CEO Kang Dae-Hyun, collector of sacred sonic artifacts, wants you to retrieve the Twilight Bell Core from the corrupted monastery and deliver it to his VIP lounge in Gangnam. No scratches, no excuses.
Oh? So you’re one of those brave enough to venture into the Twilight Bell Monastery?
Look, I’m not looking for blood-stained heroes. I’m looking for something more important: style.
The bells in that cursed old monastery? Pristine sound. Unique resonance. And now, with all that demonic corruption... A rare collector’s item.
I’m talking about the Twilight Bell Core. Rumor has it some mob’s walking around with it.
Bring it to me. My home lounge needs a piece with history. And with bass.
Quest Objectives:
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Collect [Twilight Bell Core] (0/1)
(Drop Chance: 5% – Bellshade Warden, Elite Mob / Subzone: Terrace of Broken Bells)
-
Deliver to CEO Kang (in pristine condition)
Quest Rewards:
-
+5,000 K-Coins / ?7,250,000 KRW (selectable payout)
-
Achievement: [Mo' Bells, Mo' Problems]
Condition: Complete Quest
Reward: +5 Stat Points | +3,000 XP
"You brought the noise. And maybe something awful too."
I accepted the quest Beacon12 (our party's Paladin) had shared with me through Dungeon Now. Just like the one Jiro gave me before, the Nexus had rewritten, converted, and uploaded it straight into my Soul Interface.
I barely made it five, maybe six meters forward... and it hit me. Right there, in front of the monastery steps.
Agony.
I collapsed on the spot, screaming.
What the hell was happening to me? Where was this pain coming from?
"Arrggh!" My whole body seized. I could hear my own bones cracking. Eyes wide, I stared at the first stone step ahead, cracked, moss-covered, cold. My fingers clawed into the wet forest floor. My gaze? Wild. Unfocused. "H-Help..."
Something was changing inside me. My body twisted beneath my skin. Just like how I used to imagine a werewolf transformation as a kid... only way, way worse.
Veins bulged, black and thick. I grew. Fast. Violently.
"Shit! What is this?! I can’t.... AAARGH!"
And then my senses exploded. Every detail hit me all at once. The pain. The world. I could hear everything—the wind, the birds, even the low mutter of a mob patrol in the distance. My vision sharpened... no, twisted. Like someone dropped a red filter over the world. Too much blood pumping to my head, I was gonna burst.
"God, no..."
And then I saw it. Right next to my HP bar (which, by the way, wasn’t looking so pathetic anymore), a new buff icon flickered to life:
[Azarak's Blessing]
Effect: While within Azarak’s Domain, the bearer of His essence gains:
-
+300% Damage Output
-
+70% Damage Resistance
-
+50 Strength
-
+50 Vitality
-
+40 Agility
-
+30 Intellect
-
Immunity to Fear & Madness
"And still… this is but a flicker. A splinter of the First Beyond. A whisper of what He truly is."
Laughter.
Hyena-like.
I looked up.
Two monster-hunter bros stood above me, smirking from the first landing on that endless staircase. Same greasy faces. Same decent gear. To me, they were just Twin A and Twin B. Their Battle Tags? Stonecut and Ash. How did I tell them apart? Easy... my Soul Interface showed their names.
"What’s up with him? Guy’s already breaking before the first mob group," Ash snorted.
"We don’t need him past the entry. He only mattered for party size," Stonecut added. "He’s got a breadknife for a weapon. Let’s just leave him here."
Back in the A-Dungeon at Everland, we’d actually taken the time to introduce ourselves. We even shared stories. Hye-Rin had talked about marriage, about peace, about a future. But here? Here there were no names. Only battle tags. Efficiency. Loot. Quests. Items. Speed.
I bared my teeth and stood. Looked past them, up the endless stairs. At the very top, nestled between forested cliffs, was the monastery where the final boss waited. The dungeon layout was straightforward: We were in a subzone, Terrace of Broken Bells, an endless climb through stronger and stronger elites and minibosses, all the way to the monastery itself. Two wings. One nightmare.
The twin hunters were still grinning, but something in my stare made them uneasy. I saw it in their eyes as they turned away, heading up the steps. Only the Paladin stayed still. Beacon12. Silent. Unmoving. One hand resting on the hilt of his mace. He looked at me. Not with scorn. Not with pity. Just a long, unreadable stare. Then he turned and followed.
Stonecut reached the next level. Two groups of mobs were posted on either side of the path, five figures to the left, five to the right. Bellguard Initiates. Broad-chested figures in tattered, soot-stained robes. Each of them held a weathered codex—heavy tomes bound in black leather and sealed with rusted clasps. Where their eyes should’ve been: nothing but deep, scarred slashes. Where they casters?
Ash followed, a few paces behind. No signal. No count-in. Their movement seamless. Stonecut hit the first group like a storm, no hesitation. Ash was already sprinting sideways, aggroing the second group with precise shots before diving into melee. A double pull?!
Shit. I didn’t see that coming.
Two Monster Hunters and a healer vs. ten elite mobs?
Stonecut had most of the aggro and was getting wrecked. He was fast, but not fast enough to dodge every hit. Each strike took off, like, a fifth of his HP. On average.
Even the Paladin looked shaken. His first heal landed mid-run, a golden shimmer lighting up Stonecut’s back, right where dark blood was already soaking through the leather armor. "What the hell did you just do?!" Beacon12 shouted, chaining spells like his life depended on it.
Did I mention we didn’t have a tank? Oh, and yeah, we also had XxGodHunterxX with us. Yep. That’s his actual Battle ID. Basically screamed I'm cracked even though I suck.
He was standing halfway up the stairs between me and the party, knees visibly shaking. I’d completely forgotten about him. That’s how useless he was. Honestly, he reminded me of myself back in Everland. Back when I was dead weight, too.
I watched them like I was behind thick glass. The sweat. The shouting. The dull crunch of iron on flesh... It all felt muted. Far away. Then a thought hit me. A terrible one.
Maybe it was my boosted INT stat, but I realized something. Instead of feeling hyped about my newfound power, all I felt was unrest, and one massive concern: To save Grandma, I needed all ten achievements. But there was one I couldn’t unlock while this buff was active:
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[All Fear is an Illusion]
Condition: Keep fighting while under a status debuff like Fear or Panic.
Reward: +5 Stat Points
"You felt fear. You ignored it. Now you're starting to understand."
Screw it, I thought. With +30 INT, I’d figure something out later. Right now? I had to fight. To earn the last achievement, I needed to kill 30 elite mobs. So far?
Zero.
This was my first shot.
"Shit."
An ambush from behind.
I dodged at the last possible second.
Bellshade Warden. Level 13 Elite. He stood barely five steps away. Tall, almost skeletal. His frame was wrapped in shredded monk robes. Lips sewn shut. Rust-covered bandages dangled from his forearms, where broken chain links clattered with every step, like shattered mantras. Shattered, broken prayers, as if their faith had twisted into pure violence. In his left hand, he dragged a chunk of melted bronze, part of an ancient monastery bell, warped and split down the middle.
No growl. No scream. Just the rasp of metal scraping over stone as he moved.
Then four more stepped out of the mist behind him. Five. Against me.
Where the hell did they come from?!
I had a knife in my hand. And panic in my chest.
How useful was I now?
I hadn’t been paying attention. Pulled a third group by accident, one I thought was still off wandering a dirt path. Even with the INT boost, I’d been too distracted.
But now I saw the full picture: I might’ve had the stats of a Level 25 Paladin thanks to [Azarak’s Blessing], but I was still Level 1. And that came with a hilariously oversized aggro radius. I was basically a walking mob magnet.
My stomach twisted.
My mouth felt like sandpaper.
I’d never fought before.
Not really. Not even in school.
I always ran.
The duel with Sheriff Malgrave? That hadn’t been a fight. I only survived because of Sanctified Aegis.
But now... there was no escape.
The first one came at me.
I couldn’t breathe.
His arm twitched, a massive, inhuman claw bursting out of the fog.
And my body ducked on its own.
I didn’t know how. Just knew... I didn’t want to die.
I stabbed. Just like that. Pure reflex. Steel met dead, corrupted flesh wrapped in shadow. Stabbed again. Dodged the next swing.
Then rammed the blade into his ruined face.
The Bellshade Warden convulsed.
Dropped.
A UI popup slammed across my vision just as I raised my weapon to parry the next attack:
[Achievement Unlocked: Welcome to the Jungle]
I gasped. Just killed a freaking mob!
No hesitation. No waiting for backup. No time to celebrate.
But the rush that surged through me?
It was electric.
And it powered my next strike—a crit.
Half his HP gone in one hit.
WTF?
I stepped back, sidestepped, let him overcommit. Blade flashed, sliced clean between the ribs. A gurgling twitch. A sickening thud.
Mob #2 down.
[Level Up!]
Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 2.
My first level-up.
That’s supposed to be unforgettable, right?
No time to think.
But the feeling?
Glorious.
No... addictive.
The third came head-on. Silent. Relentless. Another Bellshade Warden, arms wrapped in cracked ritual bandages, skin torn and bleeding with every move. Chains clinked across his body...broken shackles from some abyssal prison.
I didn’t dodge.
I met him head-on.
And drove the blade into his chest like I was born for this.
It slid between his ribs with a bone-grinding crunch. I kept pushing until my wrist hit cold dead skin.
He staggered. Tumbled backward, and crashed down the stone steps, bones shattering on impact.
[Achievement Unlocked: Drop It Like It’s Hot]
Condition: Finish a fight with a final blow that sends your enemy flying.
Reward: +3 Stat Points
"Gravity’s just a suggestion when you hit that hard."
The fourth one landed a hit.
A brutal swing. The broken piece of the monastery bell, warped and rusted, slammed into my side like a wrecking ball.
Pain exploded under my ribs. My vision blurred.
-83 HP.
Without the buff? I’d be dead.
I staggered.
Gasped.
Coughed blood.
Caught myself.
And I saw his next move before he made it. I ducked under his swing, shoved him back, and never let up. Three, four slashes—fast, chaotic—then I moved to spin around him, but my foot caught on the edge of a worn stone step and I stumbled hard, almost hitting the ground, but caught myself at the last second, pushed off with a grunt, and drove the blade into his back, hard, until the tip hit spine. His body arched, legs buckled, and then he pitched forward and cracked his skull open on the steps with a sickening crunch.
[Achievement Unlocked: Still T(r)ippin']
Condition: Stumble mid-fight—then land the final blow anyway.
Reward: +4 Stat Points
"Balance is optional when you hit like that."
One left. He ran. But this time, I chased. He was seconds away from hitting another patrol’s aggro range—if he pulled them, we were done. I caught up, leapt, tackled him to the ground, and without a word, drove the knife straight into the back of his skull. Once. Twice. The third strike split bone. He jerked, twitched, but I didn’t stop. I stabbed again. And again. Each hit was harder, faster—until the blade punched through his temple and lodged there, shaking with the impact. His body went rigid, then limp. Blood pooled fast, warm and thick around his head, and the only thing left in my hand was the broken hilt of my knife.
[Achievement Unlocked: Lose Yourself]
Condition: Lose control in combat and continue attacking beyond necessity.
Reward: +5 Stat Points
"That wasn’t strategy. That wasn’t survival. That was something else.
You didn’t just kill. You delivered."
I stood over five bodies, blood slicking my hands, my arms, my face, the scent thick in the air, metallic, sweet, and rotten. My heart wasn’t stumbling anymore. It wasn’t racing from fear. It was pounding, slow and steady, perfectly in sync with whatever had just awakened inside me. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. I just stood there, still, silent, more alive than I had ever felt.
And I never wanted to lose this feeling again.
When life finally starts giving, you don’t hesitate.
You ride the wave. You take it all.
For the first time in my life, luck was on my side.
I exhaled. Shallow, shaky.
Blood still dripped from my fingertips, warm in my palms.
Five bodies lay twisted and broken around me. But one of them... The Bellshade Warden that came at me head-on... His torso had been torn wide open by my blade, and the flesh inside was blackened, like it had burned from within. And inside it, not guts. Not bone. Something else. Metallic. Heavy. Pulsing. I crouched low, brushed aside shredded skin and steaming gore. Five percent drop chance... and there it was.
A spherical resonance core.
About the size of a fist. Charred bronze, etched with fine, twisted grooves, like runes, only distorted.
This thing didn’t belong in a body. And yet, somehow, it had been rooted there. Like a parasite. Or a heart.
I hesitated.
Then grabbed it.
[Achievement Unlocked: Gimme the Loot]
The surface was cold, damp, heavy. For a second I swore I heard an echo, a distant bell ringing underwater. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the sound like it was stuck in my ears. Then I dropped the quest item into my backpack, slung the bag over my shoulder. It felt heavier than before, like it knew. And I couldn’t help but wonder if picking it up had been a mistake.
And what was it I’d said before about luck?
I was halfway up the stone stairs, heading back to the squad, who had finally turned the tide and were cleaning up the last two elites...When I saw it.
XxGodHunterxX had been torn in half.
The mobs had ripped him apart, torso completely separated from the lower body. His legs were several meters away, dragged across the grass beside the stairs, smeared in a trail of blood that glittered silver in the moonlight.
That gore...
Weirdly, it didn’t horrify me.
Not anymore.
What did fill me with horror...
...was the system message that popped up across my Soul Interface, cold and sharp as a blade:
[System Alert: Urgent Quest – "With a Little Help from Your Friend."]
Penalty Applied: -12h
Reason: Borrowed strength isn’t growth. And you? You’re supposed to grow.
Remaining Time: 1:10:00
Oh, you thought that counted? How cute. Azarak did the heavy lifting... you just held the knife.
Let’s see what happens when you have to stand on your own legs, little fawn.
Tick-tock.
Two left. One soul at stake. No pressure.
And hey...
I’m still rooting for you. ??
I stared at the message. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Right there, burned into my interface.
One hour left?To complete ten achievements?
My gaze drifted up the stone steps toward the rest of the group. The last Bellguard Initiate hit the stairs with a dry crunch, bounced once off a rock, and lay still. Beacon12 collapsed to one knee, his breathing ragged, his mace clattering across the stone as both hands trembled. Too much healing. Too little mana. He was spent, burned out from the double pull.
I tried disabling the buff. Nothing. No way to shut it down. That left only one option. I had to leave the World Boss’s domain. Only then would the buff expire.
One hour and ten minutes.
Ten achievements.
Or Grandma dies.
I didn’t have time for a second dungeon.
No extra mobs. No backup plan.
Barely enough time to get back to the city.
Fuck.
My chest tightened. Fingers shook.
I had to go. Right now.
But of course, Ash and Stonecut weren’t gonna make it that easy.
I was just reaching the bottom of the stairway when Ash called out behind me: "You wanna leave? Fine. But the Core stays here."
Silence.
Only the faint clink of chains from one of the fallen mobs.
How did he knew?
I bent down. Grabbed a gray dagger lying near one of the bodies, cheap loot, but sharp enough.
A few steps toward the exit.
Then... Thump!
An explosive bolt slammed into the ground right next to me, the tip still humming with latent charge. I spun around. Stonecut still had the crossbow raised. Ash stood beside him, thumb resting on the detonator.
"Drop the quest item. Or die." Stonecut's voice was flat, cold, final.
"This isn’t a bluff, loser," Ash said. "Take one more step, and we blow your pathetic existence sky-high. Real messy. Leave the bag, and you walk away. Simple."
I swallowed. Right. This was how it worked now. No friendships. No intros. No teamwork. Just efficiency.
Fine.
I narrowed my eyes and slowly slid the backpack from my shoulders. Not to give it up. To move faster. To kill harder.
I didn’t have time for games. And I wasn’t going to let anyone take anything from me ever again.
In a single breath, I ripped the bolt from the ground, spun, and hurled it back toward them.
Ash’s eyes widened—too late. The detonator clicked.
The bolt exploded mid-air. A flash of light, a bloom of heat, a shockwave that tore through the mountain air and rolled across the wide stone steps in a wave of fire and smoke.
And from that blaze, I rose.
Burnt ash drifted around me as I surged forward, boots slamming against the stone. I stormed up the steps, fast, locked in, knife in hand, eyes on the kill.
I wasn’t running anymore.
I was hunting.
Twilight Bell Monastery arc. If you’re still here after all the blood, buffs, and betrayal… you’re officially braver than XxGodHunterxX. Rest in pieces, legend.