Creating A Succubus Army In A Fantasy World!-Chapter 80: Rift Exploration! (10) [Bonus]

[Part 2/10 Of Castle Mass Release! Shout out to the Darkone33 for the amazing gift!]

The cavern was gone.

No more jagged stone walls. No more pathways. No more echoes of footsteps or panicked voices.

There was only magma.

The once-expansive cave had been swallowed whole by a crimson sea of molten rock, filling every crevice, every gap, every possible space until there was nothing left.

The heat shimmered violently, waves of liquid fire shifting in slow, ominous rolls, stretching infinitely in every direction.

The air was thick, suffocating, carrying the dense scent of burnt minerals and something almost metallic, like charred iron.

And then, silence.

A deep, haunting stillness settled over the burning abyss, as if time itself had paused to witness the devastation.

Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. The world had been erased in fire, leaving behind only this endless, hellish void.

And beneath the sea of flames, Creed was still alive.

The moment the magma touched his skin, it was not searing heat that overwhelmed him first.

It was something far, far worse.

A tremendous, mind-shattering impact tore through his psyche, an earthquake of the soul so violent that his entire consciousness cracked.

His thoughts exploded. His emotions collapsed. And in the void left behind, something else took its place.

Rage.

Unrelenting. Unforgiving. Uncontrollable.

An overpowering flood of hatred, fury, and destruction rushed into him, so consuming, so pure, that his very existence began to distort.

His mind became nothing but a storm of red, his every thought drowned out by a singular, primal instinct.

Kill.

Kill.

KILL!

It wasn’t a choice. It wasn’t a command.

It was a law.

His hands twitched, his muscles spasmed, and before he could even think of resisting, his entire being began to unravel.

His humanity, his sanity, all of it was crumbling, fading, disappearing.

Somewhere, buried deep within the madness, he could faintly sense that Lilith and Tierra had vanished into the tattoo on his chest, their presence slipping away just before the magma devoured them.

But that fact felt so distant. Everything felt distant at that moment. Even his own self.

His thoughts slowed drastically. His memories blurred even more and soon, he could no longer even remember his own name.

He was just floating.

Suspended in the magma, drifting aimlessly, as if his very soul had been detached from his body.

He was nothing. Nothing but a husk, a remnant, a being that existed only to rage.

And then...

A flash.

A bright, piercing light erupted in the darkness, shocking his mind awake.

[System Notification!]

[Primordial Summons have returned to core state.]

[Activating: Empowerment.]

In an instant—

BOOM!

A violent, surging force blasted through his consciousness, like a dam breaking open, flooding his mind with an overwhelming shockwave of clarity.

It was Lilith and Tierra.

Their mental energy surged into him like a crashing storm, shaking his very soul, forcefully dragging him back from the abyss.

For the first time in his life, he felt something truly insane. He was connected to his summons.

Not just through the system. Not just through a bond, he was literally one with them.

They had become one!

And in that instant, their memories became his.

Flashes of unfamiliar places, emotions that weren’t his, sensations that didn’t belong to him poured into his mind.

But one place—one image—kept repeating itself.

An apocalyptic prison.

A realm of shattered ruins, frozen in eternal twilight, where colossal purple chains stretched infinitely across the sky.

At the very center of this forsaken landscape was a being.

A woman.

Her body was impossibly divine, her skin pale like moonlight, her long silver hair cascading over the stone floor like a waterfall.

She was chained down.

Her wrists, her ankles, her very existence was bound, sealed by the endless, nightmarish chains that pulsed with a terrifying power.

And then she opened her eyes.

A pair of glowing, piercing irises locked onto Creed’s soul, and in that instant, his mind ruptured!

BOOM!

The force of her gaze alone was too much for him. His body convulsed violently and his mouth opened in a silent scream.

Blood erupted from his lips, spilling into the magma, mixing into the crimson abyss.

But with that, Creed was fully awake. His consciousness fully snapped back.

His eyes were burning, his body ached and his mind was barely holding together, but he was alive.

Barely.

What... the hell was that?!

His breathing was ragged, uneven. His hands trembled as he tried to process the terrifying sight he had just witnessed in Lilith and Tierra’s minds.

But now was not the time. He needed to get out of here. His face turned toward the sealed door leading to the next layer.

It was shut tight already. The portal leading outside was also gone.

There was no escape.

No way out.

Creed’s chest tightened with a sinking, paralyzing realization; he was trapped in this endless, burning hellscape, with no way forward, no way backward, no chance of survival.

His breath hitched. His heart pounded.

For the first time in a short time, true despair crept into his soul. He gritted his teeth, swam through the hot magma and slammed his fist against the invisible force blocking the door.

BANG!

Nothing.

He struck it again.

BANG! frёeωebɳovel.com

Still nothing.

He unleashed a Thunderclap Orb.

BOOM!

Not even a scratch.

His breathing grew heavier. His knuckles turned white. Was this it? Was this where his story ended?

Was he just supposed to wait here until the magma finally consumed him?!

No.

NO.

He refused. He would NOT die like this! He clenched his spear, his jaw tightening, his muscles tensing, but then something reached out to him.

From within the magma. Not physically, but mentally.

A voice.

A presence.

Something ancient.

Creed froze. His entire soul trembled. His instincts screamed. What... the hell was inside this magma?

He took a deep, shaky breath, though it felt almost pointless in the thick, suffocating magma surrounding him.

That presence... the thing reaching out to him from within the magma was still there.

A strange, almost instinctual pull guided him toward it, like an invisible force was wrapping around his soul and dragging him forward.

His heart pounded. Maybe it was death calling him. Maybe it was something worse. But at this point, what choice did he have?

Die doing nothing? Or die reaching for something?

Creed gritted his teeth. If he was going to die anyway, then at least, he wanted to see what the hell was calling him.

His legs tensed, his arms flexed, and then, he swam forward.

Despite how tough his physique was and how the magma wasn’t too hot since it’s main function was to make someone go insane, Creed was still slowly burning inside it.

With time, he would be turned into a crisp in one of the most painful deaths possible. Yet, he didn’t allow the pain to affect him and he continued to swim forward.

He gritted his teeth and endured the insane pain.

And then, he saw it. No, he felt it.

A light. Not just any light, a piercing, blinding glow, deep within the magma.

It wasn’t like fire. It wasn’t like energy. It was something deeper. Something ancient. Something alive.

The light wasn’t just sitting there, it was also guiding him. Calling him forward, pulling him toward its core.

Creed’s heartbeat quickened. It was right there. Just a little further.

His fingertips stretched out as he reached for whatever it was. The moment his fingers touched the glowing object, everything changed.

[Ding! WARNING! FRAGMENT OF KILLING DISCOVERED.

DOES HOST WISH TO ABSORB?]

Creed’s mind froze.

Fragment of Killing? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Since the only way to find out was to answer yes, Creed decided to go with the flow. He would choose yes.

But before he could even think the word, everything vanished. His entire body disappeared.

One moment, he was in the endless magma abyss.

The next, he was standing on solid ground.

Creed staggered forward, gasping. His hands shot out, touching the floor beneath him, feeling the strange, smooth stone beneath his fingertips.

His eyes snapped open and the sight before him stole his breath away. He was no longer in the magma-filled cavern.

Instead, he was standing inside a chamber.

The walls, the ceiling, the floors—everything was carved from the purest, smoothest black stone he had ever seen.

The surface of the rock was so polished, so flawless, that it reflected the dim light glowing from the torches along the walls.

Gleaming crimson veins pulsed faintly across the stone, like liquid metal flowing through cracks in reality.

The chamber was simple, but in its simplicity, there was an overwhelming sense of majesty.

There were no elaborate designs. No grand pillars. No towering statues.

And yet, it felt immeasurable. Like standing inside a place older than time itself.

Creed’s breath came in ragged gasps as he struggled to comprehend what just happened.

Where... the hell was he?

One second, he had been in magma, dying. The next, he was here.

His eyes darted down. The object was still clutched tightly in his fist.

A stone. A small, smooth and pulsing stone.

Its surface glowed with dim red light, veins of crimson energy twisting across it like cracks in glass. Even though it was just a rock, something about it felt... alive.

Was this the Fragment of Killing?

His mind raced. What did the system mean by "absorb" it? Would it give him power? Would it kill him? Was this even a good idea?!

Most importantly, where the hell was he?!

Just as he was about to take a look around, a voice spoke. It did not speak in words. Not in any language that should have been possible for him to understand.

And yet, Creed understood.

The voice rumbled through the chamber, ancient, deep, and vast, like an entire universe whispering into existence.

It was not a question.

It was a statement.

A welcome.

"Welcome, child of killing."