Ren stepped closer to the fallen boss, his eyes fixed on its massive body.
Shattered stones tumbled and scattered onto the ground, but what struck him as strange was the suffocating silence after the battle.
While others began to breathe a sigh of relief, checking wounds and exchanging praise, Ren couldn't take his eyes off the spot where the boss had collapsed.
Something sent chills down his spine. Beneath the hard layer of stone, something else was slowly revealing itself.
The core of the golem, what had once been its artificial heart, still lay there, a glowing red rock, like the last light before everything fades away.
But as the large stones from the monster's body began to crumble and fall, something even stranger emerged from inside it, gentle and silent.
A different shape, soft yet bizarre, as if it didn't belong to this world, was appearing right inside that massive stone.
Ren felt a cold shiver. The feeling wasn't just because of the odd object.
He couldn't comprehend the vague, nameless sensation enveloping him. A stifling presence made the air feel heavy and unbearably still.
He tried to step closer, but each step felt weighed down by an invisible force pressing against his body, as if something was staring at him from within the darkness.
This form, though smaller than the golem, radiated a distinct aura, not like a usual item or monster.
It might be part of the boss, but why did it feel like… something else, something non-physical?
A fragment of the past, or a leftover from a failed experiment?
Ren didn't know, but an indescribable fear surged strongly in his chest.
He couldn't help but think of the questions Yuna, Nautilus, and even he himself had once asked: "Why did this monster appear on such a low floor? Is there something happening out there that we don't know about?"
And now, this strange darkness was opening a new path, an unanswered question… a path Ren wasn't sure he wanted to follow.
"Oh... what is this?"
Ren wasn't the only one to notice it; another player from the group that attacked the boss first appeared beside him.
The man's eyes flickered with surprise, then greed gleamed briefly.
As the player wielding dual blades approached, his eyes lit up with excitement, as if he had just found treasure.
But then, in that moment, the strange feeling Ren had just experienced surged back, cold and terrifying.
A wave of energy radiated from within the shattered stone of the golem, and a blinding light flashed from the boss's core.
Unaware of the impending danger, the player reached out to touch the stone, his eyes full of joy at the thought of valuable materials.
However, the instant his fingertips touched the stone's surface, a stone arm suddenly shot up from the rubble, powerful and uncontrollable.
A sharp "crack" rang out, then a massive, razor-sharp stone sword pierced the player's body mercilessly.
He only managed to gasp, eyes wide with horror, before hundreds of red pixel fragments exploded from his body, disintegrating into shapeless dust that faded into the air.
The group fell silent. Each person stood frozen before the scene. The shrill screech of the sword echoed deep underground, as if something monstrous was awakening from the darkness.
The air seemed to freeze, filled with tension and death.
Ren watched the scene, not out of fear, but because of a chilling premonition rising within him.
He felt that coldness seep into his body, numbing every nerve. This scene… could not be a coincidence.
Diavel, Lind, and the others also did not react immediately.
They simply stood and stared, astonishment clear on their faces, their eyes wide as if trying to comprehend what was unfolding.
Ren could say nothing. The strange feeling enveloped him, as if he was being drawn into something beyond his understanding. The ground beneath his feet seemed to tremble, an ominous subtle movement.
The sword that pierced the player's body was no accident; it was a warning.
And Ren sensed that the terrifying truth they were about to face was exactly what this golem had been trying to hide for so long.
His whole body trembled like a top-level alarm, a cold shudder rising as if his instincts were warning of an invisible threat approaching.
At that moment, a shadow flickered by, too fast for his eyes to catch.
That feeling, the unexplainable sense of menace, ignited within every cell of Ren's being.
Reflexively, Ren raised his sword in front of him, without thinking, just wanting to protect himself.
But the moment the sword met the force of the attack, a sharp "clang!" rang out, piercingly loud like steel striking steel, making the entire space feel as if it exploded.
A terrifying, unimaginable force slammed into Ren's body. He was thrown backward, his body flung as if he were a ragdoll, completely out of control.
Ren felt himself swept into a chaotic void, unable to resist.
He flew far like a paper kite, soaring through the air before crashing violently onto the ground. Everything around him blurred, as if all sound and light were swallowed by a dark emptiness.
-305 HP.
Ren's entire body ached, a pain as if every muscle in his body was stretched and torn in an instant, brief but enough to make him feel utterly unlike himself.
Blood from the wound on his arm began to seep out, mingling with the dust beneath him.
He could still feel the heat radiating from the sword in his hand, but he no longer had the strength to lift it.
Ren's body lay still for a long moment while his mind screamed, struggling to comprehend what had just happened.
As the light of the outside world gradually returned, Ren tried to listen, but there was nothing except heavy gasps and the staggering footsteps of the others.
They all stood frozen, staring at what Ren had just faced.
When he raised his head, there was only one clear feeling he understood: they had just touched a power beyond their control, and the price of provoking it could be far greater than they imagined.
Trying to find the one who had just thrown him aside... his pupils suddenly contracted when he saw it...
A suit of stone armor... no, a stone knight.
The figure appeared under the dim light of the arena, like an eternal phantom etched into the cold, dark space.
Fragments of shattered stone around the core gradually fused into a tall, dense form.
His hand clenched around a sharp stone sword, like a lifeless object but brimming with deadly power.
The faint light from afar reflected off the knight's body, casting gloomy reflections that made the stone armor look like a monster born from the deepest shadows, waiting to be unleashed.
His mask had no eyes, no emotion, only an empty void. But anyone who looked closely would feel, beneath that cold exterior, a simmering rage ready to erupt.
He stood motionless, like a surreal stone statue. No sound, no movement, only an overwhelming silence.
An unpredictable shadow, a being before whom even space seemed to yield.
Ren struggled to stand, though his body still throbbed from the impact. He stared intently at the stone knight, the chill he had felt before returning to invade his every thought.
Ren's gaze hardened, and though he couldn't be certain, he sensed this was no random phenomenon.
Others also began to notice the knight's presence. Diavel, Lind, and the rest of the group stood silently, eyes filled with confusion and uncertainty.
The atmosphere seemed to freeze; one could almost hear each heartbeat pounding faster.
A fear, not born from the knight's strength or size, but from its ambiguity, its unpredictability.
By now, everyone understood clearly that the monster they had just defeated was not the whole story. And what they were facing... was no longer just a battle.
A name suddenly appeared above the knight's head, as if the name itself was a curse, etched into the arena's quiet space: Golem Sentinel.
Ren stared at that name, and suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
The feeling was like a sudden lightning strike illuminating the night. He realized that the bulky form of the boss at first, the shattered stones surrounding its body, was merely an outer shell, a layer of stone that had clung on for centuries.