Chapter 7: The Unknown Path

A Body Reborn

The air in the dungeon felt different.

Ryosuke stood motionless, his breath slow, measured. His body—once battered, bloodied, and broken—was whole again.

Not healed. Changed.

His skin was still coated in drying blood, his tattered clothes clinging to him like remnants of his past weakness. But the pain that had once consumed him? Gone.

He clenched his fingers into a tight fist. Strength pulsed through his limbs—not overwhelming, not unnatural—but right.

Like this was how it was always meant to be.

His gaze drifted downward, locking onto the creature kneeling before him.

🔹 [Designation: Nyx]

🔹 [Status: Subjugated]

🔹 [Bound to Forsaken Lord]

Nyx, the same abomination that had torn through his body, feeding on his very essence, was now his to command.

Its chitinous form twitched, but not in pain. It was watching him. Waiting.

Ryosuke took a slow step forward.

"Raise your head," he commanded.

Nyx obeyed immediately, lifting its grotesque, elongated face, its too-many eyes glowing a dull violet.

For the first time, Ryosuke noticed something strange.

It wasn't just a mindless beast.

It was aware.

Even kneeling, even submitting, it still held onto something.

Ryosuke exhaled sharply, running a bloodied hand through his damp hair. "You were never meant to be controlled, were you?"

Nyx didn't respond. But in its unnatural stillness, he sensed the answer.

No. It wasn't.

And yet, here it was. Bound to him.

Why?

The question burned in his mind, but another thought took precedence.

Would it have been better to kill it?

He had no reason to trust this thing.

He had felt its hunger. Its desire to consume.

And now?

It bowed before him.

No. This wasn't trust.

This was obedience.

The thought sent an unexpected thrill down his spine.

For the first time, he was the one in control.

And that was something he would never give up again.

The First Test – A Command Given

Ryosuke took another step forward, his boots pressing against the cold cavern floor.

He flexed his fingers, feeling the strange flow of energy in his body.

🔹 [Class: Forsaken Lord]

🔹 [Status: Unknown]

That was all the System would tell him.

No stats. No numbers.

Just a name.

He turned his gaze back to Nyx, who remained motionless, still watching.

"Stand," he ordered.

Nyx moved immediately, its long, segmented limbs unfolding in a smooth, unnatural motion. Despite its grotesque form, its movements were fluid—silent.

It was watching him carefully, analyzing.

He could feel it.

Not through words. Not through any skill.

Through a connection deeper than anything he'd ever known.

A connection that shouldn't exist.

The same way he shouldn't exist.

"Follow me," he said.

Nyx obeyed.

A Dungeon That Shouldn't Exist

The dungeon felt… wrong.

Not just because of the blood-soaked cavern where his party had been slaughtered.

Not just because of the unnatural silence.

It was the feeling in the air.

A constant, underlying hum of something unnatural.

Ryosuke had been in dungeons before—as a Scrivener, he had spent years documenting mana fluctuations, mapping out paths for higher-ranked Hunters.

But this?

This place felt alive.

And it was watching him.

His footsteps echoed strangely, the sound absorbed too quickly by the cave walls.

The green-glowing fungi that had lined the entrance were now completely gone, replaced by vein-like markings pulsing faintly against the stone.

It felt like walking through the inside of a living thing.

Nyx moved silently beside him.

Even without looking, Ryosuke could feel its presence.

Not just as a summoned creature.

Something more.

Something deeper.

A shadow at the edge of his consciousness.

He wasn't sure if that should comfort him.

Or terrify him.

A Message from the System

He came to a stop at a branching path—a split between two tunnels.

One led deeper into the dungeon.

The other…

A single, flickering light pulsed from within the tunnel's depths.

Then, for the first time since his awakening—

🔹 [System Notification Detected.]

Ryosuke stiffened.

His breath caught.

The System had been silent this entire time.

Ever since his rebirth—not a single message had come through.

Until now.

Slowly, hesitantly, he opened his status screen.

And read the words that changed everything.

🔹 [Warning: Incomplete Awakening.]

🔹 [Directive: Seek the Forsaken Sanctum.]

🔹 [Coordinates: Acquired.]

His pulse quickened.

Forsaken Sanctum?

Incomplete Awakening?

He clenched his jaw, his mind racing.

He wasn't done.

His transformation wasn't finished.

And something—or someone—wanted him to complete it.

His grip tightened.

His next path was clear.

He turned toward Nyx, who remained perfectly still, waiting for a command.

"Looks like we're going deeper," Ryosuke muttered.

Nyx gave no response.

But somehow, he knew—

It had been waiting for this.

For him.

For whatever lay ahead.

And for the first time, Han Ryosuke—the Forsaken Lord—stepped forward, ready to find out what he had become.