The 27th floor, the heart of the Water Capital, was no longer a beautiful grotto; it was a charnel house. I had torn through the Liger Fangs and Blue Crabs with such terrifying efficiency that the Dungeon itself seemed to stutter. Its walls pulsed a deep, angry red—the Gensai (Dungeon's Will) frantically struggling to replenish the lives I was consuming like oxygen.
"Deeper," I hissed, my voice a discordant chorus of the Void and the Seed. "The Deep Floors have the density I need."
I didn't bother with the central stairs. Finding a vertical shaft—a jagged ventilation bypass used by the Dungeon to circulate its mana-heavy breath—I cast myself into the abyss. I didn't fall; I plummeted like a comet of sentient shadow. As I streaked past the intervening levels, I lashed out with Hornet's Silk, snagging Deep Squills from the ledges and dragging them into the maw of the descent.
By the time I slammed into the 37th Floor—the White Palace, the start of the Deep Floors—I had a tail of a hundred screaming terrors behind me. I hit the bone-white floor with a Desolate Dive so violent that the structural integrity of the labyrinth groaned. The shockwave didn't just kill; it liquefied the monsters in a singular, localized explosion of dark energy.
[Kill Count: 6,100 / 10,000] [Time Remaining: 34 Hours]
The 37th floor was a graveyard of ivory stone, the domain of the Rex, Udaeus. But the Floor Boss was a distraction I couldn't afford. My targets were the legions: the Spartoi that rose from the dust in endless, clicking ranks.
"Too slow! Too weak!" I roared, the sound echoing off the white ribs of the labyrinth.
I channeled the Enraged Guardian. My body became a miniature sun of violet radiation. I sprinted through the skeletal ranks; the mere proximity of my crystalline aura caused the Spartoi to spontaneously shatter into powder before they could even raise their black swords. I was a scythe moving through a field of dry wheat.
[Kill Count: 6,800... 7,200... 7,900...]
Then, the Dungeon fought back. Sensing a virus in its biological clockwork, the walls began to weep a black, viscous ichor. The Gensai surged. It stopped spawning the typical fodder and began to vomit out Deep Floor variants: Obsidian-skinned Lizardman Elites and winged Rayees that blotted out the dim light of the ceiling.
{They're trying to bury us,} the Seed laughed, a maniac sound. {Let's show them what a real infestation looks like.}
I stood in a massive circular hall as thousands of monsters surged. I let them close the distance until I could feel the heat of their breath.
"Abyss Shriek."
A pillar of pure, howling Void erupted from my soul. The spectral faces of a thousand suffering souls spiraled upward. The acoustic pressure turned the monsters' brains to mush; the raw energy disintegrated their magic stones on a molecular level.
[Kill Count: 8,500 / 10,000]
I stumbled, my shell spider-webbing with cracks. The strain was catastrophic. The Nosk transformation was screeching in my nerves, but the penalty—the loss of my divinity—was a fate worse than a broken shell. I pushed back up through the floors, reaching the 25th Floor—the Great Fall.
I stood at the precipice of the massive cliff where the waterfall plummeted, staring down at a sea of monsters in the Blue Canyon. The Dungeon had emptied its reserves to crush the intruder here. Thousands of glowing eyes fixed on my broken, glowing figure.
"Is that all?" I croaked, black ichor dripping from my jaw.
I tapped into the Full Potential of the Monster Scream before the System could even officially grant it. I gathered every ounce of agony, every century of hunger, and every drop of Void and unleashed it in one world-ending howl.
The scream didn't just kill. It resonated with the sapphire crystals of the Blue Canyon, causing them to vibrate until they exploded. The "Great Fall" itself seemed to pause as the earthquake shook the foundations of the floor. The sea of monsters below ceased to be; their magic stones shattered in a chain reaction, creating a fireworks display of blue mana that illuminated the entire cavern.
Silence followed—a heavy, ringing silence.
I fell to my knees, my skin stitching itself back into its human form, though I was submerged in enough blood to fill a lake.
[Kill Count: 10,000 / 10,000]
[Quest Completed. Processing Rewards...]
[New Power Acquired: The Hunter]
Effect: All monsters below Level 5 will now flee in your presence. Damage against "Beast" types increased by 50%.
[Ability Unlocked: Monster Scream (Full Potential)]
Effect: A sonic-based Void attack that paralyzes enemies and shatters internal organs. (Warning: Overuse may cause internal hemorrhaging to the Host.)
[Host... you did it. You actually did it with 8 hours to spare.]
{Not bad, kid,} the Seed whispered, sounding uncharacteristically faint. {Now... can we please sleep?}
I didn't answer. I collapsed face-down on the cold stone of the 25th floor, the blue glow of the canyon fading as my eyes finally drifted shut. I was a Level 6+ monster in a man's skin, and I had just survived the Dungeon's worst.
But among all that, a memory came to my mind.
Something that I wanted to hide from everyone.
So, they don't see me as a killer or maniac.
And it all began when I went to the Colosseum of Fools.
Where the strongest warriors from all corners are drawn to Hallownest to compete in the Colosseum, where only the strongest survive. Contestants are offered the chance to become more than just another foolish bug as they aim to take the title of champion of the Colosseum.
The Colosseum captures bugs to fight in the arena, and also breeds certain creatures, such as the Sharp Baldur and Armoured Squit, for battle. Lord Fool oversaw the fights in the arena, and some bugs were determined to prove their strength to them. The corpses of those who die in the arena are cast into the chasm below the Colosseum.
And at some point, Lord Fool died, although their corpse still sits on the throne in the arena. The Colosseum itself continues to function even after the spread of the Infection. Despite the contestants being infected, the crowd still cheers, and the warriors in the warriors' pit below the Colosseum are not aggressive.
This was the moment the "Maniac" was born.
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How's the chapter? (Right now I'm having a pressure from the SAT Exams so wish me luck everyone and have a good day.)