The knight roared, its mandibles wide as it lunged for him.
Zayden cursed under his breath, leaping back, narrowly avoiding the killing strike. The other knight rushed in from the side, its blade limb slamming down like a hammer. He raised his broken dagger defensively, but the impact shattered the weapon completely and sent him sprawling across the floor.
Dust filled his lungs. Pain flared across his chest. His body screamed in protest, slower now, weaker.
The knights advanced. Their massive shadows loomed over him, cold and merciless.
For the first time since entering the dungeon, Zayden felt the edge of death closing in.
"Kuro!" he barked.
The dragonling shrieked in response. Its eyes glowed crimson, and shadows surged from its body like a tidal wave. Dark phantoms took form again, but this time they were different, sharper, hungrier, infused with a faint trace of crimson light. They lunged, clawing at the knights with renewed ferocity.
The knights fought back, slicing through shadow after shadow. Ichor sprayed as Kuro sank its fangs into one knight's leg, ripping through the joint. The beast staggered, roaring in pain.
But even with Kuro's help, the tide didn't shift.
The second knight slammed into Zayden, pinning him to the ground. Its mandibles snapped down, inches from his throat. His arms trembled as he struggled to hold them back, shadows flaring weakly from his palms.
Too strong. Too heavy. His strength was bleeding away.
The knight's jaws inched closer.
Zayden gritted his teeth, eyes blazing with stubborn fire. "I won't die here… not yet!"
But his shadows sputtered, flickering like dying embers. His broken blade lay useless by his side. His body screamed with exhaustion.
The knight's jaws opened wide for the killing bite.
And then...
Kuro roared.
Even though it was just born two days ago, Zayden was the only family member that she knew and letting him die here was not an option, so she did the only thing she knew how to do.
The dragonling leapt forward, its small body glowing faintly with red and gold light. Its fangs bit deep into its own foreleg, blood dripping thick and dark.
Before Zayden could react, Kuro forced the blood into his mouth, shadows carrying it like liquid fire down his throat.
The taste was metallic, bitter… and then it burned.
Zayden's body convulsed violently. His chest arched, his veins glowing faintly beneath his skin. The knight above him froze, sensing something shift.
Power surged. Not the cold, controlled shadows of Oblivion Flux. This was something raw, primal, ancient.
His vision blurred, then cleared. In the reflection of the knight's armoured shell, his eyes gleamed with a crimson glow, streaked with gold and purple. His skin rippled, veins darkening as shadowy scales flickered faintly across his arms.
The knight tried to bite down...
Zayden caught its mandibles with his bare hands.
And stopped it cold.
A deep, guttural sound rumbled from his throat — half snarl, half roar. Shadows exploded outward, laced with a strange spatial distortion that bent the air. The cavern itself seemed to warp for an instant.
His strength skyrocketed. His stat cap shattered. His body no longer felt heavy; it felt limitless.
The knight screeched, trying to pull away. Zayden rose to his feet slowly, still holding his jaws apart. His lips curled into a sharp grin, shadows swirling around him like a storm.
"This…" His voice was deeper, resonant. "…is new."
The second knight lunged toward him.
Zayden turned his head, eyes glowing like a predator.
Then Zayden's body convulsed once again.
Something hot, no, burning, surged through his veins, spreading from his core to every limb. He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest. The power from Kuro's blood wasn't gentle. It wasn't calm. It was wild, devouring, clawing its way into him as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The two Ant Knights didn't wait. They screeched and lunged, sensing weakness.
And then Zayden's body changed.
His hair, previously black and matted with sweat, flowed like silk, turning immaculate white in an instant. His irises shifted, glowing with a crimson outer ring and a faint emerald inner hue that pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. His skin darkened slightly under glowing dark-blue markings, forming strange patterns that seemed almost alive, pulsing with energy.
Then came the final change.
Two curved, five-inch-long horns erupted from his head, dark at the base but tipped with a metallic sheen. They hummed faintly with energy, casting faint shadowy distortions around them.
Zayden rose slowly, the cave filling with a suffocating pressure that even the Ant Knights hesitated under. His shadow spread unnaturally across the stone floor, stretching and twisting like it had a mind of its own.
A system notification appeared before his eyes.
[You have awakened the Bloodline of the ??? — Mythical Grade.Your stat caps have been temporarily increased by +30 across all attributes.Strength: 50 → 80Agility: 50 → 80Dexterity: 50 → 80Endurance: 50 → 80
Passive Effects Unlocked:
Predator's Instinct: Enhanced reaction speed and battle sense.
Devourer's Aura: Nearby enemies experience fear and reduced defence.]
Zayden exhaled. The air turned cold.
"Let's try this," he said, his voice lower, resonant, carrying a strange, guttural undertone.
The first Ant Knight lunged again.
This time, Zayden caught the blade-arm with his bare hand — and crushed it. Carapace shattered with a sickening crack. Before the knight could react, Zayden spun, his horn grazing the wall and leaving a deep gash, then slammed his palm forward.
"Umbra Blast."
Darkness exploded, point-blank. The Ant Knight was launched across the chamber, smashing into the stone with a crunch that silenced its shriek. It slid to the ground, twitching, before going still.
The second knight hesitated. For the first time, Zayden noticed fear in the creature's multifaceted eyes.
Kuro hissed softly from behind him, her tiny body glowing faintly. Her aura flared, shadows pooling at her feet like a dark tide. Zayden felt her connection strengthen; he could feel her intent. Hunt. Destroy.
"Umbra Slash."
He vanished in a blur. His broken sword was gone — he didn't need it. His hand moved like a blade, coated in condensed darkness. The slash tore through the knight's armoured torso, leaving a glowing wound that began to dissolve the carapace entirely.
The knight roared, flailing, but Zayden was already behind it.
"Dark Spike."
Spikes of pure shadow erupted from the floor, impaling the creature from below and suspending it midair. The knight convulsed violently, ichor dripping down the spikes before finally falling limp.
The system chimed softly.
[+3 Power Shards]
Zayden didn't absorb the shards. He simply waved his hand, and they floated into his space ring. He could feel them pulsing faintly, almost like they were calling to him.
His breathing slowed. The glow of his markings dimmed slightly, but the horns and hair remained. His entire body thrummed with power, almost… hungry.
"Interesting…" he muttered.
Before he could think further, Kuro slithered up his shoulder, nuzzling his neck. Zayden gave her a faint smile, rubbing her head. "You saved me back there."
****
Far below the chamber, deeper within the hive, something stirred.
A throne of chitin and bone rested in the heart of the anthill. Towering walls of hardened resin glistened faintly under the dim bioluminescent glow of countless crystals embedded in the nest.
And there, looming like a nightmare, sat the Ant Queen.
Her form dwarfed all others. Over six meters tall, her upper body resembled a grotesque humanoid form, regal and cruel, with a crown of jagged horns upon her head. Her lower body stretched into a massive abdomen, pulsing faintly with life. Every movement carried authority, each flick of her antennae commanding silence from the swarm around her.
Her multifaceted eyes, like pools of black glass, opened wider. She tilted her head.
A ripple of power had brushed her senses — alien, overwhelming, unlike anything she had felt within her nest.
Her mandibles clicked sharply. The warriors and knights clustered around her throne shrank back.
She had felt it: the awakening of something unnatural, something that reeked of ancient hunger and endless void.
"A threat," the Queen's voice echoed, not through words but through a chilling psychic wave that rippled through the hive.
Instantly, the swarm stirred. Ant Warriors marched with renewed purpose. Ant Elites straightened, their humanoid forms tightening grips on their jagged weapons. The hive pulsed with preparation.
The Queen leaned forward slightly, antennae twitching.
"Find it. Destroy it."
Her gaze turned toward the chamber above, toward the faint distortion left behind by Zayden's awakening.
For the first time in decades, the Queen's composure cracked. A faint hiss slipped from her mandibles.