The stench of blood had long since stopped bothering him.
That was probably the worst part.
Eden no longer remembered when the smell of iron and rotten flesh had become ordinary. Perhaps it had happened somewhere between his first dungeon and his hundredth. Maybe after the first time he’d watched an Abyss Creature tear a man’s arm from his body.
Or maybe he’d simply gotten tired of being afraid.
His boots scraped against the stone floor.
He tightened his grip around his sword.
Across from him, two creatures snarled.
They were vaguely humanoid, though calling them that would have been generous.
Their bodies were covered in patches of gray, leathery flesh, stretched over misshapen bones. Their arms were too long, their fingers ending in hooked claws, and their mouths split almost halfway across their faces.
Purple Essence leaked from their bodies like smoke.
Eden stared at them through tired silver eyes.
’Two E-Rank Abyss Creatures.’
’Normally, an E-Rank monster wouldn’t have been much of a problem to most Awakeneds.’
’Normally.’
Eden exhaled slowly, running a hand through his messy, black hair.
Then one of the creatures lunged.
"—!"
Its claws tore through the air.
Eden twisted his body sideways.
The claw missed his chest by less than an inch.
He stepped forward.
His sword flashed.
Slash!
A deep cut opened across the creature’s abdomen.
Purple blood sprayed across the stone floor.
The creature staggered but didn’t fall.
"Annoying."
It roared.
Eden raised his sword just in time.
The impact forced him backward.
His boots dragged against the ground.
His arms trembled.
"Damn..."
He clicked his tongue.
’Thirteen years.’
’Thirteen fucking years since I awakened.’
’Thirteen years of crawling through dungeons.’
’Thirteen years of fighting monsters.’
’Thirteen years of watching other people become stronger while I remained stuck in the same place.’
’And for what?’
’I was still only—’
"D-Rank."
The word escaped his mouth bitterly.
The creature attacked again.
Eden ducked beneath its claws.
He drove his shoulder into its stomach.
The creature stumbled.
Eden followed with an upward slash.
Crack!
His sword cut through its jaw.
The creature collapsed.
Eden stood over the corpse, breathing heavily.
A faint System window made of dark runes appeared in front of his vision.
[Claiborne — E Rank]
[Defeated.]
Eden stared at it.
Then he sighed.
"Finally."
The world had changed several decades ago.
At first, humanity had called it a miracle.
Then they called it a disaster.
Eventually, they simply accepted it.
’The Abyss.’
Nobody knew exactly where it came from.
One day, enormous spatial distortions began appearing throughout the world. Some manifested as space warping gates. Others appeared in remote regions, deep underground, or even in the middle of cities.
Beyond those gates existed an entirely different world.
A world filled with monsters.
A world filled with strange ecosystems, civilizations, treasures, and ruins.
A world that humanity eventually named the Abyss.
And the creatures that inhabited it became known as Abyss Creatures.
At first, humanity had no way to fight them.
Then the System appeared.
Strange runes began appearing throughout the world.
People began awakening.
Those who awakened gained access to the System—skills, attributes, levels, and the mysterious power known as Essence.
And with those Awakeneds came humanity’s first real weapon against the Abyss.
But the Abyss fought back.
Gates could not simply be ignored.
If too many Abyss Creatures gathered inside one, the Gate would destabilize.
Then came what humanity learned to fear most.
A Dungeon Break.
When a dungeon broke, the boundary between the Abyss and Earth collapsed.
Monsters flooded into the surrounding area.
Cities could be destroyed.
Thousands could die.
Sometimes millions.
Humanity had spent decades adapting to this new reality.
Awakeneds became heroes.
Guilds became corporations.
Associations became governments within governments.
And the strong became celebrities.
Eden?
He became a porter.
His jaw tightened.
Ranks had been established by the system to measure the strength of Awakeneds and Abyss Creatures alike.
F.
E.
D.
C.
B.
A.
Then the truly monstrous levels.
S.
SS.
SSS.
Eden had awakened at twenty-two.
He had started at F.
Then he reached E.
And eventually climbed to D.
And stopped.
He had remained at D-Rank for over a decade.
He had tried everything.
Training.
Raids.
Solo missions.
Group missions.
Expensive equipment.
Expensive potions.
He had nearly killed himself countless times trying to push past his limits.
But his skill simply wasn’t good enough.
It couldn’t keep up.
To level, an Awakened needed to defeat opponents strong enough to grant meaningful experience points.
To defeat stronger opponents, they needed stronger skills.
And Eden’s skill had reached its limit.
He could support stronger Awakeneds.
He could carry their equipment.
He could scout.
He could occasionally kill weaker monsters.
But he couldn’t climb any higher.
D-Rank.
That was his ceiling.
And he hated it.
"Fuck this."
The remaining Abyss Creature charged again.
Eden raised his sword.
This time, he didn’t dodge.
He stepped forward.
His blade met the monster’s claw.
Then another.
And another.
Each clash rattled his bones.
The creature was faster than the previous one.
Eden was exhausted.
His lungs burned.
His shoulders screamed.
But he had something the monster didn’t.
Experience.
Thirteen years of it.
Eden watched the creature’s movements.
The twitch of its shoulder.
The shift of its weight.
The way its left foot dragged ever so slightly before it attacked.
’There.’
He saw it.
’An opening!’
Eden lowered his sword.
The monster lunged.
At the last possible moment, he stepped inside its attack.
Its claws passed behind him.
His sword moved.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Slash.
The creature’s leg gave out.
Slash.
Its arm fell.
Slash—!
His sword pierced directly through its skull.
The creature froze.
Purple Essence erupted from its body.
Then it collapsed.
Silence.
Eden stood there.
His sword dripped purple blood.
He stared at the corpse.
A strange sense of satisfaction settled over him.
’Two E-Rank Abyss Creatures.’
’All on my own.’
He laughed quietly.
"Not bad."
For a moment, he felt proud.
The feeling of victory was cut short though.
"EDEN!"
The shout completely shattered the moment.
Eden’s expression immediately soured.
He turned.
A man wearing reinforced armor stood several meters away.
He was the leader of the party.
And, judging by his expression, he wasn’t impressed.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Eden blinked.
"...Killing monsters?"
"We hired you to carry our equipment!"
The man pointed toward the corpses.
"You were supposed to pick up the drops!"
Eden looked at the bodies.
Then at the man.
Then back at the bodies.
"...Right."
Of course.
Why would anyone care that he’d killed two E-Rank monsters?
They weren’t paying him to fight.
They were paying him to carry things.
Eden sheathed his sword.
"Fine."
He walked toward the corpses.
As he crouched down to collect the drops, he muttered under his breath.
"Thirteen years..."
"For what?"
"Absolutely nothing."
He picked up a small Essence crystal.
Then another.
The party leader continued barking orders.
"Make sure you don’t miss anything!"
"Yeah."
"Check the corpses properly!"
"Yeah."
"And don’t damage the relic containers!"
"Yeah."
Eden’s fingers tightened around one of the crystals.
He forced himself to breathe.
He had once dreamed of reaching S-Rank.
He’d imagined himself living comfortably.
A nice apartment.
Good food.
No more dangerous raids.
No more people screaming at him.
No more carrying bags for people half his age.
Instead, at thirty-five, he was still crawling through an E-Rank dungeon because he couldn’t afford to do anything else.
He stuffed another drop into the container.
’What a joke.’
"This piece of shit world just can’t give me a break."
He finished gathering the loot and slowly turned.
"Alright Jace, I’m done!"
Nobody answered.
Eden frowned.
The dungeon had become strangely quiet.
...Almost too quiet.
He slowly stood.
"Hey?"
Nothing.
Eden looked toward where the party had went.
His expression changed.
The corridor was empty.
"...Where’d they go?"
He took a step forward.
Then another.
His boots made a faint sound against the stone.
He rounded the corner.
And stopped.
His mind went blank.
The loot container slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
Eden didn’t care.
His eyes were fixed ahead.
Bodies.
Everywhere.
The party.
Every single member.
They were dead.
Mutilated.
Limbs lay scattered across the dungeon floor.
Blood coated the walls.
Armor had been torn apart as though it were paper.
Someone’s head rested several meters away from their body.
Eden couldn’t breathe.
"No..."
His heart stopped.
Something was standing among the corpses.
Something enormous.
It was at least tens of meters tall.
Its lower body was made entirely from swirling purple Essence.
Like an endless storm given shape.
Its upper body was worse.
Skulls.
Hundreds of them.
Human.
Abyss Creature.
They were fused together into a grotesque torso, forming a monstrous shape that seemed almost humanoid.
Six arms stretched from its body.
Each one ended in massive, clawed hands.
And surrounding it was an aura so vicious that Eden’s instincts screamed at him to run.
’Run—’
’Run.’
’Run!’
His sword slipped slightly in his hand.
His pupils contracted.
He knew that creature.
Most Awakeneds did.
There were monsters that appeared in rumors.
Monsters that existed only in ancient records.
And then there were monsters whose names became synonymous with death.
Eden had seen this one before.
Not personally.
But he remembered the reports.
The massacres.
The photographs.
The stories.
His lips trembled.
"...No."
The creature slowly turned its many skulls toward him.
One by one, their empty eye sockets stared at him.
Eden’s entire body went cold.
[Aprodius]
One of the direct servants of the Archduke Beelzebub.
A being whose name alone was enough to make entire parties retreat.
An SSS-Rank Abyss Creature.
Eden’s mind refused to process what he was seeing.
’SSS.’
That wasn’t simply stronger than him.
It wasn’t even remotely comparable.
An SSS-Rank creature existed on an entirely different level from a D-Rank Awakened.
The strongest beings humanity knew could barely survive encounters with creatures of that caliber.
And this thing was standing inside an E-Rank dungeon.
Eden’s breathing became ragged.
’How?’
’Why?’
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
He had entered dozens of E-Rank dungeons throughout his life.
He knew the approximate monster populations.
The possible bosses.
The expected loot.
Nothing like this should exist here.
Nothing.
His thoughts raced.
’Did the Association miss something?’
’Was the Gate misclassified?’
’Was this a double-dungeon?’
’No.’
His hands began shaking.
’Then why is it here?’
Aprodius took one, deliberate step.
The entire dungeon shook.
Eden stumbled backward.
His body screamed at him to drop his sword and flee.
And yet his legs refused to move.
He was thirty-five years old.
He had spent thirteen years fighting monsters.
He had survived hundreds of raids.
He had watched people die.
He had nearly died himself more times than he could count.
But none of that mattered now.
For the first time in years, Eden felt something he thought he’d forgotten.
Pure fear.
His teeth clenched.
His grip tightened around his sword.
He knew he couldn’t win.
He knew it with absolute certainty.
Yet somehow...
His arm rose.
His blade pointed toward the monster.
His entire body trembled.
His silver eyes stared into the countless empty sockets of Aprodius.
"...If I’m going to die..."
His voice shook.
But he forced the words out anyway.
"...I’m at least going to make you work for it."