THE FROSTGRAVE CATACOMBS
The dungeon entrance yawned before Seun like the maw of some primordial beast, its jagged edges rimmed with ice that pulsed with an eerie blue light. The cold here was unnatural—a gnawing, insidious chill that crept beneath the skin and settled in the bones. The air smelled of iron and something older, something that had no business being awake.
Seun stepped inside, his breath fogging in the frozen air. The System's analysis scrolled across his vision:
**Dungeon Analysis: Frostgrave Catacombs**
The walls weren't mere ice—they were alive. Veins of glowing blue energy threaded through the frozen structure, pulsing in time with some unseen heartbeat. The floor groaned beneath his boots, shifting like the ribs of a slumbering giant.
**Primary Threat: Abyssal Yeti**
The creature waiting inside was no mindless beast. Its fur was the black of a starless void, its eyes twin supernovae of cursed frostfire. It didn't just hunt—it learned. Every hunter who had ever stepped into its domain had left behind traces of their techniques, their instincts, their fear. The yeti remembered them all.
**Secondary Hazards**
The dungeon itself was sentient. The ice reacted to movement, forming spikes where shadows passed. The air carried a creeping numbness that slowed reflexes and dulled pain—until it was too late to notice the damage.
---
### **THE DESCENT**
Seun's shadow stretched ahead of him, tendrils probing the frozen ground. The moment it made contact, the veins in the ice flared, a ripple of awareness spreading through the cavern.
Then came the roar.
It wasn't just sound—it was force, a physical wave that shattered stalactites from the ceiling, sending them crashing down like glacial spears. Seun moved, his body a blur as he wove through the storm, but the yeti was already waiting.
It stood at the end of the chamber, massive shoulders rolling as it exhaled a plume of frostfire. It didn't charge. It smiled.
And snapped its fingers.
The floor erupted.
---
### **THE FIRST BLOOD**
Seun twisted midair, narrowly avoiding the spire of ice that speared upward from the ground. The yeti wasn't just attacking—it was herding him. Every step, every dodge, was another move in a game it had played a hundred times before.
A flicker of movement. Seun's blade lashed out, carving through a falling stalactite before it could impale him. The yeti's grin widened.
It had anticipated that.
The ice beneath his feet melted just enough to make him slip, and the yeti was on him in an instant. A backhand sent Seun crashing through three frozen pillars before he slammed into the far wall, the impact driving the air from his lungs. His ribs screamed in protest, the fractures already knitting back together—but not fast enough.
The yeti knew that too.
It advanced, each step deliberate, savoring the hunt.
---
### **THE SHADOW'S FAILURE**
Seun pushed himself up, his shadow coiling around his arms like armor. He called for his soldiers—three figures of writhing darkness materialized at his side, their forms sharpening into lethal edges.
They moved as one, blades flashing toward the yeti's exposed flank.
Then—one hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
But a fraction was enough.
The yeti's claws carved through the disobedient shadow soldier like smoke, its form unraveling into wisps of black mist before dissipating entirely.
Seun didn't flinch.
The System's voice was cold.
**Shadow Soldier #3 Destroyed**
**Reconstitution in Progress: 3...2...1...**
The shadows at his feet convulsed, and the soldier reappeared, whole once more. It knelt, awaiting orders.
Seun's eyes narrowed.
*Good.*
---
### **THE TURNING TIDE**
Seun's blood steamed where it hit the ice. The yeti circled, its breath coming in slow, measured gusts. It wasn't just strong—it was intelligent. It had studied him.
So he stopped fighting like a hunter.
He fought like a Shadowmancer.
His shadow detonated outward, tendrils spearing into the ice, into the veins of the dungeon itself. For a single, terrifying second, he felt the catacombs shudder—a living thing recoiling from his touch.
The yeti screamed.
Not in pain.
In rage.
Seun didn't give it time to recover. The Hellfang Twins found their mark, not flesh, but the pulsating core embedded in the yeti's chest.
The explosion of frost and shadow sent him skidding back, his vision whiting out for a heartbeat.
When it cleared, the yeti was gone.
Only the core remained, throbbing in his grip like a second heart.
---
### **THE AFTERMATH**
The dungeon was silent now. The ice no longer moved.
Seun staggered to his feet, his body a patchwork of half-healed wounds and spreading frostbite. The System's voice was grim.
**Victory Conditions Met**
The yeti was dead. The dungeon, for now, was still.
But the cost was clear.
The shadow soldier's hesitation. Its swift annihilation—and immediate return.
And the whisper in the dark, just before he left—
*"The First Shadow awaits its vessel."*