The silent cavern trembled.
One after another, shadows began rising — dark smoke slithering up from the broken floor like a living mist.
From the spreading puddle of darkness, the first figures pulled themselves free:
— A line of knights, black armor glinting faintly under the fractured mana-lights, faces hidden behind cold helms. Their swords gleamed with an edge that thirsted for blood.
— Behind them, tall robed figures, the mages, floated just inches off the ground, robes whispering without wind. Each mage had an eerie glow — blue, red, green, white — elemental energy swirling like storm clouds in their skeletal hands.
The new soldiers knelt before Jinwoo in complete synchronization — seventy knights, twenty mages.
The scene looked like something pulled straight from a dark myth.
Jinwoo folded his arms, a lazy, satisfied smile curving his lips.
"Looks good," he murmured.
He flicked his fingers — and a familiar screen opened up in front of him.
[Appraisal Complete.]
[Shadow Knight — Rank: C.]
[Shadow Mage — Rank: C.]
[Each mage has specialized elemental affinity: Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, Wind.]
Jinwoo whistled low.
"Not bad at all."
A single thought, and the summoned army flowed back into his shadow — the knights melted into smoke, the mages spiraled downward in streams of color.
In mere seconds, the field was empty again.
Only the chilling scent of magic and death lingered.
He turned on his heel, casual, hands shoved into his pockets as he strolled forward toward the broken gates of the rift.
Waiting just outside, standing motionless like a forgotten statue, was Igris.
Tall. Noble. Defeated.
Jinwoo grinned wide.
"Told you," he said lightly, stopping just a few feet away. "Told you I'd see you again soon."
He chuckled. "Didn't expect it to be, what, five minutes after kicking your ass though."
The silence stretched.
Igris remained still — just a hollow remnant of the once-proud knight, armor still cracked from the earlier battle. But Jinwoo could feel it — that unbroken pride. That silent loyalty. The same kind of loyalty he'd once sworn himself to, long ago, in a different life entirely.
The amusement slipped from Jinwoo's face.
He stepped closer, voice softening.
"In another life," he murmured, almost to himself, "I would've been the one kneeling. Fighting for someone else's cause. Dying for kings who didn't care."
His hand reached out, fingers brushing the dented edge of Igris' armored shoulder.
"But not anymore."
"From now on... you fight for you. You fight for me."
He stepped back.
A breath.
And then —
"Arise."
The world shuddered.
Igris' body convulsed once — then black smoke exploded from the cracks in his armor, coiling upward in a twisting inferno of shadow.
He rose — slower than the others — with a heavy weight, as if the world itself bowed to the resurrection.
And when he knelt before Jinwoo again... he spoke.
"My Monarch," came the low, rumbling voice — deep, reserved, filled with reverence.
Jinwoo's eyes widened slightly.
"You can talk now?"
[Notice: Shadow Soldier evolution successful.]
[Title: Shadow General — Rank: S.]
[Speech capabilities unlocked.]
[Please assign a name to your Shadow General.]
Jinwoo blinked at the screen.
"Uh."
"Name..."
He stared at Igris, scratching the back of his head.
"You kinda already feel like an Igrisyy, y'know?"
[Assign name: Igris?]
[Are you sure? No take-backsies.]
"Yeah, yeah. Igris."
[Confirmation complete. Naming creativity: D-. Effort level: Kindergarten project.]
[World's deadliest assassin... zero talent for names.]
Jinwoo rolled his eyes.
"You want me to name him Bob instead?"
The System responded with a long, theatrical [sigh].
Igris, meanwhile, simply bowed his head — silent approval radiating off him like a mountain's patience.
"Manage the Shadow Realm for me," Jinwoo said, stepping forward. "Keep things running while I'm busy."
"As you command, my Monarch," Igris rumbled.
He dissolved in a swirl of dark mist — folding neatly into Jinwoo's shadow.
-------
Jinwoo cracked his knuckles lazily.
"Alright. Next."
From his inventory, he pulled out three bodies one after another — thudding heavily to the ground.
— Gorehorn, the massive armored rhino-beast, still radiating an oppressive pressure even in death.
— Sand Wyvern, a grotesque three-headed monster, scales glittering with poisonous dust.
— Fenror, the mutated direwolf, black fur matted with blood, massive fangs bared even in death.
[Mana levels intact. Shadow Extraction Possible.]
"Perfect."
He grinned wickedly, raising a hand.
"Arise."
The cavern boomed again — a deeper, fiercer tremor this time, like the earth itself was holding its breath.
First, Gorehorn's massive body twitched — stone scales grinding like boulders shifting.
With a snort loud enough to rattle loose stones from the ceiling, the colossal rhino-beast heaved itself up.
Its entire form was covered in obsidian armor, naturally grown from cursed mana, the plates cracked but gleaming with residual power.
Its central horn, spiraling from its forehead like a medieval lance, pulsed faintly with dark energy — a symbol of unstoppable brute force.
Purple light flared in its hollow eyes as it took a heavy, thunderous step forward, cracks spiderwebbing under its hooves.
[Shadow Extraction Successful.]
[Rank: Elite Knight.]
[Please assign a name.]
Jinwoo grinned, a touch of admiration sparking in his gaze.
"You're one hell of a tank, old boy... Let's call you Horn."
[Name assigned: Horn.]
[Comment: Riveting creativity. Horn will surely inspire fear... or maybe laughter.]
Horn stomped once, sending a ripple through the floor, and dipped its massive head low — a show of loyalty that made Jinwoo's blood sing.
---
Next, the Sand Wyvern stirred.
The body — grotesque, with three viper-like heads attached to a sleek, serpentine frame — began to twist violently, throwing up clouds of gritty, poisonous sand.
Each head snapped in different directions, razor-fanged mouths dripping an eerie green toxin that hissed where it touched stone.
Its scales were jagged and dull gold, patterned with venomous black runes across its body — an unnatural creation born from the desert's cruel will.
As it rose fully, the cavern grew dry and brittle — like the very air was being devoured.
[Shadow Extraction Successful.]
[Rank: Elite Knight.]
[Please assign a name.]
Jinwoo shielded his mouth from the dust storm with one arm, smirking behind it.
"Toxic little shit, aren't you?"
He laughed.
"Alright. Tox it is."
[Name assigned: Tox.]
[Comment: Naming level: Chaotic Evil Minimalist.]
Tox's middle head snapped in acknowledgment, flicking a long, forked tongue at Jinwoo — almost... playfully.
If a creature made of nightmares could be playful.
---
Finally, the direwolf rose.
Unlike the others, Fenror
— didn't move with brute force or storming poison.
No.
He flowed upward, a misty wraith of blood and winter.
His gigantic form, easily the size of a warhorse, was covered in inky black fur that absorbed the light itself, making him seem more shadow than substance.
Where wounds had once gaped, tendrils of frost-smoke now coiled, drifting lazily like the breath of a sleeping dragon.
Each step he took left hoarfrost crackling across the ground.
It's eyes, once wild and furious in life, now burned with cold blue fire — two points of frozen rage locked onto Jinwoo with unwavering loyalty.
[Shadow Extraction Successful.]
[Rank: Elite Knight.]
[Please assign a name.]
Jinwoo stared at him — and a sudden, unbidden memory hit him:
A lone white wolf in another world, guarding a broken kingdom without ever speaking a word.
"Ghost," Jinwoo said quietly, voice rougher than before.
[Name assigned: Ghost.]
[Comment: Name accepted. Emotional damage: +10.]
Ghost padded closer silently, lowered his massive head, and pressed his frozen nose lightly against Jinwoo's knuckles — a warrior's pledge.
A cold shiver ran through Jinwoo's bones... but he welcomed it.
---
The cavern quieted once more.
Now, nestled inside Jinwoo's living shadow, waited:
Horn — the unstoppable armored beast, a walking siege engine.
Tox — the poisonous, triple-headed sandstorm wyvern.
Ghost — the silent hunter, a nightmare stitched from ice and death.
And standing atop them all, Jinwoo felt it in his core —
— the birth of his Army.
[System Comment: Congratulations! You've summoned a terrifying death parade.]
[System Comment: Naming sense... still tragic.]
[System Comment: But we love you anyway, you hopeless nerd.]
Jinwoo chuckled under his breath.
"Tch. Yeah, yeah. Keep whining."
He turned toward the dungeon exit, a dangerous smile curving his lips, hands stuffed deep into his jacket pockets.
The shadows followed.
---------
The instant escape stone shattered into dust in Jinwoo's hand.
In a blink, he vanished — whisked away from the collapsing dungeon just as the first tremors tore the cavern apart.
But the dungeon's fall wasn't the real catastrophe.
It was the aftershock.
The world shuddered.
At the heart of Dimensions, invisible to mortal eyes, a new dimension cracked into existence — a black star blooming beneath the Space.
No doors.
No keys.
No paths in or out.
A realm sculpted from death and loyalty, awaiting its king.
And when it formed...
The pulse came.
---
Across Earth, all at once, mana detectors screamed into life.
The Korea Hunters Association headquarters plunged into chaos. Sirens blared. Walls shuddered. Scientists scrambled at consoles as measurements spiked beyond known limits.
The old chairman, Go Gunhee, froze mid-step in the hallway.
His cane clattered to the ground.
He clutched his chest, eyes widening — not from pain, but from awe.
"Impossible," he whispered.
"This feeling... is it—?"
Behind him, dozens of veteran Hunters staggered, gasping like fish pulled from water. Windows shattered from sheer magical pressure.
---
In America, the National Guild's core members felt it too.
Christopher Reed, one of the United States' strongest S-rank Hunters, snapped awake from deep meditation. His body, usually calm as steel, broke out in a cold sweat.
He rose slowly, a grim smile tugging at his lips.
"Someone... terrifying... just woke up," he murmured, voice hoarse with excitement — and a thread of fear.
---
In China, at the headquarters of the Heavenly Sword Guild, Liu Zhigang, the mightiest of China's Hunters, stood atop his private dojo.
He gazed southward, across the sea toward Korea, sharp eyes narrowing.
"Not a dungeon break," he muttered. "Something worse."
His blade, resting nearby, hummed with resonance — sensing an ancient predator stirring.
---
In Japan, Goto Ryuji, notorious for his brutal reputation, instinctively dropped his drink, glass shattering on the ground.
He spun toward the window of his penthouse.
"Wha... What the hell is that?"
The waves of mana made his skin crawl, made the pit of his stomach twist in terror — and he hated it.
---
Across the world, every National Level Hunter felt it.
The stronger they were, the deeper they sensed the change —
— a new throne rising.
But it wasn't just Earth.
No.
Across dimensions, those attuned to the flow of cosmic mana felt it too.
---
Far beyond human comprehension, the Monarchs stirred.
In the endless void of chaos, wrapped in storms of annihilation, the Monarch of Destruction — the Dragon Monarch, Antares — opened his molten eyes.
He inhaled, savoring the wave of ancient, forgotten power now pulsing across realms.
"Finally..."
His voice rumbled like a dying star.
"The Shadow Monarch... awakens."
And he laughed.
A great, terrible laugh that echoed across dead worlds.
---
Elsewhere, the other Monarchs — of Frost, of Plagues, of Beasts — trembled in their thrones.
They remembered the terror of Ashborn.
They remembered death incarnate marching against them.
And now...
It was happening again.
---
In the higher dimensions where light reigned eternal, the Rulers convened.
Magnificent beings, crowned with halos of authority, their forms too vast for mortal eyes to comprehend, gathered around a fractured crystal showing Earth.
They watched the black realm rise, fear tightening like a vice around their immortal hearts.
"The vessel is awakening faster than we predicted," one Ruler said, voice cold as a winter sun.
"The Shadow Monarch's will... it persists."
Another leaned forward, light dimming slightly.
"We must intervene."
"But how?" came the reluctant whisper. "We have no rights. No anchors. The world is already lost to us."
---
Even among the Rulers, a deep unease festered.
They had gambled everything on the chance that the vessel — Sung Jinwoo — would inherit Ashborn's power gradually, under their watchful eye.
But this sudden, uncontrollable eruption of authority...?
It shattered their plans.
The Shadow Realm was now sealed — a private kingdom inaccessible even to them.
And once its Monarch claimed his full strength...
There would be no chains left.
---
Back on Earth, inside a hidden bunker, Go Gunhee straightened up slowly.
His eyes — sharper than they'd been in years — gleamed.
He didn't know who or what had awakened.
But deep in his ancient heart, he felt hope.
A king was rising.
And for once...
Maybe humanity wouldn't have to kneel to monsters anymore, He hoped.
---
The world held its breath.
And in the growing silence, the first whispers began.
Not of disaster.
Not of apocalypse.
But of the birth of something greater.
Of a Monarch.
Of a King.
And the shadows waited patiently for their Sovereign to return.
--------
Author's Note:
WHEW.
Alright, deep breath...
That just happened.
First off — how's everyone feeling?
Because I feel like I just gave birth to an army of death knights, toxic hydras, and emo wolves, and frankly? 10/10 would do it again.
Jinwoo's Kingdom has officially been born.
Tiny... chaotic... terrifying... and named by a guy whose creative process is literally "look at thing, call it obvious thing."
(Horn. Tox. Ghost. Naming Level: Kindergarten Graduation Award.)
Serious moment though:
This chapter was important.
It wasn't just Jinwoo raising soldiers — it was him claiming his past, present, and future.
No more fighting for dead kings. No more dying for someone else's crown.
He's the Monarch now. His own Monarch.
Question for you guys!
Out of Horn, Tox, and Ghost... which new Shadow do you think will become the most iconic?
And if you had to name them yourself (because obviously Jinwoo is hopeless), what names would YOU have given them?
(Seriously, I want to hear your best or worst names. I might even feature some in a bonus chapter. Imagine a fearsome wyvern named... Mr. Hissy.)
Anyway —
As always, thanks for diving into this world with me.
Hold onto your mana stones — things are about to go from "oh cool he has an army" to "oh crap he has a nation."
See you next chapter, legends!
— Author out. [drops instant dungeon stone dramatically and vanishes]