Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 266: Shift

Leon, while swinging against a bloated, pulsating flesh construct shaped like a mass of tendrils and bone, missed his mark. His longsword came down at the wrong angle, being less precise than usual, and the monster responded.

It let out a screech unlike anything they’d heard. From its body, a single tendril shot forward, too fast for him to react.

*THWIP!*

A black leech-like growth slammed against his armor and wormed its way into the gap between his chestplate and neck guard.

”Fuck!” Sasha cried out, losing an arrow that blew apart the monster’s core. It was too late.

The warrior stumbled back while alarmedly grabbing at his neck. The parasite was already gone. Inside.

”I’m fine...” Leon muttered soon after examining his body thoroughly, but his face said otherwise. He was pale and visibly trying not to vomit.

Kaiden and the others rushed to his side. ”Where is it?”

Leon shook his head. ”I felt it... Something burrowed inside. I can still feel it moving. It’s not hurting me, but...”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

Diaz had a grim tone. ”You need to get it checked. It might be a symbiote. Could be waiting to take control or, more fitting for this dungeon’s theme, eat you from the inside out.”

For a moment, Leon hesitated. He was frustrated with his giant mistake. A momentary lapse in focus was enough to not only jeopardize the dungeon clear but also possibly cost him his life. His hand trembled over the hilt of his blade as his anger at himself grew.

Then he turned away, biting down hard on his frustration. ”I’m heading back out. I’m sorry, everyone... I hope they can get it out quickly.”

Kaiden nodded. ”We’ll handle things here.”

Leon was the only man in the Nova Circuit gang he didn’t harbor strong emotions for, so he acted toward the man as an ally deserved.

”That wasn’t just bad luck or an amateur mistake...” Nyx murmured while watching Leon’s retreating back. ”The curse is getting stronger.”

”Yet the best thing we can do is keep our stomachs full,” Bastet responded. ”That seems to be our only effective counter. Whenever we ate right before an encounter, I didn’t get pains during the fight.”

”... Let’s do that. After every victory, we pause to fill our stomachs,” Vaelira spoke up with finality evident in her tone. ”We’ll become a bit slower, but we’re ahead of schedule. Our food supplies can handle it, and I can keep my summons active to do the hauling.”

”Sounds g-”

*Ba-dump!*

Leon hadn’t even taken more than twenty steps toward the exit when it happened.

The air itself trembled as if some impossible heartbeat had shaken the foundations of the dungeon.

A second later, the walls moved.

There was no great cracking of stone, no screech of shifting architecture. It happened with unnatural fluidity. Corridors rearranged themselves silently, floor tiles shifted into spiraling mosaics, and the exit behind them was... gone.

”Did the dungeon just... shapeshift?” Luna whispered.

Diaz had a grim expression as he looked around. ”This isn’t a normal shift. It’s not just environmental control but a response. A reaction.”

”The dungeon is aware,” Bastet declared. Her ears were flat, tail lashing with tension. ”It’s not just feeding on our energy... It’s watching. It didn’t want Leon to leave, so it removed the exit route.”

Dungeon shifts weren’t entirely unheard of. Some dungeons and their masters held more control over the environment than others. But for this to happen in a D-tier dungeon that already had two limiting parameters on its entrance...

*Click.*

A low, metallic snap echoed through the chamber.

A hidden drawer opened in the wall, revealing a single item placed upon an ornate stone pedestal, bathed in cold crimson light.

It was a black-bound journal, brittle with age.

Nyx used [Telekinesis] to safely touch it and bring it closer, letting it hover in the air in front of their eyes.

The pages were so old that she struggled to open them due to being stuck together. A heavy scent of iron and dried roses rose from the vellum parchment.

-

To whomsoever may lay hand upon this record, be they beast, man, or descendant of the lost line, I offer this warning:

My sovereign, Count Adamar Veylin, was eternal no longer. He fell not to steel nor spell, but to the dreadful curse of hunger itself, an affliction he once sought to command.

His sons have inherited his estates, his vaults, his carnal halls and crimson gardens... but one relic was left in my stewardship. Not out of oversight, but intent.

For within the depths of the Count’s treasury slumbers a crown not meant for those who wear titles, but for those who wield worth. It is not simply stolen... It is to be earned.

And now... I have failed. I feel it even now, the thing in the walls... It sips my soul as if it were wine and croons lullabies in my mother’s voice. I cannot run. I cannot weep. I cannot resist.

If you seek the Count’s legacy, know this: It shall not yield itself to looters. Only the inheritor shall hold it. Only the one who walks the path with will unbroken and mind unclouded shall claim what was never meant to be held by the living.

The Hollow of Endless Hunger shall test you. Seven sins lie carved within the stone. Three truths lie buried beneath false virtue. One door remains. And none shall pass by strength alone.

Earn it... or join me on the walls...

Lord Elmar Veylin, sworn of Veylin’s blood, last of the Scarlet Hold

-

Aria was the first to speak up. ”Seven sins... three truths... and only one way forward.”

”We must get an OP reward for solving this goddamn annoying riddle...” Luna grumbled. ”As if we didn’t have enough problems to deal with already...”

The girl didn’t know it just yet, but she hit the nail right on the head. The reward, should someone be found worthy, was just...

Incredible.

And... it wasn’t going to be a mundane riddle.

Not one bit.