The sharp teeth came straight for my face.I rolled to the side, my tied hands scraping against the jagged stones of the cave floor. The monster missed my head by an inch. It slammed hard into the rock wall behind me, shaking loose a shower of small pebbles and gray dust.I scrambled backward on my knees, my breath coming in ragged gasps. In the faint gray light filtering through the iron gate, I could finally see the creature. It was a Shadow Wolf, the size of a small car. Black liquid dripped from its jaws, smoking slightly where it hit the ground. It turned around slowly, its red eyes locking onto me again.There was nowhere to run. The heavy iron gate behind me was locked tight. My hands were bound with thick rope that cut into my wrists every time I pulled. I was just an F-rank scavenger. My only skill was sorting pieces of metal and old bones from the trash. I had no weapon, no armor, and no magic power to fight a dungeon monster.The wolf stepped forward, lowering its heavy hea

The bright beam of a flashlight cut through the dark cave, splashing directly across my face.I stood perfectly still in the middle of the broken rocks, holding Amina’s crushed letter tight in my left fist. In my right hand, the heavy dragon scale blade rested against my leg. My heart beat steady and slow. The fear that usually made my knees shake whenever these guild guards walked by was completely gone."What the look at that," the first guard said, stopping in his tracks.The two men wore the thick leather armor of Tariq's private family guild. They were D-rank fighters, the kind of mid-level bullies who took pleasure in forcing poor sector workers to give up their daily food coins. The guard on the left had a heavy metal club on his shoulder, while the one on the right held a long steel spear.They looked past me, their flashlights moving over the giant pile of dusty bones where the skeleton boss used to be. Then they looked at the dead Shadow Wolf lying in a pool of dark liquid n

Running down the steep hill, I did not care about the sharp thorns tearing at my clothes. The only thing I could see was the bright orange fire consuming my neighborhood.Tariq was not waiting for me to come to the inner city. He brought the war straight to my doorstep.I hit the flat dirt road of Sector 4 at a full sprint. The air was thick with gray smoke and ash that made my eyes water. All around me, neighbors I had known for years were running in terror, carrying whatever small belongings they could lift. Behind them, guild soldiers in black leather armor walked casually, kicking down doors and throwing small fire glass spheres into the wooden houses.These fire glass spheres were cheap magic items used by high-ranking families to clear out old structures, but here, they were using them on living people."Find the scavenger's family!" a large soldier shouted, pointing a iron spear toward the end of the alley. "The Young Master wants them brought to the central square alive. The r

Amina was running for her life because she chose to protect my home.The weight of Jalo’s words pressed flat against my chest as I stood in the smoking courtyard. She had fooled an A-rank commander using nothing but a stolen radio and a massive gamble. The high-ranking guilds in the inner city did not tolerate liars, especially not a light magic user kept as a prisoner for her power. If Tariq caught her with that stolen master key, he would not just lock her in a cage anymore. He would drain her completely."Kofi, leave me," Jalo said, his voice dropping to a rough scraping sound. He pushed my shoulder with his weak hand. "The neighbors are returning to put out the fires. The guards are gone. If you stay here, you waste the time she bought for you."I squeezed his hand once, picking up my dragon-scale blade from the dirt. "Take care of yourself, old man. I will bring her back."I turned toward the main road and ran.My agility stat was working at its peak, making the ruined buildings

The red numbers on the screen dropped to 02:59, and the silver tablet began to sizzle against the control desk."The magnetic lock is melting the ports," Amina said, her hands already moving across the backup wires beneath the console. She did not panic, but the tight lines around her mouth showed exactly how bad our situation was. "Tariq's father did not just start a timer. He sent a high-frequency pulse to destroy the core memory so nobody else can read the structural codes of the inner city."I threw my weight against the heavy steel security grille that had just blocked our only escape door. The thick metal bars did not even bend. My strength stat was high, but this bunker was built to withstand artillery strikes from the outer wars."Can you trace the pulse back to the central tower?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at her."I already did," Amina said, pulling a wire loose with a sharp snap. A spark bit her palm, but she did not blink. "But that does not help us if we are turne