Chapter 2 – The Dragon Returns
Kael emerged from the jagged cave mouth, breathing in the stale, ash-choked air of the Dead World.
His boots crunched over obsidian stone. A strange sensation prickled at the back of his mind.
The deeper he walked into this cursed land… the heavier the air became.
It wasn't just heavy—it pulsed, like a living thing.
[Cosmic Energy Detected]
The voice in his head hadn't spoken since his awakening. Now it returned, cold and sharp.
He could feel it too—the deeper he went, the more the Dead World itself seemed to breathe. But the monsters here… they weren't the same weak creatures from before.
He had already seen one with armored plates harder than steel, one that could vanish into smoke and strike from nowhere.
And then the voice spoke again.
> [Monster Classification Detected]
E-Rank → D-Rank → C-Rank → B-Rank → A-Rank → S-Rank → Calamity → Lord → Universal]
Kael frowned.
That explained why the deeper he went, the worse it got.
When he arrived, he had been E-rank—barely above a harmless beast. Now? He was still "E-rank"… but something told him his current self would slaughter the Kael from yesterday without breaking a sweat.
Still, that didn't change one thing.
A presence.Huge.
Terrifying.
Burning into the edges of his awareness.
His blood turned to ice.
The dragon.
memories of molten scales and ripping claws flashed before his eyes. The pain. The helplessness. The humiliation.
He should turn back.
Every instinct screamed it.
And yet…
If I keep running, I'll die in here without ever becoming strong enough to leave.
Kael gripped his weapon. His dull blade had been reforged from scraps of monsters he'd slain. It was crude… but his will burned sharper than any steel.
"I'll kill you this time," he muttered.
The dragon came out of the crimson mist, each step shaking the earth. Its molten eyes locked onto him, and the ground beneath them cracked under the heat.
Here we go again…
The beast roared, and Kael charged.
He dodged left, rolling under its tail swipe. He struck—his blade biting into its leg—but the dragon's scales turned the attack into nothing more than a scratch.
A claw slammed into him, sending him crashing into a stone pillar. His lungs screamed for air.
"Damn it—" He barely avoided a blast of fire that scorched the ground into glowing glass.
Every blow he landed… nothing. Every wound he took… brutal.
And then—
[Special Skill Unlocked – Starbreaker Strike]
Kael's vision blurred as power erupted from deep within. Cosmic energy surged through his arms, flowing into his weapon. The blade glowed with blinding white fire.
"One strike…" he muttered. "It better be enough."
The dragon lunged.
Kael stepped forward.
The world seemed to slow.
He swung.
A line of pure light cut through the air, splitting the beast's molten armor and cleaving straight through its heart.
The dragon staggered, let out one final roar… and collapsed, shaking the ground.
Kael fell to one knee, his vision swimming. His body felt like it was being drained into the void.
But he was alive.
And for the first time in the Dead World…
He had won.