Aelric pressed forward, forcing his exhausted body to move. The Voice of the Abyss spoke.
[Threat assessment: Unknown. Anomaly detected, spatial irregularities present. This area is not natural.]
Aelric clenched his jaw. He had already suspected as much. The Hive's tunnels had been chaotic, twisting and turning like a living organism, but, there is something different about it.
The silence was oppressive. There were no skittering sounds of monsters lurking in the shadows, no distant roars or echoes of unseen predators. Even the dripping of water that had been ever-present throughout the Abyss was absent here.
Then he saw them. The chains. They stretched along the cavern walls like veins of black iron, running through the stone, pulsating with a faint, sickly glow.
Some of them hung loosely, swaying ever since slightly as if they had been disturbed by his presence. Others were tight, pulled taut against the walls, disappearing into the shadows beyond his vision.
And within them, figures. More than Dozens of them. Aelric stilled, his instincts screaming at him to stay silent. He stepped closer, his crimson eyes narrowing as he examined the forms trapped within the chains.
They were humanoid. Or at least, they had been. Some still had some Remnant of flesh clinging to their bones, their faces twisted in expressions of agony. Others were noting more than hollowed husks, their bodies reduced to shriveled remains, bounded in place as if they had been offered to the Abyss itself.
Then slowly one of them moved. Aelric's claws flickered to life in an instant, his stance shifting into an offensive position.
The bounded figure shuddered. Its head tilted slowly, a series of wet, cracking noises accompanying the motion. The chains around its body suddenly tightened more, as if reacting to the movement.
A slow whisper can be heard from them, it was not spoken not was heard. But felt.
"Let me out."
Aelric did not move. His breath was steady, his instincts sharpening. The voice was hollow, devoid of emotion, and yet..there was something else in it. A hunger, a pleading desperation laced with something wrong.
As if sensing his thoughts, The Voice of the Abyss spoke to warn him.
[Caution. The entities bound here are not dead. Their existence has been forcibly sustained. This is not imprisonment, it is preservation.]
Aelric gaze flickered across the cavern, his mind piecing together the implications. So, these figures were not merely chained. But they were being kept. For what purpose?
"Let me out," the voice repeated, more insistent this time. The chains around the figure pulsed.
Aelric remained still. He could feel an oppressive weight that felt like a whole abyss pressing against him. He could feel an unknown sense of anticipation. Something is watching them. He was thinking about where this oppressive pressure from. A new presence emerged, from dept.
The temperature dropped rapidly. The very air seemed to grow heavier as if the Abyss itself had decided to press down upon him. Aelric turned, his instincts already screaming at him. He also doesn't want to face any other thing like the Queen.
And from the darkness, it stepped forward. A towering figure, clad in ancient, blackened armor, its form wrapped in tattered shadows.
The chainkeeper. It did not speak. It did not roar. It simply existed, and by its existence, the cavern itself shuddered in response.
Aelric felt the weight of its presence settles upon him like an iron shroud. The Voice of the Abyss had already started to calculate its danger level.
[Warning: Entity classified as a high-tier Abyssal Warden. Designation: Chainkeeper. Estimated strength: lethal. Tactical retreat recommended.]
Aelric did not retreat. His breath was steady. His claws flexed, Gluttony thrumming within him.
The Chainkeeper's head tilted slightly as if acknowledging him. Then with an almost effortless motion, it raised its sword.
The chains in the cavern came to life. Aelric moved. A dozen blackened chains lashed toward him, twisting like living serpents. He dodged the first set of chains, his body twisting unnaturally, but the second wave came faster, sharper, aimed to restrict rather than kill.
He barely avoided being caught, his claws tearing through the metal with an ear-splitting shriek, only to find the chains regenerating instantly.
The Chainkeeper did not move. It did not need to. The battlefield itself was its weapon.
Aelric's mind raced. Direct contact was suicide. He should have just run when Voice told him. The chains could not simply be destroyed.
They had to be severed at their source. His eyes locked into the chains embedded in the cavern walls. The pulsing veins the way they feed into the structure itself.
And he understood. The chains were not merely attached to the cavern. They were part of it. If he wanted to end this, he needed to tear the Abyss apart.
A plan was formed, a dangerous and reckless one at that. But it was the only way.
Aelric launched himself forward, not at the Chainkeeper, but towards the chains binding the prisoners.
Seeing his actions the Voice of the Abyss roared in warnings. [WARNING! WARNING!]. But he didn't listen to them.
The Chainkeeper reacted instantly, its massive blade carving the air as it moved to intercept him. All the chains came towards him to block him. But Aelric was already reached. His claws ripped through the bindings.
The whole cavern shook. The figures bound to the walls convulsed, their bodies dissolving into energy, vanishing in wisps of dark mist. The Abyss shuddered, as the very foundation of the cavern cracked. And the expression of the Chainkeeper faltered.
Aelric did not hesitate. He devoured the released essence, to strengthen himself for the impact that was gonna happen. He felt a surge of raw, unfiltered power flood through his veins. His body shifted, his mind-expanding. And with a single, decisive strike, he severed the final chain.
The cavern completely collapsed. The Chainkeeper let out a sound, not a roar, not a scream. But a whisper of something lost.