Bow to My Power: The Rise of the Dungeon King

Chapter four: The BloodStorm

The air hadn’t stopped trembling.

Even after the last beast’s corpse had turned to dust, the dungeon still pulsed like a living heart around Rheon. Blue light rippled through the cracked walls, drawn toward the dim glow inside his chest.

He could still feel the rhythm — that unnatural heartbeat that wasn’t quite his own. Every pulse whispered through his veins like static.

[SYSTEM: Relic Core stabilized at 21%.]

[Subsystem activation detected — Codex Protocol online.]

Rheon’s eyes snapped open. The sound wasn’t just in his head anymore — it was all around him, vibrating through the stone. Symbols of light spiraled from the core embedded in his chest, spreading outward until they formed a holographic lattice — a Codex, shimmering with unreadable runes.

He blinked. “What… the hell?”

The lattice shifted, scanning him. One line of text burned into the air before his eyes.

[Welcome, Host: Rheon Vael.]

[Codex Integration: 100%.]

[All vital systems restored.]

The pain that had been gnawing at him vanished. His cracked skin sealed over, veins reknitting in seconds. He could feel the power hum beneath his fingertips — alive, restless.

Rheon flexed his hand. The air itself trembled.

His senses widened; every sound, every echo of mana in the dungeon, layered itself in exquisite, terrifying detail. He could hear the hum of mana veins deep in the rock. Feel the flicker of dying cores from fallen beasts still feeding him energy.

[Skill Slot 1: Energy Absorption — Active.]

[Skill Slot 2: Reflex Amplification — Active.]

“Energy Absorption,” he muttered, focusing. The blue light responded — the mist of mana left behind by dead monsters surged toward him in glowing streams. It poured into his chest, into the core.

The Codex pulsed.

[Energy Absorbed: 12 units.]

[Reconstruction: 23%.]

It was like inhaling pure lightning. His muscles tightened; his heartbeat synced with the dungeon’s rhythm again. Every nerve buzzed with impossible clarity.

Then he tested the second skill.

“Reflex Amplification.”

The world slowed. No — he accelerated. The droplets of blood still falling through the air seemed to freeze. He could count every speck of dust, every ripple of mana around him. His mind raced faster than his eyes could follow.

But the rush came with pain — raw, tearing pain — like the Codex was burning through his nervous system to make him faster.

He gasped, clutching his head as the vision fractured.

[Warning: Neural strain detected.]

[Host body adaptation at 37%. Recommend cooldown.]

The system’s voice blurred into static.

Rheon stumbled, catching himself on the cold stone wall. His reflection shimmered faintly against the slick surface — pale skin streaked with veins of light, eyes flickering between blue and black.

He didn’t look human anymore.

A low chuckle escaped him, humorless. “Guess I’m not.”

The Codex lattice expanded again. More data flooded across the air — stats, diagrams of his body, shifting bars of energy. It was overwhelming, yet intoxicating.

And then, deeper in the hologram, something moved.

A shape — humanoid, cloaked in shadow. Its outline flickered like a corrupted file. The system text distorted.

[Warning: Unknown entity detected within Codex core.]

[Designation: ???]

[Cognitive interference imminent.]

Rheon’s body froze. “Unknown… entity?”

Then he heard it — a whisper bleeding through the static.

“You opened my tomb, little vessel.”

The voice wasn’t human. It wasn’t mechanical either. It was ancient — heavy with centuries of buried wrath.

The hologram convulsed. Blue runes shattered into red lightning.

[Codex corruption at 4%. Source identified: Relic Core consciousness.]

The floor beneath Rheon cracked. Mana veins erupted in tendrils of light, spiraling up around him like veins of blood. The dungeon screamed — walls bending, stone melting into liquid crystal.

He fell to one knee, clutching his chest as the core’s pulse turned violent.

“What—what are you doing to me?!”

“You are not the first to wield the Codex,” the voice hissed, echoing from everywhere and nowhere. “But you are the first to survive it.”

The Codex lattice shimmered — thousands of runes rearranging themselves, rewriting. His HUD blinked with cascading data.

[Codex Resonance increasing.]

[Host synchronization: 42%.]

[Warning: Entity attempting partial overwrite.]

His body convulsed again. For a heartbeat, the dungeon’s glow dimmed — and when it returned, his shadow no longer moved with him.

It stood apart, tall and still, its eyes burning blue.

Rheon staggered back. His pulse thundered in his ears.

The shadow raised its hand. His Codex flickered in response, like it was obeying it, not him.

“The dungeon remembers its master.”

The same words from before.

Rheon’s teeth clenched. “Then it’s time it learns who owns it now.”

He slammed his palm into the stone. Blue lightning burst outward, tracing ancient circuits through the floor. The Codex responded instantly.

[Skill Fusion Protocol: Initiated.]

[Energy Absorption + Reflex Amplification = Overdrive Mode.]

Power exploded from him — a storm of mana and blood. The dungeon’s walls warped; the corpses around him rose in midair, pulled into the cyclone of energy forming above.

Rheon’s eyes blazed blue-white as he screamed, channeling everything into the Codex.

[Overdrive Activated.]

[Warning: Host integrity unstable.]

The shadow’s voice cut through the storm. “You will burn yourself trying to wield what you don’t understand.”

“Then burn with me!”

He launched forward — faster than thought, faster than light. His blade cut through the air, slicing directly into the shadow’s chest.

The figure exploded into shards of blue glass — scattering into data fragments that dissolved into the Codex interface.

Silence followed.

Then —

[Codex Update: Entity Signature Assimilated.]

[Skill Unlocked – Bloodstorm (Active).]

[Description: Converts host’s vitality into mana burst, amplifying all combat abilities x5 for 15 seconds. High risk of cardiac failure.]

Rheon fell to one knee again, breathing hard. His hands shook, his skin pale. He could feel the cost already — his heart fluttering, his blood running cold.

But the power… it was intoxicating.

The dungeon had gone quiet again. Only the echo of his heartbeat and the hum of the Codex remained.

He rose slowly, lifting his gaze to the corridor ahead — now lit in faint red light, as if the dungeon itself were bleeding.

The Codex whispered, softer this time.

[Host synchronization: 53%.]

[Codex sub-core alignment stable.]

[New mission available: Trace the remaining fragments of the Codex.]

Rheon’s lips curved into a thin, dangerous smile.

“Fragments, huh?” He looked down at the glowing relic in his chest, still pulsing in slow rhythm. “Guess I’m not done bleeding yet.”

He turned toward the corridor, blade dragging against the stone.

Far ahead, something roared — deeper, louder than anything he’d heard so far.

[Alert: High-threat entity detected ahead.]

[Codex Directive: ELIMINATE OR DIE.]

Rheon’s smile sharpened. “Then let’s see if the Codex can keep up.”

Blue lightning flickered across his body as he stepped into the storm-lit hall, the shadows swallowing him whole.