The crimson eyes opened between the trees.
For one suspended second, no one moved.
The forest itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then the thing stepped forward.
Branches snapped beneath its weight.
Ancient trunks bent away from its shoulders as though the trees recognized the predator before the Hunters did.
It was not a goblin.
It was not anything that belonged in an F-Rank Dungeon.
The creature stood nearly four meters tall, with arms thick enough to crush stone pillars.
Dark gray hide stretched over a frame built for violence, and jagged plates of bone protruded from its shoulders, spine, and jaw.
Its head resembled that of an enormous wolf, but the similarities ended there.
Six crimson eyes burned across its face in two uneven rows, and black saliva dripped from a mouth packed with curved teeth.
Every drop that touched the ground caused the moss to hiss and die.
The scanner in Sophia’s hand began screaming.
“Mana reading?” Marcus asked.
Sophia stared at the rapidly changing numbers.
“C-Rank.” The creature took another step.
The display flickered.
“No.
B-Rank.” A low growl rolled through the forest.
The device cracked in her hand.
Sophia went pale.
“Possibly higher.” The rookie Hunters had entered the dungeon expecting weak goblins.
Most of them had weapons designed for pests, not disasters.
A young swordsman near the front slowly lowered his blade.
“This is a joke, right?” No one answered him.
The monster’s six eyes shifted from one Hunter to another.
Then all of them stopped on Aiden.
The silver lines beneath his skin burned.
Not warmed.
Burned.
He clenched his teeth as something inside his right arm twisted in response.
The Primordial Chimera’s presence stirred within the deepest part of his mind.
NOT OF THIS WORLD.
Aiden swallowed.
“You said something inside the Gate shouldn’t exist.” YES.
“Is that it?” NO.
His stomach dropped.
The monster before them released another growl.
THE THING YOU SEE IS ONLY A GUARD.
Aiden looked beyond it, deeper into the forest.
The trees behind the creature were thicker, darker, warped together like the ribs of some buried corpse.
Something waited beneath them.
Something powerful enough to make a B-Rank monster stand guard.
Marcus drew his sword.
The moment the blade left its sheath, the air changed.
The weapon looked plain at first glance—long, narrow, unadorned—but a faint white glow ran along its edge.
Mana pressure spread outward from Marcus in controlled waves, forcing several rookies to step back.
His usual exhaustion vanished.
So did the humor.
The man standing before them was no longer the irritated Guild Master who complained about paperwork and vacations.
He was an S-Rank Hunter.
“Formation,” Marcus ordered.
The rookies hesitated.
“NOW.” Training took over where courage failed.
Shield-bearers moved forward.
Ranged Hunters stepped behind them.
Healers retreated toward the center.
It was rough, uneven, and slow, but it was a formation.
Marcus glanced at Theodore.
“Get them to the Gate.” Theodore rested his wooden walking stick against one shoulder.
“You’re planning to hold it alone?” “I don’t plan on being alone.” Sophia stepped beside Marcus, dark mana gathering around her fingers.
Theodore frowned.
“You brought no focus.” “I’ll manage.” “No,” Marcus said.
“You go with the rookies.” Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m not leaving you.” “This isn’t a discussion.” “Then stop speaking like it is one.” Under any other circumstances, Aiden might have found the exchange amusing.
The monster charged.
The ground exploded beneath its feet.
It crossed the distance faster than something its size should have been capable of moving.
The shield-bearers raised their defenses.
Marcus appeared in front of them.
His sword flashed.
A white line cut through the air.
The monster twisted in the final instant.
The strike that should have severed its neck carved through one of its shoulder plates instead.
Black blood sprayed across the trees.
The liquid burned through bark.
The creature roared.
Aiden felt the sound inside his chest.
Several rookies collapsed from the pressure alone.
Marcus planted his boots into the earth as a massive claw descended toward him.
Steel met bone.
The impact shattered the ground in a ten-meter circle.
“Move!” Theodore shouted.
The rookies ran.
Aiden didn’t.
Marcus noticed immediately.
“Cross!” “I’m observing.” “Observe while retreating!” The monster swung its free arm.
Marcus ducked, but the claw continued toward the fleeing group.
Aiden saw it.
He understood what would happen.
Three rookies were too slow.
One had already fallen.
There was no time to think.
His body moved.
He sprinted forward.
Aiden had never considered himself fast.
Not compared to Hunters.
Yet the forest blurred around him.
The adaptation from Theodore’s training activated without warning.
Warmth surged through his legs, and every movement felt unnaturally precise.
He reached the fallen rookie a heartbeat before the claw.
Aiden grabbed the back of the man’s armor and threw him aside.
Then the monster struck him.
Pain erased the world.
Aiden flew through two trees before crashing into a stone embankment.
The rock split behind him.
For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t see.
His ears rang with a high, thin note.
Then sensation returned all at once.
His ribs screamed.
His right shoulder felt as though it had been torn apart.
Warm blood filled his mouth.
Somewhere in the distance, someone was shouting his name.
A notification appeared in front of his blurred vision.
Severe Blunt Trauma Detected.
Adaptive Response Initiated.
Bone Density Increasing.
Muscular Reinforcement Beginning.
Aiden coughed.
“Could’ve done that before I hit the wall.” The Primordial Chimera’s voice thundered inside him.
RISE.
“I am seriously considering not doing that.” RISE.
The command carried no mockery this time.
Only urgency.
Aiden pushed one hand against the ground.
His arm trembled.
The monster was already turning toward him.
Its damaged shoulder regenerated before his eyes.
Bone knitted together.
Black flesh crawled across the wound.
Marcus attacked again, driving his sword into the creature’s side, but it barely reacted.
Instead, all six eyes remained fixed on Aiden.
The guard had found what it was searching for.
A deep sound emerged from its throat.
Not a growl.
A word.
«VESSEL.» Every person in the clearing froze.
Aiden’s blood turned cold.
Marcus’s expression changed.
Sophia slowly looked toward him.
The rookies stopped retreating.
The monster opened its mouth again.
«THE HOLLOW ONE WAITS.» The Primordial Chimera surged against the walls of Aiden’s mind.
KILL IT.
Aiden had never heard fear in the ancient being’s voice before.
Not once.
It did not sound frightened now.
But it sounded close.
“What is the Hollow One?” SILENCE.
“Answer me.” NOT NOW.
The monster lowered itself onto all fours.
Its muscles tightened.
Marcus shouted a warning.
Aiden barely managed to cross his arms before it slammed into him again.
This time, his body reacted differently.
Black scales erupted across his forearms a fraction of a second before impact.
The collision still threw him backward, but he remained on his feet.
Barely.
His boots carved trenches through the soil.
Aiden stared at his arms.
The scales were thicker than before.
Not smooth.
Layered.
Each one edged with a faint silver glow.
The monster’s claw had left three deep scratches across them, but no blood.
Predatory Impact Pattern Analyzed.
Partial Resistance Acquired.
Adaptive Body Progress: 4%.
Four percent.
That number should have meant something.
Instead, it terrified him.
If this was four percent, what happened at one hundred?
The creature attacked again.
Aiden stepped aside.
His improved reaction speed allowed him to avoid the first claw.
The second caught his jacket and tore it apart.
He ducked beneath its jaw and punched the monster’s ribs.
The impact hurt him more than it hurt the creature.
Pain shot through his knuckles.
The beast barely shifted.
Aiden stared at it.
“That was discouraging.” ITS ARMOR IS HARDER THAN YOUR BONES.
“Useful information.
A little late.” ADAPT.
“That’s your solution to everything!” YES.
The monster spun.
Its tail struck him across the waist.
Aiden hit the ground, rolled, and narrowly avoided the next claw as it tore through the earth where his head had been.
Marcus appeared above the creature.
His sword descended with enough force to split the monster’s back open.
Black blood erupted.
The beast roared and twisted, throwing Marcus into a tree.
Sophia raised both hands.
Dark chains formed from the shadows beneath the monster.
They wrapped around its legs, arms, and throat.
“Now!” she shouted.
The rookie archers fired.
Arrows struck the creature’s exposed wounds.
Fire spells followed.
Then shards of ice.
The forest lit up with explosions.
For several seconds, smoke swallowed the battlefield.
Aiden climbed to his feet.
“Did that work?” No one answered.
The smoke moved.
A massive hand emerged and closed around one of the shadow chains.
The creature pulled.
Sophia stumbled forward.
Every chain shattered at once.
The monster stepped from the flames.
Its wounds were closing.
Slowly this time.
But still closing.
Marcus wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Regeneration.
Heavy armor.
High speed.” Theodore helped the injured rookies retreat.
“And apparently it speaks.” “That’s the part you’re focusing on?” “I find manners important.” The creature roared and charged the formation again.
Marcus moved to intercept it.
Aiden saw something he hadn’t noticed before.
The monster’s movements were changing.
At first, it had attacked wildly.
Now it adjusted its angle to avoid Marcus’s sword.
It shifted away from Sophia’s shadows before she cast them.
It targeted the weaker Hunters whenever the stronger ones moved out of position.
It was learning.
Adapting.
Just like him.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed.
“Marcus!” The Guild Master parried another claw.
“What?” “It’s copying us!” Marcus’s expression hardened.
The creature feinted left.
Marcus turned.
The beast struck from the right.
Its claws raked across his chest and hurled him backward.
Sophia’s shadow spears rose from the ground.
The monster jumped before they appeared.
It landed among the rookie Hunters.
Panic destroyed the formation.
Screams filled the forest.
The creature raised one arm.
Aiden ran.
He didn’t know whether his body could survive another direct hit.
He didn’t know whether the scales would appear in time.
He only knew that the people beneath that claw wouldn’t survive at all.
So he placed himself between them.
The monster struck.
Aiden raised both arms.
The world shook.
His knees slammed into the earth.
Something cracked inside him.
But the claw stopped.
Aiden stared upward.
The monster pressed down with enough force to bury him, yet his scaled arms held.
Barely.
Blood ran from his nose.
His vision darkened at the edges.
Overwhelming Force Detected.
Structural Failure Imminent.
Emergency Adaptation Available.
Authorize?
Aiden almost laughed.
“Yes.” The response was immediate.
Agony ripped through his body.
His spine arched.
Black veins spread from his shoulders across his chest.
The scales covering his arms climbed higher, swallowing his elbows, then his shoulders.
His fingers lengthened.
Nails sharpened into dark claws.
Every muscle in his upper body tightened until the creature’s arm began to rise.
Slowly.
Impossible.
The monster’s six eyes widened.
Aiden stood.
The ground broke beneath his feet, but he stood.
The rookies behind him stared in absolute silence.
Marcus had stopped moving.
Sophia whispered his name.
Aiden forced the monster’s claw aside.
Then he looked into its six crimson eyes.
Something old looked back at him.
Not the guard.
Something behind it.
Something watching through it.
A smile touched the edge of the creature’s mouth.
«FOUND YOU.» The forest trembled.
Far beneath the roots, something enormous shifted in its sleep.
Every tree bent inward toward the center of the dungeon.
A black pulse spread through the ground.
The Primordial Chimera roared inside Aiden’s mind.
DO NOT LET IT TOUCH YOUR SOUL.
Aiden’s breath caught.
The monster’s forehead split open.
A seventh eye emerged.
Unlike the others, it was not crimson.
It was empty.
A circle of absolute darkness.
The moment it opened, Aiden felt something reach into him.
Past the scales.
Past the flesh.
Past the bones.
Toward the place where his soul and the Primordial Chimera were bound together.
For the first time since the possession had failed, the ancient creature inside him did not sound proud.
It did not sound amused.
It sounded furious.
AND THERE YOU ARE.
The seventh eye widened.
The world vanished.
Aiden fell into darkness.
And deep beneath the false F-Rank Dungeon, the Hollow One finally opened its eyes.