The sensation of passing through the Abyssal Gate was like being pulled through a straw made of static electricity and regret.
Silas stumbled out the other side, his boots splashing into shallow, muddy water. The world spun violently. He fell to his knees, retching dryly.
"Note to self," he gasped, clutching his stomach. "Inter-dimensional travel is terrible for the digestion. I give it zero stars."
Elena tumbled out a second later, landing in a heap beside him. She groaned, pushing herself up. "I feel like I was put in a washing machine with rocks."
"Welcome to the club. We have jackets."
Silas stood up, shaking off the dizziness. He looked around. They weren't in a dungeon anymore.
The sky above was a bruised purple, choked with thick, swirling clouds that never seemed to part. The air was heavy, tasting of metal and ash. They stood in a vast, desolate marshland. Dead, twisted trees clawed at the sky like skeletal hands, and the water was black and still.
[Zone Entered: The Fringe Lands]Warning: High ambient toxicity.Mana Density: Volatile.
"The Fringe Lands," Silas read the notification. "Sounds inviting. Probably a lovely vacation spot for retired necromancers."
He pulled up his status to assess the damage from the transition. The fight with the Drowned King had pushed him hard, but the experience... that had been substantial.
Name: Silas Vane
Level: 36
Class: Void Sovereign
Strength: 35
Agility: 44
Intelligence: 50
Charm: 68
"Level 36," Silas mused. He was edging closer to the C-Rank threshold. With his Intelligence at 50, his mind felt like a sharpened blade, processing the environment in milliseconds. "Not bad. We're making progress."
"We need to move," Elena said, her voice tight. She was looking at the treeline. "This place feels... wrong."
"Agreed. Standing water attracts mosquitoes and monsters. Let's find higher ground."
They moved cautiously through the marsh. The silence here was oppressive. No birds, no insects. Just the sound of their breathing and the splash of their steps.
After twenty minutes of trudging, the silence broke.
Snap.
A twig broke somewhere to their left. It was a small sound, but in the dead quiet of the Fringe, it sounded like a gunshot.
Silas held up a hand. "Stop."
He didn't draw his sword immediately. He closed his eyes, extending his senses. [Sovereign's Gaze] activated.
The world turned grayscale. He scanned the twisted trees. Nothing. He looked at the water. Nothing.
Then, he looked up.
Perched on a thick branch thirty feet above them, blending perfectly with the bark, was a creature from a nightmare. It looked like a cross between a panther and an insect. It had six legs, a sleek, chitinous body covered in spines, and a long, serrated tail that dripped black venom. Its head was a smooth, featureless dome, save for a vertical slit that opened to reveal rows of needle-teeth.
[Target Analysis]Target: Gloomhunter (Stalker Class)
Level: 42
Rank: High D-Rank (Near C-Rank)
Strength: 40
Agility: 55
Intelligence: 12
Weakness: Bright Light (Severe), Sonic.
"Gloomhunter," Silas whispered. "Level 42. Its Agility is 55. It's faster than me."
Elena tensed. "What do we do?"
"Protocol one," Silas murmured. "Don't run. It chases."
As if realizing it had been spotted, the Gloomhunter let out a horrific, gurgling hiss. It dropped from the tree.
It didn't land with a thud. It landed silently, water barely rippling under its feet.
"Nice kitty," Silas said, slowly drawing Requiem of the Void. "You look like you need a scratching post. Maybe a flea bath?"
The creature didn't appreciate the humor. It lunged.
It was a blur. Faster than anything Silas had fought before.
Silas didn't try to dodge fully. He twisted his body just enough that the claws raked across his chest armor instead of tearing through his throat. Screech. The impact knocked the wind out of him, sending him sliding back through the mud.
"Fast!" Silas grunted, regaining his stance. The creature was already circling, moving in a wide arc, its tail twitching like a whip.
"Elena, support! Don't engage directly!"
Elena nodded, flanking to the right, her daggers drawn.
The Gloomhunter burst into motion again, zig-zagging to confuse them. It feinted left, then pivoted right, aiming for Elena.
"Move!" Silas shouted.
Elena tried to dodge, but the tail whipped around, catching her in the shoulder. She cried out, spinning into the mud. A line of red appeared on her arm—the venom wasn't instantly fatal, but it burned.
"Elena!" Silas felt a spike of rage. "Hey! Ugly!"
He gathered a ball of Void energy in his left hand and hurled it. Not a spell, just raw mana compressed into a projectile.
"Catch!"
The Gloomhunter turned its head. The ball of energy splashed against its chitin. It hissed, annoyed, and turned its focus back to Silas.
"Come on, then," Silas growled. "I have forty-four Agility. Let's see if you can keep up."
Silas initiated [Void Step].
He vanished.
He reappeared behind the creature, swinging Requiem for its back leg.
Clang!
His sword scraped against the hardened shell, sparking. The cut wasn't deep. The creature's defense was incredibly high.
The Gloomhunter spun with frightening speed, backhanding Silas with a massive paw.
Silas brought his sword up to block, but the force was overwhelming. He was thrown ten feet backward, crashing into a dead tree. The tree cracked and splintered.
[Critical Damage Taken.][Health: 60%]
"Tough... and fast," Silas wheezed, coughing up a bit of blood. "This isn't a dungeon mob. This is an apex predator."
He stood up, wiping the blood from his chin. He couldn't beat it in a straight slugfest. He needed to outthink it. Intelligence 50 vs Intelligence 12. That was the only edge he had.
The Gloomhunter stalked forward, confident. It opened its vertical mouth, letting out a low, vibrating sound. It was playing with him.
"Elena, are you hurt?" Silas asked, keeping his eyes locked on the beast.
"Just a scratch," she called back, voice strained. She was trying to stand.
"Good. I need you to buy me five seconds. Use the shadows to confuse it."
"I can't fight it head-on!"
"You don't have to. Just be annoying."
Elena gritted her teeth and melted into the shadow of a log. She reappeared behind the beast, throwing a rock.
The Gloomhunter turned, annoyed by the distraction.
That was all Silas needed.
He didn't attack the body. He attacked the environment.
He looked at the massive, rotting tree branch directly above the creature. It was heavy, dead, and ready to fall.
Silas didn't use Void Step to move himself. He used it to create a vacuum—a sudden, intense localized pressure.
[Void Step - Distortion]
He focused on the space around the branch's connection point. He didn't teleport; he twisted the space. The sudden shear force snapped the brittle wood instantly.
CRACK.
The Gloomhunter looked up, but it was too slow.
The massive branch, thick as a man's torso, fell.
It didn't crush the beast—the Gloomhunter was too fast for that. It leaped aside, but the branch clipped its rear leg, pinning it momentarily and cracking the chitin.
The monster shrieked in pain, thrashing to get free.
"Now!"
Silas didn't run. He used [Void Step] to close the distance instantly, appearing right at the creature's head.
He didn't swing for the shell. He aimed for the one soft spot: the vertical mouth.
Requiem of the Void thrust forward, a lance of black steel.
The blade pierced through the soft tissue of the mouth and into the brain.
The Gloomhunter spasmed violently. Its legs thrashed, tearing up the earth. Silas held on, driving the blade deeper, channeling [Void Consumption].
"Die already," he snarled.
He drained the mana from the beast, not to heal himself, but to kill it faster. He sucked the vitality out of its nervous system.
With a final, shuddering twitch, the Gloomhunter collapsed. The light in its vertical eye faded.
[Target Terminated.][Experience Gained.]
Silas pulled his sword free, stumbling back. He was exhausted. His health was battered, his mana low.
He sat down heavily on the dead log.
[Level Up! Level 36 -> Level 37]
A single level. It wasn't a massive jump, but he felt the incremental increase in his recovery. His breathing steadied.
Elena limped over, clutching her arm. "Is it dead?"
"Very," Silas said. "Let's not do that again. That thing was a menace."
He looked at the corpse. No shiny orbs this time. Just a dead body. He walked over and used his dagger to pry a tooth loose.
[Item Acquired: Gloomhunter Fang]
[Grade: Uncommon]
[Description: A durable crafting material. Can be used to poison weapons.]
"Uncommon grade," Silas huffed. "Figures. The tough ones never drop the good loot. Just a tooth. I can make a necklace, I guess."
He tossed the tooth to Elena. "Here. Souvenir. Or a new weapon tip. Dealer's choice."
She caught it, wincing. "Thanks. I think."
"We need to camp," Silas said, looking at the darkening sky. "We're in no shape to travel. I need to heal, and you need to stop leaking blood."
He glanced around the desolate marsh.
"That way," he pointed to a rocky outcrop in the distance. "Caves. Defensible. Let's move before the tooth's family comes looking for it."
They limped toward the rocks, the silence of the Fringe Lands returning to swallow them up. Silas kept his hand on his sword, the adrenaline still pumping.
He was growing, yes. But the world was getting bigger, and the monsters were getting meaner. And he loved every minute of it.