Intro: Fight Against the Gloom Serpent

  Light didn’t dare tread here.

  The Shadowed Realm Forest was a cathedral of nightmares. Towering obsidian trees clawed at a starless sky, their branches woven into a canopy so dense it smothered even the memory of daylight. The air hung heavy—a stagnant broth of rotting leaves and iron-rich soil, every breath tasting of mortality. Two weeks I’d endured this place. Two weeks of scrambling through perpetual twilight, my palms bloodied from climbing moss-slick rocks, my throat raw from swallowing screams when the things in the dark got too close.

  Survival had carved itself into my bones. I’d learned to track the faint bioluminescent fungi that clung to tree trunks like diseased lace. To distinguish between the harmless skittering of ash-rats and the predatory click of a Stalker’s talons. And above all, to never linger after a kill. ?Yet hunger had clawed at my gut louder than caution today. The Shadow Goat’s meat, bitter and fibrous, was still preferable to the hallucinogenic berries that had nearly stopped my heart three days prior.?

  I knelt now, skinning the goat with a jagged flint blade, its fur dissolving into wisps of smoke where my knife met flesh. The System’s notification flickered at the edge of my vision, ignored:

  [Butchery Proficiency: +0.1%]

  A twig snapped.

  Not the brittle pop of wind or settling rot. This sound was deliberate—predatory. The forest’s ambient whispers died as if the darkness itself held its breath. My hand froze mid-cut. The prickling at my nape sharpened into ice, spreading down my spine.

  Move. Now.

  ?Memories flashed—the Duskfang Bear’s roar, its claws raking my thigh as I’d scrambled up a tree. The way its eyes had glinted with sentient malice. This forest didn’t harbor beasts; it bred sentinels.?

  I tossed the half-skinned carcass behind me and spun, boots slipping on mulch. The Gloom Serpent rose from the shadows like a nightmare given form. Twenty feet of undulating muscle, its scales drank the faint light, shimmering between bruise-purple and the void between stars. Lidless eyes burned with sickly phosphorescence, pupils slit like fractures in a cursed mirror. Its tongue flicked, tasting my fear.

  [Alert: Gloom Serpent (Tier-1 Shadowbeast) – Venom Classification: Soulbane]

  ?The System’s warning pulsed crimson in my mind. Soulbane. A single scratch would unravel my essence, leave me a hollow puppet for the Wraithlord’s brood. I’d seen it happen to a fox last week—its body convulsing as shadows poured from its mouth, eyes bleeding into black voids.?

  The goat’s carcass hit the ground with a wet thud. The serpent struck faster than thought, jaws unhinging to swallow the offering whole. For a heartbeat, I dared to hope—then those glowing eyes locked onto me again. Venom dripped from curved fangs, smoking where it kissed the earth.

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  Running’s death. Fight or fade.

  I exhaled sharply, activating [Battle Sense]. The world sharpened. Colors bled to monochrome, edges crisp as shattered glass. My racing heart stilled; fear became a distant murmur. The System’s cold logic flooded my veins, and I welcomed it.

  ?The skill wasn’t perfect. It couldn’t outthink a predator born of shadow, but it could turn my terror into equations—calculate the angle of its lunge, the torque of my swing. I’d honed it scavenging Stalker corpses, practicing on their lifeless limbs until the motions felt less like survival and more like art.?

  The bone greatsword slid free from its harness with a whisper like grinding teeth. Forged from the ribs of the Duskfang Bear I’d barely survived in Week One, the blade pulsed with a darkness that made my teeth ache. Its edge drank the scant light, humming with a hunger that mirrored my own.

  The serpent struck.

  I met its lunge with the sword’s crossguard raised, muscles screaming as fangs screeched against bone. The impact hurled me backward—five feet, ten—boots carving furrows in the loam. My arms trembled, but [Battle Sense] held the pain at bay. The serpent recoiled, tail whipping sideways in a blurred crescent. I dropped into a crouch, the spiked tail grazing my scalp as it sheared through a sapling behind me.

  It’s toying with you.

  ?The realization cut deeper than any fang. This wasn’t hunger—it was sport. The forest tested its prey, culling the weak for its master. My grip tightened on the sword. Not today.?

  The beast melted into the shadows, leaving no trace but the reek of spoiled amber. I pressed a palm to the soil, activating [Earth Sense]. Mana trickled from my core, threading through roots and stones. Nothing. No vibration, no heat—

  Left!

  I pivoted, sword cleaving air as the serpent’s tail lashed out again. Too slow. Stone shards erupted from the ground at my hissed command—[Earth Shield]—but the barrier crumpled like parchment. The tail struck my ribs. Agony detonated as I crashed into a tree, bark splintering beneath me.

  [Health: 67% | Mana: 12/100]

  ?The numbers flashed, clinical and cruel. My mind raced—Mana potion? Useless. Drank the last one yesterday. The serpent loomed, triumph in its alien gaze. I spat blood, grip tightening on the sword. Not like this.?

  [Earth Sense] flared one final time, mana scraping my veins raw. There—a tremor beneath my boots. I rolled as the serpent erupted from the earth, maw gaping. The greatsword sang as I swung, its darkness flaring like a dying star.

  The blade bit deep.

  Black ichor geysered, sizzling where it splattered my jerkin. The serpent’s shriek pierced my skull—a sound like glass dragged over bone. It writhed, but I charged, driving the sword downward. The edge found its eye, plunging through gelatinous orb and into the brain beneath.

  Silence.

  The serpent collapsed, body dissolving into shadow and oily residue. A chime rang in my mind:

  [Victory! +15 Shadow Essence | Gloom Serpent Trophy (Venom Gland x2) Added to Inventory]

  ?I stared at the fading corpse. Essence. The System’s currency, its cruel joke. I’d burned through my initial allotment days ago—mending wounds, purging toxins. Now, with every kill, I wondered: Who’s harvesting whom??

  I slumped against a tree, lungs heaving. The sword’s hunger faded, leaving my hands numb. Around me, the forest whispered again, indifferent.

  Stronger. But not strong enough.

  ?My fingers brushed the vial of serpent venom now stored in my inventory. Soulbane. A weapon or a bargaining chip? The Ebon Wraithlord’s servants prized such trinkets. Maybe this was a step toward answers—toward understanding why I’d been ripped from my world and dumped here.?

  Somewhere deeper in the gloom, something ancient stirred. ?A low, resonant hum vibrated through the soil, deeper than sound. The trees themselves seemed to lean inward, their branches curling like claws. The forest was watching. Judging.?

  I pushed myself upright, sheathing the sword. The battle had bought me time, not safety.