His body was changing mid-battle. Gluttony surged within him, devouring the residual fragments of the remnant's power, breaking it apart, adapting.
He felt his movements sharpen, and his reflexes accelerate. His claws hardened, his very presence growing heavier.
And then, he stopped dodging. The Remnant lashed out again, a spiraling claw aimed at his throat.
He did not dodge. Instead, he caught it. The impact should have ripped his arm from his body.
It didn't. His Dominion surged. His Authority grew. And for the first time, the Remnant struggled.
It could not move. He held it. A low chuckle rumbled from his chest.
"Not so powerful when you can't cheat through the shadows, are you?"
The entity twisted, its form flickering in and out of existence, trying to phase away. It couldn't.
He wouldn't let it. His claws tightened. And then, he ripped it apart.
The Remnant of the Usurper screamed as its body was torn in two, the distortion of its form breaking apart, unraveling like a loose thread.
The Abyss shuddered, its very fabric rejecting the existence of something that had been dethroned.
It collapsed. Dissipating into black mist, fading into nothingness. And in its place.
A single, pulsating core remained. He reached forward, his fingers closing around it.
The moment he touched it, knowledge flooded into him. Not words. Not language. But authority.
A piece of what it had once been. A fragment of something greater. And he devoured it.
The Abyss trembled. His Dominion expanded. The weight of the void itself shifted as if acknowledging his place.
And the voice of the Abyss whispered.
[Trial completed.]
A pause. Then…
[Dominion Ascension: Unlocked.]
He exhaled slowly, his blood still humming with power. This was no longer about mere survival.
This was about ascension. And he was just getting started.
The cavern stretched endlessly before him, an Abyssal expanse where light dared not exist.
The deeper he ventured into the Bloodfang lair, the more the air thickened, suffocating with the stench of rotting marrow and dried blood.
Every step disturbed brittle bones beneath his feet, the sound of cracking skills echoing through the hollo darkness.
He was walking in the cavern, deep in thought, as after he unlocked the Dominion Ascension, the system told him, his name. Aelric that is his name.
That's right it told him about his name. Which made him question it a lot. Does it know about my past, what happened to my memories? Why I am here? But it didn't answer any of them.
As he was walking in deep thoughts. He noticed that something abnormal about the situation.
Aelric crouched low, his senses sharpened. Something was wrong. The Abyss was never silent, never still. Yet, in this part of the labyrinth, there were no shifting shadows, no distant howls.
The absence of sound was more terrifying than any monstrous roar. The Voice of the Abyss pulsed within his mind, the cold whisper slicing through the silence.
[Caution: Residual predatory energy detected. This location is an active hunting ground. Avoid unnecessary movement.]
His grip tightened. He wasn't alone. Then, he saw them. Skills, hundreds of them, piled high in grotesque altars of gnawed bone.
Ribcages hollowed out like empty husks. Claw marks, that are deep, deliberate, scarred the walls, overlapping like layers of history written in death.
This was not a battlefield. This was a Feeding Ground. Aelric exhaled slowly, his breath barely audible.
The voice had called it a hunting ground, but it was more than that. It was a ritualistic execution chamber, where prey had been cornered, devoured, and discarded in heaps of broken remains.
[Predator Hive detected.]
His stomach twisted at the name. Hives weren't just mindless swarms. They were something worse.
The creatures have shared consciousness, hunting tactics, and a hierarchy. Which ensures that the strongest survive.
If a Hive was lurking in these tunnels, it meant something greater than simple beasts was orchestrating the slaughter.
He needed information. Lowering himself into the shadows, Aelric extended his hand, activating Gluttony in its most delicate form.
Instead of consuming flesh, he pulled at the lingering remnants of essence left behind by the fallen.
The moments the energy flowed into him, his mind was no longer his own. Screams. Lots of voices, screaming and shrieking in agony.
The voices were clawing at his consciousness. Flading of freezing chittering, clawed appendages, a maw splitting open wider than any natural thing should be capable of.
Then, comes the Whispers.
"Don't listen to them. Don't let them see you. The Queen knows. The Queen sees. The Queen HUNGERS."
It screamed out loud at the end. That shattered the visions. And he collapsed to one knee, panting.
Blood dripping from his nose and ears. The memories of the devoured were fragmented, and chaotic, but one thing was clear. The Hive was more than just a swarm.
It has a Queen. And it was waiting. Which is a bad news.
Arlric wiped the blood from his lips, his mind racing with many thoughts.
If the Queen was sentient enough to orchestrate a feeding ground, then stealth wasn't just an advantage, it was his only option.
He moved carefully, tracing the edge of the cavern, avoiding open spaces where the bones had been deliberately cleared away.
A hunting pattern. The Hive didn't just kill, it prepared its kills, ensuring nothing left the place alive.
His steps were silent, but the feeling of being watched never left him. The deeper he moved, the eyes watching him grow, two to eight then eight to thirty and more.
As he went, he could sense them, unseen figures lurking in the ceiling, in the crevices, in the very walls themselves.
And then, a click. Aelric is frozen in place. The bones beneath his foot had shifted, not from his movement, but from something beneath them.
[Movement Detected.]
He had seconds to react. The silence shattered. From above, the darkness erupted.
Aelric looked up. His face changes very fast. He understood if he stayed here. He is finished.