The troll’s fist shattered the pillar where Dom’s head had occupied half a second earlier.
Stone splinters tore through the back of his jacket like a swarm of furious hornets.
Instead of dodging, he collapsed sideways, his left knee screaming in protest as he rolled across the damp stone.
Bone ground against bone, cartilage torn.
Three years of hastily consumed healing potions and reckless choices had left him with a knee that sounded like a bag of gravel with every movement.
Just hand over the damn crystal.
A standard D-rank dungeon.
A Grade D Clear Crystal.
Twelve hundred dollars in cash from the guild exchange.
That was the equation that fueled his resolve: four hundred to keep Dante’s enforcers at bay, three hundred for Lucy’s textbooks, and the remainder to stave off the eviction notice taped to their fridge.
If fortune smiled upon him, perhaps a few dollars left to chip away at the three-thousand-dollar facility fee keeping his mother alive in a mana containment chamber.
Heh.
Luck.
Right.
The troll swung again.
Dom ducked beneath its arm, dragging both blades across the back of its knee.
Steel sliced through hide and tendon with a sickening, heavy snap.
The beast fell, howling, black blood pouring across the floor.
He twisted his grip and ignited a fragment of his dwindling mana.
“Cross Slash.”
The X-shaped shockwave carved a crater into its shoulder.
Bone splintered.
The creature’s HP bar flickered.
[Target HP: 9%]
So close.
So very close.
Dom gathered the last remnants of mana for Spiral Edge, his newest mastered, most powerful skill, and felt the familiar internal click of the system engaging as it had countless times before.
But this time, something felt wrong.
A stutter.
A peculiar, grinding hitch deep within his chest.
His vision flickered, not the cold blue of the standard UI, but a warm gold that flashed at the edge of his sight for the briefest moment before disappearing.
The fuck??
Definitely adrenaline.
Just a fleeting rush.
Focus.
Above him, the sickly green dungeon lights pulsed erratically before plunging into darkness.
No time for hesitation.
The troll dragged itself forward, roaring through a mouthful of black blood.
Dom poured every ounce of strength into the strike, blades screeching as Spiral Edge activated regardless.
Steel opened the beast from hip to collarbone, and it collapsed sideways into the rubble, hitting the ground with a final, heavy thud.
Dom stood there for five long seconds, blades raised, waiting for the corpse to twitch.
Nothing.
The ambient dungeon mana dimmed from toxic green to a dull, harmless grey.
He lowered his arms, the adrenaline draining from him in a rush.
His knee buckled, and he sank onto a chunk of broken rock, mentally summoning his status screen.
All he wanted was to see the D-Grade Clear Crystal safely nestled in his inventory.
[Dungeon Clear — Grade D, Solo]
[Calculating Contribution…]
The loading dots pulsed.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Dom frowned.
That’s definitely not normal.
Then the colors shifted.
The standard, clinical blue drained completely from the holographic window, replaced by a warm, buttery gold.
The sharp, clean font softened, curling into something almost handwritten.
[oh!! oh oh oh!! host is looking!! hi host!! hi!!]
Dom froze, breath caught in his throat.
His mouth opened, but his thoughts flatlined.
[i’ve been here the WHOLE time but you couldn’t see me and now you can!! i can talk!! do you see me?? do you??]
The text vibrated.
A little golden blob icon bounced up and down beside the words like an excited puppy.
[okay okay okay, reward time!! i did the calculation, i really did, but the crystal was so BORING and you looked so TIRED… so i used the mana to make something way better!! something just for YOU!! do you like them?? do you??]
The screen auto-scrolled.
Dom watched in paralyzed horror as the payout field, the D-Grade Clear Crystal, his twelve hundred dollars, his rent, his survival, vanished before his eyes.
Replaced by something else entirely.
[REWARD: Cat Ears!! ✧ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ✧]
(Aesthetic… but with a secret!)
[Rarity: Unique (Soulbound / Untradeable)]
[Effect: Places a pair of soft, expressive feline ears on the user’s head. Responds to user’s emotional state. 100% adorable.]
[Passive: Feline Senses — Enhances perception by +32. Automatically adapts host’s biology for apex predator sensory input.]
[Active: Feline Grace (Locked) — Temporarily mutes all pain, increases agility by 50%, and grants absolute silent movement.]
[Activation Requirement: To channel the inner spirit of the feline, the host must perform the “Aegyo Sparkle Slide.”]
A tiny golden holographic stick figure appeared before him, demonstrating a three-second dance loop: two hands up by the cheeks like claws, a bouncy hip-sway to the left, a wink, and a finger-gun.
Dom stared, horrified.
The stick figure winked at him, patient, looping.
“The crystal,” he said, his voice strangely flat.
“Where’s the crystal?”
[the crystal was BORING!! this is BETTER!!]
His trembling hand reached up to his head.
His fingers brushed against something soft and warm.
Two distinct, triangular, undeniably feline ears.
As he touched them, the left ear twitched, a physical, involuntary reaction he hadn’t commanded.
A wave of new sensations crashed over him before he could even process the horror.
The world sharpened.
He could hear water dripping three corridors away.
He could smell the troll’s blood, the stale air.
The passive was already working.
+32 Perception.
Enhanced agility.
Silent movement.
The cat ears weren’t just cosmetic.
They were an upgrade.
A monumental one.
But the active skill was locked behind a ridiculous idol dance.
Even then he didn’t care how powerful the upgrade was.
It couldn’t pay rent.
“No,” Dom whispered.
“No, no, no. Give me the crystal!”
He swiped frantically at the screen, but his fingers passed through the golden light.
The blob icon tilted its body, as if confused.
The ground trembled.
A section of the far wall exploded inward, and something vast and dark shouldered through the rubble.
Eight feet of midnight-black muscle and elongated limbs, four glowing crimson eyes, and a jaw that split open vertically to drip thick, acidic drool onto the stone.
A Lycan-Stalker.
Grade C.
A hidden boss lurking within a low-level rift.
It locked its four red eyes onto Dom and emitted a low, vibrating click from its throat.
Of course.
Of course there’s a double dungeon.
Just my luck.
Dom scrambled backward, his knee screaming, the cat ears flattening against his skull in pure terror.
The Stalker vanished, moving so fast it became a blur of black shadow.
Dom threw his body sideways, his enhanced senses screaming a warning half a heartbeat before its talons shredded the air where he’d just stood.
He hit the stone and rolled.
He couldn’t outrun it.
Not with his knee.
The passive boost was incredible, but it wasn’t enough.
He needed the active.
He needed Feline Grace.
The Stalker circled, patient, toying with its prey.
Dom dragged himself upright, chest heaving, and glanced at the gold interface still hovering cheerfully in his peripheral vision.
The stick figure was still looping its little dance.
Three seconds.
I just need three seconds.
The Stalker lunged.
Dom brought both hands up to his cheeks, curled his fingers into tiny claws, and felt a deep sense of humiliation wash over him.
“Nya.”
A quick, bouncy hip-sway to the left.
The Stalker’s charge faltered, its four eyes widened, its jaw clicking in what Dom could only interpret as profound confusion.
A wink.
A finger-gun aimed at the ceiling.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die doing a catgirl dance in a dungeon.
[Feline Grace — Activated.]
The world exploded.
Warm sensation flooded Dom’s veins, and the agony in his knee vanished.
His hearing sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Time slowed to half-speed, every detail crystallizing into perfect, actionable clarity.
And he felt something new, something the description hadn’t mentioned.
A sixth sense.
A whisper at the base of his skull that warned him where the Stalker’s next strike would land before the creature even twitched.
Combat precognition.
A predator’s instinct.
The Stalker’s claws descended.
Dom wasn’t there anymore.
Silent movement.
Absolute.
No footsteps, no rustle of fabric, not even the whisper of breath.
He ghosted under its outstretched arm, pivoted on his ruined leg without pain, and came up behind it.
His blades were already moving.
He drove one dagger into the soft crease behind its knee, severing the tendon.
The beast shrieked, buckling.
Before it could swing its tail, Dom sprang onto its back, securing an arm around its neck.
With a swift motion, he reversed his grip on the other blade and drove it down into the base of its skull.
The beast thrashed violently, slamming him against the wall.
The impact jarred his teeth, yet Dom held firm.
He twisted the blade, slicing through flesh and bone until something vital ruptured.
The Lycan-Stalker stiffened, its four crimson eyes widening in shock.
It collapsed face-first into the dirt, delivered one final, gurgling shudder, and fell silent.
A hush enveloped the area, a profound silence.
Dom tumbled from the lifeless body, gasping for breath.
The golden timer in his vision hit zero.
Feline Grace faded away, and the icy numbness vanished, replaced by a freight train of pain surging through his knee and ribs.
But he was alive.
He had triumphed.
The gold user interface shimmered into view.
[CONGRATULATIONS!!!]
[You defeated the hidden boss: Lycan-Stalker (Grade C)!]
[The Rift is fully cleared. Exit portal generated!]
With determination, Dom dragged himself toward the portal, pausing only to extract the Stalker’s mana core, a pulsing crimson gem ripe for the black market.
It wouldn’t replace the crystal he had lost, but it was something.
He hurled himself through the portal as the dungeon began to collapse around him.
He landed in the mud outside the rift, coughing, his hood pulled low over his face.
Waiting by a black SUV was Miller, the Vanguard Guild supervisor, eyes glued to his tablet.
“Gate’s closed. Right on time.” Miller glanced up, taking stock of Dom’s shredded jacket, the blood, and his awkward stance.
“You look like hell. Did a standard D-rank do all that?”
“Just a stubborn troll,” Dom replied, a lie slipping easily from his lips.
Miller shrugged, uninterested in pressing further.
“If your leg still works by Monday, check the board, there’ll be another job waiting.”
With that, he drove off.
Dom stood in the rain, clutching the Stalker’s core, his hood pulled tight, the fabric straining against the force.
The cat ears remained, twitching beneath the fabric, attuned to the distant hum of traffic, the rhythmic patter of rain on leaves, and a dog barking three blocks away.
His phone buzzed.
Then buzzed again.
And continued to buzz.
With trembling fingers, Dom pulled it out.
The screen was an avalanche of notifications.
A video, his battle with the Stalker, expertly edited with sweeping angles, dramatic slow-motion, and a soundtrack that was both epic and irresistibly cute, had been uploaded across every platform.
TikTok.
YouTube.
Hunter forums.
The title blared: “MYSTERY HUNTER DESTROYS HIDDEN BOSS (GONE WRONG?!)” The thumbnail captured him mid-spin, twin blades carving an X through the Stalker’s throat, two fuzzy triangular ears unmistakably visible atop his head.
Comments flooded in.
xXDungeonDaddyXx: YOOOOOO THIS GUY JUST VIOLATED THAT THING
GoblinSlayer69: bro is that a fckn catboy
BussyBlaster9000: bro just awakened something in me
KravenMoHead34: @BussyBlaster9000 Seek professional help.
GoblinSlayer69: @KravenMoHead34 nah let him cook 💀
CertifiedFloorTank: okay but that spiral edge was CLEAN tho.
meme aside, this guy can fight.
Huh, how the fuck did that get online?
Dom’s phone buzzed again.
A direct message this time.
[Miller_Vanguard] : Dom.
Call me.
Now.
He stared at the screen, the view count climbing past eight thousand.
The golden interface glowed cheerfully in the corner of his vision.
[host is going viral!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧]
Reaching up, he touched the cat ears once more.
They twitched, soft and warm, unnervingly sensitive.
“What the hell is going on?” he whispered to himself.
The golden blob bobbed.
Comments continued to skyrocket.
Miller’s DM pulsed on his screen like a countdown.
Everything had shifted.
Dom just had no idea how profoundly.