The Grave-Keeper didn't move like a living thing. It moved like a landslide—heavy, unstoppable, and deafening.
As its rusted cleaver slammed into the bone-pile, the shockwave rattled Do-Hyeon's teeth in their sockets. The white dust of pulverized skeletons exploded into the air, creating a blinding fog. For a second, everything was white, cold, and silent.
'Move or die,' a voice hissed in the back of Do-Hyeon's mind. It wasn't the System. It was his own survival instinct, now sharpened by the Abyss.
"Now!" Do-Hyeon roared, his voice cracking from the strain.
His newly claimed Shadow Scout—the twitching, ink-black reflection of the Grave-Eater—leapt from the darkness. It was a suicide mission, and the scout knew it. But a shadow has no fear; it only has its master's will. The scout lunged at the Boss's hooded face, its obsidian claws scraping uselessly against the ancient, enchanted burial shrouds that smelled of five hundred years of stagnant death.
The Grave-Keeper didn't even flinch. It didn't need to see; it sensed the life-force. With a backhand motion that looked slow but carried the weight of a falling mountain, it swatted the scout mid-air. The shadow soldier let out a silent, soul-piercing shriek as its form flickered and slammed into a stone pillar. It didn't just break; it burst like a bubble of oil, turning into a puddle of useless ink on the ground.
[Your Shadow Soldier has been temporarily dissipated.]
[Time to regeneration: 10 Minutes.]
'Useless... just like I was,' Do-Hyeon thought, a flash of self-loathing crossing his mind.
But the scout had done its job. It had bought him exactly three seconds.
Do-Hyeon emerged from the dust cloud behind the Grave-Keeper. His obsidian-coated claws were humming with a violent violet glow—the color of a dying star. He didn't aim for the heavy armor or the thick shrouds; he aimed for the gaps. The back of the knees, where the spirit-energy was weakest.
SHREK.
The sound of his claws tearing through the monster's ethereal flesh was sickening. It was like hot iron hitting ice. A thick, freezing black mist sprayed out instead of blood, coating Do-Hyeon's face. The Grave-Keeper let out a hollow, haunting groan—a sound that didn't come from a throat, but from the void itself. It vibrated in Do-Hyeon's very marrow.
[Critical Hit!]
[The Boss's movement speed has decreased by 20%.]
"You're big," Do-Hyeon hissed, sliding across the bone-dust as he dodged a wild, horizontal swing of the cleaver. The blade missed his head by an inch, the wind pressure alone cutting a small gash on his temple. "But you're slow. Just like every other bully I've ever faced in the Upper Floors."
He felt a strange, terrifying euphoria. The pain in his shoulder from the earlier fight was still there, throbbing with every heartbeat, but it felt... distant. The 'Abyss' inside him was feeding on the adrenaline, numbing his human fear and replacing it with a cold, calculating hunger.
Suddenly, the Grave-Keeper turned. The darkness beneath its hood erupted with a ghastly, emerald light.
[Warning: The Boss is using Skill: 'Grave-Bind'!]
The ground beneath Do-Hyeon didn't just tremble; it became alive. Dozens, then hundreds of skeletal hands—yellowed, cracked, and desperate—erupted from the bone-mountain. They grabbed his ankles, his shins, his waist. They weren't just holding him; they were trying to pull him down into the crushing weight of the earth.
"Let go! GET OFF ME!"
He struggled, his claws tearing through the dead hands, but for every one he broke, three more took its place. The Grave-Keeper loomed over him, its shadow swallowing him whole. It raised the massive, rusted cleaver high above its head, the emerald light reflecting off the notched blade.
In that moment of looming death, Do-Hyeon didn't see the monster.
He saw Pyo Tae-Jun's face.
He remembered a day, ten years ago, when they were both starving E-Ranks in a low-level dungeon. A goblin had pinned Do-Hyeon down, and he had looked at Tae-Jun, screaming for help. Tae-Jun had stood there, his hand on his sword, waiting. He had waited until Do-Hyeon's arm was nearly snapped before stepping in.
"You have to learn to be tougher, Do-Hyeon," Tae-Jun had said back then, smiling that perfect, hero-like smile.
'He was always like this,' Do-Hyeon realized, the fury in his gut turning into a supernova of hate. 'He didn't just betray me on the 15th floor. He's been feeding on my weakness for years. He needed me to be the "pitiful friend" so he could be the "golden savior".'
"I am NOT... YOUR... STEPPING STONE!"
[Shadow Synchro reaching 20%!]
[Extreme Emotional Resonance Detected!]
[New Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Burst!]
A wave of pure, concentrated darkness exploded from Do-Hyeon's body. It wasn't magic; it was raw, unrefined malice. The skeletal hands holding him didn't just break; they were vaporized into grey ash. The force of the burst pushed even the ten-foot-tall Grave-Keeper back, its heavy boots dragging across the bones.
Do-Hyeon didn't waste the opening. He didn't think. He acted on instinct.
He leapt, his legs carrying him higher than any E-Rank should be able to jump. He wasn't a human hunter anymore; he was a beast of the void. He landed squarely on the Grave-Keeper's broad, shrouded shoulders and drove his obsidian claws into the void where its face should have been.
"RAAAAAAH!"
He didn't just stab; he tore. He reached his hands into the darkness of the Boss's head and searched for the 'Core'—the glowing emerald flame that served as its heart.
The Grave-Keeper went into a frenzy. It thrashed violently, slamming its back against the stone walls of the cavern, trying to crush Do-Hyeon like a bug. CRUNCH. Do-Hyeon felt two of his ribs snap again. Blood sprayed from his mouth, staining the monster's shrouds.
But he didn't let go. He clamped his legs around its neck and dug deeper. He bit his lip until the skin tore, the iron taste of his own blood fueling his madness.
'If I die here, Tae-Jun wins. If I die here, the world stays the same.'
With a final, desperate heave that felt like it was tearing his own soul apart, Do-Hyeon ripped the emerald flame out of the shroud.
[You have defeated the Sector Boss: The Grave-Keeper!]
[Calculating rewards based on 'Descent'...]
[Level Up! -2 -> -5]
[Title Evolved: 'Scavenger of the Pit' -> 'Abyssal Butcher']
The massive body of the Grave-Keeper collapsed instantly, its shrouds falling like empty rags. Do-Hyeon tumbled to the ground, gasping for air, his lungs burning. He lay there for a long time, staring at the emerald flame flickering in his hand.
He was trembling. Not from the cold, but from the power.
[Would you like to extract the soul of the 'Grave-Keeper'?]
[Warning: This soul is too heavy for your current 'Authority'. It might become unstable.]
Do-Hyeon stood up, his legs shaking but his eyes burning with a terrifying, spectral violet light. He looked at the empty rags of the boss, then at his own reflection in a pool of black ichor on the floor. He looked like a ghost. A monster.
"I don't want it as a soldier," Do-Hyeon growled, his voice echoing in the silent tomb. "I don't want to rely on others anymore. Not friends. Not soldiers."
He brought the emerald flame to his mouth.
[Skill Activated: Gluttony of the Fallen.]
He crushed the flame between his teeth. It tasted like bitter lightning. The energy exploded in his mouth, searing his throat, but he swallowed it all.
His skin began to ripple as if something was crawling beneath it. His muscles expanded, becoming lean, hard, and corded like steel cables. The scars on his chest and face didn't vanish; instead, they turned into faint, dark markings—runes of the abyss that pulsed whenever he breathed.
[Strength: +10]
[Agility: +8]
[Perception: +5]
[Hidden Stat 'Willpower' has increased significantly.]
He felt... transformed. He felt like he could tear a steel door off its hinges with his bare hands. But more importantly, the 'Authority' stat in his status window was now glowing with a steady, dark light.
He looked toward the ceiling, toward the thousands of feet of rock that separated him from the world of light. Somewhere up there, Pyo Tae-Jun was probably giving an interview, pretending to mourn his "fallen comrade."
'Celebrate while you can, Tae-Jun,' Do-Hyeon gripped his hands into fists, the obsidian scales now a permanent part of his forearms. 'Keep smiling for the cameras. Keep believing you're the Sun.'
He looked at the rusted cleaver left behind by the boss. He picked it up. It was heavy, but in his hands, it felt like a feather.
'Because I am the shadow that the Sun can never escape. And I am coming for your head.'
Suddenly, the darkness at the far end of the corridor shifted. A new gate appeared—not the sterile blue of the Upper Tower, but a deep, pulsating blood-red.
[Gate to Floor -2: 'The Screaming Catacombs' is now open.]
[Condition: You must sacrifice a 'Heart' to enter.]
Do-Hyeon looked at the pile of bones. He didn't hesitate. He turned his back on the light and walked into the red gate, the heavy cleaver dragging behind him, sparking against the stone.
The hunt had truly begun.