Elora had no idea how she’d ended up in this situation.
One second, she was inside the chamber taking the exam.
The next, she was falling into a bottomless hole.
Now she was standing in complete darkness.
Professor Glynn definitely hadn’t mentioned anything about this during the briefing.
Falling into mysterious holes wasn’t supposed to be part of the academy exam.
She slowly pulled herself together and forced her fear back under control.
Taking a steady breath, she turned in a slow circle, searching for a wall, a door, anything solid—anything real.
But there was nothing.
Even the shadow she had seen earlier had vanished without a trace.
Only the crimson screen remained.
“…Okay.” Elora frowned and crossed her arms.
“This is concerning.
There’s no way they’d give a first-year student an exam this ridiculous.” “Welcome to the Abyss World.
I am the System Administrator.
You may proceed further.” The voice repeated the exact same message once again.
“W-What?
Abyss—what?
“Proceed?
What do you mean proceed?
Am i even in the right place right now?” She tried to find a way out, but there wasn’t one.
After wandering through the darkness for what felt like several minutes, she finally stopped and let out a frustrated sigh.
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed through the void.
Elora spun around, searching for the source.
Then she saw it.
Her blood ran cold.
A colossal silhouette loomed in the distance.
At first, Elora couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing.
The creature’s body twisted and shifted constantly, as if it couldn’t decide what shape it wanted to take.
Extra limbs protruded from its massive frame, while dozens of pale golden eyes slowly opened across its body, all of them locking onto her at once.
The moment they did, a chill ran down her spine and every instinct in her body screamed the same thing.
Run!
But where?
Into the endless nothing around her?
Great plan.
Truly genius.
Elora kept her eyes on the creature.
Unfortunately, panic wasn’t going to solve this problem.
Whatever that thing was, it was standing between her and any chance of getting out of here.
“Is this part of the Academy or something?
That thing looks way too dangerous to be part of an entrance exam.
How am I supposed to beat that?” As if responding to her question, the creature released another deafening roar that felt like a fresh death sentence.
The system’s voice echoed through the void once more.
“The user’s current capabilities are insufficient to complete the Trial of the Abyss.” “The Abyss King System can provide the power necessary to overcome this challenge.
Would you like to accept assistance?” Elora looked from the creature to the screen.
The monster was still watching her, and she had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to survive against something like that on her own.
“You’re telling me you can actually help?” “Assistance requires the user’s consent.” Another roar echoed across the void as the creature began moving toward her.
Elora didn’t need any more convincing.
“Okay.
Yes.
I need help!” “Confirmation required.” She let out a frustrated sigh.
“Oh, please.
I accept your offer.
Just hurry up!” For a moment, nothing happened.
Then crimson light flooded her vision.
Countless glowing symbols and several messages appeared before her eyes.
__________________________________ [Confirmation Accepted.] [Initializing Abyss King System…] [Authority Synchronization in Progress…] [Warning: Abyssal Corruption Detected.] [Registering New User…] Welcome, Elora Veyne.
*** Name: Elora Veyne Titles: • Bearer of the Black Crystal ____________________________________ “Okay, and now what?
What am I supposed to do to beat that thing?” _____________________________________ [ABYSS KING SYSTEM — STATUS] Major Quest: Trial of the Abyss Objective: Survive for 10 minutes within the Abyss Dimension and defeat the Abyssal Entity.
Rewards: • The Opportunity to Return Alive Corruption Level: ███□□□□□□□ (30%) Mana: ██████□□□□ (60%) Health: █████████□ (90%) 💀 Mental State: Stable (Additional negative effects will occur if Corruption reaches 50% or higher.) [ACTIONS] Use Abyssal Skill: [Deep Shadow Strike] Corruption +5% Cast Spell: [Fireball] No Corruption Increase [SYSTEM WARNING] • Corruption is rising.
Your body feels heavier, and your vision is beginning to blur.
• Excessive use of Abyssal Skills will accelerate the corruption of both body and mind.
────────────────────── Elora stared at the screen.
That was it?
The mysterious Abyss King System had appeared out of nowhere, given her a single skill, and somehow expected her to fight the nightmare standing in front of her.
The creature released another deafening roar that shook the void around her as it began moving forward.
[Deep Shadow Strike Available] [Recommended Action: Activate Skill] “I don’t even know what that does,” Elora said.
The creature did not seem interested in waiting for her to figure it out.
Its massive body surged forward with terrifying speed, and panic immediately took over.
“Okay!
Fine!” The moment she selected the skill, a cold sensation rushed through her body.
Darkness spread beneath her feet and wrapped around her legs like living shadows.
Before she could process what was happening, her vision blurred.
When her sight returned, she found herself standing directly in front of the creature.
Her eyes widened.
“W-Wait—” A blade of black energy formed around her arm and swung forward on its own.
The attack sliced through one of the creature’s glowing eyes.
The monster screamed, and the sound was so loud that Elora instinctively covered her ears.
[Corruption Increased] [Current Corruption: 35%] [Target Weakened] The creature staggered backward.
Several of the glowing eyes covering its body dimmed slightly.
Elora stared at the monster and then at her own hand.
“…That actually worked.” The creature quickly recovered and charged again.
[Deep Shadow Strike Available] [Recommended Action: Activate Skill] Elora did not hesitate this time.
As soon as she activated the skill, darkness wrapped around her body and launched her forward with terrifying speed.
Before she could fully process what was happening, the attack had already struck.
Another glowing eye burst apart, and the creature’s scream echoed throughout the void as it staggered backward.
[Corruption Increased] [Current Corruption: 40%] The monster’s movements became noticeably slower, but it was still very much alive.
It released another roar and swung several twisted limbs toward her.
Elora tried to dodge, but she was still too slow.
One of the attacks struck her side and sent her tumbling across the ground.
Pain shot through her body as she struggled to catch her breath.
[Health: ████████□□ (82%)] Elora forced herself back to her feet.
The creature was already charging toward her again.
[Deep Shadow Strike Available] [Recommended Action: Activate Skill] “Yeah, yeah.
I got it.” She selected the skill for a third time.
The cold sensation returned as darkness swallowed her vision and launched her forward faster than she thought possible.
The creature tried to react, but it was too late.
A blade of black energy cut through the largest eye embedded in the center of its chest.
The eye cracked before shattering completely.
The creature froze in place, and for a brief moment the entire void fell silent.
The creature froze in place.
A moment later, cracks spread across the monster’s twisted body before the enormous figure broke apart into countless fragments of black mist.
The fragments drifted through the void before disappearing completely.
Elora remained standing for several seconds, breathing heavily as she stared at the empty space where the monster had been.
____________________ [Combat Complete] Health: ████████□□ (82%) Mana: █████████□ (90%) Corruption Level: █████□□□□□ (45%) Mental State: At Risk ______________________ Elora frowned at the corruption bar.
She still had no idea what corruption actually did, but judging by the warning messages, getting more of it was probably not a good thing.
Before she could think about it any further, another message appeared.
__________________ [Trial of the Abyss Complete] Host successfully survived the Trial of the Abyss.
Please await your first official quest.
[Target Eliminated] [Reward Distribution Beginning…] ________________ “…What the hell just happened?
Did I really do all that?” Elora stared at the screen for a moment before letting out a shaky breath.
“I actually survived.” [Warning: Host Condition Unstable] Dizziness hit her without warning.
Before she could finish reading the screen, her vision blurred as panic rose in her chest.
Elora reached out instinctively to steady herself, but her arms felt heavy and unresponsive.
The crimson glow of the System screen began to fade.
Then the darkness swallowed everything.