The corpse was cold.
Yuto slurped the last bits of the cracked bug dry, feeling strength trickle into his frail, disgusting body. It wasn't much—but every bit counted.
[Absorption Complete.][Vitality slightly increased.][Progress to Evolution: 3%.]
"Only 3%?" Yuto thought bitterly, pulling himself away from the husk.
At this rate, he'd need to devour dozens—maybe hundreds—of creatures to even think about evolving. His stomach gurgled angrily, making it clear that survival was still very much in question.
He crawled deeper into the tunnels, his senses sharpening with each desperate movement. The rocks shifted under him. The air grew heavier. The hunger in his body transformed into something worse—a hunger of the soul.
Was this the curse of the Abyss?
Yuto pushed the thought aside. Right now, surviving was all that mattered.
As he slithered through a particularly tight crack between stones, a strange sensation prickled against his skin.
A presence.
Something ancient. Watching.
It was faint at first, like the tickle of a breeze. But it grew stronger the deeper he went. A pulsing force that seemed to vibrate with malice and hunger.
Suddenly, a new message blinked across his vision:
[Warning: You are approaching a Dormant Entity.][Status: Unknown.]
He froze. Every instinct screamed to turn back, to run, to hide—but a part of him, deeper than fear, urged him forward.
Curiosity.
Or maybe stupidity.
Slowly, cautiously, Yuto crept closer to the source of the sensation.
Up ahead, half-buried in the rocky wall, was a massive cocoon. Bigger than any creature he had yet seen. Its surface was covered in black, slimy threads, and it pulsed faintly, like a beating heart.
Whatever was inside... it wasn't awake.
Yet.
Hovering before the cocoon was a faint, translucent figure—a shadowy humanoid shape, wrapped in tatters of darkness. Its face was featureless, save for two hollow eyes burning with faint, ghostly light.
Yuto recoiled instinctively.
The figure didn't move.
Instead, a voice echoed directly into his mind, cold and ancient.
[Fragment Detected.][You who crawl in the dust... you are unworthy.]
A cold wave washed over Yuto, freezing him in place. His vision flickered, his body trembling.
He wanted to scream, to run—but he couldn't even move.
The figure continued, uncaring:
[But the Abyss is kind to the desperate.][Survive, little one.][If you live long enough... perhaps you will be worthy to inherit ruin.]
[Mark of the Abyss (Dormant) received.][Effect: ???]
And just like that, the figure and its overwhelming pressure vanished, leaving behind only silence and the endless, oppressive darkness.
Yuto collapsed, gasping, the alien energy lingering in his veins like ice water.
What... the hell was that?
A new Mark? Inherit ruin?What kind of crazy video game death world had he been thrown into!?
Nyx's voice finally chimed back into his mind, sounding almost amused.
[Congratulations, User.][You have officially been noticed by a Fragment of the Abyss.][In unrelated news: Survival rate has decreased to 0.0005%.]
"YOU CALL THAT UNRELATED?!" Yuto mentally screamed.
He wasn't just a weak, crawling bug anymore.Now he was a weak, crawling bug with a giant bullseye painted on his back.
Still...A tiny ember of determination sparked inside him.
If he could survive this place—If he could evolve—If he could grow stronger than whatever monsters roamed these tunnels—
Then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't just survive.
Maybe he really could become what the system called him:The Final Boss.
And he would start by doing the only thing he could right now.
Crawling forward.