The dungeon air was thick.
Heavy.
Breathing felt like swallowing dust and fire.
Adexander stood — battered, bleeding — facing the massive beast that had burst from the black portal.
Its body was made of living stone and molten veins, a mountain of rage, a roaring juggernaut.
> [SYSTEM ALERT: Dungeon Boss Emergence - CLASS: TITAN BLOODBRINGER]
The system's mechanical voice echoed faintly.
Adexander didn't flinch.
The Titan raised its colossal fist, veins pulsing with crimson energy, and smashed it down toward him — the entire dungeon trembling from the blow.
BOOM.
Adexander barely leapt aside. His weak body screamed in protest.
Muscles tearing.
Bones cracking.
But his eyes...
Those Crimson eyes did not blink.
They burned.
"Move."
He growled to himself.
"Even if the world tears me apart... I MOVE."
The Titan charged, faster than its size should allow.
Adexander rolled, slid beneath it, slicing with his broken dagger.
The blade scratched the beast's ankle — a pitiful cut.
The Titan roared in amusement, swinging its tail — a massive slab of muscle and stone.
CRACK.
The blow sent Adexander flying into a dungeon wall, blood spraying from his mouth.
---
[Warning: Critical Damage Sustained.]
[Warning: Vital Signs Falling.]
---
Pain blossomed in every cell.
Darkness clawed at his mind.
Everything told him to stay down.
To accept death.
But then...
in the depths of agony...
he remembered.
The throne.
The sword.
The betrayal.
The blood.
He remembered his name —
not the weak boy reborn in this frail body —
but the King who had once made gods tremble.
Adexander.
The Crimson King.
---
Slowly, brokenly, he stood up.
The Titan laughed — a cruel, rumbling sound that shook the very walls.
It rushed again, the ground cracking under its charge.
But this time...
This time, Adexander did not move to dodge.
He clenched his broken dagger tighter,
blood dripping from his hand,
and whispered the ancient words buried in his soul:
"I am the one who rules blood and flame.
I am Crimson Ascendant."
---
BOOM.
A shockwave exploded from him —
Invisible, but undeniable.
The Titan stumbled mid-charge, confused.
Its massive body slowed for half a second.
And in that heartbeat...
Adexander moved.
Faster than sight.
His broken blade glowed faintly red —
A spark of his lost power awakening.
He struck — not the Titan's body,
but its soul core, hidden deep in the chest.
The dagger pierced.
The Titan howled — an earth-splitting scream.
Cracks spread across its body like spiderwebs.
Stone shattered.
Molten blood sprayed in rivers.
The beast collapsed to its knees —
then fell forward, defeated.
---
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Dungeon Boss Defeated.]
[First Awakening Triggered.]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Bloodthirst.]
---
Adexander stood atop the fallen Titan's corpse, panting, his body broken but his soul on fire.
He looked down at his trembling hands, crimson light faintly swirling around them.
> "Not enough... I need MORE."
He turned toward the dark tunnel ahead —
deeper into the dungeon.
Deeper into the nightmare.
His journey had only begun.
The Crimson King…
had taken his first step back into the world.
To Be Continued ....