"Drip.
Drip-drop.
Plop".
Somewhere close, water dripped steadily, falling with faint splashes onto cracked concrete.
A rat — no bigger than a clenched fist — crept cautiously across the dim underground space, heading for a shallow puddle.
It lowered its snout to drink—
when suddenly—
FLASH!
Crackle—! Sizzle—!
Brilliant blue light exploded into the darkness.
In the pitch-black underground parking lot, where sunlight had never once touched,
waves of blue shimmered beside a collapsed concrete pillar.
Wooooooooong...
Startled, the rat squealed and darted back into its hole.
Meanwhile, from the splitting light, a figure stumbled out.
Hair wild…Clothes torn…Eyes dazed.
"Uh... where... am I?"
Jhin blinked against the gloom, glancing around.
And then — as if waiting for him — a system message appeared before his eyes:
[Congratulations! You have cleared the 'trial nexus (Hell)' Quest.]
He had returned, after three long, brutal months.
—
At the same time— Elsewhere,
a group of people stood gathered, faces grim, tension thick in the air.
Among them, a man in a tattered police uniform — bloodstained, battered — stared at the half-collapsed school building ahead.
Caleb…He spoke quietly, voice heavy:
"We don't have much time left."
"..."
"Two days."
His gaze sharpened.
"We have to clear that dungeon... within two days."
The weight of those words crushed the air around them … Understandably so.
Because the situation was... overwhelming.
Caleb's eyes drifted toward the school gates.
Beyond them, the grounds were soaked in a sickly, blood-red glow.
Like something ripped straight out of a horror movie.
If ghostly screams started echoing from the walls, no one would have been surprised.
"I know you're all scared," he said.
"..."
"I am too." He exhaled slowly.
"But we have to go." His voice was steady, commanding.
The others flinched —but they listened.
Knowing what needed to be done was one thing. Facing it was something else.
Caleb tightened his grip on the blue spear resting against his side.
He understood why everyone was terrified.
The school ahead— An E-rank dungeon.
And among their group?
Only one person had even cleared "Hard" difficulty during the tutorial.
The rest… Barely F-rank survivors.
They had never even seen an E-rank dungeon before.Never mind clearing one.
"If only that was the worst of it..."
He lifted his eyes to the towering gate…Blood-red.
In Exodia, a red gate meant one thing:
Dungeon Break Imminent. Dungeon Break—
When monsters multiplied uncontrollably, poured out into the world, and everything nearby was wiped out.
If they didn't clear it now? If they failed?
New Capital would drown in blood.
"Trying to clear it now is practically suicide."
But there was no choice, Caleb's voice grew firmer:
"We don't have any other options."
"If we don't stop it here...
if we don't kill it within two days...
it'll break free."
"And then..."
He didn't need to finish the sentence.Everyone already knew.
When a dungeon broke, its rank rose, this place had been F-rank at first.
It had already mutated to E-rank.
If it broke again? It would spike to D-rank, and then? No hope.
Not for them., not for the city, not for anyone.
"If it becomes D-rank... it's over," Caleb said flatly.
"If another break happens... no one will survive."
He let the words sink in, without sugarcoating , and without false hope…Just reality.
At that moment, a frustrated voice broke the silence:
"Why is this one growing so damn fast?
The other dungeons nearby are still stuck at F-rank!"
The speaker — Evan — looked exhausted.
A former sales rep, now clad in a strange mix of business suit and leather armor.
Caleb answered calmly:
"It's because the monsters inside are undead."
"Undead...?"
Evan's face twisted in horror, blood-red glow, the choking stench of decay.
It wasn't his imagination, inside that building—Ghosts…Zombies…Spirits.
And much worse.
"But what does that have to do with the dungeon leveling up so fast?"
Caleb met his gaze steadily:
"In Exodia, undead monsters were considered weaklings."
"Low defense. Easy kills."
"But nobody ever underestimated them."
"You know why?"
Evan shook his head, while Caleb continued, voice low:
"Because undead reproduce insanely fast."
"One bite.
One infection.
One corpse turning into another monster."
He grimaced , Ugly images flashed behind his eyes.
"This dungeon formed in a school."
"Sure — not many kids would've been here at 6 AM."
"But this place had dormitories."
"Dozens — maybe hundreds — of sleeping students."
Infected before they even knew what was happening.
He clenched his fists, forcing the thought away. They couldn't change the past and they could only fight for what little remained.
Caleb turned to the group again, his voice echoed against the broKyleschool walls:
"We've lost so much already."
"Lovers.
Family.
Friends."
Too many to count.
Students who once carried backpacks now gripped swords, office workers who once wore ties now wore dented armor.
Even Caleb —
once a police officer with a clean uniform and a sidearm —
now held a battered blue spear.
The world had shattered … And the beginning of that destruction...
was losing everything they thought would last forever.
"Just three months."
That's all it took.
Three months …and the old world had collapsed like a sandcastle under a black tide.
Now? It was easier to count what they still had than what they had lost.
Caleb slammed the butt of his spear into the ground with a sharp, resonant thud.
And he shouted — voice raw, voice fierce:
"But we have to fight!"
"Fight for our homes."
"Fight for our loved ones."
"Fight against the monsters trying to steal everything from us—!"
"And fight against this twisted, broken world!"