For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Eden stood with his sword raised.
Aprodius stood among the corpses.
The enormous creature did not attack.
It’s hundreds of skulls simply stared at eden.
That was somehow worse.
Eden’s breathing became increasingly shallow.
His grip around the sword tightened until his knuckles turned white.
’Think.’
He forced himself to breathe through his nose.
’Think, Eden.’
He had encountered powerful Abyss Creatures before.
Not SSS-Rank ones.
Nothing even remotely close.
But he’d been in enough dangerous situations to know that panic was the fastest way to die.
’I need an opening.’
’Anything.’
His eyes traveled across Aprodius’s enormous body.
’Six arms.’
’A body made of countless fused skulls.’
’Purple Essence constantly flowing through its lower half.’
’No visible wounds.’
’No obvious core.’
’No recognizable fighting pattern.’
’Nothing.’
Eden swallowed.
’This is impossible.’
His sword felt heavier.
His legs felt weaker.
The silence stretched.
Aprodius still hadn’t moved.
Eden’s heartbeat grew louder.
’Why isn’t it attacking?’
His mind began filling with possibilities.
’Is it studying me?’
’Playing with me?’
’Does it know I’m afraid?’
Of course it knew.
Something like Aprodius wouldn’t need a skill to notice the trembling in Eden’s hands.
Eden took one careful breath.
Then another.
He slowly adjusted his stance.
His left foot moved backward.
His knees bent.
His sword angled upward.
’If I’m going to die, I will at least—’
SHNK.
Eden’s eyes widened.
He didn’t understand what happened.
For a fraction of a second, there was no pain.
He looked down.
His sword was gone.
The arm holding it was gone too.
Blood erupted from the empty space where his shoulder ended.
"AAAAAGH!"
The scream ripped out of him as Eden collapsed.
His knees slammed against the stone.
His remaining hand immediately grabbed the ruined shoulder, desperately trying to stop the blood.
"What—"
His voice broke.
"WHAT?!"
His entire body convulsed.
Pain finally reached his brain.
It was indescribable.
White-hot agony flooded every nerve.
His vision blurred.
His teeth clenched so hard that his jaw hurt.
"AAAAAGH!"
He fell onto one hand.
His breathing became erratic.
Blood poured through his fingers.
His mind refused to understand.
Aprodius hadn’t moved.
It hadn’t approached.
It hadn’t even lifted an arm.
Nothing had happened.
And yet his entire arm was missing.
"Fuck!"
Eden slammed his remaining fist against the ground.
"FUCK!"
His voice cracked.
He’d spent thirteen years training.
Thirteen years fighting.
Thirteen years enduring pain that would have broken ordinary people.
And this was all it took?
One invisible attack?
One moment?
His entire fighting ability had been reduced to nothing.
"Why...?"
His breathing shook.
"Why the fuck is this happening?"
His eyes burned.
He looked at the blood covering the floor.
His blood.
His own blood.
"This isn’t fair..."
His shoulders shook.
He stared at the blood between his fingers.
"A decade worth of pain, suffering and hard work—"
"And this is all it fucking amounted to?!"
He had awakened at twenty-two.
He’d started at the bottom.
He’d worked harder than almost anyone he knew.
He’d taken dangerous jobs because they paid more.
He’d entered dungeons others refused to enter.
He’d trained until his body couldn’t move.
He’d watched people younger than him surpass him.
Watched F-Ranks become E-Ranks.
E-Ranks become D-Ranks.
D-Ranks become C-Ranks.
Some had even reached B.
And him?
Still D.
Still struggling.
Still barely making enough money to survive.
He looked up at Aprodius.
The monster hadn’t even bothered to move.
Eden’s expression twisted.
"Awakening..."
His voice trembled.
"Skills..."
He laughed again.
"What a fucking joke!"
He punched the floor.
"What’s the point?!"
His voice echoed through the dungeon.
"I awakened!"
Another punch.
"I trained!"
Another.
"I fought!"
His fist began bleeding.
"I did everything by the book!"
His voice became a desperate scream.
"So why am I still fucking weak?!"
His frustration was only met by a deafening silence.
Aprodius stared down at him.
Eden’s eyes widened.
He realized he was yelling at the wrong thing.
It didn’t matter.
The world didn’t care.
The System didn’t care.
His skill didn’t care.
Nobody cared.
Maybe he had simply been born unlucky.
Maybe some people were meant to become legends.
And some people were meant to carry their bags.
Eden laughed bitterly.
His remaining hand trembled.
"Even now..."
He looked at the arm that was no longer there.
"...the world finds a way to fuck me over."
Aprodius finally moved.
One of its six arms slowly rose.
Eden froze.
The massive limb moved with impossible calm.
It wasn’t rushed.
It didn’t need to be.
There was no reason to hurry when the outcome was already decided.
Aprodius extended one enormous finger.
It pointed directly at Eden.
Eden’s pupils shrank.
’No.’
His instincts screamed.
’Move!’
His body didn’t respond.
His legs were useless.
His shoulder was bleeding.
His sword was gone.
There was nowhere to run.
His fingers dug into the stone.
He dragged himself backward.
"Stay..."
His voice was barely audible.
"Stay the fuck away..."
The finger remained pointed at him.
Eden’s breathing stopped.
’This is it.’
The thought arrived with strange clarity.
’I’m going to die.’
He closed his eyes.
Seconds passed. When eden opened his eyes again, he realized that everything had stopped.
The world lost its color.
The purple Essence surrounding Aprodius became a frozen gray.
The blood dripping from Eden’s shoulder hung motionless in the air.
Even the droplets already falling toward the ground simply stopped.
His own breath no longer moved.
Even his own heartbeat seemed to have stopped.
He stared at the frozen droplet of blood floating inches from his face.
"...Huh?"
His voice sounded wrong.
Loud and quiet all at once, as if reality itself was overlapping it.
He slowly looked around.
The dungeon was still.
Even the dust in the air was frozen.
Eden stared.
"What the hell...?"
He reached toward the blood.
His finger touched it.
Nothing.
It didn’t move.
Eden’s expression slowly changed.
"...Did I finally lose my mind?"
That seemed like the most reasonable explanation.
Maybe he’d finally snapped.
Maybe this was what happened when someone finally broke.
He let out a shaky laugh.
"Yeah..."
His eyes darted around.
"That makes sense."
But then he felt it.
Something behind him.
Eden’s smile disappeared.
His instincts screamed.
This wasn’t Essence. He knew Essence.
He had spent thirteen years surrounded by it.
He knew what powerful Essence felt like.
He knew the difference between an F-Rank and an S-Rank.
He knew the pressure of an Abyss Creature.
This was different.
Completely different.
The energy behind him was neither warm nor cold.
It wasn’t heavy. It wasn’t light.
It simply existed.
And somehow, his instincts couldn’t understand it.
Eden slowly turned.
His breath caught.
Golden stairs stretched upward behind him.
They didn’t connect to anything.
They simply rose into the sky.
Step after step.
Endlessly.
The stairs were beautiful.
Almost impossibly so.
Golden light reflected from their edges.
At the top of them, there was nothing.
Only darkness.
And descending those stairs was a man.
Tall. Elegant.
Almost divine.
Long, snow-white hair flowed behind him in the air, as if gravity itself was a concept beneath him.
His eyes were golden.
He wore white and gold armor-like robes, pristine and untouched by the dungeon around him.
But there was one thing Eden couldn’t stop staring at.
A massive golden halo floated behind the man’s head, radiating a faint golden light.
Eden watched the man casually descended the stairs.
He had forgotten about his missing arm.
Forgotten about Aprodius.
Forgotten about everything.
The man reached the final step.
Then he smiled.
"Ah."
His voice was strangely gentle.
"You seem really confused."
Eden’s throat tightened.
The man chuckled.
"Though I suppose being confused about something as simple as time stopping is understandable."
Eden’s eyes widened.
"Time...?"
Eden stared at him.
"...You stopped time?"
"Something like that."
The answer was so casual that Eden almost became more confused.
He looked around again.
The frozen blood.
The frozen monster.
The frozen world.
Then back at the man.
"Who..."
His voice shook.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled.
"Who?"
He seemed amused by the question.
"Perhaps you should ask what I am."
Eden didn’t answer.
The man’s golden eyes seemed to look directly through him.
He raised one finger thoughtfully.
"Who knows?"
Eden’s expression twitched.
"...What?"
"Some call me King."
"Some others even referred to me as ■■■■■■■■ successor."
He took another step forward.
"Though, I’m largely known as a Ruler."
His smile widened slightly.
"But names and titles are such troublesome things."
He stopped a few meters away.
"You may simply call me Mendax."
Eden’s heart skipped.
’Mendax.’
The name meant nothing to him.
And yet...
Something about it felt familiar.
Not the name itself.
Rather, the presence behind the name.
The strange feeling that he had seen something like this before.
Eden tightened his remaining fist.
’Is that thing hostile?’
Eden hadn’t spoken the question.
He didn’t dare to. If his instincts could be trusted, then that thing— "Mendax"— could be even stronger than Aprodius.
"I see, your survival instincts are indeed remarkable."
Mendax chuckled.
"Though, being distrustful isn’t necessarily a bad thing."
Eden’s eyes widened.
’Did he just—’
’—Read my thoughts?’
Mendax didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Instead, he simply walked closer.
Eden’s instincts screamed at him not to move.
But Mendax stopped before coming too close.
Mendax continued.
"You’re tenacious."
His golden eyes met Edens.
His smile became warmer.
"Even in the face of certain death, your will doesn’t falter."
Eden didn’t know what to say.
"So I’ve decided to bestow my authority upon you."
"To make you one of us."
Eden shook his head.
"Hold on—"
Mendax paused.
Eden’s breathing became faster.
"You’re talking like this is normal!"
He shouted.
"You stopped time! You appeared out of nowhere! You’re standing on fucking golden stairs in the middle of a dungeon with some kind of halo on your head!"
His voice echoed.
"And now you’re telling me you’re going to give me your "authority"?!"
Mendax laughed.
Eden’s frustration grew.
"What does that even mean?!"
He pointed toward Aprodius.
"Why is that thing here?!"
He pointed toward Mendax.
"Why are you here?!"
His voice cracked.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Mendax simply smiled.
"I can’t speak for Beelzebub’s lackey but..."
"You’ll understand once the right tome comes."
Eden clenched his fist.
"That’s not an answer!"
"It is the only answer I can give you."
"Why?!"
Mendax’s expression softened.
"Because if I told you everything now, you would not understand."
Eden stared at him.
"There will come a time when everything I’ve said will make sense."
He stepped closer.
"A time where we’ll be able to continue this conversation."
"Until then..."
His golden eyes seemed to shine.
"...keep moving forward."
"Climb as high as you can."
Eden’s expression remained tense.
He had a thousand questions.
But Mendax was already raising his hand.
"Wait!"
Eden’s voice cracked.
"At least tell me what you mean by—"
Mendax smiled.
"Let’s meet again..."
"...Celeastia’s Key."
A strange sensation filled the air.
Eden’s instincts went berserk.
Something was coming.
Something enormous.
Something that felt fundamentally wrong.
Mendax extended his hand toward him.
His expression remained calm.
And then he spoke one final word.
"Gluttony."
The world changed.
A mass of red Essence erupted from nothing.
It wasn’t like ordinary Essence.
It was vicious. Corrupted.
Hungry.
The red energy twisted through the frozen air like a living organism.
Mouths opened across its surface.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Rows of mutated teeth emerged from the red mass.
Eyes opened between them.
Somewhere within the impossible storm, something seemed to breathe.
Eden’s eyes widened.
"What—"
The red Essence struck him.
He couldn’t move.
Couldn’t dodge.
Couldn’t even scream.
The mass swallowed him whole.
Teeth closed around his body.
Pain exploded through every part of him at once.
His vision disappeared.
The last thing Eden felt was the sensation of something consuming him completely.
His body.
His Essence.
His existence.
Everything.
And somewhere beyond the darkness, Mendax’s voice echoed one final time.
"Until next time, Eden."