The streets of Haven City were busy as Chase made his way through the crowds. The apocalypse had restructured society entirely. Where once there had been ordinary jobs and ordinary lives, now there were guilds, organizations of Awakeners who hunted monsters, cleared dungeons, and protected humanity from the constant threat beyond the walls.
Chase had spent the last three days going from guild to guild, facing rejection after rejection. His SSS-rank meant nothing when paired with the Summoner class. He'd been laughed out of buildings, turned away at doors, and dismissed with barely a glance.
But he couldn't give up. Not when Lily was counting on him.
His phone buzzed with a notification from the Awakener job board—a last resort platform where guilds posted temporary positions for dungeon raids when they needed extra bodies. Most serious Awakeners avoided it, preferring the stability and benefits of guild membership. But for someone like Chase, it was his only option.
[Dungeon Raid - E-Rank]
Location: Collapsed Metro Station, Sector 7
Party Size: 6
Payment: 50,000 credits per person
Requirements: Any class, E-Rank or above
Contact: Ryan Mercer - Vanguard Guild
Chase's heart raced when he saw fifty thousand credits. It wasn't much, not even close to what he needed for Lily's cure but it was a start. And more importantly, they were accepting any class.
He sent his application before he could second-guess himself.
The response came within minutes: *Accepted. Meet at coordinates tomorrow, 0800 hours. Don't be late.*
---
The collapsed metro station loomed before Chase like the gaping maw of some ancient beast. Rubble and twisted metal marked the entrance where reality had torn open six months ago, birthing a dungeon in the heart of the city. The area had been cordoned off, with guild barriers preventing civilians from approaching.
Chase arrived fifteen minutes early, his stomach churning with nervousness. This would be his first real dungeon raid, his first chance to prove that a Summoner could be useful.
Five others were already gathered near the entrance. Chase recognized the party leader immediately, Ryan Mercer, a tall man in his late twenties with a scarred face and the confident bearing of an experienced Awakener. Beside him stood two other men and two women, all wearing mismatched armor and carrying various weapons.
"You must be the last one," Ryan said, looking Chase up and down. "Chase Hart, right? You're young. A fresh graduate?"
"Yes, sir. Just awakened three days ago."
"Three days?" One of the women, a redhead with twin daggers at her hip, raised an eyebrow. "What guild rejected you so fast that you're already slumming on the job board?"
Chase's jaw tightened. "All of them."
"All of them?" The other woman, blonde with a bow slung across her back, laughed sharply. "What'd you do, fail your awakening?"
"I'm a Summoner," Chase said quietly. "SSS-rank."
The laughter died instantly. The group exchanged glances, and Chase saw the familiar mixture of pity and disdain cross their faces.
"A Summoner?" The blonde archer, whose name tag read 'Valerie,' shook her head. "Great. Just great. We're one person short and we get stuck with dead weight."
"Valerie, enough," Ryan cut in, though his expression had hardened. "He's here, he's awakened, and we need six for the dungeon's party requirement. That's all that matters." He turned to Chase. "But listen, kid. E-rank dungeon or not, this is dangerous. If you can't keep up or if you get in the way, I'm leaving you behind. Understood?"
"Understood," Chase replied, fighting to keep his voice steady.
Marcus nodded curtly. "Right. Introductions, then. I'm Ryan, tank class, B-rank Titan. That's Valerie, our archer, C-rank Hawkeye. The redhead is Kira, dual wielder, C-rank Blade Dancer." He gestured to the other two men. "That's Jin, our mage, C-rank Elementalist. And the big guy is Forge, our other front-liner, C-rank Berserker."
Each of them nodded as their names were called, though none looked particularly happy about Chase's presence.
"What about you?" Jin asked, his voice neutral but curious. "What can you actually summon?"
Chase hesitated. The truth was, he didn't know. He had tried calling on his power several times over the past three days, but nothing had answered. No status screen appeared, no summoning options, nothing. Just the empty weight of his SSS-rank Summoner class mocking him.
"I... I'm still learning my abilities," he admitted.
Kira snorted. "Of course you are. Three days awakened and already doing dungeon raids. This is going to be a disaster."
"Can you at least fight without summoning?" Forge asked, his deep voice surprisingly gentle despite his massive frame.
"I trained in close combat at the academy for three years," Chase said. "I can handle myself."
"Then stay behind me and Jin," Ryan ordered. "Don't engage unless absolutely necessary. If we clear this dungeon fast enough, we'll all get paid and never have to work together again. Deal?"
"Deal," Chase agreed, swallowing his pride.
---
The dungeon entrance shimmered with an ethereal purple light as they passed through. Chase felt the familiar sensation of crossing dimensions, a momentary vertigo followed by the oppressive weight of dungeon energy pressing down on his chest.
They emerged into what had once been a metro tunnel. The walls were covered in pulsing corruption, organic matter that seemed to breathe and writhe with malevolent life. The air was thick with the stench of decay.
"Standard E-rank corruption dungeon," Marcus announced, his shield already in hand. "Monsters will be corrupted rats, maybe some lesser ghouls, nothing we can't handle. Formation up. Forge, you're on point with me. Valerie, Kira, flanks. Jin, rear guard with the summoner."
They moved through the tunnel with practiced efficiency. Chase stayed close to Jin, watching how the others worked together. They had clearly done this before, their movements were coordinated, their communication minimal but effective.
The first wave of monsters came quickly. A bunch of corrupted rats the size of large dogs burst from the walls, their eyes glowing red, their teeth dripping with black ichor.
Ryan and Forge met them head-on. Ryan's shield blazed with golden light as he activated his Titan abilities, his body swelling to twice its normal size. Forge's axe sang through the air, each swing leaving trails of crimson energy that cleaved through multiple rats at once.
Valerie's arrows flew with impossible precision, each one finding an eye or throat. Kira danced between the monsters like water, her dual blades painting arcs of silver death in the dim light.
Jin stood behind them all, his hands weaving complex patterns as elemental magic, fire, ice, lightning, erupted from his palms to support the others.
Chase stood helplessly at the back, his hands clenched into fists. He tried again to reach for his summoning power, to call forth whatever creature might answer him. But there was nothing. Just emptiness.
"Stay alert!" Ryan shouted as another wave emerged. "Jin, left flank!"
The battle was over in minutes. Twenty corrupted rats lay dead, their bodies already beginning to dissolve into the corruption that had spawned them.
"Not bad," Forge grinned, wiping black blood from his axe. "At this rate, we'll clear the boss in an hour."
"The summoner didn't do anything," Valerie pointed out, glaring at Chase. "We're basically doing a five-person dungeon with dead weight tagging along."
"I tried—" Chase started.
"Trying doesn't matter in a dungeon," Kira cut him off. "Results do. And you've got nothing to show."
"Leave him alone," Jin said quietly. "He's staying out of the way like Ryan ordered. That's enough."
They pressed deeper into the dungeon, encountering waves of corrupted rats and several lesser ghouls, shambling undead things with rotting flesh and hungry eyes. Each encounter ended the same way: the party handled everything with ease while Chase stood uselessly at the back.
With each battle, Chase felt his hope withering. What was the point of being SSS-rank if he couldn't even contribute to an E-rank dungeon? How was he supposed to save Lily like this?
After an hour of fighting, they reached the boss chamber—a massive circular room where the metro lines converged. In the center stood the dungeon's guardian: a Corrupted Tunnel Lord, a massive rat-like creature the size of a truck, its body writhing with tentacles of corruption.
"Standard strategy," Ryan commanded, his voice calm and professional. "Forge and I tank, DPS burns it down. Jin, focus on keeping its regeneration suppressed. Move!"
The battle began with the roar of the Tunnel Lord, its voice shaking the chamber as it charged forward. Ryan and Forge met it head-on, their weapons clashing against its corrupted hide. Valerie and Kira attacked from the flanks, their weapons finding weak points in its armor. Jin's magic rained down from above, each spell eating away at the creature's regenerative abilities.
Chase watched from the entrance to the chamber, his heart pounding. They were winning. Even against the boss, the party moved like a well-oiled machine. In minutes, the Tunnel Lord would fall, the dungeon would be cleared, and—
Reality tore open.
A portal ripped into existence above the Tunnel Lord, its edges crackling with violent purple energy. This wasn't supposed to happen. Dungeons were stable, contained spaces. Portals within dungeons were—
"DUNGEON BREAK!" Ryan screamed. "RETREAT! EVERYONE RETREAT NOW!"
But it was too late.
Something emerged from the portal—something massive and terrible. Chase's mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. It looked like a dragon, but wrong. Its body was covered in crystalline armor that pulsed with sickly green light. Wings of pure corruption spread from its back. And its eyes—its eyes burned with an intelligence that spoke of malice and hunger.
[Warning: S-Rank Boss Detected]
[Corrupted Crystal Drake]
[Recommended Party Level: B-Rank Minimum]
The drake's jaws opened, and a beam of pure corrupted energy shot forth. The Tunnel Lord didn't even have time to scream before it was vaporized, its body dissolving into nothing.
"RUN!" Ryan bellowed, but the drake was already moving.
Its tail whipped forward, faster than Chase's eyes could follow. Forge tried to dodge, but the appendage caught him across the chest. There was a sickening crack, and Forge's body flew across the chamber, slamming into the wall with enough force to crater the stone. He slid down and didn't move again.
"FORGE!" Kira screamed, but her cry turned to a gurgle as the drake's claw swept through the air. The talons, each as long as a sword, pierced through her chest and Jin simultaneously, lifting them off the ground. Their blood rained down on the corrupted floor.
"NO!" Valerie's bow sang, arrow after arrow flying toward the drake's eyes but the creature didn't even flinch. A burst of corrupted energy from its maw caught her mid-shot. For a moment, she stood frozen, her body encased in green crystal, then she shattered like glass.
Three seconds. Four people dead.
Chase's legs had stopped working. He stood frozen at the chamber's entrance, his mind blank with horror. The drake's eyes fixed on him, and in that moment, Chase knew he was about to die.
"Move, you useless piece of trash!" Ryan's voice cut through the fog. The tank leader was bleeding from a dozen wounds, his armor cracked and smoking. He had activated his Titan form to its maximum, his body now three times its normal size, but even that seemed insignificant before the drake.
Ryan charged forward, his shield blazing with every ounce of power he possessed. He slammed into the drake's side, and for a moment—just a moment—he held its attention.
"RUN!" Ryan roared, his voice breaking. "GET OUT OF HERE!"
Chase's legs finally obeyed. He turned and ran, his breath coming in ragged gasps, tears streaming down his face. Behind him, he heard Ryan's final scream cut short, followed by the crunch of metal and bone.
Chase ran through the tunnels, the drake's roars echoing behind him. He ran past the corpses of corrupted rats, past the places where they had fought so confidently just an hour ago. He ran until his lungs burned and his legs threatened to give out.
The dungeon entrance appeared ahead, that shimmering purple barrier that separated this nightmare from reality. Chase dove through it and collapsed on the other side, gasping for air.
Alarms were blaring. The dungeon break had triggered Haven City's emergency system. Guild members were already mobilizing, but Chase knew it was too late for the others.
Forge. Jin. Kira. Valerie. Ryan.
They were all dead.
Because of him.
"You!" A voice cut through his shock. Chase looked up to see a female guild member approaching, her face pale with fear and anger. She was dressed in the white and blue colors of the Vanguard Guild—Ryan's guild.
"What happened in there?" she demanded. "Where's Ryan? Where's the rest of the party?"
Chase tried to speak, but his voice wouldn't work.
"Answer me!" The woman grabbed him by his collar, shaking him. "Ryan is an experienced B-rank Awakener! He wouldn't fail an E-rank dungeon unless—" Her eyes widened as she looked at Chase more carefully. "You're the summoner. The one they took on as the sixth."
More guild members were gathering now, their faces grim as they prepared to enter the dungeon to assess the threat level.
"It was a dungeon break," Chase finally managed to choke out. "An S-rank drake appeared. It killed them. It killed them all."
"A dungeon break?" One of the guild members, a grizzled veteran, cursed under his breath. "In an E-rank dungeon? That's not supposed to be possible. The corruption levels weren't anywhere near threshold for a break."
"This is your fault," the woman still holding Chase's collar hissed. Her name tag read 'Captain Serra.' "Ryan only took that job because his party was one short. He only needed one more person for the six-person party requirement. And you—a useless Summoner who couldn't do anything—you're the reason he's dead."
"I didn't—I couldn't—" Chase stammered, but the words felt hollow even to his own ears.
"You couldn't do anything," Serra finished for him, her voice dripping with venom. "You stood there useless while my people died. While Ryan, a good man with a family, died protecting your worthless hide."
She shoved Chase away, and he stumbled backward, falling to the ground.
"Get out of my sight," Serra spat. "If I ever see you taking a dungeon job again, I'll make sure every guild in this city knows what happened here. You're a curse, Summoner. Everyone who works with you dies."
Other guild members were staring now, their expressions ranging from pity to disgust. The veteran who had spoken earlier shook his head slowly.
"The kid's cursed," he muttered. "SSS-rank Summoner. Might as well be a death sentence for anyone who teams up with him."
Chase sat on the ground, his hands shaking, as the guild members moved past him into the dungeon. They would clear out the drake or seal the dungeon if they couldn't. They would recover the bodies. They would file reports and notify families.
And Chase would be blamed.
Because it was his fault, wasn't it? If he had been able to summon something, anything—maybe he could have made a difference. Maybe Forge wouldn't have been the first to die. Maybe Jin and Kira would have had a few more seconds to escape. Maybe Valerie could have landed a critical hit. Maybe Ryan wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself.
Maybe they would all still be alive if Chase had just been useful.
The sun was setting over Haven City, painting the sky in shades of red that reminded Chase of blood. He stood slowly, his legs barely supporting his weight, and began the long walk back through the city.
People stared at him—at his dusty clothes, his haunted expression, the blood splattered across his academy jacket. But no one approached him. No one offered help.
He was a Summoner. He was cursed. He was worthless.
And five people were dead because of it.
Chase's phone buzzed with a notification. A message from the hospital: *Your sister is asking for you. Please visit when you can.*
A sob tore from Chase's throat. How was he supposed to face Lily now? How could he look her in the eyes and tell her what happened? That he had failed again. That people had died because of his weakness.
That he was exactly as worthless as everyone said.
The streets blurred as tears filled his eyes. Chase walked on, alone in a city of millions, carrying the weight of five deaths and the burden of his own inadequacy.
He had promised Lily he would get stronger. He had promised he would save her.
But right now, Chase couldn't even save himself.