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Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

Three Players from the Association were using their skills in front of the gate that caused the earthquake.

A translucent shield draped over the red glowing gate; it was the B-Rank skill, Barrier. If supplied with enough mana, it could trap C-Rank monsters for an entire day. However, the expression of its caster, Jaejun Lee, was dark.

“There are too many…” He gritted his teeth and concentrated on the barrier that had begun to waver. They were dispatched as soon as it was reported, yet quite a few monsters managed to crawl out of the gate. 

The wide barrier was being attacked by monsters even now. If it hadn’t been for his subordinate who buffed him, it would have shattered long ago.

Just then, another subordinate of his who had concluded the search shouted, “Team leader, the gate analysis is complete!”

“The rank?” Jaejun Lee hastily responded to the subordinate’s shouts. He prayed for it to be A-Rank so he would not have enough strength to deal with it.

“It’s B-Rank!”

“Damn it! Then why are there so many monsters?!” A quick glance showed several dozen monsters. Even if he replenished his mana with potions, he would only last an hour. ‘Nothing’s happened for the past ten years, so what’s with this sudden gate break?’

Gate breaks. Unlike the monsters in the existing dungeons, this was an instance where a gate directly connected to the Abyss opened. If they were unable to stop the gate break in time, it would later become a dungeon ingrained with the monster’s unique skill.

There were currently dozens of dungeons in New Korea, but the last gate break happened around ten years ago. It was natural for Jaejun Lee, who’d worked for the Associate for five years, to be frustrated. 

“What about the support troops from HQ?”

“Well... I tried to contact them, but there’s radio interference…” 

When one thing went wrong, it seemed like new problems followed without end. Jaejun Lee let out a small sigh. “I’ll be sealing this place with Barrier, send a request for A-Rank Players!”

“Will there be any A-Rank Players on standby? They should all be in the Abyss...”

“Figure that out yourself! If there aren’t any, ask the nearby guilds for assistance!” His subordinate had only recently completed their first year.

“Hey! Didn’t you hear me…?” Jaejun Lee shouted irritatedly at their lack of response, however, the subordinate’s gaze was still directed behind Jaejun Lee as though they were frozen.

Feeling a sinister aura, Jaejun Lee turned his head towards the gate. 

“My heavens.” As an associate player, he prided himself on his ability to remain calm in most situations. However, his jaw dropped open this time. Beyond the barrier covering the gate emitting a sinister aura, a massive figure began to emerge.

“A Gi... Giant Ogre?” The monster was easily over five meters in height, and just the club it was holding must have been two meters long. While Jaejun Lee stood there overwhelmed by its size, the monster exited the gate.

Whoosh. With a strong gust, the club swung around. Banng! Craack. The skill that had withstood the countless number of monster attacks so far cracked.

“S-Sir…” Despair was etched onto the face of the subordinate who had been buffing him nearby. The same was true for Jaejun Lee. A Giant Ogre, an A-Rank monster… 

Crunch! When its club struck down once again, the barrier collapsed weakly, and monsters poured out onto the area.

“N-No…” The Giant Ogre’s club fell over the despairing Jaejun Lee.

***

Taehyun’s footsteps slowed to a halt; he had arrived at the location he had chosen in advance. It was a narrow alleyway about twenty minutes away from Gungook High. There was a sign that the place was under construction, so Taehyun was the only person there. However, the screams that could be heard around him were clearly in range.

‘Is it happening soon?’ The gate break that had happened in the Gwangjin-gu office was revealed to be B-Rank on its first mana analysis. However, being a rare case, it had increased to A-Rank after the monster called the Giant Ogre appeared.

Not only was it the first gate break in 10 years, but it also had a rank increase. It was after countless casualties had occurred from the combination of two rare cases that they had been able to stop it from becoming a dungeon.

‘The one that stopped the dungeon transformation was the A-Rank Player, Hyunsoo Ahn.’ Taehyun was lost in thought when his phone suddenly rang. It was Jaeyoung.

“Hey, Jaeyoung. Did you meet her?”

“Yeah… I just met her... But... Is it really okay to use my skill?”

“I told you, that’s the only way to save her.”

“But…”

“Jaeyoung. You trust me, right?”

“Y…eah..."

“Okay, then don’t mess up. She’s light, so it shouldn’t be difficult to carry her.”

“A-All right... I’ll try.”

“Great. Don’t worry.” With those final words, Taehyun hung up.

‘He’s quite the worrywart, considering he used to hang out with a member of the Scorn Guild.’ What scared Jaeyoung was using a skill against a civilian. Though it didn’t seem to match him, Jaeyoung’s skill was the D-Rank Dream. He could make someone he was touching fall asleep for a short period of time.

‘Well, getting kidnapped is still better than dying.’ The target of the skill that could easily be used for criminal purposes was Nayeong Choi. 

It had been her fate to die while helping others, but… ’If it’s fate, then you just have to change it.’ Taehyun did not want to lose the people around him in this life.

‘It’s about time that it arrived.’ Just like the saying: speak of the devil; or in this case, the orc. 

“Hurhh, hrhhh... Here... hrrh... human smell…” A familiar sound came from the end of the alleyway The E-Rank monster, Orc. Despite having low intelligence, it imitated human language. 

While Orcs were individually weak, they had the characteristic of moving in groups. As expected, two more appeared behind the first.

“Welcome, dear Orcs,” Taehyun welcomed the drooling Orcs. For the first time in his two lives, he felt happy seeing a monster.

‘Let’s save up mana for now.’ He still didn’t know the exact cooldown of Devour, so he couldn’t lose the ‘big catch’ by using it against small fry like them.

Grumbleee. Taehyun’s body hardened upon using Stone Skin. He slowed down a bit, but he could now endure a few blows from the Orcs.

“Hrrrh grhhhh! Human! Kill!” Just then, one of the Orcs that had come close swung a club that wasn’t even a meter long.

Whoosh. Taehyun easily dodged by leaning back, then landed a punch square on its chin. Crunch. With a single blow, the Orc’s jaw shattered.

‘I have to say, skills are really nice.’ In the past, when he hadn’t awakened his powers, Taehyun would never have even imagined fighting three E-Rank monsters at once, regardless of how much he trained. Because although they were E-Rank, they were as aggressive as beasts. 

Without a body defense skill or an overwhelming attack skill, it would be considered madness to face them. Yet…

Smash. “Hg…rrh?” The Orc that had attacked Taehyun’s back cocked its head as if it were wondering why he didn’t die. 

‘It still hurts a bit though.’ Crash! Taehyun grabbed the second Orc’s head and smashed it into a wall. Its skull caved in, and the second Orc died.

He had defeated two Orcs in an instant.

Once its buddies died, the third flustered Orc began to run away. It was almost pitiful the way it was trying to run with its short legs, but Taehyun had no intention of letting it go.

‘Sympathy is a luxury for monsters.’ Taehyun picked up the Orc’s club and threw it with all his strength. With a chilling sound, the third Orc’s side disappeared, along with its life.

Taehyun used Devour right then.

[Unique Skill Devour has been used. As the target’s life activity has ceased, mana will not be consumed.]

It was the first time he had seen this message. A black-red mana surrounded the Orc corpses, and… Crunch. Crunch. Cruncch. Crunccch. A small amount of mana left his body as the three Orcs disappeared without a trace.

[Suceeded in the complete devouring of an organism. Replenishing remaining mana.]

Taehyun grinned after reading the message. 

“Open Status Page.”

[Name]: Taehyun Kim

[Age]: 19

[Rank]: E

[Fatigue]: 15%

[Mana]: 10/10

[Stats]

– Strength: 3  

– Stamina: 6  

– Speed: 5  

– Mana: 10

[Skills]

– Devour (5%): Devour a selected target. (Required Mana: 5)

– Stone Skin (E): Harden your body. (Required Mana: 1)

“Bingo.” Devouring a dead organism did not put the skill on cooldown or consume mana. Instead, not only does it increase the experience of Devour, but it also replenishes the mana he uses from Stone Skin.

He had used 10 million won to upgrade his status page, but this information had not been revealed.

“I’ll need to make a change in plans.” Considering the risk Devour carried, he had only planned to kill about one or two high-ranking monsters before leaving. However, if he was able to replenish mana this way, then it changed everything.

“Grrrrr.” Taehyun was just about to call Jaeyoung again when a white wolf about two meters large slinked into the alleyway he was in. It was the D-Rank monster, Silver Fang.

Taehyun put the phone that he had pulled halfway out of his pocket back inside. It shouldn’t be much of a problem if he calls a little later. For now…

Grin. ‘Thank you for this delicious meal.’ Taehyun’s skill activated once again.

***

“Phew. C-Ranks are a little difficult,” Taehyun said as he thought back to the C-Rank Ogre he had just defeated. It was a tough battle, one in which he may have needed to use Devour if the Ogre appeared behind him a little faster.

He hadn’t used Devour even in such a situation because the rewards were too great to end it so soon.

[Suceeded in the complete devouring of an organism. Replenishing remaining mana.]

That was not the only message. The automatic notification setting that came with the upgrade continued to ring.

[Requirements have been met. Rank will be adjusted.]

‘Finally.’ The last time he’d checked, Devour’s experience had been at 70%. He hadn’t been able to check since because of the continuous stream of monsters, but it seemed this Ogre had been enough to fill up the remaining amount.

A moment later.

[Rank adjustment complete.]

The long-awaited growth-type skill… It was time to confirm his theory. 

Taehyun opened the status page.

[Name]: Taehyun Kim

[Age]: 19

[Rank]: D

[Fatigue]: 55%

[Mana]: 20/20

[Stats]

– Strength: 13  

– Stamina: 16  

– Speed: 15  

– Mana: 20

[Skills]

– Devour (0%): Devour a selected target. (Required Mana: 10)

– Stone Skin (D): Harden your body. (Required Mana: 3)

“I knew it!” Reading the status page, Taehyun clenched his fist triumphantly. The Awakened’s Rank grew together with Devour; his theory had been confirmed. 

His physical stats were also adjusted in accordance with his rank. It felt like power was surging through his body even though Stone Skin wasn’t active.

‘It’s time to head towards Jaeyoung.’ It had been around an hour since the gate break had happened. The A-Rank Players should have started the monster hunt right about now.

Just then… Thump. Thump. Thump. With the sound of something collapsing, screams grew louder. His entire body shook like an earthquake was taking place. No, it wasn’t an earthquake.

“Grauuuuuur!” The Giant Ogre, an A-Rank monster, swung its massive club around as it revealed itself. It was over five meters in height with arms hardened from muscle. The single eye on its face signified its mutation.

That eye… was looking straight at Taehyun.