Nathan had been staring at the portal for longer than he could remember, the cold wind of the abandoned city whistling through the broken skyscrapers around him. He had seen portals before, of course — minor A- and B-class anomalies that hunters often dismissed as easy prey. But this one… this one was different. The faint shimmer that wavered like liquid silver in the air sent a shiver down his spine. Something about it whispered danger, a subtle promise of death that made even the bravest hunters hesitate.
He adjusted the straps on his worn combat vest, fingers brushing the edges of his blades and energy gadgets. His breath formed clouds in the chill evening air. "It's too late to turn back," he muttered to himself, forcing courage into my voice, though my gut screams otherwise. Nathan was an F-rank hunter, the kind of man who survived on minor contracts and small hunting parties. He knew his strength — or lack thereof — intimately. But the rumors surrounding this SS-class portal had been too tempting: massive rewards, untold treasures, perhaps even rare artifacts. Just one look inside, he thought. Just one chance.
With a final breath, he stepped forward. The world twisted. The air shimmered violently, like ripples in a storm-tossed lake. Nathan felt his stomach lurch, a sickening vertigo that made him stagger. Around him, the city seemed to dissolve, the skyscrapers bending and warping as if reality itself had decided to collapse. And then, as abruptly as it had started, the sensation stopped. He was somewhere else.
The sky was a dark violet, streaked with lightning that split in unnatural patterns. Shadows moved at the edge of his vision, vast forms gliding across jagged terrain. The ground beneath his boots was uneven, scarred by deep fissures that glowed with an eerie orange light. The air smelled of ozone and iron, and every instinct in Nathan's body screamed that he was prey. Not just ordinary prey — ranked prey.
He hadn't even taken a step when the first scream split the air. It was a shrill, inhuman sound, somewhere between a growl and a roar, and it carried an intelligence that made his blood run cold. Nathan barely had time to raise his weapons before a massive shadow tore through the air. It moved impossibly fast, a blur of black scales and glowing red eyes, its claws rending the earth as it landed.
Nathan froze, heart hammering. No… no way this is real…
The creature's gaze locked onto him. Time seemed to dilate; every second stretched like taffy. Nathan realized — with the kind of clarity that only comes when death is immediate — that he was completely, utterly outmatched. The monster's size alone dwarfed him, and the aura of S-rank power radiated in waves, distorting the air. He swung his blade instinctively, hoping to buy a fraction of a second, but the creature's movement was a fraction too fast. Its claw slashed, tearing through the air and Nathan's defense. Pain exploded across his side, and he felt his body lift off the ground before crashing violently.
Darkness closed around him, suffocating and absolute. The last thought in his mind, almost laughably human, was regret. I… shouldn't have come here. This is the end.
---
And yet, Nathan woke.
It wasn't gradual. He didn't drift back into consciousness like waking from a dream. One moment he was dead, the next he gasped, lungs burning, body aching as if it had been stitched back together with invisible threads. The world looked the same, but something… had changed. The pain was gone, replaced by a strange clarity, a humming energy beneath his skin that made every nerve feel alive.
"Where…?" His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. He touched his chest. Nothing but his heartbeat. But the shadows around him—small tendrils of darkness curling like smoke—shifted in response, moving almost with intent. Nathan staggered to his feet, studying the landscape. This is no dream. I'm… alive. Somehow.
A whisper of memory brushed his mind — instinct, knowledge, skill. He realized with a sudden, terrifying thrill that he knew things he shouldn't. Combat maneuvers, the weaknesses of monsters he hadn't even seen yet, the subtle currents of magical energy around him. The realization struck like lightning: he had been given a second life. And not just any life — a rare awakening that only one in a thousand hunters ever experienced.
But there was no time to dwell on this. The screech returned, closer now, and Nathan's instincts snapped forward. The S-rank creature was circling him, testing, calculating. He could feel its intelligence probing, assessing him as a threat, and he knew that hesitation would be fatal.
Nathan's shadow tendrils moved of their own accord, coiling around his arms, forming into crude, dark blades. Sharp… strong… alive, he thought, gripping them as if they were extensions of his body. The creature lunged again. This time, Nathan dodged with precision he had never known, feeling the shadows respond to his intent. He slashed with one tendril, feeling resistance as the shadow tore into the monster's hide, drawing the first hint of blood.
The scream of the creature was deafening. It recoiled, stunned by the sudden effectiveness of Nathan's attack. He pressed forward, each movement a mixture of desperation and newfound power. The battlefield seemed to bend to his will, the shadows responding, guiding his strikes, shielding him from attacks he should not have survived.
Minutes—or perhaps hours—passed. The creature finally fell, collapsing into the glowing fissures of the ground. Nathan stood over it, panting, adrenaline thrumming like a drum in his veins. He touched the dark energy flowing from him, still forming into tendrils around his limbs. I… survived. I beat an S-rank… with nothing but shadows.
A low rumble echoed from the distance. Other portals? Or perhaps the creature's kin. Nathan didn't wait to find out. He scanned the horizon, noting fissures in the earth and the unnatural sky. Somewhere out there, others would follow, monsters of higher rank, or hunters… powerful hunters.
He had been weak once. A hunter of rank F, dismissed by the world. But now… now he was something else. Something dangerous. Something that could change the rules.
As he walked toward the faint shimmer of another portal in the distance, he thought of the rumors he had ignored before entering this place. Artifacts, treasures, guilds rising in the modern world, conflicts brewing over portals… And a name that had surfaced in hushed whispers: Zealand, the first-ranked guild, led by an S-rank hunter who was said to be untouchable.
Nathan's lips curved into a small, sharp smile. I will meet them. I will surpass them. And I will survive.
The wind shifted, carrying a faint metallic tang. Shadows coiled around him protectively, and Nathan felt his heart beat with a rhythm of power, ambition, and survival.
This was only the beginning.