The silence after the Behemoth's death was suffocating. Chicago, a city once alive with noise and motion, now resembled a corpse. Smoke rose from fractured buildings. Black ichor from the Behemoth oozed into cracked streets, sizzling against rainwater and leaving curling plumes of acrid steam. Cars lay overturned like toys, some still burning. The air stank of scorched concrete, blood, and acid.
The Abyssal Behemoth sprawled across three city blocks, a fallen nightmare. Its carapace was split in multiple places where Ethan and the other Inducted had hacked and burned through it. Jagged cracks revealed dark muscle and glowing, pulsating tissue that faded with each passing second. One dead eye, the size of a car, stared blankly at the sky, a grotesque reminder that something this huge and unstoppable had bled—and died—here.
Ethan lay on his back in the middle of the cracked asphalt, chest heaving. His limbs trembled from exhaustion, his ears rang, and his mind buzzed with the hollow clarity that only came after brushing against death. He stared at the sky where the rift had been, now just faint, hairline cracks of violet light that flickered like lightning far away.
Then the System spoke, cold and absolute.
[World Boss: Abyssal Behemoth — Defeated][Experience Gained: +10,000][Level Up: 15][Reward Acquired: Mythic Class Evolution Token][Hidden Achievement: Overlord Slayer — Tier 1][Warning: Overlord Protocol Advancing…]
The last line pulsed faintly red, and Ethan swore he felt it in his bones—a whisper of something inside him growing, stretching, hungry.
He forced himself upright, groaning. The battlefield was a graveyard. Survivors stumbled among the wreckage, their armor cracked, weapons slick with blood. Some were helping the wounded; others just stared in shock at the Behemoth's corpse. For every survivor, two or three lay dead in the streets.
Kayla approached, limping, her spear cracked but still faintly glowing with rune-light. Her face was streaked with dirt and sweat, but her eyes were sharp and alive.
"You're alive," she said, voice hoarse.
"Barely." Ethan brushed dried ichor from his face and managed a humorless smile. "But we actually did it."
Kayla looked at the Behemoth's corpse and shook her head. "We shouldn't have been able to. That thing… it could've wiped the city clean."
Scattered cheers rose in the distance. A handful of Inducted pumped their fists or raised their weapons, but the sound was thin, hollow. This wasn't triumph; it was survival. More than half of those who had come to face the World Boss were gone.
Rogan arrived next, dragging his Berserker's Axe, his SWAT armor dented and scorched. His face was grim, his eyes full of something between resentment and awe. He stopped a few feet away and stared at Ethan.
Ethan tensed, his hand brushing the hilt of the Abyss Fang.
Rogan's gaze dropped. "…You saved my life," he said, the words like broken glass in his mouth.
"Twice, actually. You gonna stop trying to kill me now?"
Rogan hesitated. Finally, he gave a stiff nod. "For now. But that Token… if it's real, I still want it."
"Get in line."
A new series of notifications pulsed in Ethan's vision, the words carrying an almost physical weight.
[Overlord Protocol: Phase 1 Complete][New Directive Unlocked: Consolidate Power][Warning: System Overlord Class is under observation][Note: Future growth may attract external attention]
A chill slid down Ethan's spine. Consolidate power. Attract attention. He wasn't just leveling up—he was painting a target on himself.
A warm light spun into existence in front of him, geometric and mesmerizing.
[Item Acquired: Mythic Class Evolution Token]
Ethan closed his hand around it. The Token throbbed in time with his pulse, full of untapped potential. He could evolve now. Become something beyond human. But the last message—the sense of observation—made him hesitate. For now, he kept it.
"Ethan!" Kayla's sharp voice snapped him out of it. "You need to see this."
She led him around the Behemoth's corpse. The two siblings were crouched on the asphalt, staring at a perfect ring of scorched stone etched with glowing blue runes. The air around it shimmered faintly, and the symbols pulsed like a heartbeat.
"What is it?" Ethan asked.
"Spawn point," Kayla said grimly. "For the next wave. The Behemoth… was just the start."
As if to punctuate her words, the System's voice rang in every survivor's mind.
[Global Notification][Phase 2 of the System Apocalypse Begins][Dungeon Breach Rate Increased by 200%][World Event: Multiversal Hunters Incoming]
The effect was instant. Murmurs turned to shouts. Some survivors tried to flee the city, dragging wounded companions. Others clutched weapons tighter, eyes wild. A few began shouting about the loot, arguing over scavenging rights around the Behemoth's corpse. One group of three cornered a pair of younger Inducted, demanding their potions and weapons "for the strong."
Ethan's Overlord senses hummed, the Protocol urging him to act. Consolidate power. He walked forward, his footsteps echoing on the cracked street.
"Put it down," he said.
The looters turned. One, a tall man with a jagged scar across his jaw, sneered. "Who the hell are you to give orders?"
Ethan's eyes glowed faintly with Overlord energy, and the Abyss Fang shimmered in his hand. "The one who killed the Behemoth," he said evenly. "You're alive because I was here. Drop it—or you won't be."
For a long, tense moment, the man hesitated. Then, muttering curses, he threw the stolen potion back to the younger Inducted. His group backed away, disappearing into the ruins.
A small part of Ethan felt satisfaction. Another part felt… something darker. The Overlord Protocol purred in the back of his mind, feeding on the submission.
Rogan approached, watching with a mixture of irritation and reluctant respect. "So that's your plan? Scare everyone into following you?"
Ethan glanced at him. "Not scare. Lead. The System doesn't want survivors. It wants predators and rulers. If we don't get organized, we'll die."
Kayla nodded. "He's right. If those… hunters are coming, scattered survivors are walking corpses."
As if summoned by the word, a shadow fell over the street.
Ethan tensed, looking up. Against the fractured sky, something glided between the clouds. Sleek, insectile, and wrong. It wasn't a monster. It was armored, bipedal, and carried a spear that glimmered with alien energy. Its head turned slowly, scanning the city.
A chill swept over Ethan as a new notification appeared.
[Warning: Multiversal Hunter Detected — Scout Class][Level: 20][Directive: Assess and Eliminate Weak Targets]
The creature landed silently on a nearby rooftop, crouching like a predator. Its gaze swept over the survivors, lingering on the weak, the wounded. Its eyes glowed—and Ethan realized with dawning horror that it was selecting kills like a player in a game.
He raised the Abyss Fang, stepping forward. The Hunter's head snapped toward him, and for a heartbeat, the city went silent again. Then the alien raised its spear and leap