Chapter 3: Stonebreaker
Chapter 3: Stonebreaker
The corridor narrowed.
The walls pressed in on both sides, damp and cold, carved unevenly like something had been dragging itself through them with claws instead of tools. The further Alex went, the more he felt the weight of the dungeon settle into his lungs. The red glow beneath his feet pulsed in slow rhythm — like a heartbeat buried somewhere deep beneath the stone.
Each step sent fresh pain through his legs. His shoulder was still bleeding from the earlier fight. His ribs ground together whenever he breathed too deep. But he kept going.
You stop, you die. That simple.
He gripped his crude claw-blade tighter.
Then he saw it — the corridor widened abruptly, revealing a circular chamber that stretched far beyond what the torchless light could reach. Cracks ran up the walls, and thick pillars jutted from the floor at irregular intervals, most of them fractured, leaning. A thin mist drifted through the air, curling around Alex's ankles as he stepped forward.
And in the center, on a raised stone platform, sat something massive.
A figure, unmoving. Hulking.
Alex slowed.
It was easily three times his size, sitting hunched over like a knight from some ruined age — but the armor was wrong. The metal was fused with its flesh, grafted like tumors onto its shoulders and ribs. Chains ran across its chest and back, bolted in place, and steam drifted from beneath the helmet that sat rusted and crooked on its head.
In its hands, resting across its lap, was a war hammer the size of a full-grown man. The head of the weapon was cracked and worn, but still thick and heavy enough to shatter stone.
The creature didn't move.
Alex's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Then, the floor pulsed beneath his feet. A single, heavy thud — like something exhaling under the chamber.
The thing stood.
The movement was unnatural. Too smooth. Too fast for something that big. Its head tilted with a creak, and glowing orange light sparked behind the visor.
Then it charged.
Alex barely had time to throw himself behind the nearest pillar. The hammer crashed down where he'd been standing — not just crushing the floor, but obliterating it. A shockwave of broken stone and dust exploded outward.
The sound was deafening.
A fragment of debris caught his shoulder and sent him spinning. He rolled across the floor, vision reeling.
By the time he forced himself to his feet, the monster was already moving again.
It didn't walk. It advanced like a siege engine, step by step, with earthshaking weight. The hammer dragged behind it, leaving a trail of sparks.
Alex ran. He darted between pillars, trying to stay behind it, but it turned too quickly — a blur of strength and fury.
He slashed out with his claw-blade.
Sparks. The weapon bounced off its armor like a twig against steel.
It responded with a backhand swing that connected with Alex's ribs and launched him into the air.
He hit the wall with enough force to crack it. The pain was instant and deep — like something had broken clean through.
His vision swam. His ears rang. But he staggered up.
Can't run.Can't outlast it.Only one chance.
He reached inward.
That burning second heartbeat — the one that always came before everything went red — pulsed inside his chest.
[DEVIL TRANSFORMATION: ACTIVE]
The pain struck first.
Devil mana ignited inside him like molten lead pouring through his veins. Red-black light split along his arms, steam burst from his back, and his skin cracked under the pressure.
His scream echoed across the chamber — not human, not monster, something between.
Power surged through his limbs, and the fear vanished.
He ran straight for the monster.
It swung — but Alex didn't dodge.
He caught the hammer mid-swing.
The impact sent tremors down his arms. He felt bones crack. Muscles tear. But he held on.
Roaring, he twisted, dragging the hammer wide and forcing the boss to stumble forward.
He darted around the creature's side and slammed the claw-blade into the joint behind its knee.
Black blood sprayed.
The monster screamed — a horrible, echoing metallic shriek — and dropped to one knee.
Alex leapt up onto its back, grabbed the base of the helmet, and yanked.
Metal peeled from skin with a sound like wet leather tearing free.
The helmet fell.
There was no face beneath it. Just bone, half-melted and scorched, with empty sockets that still burned with molten light.
Alex drove the claw-blade straight into its skull.
The creature reared back, thrashing. It slammed its head into the wall. The blow shattered the blade and sent Alex tumbling to the floor.
His time was running out. The mana was boiling inside him, and he could feel the transformation starting to collapse.
The boss was still crawling, dragging itself across the floor, hammer in one hand.
Alex got to his feet. Barely.
He reached for anything — grabbed a jagged shard of broken stone from the floor.
The transformation shattered.
[DEVIL TRANSFORMATION: EXPIRED]
His body buckled.
He dropped to one knee, coughing blood. His lungs burned. His skin was peeling where the devil mana had scorched through it.
Can't… stop.
The monster reached for him.
Alex lurched forward, screaming, and slammed the stone shard into its eye.
Once.Twice.A third time.
Until the burning behind its eyes went out.
And the body collapsed.
Silence.
Alex fell beside it, panting, hands shaking so hard he could barely press them to the stone.
He couldn't move. Couldn't think. He lay there, staring at the far wall, until the rumbling started again.
A stone slab slid open. A staircase revealed itself — red-lit steps spiraling downward into deeper dark.
Another floor…
He didn't feel relief.
Only exhaustion.
Eventually, he crawled to the corpse. From the boss's shattered armor, he pulled free a plate — curved, thick, about the size of a small buckler.
He used the last strips of his shirt to strap it to his left arm.
His breath rattled.
His fingers barely worked.
But he stood.
He faced the stairs.
He didn't look back.
And then he descended — one broken step at a time — into whatever waited below.