2025-01-12 10:45:47Miko stood in the middle of the red wasteland, his chest heaving as the monstrous creatures closed in. His legs were trembling, his hands clammy as he gripped the pendant around his neck like a lifeline. His thoughts were a mess, swirling in chaos.
“What do I do? What should I do? Think, Miko, think!” he muttered under his breath, taking shaky steps backward. His eyes darted around, searching for an escape, but the creatures were everywhere. The guttural growls grew louder, closer, each sound cutting into his nerves like a blade. Miko’s pendant grew hotter on his neck, almost burning. “This thing… what are you supposed to do?!” he hissed as he took it off, holding it up and glaring at it like it would answer him. The creatures lunged. “No!” Miko shouted, shutting his eyes. A blinding blue light exploded from the pendant, so intense that it forced his eyes open again. The light shot outward like a wave, slamming into the creatures with a deafening roar. The creatures were obliterated on the spot, their forms disintegrating into ash. Miko’s jaw dropped. “What… just happened?” Before he could catch his breath, the light turned inward, focusing on one remaining wraith that had barely survived the blast. The creature let out a bone-chilling shriek as the light from the pendant pulled something red and glowing from its chest. The orb of red light shot into the pendant, which vibrated in Miko’s hand before going still. He staggered back, his heart racing. “Did it just… take something?” The ground trembled as more creatures emerged from the mist, their numbers multiplying. “No, no, no, this isn’t happening!” Miko muttered, panic rising. He took a step back and nearly tripped over a broken sword buried in the sand. Desperately, he picked it up. “A sword? What am I supposed to do with a broken sword against… that?!” He held the sword firmly, letting out some magic energy as he steadied his grip. His Ash element began to manifest a new form. It slowly covered the broken blade in his grip. “What is this? My ash seems.. different,” he whispered. The ash shimmered faintly, and he felt an odd pull in his chest. Without thinking, he swung the blade. The nearest creature lunged at him, its claws glowing with mana, but the ash-coated sword cut through it like it was paper. The creature’s body fell apart mid-air, its glow extinguished. Miko stared at the sword, stunned. “I… I just cut through mana?” He looked at the ash coating the blade, realization dawning on him. “Is this my ash? Is this my element?” More creatures charged, and Miko gritted his teeth. “Okay, okay, focus. Just swing. Swing like your life depends on—” Before he could finish, “Blurghhh!!!” He vomited blood. “W-what’s happening? Why am I feeling so dizzy?” Miko said as blood gushed out rigorously from his mouth and eyes. “Wa-was it that move with the mana cutting thing just now?” He asked himself. “It seems like I was too optimistic, the price to pay for cutting through magic, is my life?” “Bummer. Seems like that isn’t a skill i can make use of as I wish,” he said as his weak failed him. He crashed to the floor. Suddenly, another creature dived out from nowhere and with his sharp reflex, he tried to block but a fireball formed and exploded the head of the wraith. Miko staggered backwards. “F-f-fire element?” Miko questioned. ”How did I end up with a fire element?” “According to lessons from school, You are stuck with the elements you awaken for life. Then how did I?” “This is insane,” he muttered, staring at the destroyed creatures around him. “Double element and my ash… it’s not just some weak element like everyone says. It can now cut through magic? I need to—” His thoughts were interrupted as the pendant glowed again. This time, the blue light engulfed him completely. “What now?” Miko shouted, stumbling as the world around him twisted and blurred. When the light faded, he found himself in a strange space. It was a void, endless and quiet, with floating orbs of light surrounding him. He looked down and saw the pendant glowing faintly against his chest. “Where am I now?” he asked aloud, his voice echoing. He clutched the pendant. “What are you? What did you do back there?” As if in response, one of the orbs floated closer. It showed an image—a burning creature, its body covered in flames. Miko stared at it, his eyes narrowing. “This… this is the creature from before,” he murmured. “Speaking of creatures, when I look closer, this seems to be an eidolon wraith, part of the millions of wraiths that occupies the abyss,” Miko said as he took a closer look. “I would’ve known more about this if my bullies allowed me to attend classes.” “All I can remember is that Eidolon wraiths are the incarnation of evil but I never heard anything about an Eidolon wraith that could use elements. Wasn’t it on fire?” The orb dissolved, and the pendant grew warm. “Wait, are you telling me you… absorbed its element? Fire?” His mind raced as he pieced it together. “The wraith was using a fire element, but I thought wraiths didn’t have elements. They’re just mindless monsters, right?” “That’s because it wasn’t a normal wraith,” a deep voice said behind him, pulling him back to reality. Miko froze. Slowly, he turned to see a figure sitting casually on a jagged rock formation. The man—or creature—had the body of a human but dark, leathery skin and piercing red eyes. Wisps of wind curled around him, and his aura was overwhelming, and suffocating. “You… you’re a wraith?” Miko stammered, gripping the sword tightly. The humanoid wraith chuckled, the sound low and unsettling. “Close enough. You just killed my brother, by the way. Took you less than a second.” Miko blinked, shocked. “Your… brother?” The wraith nodded. “Yeah. He wasn’t much, but he was family. And you killed him..” he paused, taking a look around. “No, you’re too weak to kill him,” the humanoid wraith said. Miko bristled. “I’m not weak!” The wraith smirked. “Oh? Then why can’t I sense any real strength from you?” And suddenly, he burst into laughter. ”I get it, you must be one of those spoiled brats the academy sends into the Abyss for special training. Let me guess—your master is hiding somewhere, waiting to step in and save you again?” Miko’s mouth opened, then closed. He didn’t know how to respond. The wraith’s gaze swept the area. “Your master must be strong. If he could kill my brother in an instant then he could easily handle someone like me.” “What master is he talking about?” Miko screamed in his thoughts. “That means I’m wasting my time with you,” the wraith continued. “There’s no master! The pendant killed your brother, but it’s best not to tell you that,” Miko swallowed as he fought to stand upright under the immense pressure that the wraith’s presence exuded.” The wraith stood, the pressure from his presence making Miko’s knees buckle. “Today’s your lucky day, kid. You get to live.” The wraith turned and leapt into the air, disappearing into the red mist. Miko collapsed to the ground, his body shaking. The sheer weight of the wraith’s aura had been overwhelming. “That… that was insane,” he muttered, clutching the pendant. “What even was that? How did I survive?” He stared at the pendant, its glow faint but steady. His mind raced with questions, but one thing was clear. “I’m inside the Abyss,” he whispered. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. “I’m actually inside the Abyss.” The desolate landscape around him suddenly felt even more dangerous. But as he looked at the ash-covered sword in his hand, a small flicker of hope sparked within him. “I have this new equipped Ash elemental skill.. and I have this pendant,” he said, gripping it tightly. “I don’t know how, but I’m going to survive. I hav—“
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More creatures emerged from the red mist, their forms twisted and grotesque. Miko gripped his ash-covered sword tighter, but exhaustion was already setting in. "Well," he muttered, "at least I lasted longer than expected—" Suddenly, a crack of thunder split the air. Lightning arced across the wasteland, striking the creatures with surgical precision. Each bolt found its mark, reducing the wraiths to ash in seconds. "My, my," a weathered voice called out. "Quite the predicament you've found yourself in, young man." Through the settling dust walked an elderly man, his white hair tied back in a loose ponytail. Despite his age, he moved with fluid grace, a sword hanging casually at his hip. Lightning still crackled around his fingers. "Who...?" Miko managed, still catching his breath but suddenly was lifted off the ground. "You? Want to know who I am? Sadly you are not on that level," the old man said, offering a slight bow. His eyes, though kind, held a sharp alertness that be
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The cafeteria buzzed with the usual energy, filled with the clatter of trays and the chatter of students. Miko stepped inside, his return after weeks of being missing met with curious glances and murmurs. He ignored the whispers, keeping his head high as he scanned the room. His gaze landed on a table near the corner, where three students sat—Akiya Ren, Liam Draven, and Anna Elsin. He took a deep breath and walked toward them.As he approached, Akiya leaned back in her chair, her fiery red hair as vibrant as her sharp glare. "Look who finally decided to show up," she said, her tone cutting but not entirely hostile. “Thought you were gone for good, Miko.”Miko paused, unsure of how to respond. "I had... things to take care of," he said carefully, setting his tray down and taking a seat at the edge of the table.Liam, slouched in his chair with his arms crossed, smirked. "Yeah, 'things to take care of.’ Sounds like code for hiding from the clan games," he teased, his lazy demeanor faili
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“Whit whee whoe whoe whoe whit whee,” Miko whistled as he washed in the shower.“Hahh,” he exhaled softly as he washed his face, finally turning off the shower.He sat down on a bench, looking around at lockers before fixing his gaze on the large mirror before him.“After the encounter with the abyss,” he shivered. “Think I might have mirror-phobia,” he said as he giggled.**Soon after, he stepped out of the school bathroom.“Well, now that I’ve officially got no place to return to, I guess the school is now home,” he said as he looked around.“Hiyahh!““Hiyuh!”“Wind spike!!!”“Fire ball!”“Looks like the school is busy today, not everyone went back home,” Miko wandered through the quiet halls of the training arena late at night. As he approached the large doors of the practice room, faint sounds of combat echoed from within—fire crackling, wind slicing, and bright light beaming. He hesitated before pushing the door open slightly, peering inside. Akiya stood in the center of the
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Luna stepped forward, her Wind magic spiraling around her as if she were a tempest in human form. Her eyes were filled with disdain, but there was an edge of curiosity too. “So, the so-called weakling has more up his sleeve than we thought,” she said, her voice smooth, almost mocking.Miko’s gaze remained steady. “You think this is surprising? You haven’t seen anything yet.”Jace, standing beside Luna, clenched his fists. He stared at Miko with disbelief. “How did you… how could you…” His words faltered. He was so sure Miko was just some Ash mage, barely able to do anything. But now?“You can’t just have fire,” Jace continued, his voice rising. “It doesn’t make sense. You’re supposed to be an Ash mage! This isn’t possible.”Miko smirked. “That’s your problem, Jace. You think things should make sense. But I never cared about what you thought. I just do what I want.”Luna stepped forward, raising an eyebrow. “So you think you can just show up and take us down with your tricks?”Miko’s f
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Suddenly, A collective gasp rippled through the crowd as a group of figures in pristine white garments and suits entered the stadium's VIP section. "The Church," someone whispered, the words spreading through the crowd like wildfire. "Oh, you don't know who they are?" A female student spoke up excitedly from the stands, addressing the confused faces around her. "Those people are from the church." "What makes them so special?" another student asked, eyes fixed on the white-clad figures. "The Church controls everything about healing magic and swordsmen," she explained hurriedly. "They regulate dungeons, monitor mage activities, even decide who gets to be trained as a knight. Those white garments? They're worn by people who have direct authority under the priest." "I thought the church were just religious figures?" "No, no," she shook her head vigorously. "They control everything that should be public knowledge. Especially about dungeons. Nobody really knows how dungeons work
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Chapter 119
The silence after the ash shockwave was absolute. Trees that had groaned under the weight of mist now stood eerily still, leaves unmoving, the air cold with a kind of supernatural stillness.Akiya was the first to move."That light—" she began, already pushing through the trees. "That was Miko. I know it.""How do you know?" Liam asked, falling in beside her."Because I felt it," she said, eyes locked forward. "That pulse. It was him. I don’t know how, but it was him."The others hesitated only a second before following.Branches snapped beneath their boots. The forest was slowly returning to normal, but the air still held a heaviness—as if mourning something invisible that had passed. The path twisted, trees now parted in ways they hadn’t been before, and the ground showed signs of disruption: scorched patches, cracked stone, and a strange black residue that clung to roots and bark like soot.Then they saw him.Miko stood at the edge of a collapsed ridge, where the forest met a steep
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As he prepared to find a way back to the surface, Miko couldn't help wondering about the facility's original purpose. Who had built it? Why create weapons of such destructive potential? And most puzzling of all, why design them specifically for users with his exact elemental affinity—a combination so rare it had apparently vanished from the world until his own emergence?The questions would have to wait. His priority now was finding a way out of this underground vault and reuniting with his team. With the fog entity still active above, they were likely facing their own challenges, possibly in danger.Miko located what appeared to be a maintenance shaft in one corner of the facility, its ladder leading upward toward the surface. Before climbing, he took one last look at the activated lantern, its potential both fascinating and terrifying."I'll be back for you," he promised the device. "Once this mission is over."**While Miko explored the ancient facility below, the other groups cont
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Miko returned to the central chamber of the underground facility, still puzzling over the crumbling lanterns. The place was vast, stretching further than he'd managed to explore so far, but one section had caught his attention—a room that appeared to be an office or study, its walls lined with what might generously be called books, though they were unlike any he'd seen before."If I'm going to figure this place out, might as well start with the records," he decided, entering the study.The "books" were actually thin metal plates bound together with some kind of flexible alloy, their surfaces covered with the same symbols he'd seen throughout the facility. Most were incomprehensible to him, but some contained diagrams he could interpret—schematics for equipment, illustrations of elemental energy flows, and most interestingly, drawings of the lanterns he'd found."So these were important," he murmured, carefully turning the delicate metal pages of one volume.The diagrams showed the lan
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Miko didn't have time to scream as the ground collapsed beneath him. One moment he was standing in the fog-shrouded forest, the next he was plummeting through darkness, his stomach lurching from the sudden drop. His Ash element swirled around him instinctively, trying to slow his descent but finding nothing solid to grip.The fall lasted only seconds before he crashed through some kind of membrane—a sensation like breaking through thin ice—and then hit solid ground with bone-jarring force. He rolled automatically, distributing the impact as he'd been taught in Academy training."Ugh," he groaned, lying on his back and taking inventory of his body. Nothing seemed broken, though he'd definitely have bruises tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow.After a moment to catch his breath, Miko sat up and summoned his Ash element to provide illumination. The shadows gathered around his hand, creating a dim glow that pushed back the absolute darkness."What the hell...?" he muttered, looking around.
Chapter 115
"There it is again," Akiya whispered, her flame briefly flaring brighter. "Did you see it?"Liam and Lyra followed her gaze into the swirling fog, where a faint ripple of movement had disturbed the otherwise uniform mist."Probably just air currents," Lyra replied, though her tone lacked conviction. She'd been saying similar things for the past hour as they wandered through the endless fog, but even her professional skepticism was wearing thin."No," Akiya insisted, taking a step closer to the disturbance. "It's reacting to us. Watch."She extended her free hand toward the fog, not quite touching it. The mist immediately withdrew from her approach, creating a small pocket of clear air around her fingers."See? It's avoiding direct contact. That's not how normal fog behaves."Liam moved beside her, cautiously extending his own hand. The fog retreated from him as well, though less dramatically."She's right," he said, looking back at Lyra. "This isn't just some corruption manifestation.
Chapter 114
Shadows swirled around Miko's fingers as he navigated through the impenetrable fog. Without his Ash element, he would have been completely blind in the shifting mists that erased all sense of direction."Come on," he muttered to himself, extending his awareness through the shadows. "Give me something to work with."His Ash element responded, spreading outward like tendrils searching for solid references in the chaotic environment.Most of what the shadows found was just more fog, but occasionally they detected something solid—massive tree trunks, root structures, the occasional corrupted vegetation. Not enough to create a map, but sufficient to avoid walking into obstacles."Akiya!" he called out, more from habit than expectation. "Liam! Anna!"His voice seemed to travel only a few meters before the fog swallowed it completely. The neural link remained silent except for occasional bursts of static that made him wince.Miko closed his eyes, focusing on his connection to the void. If no
Chapter 113
"What is that?" Liam asked, pointing at the strange haze that had appeared on the horizon as they continued their journey through the massive forest.The fog wasn't like anything they'd seen before in the Abyss. it shimmered with an oily iridescence, neither solid nor gas, spreading across their path like a living curtain.Elena stepped forward, her expression grave as she studied the phenomenon. "It's an illusion barrier," she said. "A defense mechanism that typically appears near the core. The Church has documented these, but few who enter ever return to report what they experienced.""What exactly does it do?" Anna asked, moving closer to examine the strange fog from a safer distance."It distorts reality," Elena explained. "Makes you see things that aren't there, hide things that are. Some say it can even separate groups by making each person experience a different version of reality."Gregor snorted dismissively. "Church superstition. It's just another corruption manifestation."
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Twilight cast long shadows through the massive forest as Miko and Akiya sat on the edge of a giant leaf, dangling their legs over a drop that would have been fatal back in the normal world. The rest of their small group, Liam and the two remaining junior cadets—had fallen into an exhausted sleep after their narrow escape from the bee hive.Gregor's team hadn't yet caught up, leaving the younger members to recover while watching for signs of more corrupted creatures."You think they'll find a safer path forward?" Akiya asked, gesturing vaguely toward the direction Gregor and his team had disappeared an hour earlier."I think 'safer' is relative in the Abyss," Miko replied, rotating his shoulder to work out the stiffness from their earlier flight. "But maybe one with fewer giant insects."Akiya snorted, then grew quiet, her gaze fixed on the bizarre landscape stretching below them. Massive fruits glowed with bioluminescence as darkness gathered, creating constellation-like patterns thro
Chapter 111
They sprinted upward, Akiya taking point with her fire element creating a protective barrier ahead of them. As they neared the battle, Miko could see Gregor unleashing torrents of flame against the swarming insects while Damien created earth barriers to protect the less combat-oriented team members. Anna crouched behind one such barrier, her healing element active around Darin, who appeared to have taken a stinger hit to his shoulder."Incoming friendlies!" Miko shouted to prevent friendly fire as they approached. "Eastern ascent!"Gregor spared them a split-second glance before returning his attention to the swarm. "About time! We need to clear an exit path!"The combined teams formed a defensive circle, elements blazing as they fought to create an opening through the angry swarm. Liam's wind cut swathes through the air, disrupting the bees' flight patterns enough to make them vulnerable to Gregor and Akiya's coordinated fire attacks."The opening!" Elena pointed to a gap in the hive
