I Can Extract Game Items

August grinned. "Still wanna stop me?"

No one moved.

They weren't sure stopping August from leaving was worth their lives at this point.

---

[ 0:10 Remaining… ]

Sir Dumblore pressed a hand to his chest. "Lad… it's time."

August activated the beacon's final sequence.

The air around them warped, twisting in a shimmering vortex of light.

Guards shouted, but it was too late.

---

System Notification:

[ Beacon Activated: Extraction Commencing… ]

[ 3… 2… 1… ]

As the beacon's light consumed them, August felt a strange pull—like reality itself was bending around him.

Time seemed to slow as the sounds of chaos faded into an eerie silence. Just as his body felt weightless, an overwhelming presence surged toward them.

A dark blur moved across the terrain, faster than anything August had ever seen.

"What the—?"* His thoughts barely had time to register before a gust of force shattered the surroundings.

BOOM!

A shockwave blasted outward causing the stone walls to crumble as the confined space shook violently.

August barely caught sight of a figure slicing through the air like a living shadow—an afterimage of black and violet streaks.

His instincts screamed danger but before he could react—

A hand lunged forward.

It reached for him and Sir Dumblore, just as the beacon's teleportation activated.

And then—

The light engulfed all three of them.

---

System Notification:

[ Beacon Extraction Commencing… ]

[ Unexpected Force Detected! Teleportation Surge Activated! ]

---

August stumbled as they materialized above the surface, blinking rapidly to adjust. The fresh air hit him instantly as the crisp, green landscapes of the Sylvalis Elven Kingdom stretched before them.

Sir Dumblore collapsed to his knees, coughing. "By the forge, we made it!"

But August's stomach twisted. Something was wrong.

A sinister laughter echoed beside them.

Slowly, he turned.

The Monarch of Hollow Dusk settlement 1, stood just a few feet away—free.

Her dark elven form was bathed in writhing shadows as power radiated off of her in waves. The very air trembled around her presence.

She spread her arms as if feeling the wind for the first time in centuries.

Her laughter was rich, almost musical, but dripping with malice.

"Oh, what a generous little rat you are." She turned her violet gaze toward August as her lips curled into a smirk. "You've done me a great service, young one."

August's eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"You…" He spoke slowly. "You got caught in the teleportation."

Her smirk widened. "No, boy. I made sure I got caught."

--------

(( One Day Ago ))

Back in the hollow dusk settlement 1, Faint flickers of torchlight struggled against the gloom, casting eerie shadows that danced like restless spirits along the cracked and uneven walls within a particular space.

The metallic scent of blood, sweat, and decay—an unmistakable signature of the Hollow Dusk's cruelty wafted across the air.

At the heart of this forsaken underground labyrinth was a vast, cavernous chamber carved from black stone. Crude banners of tattered cloth, embroidered with strange, ancient symbols, hung like forgotten relics from the spiky outcrops.

At the far end of the chamber stood a makeshift throne made of twisted bone and obsidian.

Seated upon it was Melanthis, the Monarch of this settlement.

Her eyes burned with an unnatural violet glow, sharp and filled with seething hatred. Her once radiant features, remnants of her elven heritage, were now marred by the corrupting touch of dark magic—

Veins of black crept up like tendrils beneath her pale skin. The faint shimmer of spectral runes etched across her collarbone pulsed with an ominous light beneath the thin fabric of her cloak.

Before her knelt a figure clad in dark, tattered robes—a masked man whose identity was obscured beneath an iron mask.

His posture was one of reverence as he spoke.

"It is done, my queen. I've brought the one you saw in your premonition," his head remained bowed as he spoke.

Melanthis's lips curled into a faint, sinister smile as her fingers lazily traced the sharp edge of a dagger resting on the armrest of her throne. Her voice was a silky whisper, dripping with venom and triumph.

"I knew it was him the moment he set foot in this pit of despair," she voiced while leaning forward slightly.

"The stench of fate clings to him like rot to a corpse."

The masked figure rose slightly from his kneeling position, though his head remained bowed in deference.

"He is strong… clever, even. But not strong enough to see through the threads of destiny woven around him. He believes he's here to rescue some old fool, blind to the true purpose of his arrival," the masked figure glanced up slightly.

"You will finally be free, my queen."

A dark laugh escaped Melanthis's lips, reverberating through the hollow chamber like a serpent's hiss slithering over stone.

"Free… Yes, free to reclaim what was stolen from me by those self-righteous hypocrites of Sylvalis," she stood from her makeshift throne causing her dark robes to cascade like a shadow's breath.

Her aura flared with an oppressive energy that made even the masked figure shift uncomfortably.

"They thought burying me in this abyss would silence me. But they only delayed the inevitable."

She strode forward and stopped just inches from the masked figure. Reaching out, she traced a sharp, blackened nail along the edge of his mask.

"When I rise again, Sylvalis will drown in darkness. Their sacred groves will burn, their temples will crumble, and their gods will weep for their failure," she lowered her tone to a venomous whisper.

"They will know fear… true fear."

The masked figure straightened, emboldened by her words.

"The elven elders grow complacent, blinded by their own arrogance. They won't anticipate your return until it's too late," the masked figure paused briefly.

"And with the boy's unwitting help, you'll escape this light-forsaken dwelling and regain your true power."

Melanthis's grin widened with malevolent satisfaction.

"Now all I have to do is wait for him to try rescuing that old fool."

---------

(( Present ))

"What the fuck? The masked dude was your underling this whole time?" August voiced in disbelief after Melanthis recounted the chain of events to him.

"I knew of your coming before you even bore the thought in your mind. Your destiny had always been to free me and now you have fulfilled it," Melanthis smirked with a look of satisfaction.

---

System Notification:

[ ALERT! High-Level Entity Released! ]

[ NPC Encounter: Queen Melanthis, Monarch of the Hollow Dusk ]

Level: ???

~Glitch~ ~Glitch~

Level: 170

Title: Mistress of the Abyss

---

Sir Dumblore's face drained of color. "Oh… oh, lad, what have you done?"

The realization hit August like a hammer.

'I just freed a monster.'

He whirled toward her as daggers appeared in his hands in an instant.

"You're going back."

Melanthis tilted her head with a look of amusement. "And how, exactly, do you plan on making that happen?"

Before August could act, she moved.

A blur...? A shadow...? A phantom...?

Her speed was inconceivable.

Her hand was on his throat before he could even blink.

---

System Notification:

[ WARNING: Speed Difference Too Vast! Escape Impossible! ]

---

August couldn't move.

Her grip was like iron as her fingers pressed into his skin, crushingly cold.

He tried to use Phantom Blitz—but nothing happened.

"Such potential," she mused with a look of intrigue. "You are… interesting."

He activated Thunder Spear at point-blank range.

Letting the lightning explode since he couldn't hurl it at her—

Melanthis barely reacted. The energy around her simply… absorbed it.

Sir Dumblore tried to lunge at her with what little strength he had left. "Get away from him, you wretched—!"

She merely flicked her wrist.

BOOM!

An invisible force blasted Sir Dumblore off his feet, sending him crashing into a tree on the other end like a ragdoll.

August gritted his teeth, feeling completely powerless for the first time in a long while.

It was supposed to be a game and yet everything felt so real... This feeling was undeniably terrifying.

She leaned in closer and whispered in his ear. "Your magic is powerful, but it pales in comparison to mine."

And then—

She released him.

August stumbled backward, gasping for air.

"Why are you letting me go?" he hissed.

Melanthis laughed again before stretching her arms toward the sky. "Because I am free and it was your doing. I have you to thank pretty boy."

She threw her hands upward—

And the sky cracked like glass.

A wave of darkness surged into the heavens, spreading like an infection.

---

System Notification:
Continue reading stories on My Virtual Library Empire

[ Major Event Triggered! ]

[ Calamity of the Hollow Dusk Begins! ]

---

All across the Sylvalis Elven Kingdom, alarms sounded.

Elven archmages and warriors turned their gazes skyward as their expressions twisted in horror.

The forest trembled. The rivers darkened. The air itself shuddered.

Melanthis smirked while stepping backward.

"Run, little rat."

And with that—she vanished.

A streak of black light tore through the sky and a shuddering sonic boom followed in her wake.

The air rippled and distorted violently before settling once more.

She was gone.

And August?

He just became the reason the entire elven kingdom was in chaos.

Sir Dumblore groaned as he sat up, rubbing his aching head. "…Well, lad, I'd say that went about as bad as it possibly could've gone."

August let out a long breath.

"You think?"