Chapter 10: The Abyssal Trial Begins

The moment Ren stepped through the gate, the world around him twisted.

Darkness swallowed the sky, blotting out all light. The ground beneath his feet was a cracked wasteland, pulsing with eerie crimson veins that pulsed like a heartbeat. Jagged obsidian spires loomed in the distance, and a metallic stench of blood thickened the air.

A voice echoed in his mind.

[Trial Commencing. Slay the Abyssal Legion.]

The first wave came.

Dozens of Abyssal Fiends surged forward, their bodies grotesque amalgamations of muscle, chitin, and razor-sharp claws. Their hollow crimson eyes glowed with an insatiable hunger.

Ren’s breath misted in the cold, tainted air. His fingers tightened around his blade.

“Void Slash.”

His sword howled through the air, a crescent of abyssal energy carving through the creatures. The front line of fiends exploded into a spray of black blood. But for every monster he cut down, more emerged from the abyssal wasteland.

[First Wave: 10% Cleared.]

Ren’s body moved on instinct, dodging claws and fangs, countering with precise strikes. Yet, the Abyss was relentless.

Then—he felt it.

A shift in the air.

The presence of something far stronger.