Jae-Hyun slumped against a jagged rock, his chest rising and falling in steady but shallow breaths. The last boss of Day 3 had finally collapsed, its massive form crumbling into shimmering particles, leaving behind nothing but exhaustion. His sword was still gripped tightly in his aching fingers, and he could barely muster the strength to sheath it.
He forced his head back against the rock, trying to ignore the burning in his limbs. His thirty-minute rest period had started, and he had no intention of wasting it.
His system interface flickered to life before him, an ever-present reminder of how deep he was in this punishment. He scrolled through his inventory with deliberate care. Food, potions, stamina boosters. Supplies were dwindling. Too quickly. The system’s 10x price inflation made every purchase feel like a knife in the gut, but he had no choice. The waves were getting harder, the monsters more relentless. If he didn’t buy more, he wouldn’t survive the next day.
His fingers trembled as he navigated the interface, his vision swimming for a moment. The act of focusing on the glowing text took more effort than it should have. I need to be careful. I can’t afford to waste resources.
He barely had time to close his menu before the next wave arrived.
Jae-Hyun exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders as the first wave of Day 4 descended upon him. The monsters surged forward as expected, their grotesque forms blending into the twisted, fractured landscape.
He cut through them with precision, his blade carving clean arcs through the air, but something felt different.
The monsters weren’t attacking recklessly anymore.
They baited him, faked openings, moved together. It was as if something had learned his patterns—and adjusted.
The first pack fell, their bodies dissolving into nothingness. Jae-Hyun took a step back, steadying himself for his usual moment of rest—
Then, the notification hit.
System Notification: Rest Period Reduced to 30 Minutes.
Jae-Hyun’s breath hitched, his body freezing for a moment before his mind fully processed the words.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He clenched his jaw, forcing back the urge to lash out. Of course. The system never let things stay predictable for long. It always had to mess with him.
He cursed the system under his breath, but deep down, he had expected this. It’s always like this. Never lets up, never gives me a break.
His body ached, his exhaustion threatening to drag him under, but he couldn’t afford to waste time complaining. Every second spent arguing with the system was a second of precious rest lost.
Jae-Hyun forced himself to sit, shoving a ration bar into his mouth. He chewed mechanically, the dry, flavorless lump feeling like ash in his mouth. But it didn’t matter. He needed the energy. He couldn’t afford to waste a single second of his already shortened break.
Time blurred. The waves never stopped.
Jae-Hyun had long since abandoned any hope of feeling refreshed after a rest period. Thirty minutes was barely enough to chew stale food, much less recover. His body moved on instinct now—parry, evade, strike, repeat.
Every few hours, he burned through more potions, the rising cost eating away at his remaining credits. He had leveled up multiple times, but the system’s relentless scaling made the increase feel meaningless.
The only thing that mattered was survival.
And Jae-Hyun was barely holding on.
By Day 6, his exhaustion was nearly unbearable. For the past 72 hours, he had rested only 30 minutes every 4 hours.
It was insanity.
The only real rest he could get was when he killed the final boss of a day’s waves. It was the only way to get more than half an hour of breathing room. If he failed to kill the last boss before his rest window? He was forced into another wave with no time to recover.
And the worst part? He couldn’t even summon the creatures he killed here.
His shadow ability refused to register any of these monsters as valid summons. Whatever governed this punishment, it ensured he had to fight alone.
Jae-Hyun collapsed onto a flat patch of scorched ground, staring at the crimson-lit sky above him. He had made it through another day.
One more to go.
His fingers trembled slightly as he brought up his sub-quest menu, something he had ignored for days now.
Sub-Quest Progress: 8,037/10,000 Kills.
Jae-Hyun blinked. He had nearly forgotten the sub-quest even existed. He had never intended to complete it—it was too exhausting, too much.
But now, seeing how close he was…
He hesitated.
Could I finish it?
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The thought lingered. Killing nearly 2,000 monsters in a single day? After what he had already endured?
His instincts screamed at him to ignore it. To just survive Day 7, take his reward, and get out.
But another part of him—the part that refused to accept limits—knew he had to try.
If he pushed himself just a little harder, he could finish it.
Even if it meant sacrificing more of his already pitiful rest time.
The exhaustion clouding his mind made the situation harder to judge. He wasn’t thinking straight anymore. He made small mistakes in combat, second-guessed his dodges, misjudged enemy movements. Was this really a good idea?
Yet, despite all that—he couldn’t walk away. Not now.
Jae-Hyun let out a slow breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
He had to go all out.
Even if it meant not resting at all.
Day 7 was going to decide everything.
The moment Jae-Hyun stepped onto the battlefield for Day 7, he knew something was different. The world around him had shifted—again.
The cracked wasteland had collapsed into ruin, and now, he stood in the middle of a dead city, its towering buildings shattered and barely standing.
The sky overhead was no longer just a dull crimson; it had deepened into something twisted, an eerie black-and-red swirl of clouds moving unnaturally. The air felt heavier, suffocating, as if the battlefield itself was pressing down on him.
The ground beneath him was no longer dry, cracked earth—it was paved with stone, littered with debris, half-collapsed bridges stretching into nowhere. The city had once been grand, but now it was nothing more than a graveyard.
Statues of warriors frozen in battle lined the roads, their faces eroded beyond recognition, their weapons broken and shattered. They stood as reminders—or warnings—of those who had failed before him.
Then, the system spoke.
System Notification: Rest Period Reduced to 10 Minutes.
Jae-Hyun let out a breathless laugh. No anger, no frustration—just raw amusement.
"Tch. You think that’s going to stop me?" He shook his head. "I wasn’t planning on resting anyway. If anything, you just helped me."
He cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders. This was it.
One last day. One final push.
The monsters came as expected, but Jae-Hyun barely registered them anymore. They weren’t weaker—he was just numb to it.
His movements were precise, his instincts razor-sharp despite the fatigue. He had no stamina left, no real strength left in his muscles—but it didn’t matter. He moved because he had to.
Kill. Move. Kill. Move.
The enemies blurred together. He wasn’t keeping count—
Then, the system mocked him.
“Seems like you’re enjoying this.”
Jae-Hyun’s body stiffened mid-swing, his blade slamming through a monster’s chest.
The system had never spoken like this before.
Then, another message appeared.
“Let’s see how you do with this.”
The battlefield shifted violently, the already-broken cityscape collapsing further as something massive stirred.
The final pre-boss wave arrived.
Jae-Hyun’s smirk vanished.
This wasn’t like before.
For the first time in this punishment, he really felt like he couldn’t keep up.
The enemies came in relentless numbers, but this time, they were faster, stronger, more coordinated.
Jae-Hyun felt himself slipping. His dodges weren’t perfect anymore. His body lagged, his vision blurred at the edges.
For the first time, he was constantly injured.
Every few seconds, something slashed at him, forced him back, made him burn through another potion.
He didn’t even care how many potions he used anymore.
It didn’t matter. He had to keep going.
The timer for the wave was still running—
22 minutes remaining.
Then, it happened.
A sudden chime cut through the madness.
System Notification: Sub-Quest: ‘Echoes of Endless Strife’ – Complete.
A second message appeared:
[See Reward]
Jae-Hyun forced himself away from the monsters, retreating to the side as his interface flickered before him. His fingers, still slick with sweat and trembling from fatigue, tapped the notification.
Reward: XP Multiplier – Increases by 0.01x for every enemy killed. No limit detected.
He let out a breathless chuckle, shaking his head. "Would've been nice if I got this earlier..." he muttered, dodging a stray attack. Then, despite the exhaustion burning through his body, a small grin formed. "Well, no use complaining now. Let's make the best use out of this."
There was no time to dwell on it. The wave was still ongoing. He had to keep fighting.
He exhaled sharply. He did it.
He had no time to process it.
The wave was still ongoing. He had to keep fighting.
The final wave ended, and for the first time in what felt like eternity, the battlefield fell silent.
Jae-Hyun stood in the center of the ruined city, blade dragging against the stone pavement, his breath coming in slow, ragged gulps.
Then—
The ground beneath him trembled—not just from impact, but from something deeper, something unnatural. The very air grew heavier, pressing down on his lungs like invisible chains. A force beyond the system itself was gathering. Then—he saw it.
Something was coming.
Jae-Hyun lifted his head, his fingers tightening around his sword. The moment he saw it, he hesitated.
A towering colossus of judgment emerged from the ruins. Ten meters tall, an armored titan plated in unbreakable obsidian, cracks of crimson energy pulsing from its exposed core.
It had no face, only a deep void within its helmet, its empty gaze burning with the same eerie glow that pulsed through Jae-Hyun’s weapon.
Then, he saw its arms.
Four of them.
Each held a weapon, each representing a different way to completely overpower him.
System Notification:
-
A colossal warhammer – Destruction incarnate.
-
An unbreakable shield – Defense beyond anything he’d seen.
-
A summoning tome – Capable of calling lesser enforcers.
-
A chains-forged gauntlet – Restricting movement, binding him in place.
His system flickered.
Then—
“Did you expect this to be easy?”
The system laughed.
“You should have just run.”
Jae-Hyun exhaled. So that’s how it was.
He had come too far to stop now.
The final battle had begun.