Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

The silence after the fall was almost absolute, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

Kael lay motionless, his body engulfed in flames, while Erika knelt beside him, still trying to grasp where they were. The faint, reddish light pulsing from the walls felt alive, like the slow heartbeat of something ancient. It wasn't natural. And the smell in the air — iron, mold, and something sour — seemed older than the very stone beneath their feet.

Kael tried to move.

He failed.

His body didn't respond the way it should. Pain surged in waves. Fractured ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a deep gash in his leg. But the worst part was the emptiness — his mana was gone, completely drained, as if it had been sucked out forever.

Erika ran a hand across his chest, activating a healing rune.The blue light flickered… and died.

"There's not enough mana down here for it to work," she murmured. "Or maybe there's too much... but it's distorted."

Kael opened his eyes with effort.

"That… doesn't make sense."

"It does," she stood. "Kael… the deeper we are in this dungeon, the closer we must be to the Core. The mana down here is so dense it smothers ours. This space doesn't recognize us as natural… it's like we're inside a living organism trying to expel us."

He smiled through the pain.

"You and your magical explanations."

"I'm a teacher, remember?"

She glanced upward. The hole they'd fallen through was now completely blocked, buried under tons of stone.

"No way back."

"No doubt," Kael forced himself to sit up. A crack echoed from his rib, but he didn't scream."That means there's only one path left."

Erika looked at him.

"Downward."

The path wasn't clear, but it felt inevitable.The ground was uneven, the walls rippling with ancient inscriptions, and for more than twenty minutes they walked through narrow tunnels that looked clawed, not carved.

Every step demanded caution. The walls breathed mana. The air itself seemed to push them back, rejecting their presence.

Kael leaned on Erika reluctantly, but he knew he wouldn't last five minutes on his own. The pain in his leg worsened with each step, and the dried blood hardened around the wound. Erika kept her head high, though her face was pale.

Soon, the tunnel opened into a circular chamber.

Natural pillars rose like columns from a forgotten cathedral. And in the center… a source of mana.

Literally.

Black water gushed from a crack in the ground, floating mid-air like liquid smoke. The air vibrated with energy — but the wrong kind. It was too intense. Too alive.

Kael dropped to his knees. The presence of that thing crushed him.

Erika approached cautiously. She reached out to analyze the mana flow, but the instant she touched it, she recoiled with a muffled scream.

"The mana… it's alive. It has consciousness."

"You mean… like an entity?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't want us here."

Kael looked up. The chamber's ceiling stretched high above, covered in spiral symbols.

"These symbols… they look like the ones from the Guardian Golem chamber."

"Yeah… but older. Maybe this place is the true heart of the dungeon. Or a path that leads to it."

She didn't get to finish the thought.

Something moved.

Kael felt it first — a tremor beneath the ground. Then came the sound — stone grinding against stone. Finally, the eyes.

Dozens of them, red and watching, lurking in the shadows between the pillars.

"Monsters," he whispered.

Erika turned slowly. Reptilian, winged creatures covered in living obsidian plates emerged from the darkness. They stood about five feet tall, but their presence radiated a Rank B — maybe even Rank A — pressure.

"Dracovampires," Erika said, horrified. "Creatures born when a dragon dies inside a mana-rich corrupted dungeon. They rise from the very earth... and exist only to devour."

Kael grabbed his sword — still cracked. His hands trembled.

"Can you fight?"

"I can… but only if I stay away from the chamber's core. The living mana messes with my control."

"Then go."

Erika ran to the side of the chamber, climbing onto a smaller pillar. Kael planted his feet. The first creature lunged.

He swung his sword — and missed.

The creature slashed past him, carving a deep gash along his ribs. He grunted, spinning to meet it on the rebound.

This time, he hit.

The fractured blade pierced the beast's neck, and it crashed to the ground, twitching.

But there were more.

Many more.

They attacked in packs, moving in eerie unison, like a single mind guided their claws and fangs. Kael struck, backpedaled, dodged. Each hit shattered more of his weapon. Each growl reminded him he was dying — one cut at a time.

From above, Erika unleashed blasts of wind and light. Her spells flickered erratically, but hit their mark. One creature collapsed, its torso vaporized by a searing bolt. Two others retreated, sliced open by blades of wind.

"Kael! Behind you!"

He turned just in time to duck a bite, but a claw raked his shoulder.

Blood.

He dropped to the ground.

The creature lunged to finish the job — but Erika leapt down from the pillar, hurling a flame sphere that exploded against the monster's back.

Kael coughed blood.

"You… should've stayed away…"

"I know," she panted. "But I… I couldn't stay away."

They locked eyes for a second. And then, once more, the ground shook.

Not a regular tremor.

This time… it was like a heartbeat.

The creatures all recoiled at once, as if obeying a silent command.

Erika turned pale.

"Kael… something's coming."

The mana fountain at the chamber's center pulsed with a blinding glow. From the crack… something emerged.

A hand.

Made of black bone, with elongated claws and runes pulsing beneath its surface.

The body that followed looked forged from abyss itself — a spectral knight, faceless, clad in armor made of warped mana. In its chest, a black core — similar to the Greater Guardian's, but older. Far older.

[Guardian of the Third Depth — Rank A+]

"This… wasn't in the dungeon report," Erika muttered, stunned.

"Of course not. No one ever made it this deep," Kael replied.

The guardian moved.

Too fast.

Kael barely raised his sword before being launched across the chamber like a ragdoll. Erika screamed his name but had no time to reach him. The knight raised a hand — and conjured a spear of shadow.

He hurled it at her.

She summoned a barrier.

The impact shattered it instantly, flinging her across the floor, unconscious.

Kael crawled across the stone, every bone screaming. He saw the monster approaching Erika.

No…

Not again.

He drove his sword into the ground, using it to get up. Every breath was a battle.

"Don't... touch... her," he whispered.

The guardian stopped for a moment. He seemed to stare at Kael - or to sense something in him.

And then he laughed.

A dry, metallic sound, like iron scraping iron.

Kael felt a wave of energy hit him.

But this time, not from the enemy.

From himself.

From the depths of his being, something responded.

The same golden light as before... weak, but alive.

His sword reacted.

The cracks disappeared.

It glowed.

Kael looked up, now enveloped by an aura that shouldn't exist. His golden eyes shone once more.

"My turn again." And then... he ran.

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the chamber like thunder. Kael didn't run - he advanced, like lightning incarnate, like a tide impossible to stop. The pain, the blood, the exhaustion - it was all drowned out by the new strength that welled up inside him. His golden aura exploded, repelling the distorted mana from the place as if it were smoke before the sun.

The Guardian of the Third Depth raised his black spear again, the runes on his armor pulsing more intensely. He recognized Kael's power now. He recognized... and feared.

Kael didn't wait for the attack.

He leapt.

The sword glowed - now whole, now alive, pulsing with the same light as its owner. He descended like a shooting star, aiming for the guardian's right shoulder.

CLANG!

The impact was brutal. The blade didn't cut - it broke the structure. The monster's shoulder collapsed in fragments of solid darkness, and he took two staggering steps backwards.

Kael landed on his knees, feeling the weight of the aura trying to suffocate him. This was not normal. It was like he was using a power that didn't belong to him... yet he couldn't stop.

The guardian roared. It was a sound without a throat, but it vibrated in the chests of the two humans. And in response, the dracovampires attacked again. Now, no longer as predators, but as soldiers. Wings open, mouths wide, claws sharp as daggers.

Erika woke up. Half-blind, dizzy, but conscious.

She saw Kael. She saw the monsters. She saw the golden sword in his hands and, for a moment, she thought she was dreaming.

But she wasn't.

"Kael!" she shouted. "You're... glowing!"

He laughed, without turning to her. "That's right. I think I've taken out a loan from the gods."

The first creature came from behind. Kael spun effortlessly, slicing it in half. The second tried a side swipe - it was impaled. The third dodged... but not fast enough.

Each blow was now a beam of light. Each step, a declaration.

The guardian roared again. He charged forward, advancing like a blur, launching a sequence of thrusts with his spear of darkness. But Kael responded. Each block generated an explosion of sparks and black and gold light, as if good and evil were dueling with each impact.

The wall behind them cracked with the shock of the fight.

Erika crawled to one of the corners, breathing hard. She whispered ancient incantations, trying to reverse the collapse of mana around her. She had to do something. She had to help. But the living mana seemed to mock her, resisting, retreating, twisting its spells.

"No... I can't be useless now..."