Tower 1 — Floor Four, Heart of the Prison of Hunger
The roaring didn't stop.
It only grew louder.
Deeper.
Hungrier.
Dust rained down from the fleshy stone ceiling.
Torches guttered, flickering sickly green.
The air pulsed like a heartbeat—unsteady, desperate.
Ragnor stepped back instinctively.
"…that's not a normal monster."
Aetherion's cosmic aura shimmered around him.
"No. That roar carried intelligence."
Iris whimpered behind them.
"And pain…"
Lyra steadied her bow, trying not to shake.
"So… this thing is what the Tower starved for years?"
Iris flinched.
"T-the Starved King… Floor Four's boss… the Tower keeps him endlessly alive so he never stops starving…"
Another roar.
So powerful the floor shook.
Ragnor cracked his knuckles nervously.
"Great. Love that. Fantastic."
Aetherion glared at him.
"Ignore the fear. Focus."
But everyone froze when someone else moved.
Not them.
Not the boss.
DRM.
The masked child stepped forward.
Slow.
Silent.
Fearless.
The Starved Ones around the edges of the corridor collapsed instantly—writhing, bowing, scrambling away like insects fleeing a flame.
Lyra whispered:
"…even now… they can't bear to be near him…"
Ragnor exhaled sharply.
"What DOES he have inside him?"
Aetherion didn't answer.
The floor trembled a third time.
Not from the roar—
But from the sound of something dragging chains.
Something colossal.
Something skeletal.
Something wrong.
The Throne of Bones
The corridor opened into the final chamber—a massive circular arena lined with decaying bone pillars.
At the center sat a throne built entirely from:
ribcages
spines
cracked skulls
mangled limbs
And sitting upon it was the monster.
The Starved King.
A towering skeletal humanoid wrapped in shredded flesh, its ribs jutting out like knives.
A long tongue scraped the floor.
Empty eye sockets leaked a black, hunger-dripping mist.
Chains bound its limbs, but the chains were trembling, straining, cracking.
It raised its head slowly.
Opened its jaw painfully wide.
And spoke.
Not with a voice.
With a wheeze.
"…food…"
Iris screamed behind her hands.
Aetherion conjured a defensive nebula.
Lyra aimed for the head.
Ragnor charged forward.
But as he stepped into the chamber—
The Starved King moved faster than thought.
A massive skeletal arm swung—
SMAAASH!
Ragnor was blasted into a pillar so hard it cracked.
"RAGNOR!!"
Lyra ran toward him.
Aetherion shouted:
"Do not get close—!"
But it was too late.
The Starved King had risen from its throne, towering over them, chains dragging behind it like metal serpents.
Its empty sockets turned—
Toward DRM.
The monster froze.
A bone-shaking shudder rattled its entire body.
"…n…not…him…"
Aetherion stared.
"It's afraid…"
Lyra's throat tightened.
"D-DRM… what are you?"
Ragnor stumbled to his feet, coughing blood.
"Damn it… stand BACK… everyone!"
But the Starved King wasn't afraid because of DRM's presence.
It was afraid because DRM—
stepped toward it.
Walking slowly.
Calmly.
As if approaching a misbehaving pet.
The King shrieked and swung a massive arm—
And DRM…
Didn't move.
The bone blade stopped inches from his mask.
Shaking violently.
Unable to touch him.
Iris whispered in horror:
"The Tower… the monsters… they're all bound by something I don't understand…"
Aetherion exhaled.
"No. They obey a law we haven't learned yet."
Lyra stared.
"…what law?"
Aetherion watched DRM carefully.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"The law that he… exists."
The Starved King's Fear
The King slammed its other arm downward, chains snapping, hunger mist exploding outward—
But again, the attack halted midair.
Frozen.
Not by magic.
Not by pressure.
By fear so absolute its body refused to move.
Then DRM lifted his hand.
And the King's entire form seized up.
Like every bone remembered something.
Like every rib knew this child.
Like every cell screamed:
"DON'T MOVE."
Ragnor whispered in disbelief:
"He didn't even DO anything!"
Aetherion's voice trembled.
"No… he simply decided he didn't want to be hit."
Lyra lowered her bow slowly, breath catching.
"And the boss obeyed…"
Iris collapsed to her knees.
"T-this is impossible… it's impossible…"
But the worst was yet to come.
Because the Starved King—
A boss-level monster that had devoured hundreds, survived decades, and outlasted entire expeditions—
Slowly lowered itself.
Onto its knees.
Before DRM.
Ragnor whispered:
"What kind of KING kneels before a boy?"
Lyra shivered.
"A king that remembers a nightmare."
The Death of the Starved King
DRM placed his small hand on the monster's forehead.
Gently.
Softly.
Almost kindly.
Aetherion watched closely, whispering:
"He's not killing it physically…"
Iris swallowed.
"No… he's erasing its hunger."
The King began trembling violently.
Bones cracked.
Chains snapped.
Mist vented like steam.
The monster's entire form convulsed—
Then shattered into dust.
Silence.
Nothing remained.
The Starved King—
a boss designed to destroy teams of elites—
was gone.
One touch.
One moment.
No struggle.
Ragnor whispered, voice shaking despite himself:
"…h-he didn't even fight it."
Aetherion stared at DRM's back.
Lyra held Iris close.
No one moved.
Then DRM turned around.
Head tilting.
Eyes glowing faintly behind the mask.
He walked past them
as if nothing had happened,
stepping toward the stairs to Floor Five.
But before he vanished into the corridor,
the torches flickered—
And a faint voice whispered through the chamber.
Not the King.
Not DRM.
The stalker boy.
"We're almost there…"
Lyra spun around.
"Where is he?!"
No answer.
Iris's eyes went wide.
"H-he's moving… in the ceiling… the walls… he's watching DRM…"
Aetherion's aura flared, scanning.
"He is not watching.
He is following."
Ragnor clenched his fists.
"If he shows himself again—
I'll—"
Aetherion cut him off.
"No.
If he shows himself again…
the two of them will meet."
Iris trembled.
"That's bad, isn't it…?"
Aetherion stared at DRM's small frame disappearing into the darkness of Floor Five.
"Yes.
Because for the first time…"
He swallowed.
"…something is hunting him back."
CHAPTER 13 — STATUS REPORT
Ragnor
Level: 11
EXP: +740
Physical: Moderate injuries
Mental: Shocked
Notes: First time facing a real boss and surviving because of DRM
Lyra
Level: 10
EXP: +600
Physical: Stable
Mental: Unnerved
Notes: Noticed DRM's precise emotional emptiness during the boss kill
Iris
Level: 7
EXP: +830
Physical: Shaken
Mental: Traumatized
Notes: Temporal Sensitivity growing faster than expected
Aetherion
Level: 12
EXP: +900
Physical: Stable
Mental: Disturbed curiosity
Notes: Realizes DRM exerts an unknown law of reality
Starved King (Boss)
Defeated with no damage to team
Cause of "death": Conceptual Erasure of Hunger
??? (Stalker Boy)
Presence: Increasing
Psychological effect: Prey/Predator interest in DRM
Notes: First time he spoke more than one sentence
DRM
Level: ERROR
EXP: —
Mask Sync: 69%
Aura: Stage 1.9 "Hungerless Void"
Domain: Slight Stirring
Emotional State: Unreadable
Notes: Boss eliminated without combat