The city buzzed with nervous voices. A new portal had opened—its jagged edges swirling with unstable mana, glowing ominously in shades of crimson and violet.
The hunters gathered nearby glanced at the hovering marker above it:
[Portal – Rank B]
Groups of hunters began forming parties, checking equipment and discussing strategies. Entering a Rank B portal without preparation was suicide. Everyone knew that.
And then—
Jin appeared.
His black coat swayed slightly as he walked through the crowd without a word. His gray eyes, cold and unreadable, fixed only on the portal.
The moment he approached, the noise around him grew louder.
"Wait… is he alone?"
"No way. Nobody clears a Rank B alone."
"Does he want to die?"
Some laughed, others whispered in disbelief. Yet no one dared to step in front of him. The aura he carried was suffocating—like standing in the shadow of a beast far too large to comprehend.
Without hesitation, Jin stepped past the guards.
"ID card?" one of them asked nervously.
Jin handed it over. The guard glanced at the name, then at his face, and froze when he saw the word burned into the records:
[Rank: Undefined]
The guard swallowed hard and returned the card without a word.
Jin looked at the portal, its swirling vortex pulling at his coat, and muttered under his breath:
"Let's see how far I can push this power."
And then—
he walked into the darkness.
Inside, the atmosphere shifted immediately. The air was heavy, almost solid, filled with the stench of blood and iron. Trees twisted unnaturally, their bark blackened as if scorched by flames from another world.
The ground trembled.
From the shadows, dozens of creatures emerged—humanoid beasts with jagged teeth, their eyes glowing faintly red.
The portal's first wave.
They snarled and charged, claws scraping against the twisted ground.
Jin's lips curved into something between a grimace and a smile.
"Perfect."
He moved like a wraith. His fist shattered the first monster's skull, black flames exploding outward. Another lunged at him, but he sidestepped effortlessly, his hand slicing across its throat with shadows that sharpened like blades.
The creatures fell one after another, their bodies dissolving into smoke.
But something strange lingered in the air.
Jin could feel it.
Every kill—every drop of blood spilled—fed into him. His shadows grew denser, colder, hungrier.
A whisper brushed his mind.
[The Shadow feeds…]
[Power +1]
Jin's eyes narrowed.
There it was again—the system. The anomaly.
He clenched his fist, shadows writhing around his arm.
"…I'll use you," he muttered.
"Until nothing remains."
Meanwhile, outside the portal, the hunters waited.
"Hasn't he died yet?"
"Impossible. Even Rank A hunters struggle in there."
"Maybe… he's stronger than we think."
Then someone whispered, voice trembling:
"Or maybe he's not even human…"
End of Chapter 6