Zieg traveled to the North in the frontier in search of the recently discovered Ancient Dungeon using the directions he received in the mission center. Since Galvane was relatively close to the frontier, it didn’t take long. Seeing the brown and barren wasteland, he was hit with a wave of nostalgia by the memories of his past life.

Along the way, he noticed that someone was tailing him, but choose to ignore it because he didn’t sense any killing intent from them.

He saw a burrow in the ground, the entrance to the ancient dungeon, and headed inside.

What entered his sights when he walked into the dungeon was a gruesome scene. Inside the entrance of the dungeon, the floor was drenched in blood and the scattered body parts of many races, most of them being demons.

(So the demons also discovered the dungeon and sent people in to explore it) Zieg surmised.

There were glowing green stones embedded in the walls that slightly illuminated the dungeon.

Zieg examined the remains of the bodies. The bodies were mangled, and had claw and bite marks all over them. He was put on alert when he sensed the presence of someone else heading his way.

A battered man wearing ragged and ripped clothing, bleeding with wounds and bite marks all over his body slowly limped over to the exit where Zieg stood. He was so heavily injured that even some chunks of his flesh were missing. Zieg almost didn’t recognize the person from his memory.

“Hope?! Pal! What are you doing here?! You need to leave, now! This place is dangerous! I barely made it back here!” the injured man warned in his panic.

“Mors? I’m here on a mission, why are you here?” Zieg answered and asked in surprise. Although he asked the question, he already had an inkling as to the reason why.

“Julius took each of us into a different Ancient Dungeon and left us there. He said he’d only teach us if we made it back out alive. Fuckin’ crazy!” Mors managed in-between his panting.

“I’m out of here, I can’t stand another minute in this hell hole. Whatever your mission is bro, just give it up,” Mors said, and dragged himself out of the dungeon.

“Wait! What kind of monsters did you see in here?” Zieg questioned the departing figure.

“Wolves,” Mors said solemnly without looking back. He had already exited the dungeon.

Zieg prepared his weapon and delved further into the dungeon. He saw less and less corpses the farther he got into the dungeon. Advancing, he began seeing the corpses of white wolves mixed among the deceased when he sensed a presence rapidly approaching him and got into a stance. A white wolf that was his size lunged at him with open jaws. Just before the wolf was able to bite into him, he dodged by hopping and piercing his sword directly downwards. The wolf was pinned by the sword to the ground at his snout. Zieg quickly killed the wolf and headed deeper.

Along the way he dispatched a legion of wolves until he finally saw another hole leading deeper. Beyond the hole he felt an enormous pressure, and thought that this was the end of the dungeon. He knew that there was a high chance of dying if he went, but there was no other way for him to gain new abilities and insights unless he took risks. He steeled himself and went inside.

What greeted him upon his entry was a wide space, and a resting wolf.

“WHY HATH THOU COME HERE, HUMAN? WHY HATH THOU INVADED MINE DEN?” asked the largest wolf that Zieg had ever seen. It leisurely picked itself up.

(It can speak… An immortal beast…) Zieg thought with worry.

The size of the wolf was comparable to the size of a full-grown dragon. The wolf’s eyes were a bluish silver, and its radiant silver fur stood out amidst the darkness of the dungeon.

“I am The Demon King Zieg,” Zieg stated.

A drop of sweat trailed down his face and dripped off his chin. He knew that the chances of surviving an encounter with any immortal were very slim and almost non-existent in his current state, even an encounter with the weakest of ones. It would be a struggle for his life, and he may not even have the power to fight back.

“A HUMAN WHOM FANCIES THYSELF DEMON? AMUSING. THOU MAY REFER TO ME AS YASHAO, THE KING OF WOLVES. THOU SHALT BECOME FOOD FOR MINE FAMILY,” Yashao declared.

The King of Wolves Yashao. He had just recently become an immortal, and in the search of a new lair and territory for his pack, had taken over an Ancient Dungeon with his newly obtained power. Yashao’s flurry of activity was then noticed by others and led to the discovery of the Ancient Dungeon. These were the circumstances that prompted a variety of races to explore and scout the dungeon.

Zieg’s instincts were screaming at him to flee. He was preparing his escape when Yashao brought his head up.

“UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” he howled in all his fury and anguish. The roar shook the entire dungeon. Blood dripped from Zieg’s ears due to the piercing howl. He was unsure if it was the floor or his vision that was vibrating.

Faster than Zieg could react, Yashao approached him and made a side swipe with one of his paws, creating large gashes on Zieg’s chest. Zieg’s sword was blown to the side, and his entire body was flung backwards, his back crashing heavily into the wall of the dungeon. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and he coughed up blood. Zieg fell to the floor and struggled to stand back up. In his blurred vision, he saw Yashao slowly lifting up one of his paws.

(I can’t die like this… Not until I kill all of them...) Zieg thought. His past life flashed before his eyes. Yashao’s paw was brought down, and Zieg closed his eyes.

Time seemed to slow down.

He prepared himself for death.

Instead of the sound of flesh being torn apart, there was a sharp sound of clashing metal.

The presence that had tracked him here all the way from Galvane.

“A DEMON?” Yashao asked in his surprise.

Opening his eyes, Zieg saw that a figure stood in front of him. The figure wore a badge with the number “5.” They were wrapped in bandages and was blocking Yashao’s downward swipe by holding their forearms equipped with bladed gauntlets above them. Both of her arms were being crushed under the force. The blow was so heavy that her feet was slowly being dug into the ground, creating two holes.

“Again… See it again…” Alcantis mumbled, “I need to experience that feeling one more time!” she shouted.

Zieg was confused.

“Fear!” she shouted.

Zieg shakily stood from behind her and began to activate his ability, “Despair Aura!” he shouted.

Yashao brushed it off. He didn’t feel anything. He didn’t fear something of that level. The only thing it did was anger him.

“WHAT DOST THOU KNOW OF DESPAIR?!” he shouted and pushed down harder with his paw. The force was unbearable, and Alcantis was expending nearly all her mana by reinforcing her arms just to withstand it.

“I know,” she smiled.

Although the aura didn’t mean anything to Yashao, Alcantis was being flooded with information when she felt the aura behind her. In her mind, she saw an otherworldly white and divine closed door slowly beginning to open.

As her arms broke under the weight, she narrowly avoided the paw by dodging to the side. The paw shattered the earth beneath it and generated a quake when it hit the ground.

Alcantis stood next to Yashao’s extended leg with both her arms hanging broken to her sides, and whispered, “Worldbreaking technique: Terror Realm.”

The blades of her gauntlets was covered with a dark violet aura. Unlike Zieg’s Despair Aura, that aura felt serene and calmed those that bore witness to it. She flailed her broken arm at Yashao’s extended leg. The blade enveloped in the purple aura cut into Yashao’s leg. It was a light cut. The attack had no force behind it. It was barely a scratch, and it wouldn’t physically bother Yashao in the least given his size.

After cutting him, Alcantis fainted from her overuse of mana.

Time froze.

The surroundings around Yashao became completely pitch-black. Then, he saw his pack. His family. Father, mother, sisters, brothers. They were being slain before his eyes. Repeatedly. Hunted and skinned by both humans and demons. Repeatedly. Over and over again. He saw the scene thousands of times. Scenes of the past, some that he never even knew happened. No matter how a vision started, it all ended the same: with their deaths. He tried to close his eyes, to look away, but he was unable to.

Yashao couldn’t tell how much time had passed. His will had long been broken by the visions and the abyss. The solitude.

Yashao was in that dimension for a thousand years, experiencing an endless nightmare.

He had grown strong in order to protect his pack. He had become an immortal for the sake of his family.

Time started again.

Alcantis’ Worldbreaking technique “Terror Realm,” drags the consciousness of all those cut and injured into a special plane of existence. A void where their greatest fears are made manifest. Wishing to die, but being unable to. They experience it repeatedly for a thousand years in that plane of existence before being released. A thousand years in that dimension is a single second in reality. All the emotions the victim experienced within the one-thousand years are condensed into a single second and felt all at once.

Tears fell from Yashao’s eyes. His previously clear blue-silver eyes became hazy. He was still living, but was no longer alive. He was just a husk of his former self. A living corpse.

(All I hath wished for was to… protect mine family…) a voice entered into Zieg’s head.

Yashao stopped breathing. He had chosen to die. In his millennial nightmare, he saw all those he had wished to protect being slain. They were repeated scenes of the past and present. This meant that he was the only one left in reality as well. His reason for living, reason for having grown strong was gone. Yashao’s body became particles of white lights.

(He was the same as me) Zieg thought while he brought his hands together in prayer.

The white lights swirled around Zieg’s body and enveloped him in it. Yashao’s will had been passed onto Zieg. His desire to protect the ones he had cared for. Zieg began to understand. He didn’t need to sacrifice himself to achieve his goals. He had an insight, different from his first. The contour of a wolf appeared in his mind. He heard a cracking, and an internal barrier breaking. He had entered the A tier.

Elsewhere, a lone immortal had just exited an Ancient Dungeon. The immortal with white hair wore a badge with the number “1,” on his chest.