Floor 10 – Phantom Valley
The night hung heavy over the swamp, its air thick with the stench of decay. Dead, gnarled trees reached skyward like skeletal fingers, their branches casting eerie shadows under the pale moonlight. Amidst the desolation, a lone boy moved with purpose, his boots sinking slightly into the damp earth as he scanned his surroundings.
His search ended when his gaze fell upon a grotesque mound, a towering pile of corpses, both human and monstrous, their lifeless forms intertwined in a macabre tapestry. At its peak, a single flower bloomed defiantly. Its petals shimmered with an eerie, luminescent blue, pulsing faintly as though feeding on the rot beneath it.
The boy's lips curled into a satisfied smirk. He raised a hand, and a futuristic red interface materialized in the air before him. An image of the flower appeared, accompanied by its name: "Phantom's Bloom."
Finally, I found it.
Without hesitation, he scaled the mound of corpses, his fingers closing around the stem of the flower. The moment he plucked it, the bloom vanished, and the interface updated - "Phantom's Bloom added to inventory."
As he turned to leave, a shadow descended from above. The boy sidestepped just in time, the ground where he had stood exploding with the force of the impact. Before him stood a grotesque abomination—a patchwork horror of stitched-together flesh, its body a fusion of decaying human parts.
*Chimera Ghoul.*
The boy's eyes narrowed. With a swift motion, he summoned a rusty short sword from his inventory, its blade glinting dully in the dim light. The ghoul lunged, its fist aimed at his head. The boy blocked with the sword, the clash sending a jolt up his arm. He countered with a slash, carving a deep gash across the ghoul's chest—but the wound sealed instantly, flesh knitting itself back together.
The ghoul retaliated. From its body erupted multiple tendrils, each tipped with a bladed claw. They lashed out with terrifying speed, slicing through trees and tearing into the earth. The boy wove through the onslaught, his sword deflecting what he couldn't dodge—until the blade, battered beyond endurance, snapped with a final, pitiful *crack.*
*Tch. Good riddance.*
He hurled the broken hilt at the ghoul, who swatted it aside with contempt.
"This is getting annoying," the boy muttered. He leveled a cold stare at the creature. "I'm in a hurry. Let's end this quickly."
The ghoul responded with a guttural roar and charged. The boy didn't flinch. Instead, he raised two fingers, and flames began to swirl around them, growing larger, hotter. The ghoul was upon him in an instant, its fist aimed for his skull—but the boy was already gone, reappearing in midair above the monster.
The fire around his fingers condensed into a tiny, searing orb. A single word left his lips:
**"Annihilation Beam."**
A brilliant line of flame lanced downward, striking the ghoul. The moment it made contact, the fire expanded, engulfing the creature in an inferno. A heartbeat later, all that remained was a scattering of ashes, drifting lazily to the ground.
The boy landed lightly, dusting off his hands. With the Phantom's Bloom secured and the ghoul reduced to nothing, he turned and vanished into the night, leaving only silence in his wake.