Seojun walked ahead while checking the map floating beside his vision.
Small glowing markers showed where the other pairs had spawned.
Luma glanced at them.
“Everyone’s pretty spread out.”
“Yeah,” Seojun said.
“Probably on purpose.”
He zoomed the map out slightly.
Cliffs.
Ruins.
Dead forests.
Broken rivers.
The terrain looked huge.
“This map is insane,” Luma muttered.
Seojun nodded.
“Good for hiding. Good for hunting.”
They continued walking across the barren plain for a few minutes.
Nothing moved.
Just wind and the distant creak of shifting rock.
Then Luma suddenly stopped.
“…JunX.”
Seojun noticed it too.
Something was wrong with the ground.
The cracked earth ahead of them wasn’t just cracked.
It was moving.
The stone plates lifted slightly… then sank again.
Like something enormous was breathing beneath it.
Seojun slowly backed up.
“Tell me that’s not—”
The ground exploded.
Stone and dirt blasted upward as a massive creature erupted from beneath the earth.
A colossal worm-like monster burst out of the ground, its body covered in jagged rock armor.
Its circular mouth opened wide, revealing rows of rotating teeth like grinding gears.
The creature easily stretched over thirty meters long.
Its body slammed back onto the ground with a thunderous crash.
A red warning icon flashed above it.
World Monster Detected
Titan Burrower Level ???
Luma stared.
“…Why does it say question marks.”
The monster turned toward them.
Its mouth opened again with a deep grinding roar that shook the air.
Seojun’s eyes widened.
“RUN.”
The Titan Burrower lunged forward, its massive body tearing through the ground like a living avalanche.
The earth cracked behind them as they sprinted.
Luma laughed in disbelief while running.
Luma threw his hand out instinctively.
A pulse of distorted air burst forward.
Gravity ability activated
The monster’s body slammed harder into the ground for a split second, slowing it slightly.
But only slightly.
“IT DID NOTHING!” Luma shouted.
“YEAH NO SHIT!”
Seojun scanned the terrain ahead.
Cliffs.
Ruins.
Then he saw it.
A massive broken stone structure built into the side of a rocky hill.
A dark entrance yawned open like a giant mouth.
“THERE!” Seojun pointed.
They sprinted straight toward it and entered its mouth and suddenly Titan Burrower Slams against a invisible barrier.
A system notification appeared.
Safe Zone Activated
Combat Disabled
Location will be Mapped
Another message appeared.
The Hollow Labyrinth – Sanctuary Area
Hostile creatures cannot enter.
Players cannot attack within this zone.
Luma let out a long breath and dropped onto a nearby stone block.
“…Thank god.”
Seojun laughed quietly.
“Yeah.”
He looked back down the corridor toward the barrier.
“That actually makes sense.”
Luma raised an eyebrow.
“How?”
Seojun pointed toward the direction of the wasteland outside.
“We just ran into a thirty-meter murder worm five minutes into the game.”
Luma nodded slowly.
“…Fair point.”
The chat window beside him exploded with messages.
Viewer1: YOU SHOULD’VE TAMED IT
Viewer2: JUNX MISSED HIS FIRST PET
Viewer3: BRO THAT WAS YOUR STAGE FIVE DREAM
Viewer4: WHY DID YOU RUN??
Seojun stared at the chat for a second.
“Y’all strategy is so genius. I should’ve thought all that”In a sarcastic tone
For a moment, the ground outside rumbled faintly again.
Both of them froze.
Then the rumble faded as the Titan Burrower moved away somewhere in the wasteland.
“If the wasteland throws giant worms at us…”
Seojun smirked.
“…the labyrinth probably throws something else.”
The chat began flooding with new guesses.
Viewer1: DUNGEON MOBS
Viewer2: MINOTAUR
Viewer3: TREASURE ROOM
Seojun started walking deeper into the maze.
“Alright chat,” he said calmly.
“Let’s see what’s hiding in here.”