3 Chapter 1: Awakening

"Upon one's ire awakening lies a fathomable conversance of the beauty, unappreciated eyes that glamour the luxuries of utmost importance. Said the clergyman. Though as it may be, reverend. He is just a baby, nothing too much to expect yet you dream of him becoming someone even better than his mother? Quite the mess, reverend, but truthfully speaking-- We did, as well--Comparatively, we forsoothed an upcoming scene that he will, one, become a man who shall walk beside the gods. Yes, indeed. That is much worse than what you conceived of, reverend."

- The third paragraph of Page 1, Chapter of Adam, Tale of Grimayus.

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Boom!

An explosion happened at this certain dungeon-like hall's ceiling. Along with the falling clouds of dust and rocky debris fell a figure of a person with an unknown bodily entourage. Falling fast into the floor, the debris altogether with the figure of the man generated an explosion and a deep crater at its wake, shattering the finely carved slabs of the dungeon into rubbles and ruins.

The unknown body of the person had its limbs and joints twisted at irregular angles that would normally result in the dire end of one's life, but the person didn't flinch. Although it felt pain, it didn't succumb into that rapture. It slowly, and staggeringly, stood up from the wreckage, shook its head to drive away from the dizziness it had accumulated, swung its limbs back to its normal angle as if the occurrence of it falling into oblivion never happened and examined the area around it calmly.

It had awakened in some sort of Dungeon hall. The rocks are radiating an eerie luminescence of deep rainbow glow, in between the stone slabs lies a pulsating vein of a vibrant prism, indicating the glow did come from these veins and not from the stones. The hall is large, albeit narrow. One carriage is enough to pass through by these halls but not another side by side. The height of the hall is taller than any giant with almost six times the average human height.

The being looked around its surroundings even further and noticed something amiss.

The overall atmosphere of the Dungeon hall is dark, no sight of monsters within the range of apparent vision nor any appearance of a person. Normally deep inside its mind that it couldn't fathom of its origins, in these kinds of man-made structures lies a sentry on patrol or any servants that linger within...

But that didn't seem to be a case.

"This? Place. Unknown. What, where?" The being thought to itself and examined the place even further. Subconsciously, its gaze fell onto its arms and felt a flash of a slight jolt of surprise within but couldn't understand as to why it felt such experience.

... Its body wasn't ordinary with a natural skin color tone...

More like it was made out of glass. A thick layer of smoothly carved glass acting as its skin, beneath its skin lies a profound swimming starry skies and dark nebulas as its veil. The same goes for the rest of its body.

Hell, its face didn't even contain the slightest detail of human-like facial features. Its face is just a shape of a head and that's it.

No eyes or eyesockets, no noses, mouths, and even ears. Nothing could be found within its head.

Through the discrepancies in its features. It had similarities to human origin. It did have the image of a stalwart human male warrior, it has the body of a balanced muscular human and the height of one and a half meter. Its neck curled up a white cape that hid almost the rest of its torso, its arms held a rusty iron gauntlet, its lower body donned discolored brown trousers, and its legs clad in rusty iron greaves that goes up beyond its knees.

And its chest kept within a swirling active white galaxy.

Moreover, it felt the pleasures of its six senses perfectly even without the presence of required organs. It could see, it could hear, it could taste the mouth even though it didn't exist in the first place, and it could feel the ecstasy of sensory experience. The same goes for its heart that cannot be located by any means, but it felt it swirling instead of beating.

It was as if its heart was replaced by the swirling galactic system.

The person did not know almost anything other than words that frequently spawns out of its mind. It tried remembering how it had gotten in this place, of what its name called before it came to be in this dark dungeon, and what it was used to be, but to no avail. Its mind is unknown, full of nothingness except for a certain fluttering image of a worn-out black scroll.

It was a black geass, a lot of them are rippling inside the being's head. These papers gave out an ominous aura. Full of dread and malice. The black scroll's contents were written in the most elegant calligraphy ever seen though it is laid with a creepy crimson red color that yields a destructive vibe.

These papers, the being felt it has something important to do with it. It felt somehow connected, with a thorough pondering. The being finally saw what these papers were.

... A surge of knowledge hammered the Being and made it fell down onto its knees.

It held up its head as if it was suffering and tried to scream in pain but couldn't. It did not know how to use such organ properly.

These papers..! They give me guidance, they are full of knowledge that interprets the responsibilities I must do, the things I must act upon, and the styles I must use to live in this world that I am reckoned to oust with my power that the Chaos God blessed me with thee. The being thought whilst under unrelenting pain of memorial fill. From the papers, it gained knowledge of using proper vocabulary.

The being thoroughly understood all of them and incorporated them into its mind permanently, as soon as it consolidated them, the pain disappeared. The papers shook and faded away in the depths of its mind. And before long, it had noticed an eccentric black geass. It looked much more different than the rest as it was bordered with golden frame and flisk of sovereignty.

The being flipped the scroll to itself inside its mind. Though it shocked him for the geass to not contain anything other than an elegantly made filament.

But the scroll shook, it suddenly dispersed and materialized the pieces outside the realm of its mind and covered its entire body!

Like winds cooking up a disastrous tornado, the being was overwhelmed with ghastly black ripped pieces of paper! The being held both of its hand in an attempt to protect itself from the horrifying swirling promenade of torn bits of paper.

After the remains of black geass engulfed the being, the torn bits of paper turned into flocks of black crow's feathers and swirled vigorously around it. The being tried to blow the feathers off its face and body by using its hands but bore no fruit. It struggled for a while before it a piece of feather entered its mind and shook its mentality with a loud enigmatic call.

The voice, it was horrifying. It was as if hundreds of people were talking inside its mind at the same time, the being tried its hardest to decipher the creepy conversation with the utmost of its abilities though it was near impossible. It was as if they were talking in jargon.

... The conversation only did became clearer after another feather entered its mind.

The volume of the conversation grew louder and louder until it nearly knocked off its balance and held it hanging for mercy.

"ALCATRAZ. THAT IS YOUR NAME."

"YOU ARE THE INFINITE PRISON, THE ONE WHOSE GOAL IS TO DISRUPT BALANCE IN THIS WORLD UNTIL THE BLESSED WARRIORS OF THE CREATION GODDESS ARRIVE IN THIS UNWORTHY PLANE. YOU MUST CONTINUOUSLY WRECK HAVOC, WITHOUT END."

"WITH MY ABSTRUSE GUIDANCE THAT I HAVE GIFTED YOU UPON YOUR UNPRECEDENTED RESURRECTION, YOU MUST ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING THAT GAVE YOU NOCTURNE INSIDE A DISGUSTING DIRT."

"IMPRISON ANYTHING IN YOUR PATH, ALCATRAZ. TAKE THEIR POWER, THEIR REPUGNANT APPEARANCE AND TURN THEM INTO BAGS OF DUST."

"... UNLESS YOU ARE FIGHTING A HERO..."

"NOW ALBEIT ALL DESIRES, ALCATRAZ. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE, IN THIS ABANDONED TEMPLE THAT ONCE WORSHIPPED THE GODS THAT OPPOSE YOU. YOU SHALL BE TRANSPORTED WITH THE LEAST OF MY POWER..."

"TO SOMEWHERE MUCH POPULATED FOR YOUR GROWTH."

"I BID YOU GOOD PLEASURE AND ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR RULE. KILL, IMPRISON, AND DESTROY."

A surge of information suddenly filled the mental world of the being whose name is Alcatraz, its mind couldn't tolerate anymore. It staggered and wobbled, groaned and screaming in agonizing pain while holding his head. It was too many. The information, it was too many to be held! It couldn't tolerate such a flood of memories..!

Alcatraz suffered an intrusive painful torment. It fell down to its sternum and did not have the power to move an inch of its limb.

After languishing for a while in the ground. Alcatraz fainted, the last thing it saw was its body turning into a myriad of particles and a vision of shooting up high in the skies. Up to the heavens.

Alcatraz woke up moments later. It felt exhausted and weak as if it had undergone unnecessary psychic torture. It had woke up in a different venue, similarily, it looked like the Dungeon hall he was formerly in but twice as large and instead of pulsating prism underneath the slabs of the walls, the lighting is in form of a vine that crawls through the ground up to the ceiling of this place.

And moreover, it has the appearance of being in a ruins. Obviously weathered numerous assaults and thousands of visitors throughout the years.

But at least right now, due to the black geass, he has gotten from out of nowhere. It could fathom things that are of common sense.

It learned how to fight with almost all of the weapon styles, how to lie and act, speak, and remove conscience. There are many more he had learned from the geass.

... Like what the colorful bright vines are called.

They are called Dungeon Veins and present the current health condition of the Dungeon Core that lives in the deepest part of the Dungeon. Organic and living, has a heart for every meter of length and not part of the larger body; Dungeon Core, but they are in mutual relationship with each other as the Veins supply the Dungeon Core with Mana and decimated bodies of the monster inside the Dungeon for the Dungeon Core to be used to summon new stronger variants of the decimated Monster, while the Dungeon Core supply the Veins a Life Force that they need for their hearts to pump these prism liquids that they use to expand and live.

The Dungeon Veins make the materials that it clutches onto indestructible with the help of infinite Mana. Unless one uses up all of the Mana in the area or until the Dungeon Core of which they are dependent to is destroyed, no one would be able to destroy the vines or take the materials it has clutches onto. Though it would only clutch on rough clay stones but not precious crystallized ones such as Goldius, Silvaria, or highly valuable materials.

Since that would be undoubtedly unfortunate if you dropped your gold Sapiro and the nearby Dungeon Vein suddenly seizes on it, as commanded by the Creation Goddess, it shouldn't grab on things that are important to all of the races, including humanity.

Dungeon Veins would turn into an alarming red glow if the present condition of the Dungeon Core is under attack or siege by Humans or Demons, it will turn all of its inhabiting monsters' attention towards the dangerous attackers. And it will turn a calming blue if it is preparing a monster flood in a sector indicated by a yellow glow.

Still, even though Alcatraz has gained sufficient knowledge. It wasn't enough for it to learn about the current Dungeon name it is currently in.

The information about this place is vague. Inside its sight, a small map was laid on the top-right of its vision, HP and MP meters are indicated in numerical form instead of usual bar form on the top-left of its eyesight.

The map indicates my current position and the top-view of my apparent vision. This map is only exclusive to people who possess a special Rank S ability called 'Map Eye Illustration". Although my Status system doesn't entail that I own one, my body that has profound property does have the said ability... Interesting. Alcatraz pondered further inside its mind. The HP in this world functions as a barrier instead of vitality threshold. If your HP drops to 0, that wouldn't mean you would instantly die but you will lose the protection of your 'DEF' value and get instantly killed if someone stabs you anywhere or perhaps survive if you are a person with strong will power.

Damages are undoubtedly unconditional in this world. Pierce and Thrusts to one's vitality cause additional damage to the HP and will deflect the dangerous material off the body of the defender once the damage has been administered, and apply the smallest amount of injury. While Slash and Blunt attacks won't be deflected by the HP and instead administer both full injury and damage, and sometimes registering a bleeding state if the cuts are severe... Really unconditional, in short, if one is to deal more damage. You have only one option and that is to use Slash attacks instead of Pierce since they don't cause that much of a Damage in the long run... Alcatraz nodded in satisfaction upon reading this tip. MP just indicates the presence of Mana inside your body in numerical form and that's it.

For me, as a being capable of 'imprisoning' people inside my chest. HP functions differently.

If my enemy, the instant their HP hits 0, I am given a choice to whether suck their soul inside my jail to gain their everything including their appearance or to degrade their soul to be transformed into a viable transmutation material and used for various purposes.

... That would only apply to Humanoid enemies, while on the terms of Monsters. I must destroy their cores to gain some of their power or perhaps, a chance of absorbing their appearance.

For every absorption of the same Monster, the status gain decreases until I gain a minimum of 1%, but the absorption of appearance increases by folds. And if I attained the same appearance of the same monster on a row, it will be upgraded until it reached its maximum level.

"That's good," Alcatraz muttered to itself, it just noticed that its voice is definitely belonging to that of a human male. Although slightly distorted, deep, and somewhat similar to the voice of the being that transferred him in this place.

Therefore, it decided to identify itself as 'he' starting from now on, or every time it takes the form of this magnificent human embodiment of the starry night sky.

Alcatraz stood up from its place. Examining the place once again before picking off a direction, he walked for a while before he reached a four-way junction hall.

... Having said that, he noticed something amiss in this junction.

Fresh blood permeated up into the air and assaulted Alcatraz's senses. Shattered blades of swords and daggers scattered all around the area, ripped clothing with blood splattered amongst them, and pieces of armor laid by.

Obviously, a life-and-death battle happened in this place just earlier... Or maybe before he had came to be in this place.

The blood is still fresh, still dripping from the remnants of the armor. Alcatraz slowly walked towards a nearby shattered sword and examined the blood-soaked half-broken blade. It was a dark blood, a type of blood that normally belongs to monsters of high growth. He quickly placed his thoughts onto the blood for a while before a blue box appeared above the blood.

>>Dungeon Crawler's blood (Rank F)

>"A type of blood belonging to almost all of the Dungeon-created Monsters. Has traces of high metabolism and mutation, and highly acidic. Touch with caution. Could be used to fuse Copper and Iron together to create Bysantiarice."

... Appraise Item ability! Alcatraz exclaimed inside him. Appraise Item Ability is a really helpful ability as not only it would help you identify the objects that the gods have left in this world but also help you gain knowledge. My kind of Appraise Item Ability uses ancient language and has the Rank of C, therefore it could identify lower ranked materials with high precision.

It also requires one to be highly literate. Lower ranked Appraise Item Ability uses local language and are written in a form that only the educated ones could read.

CLANK... Alcatraz threw the blade away after gaining an insight into what has transpired in this junction. The appraise item spoke of 'Monster of high evolution' and this monster have high chances of being either a Boss-class Monster or an Aberrant-class Monster.

Boss-class Monsters are much more powerful than your usual monsters as their status rise in power from the number of their followers. Aberrant-class Monsters are immune to Appraisals and hide under the veil of your senses, excluding your eyesight and hearing. Aberrant-class Monsters are much more dangerous as they are usually composed of monsters that excel in both speed and strength. Alcatraz remembered the knowledge he has gotten from the black geass.

With a heave of sigh, he stood up and looked around him, Alcatraz hoped that the Humans that fought in this area are still alive. There are traces of blood leading to the East Hallway of this junction, he took a broken dagger with him and started making way- following the still fresh blood trail with the fastest speed he has.

Even though he is the unfathomable 'Infinite Prison' that the unknown person talked about, he still has the running speed of an ordinary human. He doesn't feel the exhaustion from racing his feet and felt like he could run like this for hours. He didn't need to take a breath, after all, he could keep on running until he feels it is enough.

The only reason he hoped that those humans were still alive was to gain an easy absorption without the need for engaging archaic combat with pesky humans. If he killed the monsters along with a human if they are still in fact alive. It's a win-win situation for Alcatraz.

Finally, with the top speed of his running ability, he had caught up to the source of the trail.

It was a hall leading to a dead end. There were torches laid side by side and vases. Crude beds made out of a variety of armors and woven cloth that gives out a vibe of primitivity.

In the camp belonging to that of archaic age beings, there were six human figures. Four of them were women stripped down to their dignity, they still have their pristine body intact while two of them are highly armored males whose lungs are no longer breathing. Their bodies are left hanging up in the air with magic.

Alcatraz immediately stopped on his tracks.

There were a total of four identical monsters standing pridefully in front of him.

"Guru, guru, guru."

With the height of a dwarf, eyes of a fish, head of a mighty eagle, half a body of a stalwart lion, belly and limbs of a human. These monsters are known for their prideful behavior and disgusting lust for human females. They are like goblins that love soiling humanoids for their own desires and need for reproduction.

Liveariu Dwarf Crawler

Level: 3, Rank F- Chimera-type Monster.

Intelligence: D- Vitality: Perfect.

Fighting Capabilities: D- Magic Capabilities: Unranked.

... But they are many times better than Goblins, or... Stronger. Goblins and these monsters are mutual enemies, a nemesis that would fight even they are in peril.

These monsters are obnoxious at first glance. Alcatraz gripped his fists upon the sight and prepared a battle stance that is appropriate for taking on four assailants at once with bare hands. He doesn't need the shattered dagger but his fists alone.

With no second thought, he pumped his left leg away and surged its body forth into the group and started to brawl.