Rain lashed the windows of Blackthorn Academy, a steel-gray sky casting a bleak shadow over the sprawling school for awakened hunters. Inside Classroom 3-A, the storm outside was nothing compared to the one brewing at the back row, where Juno sat, silent and alone.
He kept his head low, shoulders hunched beneath his academy-issued jacket, his dark hair damp from the walk to school. His fingers trembled as he gripped the tattered edge of his notebook, its pages filled with more strategy notes than a full raid guidebook. No one cared. No one asked. In a school filled with powerhouses—young awakened blessed with fire, ice, blades, and thunder—Juno was an E-rank.
The weakest.
"Hey, trash rank!"
The voice was sharp, cruel, and familiar.
Juno barely had time to brace himself before Kyler Han, a B-rank prodigy and the golden boy of the academy, slammed his hand down on Juno's desk, making his pen jump.
"Still playing pretend like you're gonna make it out there? Come on, man. Just quit. You're embarrassing all of us."
Laughter rippled through the classroom.
Juno said nothing. He'd tried speaking up once—months ago. The result had been a week of hell, his locker filled with garbage, his shoes soaked in toilet water, his uniform shredded. So now he kept quiet. It was safer.
"Maybe if you beg real nice," Kyler said, sneering, "we'll let you carry our bags on the next raid. You're good at that, right? Luggage boy."
Juno felt the words sting but refused to react. He couldn't afford to. Every emotion was another excuse for Kyler to pounce.
The teacher walked in, but as always, ignored the tension. The staff didn't intervene—not when it came to power dynamics. Hunters lived and died by strength. If you were weak, you were nothing.
---
After school, Juno headed to the training yard, a cracked concrete field behind the dorms where broken equipment rusted in the rain. He strapped on his cheap leather gauntlets and began his drills—dodging imaginary attacks, swinging a dull training sword, repeating mana channeling exercises.
There was no talent in him. No flashy skill. Just grit.
But grit wasn't rewarded in a world ruled by stats.
He opened his hunter system interface, a floating translucent screen only he could see:
[Name: Juno] [Rank: E] [Level: 4] [Class: None] [HP: 120 / 120] [MP: 60 / 60] [Skills: Basic Strike, Mana Sense I]
A pathetic display.
He sighed and closed the interface. Maybe today would be different.
Maybe.
---
Night fell fast. As he walked back toward the dorms, a notification pinged on his hunter watch.
[Emergency Raid Request - D-Rank Gate Detected - Team Assemble at 1900 hours]
Mina, the team leader of his assigned group, followed up with a message:
Mina: Juno. Bring your gear. We meet at the outer perimeter. Don't be late.
It wasn't a request. He was part of the school's mandatory combat squad for low-tier students, a policy meant to train weaker hunters in real conditions. In practice, it meant throwing them into the meat grinder.
He packed what little gear he had—basic armor, a chipped short sword, and a potion or two—and made his way to the rendezvous point outside the city.
The gate stood like a scar in the air, pulsing dark red, hovering above an abandoned construction site. Five others waited nearby: Mina, Kyler, Dace, Lynne, and Haru.
"About time," Kyler muttered. "We were gonna go in without you."
"Cut it," Mina said sharply. "We don't leave anyone behind."
Juno appreciated that. At least Mina had some level of professionalism.
The gate shimmered. Mina activated her raid leader access and scanned the details.
"D-rank dungeon. Objective: Clear all enemies. Estimated threat: manageable. Let's move."
They stepped through.
---
Dungeons were strange things—twisted bubbles of warped reality. This one resembled an underground cave, damp and echoing with dripping water. The air was thick with rot and iron. Moss glowed faintly along the walls.
The group moved in formation—Kyler and Dace at the front, Lynne flanking with her wind blades, Mina in the center, and Juno at the back.
Goblins attacked first. Weak creatures, no taller than children, with rusted daggers and yellow eyes. The others dispatched them with ease.
Juno stabbed one that had managed to slip past—more luck than skill.
"Nice," Mina said. "Stay sharp."
They pressed deeper.
That's when things went wrong.
Halfway through the second chamber, the temperature dropped. The walls shuddered. A loud chime echoed like a gong through the cave.
[WARNING: Hidden Dungeon Detected - Difficulty Recalibrated - Rank: S]
Everyone froze.
"What the hell?" Haru whispered. "This was supposed to be a D-rank!"
"We need to fall back," Mina said immediately.
The entrance shimmered behind them—then vanished.
"We're locked in," Lynne said, panic rising. "We're trapped—"
A roar silenced her.
From the darkness crawled creatures unlike anything they'd trained for. Black-furred beasts with bone-like armor and glowing red eyes. They moved like shadows—fast and silent.
S-rank monsters.
"Defensive formation!" Mina shouted.
The team scrambled. Juno drew his sword with shaking hands, backing against a wall. Kyler cursed and slashed at the first beast that lunged, only to be swatted aside like a toy.
It was chaos.
Mina cast a barrier, her magic shield encasing them briefly. "We can't win this! We need to buy time and find a weakness!"
Kyler staggered to his feet. Blood dripped from his arm. He looked at Juno—then something shifted in his eyes.
"Wait…" he muttered. "Maybe we don't all need to die."
Before Juno could react, Kyler shoved him forward.
Juno stumbled out of the barrier. "W-What are you doing?!"
"Bait," Kyler said coldly. "You're the weakest. They'll go for you first."
"You can't—"
Mina turned, eyes wide. "Kyler, don't—!"
It was too late.
The beasts swarmed.
Juno tried to fight, swinging wildly, blade cutting through air. Claws raked across his chest. He cried out, falling to the ground.
His vision blurred. Pain erupted in waves.
He saw Mina shouting, Lynne trying to push forward. Kyler held them back.
"Leave him! We can't waste time!"
Darkness crept in. The last thing Juno saw was the team running—abandoning him to die.
He lay there, bleeding, alone, forgotten.
And then… silence.
A cold deeper than death wrapped around him.
[You have died.]
[System initializing… Error… Recalibrating…]
[Shadow Authority detected.]
[Would you like to begin again?]
A flicker of warmth returned to his body—not pain, not life. Something different. Something ancient. In the pitch-black void, Juno saw glowing eyes staring back at him—hundreds of them.
[Permission Granted. Shadow Re
birth Initiated…]
The void twisted.
His last thoughts weren't of fear. They were of rage.
He would return.
And when he did, he'd make them pay.