The silent footsteps landing on the dusty ground were practically inaudible. Valakor, the Field Executioner Head of the Abyss Branch, dropped down from the mining cliff like a falling dry leaf. Not a speck of dust billowed up. His landing was far too perfect, too elegant for a place as filthy as this.The paper-bag-faced man stood tall, adjusting his tie. "You are really making my workload pile up, Jihan," Valakor said. His voice echoed from behind the brown paper bag, cold and deeply bureaucratic. "Killing a fellow defaulting client will not reduce your total bill by a single cent."Jihan stared at Valakor with his lethal, pitch-black eyes. His left hand secretly reached into his jacket pocket, making sure the glass vial containing the Tears of Abyss—the antidote for Luna—was safe in there. If he tried to run now, Valakor would definitely chase him to the edge of hell. His speed as a fifty-year-old grandpa would never outrun an executioner of Valakor's caliber.The only way out was t

The ground beneath Jihan's boots trembled with the violence of a major earthquake.Valakor was no longer a neatly dressed bureaucrat in a gray suit. The executioner had mutated into a towering, twenty-foot-tall mechanical monstrosity. Rusted steel plates, massive gears, and heavy excavator treads had fused disgustingly with his remaining flesh. A giant steel drill replaced his right arm, spinning at an insane speed and throwing sparks everywhere as it chewed through the rocky terrain of the Abyss.The only thing left of his original form was the torn brown paper bag clinging to his mechanical face."I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE LIQUIDATION DEPARTMENT, HAN JIHAN!" Valakor roared. His voice sounded like a blaring train horn overlapping with a meat grinder.The giant cyborg lunged forward. Its tank treads crushed the ancient bone pillars scattered across the mining site, turning them into white powder. Valakor swung his massive drill arm horizontally.Jihan threw his body to the dirt. The dr

Crunch. Crunch.The sound of shattered glass grinding beneath Jihan's dirty boots shattered the suffocating silence. The young man with the face of a middle-aged man stopped in his tracks, squinting to pierce the thick purple fog blanketing the land ahead.It wasn't rocky soil or a stretch of sand extending beneath their feet. As far as the eye could see, the wasteland was made entirely of billions of sharp, glittering mirror shards. The broken glass reflected the blood-red sky of the Abyss, creating an optical illusion that made it feel like walking across a frozen sea of blood.The Glass Desert. That was the name marked on the Village Elder's holographic map."What kind of place is this, Han?" Luna asked quietly. She stood behind him, her healthy left hand gripping her backpack strap tightly. "My eyes are killing me from the reflection. It is blinding, yet somehow dark.""This is the front yard of the loan shark's office, Luna," Jihan replied flatly, resuming his pace. The tip of hi

Jihan froze behind the small glass window of the service door. His heart skipped a beat. The man in the immaculate white suit standing in the middle of the obsidian lobby had the exact same fatherly, sickeningly warm smile as Guild Master Suryo.But as the man turned his body fully, the illusion shattered.Two massive, pitch-black wings unfurled from slits in the back of his pristine suit. Feathers as dark as the void drifted down to the polished marble floor. He was not the Guild Master. He was a fallen angel, acting as the VIP Receptionist for the Abyss Branch.The receptionist smiled warmly. It was a terrifying contrast to the suffocating aura of death radiating from his body. His pale gray eyes looked directly at the service door in the dark corner."Mr. Han Jihan," the fallen angel's voice echoed through the massive lobby. It was incredibly polite, smooth, and chilling. "The Branch Manager has been expecting you on the 99th floor. Please, allow me to escort you."Jihan and Luna e

The monster form of the giant manager thrashed and spewed acidic saliva onto the iron floor of the arena.Mr. Zero, who previously had an innocent and cute face, was now nothing more than a squirming pile of meat. His jawless mouth, adorned with thousands of jagged teeth, gaped wide and let out a shriek that could shatter glass."Guards! Executive Security Guards! Slaughter them! Hack them to ashes!" Zero roared. His voice echoed, overlapping, a blend of an angelic voice and a rusty chainsaw.From behind the darkness of the purple clouds surrounding the hanging iron platform, fourteen red portals opened. Massive monster figures stepped out. They were the Elite Guards of the Abyss. Their armor was made of smoldering cosmic steel, each carrying a fiery spear and a sharp barbed chain of torture.At the other end of the arena, the iron floor panels slid open mechanically, revealing rows of six-barreled automatic defense turrets that immediately began locking onto heat signatures. The muzz