The shrill, pain-filled death scream that could freeze a person's blood shattered the brief moment of victory deep inside the dungeon.
The System interface floating before Hope's eyes, the one that had just shown him the source code of the universe and the dark secret of the Architect class's 10% transformation, completely vanished. Reality settled back onto his shoulders with all of its cold and merciless weight. Even the howling of the storm outside could not erase the echo that scream had left in their minds.
Lypin quickly pulled her hands away from her ears. Her eyes were wide open in shock. Her breathing had quickened, and her silver hair began to whip around in the harsh wind blowing into the cave entrance.
"Th-that wasn't a monster," Lypin whispered, her voice trembling. "Hope, that was a human. The voice of a human being being torn apart alive."
The calm, confident expression that Hope had gained from reaching Level 30 vanished instantly. He slightly opened his right hand to the side, and the massive scythe blazing with emerald flames appeared in his palm with a sharp cry that tore through the air. The green fire in his pupils burned fiercely enough to illuminate the darkness of the cave.
"It can't be the Royal Army," Hope said through clenched teeth. His mind was eliminating possibilities like a chess master calculating moves. "An army that large couldn't approach this quietly or this fast, even if they sent a scouting unit. And even if a soldier fell into an ambush, he wouldn't scream like that. He would fight. This… is something else."
At that moment, Mira's body suddenly tensed on Hope's shoulder. The primitive fox-like predator instinct inside her had been triggered. The blue electrical sparks spreading from Mira's body suddenly turned blood red. The electric currents along the fur around her neck flared up.
"Grrrr…"
Mira let out a low, predatory growl from deep within her throat, a sound far too ferocious for her small body. And without even waiting for Hope to give a command, she shot forward like an arrow!
"Mira! Wait!" Hope shouted.
But the little storm creature had already leapt out of the cave and into the pitch-black blizzard outside like a bolt of lightning. Red streaks of electricity flashed across the white snow like bloodstains.
"Let's go after her!" Hope said, turning to Lypin. "Stay behind me!"
Hope and Lypin left their heavy supply packs inside the cave and rushed into the storm with their weapons drawn, following the red electric trail left by Mira.
The cold outside was even sharper and more unforgiving than inside the dungeon. The massive trunks of pine trees stood in the darkness like silent giants watching them. As Hope ran, he pushed his Architect Sight to its maximum level in his mind. He tried to scan the surrounding heat signatures and mana flows, but the storm's intense kinetic energy and the cold mana in the area were severely interfering with his detection.
"We're getting close," Hope said between breaths. The direction of the scream followed the path they had taken when entering the cave.
After several minutes of that tense run, they arrived at a small clearing where the massive pine trees suddenly thinned out.
Mira stood at the edge of the clearing, crackling with red lightning and growling eerily into the darkness.
Hope gripped his scythe with both hands and stepped in front of Lypin as he entered the clearing.
What they saw was a scene of brutality that surpassed even the horrors of dungeons.
The untouched white snow… had literally turned into a massive lake of blood. The red color was so vivid and thick that it glowed even in the darkness. At the center of the pool of blood lay a body that had been torn apart, its armor ripped open as if it were made of thin metal sheets.
From the emblem on the armor, it was clear that the corpse belonged to a Scout from King Khronos's army. An unlucky soldier who had followed the seismic signal Deniz had sent and rushed ahead of everyone else into the storm.
But Hope's eyes were not on the corpse.
They were fixed on the figure standing directly above it.
The figure wore a tattered black cloak that fluttered in the wind. His back was turned to Hope and Lypin. His body was tall and strangely distorted. The soldier's blood slowly flowed under his feet toward the hem of his cloak.
The figure simply stood there on top of his victim, staring into the darkness within the storm.
"Who are you?!" Hope shouted, trying to make his voice heard over the wind. The green flames on his scythe flared brighter, lighting the area. "Are you from the Royal Army?!"
The figure did not answer.
His shoulders slowly began to shake.
Was he laughing?
Hope was about to step forward when Architect Sight suddenly went wild inside his mind.
But the danger was not coming from the cloaked figure in front of them.
It was coming directly from above.
[DANGER: SUDDEN ATTACK FROM ABOVE]
"Lypin, ABOVE!" Hope roared.
From the thick snow-covered branches of the pine trees, two dark shapes dropped down toward them with silent, gravity-defying speed like hunting owls.
Two assassins.
Poisoned daggers glowing with cold mana were clenched in their hands. A perfect ambush programmed to slit Hope and Lypin's throats within seconds.
But Lypin had long proven that after Atlantis and the battle against Ignis, she was no longer just a girl who needed protection.
The moment she heard Hope's warning, a silver flash shone around her.
Her hands moved together with incredible speed.
She used the pure Moon magic of a Starfallen.
[SILVER MOON: GRAVITY REPULSION]
A transparent, spherical silver shockwave exploded outward from Lypin's body.
In that instant, the gravity within a three-meter radius around them literally reversed.
The two black-cloaked assassins descending upon them were violently thrown backward as if they had slammed into an invisible wall, crashing toward the thick trunks of the pine trees.
CRACK! CRACK!
Both shadows slammed into the trees and fell heavily onto the snow.
Seizing the opportunity created by that perfect defense, Hope immediately turned his eyes to the real target standing over the corpse.
If they had set an ambush, they were enemies.
And there was no mercy for enemies.
Hope ignited the emerald flames beneath his feet and reached his terrifying speed.
[Shadow Step]
Vaporizing the snow beneath him, he appeared directly behind the cloaked figure.
"Go to hell!" Hope roared as he swung his scythe toward the man's neck in a flawless, deadly arc. Green flames burned through the air as the blade locked onto its target.
But just one centimeter before the scythe's sharp blade reached the figure's neck…
The absolute, unchangeable System screen suddenly appeared before Hope's eyes.
It was not a red warning.
It was a cold, mechanical blue information screen.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[TARGET IDENTIFIED: GASHADOKURO JR.]
[STATUS: KNOWN ENTITY]
Hope's eyes widened in shock.
The moment his mind saw that name, it slammed the brakes like a runaway carriage trying to stop.
He forced his muscles to their absolute limit, trying to cancel all the kinetic energy in his body and stop the deadly swing.
SHHHIIIING!
Instead of cutting the figure's neck, the long blade of the scythe sliced through the air, brushing past the hood of the black cloak.
The heat of the green flames lightly burned the edge of the cloak.
Losing his momentum, Hope slid across the snow and landed on one knee beside the figure.
He was breathing heavily.
The shock in his eyes overwhelmed even the adrenaline of battle.
"Gashadokuro…" Hope muttered, staring at the tall figure whose back was still turned toward him.
"…JR.?"
This name…
It was a name he had heard during those chaotic days in the Arena, during that dark beginning. A twisted entity the System had once presented to him. A terrifying name inspired by the legendary giant skeleton of endless hunger.
Standing in the center of the blood pool, the cloaked figure suddenly began laughing as his shoulders shook.
His laughter sounded like dry, rattling bones grinding against each other. Mechanical. Hollow. Blood-chilling.
The figure slowly turned his head over his shoulder toward Hope.
Under the hood appeared a pale, deathly white face and sickly glowing eyes. Thin black veins surrounded his pupils, as if they had been embedded beneath the skin.
With a wide, psychopathic and disturbingly sincere grin, he shouted:
"HELLO, ARCHITECT!"
Hope was about to lower his scythe in relief at the greeting…
But his instincts and the System screamed at the same time.
This was not the greeting of a friend.
It was the victorious cry of a hunter who had trapped his prey.
"Lypin, FALL BACK!" Hope shouted as he leapt backward with all his strength.
If his warning had been delayed by even a tenth of a second, both of them would have died instantly.
Still laughing, Gashadokuro JR. slammed his right hand onto the blood-soaked snow.
[BONE MAGIC: TEETH OF DEATH]
The ground shook.
From beneath the white snow and bloody earth, not ordinary rocks or ice erupted…
But massive bones.
Gigantic ivory-white bones, razor sharp like blades, burst out of the ground.
Each one as thick as a spear and three meters long, they shot upward diagonally through the exact spot where Hope and Lypin had been standing, like the jaws of a colossal creature snapping shut.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of bones tearing through the earth echoed through the forest.
Hope flipped backward in midair and barely avoided the deadly bite of the bone forest, landing firmly beside Lypin.
His heart pounded like it would shatter his ribs.
If the System had not shown that name and forced him to stop near Gashadokuro JR., he would have been skewered on those massive bones like meat on a skewer.
It had been a trap.
The System had not protected him.
Instead, by triggering his mercy or confusion, it had created a moment of weakness.
Behind the massive bone spears, Gashadokuro JR.'s sick, rattling laughter continued.
"Your reflexes are still excellent, Architect! But you won't survive so easily in the surface world!"
At that moment, the two assassin figures Lypin had thrown into the trees with her gravity magic slowly stood up.
They brushed the snow off their black cloaks and pushed their hoods back.
Hope tightened his grip on his scythe with both hands and turned his gaze toward them.
And at that moment, he understood with certainty that the dark shadows of his past would not release him on this cold night.
The one on the left stood with a cold, emotionless soldier's expression. There was no anger or joy in his eyes. He looked like a machine programmed only to complete the mission given to him.
The one on the right had strange glowing tattoos across his arms and neck. He spun his poisoned daggers with practiced skill.
They stepped out from the shadows of the trees and stood beside Gashadokuro JR., in front of the bone spears.
The tattooed one on the right pointed his dagger toward Hope and spoke with a familiar grin.
"We meet again, our little hero."
Hope clenched his teeth so tightly that his jaw went numb.
He remembered those names. Those faces. From the Arena.
They were not random assassins.
They were dangerous criminals thrown into the arena.
Aside from Gashadokuro JR., the others' abilities had never been fully known.
"Field…" Hope whispered, looking at the tattooed man.
Then he turned his gaze to the other one.
"…and NO9."
The storm howled around those three dangerous names.
Gashadokuro JR., Field, and NO9.
While the Royal Army was approaching from behind, the familiar and disgusting hunters of the surface world had appeared directly in front of them.
Gashadokuro JR. spread his arms wide and smiled at Hope through the forest of massive bones.
"We came to tell you that your sweet little vacation at the bottom of the ocean is over, Hope," he said as the black veins in his eyes became more visible.
"Now…"
"Welcome to the real hell."