The sewer air was cold and rank, filled with echoes of water drops and the distant scuttling of rats too large for comfort. Raon moved cautiously, each step deliberate. The faint blue shimmer that had once surrounded his hands had faded, replaced by a dull ache in his fingertips. Draconic grip came at a cost. His energy reserves were not infinite.
Hana walked a few steps behind, clutching a torn piece of cloth against a gash on her arm. She hadn't complained once. Raon knew she wouldn't.
"You should rest," he said softly.
"I'm fine," she answered. "But you... you need to understand what you just did."
Raon stopped and turned to face her. "I killed a monster. I escaped death. And I survived my first hunt. What part of that are you talking about?"
She looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. "That you awakened something the government's afraid of. That you've been marked as a 'Class-Zero'. Raon, you're not just a threat to monsters now. You're a threat to humanity."
A bitter smile crept onto his lips. "Humanity turned its back on me long ago."
She didn't respond.
A small blue pulse flickered in his vision—an alert from the system.
[Warning: Power Spike Detected – 500 meters southwest. Unclassified Entity Approaching. Estimated Threat Level: Class-B or higher.]
Raon immediately lowered his posture and gestured for Hana to get down. They slipped into the shadows beside a collapsed support beam. Moments later, a sound rumbled through the pipes—wet, dragging, and heavy. Something large was moving.
And it wasn't human.
The thing that emerged from the darkness was seven feet tall, its back hunched under twisted bone spines. Its head was more beast than man, with six glowing yellow eyes arranged in a triangle pattern, and its mouth dripping with tar-colored venom.
[Species Identified: Abyssal Reaver]
[Type: Aberration – Semi-Intelligent]
[Danger Rating: Class-B]
[Special Traits: Acid Blood, Flesh Regeneration, Sonic Howl]
Raon stared. He wasn't ready for this. Not yet. But the thing was already sniffing the air.
It was tracking them.
"I can draw it away," Hana whispered. "I can—"
"No." Raon stepped forward, body trembling not with fear, but anticipation. "This one's mine."
He checked his EP balance.
[Evolution Points: 0]
[Level: 3 – Progress 47%]
If he killed this creature, he'd hit Level 4, maybe more. That meant progress. That meant unlocking more of his system. More power. And maybe, just maybe, a chance to survive whatever came next.
The Abyssal Reaver shrieked, its throat glowing as if a furnace lit beneath its flesh. It lunged.
Raon dodged left, barely avoiding the first strike. Its claws ripped through concrete like paper. He activated Blink Step, vanishing just as the second swipe came crashing down.
He reappeared above it, mid-air, fist glowing with blue flame.
[Lesser Flame Claw – Temporary Buff Activated. Duration: 4 Seconds.]
He slammed his hand down into the creature's shoulder.
It screamed as fire erupted through its scales.
But it didn't die.
The Reaver whirled and smashed Raon into a pipe, bending steel with the impact. Pain lanced through his ribs. His skin held—Ironhide Skin absorbed most of it—but it still hurt.
The creature charged.
Raon rolled away and shouted, "System, give me something! Anything!"
The system responded.
[Emergency Unlock: Combat Surge (Passive)]
[Trigger: Critical Health Below 30% – Adrenaline Overclock Mode Engaged]
[Stats Boosted by 20% for 10 Seconds]
The world slowed.
The monster moved like it was swimming through syrup.
Raon could see the angle of its claws, the arc of its weight. His muscles screamed with forced strength, and he used it.
He dove beneath the Reaver's legs, grabbed a rusted rebar from the floor, and jammed it upward into the creature's neck.
It shrieked again, but this time—it bled real blood.
Black, hot, bubbling.
It tried to counterattack with a tail swipe, but Raon jumped onto its back, punching again and again. His claws tore through bone. His breath burned through tissue. When it tried to shake him off, he gripped tighter, wings of energy briefly flickering behind him—unformed, embryonic, but present.
The system chimed.
[Final Blow Confirmed]
[Enemy Defeated: Abyssal Reaver – Class-B]
[EXP Gained: Massive]
[Level Up: 3 → 5]
[Evolution Points: +11]
[New Unlocks Available: Wing Manifestation (Locked), Core Forge, Dragon Roar – Tier I]
Raon collapsed beside the monster's corpse, panting, his body soaked in blood—his and the Reaver's.
He laughed.
Hana ran to him. "Are you okay?"
"No," he said, grinning. "I'm alive."
She sat beside him, eyes wide with disbelief. "How are you laughing after fighting that?"
"Because I've never felt more real than I do right now."
She didn't speak after that.
Far above them, in a cold glass tower in central Seoul, a man stood with his hands behind his back. His face was gaunt, sharp, and his eyes devoid of emotion.
"Lee Raon," he said. "Evolution rate: 2.7x the national average. Combat potential exceeds baseline."
A woman beside him nodded. "Do you want him captured?"
"No," the man replied. "Observe. Let him evolve."
"And then?"
He smiled faintly. "Then we'll break him."
Back in the tunnels, Raon opened his system screen. A new tab pulsed faintly.
[Title Unlocked: The Rogue Dragon]
[Perks: +5% to all stat growth, +10% resistance to control-based abilities, Marked by the System Overwatch Network]
He scrolled further.
[Next EP Purchase Available: Dragon Roar – Tier I (Cost: 7 EP)]
[Effect: Instills fear in enemies under your level, minor stat debuff to higher-level enemies, cooldown 60 seconds]
He bought it.
Then he stood.
The tunnel stretched ahead, dark and silent.
Behind him, monsters. Above him, enemies. Inside him, power waiting to be unleashed.
He was not just surviving now.
He was climbing.
And he would reach the top—no matter who stood in his way.