[You have come into contact with a D-Tier rift]
[Would you like to enter alone?]
Cain paused, staring at the notification, confusion settling clearly across his face.
Enter alone?
How is that possible?
Was this another perk of the system?
No... it didn’t feel like one.
He glanced around instinctively, checking if anyone else had reacted, if anyone else could see what he was seeing, but no one paid him any attention.
His gaze returned to the screen as he reconsidered the question.
[Would you like to enter alone?]
The answer came almost immediately.
Of course not.
He shook his head slightly.
There was no way he was entering a rift alone.
The reasoning was simple.
A D-Tier rift wasn’t something a D-Rank hunter handled alone. The number and strength of the monsters inside were enough to overwhelm an entire party of hunters at his level, let alone a single individual.
Even with a proper team, survival wasn’t guaranteed.
So attempting to clear a D-Tier rift solo wasn’t bravery; it was stupidity.
He didn’t possess some overwhelming, broken ability that could carry him through something like that, so there was no reason to even consider accepting it.
The only reason he was here in the first place was because he had been assigned to a group made up mostly of C-Tier hunters.
Under normal circumstances, someone of his rank would be expected to handle an E-Tier rift.
But those didn’t exist. D-Tier was the lowest.
And the gap between tiers wasn’t something you could ignore.
At the other end of the scale sat SS-Tier rifts, existences so dangerous they bordered on catastrophic.
A hunter of his level wouldn’t even survive getting close to one.
That was why many D-Tier awakeners never became hunters at all.
And those who did were often treated as numbers, bodies needed to meet entry requirements rather than individuals relied upon for success.
So, entering alone?
Yeah, that was not an option he was willing to consider at the moment.
And beyond the danger, there was another problem.
If he entered the rift by himself, no one else would be able to enter for a full day.
That was how rifts worked.
Once a party entered, the gate remained occupied.
Any other group that wanted access would be forced to wait, sometimes for hours, sometimes longer, depending on the rift itself.
It wasn’t always predictable.
So if he went in now, alone, the rest of the team—and any other party waiting—would be locked out.
And it wouldn’t take much for them to figure out what had happened.
If that led back to him, things would get complicated.
And if, by some miracle, he actually survived? That would only make things worse.
Questions would follow.
How did he enter alone? How did a D-Tier hunter clear a D-Tier rift solo?
Attention. Scrutiny. Exactly the kind of things he had been trying to avoid.
The plates beneath them began to glow faintly, reacting as the required number had been met.
The rift stirred.
Energy spread outward, wrapping around their bodies as the activation process began.
The screen flashed again.
[You have come into contact with a D-Tier rift]
[Would you like to enter alone?]
It felt like the system was making it clear that if he didn’t decide now, the opportunity would disappear.
But Cain had already made his choice.
Their bodies glowed faintly as the rift scanned them, confirming their eligibility.
Because numbers weren’t the only requirement.
There were also ranks.
A D-Tier rift wouldn’t allow hunters beyond a certain level to enter.
At most, one tier above was permitted, which explained why no B-Tier hunters had been called in.
If higher-ranked hunters could freely enter lower-tier rifts, they would have cleared them all long ago.
The world would be far safer.
But that wasn’t how things worked.
This wasn’t a game.
This was war.
And the rifts—whatever existed beyond them—weren’t designed to make things easier for humanity.
Every restriction, every limitation, increased the danger hunters faced.
And in doing so, it reinforced their importance.
But it also raised a question.
If he eventually rose to a higher tier... and stood before a lower-tier rift... Would the system allow him to enter? Alone?
If it could bypass one rule, there was no reason it couldn’t bypass others.
Or was that assumption flawed?
Cain didn’t think so.
Still, that was a question for later.
Right now, he had something more immediate to deal with.
He shifted his focus forward, grounding himself in the present. The raid was about to begin.
His first rift.
And, if things went well...it wouldn’t be his last.
*
As soon as Cain reappeared, the first thing that hit him was a thick, metallic scent that made him unsettled.
Blood.
The realization snapped him into full alertness, his posture tightening as his eyes swept across the surroundings.
The rest of the hunters reacted just as quickly, their instincts kicking in as weapons were drawn and stances shifted, each of them prepared for an immediate attack.
But nothing came.
No movement. No sound beyond their own breathing.
Slowly, the tension eased, though not completely, and they began to take in their surroundings more carefully.
They were inside some kind of cave... if it could even be called that.
The walls didn’t look natural.
Vein-like patterns stretched across its surface, twitching in slow, uneven rhythms, as though something beneath them was still alive.
The ground wasn’t much better.
It gave slightly underfoot when stepped on, not enough to sink into, but enough to feel wrong—firm, yet not solid in the way real earth or rock should be.
It felt... organic.
Like they had stepped into something living.