Elang: The Strongest Hunter in the Tower

CHAPTER 2: The First Floor

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? The gate is over there!" The Guide shrieked, buzzing after him in sheer confusion.

Elang ignored the creature. He ran his fingers across the cold surface of the pillar, searching for a break in its texture.

"Found it!" Hidden beneath a layer of thick moss was a small carving of an eye.

"In the game, if a player with the absolute worst stats interacts with The Blind Pillar before the tutorial begins..." Elang muttered to himself, driving his thumb into the center of the eye carving.

Click.

The heavy, metallic thud of an ancient mechanism echoed through the chamber. The Dragonfly Guide’s eyes went wide. "How do you know about—"

Suddenly, a neon-blue system prompt flared to life in front of Elang, overtaking his vision.

[Warning! Tutorial Protocol Disrupted!]

[Detecting Player with sub-average stats.]

[The Weakest Compensation Activated.]

[You have acquired the Passive Skill: Architect’s Sight (Rank Unknown)]

Description: Allows the user to perceive weak points, hidden routes, and object durability within the Tower.

Elang’s eyes flared with a sudden, searing heat. When he opened them again, the world had fundamentally changed.

Luminous red lines webbed across the Dragonfly Guide’s body, marking its exact vulnerabilities, while a golden trail of light pulsed beneath the stone floor, guiding the way out of the gate.

"This isn't just luck," Elang whispered, a cold, sharp smile cutting across his face. The paralyzing dread that had gripped him earlier dissolved, replaced by a surge of pure, burning adrenaline.

"Hey, Guide. Did you say I was going to be fertilizer?" Elang turned his head, pinning the small creature with a haughty glare. "Open the gate. This loser is about to rewrite his destiny."

"Arrogant brat!" the Guide spat, gnashing its mandibles.

[The Tutorial Gate is opening!]

[Main Quest: Survive the assault of 3 Grey Wolves!]

Fearsome howls reverberated from the darkness beyond the slowly grinding stone doors.

Elang tightened his grip on his snapped, rusted sword. He knew that with his abysmal stamina, he couldn't afford a single wasted movement. One wrong step meant death. But one perfect strike, and he would begin his ascent as the ultimate Hunter.

The massive stone gate groaned open, unleashing a blast of bone-chilling air. Out of the pitch-black abyss, pairs of glowing yellow eyes materialized one by one, accompanied by low, chest-vibrating growls.

Grrrr...

Three Grey Wolves stalked out, saliva dripping from their fangs. To any ordinary player, this sight was a death sentence. But to Elang, under the gaze of Architect’s Sight, the battlefield looked like a digital blueprint. He could see thin red lines glowing brightly across their necks—the fatal weak points that guaranteed an instant kill.

"They're going to strike simultaneously in three seconds," Elang whispered. His heart hammered in his chest, but his mind operated with the cold, mechanical precision of a seasoned Pro Player.

The lead wolf lunged, its jaws snapping toward Elang’s throat. With a Stamina stat of only 3, Elang couldn't afford to play defense or keep dodging. He had to achieve maximum efficiency.

Just as the wolf's snout came within inches of his face, Elang didn't retreat. Instead, he dropped his center of gravity, letting the beast sail right over his head. With a single, precise thrust, he drove the jagged shard of his rusted sword directly into the red line on the wolf’s underbelly.

Splat!

[Critical Hit!]

[Grey Wolf eliminated. Experience points acquired.]

"One," Elang muttered flatly.

However, the scent of fresh blood only ignited a feral frenzy in the remaining beasts. They circled him, closing in from all sides.

Watching from above, the Dragonfly Guide trembled. "Insane! How can a brat with such a fragile body move with that level of surgical accuracy?!"

Suddenly, just as Elang braced himself for the next clash, his vision violently distorted. The once-placid blue system screen flared into a deep, bloody crimson.

[Warning! Hidden Condition Fulfilled: Defying Death with Zero Potential.]

[Soul Synchronization: Sovereign's essence is assimilating into the Host's body!]

An excruciating, white-hot agony struck Elang’s spine. The broken shard of his blade was suddenly wrapped in a familiar, dark-purple aura—the unmistakable, cataclysmic power of his game avatar, the Sovereign. However, his frail, mortal flesh began to fracture under the sheer pressure of hosting such godlike might.

"Cough!" Elang spat out a mouthful of blood.

Sensing a opening, the remaining wolves pounced together, aiming to tear Elang's agonizing body to pieces.

"Not yet! I'm not done!" Elang roared. His voice suddenly dropped, echoing with a dual resonance as if two entities were speaking in unison.

Right before the fangs could tear into his flesh, a shockwave of dark energy erupted from him, sweeping through the entire tutorial chamber. It shattered the stone pillars and instantly silenced the wolves' roars.

Amidst the billowing dust cloud, Elang stood tall, his left eye glowing with a sinister, dark-purple fire. But the status window hovering before him delivered a terrifying countdown.

[Error! Assimilation level is too high. Host's physical vessel will collapse in 60 seconds.]

[Clear this floor or die as system trash!]

"Heh," Elang wiped the blood from his lips, a wild, unhinged look in his eyes. "Sixty seconds? Fine. Let's make this quick."

Pushing his remaining stamina far past its breaking point through the Sovereign's forced assimilation, Elang surged forward like a phantom. Every step he took left deep fissures in the stone floor. To his enhanced perception, the wolves lunging at him seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Slash! Thud!

In a mere three seconds, one wolf fell dead, its throat cleanly slit by Elang's broken blade. He moved with brutal efficiency, hacking and piercing only where the system highlighted the most fragile weaknesses.

[Time Remaining: 45 seconds]

"Damn it, this body really is trash!" Elang cursed.

He felt as though every bone in his body was on the verge of snapping, but he couldn't stop now.

"I have to hold onto the Sovereign's power just enough to clear the first floor. I am not a loser, and I refuse to die on the bottom floor!"

The last two wolves charged at him in tandem. Channeling a high-tier leap technique belonging to the game’s protagonist, Elang vaulted into the air and landed squarely on the back of one beast, driving the jagged tip of his broken sword deep into its neck.

The wolf’s carcass crashed heavily to the ground, sending Elang rolling across the stone floor. He retched blood; his frail body simply could not withstand even a fraction of the Sovereign's cataclysmic power.

"One left," Elang wheezed, trying to push himself up, only to collapse back onto the dirt. "No... stand up, Elang. You have to finish this first floor."

The final wolf was enraged by the slaughter of its pack. It let out a deafening howl that shook the dust from the ceiling, before charging blindly at Elang, who was still pinned to the ground. It moved with terrifying velocity—too fast for Elang to dodge.

"Shit, it's too fast," Elang muttered. He struggled to rise, but a sudden wave of paralysis washed over him, rendering his limbs completely useless.

"Am I really just a loser after all?" Elang murmured, watching the beast close the distance.

As the massive silhouette leapt, plunging its weight down onto Elang's body, a sickening crunch echoed through the room.

Whimper!

Following the sound, both figures went completely still, tangled together as a dark pool of blood began to seep into the dry earth.

"Has our player perished?" the Guide whispered, hovering over the motionless pile.

***