Chicago, a secluded park.
Night had fallen deep, and the glow of neon lights could not penetrate the dense shade of the trees.
On a bench, a young girl sat quietly, her long black hair dancing gently in the night breeze.
She wore a neatly tailored long black dress that reached her knees, revealing her fair calves.
Her face was cold and exquisite, yet her eyes held a composure inconsistent with her age.
Her name was Ivy.
She was neither a Hunter nor a Reincarnator.
She was a Balancer.
The system panel on her wrist vibrated slightly, and a chat request popped up.
Ivy clicked it open, her gaze sweeping over the brief text.
[Another Reincarnator squad has encountered an Invader. The opponent is extremely powerful; two members have already been lost. We need to join forces, perhaps even seek out a Hunter to face the enemy together. Discuss details in person.]
After reading it, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Extremely powerful..."
She murmured to herself, her voice scattered by the night wind.
"It seems increasing the dungeon difficulty this time was the right call."
From the moment she saw the mission objective, she knew things wouldn't be simple.
Killing Invaders—for the Main God System to issue such a mission, it must be an existence capable of threatening the players of the Main God Game.
Thus, she exercised her authority as a Balancer.
Pushing her abilities to the limit, she forcibly raised the difficulty of this dungeon to the highest level she could control.
These Invaders were strong; she had already confirmed this from the tragic state of the other squad.
But she still had a trump card.
If those Reincarnators were no match for the Invaders...
At least there were the giant beasts of this world to stall them.
"Captain!"
A gruff voice interrupted her thoughts.
A burly man, two and a third meters tall, strode over, his muscular body resembling a moving hill in the night.
His name was Rex, the core combat power of this squad; even among Reincarnators, his strength was top-tier.
"What's the situation?"
He stood before Ivy, looking down at the captain who was much shorter than him.
"Any news on the Invaders?"
Ivy looked up, her clear eyes reflecting Rex's rugged face.
"Another Reincarnator squad has already lost two members."
She spoke, her voice calm.
"And if I'm not mistaken, they are likely being followed."
As a Balancer, one could remain neutral or team up with Reincarnators or Hunters, which was an advantage of the Balancer class.
Possessing an S-Level Talent, despite being a Balancer, she naturally became the captain of this Reincarnator squad.
Rex's brow furrowed.
"Being followed? Then if they meet up with us, wouldn't that—"
"It's a trap."
Ivy cut him off directly.
"The Invaders are very strong; it's impossible for that squad to escape them easily. For three people to survive, either the opponent went easy on them intentionally, or..."
She paused.
"Or, they've already been tagged with tracking devices."
Rex's expression changed slightly.
"Then we're not going to meet them?"
"Not right now."
Ivy stood up, her black skirt fluttering slightly in the night wind.
"The time to act will only come once we've investigated the Invaders' true strength and the Hunter's location."
She looked up at the distant sky illuminated by neon lights.
"What's the status of George, whom I asked you to investigate?"
George.
One of the protagonists of this movie, an albino gorilla.
Rex nodded.
"It's confirmed. George is currently in a state of rampage; the gene virus must have taken effect."
Ivy nodded slightly.
"Yesterday, those containers carrying the gene virus fell from outer space; the plot has already begun to unfold."
"Barring any surprises, within a few days, those giant beasts will undergo earth-shattering changes. Then, attracted by over-frequency sonic waves, they will converge on Chicago and begin a frenzy of destruction."
"And what she needed to do was seize the initiative before all that happened."
"In that case,"
she spoke, her voice calm and decisive.
"then we act according to plan."
She turned to look at Rex.
"We need to go to Energy Gene Corporation and take control of those siblings."
Energy Gene Corporation is the mastermind behind the creation of that gene virus.
And they possess the low-frequency sonic device capable of attracting the giant beasts.
Once we get that device, we can control the movements and direction of the giant beasts to some extent.
"Create even greater chaos."
A glint flashed in Ivy's eyes.
"Only then will we have a chance to turn defeat into victory."
Rex nodded heavily.
"Understood!"
Just as Ivy was about to say more, she suddenly remembered something.
"Right."
She paused, her gaze becoming even deeper.
"If I'm not mistaken, after my balance adjustments, the worldview of this world should have fused with elements from other dungeons."
Rex was taken aback.
"What elements?"
"Anaconda."
Ivy's voice drifted in the night wind as she recalled a company she had just seen on the computer, along with the Blood Orchid.
"So, don't use the original plot as a reference. That will only get you killed."
Rex's gaze became solemn.
"Anaconda."
He certainly knew of that horror dungeon featuring giant pythons; after all, it was the first newbie dungeon for players.
If this world truly fused with the worldview of that dungeon...
Then what they would face wouldn't just be genetically mutated giant beasts.
"Understood!"
He said in a low voice.
"I'll notify the others."
Ivy nodded and sat back down on the bench, her gaze fixed on the brightly lit City in the distance.
There, there were Invaders.
There were Reincarnators.
There were giant beasts about to mutate.
And—
that Hunter who had yet to show his face.
She didn't know who he was, how strong he was, or where he was.
But she knew that the outcome of this game of chess depended largely on that person.
And as a Balancer, what she had to do was place the most crucial piece on the board to ensure her teammates' survival.
...
At the same time.
On the other side, deep within the Borneo Rainforest.
Far from the bustle of civilization, there were only dense jungles, humid air, and countless dangers lurking in the shadows.
By a deep pool of water, three massive metal containers lay quietly scattered among broken rocks.
The containers' supports were completely shattered, the glass turned into countless sharp shards, with corrosive gastric acid residue still on them. On the surface of each container, a clear logo was printed—
Energy Gene Corporation.
And beside these three containers, a colossal creature was coiled in the pool.
It was a giant python.
Its size far exceeded the scope of any normal snake; its thick body, when coiled, occupied nearly the entire pool.
At a rough estimate, its body length was at least over thirty meters.
Those shattered containers were exactly what it had spat out from its body.
At this moment, the giant python slowly raised its head, its cold vertical pupils looking at the green liquid remaining in the container fragments.
It opened its massive maw and took a sudden, powerful breath.
The green liquid, along with the surrounding pool water, was all swallowed into its belly!
The gene virus in the three containers had been completely devoured by it.
The giant python's body began to twitch violently!
The muscles under its scales writhed frantically, its bones making ear-piercing creaks, and its size began to expand at a rate visible to the naked eye!
The surrounding vegetation fell in swathes under its twisting body, and the pool water was churned as if it were boiling.
Who knows how long passed.
The twitching stopped.
The giant python slowly raised its head, a light completely different from before flashing in its vertical pupils.
It swam slowly, its massive body tracing a smooth arc in the pool, and then it swam toward a certain direction.
That direction—
was Chicago.
the place where all the giant beasts were about to converge.