"Ahhhh... finally!" groaned Gervais, his chest rising and falling like a conquering warlord who just finished a protein commercial.
A brilliant white light shimmered behind them as the dungeon portal flickered and closed, leaving the victorious raid party bathed in sunset glow. The grass beneath their boots was wet with dew, and their bodies—though battered—stood proud.
They had done it.
They had defeated the dungeon boss.
"Victory tastes sweet, boys!" Gervais declared, slapping his toned chest with a prideful grin. His short-cropped hair was damp with sweat, his alpha-male aura practically creating wind pressure. "That overgrown lizard didn't stand a chance. Good job, everyone!"
Behind him, the party trickled out one by one.
First came Baldric the swordsman, still high from the adrenaline rush, twirling his blade like he was auditioning for a traveling circus.
Then came Ella, the team's D-rank healer. Her steps were slow, her expression exhausted, her staff acting more as a walking stick than a weapon of divine restoration.
"I swear... if I had to heal Devin one more time, I was going to throw him into the boss's mouth myself," she muttered under her breath, glaring back as if trying to manifest him into flames.
And finally, emerging from the portal like the afterthought of an afterthought... was Devin.
The E-rank hunter.
A young man with average looks, below-average luck, and somehow negative self-esteem.
He stumbled forward, still limping from injuries that had been miraculously patched up seconds earlier. His armor was scorched, dented, and half-fused with dungeon slime. He looked like he'd fought the dungeon boss with his face.
"Hey guys, we made it! I-I think I stabbed its toe! Did you see that?" Devin said with a hopeful grin.
No one answered.
Gervais sighed, clearly irritated by the mere sound of Devin's voice. He reached into the party's loot pouch and began distributing the spoils: crystals, gold, crafting materials.
Each member received their agreed share.
Then came Devin's turn.
Gervais tossed him a single chipped mana crystal and a lower tier hunter crystal as well, barely enough to buy a stale meat bun.
"Wait... this is barely a third of what we agreed on," Devin said, blinking. "I-I was supposed to get at least ten percent!"
Gervais cracked his neck and turned slowly, towering over him like a final boss NPC. "You got paid your worth," he said coolly. "In fact, I was generous. Honestly, you were more of a liability than an asset. Ella wasted half her mana healing your sorry behind."
"I almost died in there!" Devin snapped.
"And we almost won faster without you," Baldric chimed in.
Devin clenched his fists, trembling with frustration. The shame, the injustice, the damn low tier hunter crystal. Something inside him snapped.
"You think I'm worthless?! I'll show you worthless!" he shouted and lunged toward Gervais, swinging with wild desperation.
It lasted two seconds.
One sidestep, one punch, and Devin was flat on the ground, wheezing, face in the dirt like a dropped sandwich.
"See?" Gervais scoffed, brushing invisible dust from his knuckles.
Devin didn't speak. He couldn't. His pride was bruised more than his ribs. He picked himself up slowly, eyes burning not with tears but with something else.
He turned without a word and limped away, head bowed in humiliation. Behind him, the rest of the team laughed and returned to dividing the loot.
But deep inside, Devin made a silent vow:
One day... they'll regret laughing.
Devin walked the city streets with his head lowered, every step heavier than the last.
Shame. Frustration. Rage.
They all boiled inside him like a pressure cooker with no valve. The laughter of Gervais and the others still echoed in his ears, each chuckle another invisible slap to his pride.
"Worthless."
"You were dragging us down."
"Be thankful we even brought you along."
He clenched his fists as he passed through the neon-lit streets of Neonsvale City, his eyes glossing over the holographic signs and flickering advertisements that shouted about guild recruitments, monster bounties, and hunter tournaments all reminders of the world he was a part of, but never truly belonged in.
He wasn't heading home.
He had no real home.
Instead, his feet led him to the only place that mattered to him anymore: Neonsvale Central Hospital.
Room 404.
The corridor smelled of antiseptic and quiet despair. It was a scent Devin had become far too familiar with over the past three years. He opened the door softly, almost afraid that his presence might disturb something fragile.
And there she was.
His mother.
Lying on the hospital bed, a maze of tubes running into her frail, shrunken body. Her chest barely rose with each mechanical breath, aided by a ventilator that hummed beside her like a tired machine on its last legs.
She hadn't woken in months.
"Mom..." he whispered, moving to her side.
He reached out and took her hand. It was cold. Too cold. Skin stretched thin over bone. She used to be so full of life, laughing, singing, hugging him like he was her entire world.
And he remembered.
The day he awakened as a Hunter. How he had come rushing home, bursting through the door with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"Mom! I did it! I awakened! I can be a hunter!"
She had cried that day. Not out of fear. Out of pride.
She raised him alone since he was little, working two jobs just to keep them afloat. That day, they both believed things would finally change.
But life was cruel. And fate was pettier than a school bully with a superiority complex.
E-rank.
That was his fate.
The lowest of the low. Barely stronger than a normal human. Not even qualified to join most guilds. He still tried doing minor raids, escort missions, odd jobs anything for credits. Every cent went to his mother's care.
Then, two years ago, she was diagnosed.
End-stage stomach cancer.
And that was when hope began to rot.
The treatments were expensive. The hospital bills piled like dungeon debris. No matter how hard he worked, the money never seemed enough. His sword grew dull. His armor rusted. He hadn't even eaten meat in months.
All so she could breathe a little longer.
And now, even that was slipping away.
He was still sitting beside her, tears silently falling, when the door creaked open.
A middle-aged man in a white coat stepped in Dr. Havel, the physician in charge of her case.
His expression was tight. Professional. But behind the glasses, his eyes carried tired pity.
"Devin," he said gently. "We need to talk."
Devin stood up quickly, wiping his eyes. "Y-Yeah?"
The doctor hesitated, then sighed. "I'm sorry... but we can't continue her treatment if the next payment doesn't come in. We've already delayed things multiple times."
Devin's throat tightened. "Please… I'm trying. I-I'm working, I just haven't gotten a big job in a while. Give me more time. I'll figure something out, I swear."
The doctor looked at him for a moment longer, then nodded with a faint sigh. "One week. That's all I can give. After that… the board will make a decision."
Devin bowed deeply, clutching his hands together. "Thank you, sir. Thank you... I'll get the money. I will."
The doctor left.
Devin stood there a moment longer, then turned to walk out of the ward.
As he stepped into the hallway, a nurse pushing a tray paused when she saw his puffy eyes and bowed head.
"Poor boy..." she murmured under her breath. "Life really isn't fair to some people."
Devin didn't hear her.
His mind was elsewhere.
His world was collapsing, and he had one week left to save the only person who ever truly believed in him.
Devin wandered aimlessly through the bustling streets of Neonsvale, but his mind was anything but present.
The doctor's words echoed in his skull like war drums.
"One week."
Seven days.
That was all the time he had to save his mother's life. To scrape together a sum of money that would take him months if not years to earn at his current rank. His breathing grew shallow, and his vision blurred, not from tears, but from the crushing pressure wrapping around his chest like iron chains.
How?
How am I supposed to get that kind of money?
Who would even hire an E-rank hunter for a job that pays enough to save a life?
He tried to think. Guild requests? No. Bounty missions? All taken by higher-ranked adventurers. Even escort gigs barely paid enough to cover his meals.
As he turned the corner into an alley shortcut, caught between despair and panic, fate quite literally slapped him in the face.
FWAP!
"Gah!" Devin stumbled back as a paper fluttered directly onto his face like an overenthusiastic pigeon.
He yanked it off with a scowl. "What the hell...?"
His eyes scanned the crumpled sheet, and then widened.
It was a recruitment poster dark-themed, edgy font, and sealed with a red wax mark shaped like a crescent moon wrapped in chains.
"JOIN THE SHADOW CLAN INITIATION RAID!"
Seeking low-rank hunters (D-rank and below). No prior experience necessary.
Guaranteed payment: 100 Mana Crystals & 1 Middle-Tier Hunter Core (30% purity).
Estimated value: $30,000.
Sign up at Warehouse 17, Midnight.
No Questions Asked.
Devin stared at the numbers like they were the gates of heaven opening up just for him.
"Th-thirty thousand dollars?" he breathed, almost afraid to say it out loud. That kind of money could cover his mother's treatments for months. It could wipe out his debts in one sweep. He might even have enough left over for new equipment… or food that didn't taste like cardboard.
Of course, there were red flags.
Massive, blood-red flags waving and screaming DANGER with skull emojis.
Why would anyone pay that much to D-ranks and E-ranks like him? No questions asked? Midnight meet-up? Shadow Clan?
It practically smelled like black market dealings and illegal monster hunts.
But at that moment?
Devin didn't care.
Not even a little.
His moral compass had long since been buried under hospital bills, pitying glances, and Gervais' smug face.
He looked up at the sky, gripping the flyer like it was a winning lottery ticket from the gods.
Maybe this is it. Maybe this is my chance...
He didn't know what kind of job awaited him in Warehouse 17. He didn't care if it was dangerous, illegal, or flat-out insane.
Because for the first time in years, Devin felt like he had a choice.
A way forward.
A ray of hope.
Or at least... that's what he thought.