During the war and the cataclysm of ten years back that had nearly put an end to humanity. The devastation was so widespread that it reached the extent of recruiting males as young as ten years old, who had barely developed their hormones, to fight alongside government soldiers against these beast-monsters.
A lot of lives, both dearly held and far away, were lost, starting from the lowest districts and soon overtaking the main districts where countless civilians lived their daily lives. Monsters they had never seen roamed the city, emerging from rare portal gates that opened at the four cardinal corners: East, West, North, and South.
Rumors still persisted that this was linked to the ancient rule and empire of god-like beings, where two great brothers from the highest noble house fought to claim the throne and inherit their father's legacy after his death. They were god-like beings with an immense aura and power that far surpassed even the world's greatest sorcerers.
Two males were born by the king on the same day, at the same time, but from different wives—the first and the second: Ashra and Zenogrophx.
Ashra, born of the king's first wife, possessed his mother's traits: luck, the divine power of mana, and various abilities. He was kind, calm, and quiet, only seen around a few people.
Meanwhile Zenogrophx, born of the king's second wife, possessed his mother's traits: vagueness, greed, and unknown dark abilities that passed through his bloodline. An arrogant, ruthless person, he was ultimately merciless. And was always seen around different priestesses and countless females.
This clash passed down through the ages, with the two great powers fighting to claim their rights. Eventually, the battle descended through their bloodlines until the Ashra bloodline successfully trapped Zenogrophx's bloodline, its entities, and its armies.
This uneasy peace held until ten years ago when a girl from the miners' hunting group encountered these dark entities and chose to accept the power willingly. She sought to enact revenge against her superiors and family, who she felt had wronged her financially and otherwise. This was the source of the cataclysm ten years ago, an event that nearly ended humanity in an attempt to bring back the reign of Zenogrophx.
Soon after, an association of bounty hunters... carrying the traits of the Ashra bloodline—was formed, eventually putting an end to the great war. These ancient rulings and the origin stories were clearly stated to the association's higher-ranking members.
Meanwhile, Lu Hang was lost in the sight before him, wondering if this ancient story could actually be true. He was shocked and couldn't even speak, feeling inadequate as a commander. What he was seeing confirmed his initial suspicion.
"Humph, you frightened rats! And you call yourselves men?" The girl stepped out, clutching her axe tightly, a mocking grin boiling with rage. She confirmed his internal belief that they would always be scum, just as she thought.
"Yeah, you punks, watch how bold it is of a woman and how she handles things her way!"
Just as she was stepping onto rune stones fragmented into stars, Commander Lu Hang raised his hand quickly, trying to stop her.
"Noo!..."
SWIRCH!
In a blinding flash, her head and viscera were torn off, sent flying before smacking down onto the cave wall like the liquid splash of an egg. Her tight grip on the axe and the aura transforming through her body gradually turned subtle as she knelt and fell, beheaded, in front of the party members.
"Ahhh!..."
"S-s-uhh. nn!"
Screams and frightened sobs tore through the chamber from both women and men.
The pressure that followed was instantly devastating, washing away every ignited energy and aura from the bold members of the group.
'The Dungeon Gate was Open!' Lu Hang thought, struggling to compose himself amidst the chaos. All this was more than enough to confirm his suspicion. The air was thick with the suffocating pressure of a new, higher-level reality bleeding into their space.
From the swirling darkness, a single monstrous appendage emerged. It was a claw, larger than Kenji's torso, made of obsidian-black chitin and dripping an iridescent fluid that sizzled when it hit the stone floor. It moved with impossible speed, sweeping across the chamber floor where the miners were huddled.
"G-GET BACK!" Lu Hang roared, trying to raise his red Essence-coated axe.
The claw was impossible to read, moving faster than they could track. It slammed into the bearded man and two others with the force of a battering ram, crushing them instantly into the cave wall with sickening thuds that were immediately followed by the sound of bone shattering and Crystal Essence exploding uselessly into dust.
Five more people rattled in shock, tears of terror they couldn't control streaming down. The speed and immense pressure were debilitating, leaving them unable to make a decision or even take a step back toward the narrow entrance they had come from.
A girl with uncontrollable tears spilling down her eyes knelt down in devastating grief, clutching her hands tightly and mumbling ancient prayers.
Without warning, the monstrous appendage emerged like a twitching dark flash from her back in a mocking sneer. Its claws pierced inward through her back, bursting out from the corner of her chest, revealing a red, bloody heart beating faster through its grip.
"Uhh!..." The word barely escaped Kenji's lips, and his eyes went wide in astonished, dark terror, unable to register the sudden scene.
Without wasting time, the monster lunged forward in swift motion, catching two members off guard at the back. One figure was cut in split two, and the other was thrown like a rag doll, plummeting downward with a deafening Thud!.
Lu Hang, frozen for a fatal moment of shock, managed to take one step back before the claw retracted slightly and then shot forward like a viper. It punctured his chest plate with ease, tearing right through his C-rank Essence defense. Lu Hang gurgled, his eyes wide in disbelief and pain, the red aura around him sputtering out like a dying ember. The appendage lifted him, twisted, and snapped his body in half before tossing the remains into the gaping, swirling black pit.
Kenji, the F-rank Navigator, was the only one left. He lay prone, paralyzed by the sight and the acrid smell of ozone and blood, staring directly into the terrifying void of the reopened Dungeon Gate.
Suddenly, the monstrous claw turned its attention to the last living thing in the room.
It paused, its obsidian surface reflecting the bloody, horrifying scene. The claw, sensing the final scrap of weak life, slowly retracted and coiled like a snake, preparing to deliver the killing blow. The immense pressure that had defined the chamber intensified, feeling like a physical vise squeezing the air from Kenji's lungs.
"This is it," Kenji's mind screamed, locked in place by terror. "This is the monster Dad was forced to face ten years back, along with every other male, both grown, old, and young."
'Mom!'
Welling tears of sorrow and agony spilled down from Kenji's expression as he gritted his teeth and cursed himself with reddened eyes. "Fk! Fk! Now I see why Mom tried only to protect me and make me run, even though she knew her life was at risk."