Chapter 203 - 198: The Sixth Floor
The sixth floor was silent.
That was the first thing John noticed.
The fifth floor had been filled with shouting, alarms, and the frightened voices of prisoners.
Down here, there was nothing.
No guards.
No researchers.
No machines.
Just silence.
John stood at the bottom of the staircase, sword in hand.
Behind him, Aerion and Darius reached the final step.
Sylvara followed.
Lythriel had remained on the fifth floor to help free the prisoners and guide them toward the surface.
John looked at the corridor ahead.
"Something’s wrong."
Darius nodded.
"There should be security here."
"Exactly."
Aerion looked around.
"Maybe everyone evacuated."
John shook his head.
"Then why didn’t they take whatever’s down here with them?"
Another vibration passed through the floor.
Not an explosion.
A heartbeat.
**Thump.**
John felt it through the soles of his boots.
Then again.
**Thump.**
Darius’s face became pale.
"That’s not machinery."
"No."
John continued walking.
---
The corridor was different from the floors above.
There were no cells.
No laboratories.
Instead, enormous metal doors had been built into the walls.
Each one had a series of magical seals.
John passed the first.
**RESTRICTED — LEVEL SIX**
The second:
**BIOLOGICAL HAZARD**
The third:
**DO NOT OPEN**
John stopped at the fourth.
There was no warning.
Only a number.
**001**
Darius looked at it.
"That’s the first specimen."
John frowned.
"First?"
"According to the documents."
Darius pulled out his notes.
"Most of the creatures were given numbers based on when they were captured."
John looked at the door.
"Then what’s 001?"
Darius didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
A low growl came from behind it.
Aerion tightened his grip.
"Whatever it is, it’s awake."
John approached the door.
The seals were old.
But still active.
He could feel an enormous amount of mana behind them.
Not normal mana.
It was dense.
Heavy.
Almost alive.
John placed his hand against the metal.
Something on the other side reacted.
The growl stopped.
Silence.
Then—
**BOOM!**
The door shook.
John stepped back.
A crack appeared across one of the seals.
Darius stared.
"That thing is breaking out."
John nodded.
"Yes."
"Then we should leave."
John looked at him.
"Probably."
Another impact.
**BOOM!**
A second seal cracked.
Aerion looked toward the stairs.
"John."
"I know."
They didn’t have much time.
---
John turned away from the door.
"Whatever happens, don’t let it reach the prisoners."
Aerion nodded.
Darius looked uneasy.
"How are we supposed to stop something that can break through those restraints?"
John smiled faintly.
"We figure it out."
Then the door exploded.
Metal flew across the corridor.
John raised his arm.
A wave of force slammed into him.
He slid backward several meters.
Dust filled the corridor.
Aerion was thrown into the wall.
Darius fell to the ground.
For several seconds, nobody could see.
Then a silhouette emerged from the smoke.
It was enormous.
John slowly lowered his arm.
The creature stepped forward.
At first glance, it resembled a dragon.
But only vaguely.
Its body was covered in dark scales.
Four powerful legs supported its massive frame.
Its head had two backward-curving horns.
But there were no wings.
No visible eyes.
Instead, a glowing line ran across its face.
A magical restraint.
John stared.
"What the hell..."
Darius looked at it and whispered:
"Specimen 001."
The creature opened its mouth.
No roar came.
Instead, a strange pulse of mana spread through the corridor.
Every magical light went out.
John immediately felt something.
The mana in the area had changed.
The creature was absorbing it.
Darius looked horrified.
"It’s a mana-eater."
John glanced at him.
"What?"
"An artificial organism designed to consume magical energy."
The creature took another step.
The stone floor cracked beneath its foot.
John raised his sword.
"Then we’re going to have a problem."
---
The creature moved.
It was far faster than something that size should have been.
John barely blocked its first attack.
A massive claw slammed into his sword.
**CLANG!**
The force sent him sliding backward.
John immediately countered.
His sword struck the creature’s shoulder.
The blade cut through the outer scales.
Blood appeared.
The creature recoiled.
John’s eyes narrowed.
"So you can bleed."
The creature roared.
This time, the sound was deafening.
Aerion charged from the side.
His weapon struck the creature’s leg.
The creature stumbled.
"John!"
"I’ve got it!"
John rushed forward.
The creature swung its tail.
John jumped.
The tail passed beneath him and smashed into the wall.
He landed on its back.
The creature immediately twisted.
John grabbed one of its horns.
"Hold still!"
It violently shook its head.
John nearly lost his grip.
Then the creature released another mana pulse.
John felt his strength drop.
He jumped away.
Darius shouted.
"It’s draining your mana!"
"I noticed!"
John landed beside Aerion.
The creature turned toward them.
Its body was regenerating.
The wound on its shoulder was already closing.
Darius stared.
"That’s impossible."
John looked at the creature.
"No."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Not impossible."
The creature had absorbed the mana released during the fight.
It was using that energy to heal itself.
Darius understood.
"So the more magic we use..."
"The stronger it gets."
Aerion looked at John.
"Then what do we do?"
John lowered his sword.
"Don’t use magic."
Aerion stared.
"You mean—"
"We fight it physically."
---
The creature charged again.
John met it head-on.
This time, he didn’t reinforce his body with magic.
He relied entirely on physical strength.
The creature’s claw came down.
John blocked with his sword.
The impact pushed him backward.
His boots carved lines into the stone.
He gritted his teeth.
"You’re strong."
The creature attacked again.
John dodged.
He struck its knee.
The creature stumbled.
Aerion attacked from the opposite side.
His weapon smashed into its ribs.
The creature roared.
Darius stayed back.
He wasn’t a frontline fighter.
Instead, he studied the creature.
"John!"
"What?"
"There’s something on its chest!"
John looked.
Between the scales was a circular metal device.
It was glowing.
"That wasn’t there before."
"It was hidden beneath the scales."
Darius pointed.
"That’s the control core."
John understood.
"The collar."
"Not exactly."
Darius shook his head.
"The collar on the other creature controlled its behavior."
He pointed toward Specimen 001.
"This is different."
"What does it do?"
"It stabilizes the creature."
John frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Without it, its body might collapse."
John looked at the device.
"So we destroy it."
Darius hesitated.
"Maybe."
John smiled.
"That’s good enough."
---
The creature attacked.
John dodged underneath its claws.
Aerion struck its side.
The creature turned.
John saw the opening.
He rushed forward.
His sword struck the control core.
**CRACK!**
The device fractured.
The creature froze.
For one second, everything stopped.
Then the entire facility shook.
John stepped backward.
"Uh-oh."
Darius’s face went pale.
"That’s not good."
The creature’s body began changing.
Its scales expanded.
Mana exploded from its body.
The floor beneath it cracked.
John immediately realized what was happening.
"Everybody move!"
They ran.
The creature roared.
The blast threw them down the corridor.
John hit the wall.
His vision blurred.
When he looked up, Specimen 001 had changed.
The glowing restraint across its face had disappeared.
Its eyes were visible now.
Golden.
Intelligent.
The creature looked directly at John.
And John realized something.
It wasn’t attacking.
It was looking at him.
Almost...
Confused.
Then a voice echoed inside John’s mind.
**Why?**
John froze.
He hadn’t heard the words with his ears.
The creature had spoken directly into his mind.
Darius noticed his expression.
"John?"
The creature stared at him.
**Why did you break the chains?**
John slowly stood.
"You can talk?"
The creature tilted its head.
**I have always been able to speak.**
John lowered his sword.
"What did they do to you?"
The creature’s eyes changed.
Something resembling anger appeared.
**They wanted to understand me.**
John waited.
**Then they wanted to reproduce me.**
Darius’s expression changed.
"What?"
The creature looked at him.
**They failed.**
John glanced at the damaged control core.
"You’re the original."
**Yes.**
"Original of what?"
The creature remained silent.
Then—
**The project you call Evolve began with me.**
John’s expression hardened.
"Why?"
The creature looked toward the ceiling.
**Because they found something beneath the world.**
John’s eyes narrowed.
"What?"
The creature’s answer was quiet.
**A source of mana older than your kingdoms.**
Darius stared.
"That doesn’t make sense."
The creature continued.
**They wanted to use it.**
John stepped closer.
"And did they?"
The creature looked at him.
**No.**
"Why?"
**Because something was already using it.**
Silence.
John felt a chill.
"What?"
The creature turned its head toward the deepest part of the facility.
**Something beneath this city.**
Another vibration passed through the floor.
This time, it wasn’t coming from Specimen 001.
It came from below.
Everyone froze.
Darius whispered.
"Below us?"
The creature nodded.
**It has awakened.**
John looked toward the floor.
"What is it?"
The creature’s expression changed.
For the first time, John saw fear in its eyes.
**I do not know.**
That answer frightened him more than anything else.
The creature had been imprisoned for years.
It had survived experimentation.
It had been designed to consume mana.
And even it was afraid of what was beneath them.
Then a distant sound echoed through the facility.
Not a roar.
Not a growl.
A voice.
Faint.
Almost impossible to hear.
But John heard it.
**...open...**
The lights returned.
Every magical seal in the sixth floor activated at once.
Darius looked at the walls.
"John."
"I see it."
Lines of magic spread across the floor.
The facility wasn’t trying to contain Specimen 001 anymore.
It was activating something else.
A massive circular symbol appeared beneath them.
John stepped back.
"Everyone, get off that circle."
They moved.
The symbol continued glowing.
Then the floor began opening.
Stone disappeared into darkness.
A staircase slowly emerged.
It descended farther than the sixth floor.
Darius stared.
"There’s another level."
John looked down.
"We’re already six floors underground."
Darius shook his head.
"This wasn’t on the plans."
John drew his sword again.
"Then I guess we’re going somewhere they didn’t want anyone to find."
Lythriel’s voice suddenly echoed from the communication crystal.
"John!"
He grabbed it.
"Lythriel?"
"We’ve evacuated the prisoners!"
"Good. Get them outside."
"I will. But the whole building is shaking!"
John looked at the newly revealed staircase.
"We found something."
"What?"
John hesitated.
Then he looked at Specimen 001.
The creature was staring into the darkness below.
"Something underneath the facility."
Lythriel went silent.
Then:
"Don’t do anything stupid."
John smiled.
"I’ll try."
"John."
"Yeah?"
"Come back."
He looked at the crystal for a moment.
Then answered quietly.
"I will."
The connection ended.
John looked at Darius and Aerion.
"We go down."
Darius sighed.
"I knew you were going to say that."
Specimen 001 stepped toward the staircase.
John looked at it.
"You’re coming?"
The creature nodded.
**I want to know what woke.**
John smiled.
"Then let’s find out."
The four of them began descending.
One step.
Then another.
The air grew colder.
The mana became heavier.
And far below Ravencross...
Something moved.
John stopped halfway down the staircase.
He could feel it now.
Not a monster.
Not a person.
Something else.
Something vast.
Something that had been sleeping beneath the city long before the facility was ever built.
John tightened his grip on his sword.
The investigation had started with missing people.
Then it had led to illegal experiments.
Then to Project Evolve.
And now...
They had discovered that Project Evolve itself had been built on top of an older secret.
John looked into the darkness below.
Whatever waited there wasn’t part of their original mission.
But they were already here.
There was no turning back.
---
100 ps = 1 extra Chapter
200 ps = 2 Extra Chapter
1 Golden ticket = 3 Extra Chapter