Treasure

Two months passed since Konrad had begun diving into the dark sea. The routine had long become ritual: wait for dawn, scout the exposed crimson labyrinth left behind by the retreating tides, pick through monster carcasses before the dwellers of the crimson labyrinth to claim their territory. It was an existence of silence, blood, and efficiency. Every morning was a new battlefield, a new test. But this morning was different.

As dawn bled dim light across the twisted skyline of the Dark City, Konrad slipped beneath the surface of the retreating black sea. His movements were silent, fluid, familiar. Two months of diving into this nightmare had taught him how to breathe in silence and listen through stillness.

Konrad dove from the battlements at dawn, his lean form cutting through the wind and crashing into the black water below. The sea had pulled back like a snarling beast inhaling before a strike, revealing the crimson-hued ruins of the drowned labyrinth. The jagged corals gleamed like glass, sharp and dangerous even in stillness.

As he waded through pools of ink and bone, something caught his eye—a pale shimmer of light reflecting off metal. Curious, cautious, he moved closer. That was when he saw it.

Lying sprawled across a shattered patch of the crimson labyrinth was a creature. A monstrous otter, larger than a small truck, its dark fur matted with blood and sea muck.

Its ancient armor, cracked and broken in several places, suggested something greater than mere bestial instinct—something martial. It was like a knight of a forgotten age. Black steel plating covered much of its grotesque, furred body, now torn and mangled. The scent of blood tainted the water like rusted metal.

Its mouth, full of jagged dagger-length fangs, twitched faintly with breath. A curved, spiraled horn jutted from its brow like a weapon forged for death. The horn glowed green.

Konrad's clairvoyance stirred, a flickering light at the edge of his vision. Possibilities opened and closed in his mind like doors. He saw the way it would try to lash out, how it would die in its next breath—or kill him, if he misstepped. It was Fallen Rank. Devil-class. His instincts sharpened, honed by hundreds of battles.

Nearby, another carcass rested. A monstrous shark, twice the size of the otter, lay impaled by a massive lance. Its bone-plated hide was cracked open, the wounds clean and savage. It had died fighting, and the otter had likely won—but only barely.

The creature was dying.

Konrad silently changed his blades into a spear. He crouched low, silent as death, and approached. Suddenly-

"Rush. Kill. Tear it apart."

Konrad staggered. For half a heartbeat, his blade hand tensed, his foot moved without thought. He felt the madness bloom in the pit of his skull—compulsion. Subtle, precise. It wasn't brute-force mind control. It was worse.

It made him want to fight.

Konrad bit down on the instinct. Hard. His [Clairguard] and [Mantle of the Night] flared to resist the mental attack. His clairvoyance showed his death. If he lunged without thinking, he'd be dead. The otter's front claws still had speed. Its twisted head could snap with more strength than any hound. That horn... it wasn't for show.

He planted his foot. Grounded his body. Let the whisper slide off his mind like a blade on stone.

"Nice trick," he muttered, shifting into a low stance. "Let's see how well it works when you're already dying."

The otter snarled. Its broken leg dragged behind as it surged forward with unnatural speed, using the remaining limbs like a battering ram. Coral cracked under its weight. Blood frothed from its side.

Konrad moved sideways, timed by clairvoyance, not instinct. The otter's horn tore through where his chest had just been. He rotated, slashing at the exposed hindquarter, only to be parried by a snap of its tail stump. The creature had adapted even in its dying state.

Calculate faster, Konrad thought. He didn't have time for fancy moves. This wasn't about style—it was survival.

He felt another wave of pressure bloom from the creature's horn, like a pulse through the sea. His thoughts fogged. His blade hand wavered again.

Rush. No thoughts. Just blood.

He gritted his teeth, exhaled hard, and focused. His clairvoyance lit up brighter this time—warning him the beast was faking a stumble.

Konrad didn't fall for it.

He pivoted low, severing a tendon behind its front leg. Blood jetted into the water like ink. The otter shrieked—high, furious, drowning in pain—and whipped its massive head toward him. Konrad barely avoided the horn, its point brushing his shoulder armor and digging a gouge.

His mind cleared again, for a moment. The mental compulsion wasn't constant—it surged when the otter bled. It fed on its own death, turning agony into influence.

Konrad narrowed his eyes. "You bastard."

He flipped backward, gaining distance. The creature followed, crawling over the rubble of the shattered coral maze. The destruction from its earlier battle had left the terrain jagged and uneven—good.

Konrad circled it, stepped carefully between the ruins of the crimson labyrinth. Each movement was precise. His thoughts were mathematical. The future unraveled in layers before him—probabilities and death paths. He selected the one that hurt the most but killed the fastest.

The otter lunged again.

Konrad ducked the charge, rolled under its guard, and stabbed upward just as the horn passed over his head. His blade struck beneath the ruined jawline—into the soft spot behind its plated cheek. A howl of rage and pain exploded through the water.

The compulsion returned, heavier now. A last-ditch effort. His lungs felt tight, like breathing mud. His muscles twitched with rage that wasn't his own.

He forced himself still.

His spear shimmered with the sunlight. With a growl, Konrad twisted and tore.

A geyser of dark blood erupted. The otter bucked, collapsed halfway, then tried to rise again—but its front leg gave out. Konrad jumped onto its back, straddling the ruined armor, and with a calm breath, plunged his spear between the monster's shoulders.

Once.

Twice.

The third time, it stopped moving.

The pressure in his skull vanished.

And in that silence, the sea itself seemed to hold its breath.

He struck first.

The fight was not elegant. It was brutal and fast.

The otter roared one last time before collapsing with a trembling shudder. Its chest stopped rising.

The world fell quiet

[You have slain a Fallen Devil, Star Lancer.]

[You have received an echo.]

Konrad exhaled slowly and stepped back, his heart pounding, his clothes drenched in brine and blood. He could feel the presence of the diabolical otter now, in his soul sea. When he summoned it, it would fight for him.

He changed his spear back to blades and knelt by the body and began to cut through the flesh.

The soul shards were embedded deep beneath its armored flesh. He worked quickly, using a dagger to peel away plates and muscle, guided by both experience and clairvoyance. One by one, four glowing soul shards were pried free—ascended rank. Valuable. Powerful.

He held them in his hands, letting the glow soak into his skin for a moment before pocketing them.

Then, without delay, Konrad summoned the echo.

The air around him distorted as the diabolical otter appeared from shimmering light, fully healed and standing tall. Its horn gleamed, its eyes burned with ghostly light. It's armor turned back to pristine condition and it was holding a giant lance.

Konrad pointed to the shark carcass.

"Carve it."

The echo obeyed without sound. Its claws tore through the bone plates, exposing the organs beneath. It worked like a butcher, swift and clinical. Konrad waited as chunks of meat and tissue were flung aside. Finding no shards in the body, Konrad ordered to break the shark's skull open.

The otter stood up on it's hind legs, grabbed it's lance and thrusted it into the shark's skull. The lance peirced the skull and broke it. Then the otter broke open the shark's skull.

Eventually, the glimmer of something bright caught his eye— two transcendent soul shard lodged within the shark's brain.

It turns out the shark was Transcendent Monster.

He retrieved them, cradling them like treasure.

Then he hacked off a large slab of the shark's meat, slung it over his shoulder, and made his way back.

The inhabitants of the labyrinth would return soon. Already the Carapace scavengers were creeping out of the cracks of the coral labyrinth. The dwellers of the labyrinth stirred.

Konrad climbed back onto the battlements just as the horizon began to shift to deep gray. The city loomed behind him, grim and shattered but still standing. A storm was coming.

Soon, below, the dark sea would swallow the ruins again, erasing all signs of the battle.

He stood for a moment, catching his breath, watching the place where he had just fought.

He had hunted in the dark sea, killed an Fallen Devil, got it's echo, stolen its and its hunt's soul shards, and returned alive. Few in the city could say the same. Only Gunlaug would able to surpass his exploits.

With the soul shards in his possession, a new echo under his control, transcendent shark meat on his shoulder and juicy soul shards in his castody, Konrad walked on the battlements, back into his den which is a chamber in a large tower.

The war for survival continued.

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