Chapter 15 System awakening

Words : 1378 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Noah's feet pounded against the ground as the air grew hotter and the beast's roars louder. His lungs burned, every step feeling heavier than the last. The jagged spikes the behemoth shot from its back continued to rain down around him, forcing him to zigzag like a maniac. He couldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. Then it happened. A searing pain tore through his shoulder, and for a moment, he couldn't even scream. The force of the spike knocked him off balance, sending him sprawling across the rough cave floor. Dust and debris clung to his sweat-soaked skin as he rolled onto his back, gasping for air. His vision blurred, but he could make out the silhouette of the behemoth bearing down on him. 'Oh, you've got to be kidding me!' Noah clutched at his shoulder, his fingers slick with warm blood. The spike had gone clean through, pinning his arm in an awkward position. He tried to move, but the pain was unbearable. 'Fantastic. A spike the size of a damn lamppost skewered me like a kebab. Just my luck.' The beast roared, its claws raking against the stone as it advanced. Each step it took sent tremors through the ground, shaking loose rocks from the ceiling. 'Focus, Noah. Focus! You're not dead yet. Think! How do you kill something that's built like a tank and wants to use your bones as toothpicks?' His eyes darted around the cavern. The heat was almost unbearable now, the faint glow of molten rock becoming brighter with each step he took toward the volcanic chamber. Then it hit him—a crazy, stupid idea that just might work. The striations on the walls. The uneven terrain. The molten core bubbling below. 'Lava is dense as hell. That thing's big enough to break through the fragile rock layer near the edge. If I can get it close enough... it'll sink.' Noah gritted his teeth, dragging himself upright despite the pain. Blood trickled down his arm, pooling at his side. He stumbled forward, clutching at his injured shoulder. 'All I need to do is lure it to the edge. No big deal. Just a suicidal run with a hole in my shoulder and a monster on my ass. Easy.' The behemoth growled, its glowing eyes locked onto him as he staggered toward the unstable section of the cavern. The ground beneath him felt precarious, the stone cracking under his weight. 'Good. If it can barely hold me, it won't stand a chance with this overgrown porcupine.' He turned, waving his good arm to taunt the creature. "Come on, big guy! You want me? I'm right here!" The beast roared, charging forward with terrifying speed. Its claws dug into the ground, leaving deep gouges in the rock as it closed the distance. 'Any minute now... Just a little closer.' The unstable ground beneath him groaned in protest as the behemoth's massive weight bore down. Noah leapt to the side just as the rock gave way. The beast let out a deafening roar, its claws flailing as it plunged into the molten pool below. The heat was unbearable, waves of it radiating outward as the behemoth's body began to sink. Its jagged spikes flared out, but the dense lava quickly consumed them, turning the monster into a writhing, smoldering mass. His vision swam again, and he had to blink several times to refocus. Noah staggered forward, his breath shallow and labored, eyes locked on the cores lying amidst the molten carnage. He knew better than to touch them directly—the lava was still active, bubbling ominously, sending waves of heat that made his skin prickle. Gripping one of his twin blades, already dulled from the fight, he carefully extended it toward the cores. As the blade tip brushed the molten surface, it hissed violently, the metal beginning to warp and disintegrate. 'Great. Just what I need,' he thought, pulling the blade back and weighing his options. Time wasn't on his side, and neither was his body. Adjusting his grip, he maneuvered the edge of the blade to nudge the cores closer. The Behemoth's core looked like a molten piece of hell itself, glowing red-hot and radiating waves of intense heat. His instincts screamed at him to stay away from it. But the other one... It was different. Smaller, pristine white, and crystalline in texture, it exuded an aura that made the air shimmer faintly around it. There was no visible sign of heat—no distortion, no smoke. In fact, as he hovered his hand cautiously near it, he felt... nothing. No warmth, no threat, just an odd sense of calm. 'How the hell is this thing not cooking like everything else down here?' Noah thought, his brows furrowing. He was sure it had been expelled by the force of the Behemoth crashing into the lava, but it didn't seem to belong here at all. It looked alien, otherworldly. Gritting his teeth, he used the damaged blade to carefully scoop the white core away from the molten edges and closer to him. His movements were slow and deliberate, every tremor of his arm sending fresh bolts of agony through his body. Blood dripped steadily from his shoulder wound, staining the ground beneath him, but he forced himself to focus. The white core practically beckoned to him, its aura pulsing faintly, almost like it was alive. Noah's breathing was shallow, each inhale rattling in his chest as he stared at the two objects before him. He had to get them out of here—had to make sure these cores weren't wasted. Gritting his teeth, he reached down and tore off the remaining scraps of his level 1 gear. The material was hardly durable anymore, singed and torn from earlier fights, but it was all he had. 'Good enough,' he thought, his hands trembling as he rolled the two cores carefully into the fabric. He cinched it tightly, using what remained of his belt to secure it in place. With the makeshift bundle cradled against his side, Noah forced himself upright. Pain lanced through his shoulder, the spike wound oozing blood steadily. He bit back a groan, focusing instead on the path ahead. Every step felt like dragging lead weights through quicksand, his legs shaky and unsteady, but he refused to stop. The air in the cave was thick, stifling, and the distant rumble of collapsing rock reminded him how little time he had. 'Get out. One step at a time. You've got this,' he told himself, though the words felt hollow. After what felt like an eternity, his legs finally betrayed him. His knees buckled, and he fell forward, the bundle of cores slipping from his grip and clattering onto the rocky ground. The sound echoed faintly through the cavern, a sharp reminder of how alone he truly was. "No, no, no," he muttered hoarsely, dragging himself forward. His hands scrambled for the cores as they began to roll away. He clutched them desperately, pulling them back against his chest. The Behemoth's core had already begun to cool, its molten glow dimming to a dull ember. 'Figures,' Noah thought bitterly. 'Beast cores cool too damn fast. That's why they're impossible to craft with normal methods.' Still, he held onto them like his life depended on it—because, in a way, it did. These cores were proof of his fight, of his survival, of his worth. If anyone found his body here, they'd see these and know he wasn't just some nobody who got in over his head. 'No one's calling me a loser ever again,' he thought with a grim smirk, his vision starting to blur. The white core felt cool to the touch, soothing even, and he found his fingers curling around it instinctively. It was... comforting, almost hypnotic. He let his eyes drift shut, the weight of his exhaustion pulling him under. As the darkness closed in, a soft, luminous sky-blue glow appeared in his mind's eye. [Congratulations. You have awakened the Void.] The words hung there, suspended in the void of his consciousness, before the world around him finally went silent.

Chapter 15 System awakening

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