The tunnel shuddered like something alive.
"Form up!" Markus yelled. His C-rank badge glowed faintly as he slammed his shield into the ground. "Stay behind me! Healer—mana barrier, now!"
The younger hunters scrambled. The healer's trembling hands barely held her staff steady. Blue light flickered out from its tip, forming a weak dome that quivered against the shaking cave.
Axel's heart hammered. The air was getting heavier, thicker — each breath like inhaling smoke.
"Boss," he said, "this doesn't feel like an E-Rank dungeon. The mana density—"
"I know," Markus snapped, eyes narrowing. "Just keep your eyes open."
The dungeon wasn't silent anymore. It breathed.
Whispers slipped through the walls, voices too faint to belong to any one throat. The stone under their boots pulsed like a living thing, veins of crimson light crawling across it.
Axel tightened his grip on his sword. "This is wrong…"
Then the ground split open.
Blue fire erupted down the corridor, swallowing their escape route. The portal behind them flickered violently before collapsing in on itself with a sound like glass breaking underwater.
"The gate—!" someone screamed. "It's gone!"
Markus cursed. "Move! To the core chamber! There might be a secondary exit!"
They ran. Boots pounding, torches flickering. The deeper they went, the stranger the dungeon became — stone gave way to black flesh, the air buzzing with magic that prickled their skin.
And then they reached the chamber.
The ceiling rose high above, lost in shadows. In the center stood something that looked like an altar — a slab of bone carved with runes that glowed faint red. And in front of it, bound in chains of mana, was… a figure.
Tall. Human-shaped. But wrong.
It twitched once. The chains shattered like paper.
The creature straightened, towering over them — skin cracked and gray, thin like melted stone. Its head was covered in faces, shifting and merging, all whispering in unison.
Axel felt his knees weaken. "That's… not an E-rank boss."
No one answered. The thing looked at them — not with eyes, but with awareness.
"Hu…man…" it rasped, the sound a thousand whispers woven together.
Then it moved.
Markus charged first, shield up. "Everyone attack! Now!"
Spells flew — fire, lightning, bullets of condensed mana — crashing into its chest. Smoke filled the air. For a second, hope flickered.
Then the creature stepped forward unharmed.
One swing of its arm tore through the mage and the scout in a blur of motion. The healer screamed.
Axel froze. His brain screamed run, but his legs refused. This wasn't a fight. It was slaughter.
Markus roared, slamming his glowing shield into the ground. "Get out of here, kid! Now!"
"I can help—"
"GO!"
Markus met the abomination head-on. The creature's hand wrapped around his torso. Markus's shield cracked, light exploding outward—then silence. His body dropped, limp.
Axel's breath hitched. Everyone was gone. Only him… and that thing.
It turned toward him.
"An unripe flame… how curious."
Axel backed away. "Stay—stay back!"
He swung wildly. His sword glanced off the monster's arm like it hit steel. The creature didn't even flinch.
Its hand shot forward, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him effortlessly.
"Wh-what are you?" he choked.
The abomination tilted its head. "Your kind… opened the doors. You forgot what you invited in."
Its fingers tightened.
Bones cracked. Pain flared bright white.
Axel gasped. "No… not like this…"
The last thing he saw was the creature's faces whispering in unison—some crying, some laughing.
Then darkness.
Silence.
Cold.
No sound, no body — just the void.
Then… something pulsed in the darkness. Blue light spread like ripples in water.
[System Rebooting…]
[Error: Host Death Detected.]
[Reconstructing Physical Data…]
[Backup Found.]
[Executing Re:Awakening Protocol.]
A low hum filled the void. Axel's consciousness stirred.
"What… what's happening…?"
No answer. Only the cold, mechanical rhythm of data flowing around him.
[Re:Awakening Complete.]
Outside, in the middle of the collapsed city block that had once held the dungeon gate, a faint light flickered.
The air shimmered.
And Axel Kaiser gasped awake, lying on the cold asphalt. His clothes were torn, covered in ash. His sword lay beside him, bent.
The gate… was gone.
Where the swirling blue portal had once stood, there was now only a crater — smoking, silent, empty.
Alarms blared in the distance. Helicopters hummed overhead.
Axel coughed, sitting up slowly. His heart hammered as he looked around. "What… happened?"
The other Hunters were gone. No bodies. No traces. Only him.
Then he heard it — a faint ding in his head.
[Cheat Code System: Activated.]
He blinked. "What?"
No response. Just the words glowing faintly before fading.
He looked up at the empty sky, dazed. "I died… didn't I?"
Sirens wailed closer. Association rescue drones descended, scanning the crater. Axel didn't move. He couldn't.
All he knew was this: the dungeon had vanished, the monsters had disappeared… and somehow, he was the only one left alive.
He exhaled shakily. "What the hell did I just survive?"