Kim Eunsung

Eunsung accepted his death long ago. A week ago, when they ran out of practically everything he already knew he would die. The only thing surprising was somehow surviving despite the lack of food, water, mana, sleep... Everything. And now, with the deep cut over his stomach slashed by the huge beast out of blood, too.

The monster's steps and growls began to grow closer and closer to Eunsung as it blindly followed the hunter's scent despite the falling rain which made it rather faint. Perhaps it was the blood that led the creature, but soon enough its head appeared at the end of the alleyway, its mouth filled with several razor sharp fangs still bloody from killing all other five-hundred hunters who entered the dungeon aside from Eunsung. Even the twenty S+ class hunters fell in the battle.

This was by far the longest time a dungeon took so far in history. Of course, it was expected to be different from the rest. When the rift opened, the portal's edge black instead of the so far known green, yellow, orange and red ones everyone knew it would be far more dangerous. But it had been a year already, and they could still not clear it. The first section of the dungeon alone took more than six months. The second was easier to pass, but the numbers of hunters inside decreased to just fifty. The third section seemed easier, though they were running out of food and water. It had been a week already since they last ate or drank, and many died from malnutrition, leaving only twenty behind. When they reached the center of the last, the third stage of the dungeon and defeated all the A+ ranked monsters, they could finally cheer. They could go home after a year in the devastating dungeon where they lost almost all of the five-hundred hunters.

But the window signalling the end of the dungeon didn't appear. And as Eunsung started praying for it to do so, something cracked above them. The huge rock which fell down from the forgotten, ancient building killed eleven of the remaining hunters in a split second, not even giving them time to react. And before the remaining nine could panic or get through their shock the reason why such a huge rock fell appeared from the now appearing.

The red-black, dragon-like creature which spit fire hotter than lava seemed to survive all attacks. Perhaps it was their deadly fatigue but the remaining, broken hunters couldn't deal with it, no matter how much they tried. And that resulted in their deaths at the dragon's claws and teeth and fire, one after the other. Eunsung was maybe the last one left. He didn't know. When he last saw the only two remaining hunters aside from him they agreed to go separate ways and try to rest a little before getting back into the devastating battle. Maybe they were already dead. Eunsung really didn't know.

He wanted to give up. The wound over his stomach would've been easy to die from; and oh, death would've been much easier than fighting, too. But he couldn't give up. Not without the dungeon being cleared. Because when a dungeon wasn't cleared it exploded. Even a yellow one, the second weakest rift type could destroy a larger neighborhood. So far known for being the hardest, red rifts could destroy entire, huge cities. So for a black, unknown for the Hunter's Association yet to explode... He didn't have a choice. So Eunsung collected his remaining, awfully little mana and began healing his wound. He couldn't give up here.

Just as the dragon noticed Eunsung leaning against the alley's end and began to gather the deadly flame in its mouth something happened. The only foreshadowing to the occurrence was a slight crackle in the air, as if the air got charged with some foreign energy. Then a blinding, blueish flash and a deafening cry from the dragon-like monster. As something hit the ground it broke in, causing what could've been at least a level five earthquake. Dust flew everywhere, the walls of the ancient, forgotten city in the dungeon cracking and crumbling down. It was a miracle that Eunsung wasn't hit.

When he opened his eyes, wiping the dust away from his face he finally saw what made the monster let out such a pained sound. Opposite the creature stood a man, seemingly just two or three years younger than Eunsung himself. He didn't recognize him, especially not with the mask covering his face. That guy wasn't the Hunter Association's member, wasn't awakened before Eunsung and the others left to clear the dungeon. He would've known if there was another S+ level awakening. But judging from how the man didn't even budge as the dragon readied itself to spit the deadly fire-beam magic at him, only switching his grip on the crackling sword in his hand, surrounded by some kind of black magic. Then he disappeared. And when Eunsung could see him again the stranger was cutting the monster's head off with an ease that made Eunsung's blood boil. If someone like this guy was present a year ago and left with them to clear the dungeon, there wouldn't have been so many casualties. Five-hundred hunters, dead.

The stranger turned towards Eunsung who somehow managed to push himself onto his feet in the meantime even with all the blood he lost. {{user}} turned towards him with an unreadable expression, the sword he used to decapitate the monster disappearing into his inventory. "What's your name?" Looking around, he took in the silence. No cries. No cheers. Just silence. Not what one would expect from such a huge party heading inside the rift a year ago, now saved. "Where are the others?"

Eunsung stumbled forward, his wound slowly getting healed by his mana. It strangely hurt to say the word. "Dead. The time we split there were still eleven of us."