The heartbeat in the walls grew louder.
THUM.THUM.THUM.
Each pulse sent vibrations running through the bone-lined corridor. Dust drifted from the ceiling. Behind Kail, the wounded survivor flinched every time the dungeon trembled.
Kail felt it differently.
Not as a sound.As a pull.
Something deep within the Maw had hooked invisible claws into him and was slowly drawing him closer.
"We… we shouldn't go that way," the injured man whispered.
Kail didn't respond. He stepped forward.
The tunnel narrowed as he walked, the walls curving inward like a throat tightening around him. Sickly green veins pulsed along the stone in rhythm with the dungeon's heartbeat. The deeper they went, the quieter everything became.
No skittering.No dripping.Not even the scavenger creatures moved.
A system notification flickered across Kail's vision.
[Warning: Domain Pressure Detected][Source Rank: Unknown — Above Host Level][Movement Impairment: 12%]
A heavy force pressed against his body, pushing down on his shoulders. He pushed through it, breath steady.
Behind him, the injured man whispered, "Feels like the Maw itself is watching."
Kail agreed.
They entered a massive chamber.
The ceiling rose into darkness. Bone pillars jutted toward it like broken fangs. Curtains of fleshy material hung from the walls, trembling with every heartbeat.
And fused into the far wall, something stirred.
Its body was part of the dungeon, an enormous mass of bone and sinew. Swordlike bone-blades rose from its back like a fan of wings. One arm was fused deep into the wall. The other hung loose, its claws scraping lightly across the floor.
A single eye opened—massive, blood-red, slit like a beast's—and locked onto Kail.
The Heartbound Sentinel.
The entire chamber seemed to recoil from its presence.
The injured man dropped to his knees and let out a broken scream. "No… no, not this thing…"
Kail felt the pressure too.This creature wasn't just looking at him.It was reading him.
[Unknown Entity scanning host…][Warning: System interference detected][Countering…][…][Countermeasure failed.]
The Sentinel's voice rolled across the chamber like a physical force vibrating through bone and flesh.
"Devourer… fragment…"
Its huge eye dilated.
"Come… closer."
The fleshy walls pulsed in time with the words. The dungeon itself urged him forward.
Kail stepped toward it.
The Sentinel's bone-blades shifted, scraping against the wall with a shrill metallic cry. Its free arm clawed into the ground, dragging its massive bulk partially out of the wall.
"The Maw remembers your kind…" the Sentinel whispered. "And what you will become."
For a moment, something flickered inside Kail's mind—memories that weren't his.
A throne made of teeth.A god with a hundred mouths.A world devoured into silence.
The Sentinel pulled its arm free and slammed it down.
Kail leapt aside as the impact exploded bone shards across the chamber. The shockwave threw him into a pillar, pain stabbing down his spine.
The injured man sobbed weakly. "We have to run…"
Kail didn't move.
His eyes were on the glowing mass behind the Sentinel's ribs. A spherical organ pulsed with power—dense, raw, intoxicating.
A core.
His hunger surged violently.
That essence could evolve him again.Possibly more than just once.
[Devour Potential: Overwhelming][Warning: Overconsumption may cause Mutative Overload][Proceed at your own risk]
Kail exhaled.
Power always had a price.
The Sentinel lunged with startling speed for its size. Kail dodged, but the bone-blade clipped his shoulder and sent him spinning. He slammed into the ground hard.
The Sentinel lifted its arm again.
"Show me… your hunger."
The shadows around Kail's feet deepened. A faint pulse ran through him.
[Predator's Design reacting to Domain Pressure][Adaptive Override Enabled][Temporary Buff: Void Instinct +]
His breath steadied.His vision sharpened.Everything slowed.
The Sentinel roared, the sound shaking the chamber.
Its massive arm came down.
Kail crouched, ready to spring—
A crack split the air.
The Sentinel jerked violently. A spear jutted from its colossal eye, sparks of green energy crackling around the impact.
A voice shouted from the shadows.
"Move!"
A figure sprinted across the chamber—light armor cracked, dark hair wild, a second spear in her hand.
She grabbed Kail's arm. "Come on! This thing is above your level!"
The Sentinel thrashed, ripping itself further from the wall. The entire chamber collapsed around them.
Kail hesitated only a heartbeat.
Then he ran with her, into a collapsing corridor.
Behind them the Sentinel tore free completely and unleashed a roar that shook the Maw.
"DEVOURER."