That was the only word that could explain his situation.
For the third time, he had completely lost control of his body—frozen in place, locked straight as a corpse, paralyzed by the sheer presence of a monster.
The King of the Abyss had merely opened its eyes.
It had done nothing else.
And yet, just that single glance had filled him with an indescribable terror.
His eye muscles contracted painfully, pupils shrinking to pinpricks. His breath hitched, then turned ragged, wheezing as if his lungs had forgotten how to work. Sweat poured from his skin in relentless streams, drenching his clothes as if he had been pulled from an ocean.
His heart pounded furiously against his ribs—
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Each beat threatened to tear through his chest.
Sheer fear.
Sheer intensity.
It was a terror that could kill a man.
His instincts screamed—run, flee, escape!
But his body refused to listen.
He couldn't even flinch.
Not a single twitch. Not even a slight tremble.
The primal part of his mind knew—any movement might trigger the rage of the monster below.
And so, he remained frozen, perched on the jagged rock, heart hammering itself to death.
[System]
[Alert!]
[Intense Physical Stress Detected!!]
[Chance of Heart Failure: 84%!!]
Even the System had to react to the severe condition of his body.
But it wasn't physical exertion that was killing him.
It wasn't poison.
It wasn't an injury.
It was pure, undiluted fear.
He was going to die of terror.
But the King Did Nothing.
The serpent hadn't moved.
It lay coiled as it had always been, wrapped around its precious egg, its colossal body undisturbed.
It wasn't even looking at him.
Its molten golden eyes were fixated on a distant void, staring into empty space.
And yet—
It scared him so much he could barely breathe.
Even now, his mind refused to believe that the King had seen nothing.
A creature like that didn't need to see.
It knew.
It had always known.
That was why he couldn't move.
That was why his body betrayed him.
That was why he was going to die here.
[System Alert!!]
[Chance of Heart Failure: 92%!!]
He knew he had to calm down.
He knew he had to breathe.
He knew he had to collect himself.
But he couldn't.
His consciousness had been hijacked by terror.
The moment he had locked eyes with that primordial existence, he had lost.
His body was shutting down.
Dying.
[System – Executing Emergency Measures!]
[Forcing Shutdown of User's Body…]
And then—
Everything became dark.
Darkness consumed the man called Shwetansh.