drawn to it.]
Oh.
Right.
So I'm basically a walking dinner bell for nightmares. Fantastic.
The Gorecent Stalker halted.
It sniffed the air—if you could call that clicking mass of flesh sniffing.
Yuto held completely still.
One twitch, and he was a smear.
But then… the creature paused.
Its head tilted. The single red eye blinked—once.
Then, without warning, it turned and slithered away, vanishing into a crack in the tunnel wall like it had never been there.
Silence returned.
[Predator-class has retreated.]
Yuto waited a full five minutes before daring to breathe again.
When he finally moved, he noticed something odd.
A chunk of rotting crystal had broken off from the ceiling where the creature had passed.
It pulsed with a faint, sickly glow.
[You have discovered: Abyssal Core Fragment.]
[Effect: Increases Evolution Efficiency.]
[Warning: Extremely Toxic. Prolonged contact not advised.]
Yuto stared.
His instincts told him this thing was dangerous. Tainted. Wrong.
But another part of him—the hungry part—wanted to devour it.
[Suggestion: Do NOT eat that.]
"Why not?" Yuto asked mentally.
[Because it may accelerate your mutation in… unexpected ways.]
That was a risk.
But then again, so was everything down here.
He hesitated… then scraped off just the tiniest piece of the fragment.
And ate it.
The effect was instant.
[Abyssal Fragment consumed.]
[Warning: You are being observed.]
[Mutation Potential: +12%]
[Hidden Tree Access: ???]
Yuto doubled over as something shifted in him.
The poison inside him grew darker.
The hunger sharper.
And for the first time… he felt something answer from deep within the Abyss.
A voice.
Whispering.
Calling him something he didn't understand.
Something like…
"Little Sovereign."
Yuto stared into the dark tunnel ahead, still shaking.
He had nearly died.
Again.
But now… he wasn't just prey.
He was changing. Being shaped. Touched by the Abyss.
And soon—
He would start hunting back.