The air changed the second he moment he started walking
The cave narrowed, ribs of jagged rock scraping past his shoulders, no light this time, not even red glow from the moss, only what the glasses showed him.
A soft pulse lit the edges of his vision.
[Path: Initiated]
[Threat Level: Unknown]
[Reward: ???]
[Warning: Death Rate — 89%]
"Great."
He continued, very crunch of his foot felt too loud, every breath made his ribs creak, a chitter echoed far ahead.
Sniffles
multiple things,
fast, low to the ground.
He crouched, palmed the card, still warm, still waiting for him to use it,
He whispered, "Not yet… please don't eat another memory..."
The card didn't move, good, he kept going, his glasses flickered—one lens cracked for a second, then reformed, static whispered across his ear.
[New Zone Reached: Trial Chasm]
[Objective: Exit Alive]
[Timer: 3:00:00]
"Trial? Why not just call it what it is… bait."
The smell was different here, not just blood, something... I don't know, meat left too long in a hot room, then he saw them.
Low forms, like pigs, but tall as children, each had two arms, not hooves—long fingers. Clawed, their eyes glowed faint yellow, six of them.
[Gutterspawn]
[Threat Level: F+]
[Group Aggression: HIGH]
[Speed: 63%]
[Strength: 70%]
[Weak Point: Behind Skull]
He held his breath, they were feeding on another corpse, a person the face has been bitten off by the group of Gutterpawn, only blood and a Bureau uniform sleeve.
"…That's... an Awakened."
One of the pigs raised its snout, sniffed, looked up, its ears twitched.
Shit.
Vorn sprinted, no plan, just back, back the way he came, the Gutterspawn screamed, high-pitched, hungry.
They ran, Vorn running for his life, Gutterpawns chasing after him like his body was pure gold, he twisted into a side path.
Too narrow.
His shoulder smashed the wall, after the impact, blood, he didn't dare stop, they were faster, he grabbed the card.
No time.
"Move!!"
Nothing.
Again—
"MOVE!!"
The card shifted, floated, moved in projectiles caught first cut sliced the four legs the second was twisted from inside out, screamed into black dust, the others stopped, confused, snarling.
Vorn fell to a knee, his eyes ached, the pain behind his skull—
Burning.
A sharp crack inside his mind, a memory… gone again, his mother's face, he couldn't remember her voice anymore, he bit his lip hard.
Blood.
"Dammit—"
The Gutterspawn moved again, they didn't care about what happened, just wanted gold meat, Vorn turned, ran, but he was visibly slower now, dizzy, the world was tilting—
[Imminent Death Probability: 96%]
[Analyzing...]
"No—come on—"
Then—
The ground gave out, the floor beneath him collapsed.
He screamed—
He fell down on hard floor,
THUD!
CRACK!
he didn't know how long he lay there.
His ribs felt cracked. One eye swollen.
But—
The Gutterspawn didn't follow, that was a nice save from the pit, he rolled to his side, coughed, spat blood.
"I can't keep doing this…"
The card lay beside him, silent now, as if satisfied.
His glasses flickered.
[Hidden Zone Reached: Sealed Entrance Chamber]
[Entity Approaching...]
He sat up fast, too late, footsteps, but not monsters, sounded like boots, a flashlight beam sliced through the dark—
"Over here! I found someone!"
He winced, too bright and all of a sudden too sudden. Voices—more than one, uniforms, masks, rifles, each marked with the Awakener Bureau crest.
"Alive?"
"Barely. He's bleeding out the nose, looks low-rank."
"Wait… is he even awakened?"
They circled him.
One leaned down. "You. Name?"
He opened his mouth.
"...Vorn."
A pause.
The men looked at each other.
Then one stepped back. Pressed something on his earpiece.
"…We found another survivor. But—he look like an awakened."
Silence, pause,
Then:
[New Title Unlocked: Veiled Noir]
[Class Registration: Denied]
[Cause: Aura – None Detected]
A mechanical voice, but only he heard it, one of the agents looked at him harder.
"This your first dungeon?"
"…Yeah."
He lied not actually a lie but literally one, they didn't believe him, another man raised his tablet, scanned him.
"No mana signature."
"Artifact maybe?"
"Could be. Bag him. HQ will want to run tests."
They grabbed him by the arms, dragged him out of the pit, he didn't resist, not just because he couldn't resist, but because something told him—
This was only the beginning, and who wouldn't want free treatment in his situation, he looked down, the card had returned to his chest.
Embedded and still pulsing,
And in the corner of his glasses:
[Drop of Blood Acquired – Rank: Minor]
The screen faded.