Chapter 19: Inside the city
Cruz's footsteps echoed hollowly on the cracked and broken pavement as he made his way deeper into the dilapidated city. The crumbling buildings around him stood like the skeletal remains of a once-thriving metropolis, their windows shattered and walls stained with the dark remnants of blood long dried. Shadows clung to the corners of every street, twisting and writhing as if they were alive, watching him from the darkness.
The air was thick with a sense of foreboding, and Cruz couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Every now and then, he glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see a pair of gleaming eyes or the flicker of movement in the shadows. But there was nothing. Only silence. The eerie kind that settled over places long forgotten, where death and despair had taken root.
Despite the unnerving atmosphere, Cruz pressed on. He had been through worse—survived horrors that would break most men. But this city… it was different. It was alive in its own way, pulsing with an energy that made his skin crawl. He could feel it in the earth beneath his feet, in the walls of the buildings that loomed over him. The city was awake, and it was watching him.
He kept his Earth Sense active, the skill allowing him to feel the subtle vibrations in the ground as he walked. Every tremor, every shift of dirt or debris, painted a picture in his mind. It wasn't much, but it gave him an edge—enough to avoid being caught off guard like he had been with the Shadow Assassin. He couldn't afford another ambush, not when his energy was still recovering.
The visions came and went as he moved, flashes of the past overlapping with the ruined city before him. In one moment, he saw children playing in the streets, their laughter echoing through the alleyways. In another, he saw people going about their lives, bustling through markets, chatting at street corners. And then, the vision would twist—blood splattering the ground, screams tearing through the air as creatures from beyond the gates descended upon them, slaughtering everyone in their path.
He shuddered. It was as though the city itself was forcing him to witness its final moments, making him feel the weight of its history. This place had once been alive, vibrant. Now, it was a graveyard, haunted by the ghosts of its past.
Cruz paused at a street corner, crouching low as he surveyed the area. The city had been devastated by some kind of battle—one that left no survivors. Buildings were gutted, and the streets were littered with debris. He could make out dark, dried pools of blood smeared across the cracked concrete. Whatever had happened here, it hadn't been quick. The city had been torn apart, piece by piece.
He glanced at the towering structure that lay ahead—the heart of the city. It was a massive, cathedral-like building, its once-grand architecture now decayed and broken. The spire at its center reached toward the gloomy sky, casting a long shadow over the surrounding area. This was where he needed to go. He didn't know how he knew, but something was pulling him there. It was as if the city itself was guiding him.
His Earth Sense tingled at the edge of his awareness. Something was wrong.
Cruz stopped, focusing on the vibrations around him. They were faint but distinct—footsteps, and not his own. He stood still, concentrating, trying to discern the direction they were coming from. The rhythm of the steps was slow and deliberate. Someone, or something, was following him.
He didn't have to wait long to find out what.
A low, guttural growl rumbled through the air, sending a shiver down his spine. Cruz's hand instinctively moved to his spear his fingers tightening around the shaft of the Obsidian Spear. He kept his movements slow, careful, as he turned to face the source of the sound.
A figure emerged from the shadows, its form barely human. It stood hunched, its long arms dragging along the ground as it moved. Its skin was a sickly gray, stretched thin over its bones, and its eyes glowed with an unnatural light. The creature's mouth was filled with jagged teeth, stained with dried blood.
Cruz recognized it immediately as [identify] continued to rise in proficiency it instinctively activated.
Wraith Hound
Level: 12
Stats:
Strength: 20
Agility: 22
Endurance: 16
Toughness: 14
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 10
Vitality: 18
—a monstrous predator known for hunting in the dark, feeding off the fear of its prey. This one looked stronger, more dangerous. he thanked god this time he didn't get an overpowered creature like last time.
The Wraithhound let out another growl, baring its teeth as it stalked closer. Its eyes were locked on Cruz, hunger and malice radiating from them. Cruz shifted his stance, readying himself for a fight. He couldn't afford to let this creature get the upper hand.
The creature lunged, its movements faster than Cruz anticipated. He barely had time to dodge as it swiped at him with its long claws, the air whistling as they cut through the space where he had just stood. Cruz retaliated with a swift strike from his spear as he deflected the claws while aiming for the creature's exposed side.
The Wraithhound howled in pain as the spear pierced through its flesh, dark blood spilling onto the ground. But it didn't stop. If anything, the wound only seemed to enrage it further. It snarled, lunging at Cruz again, its claws flashing in the dim light.
[Spectral Bite]
A ghostly bite that ignores most physical armor, directly damaging the target's life force.
Cruz ducked under its next attack, his body moving on instinct but that was futile as the bite made it through his makeshift pants and upto his thigh as he used the butt end of the spear to hit it as it yanked a piece of his flesh, he dodged another attack his agility had increased significantly since acquiring the Silence Boots, and he used that to his advantage, slipping past the creature's strikes and landing a series of quick, precise blows. Each time his daggers found their mark, the Wraithhound grew more erratic, its movements becoming wild and uncoordinated.
But it was still fast. Too fast.
The creature spun, catching Cruz off guard with a backhand swipe that sent him tumbling across the ground.
He felt the impact as his body slammed into the crumbled remains of a wall, the breath knocked out of him.
[Shadow Prowl]
The Wraith Hound blends into the shadows, becoming almost invisible and immune to basic detection methods until it attacks.
His vision blurred for a moment, and pain flared up in his ribs and blood dripped from his thigh
The Wraithhound didn't waste any time. It was on him in an instant, its jaws snapping at his face. Cruz barely managed to roll out of the way, the creature's teeth grazing his shoulder. He winced, feeling the sting of the bite, but he pushed through the pain. He couldn't afford to stop now.
In a desperate move, Cruz activated Shadow Meld. His form shimmered, blending with the darkness as he became partially invisible. The Wraithhound snarled in confusion, its eyes darting around as it searched for him.
Cruz used the momentary distraction to his advantage. He moved silently, positioning himself behind the creature. With a burst of speed, used [Shadow Thrust] blending into the shadow world and appeared behind the hound and thrusting the spear while pouring in a huge amount of mana two spear shadows appeared and pierced into the back of the Wraithhound's neck, severing its spine.
The creature let out a final, pitiful howl before collapsing to the ground, its body twitching once before going still. Cruz stood over it, panting heavily, blood dripping from the wound on his shoulder.
He had won, but barely.
Cruz wiped the blood from his pear as it vibrated with joy and its pungent bloody smell made it more sinister he took a moment to catch his breath. His body ached from the fight, but he couldn't stop now.
[defeated wraith hound]
[Gained 500EXP]
the hound though a hard fight didn't give him much, Turns out that without using [descent of primus], the rewards and difficulty of the dungeon remain the same as before. his vitality kicked in and healed his thigh but he still waited for a while for his body to return to prime state wondering to himself why he was working this hard, and as he remembered his sick mother outside and his sister he gradually gathered his thoughts as he calmly woke up
The city was still calling to him, pulling him toward its heart. Whatever answers he sought, they were waiting for him inside that cathedral-like building.
He recalled his spear to his mind space and started walking again, his steps more cautious this time. The Wraithhound had been a warning—a reminder that this city wasn't as empty as it seemed. There were things here, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. He avoided countless creatures that he saw. He would think about fighting them, but then, remembering how he never came out unscathed from a fight, he gave up on that.
As he approached the towering structure at the center of the city, Cruz felt a strange sensation wash over him. The air grew colder, and the sense of being watched intensified. He could hear faint whispers on the wind, voices that seemed to come from all around him, yet from nowhere at all.
The entrance to the building was a massive set of double doors, their wood rotted and splintered. Cruz hesitated for a moment, his hand resting on the door. Something about this place felt… wrong. It was as if the very walls were alive, humming with a dark energy that made his skin crawl.