SHADOW KING'S RETURN

chapter 2

"What is happening to me?"

Kai whispered, breaking the thick silence of the basement. His trembling fingers clutched the fabric of his worn jacket across his chest as he felt the searing heat right behind his ribs. He could no longer feel the cold night air on his skin.

"It hurts..." he muttered softly, trying to draw in a breath that felt stuck in his throat.

Suddenly, the old stone floor beneath Kai’s body began to vibrate gently. Purplish-black streaks of light rapidly formed a circle of intricate carvings around his body from the remains of the shattered coffin. Tiny stones floated in the air.

A deep, heavy voice echoed inside his head once more, as if bouncing off the walls of his skull.

"The Shadow Core inheritance process has begun."

"Wait..." Kai shook his head weakly, his eyes tightly shut. "Stop!"

His body rose a few centimeters off the floor. A burning pain shot from his chest and spread rapidly through his bloodstream to his fingertips. A black shadow burst forth from his chest and coiled tightly around his body like the suffocating tendrils of a giant root.

Uninvited, memories that weren’t his own flooded in behind his closed eyes.

He saw a vast plain beneath a deep red sky. Millions of knights in black armor knelt on the ground littered with monster carcasses. The clang of giant swords, the flapping of ancient creatures’ wings, and earth-shattering war cries merged into one massive roar.

“Long live the Shadow King!”

The roar of millions of voices pounded against his chest.

Kai pressed his palms firmly over his ears, trying to block out the unfamiliar screams. His fingernails dug into his scalp. "I'm not the Shadow King! I’m just a messenger! Stop it!”

But the more he resisted, the denser the shadow binding him became. The image of a man on a throne whose face looked exactly like his own kept spinning in his head. The man on the throne demanded fulfillment of an old promise buried for ten years.

Thump...

The sound echoed as Kai’s body slammed back onto the stone floor.

He fell to his knees, supporting himself with both palms, which were scratched by the coarse dust. His breath came in ragged gasps like someone who had nearly drowned in the open sea. Cold sweat dripped from the tip of his nose, dampening the cold concrete beneath him.

“Hah…hah…” Kai wiped the sweat from his temples with his jacket sleeve; his lips were pale as chalk.

In the dim light, a faint glow suddenly appeared right in front of his face. The light condensed and formed a transparent black screen that floated calmly.

[Shadow Core successfully inherited.]

[Synchronization: 1%]

[First ability unlocked: Shadow Extraction.]

Kai stared at the text with wide eyes. His hand rose hesitantly, about to touch the shadow screen in front of him.

"Screen... What is this?" Kai whispered in confusion. "Who put technology like this in..."

GRAAAAH!

A thunderous roar cut him off, causing the old building's foundation to shake violently. Dust and gravel rained down from the basement ceiling.

Crash!

The stone wall to Kai’s right crumbled to pieces. A massive crack opened wide, releasing a pungent, nose-stinging stench of burning flesh. From behind the billowing cloud of dust emerged a towering figure.

The monster stood three meters tall and was covered in thick, jet-black scales. Its two round eyes glowed red like embers fanned by the wind. Thick slime dripped from its sharp teeth and corroded the stone floor the moment it touched the ground.

The monster took a deep breath and sniffed the air, which was now filled with a faint, purplish scent. Its eyes slowly rolled, locking onto Kai, who was still sitting on the floor.

"Human..." The monster's voice was heavy and grating, like two sharp stones being rubbed together. "This scent... Shadow Core..."

Kai held his breath, freezing instantly.

"If I devour you..." The monster took a step forward, making the floor tremble. It bared its fangs in a wide grin. "...I will be the king!"

"Don't come any closer..." Kai's voice caught in his throat.

He tried to drag his body backward on his elbows and knees. Sharp stones scraped his palms, but the pain was overshadowed by the fear coursing through his body. He was just an ordinary man who struggled daily with the streets and shipping crates, not a hunter trained to wield weapons.

The monster leaped into the air with a speed that belied its size.

BOOM!

The stone floor where Kai had been sitting shattered. The air was violently displaced, hurling Kai several meters until his back slammed into a pillar.

Kai coughed, struggling to catch his breath. Before he could get to his feet, the monster’s massive shadow engulfed him. Its wide, bloody jaws opened above his head, ready to crush his neck in one bite.

Just a few centimeters from death, time seemed to slow down.

A deep, cold voice whispered calmly right behind his ear amid the chaos.

"Activate Shadow Extraction."

A strange instinct suddenly took control of Kai’s right arm. Without thinking, he raised his palm and thrust it straight toward the monster’s chest in front of him.

"Get lost!" Kai shouted reflexively.

The black shadow beneath the monster’s feet suddenly swirled thickly, like a sea of spilled ink. A cold wave froze the air around him. Two giant black arms made of darkness itself shot out from within the shadow-like liquid on the floor.

The shadow’s fingers clamped down on the monster’s neck and body with a death grip.

"What is this?!" the monster roared, its eyes wide with horror as its thick scales cracked under the pressure. "No...it can't be!"

The monster tried to strike the shadow arms with its claws, but its fingers merely passed through the darkness, to no avail.

"This technique...this power belongs only to..."

The monster's sentence was cut short when both shadow arms yanked it back into the darkness of the earth with a violent jerk.

Srrrsk.

The sea of ink on the floor closed back up. The monster’s roar vanished without a trace, leaving the dungeon suddenly silent. Only the sound of Kai’s ragged breathing could be heard in the darkness.

He slumped down, resting his head against the cold stone pillar. His hands were still trembling in the air.

The transparent black screen flickered again before his eyes.