The cavernous subway station trembled as the Frost-Web Broodmother lunged.
Despite her massive size, she moved with horrifying speed. Eight segmented legs pistoned against the concrete, launching her city-bus-sized frame directly at Do-Hyun.
Taking that hit meant certain death.
Shadow Step.
He melted into the darkness just as her front mandibles snapped shut on the empty air where he'd been standing. The sheer force of her jaws cracking together sent a shockwave of localized frost blooming outward.
Do-Hyun reappeared on a ruined ticket turnstile ten meters to her left. He gripped the Headsman's Edge, his breath coming out in ragged, freezing plumes.
The Broodmother shrieked, pivoting instantly. She reared up, exposing her underbelly, but it offered no weak point. The frozen, screaming corpses of the subway commuters were woven tightly across her thorax like scales.
She spat a massive volley of Cryo-Web.
Do-Hyun threw himself sideways, rolling across the icy tiles. The web slammed into the turnstile behind him, instantly flash-freezing the metal and shattering it into a thousand brittle shards.
He pushed off his back foot, launching at her flank, and drove the dagger into the narrow gap between two frozen bodies, targeting the pale blue flesh beneath.
CLANG.
The blade sparked as it struck a solid block of ice encasing a frozen businessman's briefcase.
Before Do-Hyun could pull back, one of her massive, hooked legs swept outward, swatting him like a fly.
He flew through the air, crashing hard against a concrete support pillar. The breath left his lungs in a violent rush. He tasted copper. His broken ribs protested, but the adrenaline masking the pain was already starting to fade, replaced by a deep, terrifying chill.
[System Observation: Physical attacks are highly ineffective against Ablative Corpse Armor.]
[What's wrong, Host? Is your toothpick not sharp enough? You're losing body heat just standing there. Better think of something fast, or you'll be her new chest plate.]
"I know," Do-Hyun growled, wiping the blood from his chin.
A dagger alone couldn't pierce her armor fast enough, and Dimensional Sever on a target this massive would drop his core below 30°C before the cut finished, stopping his heart.
A direct fight would kill him.
His gaze lifted.
The Broodmother had hollowed out the station, her webs spanning the ceiling to support her weight. The cavern's structural integrity rested on four massive, reinforced concrete pillars.
A quick glance at his internal gauge told him the truth. The spider hatchlings had given him just enough calories for one more spatial manipulation. It would leave him on the brink of death.
"Hey, ugly," Do-Hyun called out, his voice echoing in the freezing chamber.
The Broodmother hissed, all eight eyes locking onto him. She charged, her massive legs tearing up the floor tiles.
Do-Hyun didn't retreat. He planted his feet against the frozen tracks and raised his right hand, his focus drifting past the Broodmother to the ceiling above her.
His will slipped into the fabric of space, brushing the immense weight of earth and steel pressing down on the station.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Twist.
[Skill Activated: Space Distortion (Prototype)]
The thermal drain was immediate and catastrophic.
Do-Hyun fell to his knees, his vision going entirely black. The blood in his veins felt like sludge. The temperature in his core plummeted, stripping away every ounce of warmth he had scavenged.
Above the Broodmother, the air visibly warped. The spatial distortion grabbed the central support beam of the station and violently wrenched it thirty degrees to the left.
With a deafening CRACK, the concrete pillar snapped.
A chain reaction ripped through the cavern. The ceiling groaned, steel rebar screaming under the sudden shift in weight. The Broodmother looked up, her hiss turning into a shriek of panic, but she was too massive to dodge.
Hundreds of tons of concrete, asphalt, and steel collapsed directly on top of her.
BOOM.
The shockwave knocked Do-Hyun flat onto his back. Dust and powdered snow billowed through the station, coating everything in a thick, gray haze.
Then, silence.
Do-Hyun lay there on the freezing tiles, unable to feel his legs and fingers. His heart was beating once every four seconds.
Death hovered close, the same quiet, numbing dark he had once begged for at the end of his past life. The endless, exhausting cycle was fading. All he had to do now was close his eyes, let the cold take him, and he would finally get the rest he wanted.
It would be so easy to just... stop.
A neon pink alert flashed in the darkness.
[System Warning: CRITICAL CALORIE DEFICIT!]
[Host Internal Temperature: 32.5°C.]
[Oh my. Is the great 'Demi-God of Time, Space, and Shadows' really going to clock out like this? Crushed in a dirty subway, starving to death after fighting a lowly Rank D+ bug? ]
The text scrolled slowly, ensuring he read every mocking word.
[I should have brought popcorn. It's truly pathetic watching you give up. In your past life, galaxies were pocket change. Now, you're a frozen corpse in a ruined tuxedo. Go ahead, close your eyes. I'll make sure your epitaph reads: 'Here lies Kang Do-Hyun, the Trash Prince. He slipped on a spider web and gave up.']
Do-Hyun's dull, dying eyes stared at the violently pink text.
Die here? he thought, his mind sluggishly forming the words. Be a joke? A footnote to this parasitic anomaly?
In his past life, he had conquered everything—until there was nothing left worth fighting. Out of sheer boredom, he had unraveled his own essence. But to die now? As a weak, shivering mortal, taunted by lines of digital text? Unacceptable.
Pure, towering arrogance flared in his freezing chest. He refused to give the System the satisfaction of laughing at his corpse.
"I am not... your entertainment," Do-Hyun rasped, blood bubbling on his lips.
Using nothing but spite and the sheer, arrogant refusal to let this be his end, he dragged himself across the rubble. His fingers, numb and clumsy, clawed at the broken concrete.
He reached the epicenter of the wreckage. The Broodmother lay pinned beneath a massive slab of the street above. Her exoskeletal armor was shattered, revealing a glowing, pulsing light-blue core at the center of her ruined thorax.
The Boss Core. It was the size of a grapefruit.
Do-Hyun ripped it loose from the freezing flesh. He held the massive, icy crystal with both hands, brought it to his face, and engaged his passive trait.
[Trait Activated: Void Gluttony]
The core dissolved into pure, raw energy, flowing directly into his mouth like a torrent of liquid fire.
The reaction was explosive.
[System Notification: Boss Core (Rank D+) Consumed. (+8,500 kcal)]
[Massive Thermal Surge Detected.]
[Internal Temperature Stabilizing: 36.5°C.]
Do-Hyun gasped, his back arching as intense, agonizing heat flooded his veins. The frost on his skin instantly sublimated into steam. His heart slammed against his ribs, kicking back into a rapid, healthy rhythm. The hollow ache in his chest was momentarily pushed back, replaced by a sickening, intoxicating fullness.
He lay back against the rubble, staring at the ruined ceiling above. Through the gap in the collapsed street, he could see the sky. It was pitch black, swirling with an unnatural, heavy snow.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 6]
[Title Earned: The First Hunter]
[System: See? A little insult goes a long way. Well done, Host. You survived the appetizer. But don't get comfortable.]
A new window popped up, the text turning a deep, warning red.
[Countdown Update: 18 Days Until The Next Event.]
[System: You've got 18 days before the real freeze hits. That little burst of heat from the bug won't last you the week. Better start looking for a bigger meal.]
Do-Hyun rose slowly, brushing the dust from his shredded tuxedo trousers and tightening his grip on the Headsman's Edge. The violet light in his eyes burned cold, utterly devoid of warmth.
"Eighteen days," Do-Hyun murmured.
He climbed the mountain of rubble, stepping out through the collapsed ceiling and onto the dead, frozen streets of Seoul.
