2025-04-08 21:07:49Meanwhile, in a large, opulent office adorned with dark mahogany walls, gold trim, and shelves of ancient artifacts, a man stood tall by the full-length window. He looked to be around six feet, clad in a sharp black suit that hugged his muscular frame. His presence exuded authority. His sharp eyes scanned the horizon beyond the glass, lost in thought.
Behind him stood a man with peach-colored hair slicked back neatly, a single monocle perched on his left eye, magnifying the sharp gleam in it. His name was Cassian Vale.
“Mr. Ryu,” Cassian began, his voice polished, professional. “The situation in Darkvale Forest is becoming increasingly unstable. Reports suggest the Nightscale Crawlers are growing more aggressive.”
Ryu turned slowly to face him, his jawline sharp, his expression unreadable. “Have we rounded up the D-class hunters?”
Cassian nodded. “Yes, sir. They're assembled and awaiting your orders.”
Ryu walked back to his grand desk, sitting down with a measured sigh. He laced his fingers together. “The Crawlers are just F-class...but if they swarm, they could rival an E-class beast. Possibly even D-class in destruction if they continue to copulate unchecked.”
Cassian's brow furrowed slightly. “Understood.”
“Send the hunters out within the hour. Make sure they’re well-equipped,” Ryu ordered, the steel in his voice unmistakable.
Cassian gave a curt nod and turned to leave, his steps silent.
Just as the door closed behind him, it swung open again without a knock. A man strode in, his jet-black hair tousled stylishly, a smirk tugging on his lips. He didn’t wait to be invited. He sat across from Ryu like he owned the place.
Ryu's eyes narrowed. “Logan. What the hell are you doing here?”
Logan chuckled, crossing one leg over the other. His black combat gear hugged him like a second skin, and the aura he exuded made the room feel heavier. “Just came to pay the guild a visit. You should be honored. Not every day an S-class hunter takes a stroll to your boring-ass office.”
Ryu rolled his eyes. “I’m an S-class too. I don’t go around parading it like a damn badge of honor. And I won’t be content until I hit M-class. Unlike you, who treats S-class like some VIP club.”
Logan scoffed, a bit stung. “Harsh. Real harsh. You never change, do you?”
The silence stretched for a moment before Logan leaned forward slightly.
“You planning to recruit? Things are getting... messy out there. Monsters multiplying at insane speeds. Something’s off.”
Ryu gave a slow nod. “Already on it. Other guilds are scrambling too.”
Back in Darkvale Forest
Leo crouched behind a massive jagged boulder. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips. His breath was ragged. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
“Fuck...” he muttered under his breath. “That mid-boss is insane.”
He used the reflective surface of his light dagger to peek around the rock. In the warped image, he saw it.
A massive Nightscale Warden—the mid-boss.
It was nearly eight feet long, serpentine, with thick obsidian-black scales that shimmered with violet pulses. Its body was armored like plated steel, and its numerous legs ended in serrated talons. Two glowing crimson eyes scanned the tunnel like searchlights.
[Mid-Boss: Nightscale Warden | Rank: E+]
Leo’s body trembled as he recalled the encounter. Three hours of evading. Three hours of near-death brushes. Three hours, and he had already coughed up blood thrice. The Punishment Protocol was relentless.
“I have to finish this... or I’m dead either way.”
Just as he braced himself, a deep screech echoed. The Warden turned.
BOOM!
The massive boulder Leo hid behind was suddenly ripped from the ground by a lash of the creature’s tail and flung aside like a toy. Dust and stone rained down as Leo was left exposed, blinking through the debris.
[Warning: You have been detected.]
“No shit!” Leo cursed and rolled sideways as the Warden lunged.
Its jaw snapped where Leo had been a heartbeat ago, digging into the earth instead.
Leo scrambled to his feet and sprinted, zig-zagging as the beast chased. The tunnel vibrated with the creature’s screeches.
[System Alert: Critical Health Threshold Approaching.]
[System Notice: Emergency Protocol Initiated. Temporary Skill Unlock: Shadow Blitz]
Suddenly, Leo's body felt a rush of dark energy. He blinked—and in an instant, the world around him blurred.
[Temporary Skill Acquired: Shadow Blitz - A high-speed dash technique allowing the user to move at near-invisible speed for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.]
He vanished from the creature’s path and reappeared behind it.
“Whoa...”
The beast whipped around, confused. Leo didn’t hesitate.
With his light dagger glowing faintly, he ran toward the underbelly where the scales were weakest. The Warden struck down, and Leo Shadow Blitzed again, appearing directly beneath its core.
“Come on, come on...”
He thrust the dagger upwards, piercing the soft, pulsating flesh. The Warden let out a screech that shook the very tunnel.
Leo barely rolled away before its body slammed down.
[Critical Hit. Mid-Boss HP: 47%]
The battle raged on. Leo had to use every second of his temporary skill, each moment dancing between life and death. The Warden’s tail struck him once, sending him sprawling, ribs cracking. But he pushed on.
With a final Shadow Blitz, Leo landed atop the beast’s head and drove the light dagger down through its skull.
A shudder. A final screech.
Then stillness.
[Mid-Boss Eliminated.] [Reward: Venom Gland (E), Beast Core (D), Skill Scroll (Shadow Blitz - 50% Sync)]
Leo collapsed beside the corpse, panting, blood-soaked and bruised.
“Holy...shit...”
The system screen flickered before him.
[New Achievement Unlocked: "Survivor of the Abyss"] [Stat Points +5. Skill Retention Unlocked: Shadow Blitz - Permanently Acquired (Level 1)]
Leo laughed weakly, a delirious grin on his face.
“Guess I’m not completely useless after all..."
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Chapter 45: Dressed in comedy
Chapter 45: Dressed for DisasterBack in the city—The room was cloaked in luxury, the kind that carried danger in its perfume. The long glass windows reflected the city skyline, and at the head of the oval table sat a woman in crimson heels and a tailored black suit. Her manicured nails drummed rhythmically against the surface as her voice—low, smooth, and lethal—cut through the silence.“So,” she began, her words dripping like venom, “the person who dares to stress my dearest nephew… was an E-class hunter? Not even a C-class?”Kael swallowed hard, his back straight but his spine cold. “Y-yes, Aunt.”The woman—Therese Valtoria, one of the most feared guild executives in the continent—slowly rose from her chair. Her movements were deliberate, feline. “Well, well, well…” she murmured. “Should I be disappointed… or enraged?”Kael’s heart raced. He wasn’t sure which answer would spare him, so he did what he did best—he improvised. “Aunt, he isn’t a normal E-class hunter!”Therese raised
Chapter 44: Tea party of doom
The moment they stepped into the tower, silence swallowed them whole.The air inside was heavy — thick with dust, heat, and the metallic tang of blood. The first floor stretched before them like a battlefield long abandoned. The flickering red runes on the walls cast distorted shadows across the piles of corpses — the slain maws of the tower.Their bulbous bodies lay scattered like deflated carcasses, their mouths gaping wide even in death, fangs frozen mid-snarl. Steam still rose faintly from a few of them.Tessa stopped short. “By the Ancients…” she whispered. “Did he… do all this?”Dean’s boots crunched lightly over a trail of dried ichor. His expression didn’t change, but his eyes took everything in — the placement of each corpse, the clean slices, the patterns of impact across the stones.Rurik whistled low. “Well, the kid’s got guts — and apparently, skill to back it up.” He kicked one of the corpses lightly, its gelatinous body collapsing inward with a sickening squelch. “Damn.
Chapter 43: Alive
The tower loomed against the bleeding dusk like a dagger stabbed into the world with its black stone gleaming faintly under the crimson sky. Mist swirled around its base, alive with whispering echoes. Every few minutes, a strange pulse shivered through the air as if the tower itself was breathing.Tessa paced near the ridge, her cloak whipping behind her as she muttered under her breath. “He’s been gone too long,” she said for the tenth time, her eyes darting between the trembling horizon and the tower’s glowing entrance. “It’s been hours. What if something happened to him?”Rurik, leaning lazily against a half-fallen pillar, grunted. “You’re talking about that guy again? The one who just walked in without backup?” He snorted. “Then yeah, something probably did happen to him. Like, oh, I don’t know, maybe death by stupidity.”“Rurik!” Tessa snapped, glaring at him. “He went in alone. You saw what we all experienced the last time we tried that!”Rurik shrugged. “Yeah. And I saw how w
Chapter 42: Next level
The air was thick with blood.It wasn’t just the smell, it was in the walls, the floor, the sound. The entire chamber pulsed like a living wound.Leo swung his blade, teeth gritted, as the Corruption Warden lunged again. The thing looked like it had once been human—a hulking knight now fused with black armor that oozed like tar. Its sword was jagged bone, dripping with crimson energy that hissed whenever it hit the air.“Stay down, damn it!” Leo snarled, parrying the monster’s downward strike. Sparks spat as metal screamed against bone. The impact forced him back, his boots scraping over slick stone.Mira darted around his shoulder, glowing with frantic blue light. “You call that staying down? That thing’s regenerating faster than your brain cells!”“Not helping, Mira!”The Warden’s helmet twitched, letting out a growl that sounded more like a dying cathedral’s bell than a voice. It swung again. Leo ducked, rolled, and barely avoided the blade as it sliced a stone pillar in half like p
Chapter 41: Crimson sand
The light consumed them, dragging them upward as the world faded once more.When the glow dimmed, Leo blinked and immediately regretted it.The floor beneath him was slick and crimson, not with carpet or stone—but with dried, flaking blood. The air reeked of rust and something sweeter like decay masked by perfume. The walls stretched high, forming a massive circular coliseum. Cracked pillars jutted from the ground, and faint silhouettes—like afterimages of long-dead warriors—stood frozen mid-battle, half-formed and fading with each breath of the wind.Mira floated out of the ring, looking around. “Okay. Creepy points: ten out of ten. Smells like someone murdered a perfume shop.”Leo wrinkled his nose. “You’re not wrong. Smells like death… and regret.”The system chimed:[Welcome to Floor 3 – The Crimson Arena][Objective: Cleanse the Arena of Remaining Corruption][Bonus Reward: ???]“‘Remaining corruption,’” Leo muttered. “So… clean-up duty. Great.”The echo of his voice bounced back,
Chapter 40: The tower’s bad sense of humor
Leo flopped onto the cold stone floor, panting like he’d just wrestled a mountain. The boss’s carcass—a grotesque mashup of centipede legs, knight armor, and bad life choices—was already dissolving into black dust. His sword hand trembled as he raised it in mock victory.“Finally,” he wheezed, raising both arms dramatically. “I’m alive. I’m actually—”Mira’s disembodied voice cut through his celebration like an overcritical gym trainer. “I don’t think you should rest though. You’re short on time, you’ve got four NPCs to heal, and—oh yeah—you need to survive a night in whatever horror zone that place was.”Leo groaned and let his arms flop down. “You know, Mira, for someone who technically lives rent-free in my jewelry, you’re awfully demanding.”“I call it moral support,” she said sweetly. “You should try it sometime.”Leo sat up, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Moral support doesn’t usually come with emotional damage.”Before Mira could respond, a low rumble vibrated beneath him. Th
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