"Thank you for your patronage!"
The clerk's voice echoed behind Rosaline as she stepped out of the shoe store. It was only after parting ways with Liese and Marui—who headed home in the same direction—that she noticed the soles of her old sneakers had nearly split in half.
Rosaline tossed the old pair into a bin out front and laced up her new ones. She had bought a pair for her brother too, having noticed his shoes were in much the same state as hers.
'Well, one pair of shoes for my brother won't set my retirement goals back too far. I haven't even put my Healing Crystals up for auction yet because Zenis crashed the market recently. I'll have to check the prices when I get home.'
She hadn't walked far when her foot suddenly snagged on something, sending her stumbling forward.
"Eh?" Rosaline blinked in surprise. Even as a Support Hunter, she had undergone enough training to ensure her physical balance was top-notch. She shouldn't have tripped so easily on an empty, level sidewalk.
But more importantly, she felt the ground vibrating. A faint, eerie breeze brushed past her.
Her deep blue eyes widened as her Hunter instincts screamed. Something was wrong. "This... don't tell me... a Dungeon is forming right here in Star-Dream!"
The tremors intensified as if to confirm her fears. Rosaline grabbed a nearby building to steady herself while people on the street scrambled to the ground, covering their heads with their bags. Some crawled away from glass windows and decorative light fixtures.
Voom!!
A swirl of sand appeared in the middle of the road near Rosaline. From the size of a coin, it rapidly expanded into a swirling sinkhole nearly three meters wide.
"Whoa!" A car speeding by plunged straight into the sandy pit. The vehicle sank instantly. The driver struggled desperately to shove the door open, but the pressure held it shut. Another car slammed into the first, burying it deeper, followed by a chain reaction of collisions like falling dominoes.
"Help me!" A muffled cry came from the man in the first car just before the sand gave way, collapsing into a massive crater that swallowed the entire vehicle.
Screeeech!!
"KYAAAH!"
The crowd erupted into screams as a swarm of purple bats erupted from the hole. Their high-pitched shrieks forced people to cover their ears and flee in a panicked frenzy.
This was the unmistakable omen of a Gate-type Dungeon.
"A Gate Dungeon," Rosaline whispered. She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed the Hunter Association's emergency line. "A Gate Dungeon is manifesting in Sector A, Star-Dream City!"
Normally, Dungeons and Bosses didn't appear in densely populated areas without warning signs. The Association usually detected these signals early enough to deploy containment teams.
But The Bloom had been a catastrophic oversight—a phenomenon for which they had no prior data.
The Bloom began with the appearance of flowers—a deceptive surge of lush, vibrant growth. Because these flowers looked no different from Earth's flora, they were nearly impossible to detect. By the time anyone realized what was happening, the Dungeon Boss had already fully manifested.
However, Gate-type Dungeons were different. They appeared whenever and wherever they pleased. Even with the latest technology, the Association could only detect their emergence twenty minutes in advance.
"Help!" Two or three bat De-vons were diving toward a mother and daughter who were running for their lives.
Without a second thought, Rosaline used Shadow's Speed, moving like a blur to intercept them. She summoned a combat knife from her inventory and, in a flash, sliced the creatures in half.
The bat De-vons hit the pavement, their purple blood staining the ground.
"Thank you so much, Hunter!" the mother cried out before clutching her daughter and sprinting away.
Rosaline turned back to the fray, feeling the Gate expanding beneath the surface. Gate-type Dungeons connected to unknown origins; no one knew what waited at the other end. Some researchers theorized it was the De-von home world or another dimension entirely. Regardless, they were closed dimensions, and the Gate's level could be measured by the De-vons that managed to claw their way out.
Gripping her knife, Rosaline moved to protect the civilians from the bats pouring out of the crater. At the same time, she had to rescue the man trapped in the car.
'It's been too long! Someone should have arrived by now!' she complained silently while holding the line alone. 'First The Bloom, now this... what is it with this week?!'
She swung her combat knife with expert precision, striking down the bats as they surged from the pit. She avoided using her flashy skills to keep her identity hidden; instead, she relied on pure movement, leaping into the air to strike them down with speed.
'They're low-level De-vons, but there are too many to handle with just a knife. If I use The Colosseum to Taunt them, it'll be too obvious.' She summoned a handgun into her other hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three more bats plummeted.
Combat knives and firearms were the basic tools of every Hunter. Regardless of their specialty, all Hunters underwent rigorous weapon and physical training. Rosaline was no exception.
She landed gracefully, then sprinted and leaped into the crater without hesitation. Reaching the bottom, she scanned the area. Seeing no new De-vons for the moment, she rushed to the driver's side.
By some miracle, the car's front end was crushed, but the frame held. The driver was unconscious from the impact, but his seatbelt had saved him from worse. Since the pit had only just formed, it wasn't nearly as deep as The Nest.
Using her enhanced strength, she wrenched the car door open and sliced through the seatbelt with her knife.
"Can you hear me?" she called out, shaking him until his eyes fluttered open. "I'm getting you out of here."
She pulled the victim out and hoisted him onto her back. 'I need to get him up there and retreat before the authorities arrive.'
At that moment, the screeching of a massive swarm echoed from the shadows behind her. Rosaline turned to see a wave of bats far beyond what she could handle alone.
"You down there! Get down! Fireball!" a man's voice roared from above.
Fwoosh!
Dozens of flaming spheres tore through the air, mercilessly incinerating the swarm. The bats fell to the ground, shrieking in agony as the magical fire consumed them, turning their bodies into charred husks.
Rosaline looked up and saw figures standing at the edge of the crater.
"Hey! Are you okay?! You're a Hunter, right?! Get the injured person up here, hurry!" a young officer called out.
'Good grief,' the Hunter sighed. She knew instantly... there was no way she was escaping this mission.