The dungeon was quiet now, the eerie silence settling in after the chaos. Raon stood over the slain Demon Lord's massive body, his chest still rising and falling with the adrenaline of the fight. The air was thick with the remnants of the dark energy he had unleashed, but as he looked around, it became clear: they had survived.
Jae-Hyun, barely standing after the fight, took a deep breath and slowly approached him. His face was pale, but there was something else in his eyes—something like admiration, mixed with fear.
"Raon…" Jae-Hyun's voice was trembling. "What… what the hell happened back there? You killed a Demon Lord. You were moving like… like a completely different person."
Raon didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted over the vast, twisted dungeon, now strangely calm in the wake of their battle.
He could feel it. The Abyss. It was calling him, pulling at him with a force he could barely resist. And yet, it was still too soon to understand it fully. The power, the darkness—it was all too much, too overwhelming.
"I've changed."
He felt the weight of the transformation in every bone, every fiber of his being.
Raon had once been the weak, E-Rank hunter. He had been a failure—someone who had barely scraped by, someone people overlooked. But now? Now, he felt the power surging within him, the power to dominate. He could feel the Abyss flowing through him, embracing him, feeding him. But with it came a price—a gnawing emptiness, a sense that he was losing more of himself with each passing moment.
Jae-Hyun took a tentative step forward. "Raon… you're scaring me. You're not the same. And I don't think I can keep up with you anymore."
Raon's eyes turned to him, and for the briefest moment, he saw a flicker of the boy he used to be—a normal person, someone with doubts and fears. But the Abyss within him didn't allow for weakness. He pushed the feeling aside and returned his gaze to the dungeon's entrance.
"We need to leave," Raon said, his voice cold.
Jae-Hyun stared at him, confusion and fear written all over his face. "What do you mean 'we need to leave?' We just killed the Demon Lord! You've got this… this power now. You can handle anything."
Raon shook his head. "No. I've barely scratched the surface of what's coming. The Abyss… this power… it's too much. I need to get out of here."
The words hung in the air like a warning.
Jae-Hyun swallowed hard, but then nodded. "Alright. We'll leave. But what happens next?"
Raon didn't answer immediately. His mind was racing. He had come into this dungeon expecting to die—but instead, he had come out stronger than he ever could've imagined. The Abyss Walker. He had no idea what that truly meant, but he knew one thing for sure: his life had changed.
And that change would never go back.
The dungeon's walls seemed to pulse as they made their way back through the dark corridors. Every shadow felt like a whisper, like it was watching them. But Raon couldn't shake the feeling that he was being drawn deeper—pulled into a world that he hadn't fully understood yet. The Abyss. It had given him power, but at what cost?
He had felt the hunger when he killed the Demon Lord—the dark energy that surged through him, the satisfaction of destruction. It had been intoxicating. And even now, after leaving the dungeon, it lingered.
"I can't ignore this power. But what if it consumes me? What if it's too much to control?"
The idea of losing himself to the Abyss was terrifying, but it wasn't enough to make him walk away from it. Power like this didn't come without sacrifices. He understood that now. And what's more—he didn't want to stop.
It was like a part of him had been awakened—a part that had always been there, buried beneath the surface. The part of him that could never be the weak, powerless man he once was.
But at what cost?
Jae-Hyun walked beside him, quiet for the most part, but Raon could sense the uncertainty in his presence. He could feel it in the way Jae-Hyun would glance at him, like he wasn't sure if he should be standing next to the monster that had just killed a Demon Lord in a heartbeat.
The exit to the dungeon finally came into view. The light of the outside world beckoned them, the contrast between the dark, suffocating depths of the dungeon and the bright, warm sunlight blinding them for a moment.
As they stepped out into the open air, Raon felt a strange sense of relief. He had made it out, and yet, the Abyss was still there, a shadow hanging over him, following him. He could feel its presence—constant, unyielding.
The world outside had changed too.
He wasn't the same person anymore. And though the feeling of power was still fresh, there was a gnawing emptiness growing within him. The shadows weren't just part of his power—they were becoming a part of him, inside him.
Raon had entered the dungeon a broken, insignificant hunter. Now, he was something else.
The journey ahead wasn't going to be simple. There were other dungeons out there, far more dangerous than the one they had just left. And with each new battle, his power would continue to grow. But so would the Abyss that was consuming him.
And the price of that power?
Raon didn't know yet. But he was ready to find out.