The ground trembled beneath Jin's boots.
He had just claimed the Heart of the Dragon. The energy still pulsed in his hand — violent, unstable, alive.
Then the system window flickered again, darker this time.
[Warning: Dungeon Stability — 0.2%]
[Overload Detected]
[Collapse Imminent]
Jin's eyes narrowed.
"Collapse…?"
The entire space started to shake — not like a normal quake, but as if reality itself was being torn apart.
The sky above cracked open, showing veins of red lightning through the void.
The creatures that remained — those not yet slaughtered — began to twist, convulse, and scream.
Their bodies distorted, fusing into one another, forming grotesque shapes of muscle and bone.
[System Notice: Mutation Detected — Dungeon Core Corruption Level 97%]
The system's calm voice echoed inside Jin's head, but he ignored it.
He was focused — his instincts screaming louder than any system alert.
"So the dungeon itself… became a monster."
The ground erupted as black tendrils shot up, wrapping around corpses and shattered stones, pulling everything toward the center — the place where Jin had slain the Infernal Drake.
He looked up.
Something was being born there.
A heart.
Massive. Beating.
Each pulse made the ground quake and sent shockwaves through the air.
THUMP… THUMP… THUMP.
The Heart of the Dungeon.
The very core of the dimension had gone berserk, feeding on every drop of blood spilled inside.
And Jin had spilled a lot.
A grin — faint, but sharp — curved at the corner of his lips.
"You want to fight too, huh?"
He dropped the dragon's heart, cracking his knuckles slowly.
The black aura crawled over his body again, heavier and darker than before.
[All Stats Increased by 200%]
[Overload Mode: Active]
[Warning: Duration limited — 10 minutes.]
The Heart let out a monstrous sound — not a roar, not a voice, but a vibration that ripped through the air like thunder.
It launched a wave of raw mana at Jin, flattening the terrain in an instant.
He slid back, feet carving lines into the ground, then shot forward again.
The impact between his fist and the mana wave exploded like a bomb.
Debris and blood-red energy scattered in all directions.
BOOM!
Jin's shadow extended beneath him, twisting, stretching.
The air turned thick — almost liquid — as the corrupted mana tried to crush him from every direction.
But Jin didn't flinch.
He tore through it like a blade through fog.
Each time he punched, black flames erupted from his arms.
Each step cracked the floor beneath him.
The Heart retaliated, forming monstrous limbs out of mana — arms of flesh, claws made from bone fragments.
They struck from every direction.
Jin's movements blurred.
He shattered one with a kick, ripped through another bare-handed, and sent shards of energy flying.
Still, they kept coming.
[Warning: Overload 80%]
[Remaining Time: 6 minutes]
Jin exhaled, then smiled faintly.
"Fine. Let's end this."
He dashed forward, vanishing completely from sight.
The next instant, he was above the Heart — his arm pulled back, shadows spiraling around it like a storm.
"Break."
His punch connected.
A sound like thunder cracked through the dungeon.
The Heart shuddered violently, splitting open — spewing red energy everywhere.
Jin didn't stop.
He plunged both hands inside, tearing it apart from within.
The blood of the dungeon itself splattered across his face.
The ground began to collapse.
The walls dissolved into a whirlpool of darkness.
[Core Destroyed.]
[Dungeon Collapse — 10 seconds remaining.]
Jin jumped back, landing lightly, staring as the Heart disintegrated.
His chest heaved, but not from exhaustion — from exhilaration.
He had faced entire armies, a dragon, and now the dungeon itself.
And he was still standing.
[System Reward Calculated.]
[Skill Unlocked: Banquet of Shadows]
[Type: Unique Skill]
[Effect: Allows user to devour residual mana and convert it into shadow energy.]
"Banquet of Shadows…?"
He wiped the blood from his chin, feeling the dark aura swirl around him.
The skill wasn't just powerful — it was alive.
The shadows pulsed with his heartbeat, whispering faintly at the edge of his consciousness.
"Interesting."
Then — silence.
The dungeon began to fade away.
Its world — the air, the ground, everything — turned to dust and vanished.
When Jin opened his eyes again, he was standing in the ruins of the portal site.
The sky was gray.
The ground, cracked and lifeless.
And a ring of glowing blue light behind him — the last remnant of the collapsed dungeon — slowly disappeared.
He stood there, motionless, the wind brushing past his bloodstained coat.
To him, it had been minutes.
But outside… time flowed differently.
Six months had passed.
Meanwhile, outside the portal, soldiers and police surrounded the area.
No one had been able to enter — the gate had devoured anyone below Rank S.
They had long assumed the hunter trapped inside was dead.
Until now.
As the portal closed with a deafening crack, a blinding light burst outward.
Everyone shielded their eyes.
And then… he stepped out.
Blood-drenched.
Eyes like sharpened obsidian.
Presence heavier than anything they had ever felt.
The silence was suffocating.
"Who… who the hell is that?"
"Wait, is that the one who was trapped inside!?"
"Six months… no one could survive that long!"
Among the shocked crowd, one woman clenched her fists — her eyes wide with disbelief.
Hana Ryu.
"Six months… and he came out alive?" she whispered.
"Just what are you?"
Farther away, hidden among the armored vehicles, someone else had arrived.
He stood tall, radiating calm, power, and authority — his name echoing through the whispers of the soldiers.
Si-woo.
One of Korea's top-ranked hunters.
A Rank S whose very name commanded fear.
He gazed toward the collapsing gate.
"There's someone still inside, isn't there?" he asked.
A guard swallowed hard.
"Y-yes, sir. But… he just came out."
Si-woo's eyes narrowed as he saw Jin standing in the distance — silent, still, surrounded by wind and dust.
"…Impossible," he murmured. "No one could last that long inside an A-rank dungeon."
Jin lifted his gaze.
Their eyes met for the first time.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
Darkness met light.
Predator met equal.
Neither spoke.
But both knew — something in that moment had shifted.
And deep within Jin's shadow, faint whispers echoed.
The Banquet of Shadows had awakened.