As soon as Cael fastened the last buckle on his armor, a strange, cold energy seemed to ripple through the air. His new set gleamed with a faint, otherworldly light—the bones of the Nighthaunt still pulsing with residual soul energy. Every piece fit him perfectly, as if the armor had always been waiting for him. He flexed his fingers, the dark gauntlets crackling with power, ready to unleash their devastating force. His boots felt light, yet a burning energy stirred in them, coiled like a predator ready to strike. Cael exhaled deeply, his eyes narrowing as he tested his new gear. The power coursing through the armor was intoxicating.
Jack stood back and watched with a satisfied smile. "Well, Cael? How does it feel?"
Cael's grin was wolfish, his eyes gleaming beneath the shadow of his helm. "Like I could tear through anything. This is incredible."
Before Jack could respond, a sudden change in the air sent a shiver down his spine. The temperature dropped noticeably, and a strange pressure settled over them, like the atmosphere had become thicker. He exchanged a glance with Lyra, who had gone still, her eyes widening as the same unsettling sensation washed over her.
Then, without warning, a glowing blue screen flickered into view in front of them, the familiar sound of the System chiming in their minds.
[An Incursion has been detected]
[You have been offered a Quest:
Defeat the Incursion
Objective: Help the dungeon creatures of the fourth floor defeat the Incursion from the Outer Realm
Penalty for failure: None
Rewards: Experience, Two items of your choice from the Dungeon Treasury, Title
Accept Yes/No]
Jack stared at the words, his brows furrowing. "An Incursion? From the Outer Realm?" A quick glance at his companions faces confirmed that they had all received the same message. He turned toward Lyla, who was their resident expert on all things arcane and mysterious. "What’s the Outer Realm? And what’s an Incursion?"
Lyla’s face paled slightly, her usually calm demeanor giving way to something that looked like apprehension. She closed her eyes for a moment as if searching for the right words, and then opened them, her gaze steady but dark with understanding.
"The Outer Realm…" Lyra began, her voice low, "is a place of madness, where the rules of our reality no longer apply. It's a world—or, more accurately, a collection of worlds—that exist beyond the boundaries of what we know. The creatures there aren't like anything we’ve seen, Jack. They don’t have fixed forms or predictable behavior. They exist in a kind of... shifting nightmare."
Jack’s brow furrowed. "Shifting nightmare? What do you mean?"
Lyra exhaled deeply, gathering her thoughts. "In the Outer Realm, time, space, and life itself don’t follow the same rules we understand. The beings that come from there are… wrong, twisted in ways that defy reason. Some of them can change shape at will, while others are made of nothing but shadow, smoke, and the remnants of dying stars. They don’t belong in this reality, and their mere presence warps everything around them."
Jack could feel a knot tightening in his chest. He had faced countless monsters in the dungeon before, but this sounded different. Worse.
"The Outer Realm isn’t just one place," Lyra continued. "It’s a network of fragmented realities, each more bizarre and alien than the last. No one has ever fully mapped it, not even the oldest scholars or the most powerful mages. The creatures that come from there are ancient—older than the Dungeon, older than the Realm itself. They don’t live by the same natural laws. Some of them don't even have a concept of life and death as we know it."
Jack took a deep breath, processing what she was saying. "And now, they’re coming here?"
Lyra nodded grimly. "That’s what an Incursion is. When the boundary between our world and the Outer Realm weakens, the creatures on the other side try to push through. They use places like this dungeon, which is already dimensionally unstable, as a way to invade our reality. The dungeon acts like a weak spot, a tear in the fabric of our world. When an Incursion happens, it means that they’re trying to breach that tear and flood into our dimension. Its been theorized by some that the System itself was created in order to make warriors strong enough to defeat the Incursions although no one knows for sure."
Cael, who had been listening intently, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword, spoke up. "So, this isn’t just another group of monsters from deeper in the dungeon. This is something worse. Something that doesn’t belong here."
"Exactly," Lyla said. "They don’t belong here, and the dungeon creatures know that too. Even the most hostile beasts in this place will fight to protect their territory from an incursion because if these things get in, it’s over for everyone. Even the spirit of the Dungeon itself will do what it can to stop them which is probably where this quest came from. If the Incursion is not stopped, he dungeon might collapse entirely, and become a permanent rift for the invaders spill into our world unchecked."
Jack felt the weight of the situation settle over him like a suffocating blanket. "How do we fight something like that? You said they don’t follow the same rules. How do we even kill them?"
Lyla bit her lip. "Some can be killed, but it’s not easy. You have to find the right way. Some of these creatures might be vulnerable to normal weapons and magic. They are the equivalent of rank and file soldiers although even they can sometimes prove nearly impossible to kill depending on their type. But the worst ones... the ones that are truly ancient... they can’t be killed in the traditional sense. You can only force them back, push them out of our reality."
"So we're up against creatures we might not even be able to kill?" Cael’s voice was steady, but the tension was clear.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Yes," Lyra admitted. "But we don’t necessarily have to kill their ruler. The supreme existences of the Outer Realm cannot exist here as their own existence is tied to the realm they come from. At worst they can send an Avatar through the rift. Their subordinates are weaker than they are but still dangerous. if we don’t stop them, they’ll consume everything in their path. They’ll warp this dungeon into a Worldrift, and once they’re strong enough, they’ll start expanding."
Her words trailed off, but the implication was clear. If these beings managed to break free of the dungeon, nothing would be safe.
Jack clenched his jaw, his mind racing. They had to stop this, but they had to be smart about it. Charging in without a plan would be suicide. From what he had heard so far these were not mindlessly aggressive monsters but agents of a foreign power. He turned to Lyra again. "You said the creatures in the dungeon will fight too, right? We’ll have allies down there?"
Lyra nodded. "Yes. Even the creatures who would normally attack us on sight will be more concerned with the Outer Realm invaders. This is a war for their survival too. The dungeon has its own laws and ecosystem, and the creatures here know instinctively that these incursions threaten everything."
Cael punched his fist into his open palm, the dark energy of his new gauntlets crackling faintly. His new gear seemed to have given him new confidence and assertiveness as well."Then we use that to our advantage. If the dungeon creatures are willing to fight, maybe we can ally with them. We work with them to take down whatever is coming through."
Jack felt a surge of determination rise within him. They’d faced overwhelming odds before, but this… this was something entirely new. Still, they couldn’t back down. If they didn’t stop the Incursion here and now, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Jack didn’t hesitate. He reached out and selected "Yes" on the quest screen. The moment he did, a ripple of energy passed through the air, as if the dungeon itself had acknowledged their decision. A faint glow surrounded them for a moment, and then the quest screen disappeared, replaced by a new objective on their HUDs.
Quest Accepted: Defeat the Incursion
The room seemed to hold its breath for a moment, as if the dungeon was watching, waiting for their next move.
"We move now," Jack said, his voice calm but resolute. "We head to the fourth floor and assess the situation.”
The descent into the fourth floor of the dungeon was a sharp contrast to the tension-filled air that had settled over them since accepting the quest. Jack led the way, the cold stone walls around them growing darker and more jagged the deeper they went. His footsteps echoed in the narrow passage, while behind him, Cael’s new armor clinked softly with each step, faintly glowing with the energy bound to the Nighthaunt’s bones. Lyra brought up the rear, her eyes scanning their surroundings warily, one hand resting on the hilt of her staff. The air was thick, not just with the familiar musty scent of the dungeon, but with a strange pressure, a feeling that something otherworldly was close, just beyond the walls.
As they moved deeper, the dungeon changed. The usual rough-hewn stone gave way to twisted and unnatural formations. The floor was no longer a flat surface but had begun to slope unevenly, almost like it was warping beneath their feet. Jagged spikes of dark stone jutted out at odd angles, and faint, sickly green light seemed to pulse from within the walls themselves. It was as if the dungeon was alive, its very structure twisting and mutating the further they went.
"What is this place?" Jack muttered under his breath, eyeing the strange formations.
Lyra glanced around, her brow furrowed. "The incursion must already be warping the environment. The dungeon’s instability is reacting to the presence of the Outer Realm creatures, distorting everything around us. We need to be cautious—the ground, the walls… even the air might not be what it seems."
As they stepped further into the floor, a faint sound reached their ears—a distant, hollow drumming, like the slow beat of an enormous heart. It reverberated through the stone, growing louder as they advanced. Jack’s hand instinctively tightened on the hilt of his sword. Whatever was ahead, it was close, and it wasn’t natural.
The tunnel eventually widened into a large, open chamber, and the sight that greeted them made Jack stop in his tracks.
The chamber was massive, far larger than any they had encountered before. Dark, jagged pillars rose from the floor, disappearing into a ceiling shrouded in shadow. The walls were lined with sickly, pulsing veins of green light that writhed like living things. But it was what filled the room that truly held their attention.
At the center of the chamber, a group of ten grotesque figures lumbered forward, their movements slow but methodical and organized. They were tall, easily over six feet, their bodies a twisted mockery of once-human forms. Their armor was rusted and cracked, held together by scraps of decayed flesh and bone. Their faces were hidden behind ancient, pitted helmets, and from the gaps in their armor, Jack could see the rotting, blackened remains of what must have been once living warriors. In their skeletal hands, they gripped rusted swords and shields, each weapon covered in a sickly green glow that matched the veins in the walls.
Jack Identified them as something called Rotting Legionnaires.
But the undead weren’t alone.
Across from them, hovering just above the ground, were four massive, nightmarish creatures that immediately set Jack’s teeth on edge. They were twisted amalgamations of bird and beast, their leathery wings stretched wide, making them appear far larger than they were. Their bodies were covered in matted, bristling fur that shifted unnaturally in the low light, while their heads were grotesque, beaked monstrosities, more reminiscent of something alien than any bird Jack had ever seen. They had no eyes, only hollow sockets that glowed with a faint, pale yellow light, and from their beaks, drool dripped down in thick, noxious strands.
[Byakhee
Level: 16
Health: 3,800/3,800
Mana: 2,200/2,200
Stamina: 4,000/4,000
Abilities: Foul Wing Buffet, Life Drain,
Description: The Byakhee is a nightmarish creature from the dark voids between the stars, summoned by forbidden rituals and eldritch whispers. Its grotesque form is a blend of avian, insectoid, and alien features, its twisted body covered in patches of sickly fur and chitinous armor. With leathery, bat-like wings capable of interdimensional travel, the Byakhee’s wingspan stretches nearly 20 feet (6 meters), casting a shadow of dread wherever it flies. Its face is a horrific amalgamation of a bird's beak and insect mandibles, with bulging eyes that reflect the madness of the cosmos.
When in motion, the Byakhee often emits a high-pitched screech that can paralyse those who hear it, though its primary method of attack is physical. It uses its Foul Wing Buffet to create powerful gusts of wind, knocking enemies off balance and slashing them with razor-edged wings. In close combat, the Byakhee latches onto its prey with terrifying talons, using Life Drain to feed on their lifeforce, replenishing its own health while weakening its victim.