Darkness.
That is the first thing Abel notices.
For a moment, he doesn't even know if his eyes are open or closed. Everything feels… quiet. As quiet as an abandoned ghost town.
Then slowly—
Sound comes back.
He hears low, heavy breathing.
They aren't his.
Abel's eyes snap open.
He is met with the sight of a stone ceiling.
"…Where am I?"
His voice comes out dry.
He tries to sit up, but his body doesn't respond.
"…What?"
His body doesn't move.
Not even a little.
A small wave of panic hits him.
"Move…"
Still nothing.
Not his arms. Not his legs. Not even his head.
It is like his body has just stopped listening to him.
Then—
A sound.
Right next to him.
The sound of breathing.
It is slow and heavy.
Abel's eyes shift to the side.
"…No way."
Wyverns.
A whole swarm of them.
They are everywhere.
Curled up along the cave floor, wings folded, bodies rising and falling as they sleep. Some hang from the walls. Others are piled together.
Abel doesn't move.
His breathing comes to a halt.
…You've got to be kidding me.
His heart starts beating faster.
Of all the places he could wake up…
It has to be here?
Then—
He hears a faint sound in his head.
[ Notice ]
[ Due to overuse of the skill: Override ]
[ The body is temporarily unable to move ]
[ Estimated recovery time: 3 hours ]
[ During this time, all injuries, regardless of severity, will gradually heal ]
Abel stares at the message.
Three hours!?
His eye twitches.
The normally calm and collected Abel feels something inside of him break.
You're telling me I can't move… for THREE HOURS!?
He wants to yell.
He really does.
But he can't.
Because right beside him—
A wyvern shifts slightly in its sleep.
Abel goes completely still.
He exhales slowly through his nose.
"Of course this happens now."
His eyes move carefully, scanning the cave.
Wyverns.
Everywhere.
In the state he is in, if even one of them wakes up…
He is dead.
No question.
"…Great."
For a second, irritation shows on his face.
Then—
He closes his eyes.
Takes a slow breath.
And forces himself to calm down.
Panicking wouldn't help.
Getting mad wouldn't help.
Moving isn't even an option.
Summoning one of his soldiers wouldn't work either; after all, even during the fight with Eclipse, he would occasionally try to summon them, but it would be… ineffective.
"…Alright."
His voice drops, quiet as a mouse.
At least they're sleeping.
He opens his eyes again, more focused now.
Three hours…
His gaze hardens slightly.
Then I'll kill them.
Around him, the wyverns continue to sleep.
The cave remains silent.
But the tension doesn't go away, not even a little.
The wyvern to Abel's left spreads its wings, and essentially covers Abel under its wing.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
His heart beats like a drum. It gets to a point where Abel starts to worry the sound of his heartbeat will wake the wyverns.
Luckily, the wyvern itself hasn't felt Abel through its wing, but nonetheless, it is still a risky situation.
What would Abel even do if one of them woke up?
Forget just waiting around; he has to come up with a plan.
The question is, what exactly can he even do if he can't move?
He can't move, so physically protecting himself isn't an option.
He has no mana, so he can't use any magic that requires him to use his limbs.
He can't summon even a single one of his soldiers.
Skills are of no use either. They all require me to use a little bit of mana.
In this situation, he needs luck to ensure none of these wyverns awaken.
He races through his mind, trying to remember anything that can help him in his predicament.
He thinks and thinks and thinks, but nothing rings a bell.
The situation is quite amusing.
Monsters who he could wipe out with a slash of his sword are now the only thing between him and death.
He sighs.
I haven't even gotten my revenge. I never even got to test out the abilities I acquired from defeating Fang.
Fang.
He pauses.
FANG!
His mind flashes back to the night he acquired his class.
———
He is riding Fang's back on the way to the mansion. He is as fast as a comet trailing through the galaxy.
During the ride, he decides to look at the other rewards he got from beating Fang.
He has already seen Override, so he looks at the other two skills next.
[ Skill: Dragon's Breath ]
[ Description: Allows the user to combine different elements of different attributes and release it in the form of dragon's breath. ]
"Ok… I guess that's something," he mutters.
Then there is the other one.
[ Skill: Menace - Lv. 1 ]
[ Description: Releases a dragon-like aura which has a paralysis effect on enemies. It also decreases their stats depending on how high the player's level is compared to the enemy's. It doesn't cost any mana. ]
———
That's it.
That is how he is going to save himself. This skill, which he at the time thought would be useless, might become the skill that gets him out of this lion's den.
It might not kill… no, it definitely wouldn't kill the wyverns if they wake up, but it will keep them away from him, at least until his body recovers. At least, that is the plan.
But what if it fails? If the wyverns somehow resist the effects of 'Menace,' then he is just going to be food for these wyverns.
He hopes it doesn't come down to it.
Just as he finally starts to calm down—
The roar comes without warning.
One of the wyverns' eyes snaps open. It rises, spreading its wings. It looks around the cave and spots Abel.
…Crap!
Abel's chest tightens.
Its nostrils flare as if catching his scent—
Then it roars.
The cave erupts.
Wings shift violently, claws scrape against stone, and one by one, the others begin to stir, their low growling echoing through the cave.
Damn it…
Abel's pulse spikes, hammering against his ribs as more eyes open in the dark, each one finding him with unsettling precision.
No time to think.
"Menace."
[ Skill: Menace has been activated ]
The word barely leaves his lips before something deep inside him snaps.
His pupils thin into slits as deep crimson floods his eyes, and an invisible force bursts outward from his body, flooding the cave with an aura so great even Abel can feel the pressure.
But that is all he can feel—just pressure bearing against his skin.
The beasts, on the other hand—
It is a dragon.
The reaction is immediate.
The wyverns freeze.
Their growls become even lower, this time not out of malice, but out of fear. Some back away, trying to find an opportunity to escape, while others follow their instincts and lower their heads in an attempt to bow toward the deity before them.
It worked.
A slow breath leaves Abel's nose.
"…Stay back."
Don't push it. Just wait. Three hours—just survive—
Then—
One of them steps forward.
Abel's focus snaps to it.
…What?
The wyvern is larger than the rest, its body tense but unmoving under the intense pressure. Its golden eyes do not waver like the others.
It takes another step.
Abel's chest tightens.
No… no, no, no—
The wyvern snarls, low and defiant. Its eyes turn into a deep crimson color.
Then it lunges.
The pressure breaks like glass shattering.
Every wyvern in the cave reacts at once.
Their eyes also turn crimson, as if responding to the bigger creature's will.
"—!"
A tail slams into Abel's side before he can even process it.
CRACK.
Pain detonates through his body as he is launched upward, his back smashing hard against the ceiling. At the moment of impact, he starts to cough up blood, his limbs shattering as well. The impact rattles his vision.
As he falls from the ceiling of the dark cave, another shadow closes in instantly.
Jaws clamp onto his shirt, yanking him midair and hurling him across the cave with terrifying force.
The world spins.
Stone rushes toward him—
Then impact.
The boulder shatters as his body slams through it, fragments exploding outward on contact.
He is falling—
No control. No defense.
Another wyvern is already there.
Its jaws open wide, filling his vision.
Too fast—
Way too fast—
They snap shut.
Straight through his torso.
"GRAAAAH—!!"
Abel screams at the top of his lungs. His internal organs are being crushed by the wyvern's sharp teeth. They sink deeper with each passing second, and Abel's scream gets louder in response.
The wyvern finally lets go of Abel, but not before it throws him across the room.
As he flies through the cave, he occasionally hits the ground, causing cracks to form on both the cave and his head.
He finally hits the wall of the cave, and it shatters on impact.
His body slowly slides down to the ground. He is sitting up, but his face is looking down at the ground. Blood drips from his head.
That's just great. I can't even see what they are doing. But I have to keep going.
[ Estimated recovery time: 2 hours 10 minutes ]
I can make it.
Unknown to him, each one of the wyverns opens its jaws wide. Fire begins to form.
The air in the cave becomes hotter as each wyvern's flame grows in size.
The blood on the ground begins to evaporate, leaving no traces behind.
Then, something unusual happens.
Simultaneously, every wyvern begins to compress its flames. The massive orb of fire suddenly becomes no bigger than a glass marble, but the heat and power radiating from them have increased. Their fire has gone from a crimson red to a pure white.
The biggest wyvern of the swarm launches its flame first. Its neck snaps forward with no hesitation.
The beam of white fire breaks the sound barrier, vanishing in a flicker of light.
Abel cannot even see what the wyverns are doing; his head is still facing downwards, but he soon gets his answer when a beam of white light passes through his field of vision and pierces his chest.
There is no explosion—only a clean puncture. The beam passes through his torso and strikes the cave wall behind him, carving a deep, smoking tunnel into the solid structure.
In that one shot, the wyvern manages to burn Abel's nerves to an extent.
"..."
He tries to gasp, but his lungs are compromised.
The big wyvern retracts its head, its crimson eyes fixed on him with a cold, menacing look that says: You're dead.
It signals the rest of its fellow wyverns.
One by one, the other wyverns fire.
It isn't a barrage; it's an execution. The projectiles strike at terrifying speeds.
Zip.
Zip.
Zip.
Each beam of condensed fire pierces him like a needle. One through his shoulder, one through his thigh, two more through his abdomen. The heat is so intense that it doesn't even burn—it vaporizes the flesh upon contact.
The attacks don't seem to have an end to them. The only good thing about all this is that since his nerves are burned, the pain he should be feeling is cut by 70%. Nonetheless, each strike feels like being stabbed with a sword enchanted with fire.
Abel's body jerks and twitches with every impact, pinned against the remaining wall of the cave like a specimen in a collection. Blood doesn't even have time to flow; the wounds are sealed by the sheer heat of the flames.
His vision begins to tunnel.
Abel hangs there, a hollowed-out husk of a very young boy, watching the wyverns through heavy, glazing eyes. The big wyvern steps forward again, its snout inches from his face, letting out a low rumble. It prepares one final shot, its throat glowing with the hum of a dying star.
Abel's mind is quiet. The pain has faded, replaced by a cold, absolute clarity.
So this is it? he thinks, his thoughts feeling slow and distant.
My body is broken. My mana is gone. My Menace skill is ineffective.
But as the alpha's throat begins to shine with the final, killing light, something deep within the marrow of his shattered bones stirs—not a skill, not a stat, but a sheer, overwhelming refusal to yield.
I am not dying here.
Those words echo through Abel's head.
He was, and even now is, the god of chaos.
It is the very nature of chaos to defy everything that makes sense, to defy the laws of reality and rewrite them as it sees fit.
That is the very nature of Abel's power as a god, so defying the system's nature is something that shouldn't even be compared to child's play for him.
The light within the wyvern's mouth only seems to shine brighter, seconds away from taking Abel's life.
Abel's vision dims—but something deeper than pain stirs.
"I am… not bound by the rules of this world. I am most definitely…"
[ Notice ]
[ System Error Detected ]
"…Not bound to my own system."
[ Attempting to stabilize— ]
The words distort mid-line, flickering violently as purple energy seeps into the interface.
[ ERROR ]
[ Authority Conflict: Unknown Source ]
[ Unable to suppress… ]
Abel's hand twitches, then he slowly lifts up his head. The whole world seems to move in slow motion. The wyvern should have fired its beam, but to Abel, it looks as if it is still gathering flames.
He clenches his fist. Then—
BOOM!!
A massive uppercut is delivered to the beast's head. Its scales crack, its bones shatter, its skull is crushed, and its neck is torn off from its body.
Its head hits the ceiling, causing a massive hole to form on top of them. Its body falls down on top of Abel, completely lifeless.
Abel lifts himself to his feet. His limbs are slowly beginning to heal, but the holes in his body don't look like they are going away anytime soon. Neither are the internal injuries to his organs.
But it is fine.
As long as his limbs are working, he will beat the living hell out of them.
The wyverns look at Abel, puzzled by what they have just seen.
The prey they were beating to a pulp has just taken out the strongest one of them, the alpha, with a single attack.
Abel lowers himself, and from the body of the now-deceased alpha beast, he pulls out three of its scales, each the size of a finger, stained with blood.
Abel then gets up, looks at them with his golden eyes, and disappears from their sight.
SHING.
There are a total of 50 wyverns in the cave. With the alpha gone, it is 49, and with that blade-like sound, only 40 remain.
Abel dashes behind them and throws one of the wyvern scales, puncturing nine of the wyverns' necks.
The remaining wyverns turn around, trying to get a fix on Abel, but he is already gone.
He appears in front of the second-biggest wyvern in the room and proceeds to stab the creature's chest.
It screeches and tries to back away, but before it can gain some distance, Abel moves in a blur and proceeds to knee-strike the beast right in its snout, causing the creature to fall on its back.
He gets on top of the wyvern and holds its neck.
He pulls his fist back and releases.
BOOM!
The moment his fist connects with the winged beast, a massive shockwave is sent to the cave floor. But it doesn't stop there.
Another punch is released, then another, and another.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The shockwave gets stronger with each punch released. At first the wyvern screeches, but after the fourth punch, it goes silent, drenched in a pool of its own blood, its scales shattered, its skull crushed.
"I have to admit, you were harder to kill than your dead boss."
He lifts himself up and gets off the beast's corpse.
The rest of the wyverns begin to stretch their wings and attempt to fly away.
He takes out the wyvern scale and puts it in between his index and middle finger. He throws his legs and right arm back and throws the dragon scale at a nearby wall.
"WHSS—SKRCH!"
It hits the wall, bounces off, and punctures a wyvern's wing.
It screeches, hitting the ground in an instant, but the attack doesn't stop there. Using the wyvern's body as recoil, it then hits the nearest wyvern, and the cycle continues from there.
Within a few seconds, all wyverns are on the ground.
They grunt, lifting themselves up once more.
Their legs are shaking. Their instincts are telling them to run, but Abel won't give them the chance.
As soon as they rise, Abel dashes towards one of the beasts and proceeds to spin-kick its neck.
Instant kill.
True hell begins.
Abel begins to release a fury of attacks on each one of the wyverns. Each blow is heavier than the last.
He punches their heads right off, kicks them right into the wall, and he occasionally takes a piece of their scales and uses them as projectiles, striking their heads.
Out of the 15 wyverns left, one of them attempts to use its tail to fire a blast of flame, but—
Just as it begins to gather the flames—
"SKRREEEEEEEE—!!"
Abel pulls the tail from its body and uses it as a club to smash the wyvern down.
He then proceeds to step on the wyvern's neck, separating it from its head in an instant.
Abel then swings the tail over his shoulder and begins using it to hit the skulls of all the wyverns.
Blood spills, bones shatter, and the sound of screeches fills the cave's air, but it doesn't change the outcome.
The final wyvern looks at Abel and attempts to run once more.
Do these things ever learn?
He looks down at the wyvern scale in his palm. Let's see if those rumors are true.
He crushes it.
He doesn't stop until it turns into a fine powder.
He then begins to eat the powder.
[ MP: 200 / 9965 ]
His mana level rises from 0 to 200.
That's all I need.
As Abel sticks his hand out, thin threads of mana begin forming from his fingertips.
His hand twitches, and the threads spread out through the room in an instant.
With a flick of his wrist, the threads bind the wyvern's limbs.
The threads glow with a pale blue light, a contrast to the crimson horror that has just unfolded.
The wyvern looks at Abel. Its beat-up, hole-covered, blood-drenched prey has just killed its whole swarm.
Tiny blue orbs of mana begin to appear around him.
One becomes ten.
Ten becomes fifty.
Fifty becomes hundreds.
They spread across the cave like a field of stars, surrounding the wyvern from every direction
"Don't worry. I won't give you an easy death like the rest of your friends."
The wyvern in a state of panic grins and tries to snap the threads but the more it struggles the tighter they get.
The orbs begin to warp, taking the shape of swords and spears.
The beast tries to screech but it's voice is cut off from Abel's cold voice.
"Night of blades."
The blades move.
The first wave tears through its wings, ripping them into pieces.
The second splits through its torso, carving through scale, bone, and flesh like they didn't matter.
The third—
There is no third, because by then, the wyverns body no longer existed as a whole.
Only chunks of its body remain.
[ level up ]