Here. Here?! Did he mean the graveyard? That made no sense. Everland? Not that either. I waved the thought away like fog in front of my eyes. Whatever. No time to get lost in Sin-Joo’s depressing BS. The raid was starting in less than twenty minutes, and I still had almost a mile of thick forest ahead of me. In freezing February cold.

  There was a pretty decent clue that I was skirting the outer edge of the world boss’s domain: the crunching under my boots. Not twigs. Not dry branches. Chitin shells. Fat spider abdomens that popped like overfilled gummies when I stepped on them.

  "Freaking gross," I muttered, trying to step where there weren’t any... but they were everywhere. Worms and crawlers, writhing where the world had started to rot, where beauty turned sour and decay crept in. I was walking the edge of a new world. A preview of what would come for all of us if we didn’t close the Abysses. If we didn’t find a way to stop new ones from opening.

  The forest air pressed against my skin, dense, heavy. I could taste it. Metallic like blood, stale, with a hint of rust and ash. The animals were still here, but someone had muted them. And the trees... gnarled didn’t cut it. They looked molded out of clay by a madman. Sharp, twisted, impossibly crooked, they loomed over me beneath a sky stripped of stars. And then, there were the lights. Flickering behind the trunks like ghostfire. Pulsing beams. Like an insect, I followed the shimmer and ended up at the edge of a cliff. Down below:

  Everland.

  The flickering neon like a weak pulse, the heartbeat of something that didn’t want to live anymore. It felt like stepping into a half-finished dream. The ghost-town next door? Completely evacuated. Not because of fire. Not poison. Not war.

  Because of him.

  That towering thing from beyond the stars.

  The monster Ryn Valen had summoned.

  And now, finally, I saw it with my own eyes.

  Was it walking?

  Sliding?

  Lurching?

  I couldn’t tell. Motion and stillness seemed to be the same for it.

  This chaos-born entity drifted through the empty streets, leaving devastation in its wake. Massive as it was, it moved with agonizing slowness, rolling over cars, knocking over light poles that vanished under its mass, tearing power lines apart in showers of sparks.

  Seeing a monstrosity that size with your own eyes... maybe it was like watching a meteor fall. Or a solar eclipse. It was awe in its purest form. That one look at this beast made me realize just how tiny, fragile, and irrelevant humanity truly was. And how much bigger, older, unknowable forces were out there, still hidden.

  But even more than fear or wonder, there was something else inside me.

  My mouth hung open. The scariest part wasn’t its size. Or its form, which I couldn’t even put into words. It was what it did to my mind.

  I couldn’t look away. Not from fear. Not from awe.

  It was... longing.

  A pull that wasn’t gravitational. It was something deeper. Something that tugged at my will. A part of me (a thin, traitorous sliver) wanted to step into the madness. Not to fight. But to disappear. To become part of it. Like this thing was calling me. Not with a voice, just with the idea of itself. As if we were meant to become one.

  I had to fight that thought with everything I had. Had to anchor my focus, or I’d slip again, thinking how beautiful it’d be to surrender to it.

  I snapped out of it just enough to pull my phone. Camera on. Tried scanning the world boss with DungeonDex.

  Nothing. No entry. Then something clicked.

  The Nexus, I thought.

  A force older than memory. No one knew where it came from. It just was. Maybe it had always been here, long before the Abysses even opened. The Nexus knew the world. It knew the deepest structures of reality. And it knew this creature.

  Only Paladins could access the Nexus. Only they could draw power from it.

  But now, so could I.

  So why shouldn’t I be able to scan a new creature, too?

  I opened my Soul Interface and navigated to the Analyze feature. I’d read about it in Warden’s Codex, a kind of hyper-perception. It gave Paladins detailed insight into enemies, even when Dungeon Now couldn’t keep up in real-time. And it could sync with DungeonDex afterward. I locked eyes on the world boss and triggered the scan. A faint grid shimmered over its form. No camera. No external tech. This scan wasn’t running through my phone or an app. It was embedded directly into my mind. My Soul Interface began pulling data from the Nexus. An infinite archive no one really understood. The information wasn’t stored in some digital library, it was woven into the fabric of reality itself. But the results I got?

  Yeah...

  Let’s just say... the data didn’t comfort me.It unsettled me. Deeply.

  Name: Azarak, the First Beyond

  Level: ???

  HP: 1,390,000

  Type: World Boss

  Location: The Silent Vale

  A world boss so powerful, his level didn’t even register. Over a million HP.

  Ridiculous.

  My Soul Interface synced automatically with the DungeonDex. How did that even work? No clue. But the more I saw, the more I started to believe that magic and tech were basically the same thing. Just that we only understood one side of it. Anyway, where there’d been a blank entry before, now there was a new one, thanks to the scrap of data my Soul Interface had managed to dig up.

  I barely had time to glance at it before I heard a deep, guttural growl behind me. The kind that makes your spine lock up and your heartbeat trip over itself.

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  My neck prickled with alarm.

  I spun around, phone still glowing in my hand.

  A black bear.

  No, scratch that. A corrupted bear, twisted by Azarak’s dark influence. Rotting, blistered wounds festered aross its body. Flies buzzed around it in thick clouds. The stench hit me like a physical force... an aura of decay that got worse the closer it came.

  The only way out?

  Jump off the damn cliff.

  I raised the phone instinctively, but for once, panic didn’t completely take over. I had a flash of clarity:

  Don’t need the app anymore.

  I focused on the bear, and then I saw it:

  {Wraithclaw Direbear}

  Level 11 – Elite

  560 HP

  Its breath steamed in the freezing night air, curling from its open, blood-stained jaws. Massive fangs. Rattling breaths. A chest that heaved with each inhale.

  So many danger signs lit up at once. Red name? Lethal threat. Golden frame? Elite mob.

  When it reared up, it absolutely dwarfed me. Three meters? Easy. I stood frozen in its shadow, the full moon rising behind its towering form. It roared.

  I moved like I was underwater, slipping my backpack off my shoulders as slowly as I could. No sudden movements.

  Or… wait. Was that wrong?

  Weren’t you supposed to try and scare bears off?

  Yeah, right. Like I could scare this thing. It probably feared salmon more than it feared me.

  My hands shook so badly I could barely grip the zipper.

  The bear dropped back down on all fours.

  "Steady," I whispered. Definitely talking to myself.

  Two fingers. One zipper. Slow.

  "Nice and easy..."

  My breathing was all over the place, like I’d just sprinted a mile. My heart thundered in my chest. I reached into the backpack and closed my hand around the hilt of my knife.

  Then the bear charged.

  I didn’t stand a chance. Not even a little. I bolted to the side just before the first swipe came. Claws like machetes slammed into the ground where I’d been a heartbeat ago. Earth exploded upward. Chunks of rock tumbled down the slope.

  I gasped.

  34 freaking HP.

  One hit and I’d be done.

  I sprang backward, rolling through rotten roots, and yanked my blade up. The bear came again. Way too fast for something that big.

  I ducked low, slashed its side... but the blade barely pierced the fur. Shallow hit.

  But then: Pop-up.

  [Achievement Unlocked: Fight the Power]

  Condition: Land a successful hit on a monster at least 10 levels above your own.

  Reward: +3 Stat Points

  You’ve landed a hit on a monster far beyond your capabilities. You’re either brave… or very, very stupid.

  "Fair enough....." I gasped.

  The bear roared, blasting me with another wave of stench and corruption.

  I staggered back, let it charge past, but it turned fast. Too fast.

  A paw caught my side. Not a clean hit, but hard enough to fling me into a tree like a crushed soda can.

  -28 HP.

  I stumbled. My whole body buzzing. Ribs probably cracked. Didn’t matter. Couldn’t feel anything anyway. Too much adrenaline. I ripped the half-empty healing potion Jiro had given me from my jacket pocket. Popped the cork.

  Chug it, or be a Kelly fan.

  Downed it in one go. No hesitation.

  Full HP.

  Thank god.

  The bear wheeled around, nostrils flaring, jaws dripping blood, eyes locked on me with unfiltered hunger.

  I backed off the cliffside clearing, retreating into the forest, weaving between the thickest trees I could find. In there, he’d have less room to move. Slower attacks. More cover for me.

  But he didn’t hesitate.

  He just charged.

  "Shit!" I yelled.

  The Direbear charged straight through the trees, smashing trunks like twigs. Wood cracked, bark exploded, the sound deafening.

  I ducked, rolled, let him barrel past me. Almost. One claw grazed my thigh. Just a glancing hit. And still...

  -16 HP.

  Debuff: Bleeding.

  "Arrrgh, freaking hell."

  I dropped to one knee. My leg throbbed, warm, wet. The bleeding was fast. No time. No second potion. No escape.

  The bear roared again, settling into a crouch.

  He knew it was over.

  So did I.

  I raised my hunting knife with one hand, the tip trembling as I pointed it at him. I wasn’t defending myself, not really. There was no way I could win. This was just.... a final act of defiance. A way not to die completely pathetic.

  The Direbear lunged.

  And hit.

  Its massive paw knocked me clean off my feet. One strike slashed across my chest, my jacket shredded like tissue paper. I felt its claws dig in. Ribs snapped on my left side. No doubt this time. A scream burst out of me before my lungs seemed to cave in.

  I hit the ground hard. Landed sideways.

  Something cracked.

  Arm? Ribs again? I had no idea.

  Death imminent.

  A distorted voice echoed somewhere. I lay there, barely conscious. My vision flickered. Red veins crawled across my sight. Everything pulsed black and slow. Tunnel vision. My Soul Interface was unreadable, glitching like a dying screen.

  The bear approached. Slowly. Each thunderous step made the ground shake beneath me.

  He was taking his time.

  Savoring the kill.

  Right above me now. That enormous beast. Its jaws opened.

  I felt its rancid breath wash across my face.

  I shut my eyes tight.

  Just do it, I thought.

  Then came the light. Not a metaphor. Not some cliché about walking toward it. Actual light. Blinding. Pure.

  A radiant shield crashed down between me and the bear’s mouth. The monster slammed into it—and bounced off so hard that it shattered its own fangs. Sparks of holy energy burst outward. The Direbear howled, then roared in rage.

  "Mob aggroed," a calm, focused voice said.

  Two heavy thuds behind me. Crossbow fire.

  The Monster Hunters emerged from the shadows. No shouting, no drama, no flashy poses. Just precise movement. Target acquisition. Two finger snaps. Two perfectly synced bolts. The first hit the bear in the shoulder. The second right in the jaw.

  Mechanical arrows pierced flesh and locked in place. The Direbear clawed at them in agony, but that only triggered the internal mechanism. Venom released into its bloodstream. Stunned.

  "Rip open the left flank. Now."

  A pop, then smoke.

  The second hunter had tossed a grenade beneath the beast. Not magic.... just pure tech. It exploded on impact, ripping a chunk out of the bear’s rear leg.

  The Direbear shrieked, staggered. Another bolt (steel-tipped this time) slammed straight into its throat.

  Then the Paladin stepped forward. He didn’t even look at the thing. Just raised his war mace. A holy strike, casual, like swatting a bug.

  Boom.

  The bear dropped.

  I was still on the ground. Bleeding. Breathing. Barely. Three figures stood over me. No hero poses. No smug looks. Just routine. The Paladin extended his hand toward me like he wanted me to read his palm. A second later, a healing shock surged through my body. My vision cleared. My lungs filled with air again.

  +33 HP.

  Status: Bleeding removed

  That was it?

  I had just been clinging to life, shaking while chugging a potion, dodging death by a hair... my guts practically hanging out. And they’d taken down the Direbear like it was a bug on the windshield. The two Monster Hunters didn’t have superpowers. No flashy skills. Just control. Precision. Experience. Gear. I’d seen the results of that kind of mastery before... when Jori showed me the harpy skull and other trophies mounted on his wall.

  Yeah, no wonder they acted like total pros. We were on our way to a C-Rank dungeon, after all. This wasn’t kid stuff anymore. Real threats were waiting out here.

  Noobs like Sin-Joo and me don’t stand a chance here.

  Not even Hye-Rin and her fiancé could’ve handled this place.

  "You’re either Rook or... GodHunter," the Level 25 Paladin said.

  "Rook," I muttered, pulling myself to my feet.

  Rook#3708, my Dungeon Now ID.

  "I don’t get why you didn’t take the safe route to the monastery. You do know monsters only stalk off-trail, right?"

  "Yeah, long story."

  "Save it. Just sign the contract I’m sending you. As you’ve noticed, you won’t be much help. We’ll share quests with you... but loot rights are off-limits. Contractually. You’re here to gain experience, finish quests, and ideally not die. Understood?"

  I nodded.

  "Good. Let’s move. Monastery’s this way."

  God, I was so done with this.

  But somewhere deep inside, a voice, low and dark, told me I wouldn’t have to be the weakest for much longer.

  Not for long at all.

  As we carved a new path through the underbrush, with my squad dropping more elite mobs that lunged for me first, I kept thinking about the world boss. Azarak.

  I couldn’t see him anymore.

  But I knew exactly where he was.

  Inside me.