The Hidden Monster of House Vale

The sky wept black rain, and the world tore itself apart.

Lucien, Rosra, Kelie, and Quindic sprinted through the fracturing landscape, their boots barely catching the dissolving earth. Behind them, the Warden—that ancient, multi-eyed monstrosity—moved with terrifying grace, its long limbs crushing ancient trees into splinters.

"Don't look back!" Lucien hissed. "If you meet its gaze, your mind is gone!"

They didn't need the warning. The maddening shrieks of Ashdan still echoed in their ears.

Within moments, they skidded to a halt before the Red Gate. Up close, the portal pulsed with a deep, visceral crimson aura. But it was completely sealed. The paradox remained absolute: the lock was on the outside, but the key rested deep within the vault.

The oppressive weight of the approaching Warden crushed the air from their chests. Quindic's hand shook violently on his weapon. Rosra's breath caught in her throat.

Think! Lucien's mind raced. They were at a literal dead end. But then, a dormant memory flashed through his consciousness.

The Whispering Hollow dungeon... when he had cleared that wretched place months ago, he had bought a trivial skill: Lock Manipulation (Low). Back then, it was barely enough to bypass simple iron padlocks. But Lucien wasn't the same cultivator anymore.

If this dungeon's lock is designed to withstand Peak Spirit Forge masters, I need an authority that transcends this entire realm.

Mentally, he snapped his awareness to the glowing blue interface.

System, access the skill tree. Select Lock Manipulation. Upgrade it now.

A cold ping resonated in his mind. [Lock Manipulation (Peak Spirit Forge Realm) – Upgrade available. Cost: 200 soul points.]

Upgrade it.

[Processing... Lock Manipulation has evolved into: Seal Breaker.] [Seal Breaker – Upgrade available. Cost: 500 soul points.]

Again.

[Processing... Seal Breaker has evolved into: Lock Sovereign.] [Lock Sovereign – Upgrade available. Cost: 1000 soul points.]

More.

[Processing... Lock Sovereign has evolved into: Gatekeeper Authority.] [Gatekeeper Authority – Upgrade available. Cost: 5000 soul points.]

Upgrade it!

[Processing... Gatekeeper Authority has evolved into: Forbidden Authority.] [Forbidden Authority – Upgrade available. Cost: 10000 soul points.]

One more time! Give me something that breaks the rules of this world!

[Processing... Forbidden Authority has evolved into: Lawbreaker Authority.]

The blue screen faded. His soul point reservoir felt painfully light, but a strange, ancient warmth pulsed through his fingertips.

"Back off! Everyone, get back!" Lucien roared, stepping up to the massive crimson barrier.

He pressed his palm flat against the cold, unyielding surface and channeled the newly evolved skill. Lawbreaker Authority.

The air turned freezing cold. A complex, glowing violet sigil erupted from his palm, expanding across the face of the Red Gate like a web of burning neon. The ancient, paradoxical runes began to sizzle and warp.

Since this entire dungeon was constructed to farm Peak Spirit Forge cultivators, the locking mechanism is restricted to the laws of this realm. No normal realm master would waste time on a thievery skill. But right now... reality doesn't matter.

SNAP.

A sound like a breaking iron chain echoed through the clearing. The conceptual lock didn't just open—it vanished entirely, erased by a higher law.

The heavy, crimson doors swung inward with a deafening groan.

"Inside! Now!" Lucien shouted.

The group dove through the threshold. Lucien slammed the massive doors shut behind them, cutting off the Warden's shrieks.

For a long moment, the only sound in the dark chamber was ragged breathing. They were alive.

"How did you do that, Lucien?" Rosra gasped.

"Yeah, brother," Quindic muttered. "How did you open it without the key?"

Lucien offered a weak smile. "It was nothing. I've always been a bit light-fingered."

Beneath his calm exterior, his mind was grim. I survived the initial encounter, but my soul points are severely depleted. If I make another reckless mistake, I won't have the points left to bail myself out.

They finally took in their surroundings. They stood on a narrow stone ledge inside a colossal, cylindrical chamber. In the dead center lay a massive, circular pit—the Death Pit itself. Quindic crept to the edge and peered down. There was no bottom. Only an absolute, suffocating abyss that seemed to pull at the very light.

Around the outer walls, countless stone stairs wound upward, curving around the perimeter in a chaotic, shifting network. The ceiling was invisible, shrouded in dark mist.

"So, this is the true heart..." Kelie whispered.

"All the souls of the fallen were supposed to be pulled here to feed this pit," Lucien said. "But the ritual is already done."

"Then we can't afford to waste a single second," Quindic said. "Let's get up these stairs."

Far away on the scorched forest floor, Zarah stood frozen in disbelief.

Her eyes locked on the distant ridge where the Red Gate resided. She could feel the spatial resonance through her connection to the dungeon. The seal was gone. The unbreakable lock had been shattered.

"How...?" she muttered, her voice cracking with fury. "How did anyone open the Red Gate? I have to stop them. Now."

Beneath her, still trapped within the clearing, Gwenra, Halfred, Isalyn, Fayie, and Samley looked up. The violet dome was still holding them, but Zarah's attention had shifted.

Zarah snapped her head down, her terrifying gaze landing on Gwenra. "Tell me, woman! Who among your wretched kind is capable of opening the Red Gate without a key?"

Gwenra slowly pulled herself up, a cold smile touching her lips. "Dream on."

Zarah's face contorted with rage, but she stopped herself from obliterating Gwenra. Time was a luxury she didn't possess.

"You are incredibly lucky I am pressed for time," Zarah snarled. "Or I would have spent the next century making sure your death was the most excruciating spectacle this realm has ever witnessed."

With a powerful snap of her massive black wings, Zarah launched into the sky, heading straight toward the Red Gate.

The moment her presence left, the violet dome dissolved. The grotesque mud-humanoid melted into harmless dirt, its giant scorpion companion crumbling to dust.

The surviving cultivators fell to the ground, gasping for air.

"What do we do now?" Isalyn whispered.

Halfred shook his head. "Whoever opened that gate isn't from my faction."

"It's Lucien," Gwenra said coldly. "If I'm not mistaken, it has to be him."

"What? Lucien Vale? I thought he was just a shadow user."

"He is far more mysterious than any of you realize," Gwenra said. "Do any of you have an alternative explanation? No. I thought so."

She turned to face them. "I know you loathe me. I did what I had to do for the one I love. But if any of us want to see tomorrow, we have to put our grievances aside. We need to reach the Heart immediately. After we survive... you can try to kill me all you want."

Halfred let out a bitter breath. "As much as it pains me to admit it... she is right. We need to move."

Without another word, the broken remnants sprinted toward the Red Gate.

Inside the cylindrical tower, the climb was a waking nightmare.

Lucien, Rosra, Kelie, and Quindic leapt across shifting stone stairs, their movements hurried as the tower vibrated with rhythmic, pulsing energy. Every ten floors, embedded in the breathing walls, was a massive, glowing emerald-green crystal. Thick, pulsing black vines wrapped around each rock like veins.

Lucien could feel it clearly through his system resonance: souls trapped inside those rocks. Cultivators. Peak Spirit Forge realm masters who had entered this dungeon over the last millennium, harvested and preserved like fuel.

So this is where they all went. If only I had the time to shatter these crystals and absorb these souls... the yield would be astronomical. But it's impossible right now. These souls are locked into the active matrix feeding the Warden. I've counted nearly five hundred crystals... and we've just crossed the 5,000th floor.

At the absolute apex of the cylindrical chamber, on the 10,000th floor, the atmosphere was thick with the stench of burning incense and old blood.

A massive, glowing violet sigil covered the entire floor. Sitting cross-legged at the cardinal points were twenty ancient realm masters—cultivators so old their skin resembled cracked parchment.

"Finally..." one leading figure murmured. "The grand design is complete. The Warden has been summoned to the mortal plane. It is only a matter of time before this entire region becomes a beautiful, desolate ruin."

"And our eternal vigil is at an end," a second elder croaked. "We can finally claim the supreme rewards promised by Mistress Zarah."

"Yes... the Abyss Core realm," a third whispered. "I have waited seventy long years. We were mere youths when we entered. Now we are withered husks. But with the Abyss Core... our youth will be restored."

"Freedom..." the first elder sighed. "Though this final cycle was strange. Someone was sabotaging our traps."

"It matters little now," the leader dismissed. "The Warden is unleashed. Whether someone stole a few souls changes nothing."

"What's the hurry?"

A cold voice sliced through the heavy incense.

The leading elder froze. Before he could turn, the shadow cast by his own robes elongated violently. From the darkness beneath him, a figure materialized with terrifying speed.

Lucien.

With a brutal, fluid motion, Lucien drove his hand through the elder's back, his fingers imbued with condensed astral force. The strike pierced clean through the ribcage, shattering his heart. Blood erupted from the elder's mouth as his eyes lost their light.

"After making me climb ten thousand floors in the dark," Lucien whispered, yanking his blood-slicked hand free, "you really think you old bastards get to leave this place easily?"

Before the remaining nineteen elders could process the sudden death of their leader, the shadows around the chamber erupted. Rosra, Kelie, and Quindic tore out from the stairwell, weapons drawn.

What followed wasn't a glorious battle; it was a systematic execution.

The twenty ancient realm masters were hollow husks. They hadn't engaged in real combat in over seventy years. Their roles were purely ritualistic. They tried to channel their astral arts, but their movements were sluggish compared to the desperate, battle-hardened speed of Lucien's group.

Lucien moved like a specter, his blade flashing through the dim light, leaving a trail of severed limbs and shattered throats. Rosra's blade danced with lethal precision. Kelie unleashed her grief into every strike. Quindic crushed the skulls of those who tried to flee.

Within minutes, the ritual chamber fell silent once more. The massive violet sigil was drenched in thick, dark blood that cascaded down the stone stairs like a grim waterfall.

Lucien knelt beside the corpse of the lead elder, searching his robes. His fingers closed around a heavy, intricately carved crimson medallion—the literal Key to the Red Gate.

He let out a short, mocking laugh, tossing the useless piece onto the floor. "The key. A bit late for that."

Despite the deaths of the twenty architects, nothing changed. The ambient temperature didn't drop. Outside, the Warden's presence still pressed heavily against the boundaries of the tower.

"The ritual is self-sustaining," Kelie said. "Killing them didn't stop it. Lucien, what do we do now?"

Lucien stepped to the edge of the floor, looking down into the massive hollow center where the green crystals glowed in the dark distance. "The only way to destroy that thing outside is to completely destroy this tower's anchor. We have to shatter the Heart of the Death Pit."

"But there are ten thousand floors!" Quindic cried out. "And hundreds of soul crystals embedded in solid stone! How can the four of us destroy something of this scale before that thing breaks in?"

Lucien's eyes narrowed. They're right. To destroy the heart, those thousand trapped souls need to be obliterated or released simultaneously. How can I turn this crisis into an opportunity?

"We don't have a choice," Lucien said aloud. "If we don't destroy these crystals, the Warden will cross over completely. Our countries, our families, everything we know will be erased. We strike the core together."

"You're right," Quindic said. "We've made it this far because of you, Lucien. Tell us where to strike."

"Let's end this," Rosra whispered, raising her blade.

But before anyone could take a step toward the central pillar, a sudden, violent shudder ran through the architecture.

The stone walls began to warp. The grey rock softened, shifting and pulsing with a deep, sickening rhythm. The tower was no longer a structure of dead stone; it was converting its physical form into a living, breathing heart.

The dungeon is reclaiming its vessel, Lucien thought, panic flaring. It's speeding up the assimilation process—

SPURT.

Lucien didn't even register the sound. He didn't feel the approach of an enemy. The world simply turned blindingly cold. A sudden, sharp numbness bloomed in his torso, followed by a torrent of hot agony that paralyzed his nervous system.

He slowly lowered his eyes.

A pale, slender hand, covered in dark skin and dripping with fresh crimson, had driven clean through his back, protruding directly out of his stomach. A violent cough racked his frame, and a thick stream of blood spilled over his lips.

From directly behind his ear, a smooth, terrifying voice whispered like velvet.

"Why..." Zarah murmured, her breath warm against his neck as her grip tightened inside his flesh, "are you constantly getting in the way of my plans?"

Author Note:

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