Abyssal Sovereign: Throne of the Null

Chapter 4: The Iron Swarm

"Clear the tracks."

The command had barely left Tarn's lips when his shadow exploded outward. The pitch-black fluid surged across the concrete platform, defying the laws of light, and coiled into an eight-foot silhouette. Null materialized in a flash of pale violet fire. The phantom Tomb Warden wasted not a single second; it drew its massive smoky greatsword and dropped off the platform edge straight onto the dark subway tracks below.

Boom.

The heavy impact echoed through the tunnel just as the first wave of monsters broke through the dim light. They were not goblins. These were Slag Shell Crawlers—the size of large dogs, their carapaces gleaming with a dark metallic sheen, and their jagged mandibles clicking like rusted shears.

Null swung the greatsword in a brutal horizontal sweep. The heavy blade cut through the first three beetles, crushing their iron shells and spraying thick greenish ichor over the ballast stones.

[Your shadow soldier 'Null' has defeated Slag Shell Crawler.] [Experience gained.]

Tarn watched from the edge of the platform, his eyes tracking the red markers blinking above the swarm. There were at least thirty of them crawling over rusted train cars and along the concrete walls. Null was a wall of pure destruction, but the sheer volume of the swarm was beginning to flank the shadow soldier. Two beetles managed to slip past Null's side, their multi-jointed legs scraping frantically on the platform wall as they lunged toward Tarn.

Tarn did not flinch. His agility was higher now; the lunging motion of the insects looked clear, readable.

As the first beetle leaped, its jaws wide enough to snap his thigh in two, Tarn stepped right into its path. He caught the creature by its heavy thoracic horns, using its own momentum to slam it violently against the concrete pillar behind him.

Smash.

The carapace cracked, and Tarn instantly drove his violet-glowing heel into the rupture, crushing the core beneath.

[You have defeated Slag Shell Crawler.] [Experience gained.]

The second beetle snapped at his shoulder, its jagged leg tearing a fresh line in his sleeve. Tarn spun with the impact, his hand shooting out to grab the creature's heavy shell before it could retreat. With a sharp grunt, he lifted the dog-sized insect and threw it straight off the platform, crashing it directly into another cluster of beetles swarming Null below.

"Keep pushing forward, Null!" Tarn called out, his voice sharp and carrying no hesitation. "Do not let them pin you down!"

Null emitted a low, vibrating hum that sounded like grinding gears. The phantom soldier flared with darker energy, its swings becoming faster, more reckless, carving a path of shattered metal and green blood through the tunnel.

Tarn jumped down from the platform, landing lightly on the gravel between the rails. He stayed right behind Null's wake, stepping past the twitching remains of the swarm. Every kill sent a small stream of warmth through his veins—the system continuously compiling the pieces of his growth.

As the sound of clicking died down, the underground tunnel became a graveyard of broken metal shells. The air was thick with the foul, sulfurous smell of insect blood.

[You have cleared the vanguard of the swarm.] [Experience gained. You have leveled up!] [Level 2 ➔ Level 3] [Strength: 12 ➔ 13] [Intelligence: 10 ➔ 11] [Shadow Capacity increased: 1/5 ➔ 1/7]

Tarn took a deep breath, the surge from leveling up instantly wiping away the dull ache in his bruised shoulder. His eyes locked on the new capacity limit. Seven slots. He didn't just need to level himself up; he needed to fill those empty seats.

He walked over to the largest dead beetle—the one that had led the charge, its shell slightly darker and lined with jagged spikes.

Tarn reached out his hand, his palm facing the beast's corpse. "Extract."

The shadow beneath the beetle's corpse began to spin. A thin black vapor seeped from the cracks in its shell, struggling against the physical world before swirling into the shape of a small armored arachnid made of dark smoke. Pale purple eyes lit up on its head.

[Shadow extraction successful.] [Please assign a name to your second soldier.]

"Shard," Tarn said.

The shadow beetle bowed its head and sank into the floor, joining Null inside the depths of Tarn's own silhouette.

With the first wave cleared, Tarn turned his attention deeper into the dark underground tracks. The rails sloped downward into a massive underground switching station where the old city lines used to meet. The ambient mana in the air thickened, turning into a heavy, suffocating weight that made the hair on his arms stand up.

As they walked past a derailed, rusted train car, Shard suddenly emerged from the shadow ahead, letting out a low warning hiss.

Tarn stopped.

Through the broken windows of the train car, he saw it. The entire switching station had been transformed into a massive, pulsing nest made of hardened black resin. And right in the center of the nest, sitting on a throne of compressed steel rails, was a creature four times larger than the others.

Its carapace was not iron; it was solid obsidian black that absorbed the light, and its massive mandibles were coated in glowing acid that dripped and hissed as it touched the stone floor.

[Warning: You have encountered the Dungeon Boss – 'Slag Shell Matriarch' (Rank-E Elite).] [The Boss has noticed your presence.]

The Matriarch let out a screech that shattered the remaining glass in the train cars, a sound wave so intense it forced Tarn to cover his ears as the concrete beneath his feet began to crack.

Tarn lowered his hands, a cold, sharp smirk cutting across the darkness of his face. He did not look at the massive monster with fear. He looked at it like a man looking at a promotion.

"Null, Shard," Tarn whispered, his shadow expanding until it covered the entire width of the tunnel. "Let's take the crown."