The cold, magnetic pull vanished, replaced by an abrupt descent onto squelching, moss-covered earth.
Azriel dropped smoothly into a low crouch, his combat boots absorbing the impact without making a single sound.
The crisp mountain air was instantly replaced by a thick, humid haze saturated with the pungent scent of wet loam, decaying foliage, and the copper-laced musk of wild beasts.
Slowly rising to his full height, Azriel took in his surroundings.
Towering, colossal trees with bark as black as obsidian soared hundreds of feet into the gloom, their twisted, interwoven canopies completely blotting out the natural sky.
In place of sunlight, clusters of bioluminescent fungi clung to the massive trunks, casting an eerie, pale green luminescence over the winding trails of the ancient sunken forest.
Giant, tangled roots arched out of the ground like skeletal ribs, carving the terrain into natural chokepoints and elevated ridges.
Just then, a translucent system interface flickered into view across his line of sight:
[System Notification: You have entered the E-Rank Dungeon - ’Verdant Hollow’]
[Current Level: 5 (425 / 1,000 XP)]
[Clear Condition: Slay the Dungeon Boss]
[Party Status: Solo]
Reading the clear condition, Azriel immediately recognized that he was standing inside an Instanced Dungeon.
In the world of Tartarus, dungeons were classified into two distinct categories.
The first were Permanent Dungeons, permanent dimensional spaces where multiple hunting squads, guilds, and individual awakeners could freely enter, farm respawning monsters for experience, and exit at their own discretion.
Because their spatial cores were fully anchored, these dungeons never collapsed or disappeared.
The second were Instanced Dungeons.
These were isolated pocket realms configured for solo awakeners or strictly limited party sizes.
The moment the dungeon boss was slain, and the occupants stepped back through the exit portal, the spatial core would shatter, causing the entire dungeon to collapse and vanish forever.
The Verdant Hollow was one such Instanced Dungeon.
Rosalind had scouted it while searching for isolated, high-efficiency hunting grounds where Azriel could grind experience points in complete secrecy.
By the law followed by everyone on Tartarus, any wild dungeon that formed within a territory fell under joint 50-50 ownership between the Ruling Party and the noble house governing the region.
Since this particular gate had manifested in territory directly overseen by the Bastati Clan, claiming full rights was effortless.
Rosalind had simply bought out the Crown’s half of the deed outright.
In fact, she had already quietly purchased several other low-level instanced dungeons across the province to fuel Azriel’s future leveling spree.
Because low-rank dungeons spawned frequently, acquiring them raised zero suspicion within the high courts.
Azriel’s eyes lingered on the ’Party Status: Solo’ line.
Normally, anyone entering an instanced dungeon simultaneously would be automatically grouped by Tartarus’s system, causing all earned experience points to be split evenly among the members.
Seeing that the dungeon system recognized only him meant Vesperia had completely bypassed the dimensional scan of this low-tier zone, masking her existence from the world rules entirely.
She had intentionally cloaked herself so he could hoard every single scrap of experience for himself.
Azriel glanced over his shoulder.
The spatial tear behind him had narrowed to a faint, shimmering seam of sapphire light, and Vesperia was nowhere to be seen.
Her presence, heartbeat, and suffocating Overlord pressure had been scrubbed clean from the environment, leaving him seemingly alone in the vast, shadowed hollow.
Yet he felt a pair of eyes on him, and with a subtle glance upward into the dark tangle of branches thirty feet above, Azriel caught the faintest golden glint reflecting the green fungal light.
Vesperia was perched lazily atop a massive branch, leaning back against the trunk with one leg dangling, her eyes fixed entirely on him.
A quiet smirk tugged at the corner of Azriel’s mouth.
Unlike the divine system granted exclusively by Seraphine, the Tartarus world system interface was fully visible to his cosmic audience, including the active quest logs, monster health bars, and real-time experience counters.
[LIVE CHAT]
[Sadistic69] (Red): WE ARE IN!! Look at the atmosphere of Verdant Hollow, classic dark forest vibes
[Battle_Maiden_Vera] (White): 425/1,000 XP on the counter! Let’s see how fast he fills that bar!
[Nine_Tailed_Vixen] (Cyan): Vesperia hiding in the trees watching over her son-in-law... she’s like a guardian angel in tight leather
[Moon_Priestess_99] (Cyan): Ohh... I am so excited to see him crush some monsters...
Rustle— snap.
The faint sound of a twig snapping fifty meters behind him shattered the stillness of the cavernous woods.
Azriel pivoted smoothly on his heel.
His violet eyes flared with a subtle, radiant pulse as he activated one of the skills he had recently purchased from the Karma Store for a steep 15,000 Karma Points:
[Skill: Thermal Gaze (Rank: Growth - Lv. 1)]
[Description: Enhances ocular perception by detecting thermal radiation and organic heat signatures within a 100-meter radius, bypassing light obstruction, dense foliage, and basic visual camouflage. Evolves alongside the user’s level.]
Though the price tag had been steep, Azriel had deliberately prioritized growth-type skills over static abilities that would inevitably turn obsolete once he ascended to higher realms.
Through the enhanced crimson lens of his vision, the dense thicket turned semi-translucent.
Three distinct, pulsating red silhouettes lit up in stark contrast against the cold, damp forest floor, closing in fast and fanning out in a coordinated, predatory pincer formation.
They were lean bipedals, darting with terrifying agility between the root shadows to mask their approach.
Thanks to the distinct skeletal glow outlined by his skill, Azriel instantly identified their jagged bone crests and razor-sharp foot talons.
Iron-Claw Raptors.
With a subtle, deliberate shift of his weight, Azriel uncoiled four feet of heavy iron chain from the loops.
He gripped the heavy iron chain before beginning a silent, rhythmic pendulum swing beside his knee.
His right hand casually rested on the handle of his crescent sickle, fingers relaxed, ready for an instantaneous draw.
SKREEECH—!
The underbrush exploded.
Three beasts burst into the pale fungal light simultaneously.
They were Iron-Claw Raptors, lean, bipedal scaled predators over six feet tall, their reptilian hides covered in jagged, iron-like plates.
Their elongated foot talons gleamed with a metallic sheen, snapping against the wet ground as they lunged for his throat.
[Target: Iron-Claw Raptor (E-Rank)]
[Level: 3]
[HP: 280/280]
The lead raptor leaped first, its razor talons outstretched in a decapitating pounce.
Azriel didn’t flinch, nor did he back up. He stepped directly into the beast’s attack arc, pivoting on his back heel.
WUUUSH—
With a vicious, whip-like flick of his wrist, the iron fundo accelerated from a dead stop into a sonic blur.
CRACK—!
The heavy iron weight smashed squarely into the lead raptor’s open jaw mid-air, the kinetic force shattering its teeth and instantly snapping its neck sideways with a sickening crunch.
Without pausing for a microsecond, Azriel yanked his forearm back, utilizing the recoil momentum.
The chain snapped taut, wrapping twice around the dying beast’s torso, and Azriel used it as a human or reptilian wrecking ball, swinging the raptor’s carcass violently to the left.
BANG— THWACK!
The second raptor, which had just sprung from the bushes, took the full impact of its packmate’s flying body, tumbling into the mud in a tangled heap of broken scales and bone.
The third raptor hissed in fury, closing the distance from his blind spot, its talons aiming straight for Azriel’s exposed ribs.
Azriel drew his crescent sickle in a reverse grip.
SHRRK—!
Moving with the clean, fluid lethality honed through thousands of repetitions under Vesperia’s merciless watch, Azriel slid beneath the leaping raptor’s belly.
The sickle blade cut through the softer underbelly scales like warm butter, carving a clean, fatal line from sternum to tail.
Black, acidic blood sprayed across the damp moss as the third beast crashed lifelessly to the ground.
[Iron-Claw Raptor (Lvl 3) Slain: +45 XP]
Azriel rose smoothly from his crouch, flicking the sickle downward to clear the blade of gore with a crisp metallic hum.
The iron fundo recoiled from the second dazed raptor, returning cleanly into his left palm with a dull clink.
He then walked towards the two raptors who were letting pained growls, and then with dull eyes he sliced their necks, killing them off.
[Iron-Claw Raptor (Lvl 3) Slain: +45 XP]
[Iron-Claw Raptor (Lvl 3) Slain: +45 XP]
[Current Level: 5 (560/1,000 XP)]
Azriel looked down at the dark, acidic beast blood splattered across his black gauntlets.
Technically, this marked his very first kill across both of his lifetimes, yet he felt none of the hesitation, revulsion, or guilt that ordinary people might experience.
There was no psychological shock, only a cold, electric thrill surging straight down his spine as he watched the translucent experience counter tick upward.
Perhaps it was the result of the relentless, brutal conditioning he had endured under Vesperia’s unforgiving supervision, or perhaps it was the primal nature of this world awakening deep inside him.
The act of slaughtering his targets hadn’t shaken him in the slightest, instead, it left him with an intoxicating rush of adrenaline and a hungry craving for more.
-x-
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