Extra Borne: Transmigrated Into A System Apocalypse Soulsborne Novel

I woke up with a start, gasping for air as if I had been underwater for too long. My chest rose and fell, each breath trembling with exhaustion. My vision was a blur, as though a thick fog had settled inside my head, and a sharp, throbbing pain pulsed in my temples.

Before I could even gather my bearings, a screen flickered into view, glowing faintly in the dimly lit space.

[Notification]

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You Have Defeated DAKARNOS [Rank_C]

Killed By +1

Support +3

Vital Imprint Obtained x5

Vital Imprint Shared -3

| Checkpoint Saved! |

+

The familiarity of the screen didn't ease my confusion. My thoughts spiraled as I tried to piece together what had just happened.

"What… just happened?" I muttered to myself,

The red hall we had fought in earlier stood before me, unchanged yet suffocatingly ominous. Its towering red wall loomed like indifferent sentinels,

I turned my head slowly, trying to shake off the dizziness, and caught sight of Celia, Jess, and Uvan sprawled nearby. Each of them was stirring, clutching their heads and groaning faintly, as if waking from the same nightmare.

I pushed myself to my feet, the ache in my muscles protesting every movement. I stumbled toward Celia, who was sitting up, her fingers pressed to her temple. A deep crease lined her forehead, her normally sharp gaze dulled by disorientation.

"Hey… are you okay?" I asked, gently resting a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at me, blinking twice before recognition flickered across her face. Her lips curled into a faint smile, though it was weighed down by exhaustion. "I'm better now, Agon… but.." she paused, her eyes narrowing. "How are we supposed to defeat that… Monster? The wave will begin again soon."

Her words struck a chord of dread. The memory of him... The Crimson Knight, sent chills racing down my spine. That figure, draped in rags and crowned with a jagged wreath of agony, had obliterated us without so much as lifting a finger. We hadn't stood a chance.

"I don't know," I admitted quietly, lowering my gaze.

Uvan and Jess approached, both looking as shaken as we were. Jess rubbed at her temples, muttering something under her breath before she finally spoke.

"We need a plan. And fast," she said, her tone more frustrated than scared.

Uvan nodded grimly, folding his arms across his chest. "Jess is right. We can't go in blind again… but what's the alternative? That thing is leagues beyond anything we've faced so far."

As the four of us exchanged wary glances, Jess suddenly frowned. "Wait. Check your evolution stats," she said, her voice tinged with urgency.

I hesitated, then mentally summoned my screen.

[EVOLUTION]

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FIRST EVOLUTION (25%)

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The number sent a jolt through me. It had dropped by 5%. My heart sank as I realized what it meant.

"Reviving costs evolution progress," Jess said grimly, her hands clenched into fists. "If it hits zero… we're done. No more revivals. We die for real."

Silence fell over us like a suffocating blanket. Celia broke it, her voice low but steady. "There's something I noticed," she began, her brow furrowed as she spoke. "When he chanted, the mist got thicker. It was circling us."

Her observation ignited something in me. I replayed the fight in my head, each fragment of memory sharpening into focus. The mist had been oppressive, almost alive.

Uvan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If that's true… it might be the source of his power. Or at least what amplifies it. What if we could… get out of its range?"

I nodded slowly, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to align. "It makes sense. The mist could be a part of his Domain Weaving ability. If we can move out of it, maybe we can disrupt his control over the battlefield."

Celia's gaze locked onto mine, her sharp eyes flickering with a glimmer of hope. She smiled faintly, but just as quickly, she reached over and pinched my arm.

I winced, startled. "What was that for?"

"You were grinning like an idiot," she said with a teasing smirk, though her tone carried a layer of seriousness.

I nodded, taking the correction in stride. There was no room for overconfidence.

Then Jess spoke up, her voice cutting through our thoughts like a blade. "Guys. Did you know we can use our abilities without fully evolving?"

Her words sent a jolt through all of us. "What do you mean?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Jess raised her hand, and a spark of flame erupted from her palm, dancing like a restless spirit. "Like this. The larvae we consumed... they give us power, even before full evolution. We've had this the whole time when our evolution percentage increased."

Her demonstration hit me like a blow. How had we missed that?

"That's…" I trailed off, my thoughts racing.

Jess extinguished the flame, her expression firm. "We've been fighting with our bare hands while holding weapons of unimaginable power.."

Jess's words hung in the air like a spark waiting to ignite a flame. Celia broke the silence first.

"Jess, when did you figure this out?" she asked, her voice a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

Jess crossed her arms, her gaze steady. "It was during the fight with Dakarnos. When Agon's arrow took him down and the system notification popped up, I noticed it. My hands… they sparked flames for a moment. But there was so much going on, I didn't think about it until now."

For a moment, silence fell again, and then, as if drawn by a collective impulse, we each began to test our own abilities.

Uvan went first. He held out his hand and concentrated. At first, nothing happened, but then faint sparks flickered to life, dancing across his fingertips before erupting into crackling arcs of electricity. The blue-white energy hissed and surged, illuminating the dim space for a fleeting moment.

"Electricity," he murmured, staring at his hand as if seeing it for the first time.

Next was Celia. She hesitated only briefly before pulling off her armored gloves. Her pale fingers spread open, and a cold mist began to swirl around her palms. It coalesced into sharp tendrils of frost that spiraled outward, the air around her growing frigid. The frost glinted in the dim light, razor-sharp and beautiful, as if the very air had crystallized under her control.

When she lowered her hand, her gaze flicked to me. It was my turn.

I swallowed hard and focused, unsure of what might happen. But before I could try, the screen materialized in front of us, glowing ominously in the mist-filled air.

[SUB-MISSION]

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Remaining Waves — 4

Failure — ???

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[Wave 2 Has Begun.]

The ground trembled beneath our feet, shaking violently as if the world itself was tearing apart. I staggered, bracing myself as the familiar rumbling intensified. The giant red hall around us shimmered like a mirage, it's walls dissolving into nothingness.

Once again, we were plunged into the mist.

Thick, oppressive, and suffocating, the mist enveloped us, swallowing sound and light alike. It clung to my skin, damp and cold, and seemed to hum with a faint, malevolent energy.

We instinctively moved into formation, circling back-to-back as we had before. The silence was deafening, broken only by the sound of our ragged breaths and the faint rustle of shifting mist.

Then, like before, the mist began to part, carving a narrow path through the endless white.

At the end of the path, he stood.

The Crimson Knight.

His figure was just as I remembered it, cloaked in tattered rags that billowed slightly in the unseen wind. His pale skin gleamed like polished bone, and the jagged crown of crimson thorns still pierced his skull, rivulets of dark, viscous liquid dripping down his temples like tears of blood.

But it was his eyes that held me captive. Those pitch-black voids stared at us, unblinking, pulling me into their endless abyss.

A crooked smile crept across his face, sharp and predatory. "Welcome," he said, his voice low and resonant, reverberating through the mist and pounding into my chest like a war drum. "You've returned."

He paused, his dark gaze sweeping over us.

"Shall we continue?"

As the last word left his lips, the mist began to shift again, swirling around us like a living thing. It moved with intent, coiling and tightening, trapping us within its suffocating embrace.

Before I could react, the screen materialized once more, its glow piercing through the oppressive fog.

[SYSTEM]

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DEFEAT THE BOSS OF WAVE 2

THE CRIMSON KNIGHT

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The Fight Was About To Begin....