2025-04-08 18:04:25Leo stood frozen, the dense forest air heavy around him as he glanced nervously in every direction. The thick mist slithered between trees like silent ghosts, and every rustle of leaves made his nerves jolt. "Come on then! You think I'm scared? You ugly piece of oversized furball! I dare you to show your face!" he shouted into the trees, his voice trembling despite his attempt at bravado. "Yeah, I eat monsters like you for breakfast!" he added, waving his hands around. "You're just a glorified oversized raccoon!"
As if summoned by his taunts, the ground beneath his feet quaked slightly. A low, guttural growl echoed through the forest, causing birds to scatter in panicked flight. Branches snapped. Leaves rustled violently. Then—
BOOM!
From the dense underbrush, an enormous beast pounced out and landed a few feet from Leo, shaking the ground. Leo's legs nearly buckled under him as his eyes widened in horror. The creature was massive—easily three times the size of a bear, with rough, obsidian-black scales, yellow slit eyes that gleamed with hostility, and tusks that jutted from its lower jaw like jagged swords. Its drooling maw reeked of blood and rot, and Leo's gaze accidentally caught on the sight of his own torn shirt snagged between two of the beast's serrated teeth.
"Oh hell no! My shirt?! You wanna die, you dragon-faced flea pig?!" Leo shouted, flailing his arms, though his bravado cracked as his voice rose to a shriek.
Internally, Leo was spiraling. "This system... whoever's running it really wants me dead. First accident, now this kaiju-looking son of a bitch?! I take it back—I want to be broke and miserable in my old world, not dead in this one!"
The beast roared, a thunderous sound that sent a shockwave rippling through the trees. Then it lunged at Leo.
Leo screamed and covered his face, bracing for death. But death never came.
Instead, he heard a sickening squelch and the heavy thud of something large hitting the ground. Trembling, Leo peeked through his fingers.
The monster’s decapitated body lay sprawled in front of him. Its head was cleanly severed, and from its open neck, a shimmering green orb floated upward, pulsing with energy. Leo blinked in disbelief.
"What in the... did I do that? I mean, unless I’ve got ninja reflexes I don’t know about, that’s not me. Maybe I’m some kind of magical assassin now?" he muttered, watching the orb glow.
Cautiously, he stepped forward and reached out to touch the orb. But before his fingers could make contact, the orb floated higher, just out of reach.
"Hey! Come back here! I’m the one who screamed the loudest, I earned that!" Leo yelled.
Suddenly, laughter broke through the silence. He turned to see three people emerging from the mist, clad in sleek, high-end hunter gear that sparkled even in the dim light of the forest. Two young men flanked a woman with striking red hair tied into a tight braid. Her emerald green eyes were narrowed with disdain as she sized him up like he was a piece of gum stuck to her boot.
"Leonis Ardent. Still trying to claim other people's kills, huh? You're as pathetic as ever," she spat, her voice sharp and clear.
Leo furrowed his brows. "Leonis? Who the hell is Leonis?" he murmured as he pointed at himself. "Wait—you mean me?"
One of the guys beside her scoffed. He had slicked-back hair and a permanent sneer etched into his face. "Wow, not only did he survive a beast attack, but he also forgot how pathetic he is. Maybe the hit to your head knocked out the only brain cell you had."
Leo winced. "You know, that’s real lame. Did you come up with that yourself, or do you have a book of ‘Insults for Losers’ on standby?"
The second guy, stockier with a thick jaw and arms the size of Leo’s torso, took a step forward. His voice boomed. "Don’t get cocky, Leonis. You’re an orphan, a bottom-rung F-rank hunter who barely made it through the last trial. Whatever plan you have for getting close to Liora, forget it. You don’t belong in our world."
"Ah. So the girl’s name was Liora."
Leo glanced at her. She was glaring at him like he’d tracked mud into her palace.
"Listen," Leo said, scratching his head awkwardly, "I don’t know what your deal with Leonis is, but I’ve got bigger issues. Like what the hell just happened here."
The three exchanged glances. Liora stepped forward and smirked. "This orb is my kill. I’m a D-class hunter, and you're barely existing. Stay in your lane, Leonis."
With that, she plucked the orb from the air and turned, her two lackeys following her.
Leo watched them disappear into the mist. His fists clenched. He didn’t care about the orb. But being talked down to like garbage lit something in him. "Damn… the old Leonis must’ve really been a loser," he muttered.
Just then, a digital chime rang in his ears.
DING!
[System Notification: You have 4 days, 23 hours, and 11 minutes remaining to complete the First Mission.]
Leo groaned. "Oh come on! I just survived a kaiju! Can I catch a break?!"
He sighed and muttered, "System..."
Nothing.
He tried again. "System interface. Pop up. Open sesame. Show me the money. Siri? Cortana?"
Still nothing.
"Goddamn it."
Frustrated, he began walking through the forest, hoping to find a way out and back to Leonis’s home. He needed information—fast.
But just as he turned toward what looked like a footpath, the system chimed again.
DING!
[System Update Complete.]
[New Feature: Punishment Protocol.]
For every hour that passes without accepting and progressing the first mission, host will suffer internal backlash. First symptom: coughing blood.]
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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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