I should've died in that dungeon.
When the black light hit me — cold, infinite, whispering truths I wasn't ready to hear — I thought I was gone for good. But I woke up not bleeding out in some crumbling ruin…
I woke up in my bed. With zero wounds. Not even a scar.
Was it a dream?
No. The System was still whispering.
[Quest Complete: "Survive the Black Room"]
[New Title: "Unchained" acquired.]
[New Passive Skill: "Unseen Hunger" (Lv. 1)]
Consumes hidden fragments of fallen entities. Increases stats randomly.
My hand shook as I tapped the air, the interface flickering like it was glitching — or resisting me.
I wasn't the same anymore.
I spent the next day barely speaking.
Mom thought I was just tired from work. Lily tried to make me laugh with her ridiculous "Hunter game" using a mop and a kitchen pot as armor. It helped — a little.
But inside, I was unraveling.
I hadn't told Arlen anything. Yet.
He'd kill me if he found out I entered a Gate solo.
But guilt had its own teeth. I needed something—anything—to distract myself.
So when the System pinged again that night, offering a private dungeon challenge...
I said yes.
I stood in front of an abandoned subway entrance at the edge of Blackridge's Sector 9.
The place stank of rust and rain. Graffiti covered the concrete walls: symbols, warnings, gang tags — and one I didn't recognize. A black spiral.
The System pulsed in my vision.
[Enter Dungeon: Yes/No]
"No turning back," I whispered.
And stepped in.
The world tore sideways.
The air turned thick and sharp. It smelled like blood and damp soil. The old subway had morphed — warped into a narrow cavern lined with glowing roots and bones that weren't human.
Something ancient lived here.
But I didn't flinch.
If I was going to survive this twisted new life, I had to change. Fearlessly. Brutally.
Arlen paced the rooftop of their building, chain-smoking with a growing sense of dread.
Crispin hadn't called. Again.
"Idiot," he muttered.
He tapped into an old contact from the Guild—his ex, a data analyst who still owed him a favor.
"What are you doing, Crisp?"
He pulled up a radar sweep from the Guild's backdoor feed. Most of it was static. One Gate was registering weird energy fluctuations—but no team had claimed it.
Arlen's stomach dropped.
"Crispin... no. You didn't."
He sprinted down the stairwell two steps at a time.
Inside the dungeon, I was being hunted.
The creature — no, the thing — that lived here didn't walk. It slithered between shadows. Its growl echoed in walls. Its breath steamed against the cavern air.
[New Threat Detected: "Devourer of Names" (Rank Unknown)]
"I don't even know what that means."
I drew my blade.
The System pulsed again.
[Skill Activated: Foresight Pulse Lv. 1]
Everything slowed.
For one heartbeat, I saw the enemy.
A mass of stitched limbs. A maw of eyes. No face — just hunger.
And it came for me.