The storm inside me was restless. Training at the estate wasn't enough. Sparring with Kaelen or Selvara wouldn't push me to the edge. If I wanted to grow, I needed more than steel against steel — I needed death at my throat, monsters in the dark, challenges that made my system hesitate.
The Nameless God seemed to agree.
[New Dungeon Key: Maw of Endless Night]
[Threat Level: Catastrophic]
[Time Limit: 72 Hours]
[System Assistance: 15%]
[Objective: Survive until the Core of Darkness is shattered]
"Fifteen percent?" I muttered, smirking despite myself. "Generous."
The key pulsed violet in my palm, jagged and humming with that unstable storm-light. I didn't hesitate. The world bent, and the next thing I knew… I was falling.
The Maw of Endless Night was alive.
I landed on jagged obsidian ground beneath a sky of writhing black tendrils. There was no sun, no stars — only a pulsing sphere overhead that devoured light rather than giving it. Every breath I took felt like it was being stolen back out of my lungs.
The system chimed faintly:
[Warning: Hostile Zone – oxygen and stamina will drain twice as fast.]
"Figures." I stretched, letting sparks crawl down my arms. "Guess we do this the hard way."
The first monster came crawling out of the shadows. At first glance, it looked human — too human — but its limbs bent wrong, its face split into rows of teeth, and its shadow stretched longer than its body.
Then came the second. Then the third.
By the time I exhaled once, a dozen had surrounded me, jaws snapping in rhythm.
I grinned. "Good warm-up."
Purple lightning flashed, storm veins activating instantly. The ground shattered beneath my step as I launched forward, Judgment Spark piercing straight through one creature's chest. The others lunged, but my body already moved — reflexes doubled, instincts sharpened. I carved through them, sparks tearing shadow apart until nothing remained but smoke.
The storm hummed, alive. I felt it drinking in the darkness, reshaping itself.
But the dungeon didn't stop.
Hours bled into hours.
The Maw never gave me rest. Every corridor was alive, shadows reforming into beasts, the walls whispering my failures back at me — the time I couldn't save my father, the sound of my mother coughing in the night, my sister's trembling hand when she thought I wasn't looking.
The dungeon wanted me to break.
But that was its mistake.
Pain and despair were things I had already bled for. Every scar on me was proof I'd been swallowed by storms before — and spat them back out.
"Is that all?" I whispered hoarsely, covered in cuts, sparks still dancing across my arms. "You think nightmares will slow me down?"
The core revealed itself on the third night — a massive, writhing heart of black light suspended in the cavern's center. It pulsed with each whisper, birthing creatures faster than I could kill them.
I was outnumbered a hundred to one.
Perfect.
The final battle lasted hours.
I forced my storm into shapes it had never taken before — arcs that bent mid-air, purple wraiths forming from the sparks and fighting at my side. Two took shape strong enough to earn names:
Rael, the jagged, spear-wielding wraith that pierced through enemy ranks.
Veyra, the curved-blade phantom who shredded anything foolish enough to flank me.
Together, we tore into the endless horde. But still, it wasn't enough.
Blood dripped from my mouth. My arms burned. My lightning faltered.
The core pulsed stronger, mocking me.
And then… I stopped running.
I let the dungeon come. I let the pain fill me. Every strike, every scar, every scream in my ears became fuel. The storm inside me erupted, not as a weapon but as a living thing.
[Skill Unlocked: Storm Convergence]
— Gather every fragment of lightning into one devastating strike.
"Fine," I growled, dragging every last spark into my chest, feeling my veins burst with heat. "If you want to swallow me—"
I raised my arm, lightning spiraling into a single point. The core convulsed, as if realizing too late what was coming.
"—choke on it!"
The world went white-purple.
When I opened my eyes, the cavern was gone. The Maw was silent.
The core was ash, the shadows erased. My body collapsed, steam rising from my skin, every muscle trembling from exhaustion.
The system finally chimed:
[Dungeon Cleared: Maw of Endless Night]
[Reward: Passive – Shadow Immunity (resistance to fear, illusions, and darkness-based attacks)]
[Skill Mastery: Storm Convergence – Level 1]
[Reward: Abyssal Elixir Ingredient – Fragment of Eternal Dark]
I lay on the cracked stone, laughing weakly.
"One down," I whispered, purple sparks fading into the air. "Three to go."
And the storm inside me purred, hungry for the next fight.