CHAPTER 62: CORVIN

Jack stood at the entrance to the labyrinth, his lightning-scarred spear gripped firmly in his calloused hands.

The familiar stone archway loomed before him, ancient runes pulsing with a faint magical resonance that made his skin tingle.

After everything that had happened with the dragon, after nearly dying and being reborn through lightning itself, he was finally ready to return.

’Time to get back to work,’ he thought, rolling his shoulders to work out the tension. The weight of Draven’s Pendant against his chest was a constant reminder of how far he’d come, and how much further he needed to go.

Just as he was about to step forward, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

[Labyrinth Status Update]

[Enemy Count: 15,000 (Previous: 10,247)]

[Field Boss Count: 4]

[Dungeon Instability: Rising]

Jack’s eyes widened, his grip tightening on his spear until his knuckles went white. "What the hell?" The words escaped his lips in a harsh whisper that seemed to be swallowed by the oppressive silence surrounding the dungeon entrance.

’Fifteen thousand? How did the numbers jump by almost five thousand in just a few weeks?’ His heart hammered against his ribs like a caged beast trying to break free. ’And four field bosses? There were three when I left!’

[You seem confused, Jack. Would you like an explanation?]

"You’re damn right I’m confused!" Jack’s voice boomed through the empty clearing, startling a flock of ravens from nearby trees.

CAWW!!!

CAWW!!!

Their harsh cries filled the air before they disappeared into the darkening sky. "How does a dungeon just... multiply its monsters like that?"

The system’s response came with an almost ominous weight to it, as if the very air around Jack grew heavier.

[Dungeons are not static entities. They are living, breathing wounds in reality itself. When left unattended, they grow. They fester. They become something far more dangerous than they were ever meant to be.]

Jack felt a cold chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the evening air. ’Living wounds in reality? What kind of cryptic bullshit is that supposed to mean?’

[Allow me to educate you on the true nature of dungeons, and why your family’s negligence borders on catastrophic irresponsibility.]

The words hit Jack hard. No person would ever dare speak to his family like that. His jaw clenched so hard he could hear his teeth grinding together. "Negligence? My family has protected these lands for generations!"

[Has it? Tell me, Jack Kaiser, what do you know of the Voidlands?]

Jack’s mind raced. The Voidlands... everyone knew of them. A cursed realm where demons ruled over twisted landscapes, where the very air was said to be poisonous to most living beings. But the details were always vague, shrouded in mystery and fear.

’I know they’re demon territory. It’s dangerous and off-limits to most travelers.’

[The Voidlands were not always as they are now. Three hundred years ago, they were known as the Prosperity Kingdoms. A thriving continent where demons, dwarves, humans, and countless other species lived in harmony. Great cities of crystal and stone reached toward the heavens. Markets bustled with trade from across the known world. It was, by all accounts, a paradise.]

Jack’s blood turned to ice in his veins. ’A paradise? But that would mean...’

[Yes. You begin to understand. The Voidlands are what remains after a complete dungeon break.]

The weight of those words crashed down on Jack like an avalanche. His legs nearly gave out beneath him, and he had to lean against the dungeon entrance to keep from collapsing. ’A... a complete dungeon break? You mean the entire continent was destroyed by...’

[By a single, neglected dungeon. For fifty years, the local noble family ignored their ancestral duty. They grew complacent, focusing on politics and wealth while their dungeon festered in the darkness. The monster count rose from hundreds to thousands to hundreds of thousands. The field bosses multiplied and grew stronger. And then...]

Jack could barely breathe. His chest felt like it was being crushed by an invisible weight. ’What happened?!’

[A Tyrant-class Demon Lord emerged. Not just any demon. A creature of pure malevolence that had been twisted by decades of unchecked growth within the dungeon’s depths. It broke free with an army of Sovereign and Disaster-class monsters at its command. In a single night, the Prosperity Kingdoms fell. Millions died. The few survivors fled, leaving behind only ruins and the tortured screams of the damned.]

Jack’s hand trembled as he wiped cold sweat from his forehead. The implications were staggering, terrifying beyond comprehension. ’And the good demons? The ones who lived there peacefully?’

[Slaughtered alongside everyone else, or corrupted into monstrous versions of their former selves. The Tyrant Demon Lord showed no mercy to anyone. It did not matter if you were a demon, dwarf, human, or otherwise. Evil recognizes no kinship with good, even among the same species.]

’Oh, gods,’ Jack thought, his mind reeling. ’The dragon incident... when I was recovering, when my father was dealing with the aftermath... How long were the dungeons left unattended?’

[Your family’s dungeons have gone unchecked for ten days, Jack. The signs are all there. Increased monster spawns. Multiple field bosses appearing where there should be one. The dungeon’s very structure is beginning to strain against its boundaries.]

Jack’s breath came in short, sharp gasps. Ten days. In less than two weeks, their family dungeon had gone from manageable to potentially catastrophic. "How long do we have before..."

[At current growth rates? Perhaps six months before a partial break becomes inevitable. A full break like the Voidlands? Two years, maybe three if you’re fortunate.]

The words hit Jack like thunder, reverberating through his skull. Two years. Two years before his family’s lands, could suffer the same fate as the Prosperity Kingdoms.

Jack straightened, his spine snapping rigid as steel. Lightning began to crackle unconsciously around his fingers, purple arcs dancing between his knuckles. "I need to tell my father. He needs to know about this immediately."

[Do you? And what will Lord Kaiser do with this information? Send knights? Hire adventurers? Delegate the responsibility once again while he handles ’more important’ political matters?]

The system’s words were like acid, burning away Jack’s initial impulse. Because deep down, he knew the truth. His father would do exactly that. Find someone else to handle the problem while he focused on the aftermath of the dragon attack, on rebuilding, on maintaining their family’s political standing.

’But I’m just one person,’ Jack thought desperately. ’How can I possibly handle fifteen thousand monsters and four field bosses on my own?’

[You are not the same person who fled this dungeon weeks ago, Jack Kaiser. You have slain a dragon. You have been blessed by ancient powers. You have transcended the limitations of ordinary men. This is your trial, your responsibility, your chance to prove that the Kaiser bloodline still remembers its true purpose.]

Jack closed his eyes, feeling the weight of destiny settling on his shoulders like a mantle of lead. When he opened them again, they blazed with electric determination. "You’re right. This is my duty. My family’s legacy depends on it."

He turned to look at the small black raven perched on his shoulder.

"What do you think, Corvin?" Jack asked, his voice carrying a new note of resolve. "Ready to paint this dungeon with monster blood?"

The raven’s obsidian eyes gleamed with an intelligence far beyond any normal bird. It let out a single, sharp cry.

CRAWK!!

Corvin managed to sound eager for violence.

Jack couldn’t help but grin, the expression fierce and predatory. "That’s what I like to hear."

Corvin leaped from Jack’s shoulder, his small form beginning to shimmer and expand mid-flight. Black feathers rippled and grew, wings stretching wider and wider until they cast shadows across the ground. The transformation was accompanied by a sound like rushing wind as the raven returned to his true, magnificent size.

WHOOSH!!

Where moments before had been a small raven, now stood a massive raven nearly six feet tall with a wingspan that could easily carry a grown man. His feathers were black as midnight and his talons were like curved daggers, and his beak could punch through a steel plate.

"SCRAWWWWHHH!!"

Corvin’s cry split the air like a war horn, reverberating off the dungeon walls and echoing into the depths below.

Jack felt his pulse quicken with anticipation. He vaulted onto Corvin’s back with practiced ease, settling between the powerful wings. The raven’s feathers were surprisingly warm beneath him, and he could feel the coiled strength in the creature’s muscles.

"Alright, Corvin. Let’s see what we’re dealing with."

Jack pulled up his map through the sysgem.

The map was absolutely crawling with red dots. Where before there had been scattered clusters of enemies, now the entire dungeon seemed to pulse with crimson markers. It looked like a disease spreading through veins, covering every corridor, every chamber, and every hidden alcove.

’Fifteen thousand monsters,’ Jack thought, his grip tightening on Corvin’s feathers. ’It’s like looking we’ll be fighting an infestation.’

But there, in the northwestern section of the dungeon, was a particularly dense cluster of red dots. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands, all packed together in what appeared to be a large chamber.

"There," Jack pointed toward the cluster. "Perfect testing ground. I want to see what you can really do, Corvin."

The raven’s head turned to follow Jack’s gesture, those intelligent eyes assessing the target. Then Corvin’s beak opened in what could only be described as a predatory grin.

"CRAWK!"

The sound was filled with bloodthirsty anticipation.