Sovereign of Shadows

Kieran Voss struggled to control his breathing as he trailed behind the group. It had been less than half an hour since they entered the dungeon, yet the other members had already forgotten about him. As an F-rank hunter, he was the weakest link in the team, and everyone knew it. But what hurt the most was that he knew it too. His eyes stayed fixed on the ground, each step deepening the suffocating darkness that gnawed at his senses.

"Hey, F-rank! Don’t fall asleep back there!" A mocking voice rang out. The speaker was Hunter Derek, one of the higher-ranked members of the party who had insisted on pushing deeper into the dungeon. A B-rank hunter, he particularly enjoyed picking on Kieran.

"I’m here," Kieran muttered through clenched teeth. He had grown used to this treatment, but being used to it didn’t mean he accepted it. He swallowed his growing frustration and kept moving forward.

The group soon encountered their first enemies: silver-fanged wolves. Fast and vicious, but nothing too dangerous for a team made up of C and B-rank hunters. However, for Kieran, even a single wolf could be lethal. He pressed his back against a rock, watching as the others fought. He wanted to fight too, but they didn’t need him. More accurately, they didn’t want to need him.

Within minutes, the wolves were slain, and the hunters let out relieved breaths. Yet, something felt off. The air had become heavier, the darkness in the dungeon growing denser by the second. Shadows coiled unnaturally around the walls, and faint tremors rippled through the ground. Kieran’s instincts screamed at him.

"This... isn’t a normal dungeon!" the team leader, Ethan, shouted. His voice wavered with uncertainty. Just then, the dungeon seemed to breathe, its walls shifting unnaturally. From the swirling darkness, a figure emerged. In that moment, everything changed.

An overwhelming pressure filled the chamber. A colossal, ominous presence loomed before them, exuding an aura of pure darkness. Shadows writhed around it like living tendrils, shifting and whispering.

"The Shadow God..." Kieran whispered, his eyes widening in shock. His heart pounded wildly, though he wasn’t sure if it was from fear—or something else.

And in that moment, Kieran’s life would change forever...