[Haven Stronghold — Two Months Later]
The sky above Seoul was wrong again.
Cracks of pale gold ran through the clouds, veins of light pulsing like something alive.The System Clock had stopped counting days — now it only flickered symbols that no one could decipher.
Min Jae stood on the ramparts, his blade slung across his back.Below him, the Haven Stronghold throbbed with life. The walls had grown higher, reinforced with enchanted runes stolen from fallen dungeons.Children trained with wooden swords. Blacksmiths worked through the night. The Berserker's Guild had become the first civilian defense order — no kings, no saints, no prayers. Only people.
And yet, even now, something was missing.
He looked at the data log on his wrist.
[Notice: The world ranking has been updated.]
[Evelyn Park — Not Found.]
[Last Trace: Mana Shard #001-Ω detected, 0.3% remaining.]
His chest tightened. That shard had been the last remnant of her power — the one she left embedded in the earth after the final siege.Now, even that was fading.
"Evelyn… even your mana's leaving the world," he murmured. "What are you becoming?"
[Elsewhere — The First Guild]
In the ruins of the old Seoul Tower, a crimson banner fluttered against the ash.
This was Red Fang, the first guild ever formed in Korea. Once a united symbol of humanity's survival — now, little more than a corporate army of awakened mercenaries.
Their leader, Jinwoo Han, sat upon a shattered throne of steel, the Kaiser Blade resting beside him.His aura burned brighter than any man's — the kind of light that bent the air around it.
Reports flooded his desk.
"Saintess Lee Ara has expanded her faith zone into Incheon."
"The Haven Guild refuses alliance again."
"The American Vanguard is entering Korean airspace, led by Rank 2, Lucia Greaves."
"The System's algorithms are rewriting the Rank Index daily."
Jinwoo leaned back, eyes narrowing.
"Faith. Freedom. Control. Everyone's building empires again," he muttered.Then his gaze shifted to the holo-display — to that single empty slot between ranks 9 and 10.
—
No name. No data. No record.But he still remembered her. The quiet healer with eyes like dawn.The girl who stood beside him when no one else dared.
"Evelyn Park," he whispered. "The System can erase your name, but not your shadow."
He clenched his fist.Something deep within him stirred — an echo, faint but real.
[System Alert: Unauthorized Entity Ping Detected — Rootbearer Signature Traced: South Coastal Region.]
His eyes snapped open. "She's not gone."
[The Church of Dawn Citadel — Saintess POV]
The golden cathedral pulsed with light as Lee Ara stood before her followers.The Order of Dawn now numbered thousands — their faith a weapon sharper than any sword.But faith without balance was fire without oxygen. It consumed itself.
"Brothers and sisters," Ara spoke, her voice echoing through the chamber. "A new wave approaches. But this time, we are ready."
The crowd cheered.Behind her, relics floated in the air — each a fragment of divine code gifted by the System itself.
But then the voice came again, whispering through her mind.
[Saintess of Dawn, you are diverging from purpose.]
[Recalibration required.]
Her breath hitched. "System… I am following your will."
[False. Your compassion exceeds optimal threshold.]
[Emotion limits efficiency.]
She gripped her rosary, trembling. "I am human. Compassion is not a weakness."
[Humanity is error.]
The words seared into her mind like light through glass.For the first time, the Saintess doubted her holiness.
[The Third Wave — Arrival]
It began with silence.
Then — thunder.A fissure split across the Han River. The water rose, glowing like molten crystal. From within it, beasts of pure data clawed their way into the world.Not monsters of flesh, but code — constructs born from the System's instability.
They came in thousands.
Min Jae's troops mobilized instantly."Positions! Defensive wall, second formation!" he roared.
From the northern ridge, bolts of mana burst into the air — Haven's mages lighting up the battlefield.But it wasn't enough.
Then came the new awakeners — the ones who had risen after Evelyn's disappearance.
Seo Mirae, Level 63 Pyromancer, once a florist, now wielding wildfire that could incinerate armor.
Ryu Hanseok, Gravity Manipulator, whose field distorted bullets mid-air.
Ilya Chen, the mysterious foreigner whose barrier spells defied known rules.
They stood at the frontline, eyes wide, hearts steady.This was their first wave — their proof that humanity could still stand.
"On my mark!" Min Jae shouted. "For Haven! For those who are gone!"
The ground exploded with light.
[Meanwhile — Red Fang Guild Command]
Jinwoo watched the battle feed from his tower.Every impact. Every flare. Every life lost.
He'd fought the first wave. He'd led the second.Now, watching the third unfold, he realized something terrifying.
The System wasn't testing humanity anymore.It was rewriting it.
[Event: Human Parameter Adjustment — Commencing.]
[Reconstruction of Evolutionary Code: 0.03% Complete.]
He slammed his fist on the table. "Damn it, Evelyn… what did you do to make it turn against us?"
Then the feed flickered — for one brief second — and a familiar mana signature pulsed across the screen.
[Mana Trace Detected: Rootbearer Essence Fragment #001-Ω — Degrading.]
And then — it shattered.
A blinding white bloom spread across the battle map, erasing all signals within a three-kilometer radius.
[Haven Stronghold — Aftermath]
When the light cleared, Min Jae was on his knees, his armor cracked, his weapon shattered.Around him, the air smelled like burnt ozone and flowers — Evelyn's scent, faint and fading.
He reached out to the ground, where the last shard of her mana had been embedded.It was gone.All that remained was dust — and warmth.
He closed his fist around it, trembling.
"You're not dead, are you?" he whispered."You've just… become something the System can't measure."
His eyes lifted toward the cracked sky, where the golden fissures pulsed brighter, like veins of a living god.
Somewhere up there, he knew, she was still watching.Not as Evelyn Park, the healer.But as something else — something ancient, something the world wasn't ready for.
The Root bearer.The System's first mistake.And humanity's last hope.
[Epilogue — The New Order]
The Church of Dawn declared the Third Wave a "Divine Purge."
Haven rebuilt again, this time fortified with relic cores and foreign alliances.
Jinwoo left Red Fang, walking south alone, chasing the trace of the Root bearer.
The global ranking froze permanently, locked by the System itself.
[Ranking List Locked.]
[World Balance Unstable.]
[Root Protocol: Phase 3 — Rebirth Imminent.]
And far beneath the ocean floor, a faint heartbeat pulsed — ancient, endless, and unmistakably human.