The moment the creatures poured from the weird portal, they soon realized that this world felt wrong. Super wrong. It does not have any magical and divine presence, rather it was just… unnatural.
The forest around them rotted in seconds. Verdant leaves curled into ash. Trees twisted and collapsed as if withering from disease. The air tasted like iron. The sky dimmed into a stormless dusk. The soil cracked with black veins, pulsing faintly like it was breathing.
And the monsters—
They were grotesque.
Spindly limbs moved in jerking, disjointed spasms. Their bodies were mismatched—bones grafted onto metallic plating, runes that glowed a nauseating yellow crawling like scars across their skin. Some had too many legs. Some had too many mouths. One scuttled forward, its entire chest cavity stretching open like a flower made of human jaws.
Their eyes didn't show any emotions nor any light at all unlike the monsters and demons in their own world. It only showed…... hate in their eyes. They didn't roar, instead, they screeched in a high-pitched, blood-curdling, primal sounds of hunger and rage.
"Incoming!" Aurelia snapped, already sprinting.
The first one lunged—a six-legged horror, ribcage-faced, its claws chittering against the cracked stone. Aurelia ducked low, grabbed a fallen branch, and jammed it into the beast's exposed flank.
*CRUNCH.*
The monster thrashed, screeching—before Darius flew in from the side, slamming a rock into its skull.
*CRACK!*
"I don't need magic," he growled, and he smiled widely with pure excitement and enjoyment. "Why do I need magic when I've got these strong biceps."
Another leapt from the shadows. Gideon slid beneath it, swept its legs, and smashed his palm into what looked like a gland under its neck. A shockwave of black fluid burst outward, and the shockwave made the beast to be thrown away into the ground. The beast twitched for a moment upon reaching the ground—and died immediately.
And then—
*DING!*
[ You have defeated: Mutated Crawling Devourer – Rank D ]
+560 Experience Points
[ Level Up! – Lv. 2 → Lv. 3 ]
HP increased. Strength increased. Unassigned Stat Points: 3
[ Hidden Trait: SYSTEM MASK ACTIVE – All stats concealed from external scans. ]
A blue screen blinked into existence in front of Gideon which made him to stumbled back. "Wh—what… is this?!"
Aurelia froze mid-swing, eyes darting to the glowing interface hovering near him.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing! It just—popped up!" Gideon with a surprised and startled expression on his face.
Darius blinked at his own suddenly appearing screen Infront of him, not being startled by it at all but instead trying to see if he hit his head earlier. Which might be the reason he is seeing things like this right now.
[ You have defeated: Twisted Bone-Husk – Rank C ]
+830 XP
[ Level Up! – Lv. 2 → Lv. 4 ]
Stat Points available: 6
New Title Earned: [Savage Brute]
"Wait… I got one too?" Darius muttered, eyes narrowing. "A system? But—this isn't sorcery. This is like… something whispering in my skull…. Did I hit my head earlier? Aurelia, you didn't backstab me again, right? You did not hit me in the head while we are fighting, right?"
"Same here," Aurelia said slowly, backing away from another corpse. "There is a voice. Robotic. Unemotional. Like some twisted god's secretary just gave me a performance review." Aurelia killed another monster again and the same thing kept appearing Infront of her and she snorted at Darius last words. "You and Gideon are the one fighting recklessly earlier, so why are you asking me? Moron."
"Mine says 'Strength increased.'" Gideon frowned. "But how? We are human teenagers. These bodies should not have power."
They paused—They thought that the wave of monsters was over but it didn't take long enough for the next wave to arrive.
More monsters. Bigger ones. Faster. Meaner.
One had the torso of a boar and the face of a lamprey, its spine segmented like an insect. Another flew with wings made of stitched skin, spitting acidic bile that hissed as it melted bark.
But the trio fought like they had never forgotten war. They rolled. They tackled. They used trees as weapons. Rocks as clubs. Fangs and claws tore clothes and skin, but they bit back with fists and fury.
Each kill brought another voice—
*DING!*
[ Monster defeated – Rank D ]
+410 XP
[ Level Up – Lv. 3 → Lv. 4 ]
[ Skill Gained: Iron Focus (Passive) ]
[ Stat Points: 3 unspent ]
"I'm not imagining this!" Aurelia cried as she decapitated a twitching beast with a jagged bone she tore from its chest. "This is real!"
"Some kind of levelling ritual? A divine trial?" Gideon speculated, jabbing his thumb through a creature's throat. "But there's math. Numbers. Logic. It's like a cursed machine! Or sorcery!"
"WHO CARES?!" Darius bellowed, swinging a spiked femur like a bat. "IF IT GIVES ME STRENGTH THEN I DON'T CARE. I ACCEPT IT WITH MY WHOLE HEART."
*DING!*
[ Level Up – Lv. 5 → Lv. 6 ]
[ New Perk: Predator's Surge ]
[ HP regeneration increased in combat. ]
They kept on fighting those monsters, their clothes and body was now filled and drenched with the blood of the monsters. They can feel themselves getting stronger and faster, but the monsters did not stop coming. More and more monsters kept on appearing, they kept on getting stronger and more aggressive than the others.
And the screens kept appearing—each a mystery, each more confusing than the last.
—————————
After an eternity of fighting countless of monsters, the ground trembled as something enormous stepped through—a twisted fusion of minotaur and engine. Thirty feet tall, with rusted pistons for tendons and a mouth like a grinding wheel. Its breath blew ash.
"…. Hey that's cheating, why the hell would you want us to fight that when we are in this size?!" Aurelia said, feeling annoyed but slightly bothered by their height difference.
Darius grinned. "Who cares? Isn't it fun, it's like fighting our own mini self in that form. I call dibs on that one!"
"Focus, idiots!" Gideon barked in annoyance.
The monster soon charged at them and the three scattered around the area—surrounding the thing in different direction. What followed was a blur of adrenaline and savagery, they let themselves go wild for a while—enjoying fighting someone that can be on the same level as them.
Aurelia vaulted up the beast's back, jamming a branch between its grinding gears causing parks to appear on its back. On the other hand, Gideon whipped vines around its legs, tightening the tangle until the beast tripped, roaring, while Darius slammed into it from above, fists like meteors. One. Two. Three crushing blows into its skull.
The machine-minotaur spasmed—then collapsed in a heap of gears and black ooze.
*DING!*
[ Boss Defeated: Corrupted Gate Guardian – Rank A ]
+19,000 Experience Points
[ Level Up! – Lv. 6 → Lv. 11 ]
[ Skill Gained: Battle Instinct (Passive) ]
[ Stat Points Available: 20 ]
[ System Perk: Auto-Adaptation Unlocked. ]
The silence afterward rang louder than the battle while they stood there, panting. They were drenched I swear and the blood of the monsters they had killed but the wounds on their body started to heal up after they defeated the boss. They were very alive and also very confused.
"…We levelled again," Aurelia said, warily touching her shoulder. The pain earlier was dulling but it is now slowly fading and her injuries were healing.
"We're… evolving," Gideon said slowly, eyes narrowed. "But not in a natural way."
Darius grinned, wiping blood from his lip. "Whatever this system is… I want more of it."
They looked at each other, then at the still-smoking remains of the Gate and the monsters may have stopped but the System had just begun.
And none of them had any idea what they'd just awakened.
—————————
After their battle with those monsters, the forest had gone still, and it became quiet with no more howls and no more growling shadows. Just ash, burnt leaves, and broken silence, and the unnatural rift in the air had vanished, leaving only a faint scorch where it once hung.
They all decided to explore this place, so they wandered aimlessly at first and the more they explore this world, the more they felt that the world was unfamiliar—wrong.
Twisted trees lined wide stone paths with painted lines. Buildings of glass and metal rose crookedly in the distance, covered in vines and rust. Strange carts made of iron sat lifeless by the roadside, some crushed and blackened.
"This land… it reeks of old sorcery," Aurelia muttered, staring at a lamppost with wires dangling from its tip. "Or a curse."
"Maybe it's a battlefield," Gideon said, kneeling beside a broken vending machine. He poked it with his sword, brow furrowed. "But there's no magic residue. No divine blessing. No energy of any kind."
Darius shoved at a car door, grunting when it wouldn't budge. "I think it's a chariot. A metal one. Or… a beast made of steel?" He tapped it again, but it still had no reaction. "Dead beast, then."
They walked through the lifeless town like scavengers, their boots crunching broken glass and strange litter. The buildings looked too perfect to be abandoned… yet too empty to be alive.
Aurelia examined a plastic bottle with narrowed eyes. "Is this supposed to be a potion container? There's no cork…"
Gideon sniffed it. "Smells poisonous."
Darius took a sip and spat it out immediately. "Ugh! Definitely poison."
Eventually, they found a partially collapsed stone shelter—something between a shrine and a ruin—and decided to rest. Their limbs ached. Their stomachs growled. They hadn't seen a single edible beast or fruit since arriving.
They sat in silence as twilight approached.
It wasn't until they started setting up a small campfire that Darius asked the question. "So… the voices."
Aurelia and Gideon glanced at him.
"You heard them too, right?" he continued, tossing a branch into the flames. "The voice that speaks when we kill those monsters. The blue square that floats in front of your face."
Aurelia's expression darkened. "I thought it was an illusion spell. Or some ancient relic trying to invade my mind."
Gideon shook his head. "It felt real. It said… 'Level up.'"
"I felt it too," Darius admitted. "Like my body got sharper. Quicker. Stronger. After each kill."
Then they pause for a while to gather the information that they had just experience earlier.
"…Could it be divine punishment?" Aurelia asked quietly.
"Or a trial," Gideon offered.
"Or a god with a terrible sense of humour," Darius muttered. "Dropping us in a ruined land full of iron beasts and talking windows."
They didn't have answers. Only theories. Each more ridiculous than the last but the world around them wasn't a dream and the magic that now lingered in their bones after each kill—it wasn't fake.
—————————
The Next Morning, they woke to vibrations in the earth, and it didn't feel like it came from magic, and it didn't sound like a beast movement either, instead it felt like something else. It sounds rhythmic, mechanical, and Deep.
They decided to examine where the sound is coming from, so they crept toward the edge of the ruined hill, staying low, until they saw it:
A crack in the sky, hovering above a distant town. Glowing and pulsing like a wound in the world.
"What… is that?" Aurelia whispered, eyes wide.
"Another portal?" Gideon guessed. "Like the one that brought those monsters yesterday?"
"No," Darius murmured. "This one's… smaller. But it's leaking."
Indeed, monsters poured out from the sky tear. Strange creatures—twisted and fanged, claws gleaming.
And facing them, alone—
Was a man.
An old man with a silver hair, holding massive sword slung across his back. He didn't cast spells or chant incantations, and he didn't summon shields or beasts.
He just moved—and monsters flew with his fists cracked one of the monsters' skulls. His kicks shattered the concretes around him and he didn't need magic since he was already the magic itself.
The trio watched, speechless.
"…He's insane," Aurelia finally said. "No armour. No backup. And he's laughing."
"Is he a war priest?" Gideon asked. "Or a blessed warrior? Or a Demon like us in the past?"
"Maybe a cursed one," Darius said with a smirk. "But I like him."
As they stared, the man turned around as if he felt their presence and he looked directly at them. Even at this distance, they felt it—a weight in the air. A pressure that made the hairs on their necks rise.
"…He saw us," Aurelia whispered.
Darius grinned. "Good, then let's go say hello. He seems fun."
Gideon grabbed his arm. "We don't know what he is."
"He's fighting the monsters," Darius said. "That makes him either an ally… or someone worth testing."
"Or both," Aurelia muttered, already following.
They didn't yet know the man's name and they didn't know he was called Koji Watanabe.
Didn't know he was once one of this world's strongest hunters.
All they knew—
Was that he was interesting.
And that was dangerous enough for them to approach him.