The sun was sinking over the city.
From high above the streets, the fading orange light painted the glass windows of countless skyscrapers in shades of gold.
One of those skyscrapers belonged to the Awakened Association.
Near the very top of the building, a man stood silently before a massive window.
He had long, messy brown hair that looked as though he hadn’t bothered to comb it properly in days. His black eyes carried the exhaustion of someone who had long since grown accustomed to working too much and sleeping too little.
His suit was neat.
His tie was not.
It hung loosely around his neck, as if even tightening it properly was too much effort.
A faint shadow of stubble covered his jaw.
Assistant Manager Choi stared down at the city.
From this height, everything looked peaceful.
Almost beautiful.
It was easy to forget how much blood was spilled beneath those lights.
How many Gates were scattered throughout the world.
How many people relied on the Association to make sure those Gates stayed contained.
A quiet knock came from behind him.
Choi didn’t turn.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A young man entered the office.
He wore relaxed gray clothing, almost casual enough to look out of place in the Association’s headquarters. His dark gray hair was slightly messy, and his matching eyes carried an almost unnatural confidence.
He stopped several steps from Choi and bowed slightly.
"Assistant Manager Choi."
Choi finally turned around.
"Kael."
The young man straightened.
"You called for me?"
"I did."
Choi walked toward his desk and picked up a tablet.
"Levi was right."
Kael’s expression immediately became more serious.
"The Gate Break?"
Choi nodded.
"At first, we thought it was simply an E-Rank Gate that had been left uncleared for too long. The local guild’s strike team was delayed, and the containment seal was supposed to buy us time."
He swiped across the screen.
"The seal failed."
Kael’s eyebrows lifted.
"Failed?"
"Without warning."
"How?"
"We don’t know."
Choi’s tired eyes narrowed.
"That’s the problem."
He turned the tablet around.
A live feed showed a section of the city center.
Emergency lights flashed between buildings.
Cars had been abandoned in the streets.
People were being evacuated.
A swarm of Abyss Creatures moved through the area.
Kael studied the footage.
"How many casualties?"
"Only four for now."
Choi sighed.
"Several low-ranked Awakeneds are already at the scene. They’re keeping the creatures away from the evacuation routes, but..."
He paused.
"The situation escalated."
Kael understood immediately.
"D+."
Choi nodded.
"A D+ Rank Boss emerged from an E-Rank Gate."
Kael’s eyes sharpened.
"That’s impossible."
"Exactly."
Choi placed the tablet down.
"We need someone capable of dealing with it before it reaches the civilian district."
Kael smiled.
It wasn’t an ordinary smile.
It was the kind of smile belonging to someone who had spent far too much time imagining himself as the protagonist of his own story.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Then leave it to me."
Choi stared at him.
"Kael."
"Yes?"
"Don’t underestimate it."
Kael’s smile widened.
"I won’t."
He turned toward the door.
"I’ll take care of the Boss."
Then he paused dramatically.
"Hang in there, everyone!"
Choi blinked.
"...They can’t hear you."
Kael looked back.
"What?"
"The people at the scene."
"They’ll hear me."
"Kael."
"I have to say it."
"Why?"
"Because it sounds cool."
Choi stared at him for several seconds.
Then rubbed his forehead.
"Just go."
Kael nodded confidently.
"Don’t you worry guys..."
"I’ll save you all!"
He stormed out of the office.
The door slammed shut.
Silence returned.
Choi looked at the closed door.
"...Idiot."
Yet despite his words, Choi couldn’t deny one thing.
Kael was strong.
At the peak of the C-Rank, he was without a doubt strong enough to put an end to the dungeon break crisis.
Several streets away, Eden was running.
And beside him—
Lucy was struggling to keep up.
"Sir!"
Eden glanced sideways.
"I told you to shut up with that title."
Lucy looked confused.
"But—"
"Stop calling me sir."
She hesitated.
"Okay... sir."
Eden sighed.
’This is going to be annoying.’
The two sprinted down the street.
Eden had explained the Dungeon Break to Lucy while they were moving.
At first, she had looked shocked.
Now she looked increasingly concerned.
"Shouldn’t the Association already be sending someone?"
"They already did."
"Then isn’t the situation handled?"
"It sort of is."
Lucy stared at him.
"Then why are we even going?"
Eden looked ahead.
"...Good question."
Lucy frowned.
"You dragged me here!"
"Technically, you followed me."
"You told me I owed you!"
"You do."
Lucy opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Then sighed.
"...I do."
Eden smiled.
"See?"
Lucy continued running.
"But I’ll be useless."
Eden raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Why?"
"I’m only an E-Rank..." Lucy admitted, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Eden’s expression stiffened.
He looked away.
’Technically...’
’I’m Level 1.’
’F-Rank.’
’Lower than her.’
But there was no chance he was telling her that.
"You’re useful enough."
Lucy looked suspicious.
"You said the Gate is only E-Rank, right?"
"It is."
"The association can easily handle something like that! Do we seriously have to—"
Eden shrugged.
"I’m curious."
Lucy couldn’t believe he was dragging her into an actual battlefield just because of some mild curiosity.
"Curious?! We’re doing this because you’re curious?"
"Yes."
Lucy stared at him.
"You’re insane."
"Oi, watch it."
They continued running.
For a while, neither said anything.
Then Lucy suddenly spoke again.
"Assuming you’re right..."
Eden glanced at her.
"This is ridiculous."
"What is?"
"Everything."
She looked ahead.
"You somehow knew there would be a Dungeon Break."
Eden’s expression remained neutral.
"You knew the Gate was going to become dangerous."
"..."
"You knew the Association would probably send someone."
"..."
"And you knew there was going to be a Boss."
Eden scratched the back of his neck.
"Eh, just my intuition."
Lucy stopped for half a second.
Eden continued running.
She quickly caught up.
"That was the worst lie I’ve ever heard!"
"...It’s a good intuition."
"Your face is literally saying you’re lying."
Eden glanced at her.
"...My face does that?"
"Yes."
"Interesting."
Lucy narrowed her eyes.
"You know, you’re really strange."
Eden smiled.
"You’ll get used to it. Now quit whining."
They finally reached the city center.
And Eden stopped.
Cars were overturned across the streets.
Storefronts had been destroyed.
Concrete walls had collapsed.
Smoke drifted through the air.
Emergency alarms screamed in the distance.
Dozens of bodies belonging to Abyss Creatures were scattered across the pavement.
Some had been torn apart.
Others had been crushed.
A few still twitched.
And in the distance, several low-ranked Awakeneds were fighting desperately against another wave.
Lucy swallowed.
"This..."
Eden’s eyes moved across the battlefield.
He wasn’t looking at the destruction.
He wasn’t looking at the damaged buildings.
He wasn’t even looking at the Awakeneds.
He was looking at the corpses.
His stomach growled.
Eden blinked.
"...Huh."
Lucy looked at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He walked toward one of the dead creatures.
Lucy followed cautiously.
Eden stopped beside it.
The creature looked vaguely humanoid, with dark skin, long claws, and a mouth full of needle-like teeth.
Eden nudged its severed head with his shoe.
Does it work on corpses?
He had to know.
He crouched.
"Lucy."
"Yes?"
"What’s your skill?"
She hesitated.
"Why?"
"Just tell me."
Lucy looked toward the ongoing battle.
"My skill allows me to release a huge amount of Essence at once."
"Offensive?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why didn’t you use it against those bullies?"
"I need to charge it."
"How long?"
"Depends."
She looked embarrassed.
"At least a minute for a weak strike. I need much longer if I want to release a larger amount."
Eden nodded.
"Then start charging."
"What?"
"You’re gonna watch my back."
Lucy stared at him.
"But there’s nothing but corpses around us. You still want me to charge it?"
"Yes."
Eden pointed at the battlefield.
"Abyss creatures can be quite fast on their feet. If they pass those Awakeneds they’ll head straight to us."
"You can’t let your guard down on a battlefield like this, got it?"
Lucy frowned.
She clearly wanted to argue.
Instead, she sighed.
"...Fine."
Essence began gathering around her.
Eden turned back toward the corpse.
He placed his hand above it.
"Let’s test something."
Lucy watched.
Eden activated Devour.
The reaction was immediate.
Red Essence erupted from his hand.
It twisted around the corpse like living tendrils.
Rows of sharp teeth opened within the mass.
The dead Abyss Creature began disappearing.
It was viciously eaten piece by piece.
Within mere seconds, nothing remained.
Eden stared.
For a while nothing happend.
Eden blinked.
"No skill..."
That was disappointing.
But then another notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ATTRIBUTE ACQUIRED]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Strength +1
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Eden went completely still.
His eyes widened.
"...What?"
He immediately opened his Status.
His Strength had increased.
By one.
Just one.
But that one point was more important than it looked.
Eden’s breathing slowed.
[Attributes]
They were among the most important things an Awakened possessed.
Normally, there were only two reliable ways to increase them.
The first was leveling.
Every level granted ten additional attribute points.
The second was Relics.
Certain Relics could permanently or temporarily increase specific attributes.
That was it.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Eden stared at his hand.
’Devour just gave me one.’
He slowly smiled.
"So I can grow even without leveling."
The implications were enormous.
If he could consume enough Abyss Creatures...
Even without gaining a single level...
His physical capabilities could continue increasing.
One point didn’t sound like much.
But one became ten.
Ten became a hundred.
And a hundred...
Eden looked toward the battlefield.
Something inside his expression changed.
A few minutes ago, Lucy had looked at the dead Abyss Creatures and seen nothing more than casualties.
Eden saw something else.
He saw a feast.
Dozens of bodies.
Dozens of potential attribute points.
Possibly even skills.
His mouth watered.
"...This is amazing."
Lucy slowly lowered her hands.
"Eden?"
He didn’t answer.
His gaze remained fixed on the battlefield.
The red Essence around his fingers began moving again.
"Keep charging."
Lucy looked at him nervously.
"What are you going to do?"
Eden smiled.
"I just found another way to get stronger."
He raised his hand.
The red Essence expanded.
One corpse vanished.
Then another.
Then another.
The energy spread outward.
It crawled across the pavement.
It flowed between shattered cars.
It wrapped around broken buildings.
Every corpse it touched disappeared beneath the same vicious red mass.
Mouths opened everywhere.
Teeth snapped shut.
The battlefield became a feeding ground.
Lucy stared in horror.
"Eden..."
He barely heard her.
His eyes shone.
Strength.
Another corpse disappeared.
[+1 Agility]
Another.
[1+ Vitality]
Another.
[+1 Essence]
Another.
[+1 Perception]
He didn’t even know which attributes he would gain.
He didn’t care.
Every corpse was another possibility.
Every monster was another step forward.
The red Essence continued spreading.
Dozens of dead Abyss Creatures vanished.
Then more.
The distant Awakeneds noticed.
One of them turned.
"What the hell is that?!"
Another shouted,
"Is that another Abyss Creature?!"
"No!"
"It’s an Awakened!"
"Then what kind of skill is that?!"
Eden didn’t listen.
He stood in the middle of the ruined street, surrounded by red, vicious Essence.