The weight of their promotion still lingered as Ethan and his team prepared to leave the city. B-Rank. It was supposed to be a step forward. Instead, it felt like a final warning. Because this time, they weren’t heading into another dungeon. They weren’t tracking random disappearances. They were heading into the farthest edges of the known world. A place so forgotten that even the System refused to acknowledge it. And something deep in Ethan’s gut told him— This mission wouldn’t just change them. It would decide everything.

  Elias met them at dawn, standing at the Guild’s war table, where a map was unfurled across the surface. “This is where you’re going.” His finger tapped against the easternmost location. A ruin so deep into uncharted territory that the System didn’t even mark it. Kara frowned. “You said this is where the last missing team was sent?” Elias nodded. “They were tracking another possible ruin.” Gareth’s jaw tightened. “No contact?” Elias shook his head. “They vanished three days ago. No distress signals. No return.” Leah’s fingers curled near her staff. “That’s the same pattern as before.” Elias exhaled. “Except this time, they had B-Rank adventurers.” Silence. That changed everything. The last missing teams had been lower-ranked. But if B-Rank adventurers had disappeared— Then whatever they were walking into wasn’t just another prison. It was something worse.

  Two days of supplies. Extra weapons and enchanted gear. Mana-restoration potions, healing salves, and emergency scrolls. They took horses to cut down travel time, pushing east toward the final outposts of civilization. By noon on the second day, the landscape had changed. No roads, No villages, No traces of adventurer patrols. It was like the world had stopped existing past a certain point. Leah swallowed hard. “I don’t like this.” Ethan didn’t either. The further they traveled— The quieter the System became. It wasn’t just silent. It was absent. Like whatever was ahead of them wasn’t just beyond the map. It was beyond the System’s control. And that meant anything was possible.

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  By the time they reached the ruins, the sun was setting. And the sight before them made Ethan’s stomach drop. Massive stone structures, half-buried in overgrowth. Collapsed towers, their skeletal remains reaching toward the sky. Strange symbols carved into every surface—symbols that pulsed faintly in the dark. But the worst part? It wasn’t abandoned. Because the moment they stepped past the first ruined gate— The shadows moved it felt like the ruins themselves, It felt like something was watching them. Waiting. Kara gripped her sword. “…Yeah. This place is cursed as hell.” Gareth scanned the area. “Where’s the missing team?” Ethan’s Perception stretched outward. Then— A faint pulse. Weak. Almost gone. “…There’s someone still here.” Leah stiffened. “A survivor?” Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know.” But whoever it was— They were waiting for them in the city’s heart. And Ethan had a terrible feeling about what they were about to find.