Suddenly, the ground beneath him cracked. Loose stones shifted under his weight, and before he could react...
"AAAAHHHH!!"
He plummeted into darkness.
When Orion regained consciousness, pain rushed through his entire body. His right leg wouldn’t move at all, feeling numb and heavy. His left arm was shaking and refused to obey him properly. Every time he tried to breathe deeply or lift himself up, a sharp pain stabbed through his ribs.
He didn’t fall very far... but the stone ceiling he had fallen through had collapsed entirely, and some heavy rocks landed directly on his body, leaving him in a pitiful condition.
But his only concern now was the Ravager. The monster had fallen with him—or so he thought. Orion scanned the stone chamber, roughly the size of a large room, but saw no sign of it.
Suddenly, his pain intensified
"AGHHHHHGHHH!" he screamed, rolling on the ground in pain. The agony was becoming unbearable. He felt like dying.
Then, through the haze of pain, something strange happened. His vision sharpened slightly, and he felt an unusual heat rising from his chest. His hands glowed faintly, as if reacting to his own life force. He tried to focus, and a new sense of awareness flowed through him.
"Wait... what’s happening?" he groaned.
He lifted his right arm—still heavy and weak—but this time, he noticed a faint shimmer around his skin. The scales along his forearm were tiny and almost invisible, but they were real. His Dragonkin blood... it was responding.
With a deep breath, he felt his pain dull just a little, as if his body was starting to adapt. His senses sharpened. He could hear the smallest shift of stone echoing in the room, and even though the moss in this room was lighting this place as much as the cave he was in earlier, he could see even more clearly now
Now that he could see clearly, he looked around to see his surroundings, and what he saw left him speechless
built from neatly stacked stone bricks, not the rough natural rock of a cave. Strange markings and symbols covered the surface—writing he had never seen before, etched deeply into the bricks. He swallowed hard. It wasn’t a cave at all, confirming his long-held doubts
"Where the fuck even am I?" but Orion didn’t have time to ponder about it now because there was more trouble coming his way
"Rubble"
"Thud"
"GRRRRRRRR"
Orion heard something moving under a huge pile of stones, and he was well familiar with the growl. It was the Ravager from earlier.
"DAMN IT, you just can’t leave me alone, can you?" Orion screamed, but this time more from frustration than fear.
The room he was in was too small, so he couldn’t use his Flash Movement to dodge this monster again. He also can’t yet fight the monster while using Flash movement because he would feel dizzy afterward.
"You know what? That’s it. Ever since I woke up in this world, it’s been one problem after another. I can’t take this shit anymore. Right now, it’s either you die... or I do." Orion’s frustration overwhelmed his fear, and he was getting mentally ready to have a face-to-face fight against the Ravager
The pile of rubble shook violently. The Lesser Cave Ravager burst out. Its black scales shone in the dim moss light, Its massive single eye fixed on Orion.
"GRRRRRR!"
Suddenly, something deep inside Orion snapped awake. Instinct surged through him like a living force, guiding every movement before his conscious mind could catch up. His body twisted into a fighting stance he didn’t know he knew. Reflexes sharpened, senses heightened, and his nails stretched and hardened into deadly claws almost on their own.
The Ravager lunged at him with full force.
Orion rolled to the side just in time as its massive jaws slammed into the spot where he had been standing. Rocks flew in all directions. He dove behind a huge boulder, trying to shield himself from the flying debris.
But the Ravager wasn’t finished.
Its tail swung like a wrecking bar, smashing into the boulder. Orion tried to move, but he was too slow. The impact sent him flying across the ground. Pain exploded through his body when he hit the stone floor. Blood filled his mouth, but he forced himself back onto his feet.
He charged.
Moving with everything he had, Orion slashed at its glowing eye. The monster shut it just in time. His claws still cut into the eyelid, tearing a shallow wound. The impact was so strong that one of his claws lost its sharp edge.
’Doesn’t matter... I still have nine more.’
Using the moment, he swung both claws at the Ravager’s neck again and again. Its thick scales scraped against his claws, but he managed to tear a small patch of exposed flesh. Pain and exhaustion screamed through his body, but he kept going.
The Ravager roared and swung wildly. Every near miss scraped his skin. Every hit sent shock through his bones. But his instincts guided him — angles, timing, movement.
Then—
The monster slammed its tail into the wall.
A chunk of stone flew straight into Orion’s jaw.
Crack.
Several teeth broke on impact.
Before he could recover, the Ravager slashed downward. Orion tried to dodge, but its claws dug into his chest. Blood poured out.
Pain exploded through him, raw and overwhelming, ripping the air from his lungs as blood poured down his torso. His heart hammered wildly, each beat sending fresh waves of agony through his body.
"AAAGGHHHHHH!!"
A guttural, ragged scream tore from his throat, shaking his whole body.
His legs gave out completely. Pain and exhaustion stole every ounce of strength, and he crashed onto the stone floor with a bone-jarring thud, blood and sweat mixing as he gasped for air. Every heartbeat sent another wave of agony through his body.
The monster moved in to finish him.
It raised its claws again... but Orion rolled at the last second. The Ravager’s claws struck the stone floor and became stuck inside a deep crack.
[Host life force is dropping rapidly.]
The system’s voice returned after a long silence.
Orion could see bone through the wound in his chest.
’Fuck... fuck... FUCK... I can’t die here... not again... not now...’
The pain was too much that he couldn’t even think straight, his body shaking hard as fire tore through his chest, and his breath came out in broken, choking gasps.
His Dragonkin healing was working, but painfully slow—and the Ravager’s claw was about to break free.
Then—
[Host has forcibly awakened a class: Dragonborn]
Hope sparked inside him.
[Would the host like a detailed explanation?]
"I don’t have time. Just show me what the hell this class can do!"
The Ravager freed its claw and turned toward him.
But when it looked at Orion...
It hesitated.
For the first time during their fight, it felt... fear.
A brilliant, golden flame erupted around Orion. It didn’t burn him–It was healing him — fast. His eyes turned gold. His claws grew longer, sharper, and stronger. Power poured out of him.
The Ravager stepped back, unsure.
Orion didn’t hesitate.
Thought didn’t matter anymore—instinct ruled every movement. His body flowed like liquid, fluid and precise, every strike guided by a force beyond reason. He lunged, golden energy surging through his claws, and drove them straight into the exposed, scaleless patch of the monster’s neck, a perfect, lethal strike born of pure instinct and power.
Slash!
Its neck split open.
The monster staggered, wobbling on its massive legs, but it didn’t collapse. Its black scales shimmered and began to glow ominously, veins of light pulsing across its body like molten lava.
The entire chamber shook violently, the sound of cracking stone echoing like thunder. Dust rained from the ceiling as walls splintered, chunks of rock tumbling to the ground.
The Ravager was charging its final move.
The big stone-made pillars were falling one by one, Orion knew if he didn’t finish this monster off soon. He would die with it.
While Orion was dodging every flying rock that came at him, he started planning for his move.
The pain in his wounds was sharp, and he had no time to waste.
Orion used his Flash Movement, appearing behind the monster before it had a chance to react. He slashed at its neck again, striking the same spot as before. The Ravager swung its claws wildly, left and right, but Orion was already gone—repositioning himself with another use of Flash Movement. Dizziness hit him hard, but there was no time to care.
After the weakened monster calmed down, Orion made the same move as before and went behind the Ravager but this time the Ravager was ready, it reacted in time and swung its claw at Orion
But Orion was expecting that. He leapt over the monster’s claw and brought his own claw down with all his strength, aiming straight for its eye.
"Plop." This time, it worked—his claw pierced through the monster’s eye.
"GGRRYYYAAAAAAAAA!" With a final, broken cry, the monster collapsed to the floor.
The glow in the monster’s body stopped.
But the danger wasn’t over.
The entire chamber started collapsing. Rocks fell from above. Orion was struck by a heavy boulder and pinned to the ground. His vision blurred.
His consciousness started fading.
A person’s body has limits.
[Congratulations, Host. You have completed the first level of the ’???’ Dungeon.]
"Wha...?"