Three days.
That was how long Eden had spent raiding undiscovered Gates with unlicensed Awakeneds.
And already, he had learned something important.
There were advantages.
There were disadvantages.
Mostly disadvantages.
Eden stood in the middle of a D-Rank Gate, staring down at the corpse of a horned Abyss Creature.
Red Essence crawled over its body.
The creature slowly disappeared.
Eden waited.
A faint warmth spread through his body.
[+1 Strength]
His lips curled upward.
"Finally."
That was the biggest advantage of these raids.
After reaching D-Rank, the lower-ranked creatures he’d been hunting were essentially useless.
D-Rank creatures were different.
They were finally strong enough to provide him with something.
Attributes.
Actual, worthwhile attributes.
Unfortunately, there was a problem.
’Experience.’
Eden looked across the enormous cavern.
Several dozen Abyss Creatures had already been killed.
And he had personally killed only a handful.
The others belonged to everyone else.
He watched another D-Rank Awakened cleave through a creature with a battle cry.
That was the other side of group raids.
’Too many people.’
’There are too many hands fighting over the same prey.’
The more people there were, the fewer creatures Eden could kill himself.
And fewer kills meant less experience.
It was a terrible trade.
He could obtain attributes from D-Rank corpses, but leveling required him to actually participate in more of the fights.
That was why Eden had already reached a conclusion.
’I shouldn’t be doing this.’
He glanced around at the group.
’Once I’m strong enough to clear D-Rank Gates with Lucy, I’m done here.’
The thought had crossed his mind several times over the past three days.
Solo.
Or with Lucy.
Those were the only arrangements that made sense.
With only one other person, he could still kill a large portion of the abyss creatures himself while having someone reliable watching his back.
But right now, he wasn’t quite there yet.
D-Rank Gates were dangerous.
They were by no means Life Threatening to him.
But definitely dangerous enough that Eden didn’t want to underestimate them.
So, for now, he decided to tolerate the inefficiency.
He needed the attributes.
He needed the experience.
And most importantly, he needed to become strong enough to make these group raids unnecessary.
Three days later, Eden joined another party.
It was smaller this time.
Six people in total.
Five D-Ranks besides himself.
Three older men.
One woman.
And the raid leader.
The woman introduced herself as Amara.
She looked to be in her early twenties, with dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and a light set of leather armor covering her body.
She had immediately started talking to Eden.
Then she continued talking to Eden.
...And she moved closer to Eden.
Then she somehow ended up walking beside Eden for almost the entire journey.
"You’ve been at the forum for a while, right?"
"Yes."
"I’ve seen your name on there."
"That’s unfortunate."
She laughed.
"You’re funny."
’...?’
"I wasn’t joking."
Eden sighed.
’Didn’t think anyone on there would memorize my name. That might become an issue.’
The other men noticed too.
One of them leaned toward another and whispered.
"Look at the youngsters."
"Seems we got a womanizer with us."
"Should we warn her?"
"Nah, too late."
"Poor thing signed up for another round of Heart-break."
Eden heard every word.
He chose not to acknowledge it.
Amara didn’t seem particularly bothered either.
"So, how long have you been awakened for?"
"A few weeks."
"And you’re already a D-Rank?!"
"I had some help leveling up..."
That wasn’t completely wrong. Devour was the only reason Eden was capable of growing stronger as quickly as he did.
Though he had no intention of outing the benefactor Amara believed to be a person, as an A-Rank skill
She smiled.
"That’s really Impressive."
"I’ve heard that before."
Eden didn’t mind her.
She was actually sort of pleasant.
A little clingy.
Definitely interested in him.
But harmless.
At least, she seemed harmless.
The raid leader introduced himself as Elias.
He was a man in his late twenties with short black hair.
Unlike the others, he carried himself with an unusual confidence.
He had a sword strapped to his side.
Eden eventually noticed something.
He couldn’t explain it.
Nothing was visibly wrong.
No strange Essence.
No hidden presence.
No unusual System warning.
Yet—
something felt wrong.
He stopped.
Amara nearly walked into him.
"What’s wrong?"
Eden stared down the corridor.
"Nothing."
They continued clearing the Gate, but throughout the entire time, nothing unusual really happend.
The feeling remained.
It wasn’t fear.
Eden wasn’t afraid.
It was closer to instinct.
The same instinct that had saved his life countless times in his previous timeline.
’Something is coming.’
’Something bad.’
They continued deeper into the dungeon.
Another group of Abyss Creatures attacked from the ceiling as they approached the Boss Chamber.
Four-legged creatures with long claws dropped from above.
Eden moved first.
He stepped forward.
Crack!
His fist smashed into the first creature’s skull.
It flew backward.
Before it could recover, Eden appeared above it.
His heel came down.
The creature’s head struck the floor.
Dead.
Red Essence immediately spilled over its corpse.
Eden consumed it.
[+1 Speed]
Amara’s Arrow shot another abyss creature straight through the chest.
"Nice!"
Eden glanced at her.
She grinned proudly.
"You’re fast."
"So are you."
That seemed to make her happy.
The others seemed impressed too.
One of the older D-Ranks eventually spoke.
"You’ve got some serious physical stats."
Eden shrugged.
"I train."
"What kind?"
’Uh...’
"The excessive kind?"
The man laughed.
"You’re really not much of a talker."
Amara stepped in.
"He talks to me."
Eden looked at her as he raised an eyebrow.
"..."
He then turned to the older D-Ranker.
"I just answer her questions, really."
Suddenly, that uneasy feeling returned.
He stopped again.
His eyes narrowed.
He looked behind them.
Nothing.
The others continued walking.
Elias noticed.
"You okay?"
Eden looked at him.
"Yeah."
"Then let’s keep moving."
Eden didn’t answer.
His instincts were screaming.
But he had nothing.
No evidence.
No enemy.
No trap.
Eventually, they reached the deepest chamber.
A massive stone door stood before them.
Elias stepped forward.
"Looks like we arrived the Boss Chamber."
Everyone prepared themselves.
Eden flexed his fingers.
The door opened.
Inside was a gigantic Abyss Creature.
A hulking beast with four arms and a thick armored hide.
Its roar shook the chamber.
The others charged.
Eden followed.
The battle was surprisingly easy.
The boss was decently strong.
But there were six D-Ranks.
It never stood a real chance.
It didn’t take long for the boss to fall.
Luckily, Eden finished him off, so he gained the exp from it.
[Level up! ×3]
The Group started cheering.
"We did it!"
"D-Rank boss!"
"Easy!"
Amara threw both hands into the air.
"That was great!"
Elias laughed.
"Good work, everyone."
Eden didn’t move.
His eyes remained fixed on Elias.
He looked around the chamber.
Nothing.
No hidden enemy.
No additional monster.
No trap.
’What’s going on?’
’Something is definitely wrong...’
’But we cleared the dungeon by now, haven’t we?’
Amara walked toward the corpse.
"We should gather the materials before—"
A sword flashed.
Eden’s pupils contracted.
Amara’s head separated from her body.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Her body remained standing.
Then it collapsed.
Her head hit the floor.
The chamber went silent.
Blood spread across the stone.
Eden stared.
His mind struggled to process what he had just seen.
something inside him snapped.
"You—!"
He moved.
Eden crossed the distance between them almost instantly.
His fist was already pulled back.
Elias smiled.
"I’ve prepared something for you."
Eden’s eyes widened.
[A-Rank Skill: Essence Release]
Eden’s instincts screamed.
’No!’
Raw Essence exploded from Elias’s palm.
The chamber disappeared in white light.
Eden was struck head-on.
His body launched backward.
The force threw him across the entire boss room.
He smashed through a stone pillar.
Then another.
Then crashed into a massive pile of rocks.
Pain exploded throughout his body.
His vision blurred.
He tried to move but his body refused to comply.
His arms barely responded.
His ears rang.
Blood trickled from his mouth.
Eden’s body slid down the rocks.
His eyes struggled to stay open.
Across the chamber, Elias slowly lowered his hand.
The remaining raid members stared at him in horror.
"Now with the biggest threat out of the way..."
Elias calmly licked Amara’s blood from his sword.
"Time to clean up."
One of the men stepped backward.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
Elias looked at him.
"Making this entire raid worth it."
Elias tilted his head, a confused smile appearing on his face.
"What, you didn’t actually think I was going to share the loot with that many people, did you?"
Elias slowly raised his blade as he continued.
"C’mon guys, you know how it is. Gotta make a living."
"No hard feelings."