Bow to My Power: The Rise of the Dungeon King

Chapter three: The Hunt Begins

The air was thick with decay.

Faint motes of dust drifted through the blue glow pulsing from Rheon’s chest. Each pulse echoed through the corpse pit — a low, rhythmic thrum that made the stone quiver.

Something answered from the tunnel.

A growl. Wet and low. Like meat grinding through broken teeth.

Rheon’s fingers clenched around the rusted blade. His knuckles were pale, his breathing sharp. Every inhale scraped against the jagged edges of pain still blooming inside his ribs.

He could feel it — them — moving closer. The sound of claws dragging across stone. Snarls. The rattle of bone.

Then, they came.

A pack of beasts slithered out of the darkness — creatures that might once have been wolves, or men. Now they were neither.

Their spines jutted through torn skin. Their eyes glowed faint red, smoke leaking from their mouths as if their blood burned instead of flowed.

Mutated dungeon spawn.

The lowest rank of the Rift’s monsters — scavengers that fed on mana, and corpses.

Perfect.

Rheon steadied himself, the relic core’s glow illuminating the twisted shapes circling him. His voice was barely a whisper. “Come on, then…”

The first beast lunged.

Rheon pivoted to the side, slower than he wanted, body still heavy from whatever resurrection had done to him. The creature’s claws raked past his arm, tearing through cloth but barely grazing his skin. Sparks — blue sparks — scattered from the impact.

It stared, confused. Then, it lunged again.

This time, Rheon moved with it. The rusted blade came down in a wide, desperate arc. The sound was ugly — metal tearing through flesh, bone crunching. The beast collapsed in a heap, its head splitting open like cracked porcelain.

For a moment, Rheon only stood there, panting. Then —

[Combat Data Assimilated.]

[Stat: STRENGTH +1]

[Stat: AGILITY +1]

The voice filled his skull, mechanical yet triumphant. A faint warmth spread through his body, threading through his muscles like fire. The pain dulled. The exhaustion bled away.

He blinked, realizing his hands were trembling — not from fear, but exhilaration.

“This… this is real.”

Another growl behind him. Rheon spun. Too late. A second beast slammed into him, knocking him into the pit wall. Stone cracked. Air burst from his lungs.

He dropped to one knee, coughing blood — blue again, faintly glowing.

The monster lunged for his throat.

Rheon caught its jaw with one hand. His grip felt… wrong — too strong, too certain. He could feel bones bending beneath his fingers. The beast thrashed and screamed, but he held firm.

His eyes widened. “What… am I turning into?”

[Host adaptation in progress.]

[Reconstruction: 5%.]

[Core stability: 15%.]

“Not now,” he hissed, and drove his blade into the creature’s skull.

The body convulsed once, then fell limp.

Another pulse surged through him — harder this time, almost euphoric.

[Stat: STRENGTH +1]

[Stat: ENDURANCE +1]

Blue light flooded his veins, swirling under his skin. He could feel his own power rising — a strange mix of borrowed mana and the dungeon’s will bleeding into him.

Three more beasts crawled from the tunnel.

“Fine,” Rheon muttered, raising his blade. “Let’s see how much stronger this system can make me.”

The fight turned savage.

He moved with growing precision — ducking under claws, slashing at joints, twisting his body with mechanical efficiency. Blood — black and steaming — sprayed across the stone floor. Each strike brought another surge of system messages, each one feeding his drive to keep going.

[Stat: AGILITY +1]

[Stat: STRENGTH +1]

[System sync rate: +3%.]

His vision sharpened. He could see the tremor in each enemy’s limb before they struck, could almost predict their movements.

When the last beast lunged, he stepped into it — too close for it to react — and jammed the blade through its open mouth.

The creature’s body spasmed once, then dissolved into mist.

Silence fell.

Rheon stood there, chest heaving, blade trembling in his grip. The corpses around him steamed, their flesh breaking down into mana particles that drifted toward him — absorbed into his glowing cracks.

[Energy Assimilation complete.]

[Reconstruction: 9%.]

[Host vitality stabilized.]

A strange calm settled over him. His mind buzzed with too much awareness — his senses sharper, his thoughts clearer.

He looked down at the blade in his hand. It was glowing faintly blue now, just like his veins.

The system wasn’t just fixing him. It was changing him.

And then, it began.

A faint vibration in his chest.

At first, he thought it was his heartbeat — but no, it was coming from deeper. A rhythm too perfect, too mechanical.

He tore open the front of his torn shirt.

There, embedded just beneath the skin, pulsed the relic core — the same artifact that had been buried in the Rift’s heart.

A black sphere laced with glowing blue veins. Each pulse sent shockwaves through his entire body, syncing with the flicker of the dungeon walls.

[Relic Core Integration: 17%.]

[Warning: Core overload imminent if stabilization fails.]

Rheon dropped to his knees, gasping as a surge of light exploded from his chest. Pain — raw, electric — flooded every nerve. His mind split into static, and for a second, he saw flashes again.

A figure cloaked in shadow standing before the same relic.

A voice whispering — “The dungeon remembers its master.”

He clutched at his chest, screaming.

[Stabilization sequence initiated.]

[Warning: Host compatibility under threshold.]

[Manual override required.]

“Override—? I don’t—” His voice broke into static.

The relic pulsed again, faster, harder, until it felt like his ribs would shatter. His vision blurred — blue light devouring everything.

Then — instinct.

He slammed his palm against the relic and willed it to stop.

Everything froze.

The air, the light, even the dungeon’s heartbeat. For a heartbeat, time itself stopped breathing.

[Override command acknowledged.]

[Relic Core stabilized: 21%.]

[New skill unlocked – CORE LINK.]

Rheon collapsed forward, coughing out a breath that glowed before fading into nothing. His body shook uncontrollably, yet the pain was gone.

He looked down — the relic had dimmed to a faint pulse. Contained.

He’d done it. Somehow.

A weak laugh escaped him. “Guess the dead… can bleed after all.”

The system hummed in his skull like a sleeping heart.

[Level 1 achieved.]

[Skill unlocked: CORE LINK (Passive).]

[Description: Establishes synchronization between host and dungeon environment. Enables partial control over terrain, mana flow, and Rift entities within 10m radius.]

Rheon blinked, then looked around the pit.

The corpses… were moving again. But not toward him. They were shifting away, like the dungeon itself recognized him — obeyed him.

He stood slowly, testing his weight. The exhaustion was gone, replaced by something colder. More deliberate.

“I died,” he murmured, voice echoing against the stone. “And the dungeon brought me back.”

He raised his glowing hand. The faint runes along the wall pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.

“This time… I’ll make sure it regrets it.”

Far down the corridor, more growls echoed — louder, deeper, hundreds of them.

[System Alert: Multiple entities approaching.]

[Directive: SURVIVE.]

[Mission: CLAIM THE DUNGEON.]

Rheon’s eyes narrowed. His reflection gleamed faintly on the blade’s surface — half human, half something else.

He smiled.

“Then let’s hunt.”

The dungeon roared as if answer.