CHAPTER 36: DEAD?!

He might have mana jet, but Leon knew the sky didn’t belong to him. It belonged to this thing. In the air, the bird had too much freedom, too much speed, too many angles. The land, though? The land was where humans thrived. His legs were meant for standing, running, dodging—not flying.

But he had underestimated its speed.

Way too much.

Before he even touched the ground, two obsidian claws lashed through the sky like streaks of lightning and grabbed him mid-air.

They clamped down on his head.

Hard.

Part of his face and his eyes were now pressed against those metallic talons—he couldn’t even struggle properly. And then it hit him—

That smell.

It was like rotting flesh mixed with burned feathers and acid. It made him gag, but there was no time to focus on that. His life was in danger.

And the beast carried him as easily as one might lift a leaf. He felt weightless in its grasp, helpless. He looked down at the sheer span of its wings—over ten meters long, each feather stiff and edged like blades. This was no ordinary raven. This was a monster in every sense of the word.

If anyone was watching from afar, they would see an enormous, mutated raven gliding through the air with a small human in its claws. It would’ve almost looked ridiculous...

Except the ’fish’ dangling from its grip was Leon, and the predator was a three-headed demon bird.

Leon’s body was drenched in sweat. His shirt clung to his skin like glue. He was sweating so much, he could almost swear his clothes alone carried ten liters of liquid.

Then, without warning, he felt something sharp and cold brush his left arm.

Before he could react—CRUNCH.

"AAAAARGHHHH!!"

A scream tore through the sky and echoed across the hollow dungeon.

A chunk of his flesh had been ripped clean off.

Blood spurted wildly from his arm, painting the beast’s claws red.

The pain was maddening.

Leon howled again, tears stinging his eyes. He had never felt this level of agony since the moment he awakened his system. His mind reeled in a spiral of panic.

And yet...

He forced himself to think.

In the midst of this living nightmare, he decided to meditate.

Not in the usual way.

He couldn’t sit.

He couldn’t cross his legs.

But he didn’t need to.

He shut his eyes, calmed his breathing as best he could while flying through the air like prey... and tried to think.

He had regrets.

He chose this.

He’d seen the warning. He’d known the risk. His system and his instincts both screamed at him... and still he’d chosen to face this.

Maybe... maybe he shouldn’t have.

But then again... the system said he had a 55% chance. It wouldn’t lie. That meant there had to be a way. There had to be.

But what chilled him the most... this beast had yet to use Berserk. And even now, without it, Leon couldn’t even fight back.

How strong will it become... when it does?

This wasn’t a fair fight.

This was slaughter.

How would he escape?

How would he fight something that defied logic?

How do you defeat something that doesn’t just dominate the sky, but also your will to resist?

He was drenched—blood and sweat mingled—as if he’d just gone through a ritual.

A crimson baptism.

The pain surged through him like molten lava. It was unbearable, primal. It tried to consume him whole, break him apart, but Leon didn’t stop. He couldn’t.

He fought the pain with focus, with every ounce of willpower he had left.

Only through meditation could he still his heart... clear his mind, think... and survive.

But even that was being taken from him, second by second...

The dungeon echoed with his occasional grunts, the sound of pain bouncing off the silent stone walls like a grim reminder of his struggle.

Is this how it ends?

Was he really supposed to die... here? In a dungeon that he owned?

The System had been utterly silent throughout the fight—cold, distant. Not a single whisper from the crystal that once never left his thoughts alone. From that, Leon had already guessed the truth: the crystal was restricted during the death match.

Ever since he first entered this place, the crystal had spoken in riddles, dropping hints and saying strange things that barely made sense. He always knew there was more to this system than it let on. Its origins... they were far beyond what he could comprehend right now.

And now? Now it was just him. Alone. In pain.

Suddenly, the Raven bent forward again, like a predator savoring its prey. But this time, it wasn’t just here to eat—it wanted to speak.

Leon didn’t have time to prepare.

"AAAAARGHHHH!!" he screamed in raw agony as another searing flash of pain tore through his body like fire ripping through paper.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

[Why did you kill my clan? What did they ever do to you!?]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

A system prompt hovered in front of Leon’s broken, sweat-soaked face.

He blinked through the blur of tears and blood, stunned.

A message?

The Raven... was talking?

He felt a flicker of hope—maybe, just maybe, he could negotiate. Maybe there was still a chance, slim as it might be. The pain was pushed to the back of his mind. He focused, channeled his thoughts, and replied.

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Leon: [...]

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Leon remained silent, the raven was obviously not going to let him go no matter what he says so why bother.

The Raven scoffed at his silence, its talons tightening their grip.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

[You should have never harmed a feather of them. For that alone, you’ll pay.

For forcing my son to crawl to me in desperation.

For killing all the Raven-kind in this dungeon...

YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE.]

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

The fury behind those words was undeniable. Not just anger—vengeance. And Leon understood in that instant: he’d lost any hope of mercy. This wasn’t just a fight anymore. This was punishment.

┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓

[DIE!!!!!!!]

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