Chapter 11: The Mouth of the Abyss
Location: The Root-Cellar Dungeon, Floor 4 (The Depths).
Time: The Next Night.
Ren stood before the massive golden door.
Unlike the previous floors, which smelled of rot and mildew, this hallway smelled... sweet. It was a cloying, heavy scent of overripe peaches and roasted meat that made the bile rise in his throat.
He turned to his companions.
"This is it," Ren whispered. "The Boss Room. Whatever is behind this door is the source of the kidnapping operation."
Caelum gripped his sword, his knuckles white. "Do we know what it is? Did the Archive tell you?"
Ren shook his head.
"The Archive is... silent," Ren admitted, a rare look of uncertainty crossing his face. "I found a book called 'The Fall of Aethelgard', but the pages were torn. All I could decipher was a warning about 'Endless Hunger'."
Ren activated [Analytical Eye]. He looked at the door.
[ Target: The Gate of the Glutton ]
[ Danger Level: ??? ]
[ Status: Locked. ]
[ Requirement: Blood of a Traitor. ]
Ren frowned. "Blood of a traitor?"
He looked at the underground river flowing beside the walkway—the same river Caelum had thrown Steward Thorne into yesterday.
The water here was dark red.
"Thorne," Ren realized. "His body must have washed down here. The dungeon accepted him as a sacrifice."
Creaaak.
As if responding to his realization, the golden door slowly swung inward.
Darkness spilled out. Not the absence of light, but a physical, heavy darkness that felt like black velvet against the skin.
"Formation," Ren ordered. "Caelum, behind me. Kaelith, stay by the door—if we need to run, you suppress the enemy. I take point."
"Understood," Kaelith nocked an arrow, her usual sarcasm gone. "Ren... my ranger senses are screaming. This feels wrong. Like nature itself is broken in there."
Ren drew the Prisoner's Shiv in his right hand and adjusted the Gauntlet on his left.
"Let's go."
They stepped inside.
The room was vast. It looked like the interior of a cathedral, but the pillars were made of massive, calcified ribs. The floor was soft and spongy, like walking on a tongue.
In the center of the room sat a massive dining table, fifty feet long.
Sitting at the far end was a figure.
It was huge—easily twelve feet tall even while seated. It wore the tattered, rotted robes of a King. A rusted crown was fused to its skull. But where its face should have been, there was only a vertical slit, sewn shut with thick iron chains.
It was surrounded by mounds of gold, jewels, and... bones.
[ Boss Encounter Initiated ]
Ren focused his [Analytical Eye]. He strained his mind, pushing mana into his eyes to pierce the entity's veil.
[ Analyzing... ]
[ ...Analysis Failed. Level Gap too high. ]
[ ...Retrying with 'Keeper of Secrets' authority... ]
Text flickered in Ren's vision, garbled and glitchy.
[ Name: The Echo of Alaric (Avatar of Gluttony) ]
[ Level: 15 (Elite Boss) ]
[ State: Starving / Bound ]
[ Myth: The King who sold his kingdom for bread. ]
"Alaric," Ren whispered. "The King from the myth."
The creature sat motionless. It seemed to be sleeping.
Then, Ren saw him.
Steward Thorne.
Thorne wasn't dead. Not yet. He was stuck to the table, held down by a thick, yellow slime. He was sobbing silently, his eyes wide with madness.
Beside Thorne lay the Pandora Chest of this dungeon. It was a massive chest made of wet, pulsing flesh, bound in iron chains.
"We need that chest," Ren whispered. "And we need to silence Thorne before he wakes the King."
"I can hit Thorne from here," Kaelith whispered. "Mercy kill?"
"No," Ren said. "Look at the chains on the King's face. They are glowing. The chest is linked to him. If we kill Thorne, the King might wake up."
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the room. It didn't come from the King. It came from the stomach of the King.
"More..."
The stomach of the giant creature rumbled. The iron chains on its face strained.
The King's hand—a massive, withered claw—twitched. It blindly reached out and grabbed a goblet from the table. It crushed the goblet.
"Not... enough..."
Ren saw the mechanic.
"He's blind," Ren realized. "The chains cover his eyes and mouth. He hunts by smell and sound."
Ren turned to Caelum. "Do you still have the meat from the pigmen we killed on Floor 2?"
"I have a haunch in my bag," Caelum nodded, looking disgusted.
"Give it to me."
Ren took the rotting meat.
"I'm going to create a distraction. Kaelith, when he turns, shoot the chains on his face. We need to break the seal to weaken him."
"Are you crazy?" Kaelith hissed. "If you break the chains, he can eat us!"
"If we don't break the chains, we can't kill him. His skin is invincible while bound. It's a 'Penance' state. We have to make him vulnerable."
Ren stepped forward.
He threw the pig meat to the far left corner of the room.
SPLAT.
The King's head snapped toward the sound.
"Food?"
The giant lumbered out of the chair. It stood up, its bones cracking. It was terrifyingly tall. It stumbled toward the meat, sniffing the air.
"Now!" Ren shouted.
Kaelith loosed her arrow. [Explosive Shot].
BOOM.
The arrow struck the iron chains on the King's face.
The chains shattered.
The vertical slit on the face tore open.
It wasn't a mouth. It was a void. A maw lined with thousands of needle-teeth that spiraled down into darkness.
The King screamed.
SCREEEEEEEEE!
The sound wave hit them like a physical wall. Caelum was thrown backward. Ren dug his heels into the spongy floor.
[ Boss Enraged! ]
[ Seal Broken. Defense reduced by 100%. ]
[ Offense increased by 200%. ]
"He's vulnerable!" Ren yelled, drawing his Shiv. "Attack the heart!"
The King turned toward them. He didn't need eyes. The mouth sensed their mana.
He inhaled.
A massive vacuum force pulled at them. The gold coins, the bones, and the furniture were sucked toward the gaping maw.
"Hold on!" Ren grabbed a rib-pillar with his Gauntlet. Caelum grabbed Ren's leg.
Kaelith fired arrow after arrow into the mouth, but the King just swallowed them.
"I... WILL... FEAST!"
The King charged.
Ren looked at the open mouth. He saw deep inside the throat, a glowing red core.
The Source.
"Caelum," Ren shouted over the roar of the wind. "Trust me?"
"No!" Caelum screamed.
"Good! Throw me!"
"What?!"
"Use your [Wind Blast] scroll! Throw me inside!"
"You'll die!"
"I'm the Gluttony user!" Ren roared, his eyes glowing violet. "I'm the only one who can eat him from the inside! DO IT!"
Caelum pulled a scroll from his belt. He looked at Ren. He looked at the monster.
"Damn you, Ren!"
Caelum activated the scroll. A blast of wind hit Ren's back.
Ren let go of the pillar.
He launched himself into the air, flying straight toward the gaping maw of the King.
The King saw the morsel coming. He opened his mouth wider.
Ren dove in.
Darkness swallowed him.
Location: Inside the Stomach of the Boss.
Status: Critical (Acid Damage).
It was hot. It was wet. And it burned.
Ren slid down the fleshy throat, landing in a pool of stomach acid.
[ Warning: Environmental Damage. HP dropping... ]
[ Gauntlet Life Steal Active... No target to steal from. ]
Ren stood up. The acid burned his boots.
"Grim!" Ren screamed in his mind. "I need a spell! Anything to survive acid!"
In the Archive, Grim panicked. He flew through the shelves. He grabbed a book: [Alchemy of the Slimes].
[ Skill Borrowed: Mucus Coat (Rank F) ]
A slime-like film covered Ren's skin. The burning stopped.
"Thanks, buddy."
Ren looked around. In the center of the stomach chamber hung the Red Core. It was pulsing like a second heart.
"Found you."
Ren waded through the acid. He reached the Core.
He didn't stab it.
He placed both hands on it.
He activated [Grimoire of the Devouring Void].
"Let's see who is hungrier," Ren whispered. "You... or me."
[ Skill: Mana Drain (Maximum Output) ]
Ren pulled.
The Core shrieked. It wasn't a sound; it was a psychic scream. The King outside was thrashing, destroying the throne room.
But Ren held on.
The red energy flowed into his arms. It was thick, heavy, and tasted like rotten blood. It tried to corrupt him.
Eat... Consume... Devour... The voices of the Sins whispered in his head.
Ren gritted his teeth.
"Shut up," Ren growled. "I don't serve the Sins. I own the Library."
He forced the energy into the Archive.
"Grim! Store it! Don't let it touch my mind!"
Grim saluted. The ink-doll opened a massive book in the library and began directing the red energy into the pages, trapping it in text.
The Red Core began to crack.
CRACK.
SHATTER.
The Core exploded into dust.
Location: The Throne Room.
The King froze mid-swing.
Its massive body went rigid. The mouth hung open.
Then, it began to crumble.
Flesh turned to ash. Bone turned to dust.
The massive pile of ash collapsed to the floor.
Caelum and Kaelith watched in horror, waiting.
"Ren?" Caelum whispered.
The pile of ash shifted.
A hand burst out. A hand wearing a black gauntlet.
Ren dragged himself out of the remains of the King. He was covered in slime and ash. He looked terrible.
He stood up, coughing.
He walked over to the Flesh Chest—the Pandora Chest of Gluttony.
The chains on the chest fell away.
Ren looked at his friends. He held up a thumbs up.
"Dessert is served."
[ System Alert ]
[ Dungeon Cleared: The Root-Cellar of Gluttony. ]
[ Boss Defeated: Echo of Alaric. ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ You are now Level 14. ]
Ren approached the chest.
This was it. The source of the corruption.
He opened it.
Inside lay a single object.
It wasn't a weapon. It wasn't a scroll.
It was a Jar. An ancient, clay jar sealed with wax. Inside, something buzzed.
[ Item: The Jar of Famine (Sealed) ]
[ Rank: Legendary (Cursed) ]
[ Contents: One of the Seven Plagues of Beelzebub. ]
[ Warning: Do not break. ]
Ren closed the lid immediately.
"We take this," Ren said, his voice serious. "And we hide it in the deepest part of the Archive. No one can know we have this."
He looked at Thorne, who was still stuck to the table, whimpering.
"And him?" Caelum asked.
Ren looked at Thorne.
"He saw everything," Ren said. "He knows I'm a Mage."
Ren handed Caelum a dagger.
"You're the Lord, Caelum. Tie up the loose ends."
Caelum took the dagger. He looked at Thorne.
He didn't hesitate this time.
End of Chapter 11
Summary of Events:
Lore Added:Chapter 0.01 established the myth of King Alaric and the curse of Gluttony.
The Mystery: Ren enters the Boss Room without knowing the enemy. He relies on Analytical Eye to identify the Echo of Alaric.
The Fight: The boss is immune to damage while bound. Ren orchestrates a plan to break the seal, enraging the boss but making it vulnerable.
The Climax: Ren has Caelum throw him inside the boss's mouth. He uses [Mana Drain] on the boss's internal Core while Grim (Guardian) manages the corruption.
The Victory: The boss crumbles. Ren emerges alive.
The Loot: Ren secures the Jar of Famine (Legendary Cursed Item).
Loose End: Caelum is tasked with executing Thorne to protect their secret.