The moment I breached the threshold of the generator room, the air grew heavy, saturated with a killing intent so focused it felt like a physical weight pressing against my chest. I didn't even have a full second to adjust to the gloom before the darkness lashed out.
"Damn!"
A silver blur—one of the three tails—whistled through the air toward my throat. I didn't try to parry; you don't parry a Tier-Three strike with a Tier-One blade. I lunged into the room, diving low to evade the initial sting. But the beast was coordinated.
It didn't exhaust all its weapons at once. As I was mid-air, it released the other two tails in a pincer movement, forcing me to tuck and roll across the oil-slicked floor.
I felt the displacement of air as the stingers slammed into the concrete where my head had been a fraction of a heartbeat ago. I knew with absolute certainty that a single graze from those tails would end my journey right here.
Crack!
As I scrambled to stabilise my footing, a sharp, brittle clicking sound echoed beneath my boots.
"Eggshell?!!"
I reached down reflexively, my fingers brushing against a curved, calcified surface. Even in the dark, I could feel the unique, leathery-yet-stiff texture of an eggshell fragment. I barely had time to process the discovery before I was forced to leap away again, narrowly avoiding an overhead strike from a tail that cracked the floor tiles.
"Roar!"
The monster let out a sound of pure indignation, clearly insulted that a mere human was surviving its opening gambit. But I wasn't listening to the roar. My mind was racing, piecing together the terrifying implications of that shell.
"A monster born from an egg… a hybrid monster, for God's sake!"
Shock washed over me, cold and paralysing. In the original timeline, "Egg Monsters" was a term whispered with dread—a phenomenon associated with the cataclysmic disasters that followed Quest Five. To see one here, in the very first quest, was a violation of every law the System claimed to uphold. Was this why the museum survivors never saw the light of the second month?
Hybrid monsters were the result of a rare, unnatural mating between two different species. While most monsters followed mammalian biology, gestating their offspring internally, a Hybrid was different. Because it carried a combined power far exceeding that of its parents, it required a period of external incubation, acting as a magical battery that absorbed mana from the atmosphere to fuel its rapid evolution.
"But if you're a hybrid monster, that means you're in a weakened state right now," I realised, a flicker of hope igniting amidst the panic.
I watched the beast's movements as I circled the perimeter. Its attacks were fast, yes, but they were barely keeping pace with my current reflexes.
A true Tier-Three Hybrid should have stats five times higher than mine; it should have turned me into a red mist the moment I walked in. But this one was a hatchling—a baby—vulnerable and fresh from its shell.
Should I use it now? I glanced at my interface, considering forcing a stat boost or using a hidden resource. I hesitated. If it was a weakened infant, and I knew its biological vulnerabilities, I might be able to kill it without burning my trump cards.
"How many coins will you give me then?" I muttered, a grim smile touching my lips. These were elite-grade monsters. The payout for a Hybrid, even a hatchling, would be astronomical. But first, I had to survive the nursery.
"Roar!"
The monster shifted into the light of the doorway. It had the broad, powerful head of a feline, its body covered in sleek blue fur that shimmered with a metallic luster. However, as it arched its back, I saw the anomaly: patches of shimmering, obsidian scales were scattered across its flank and spine.
It was a cross between a feline predator and something scaled—hopefully not a dragon or a high-tier serpent.
"Angelica…" I called out. I had made my decision. I was going to kill this thing, but I couldn't do it with a dull blade and limited reach. I needed support.
"Anything," Angelica replied from the hallway. Her voice was surprisingly steady, much calmer than the panicked whispers of the youths behind her. She was a leader, through and through; she understood the gravity of the situation without me needing to explain it.
"Any archers in the group?" I shouted, jumping over a sweeping tail and keeping my distance. "Or any magicians with long-range spells! I need covering fire!"
Silence.
For a full minute, the only sounds were the rasping breath of the monster and the shick-shick of its tails dancing in the air. The Hybrid was already learning; it was adapting to my evasion patterns, timing its strikes to corner me against the heavy generator units. This was the true horror of Hybrids—they possessed a terrifying, human-like intelligence.
In this narrow, cramped space, I was losing the battle of positioning. If we were in the open Great Lawn, I could have used the terrain to buy time. Here, I was being herded into a dead end.
"Don't tell me she only brought swordsmen…" I grumbled under my breath, my frustration mounting as the silence from the hallway stretched on. "What the hell was she thinking?!"
It was becoming clear that the "Elite Squad" was nothing more than a group of high-strength brawlers. Without range, we were just meat for the grinder.
I realised with a sinking feeling that Angelica must have sent runners to fetch archers and magicians from the museum's main hall. But those survivors were the dregs—the ones deemed too weak for her elite vanguard. Even if they arrived, their aim would be shaky, and their spells barely spark in the dark. They wouldn't be able to provide the surgical cover I needed.
"If Plan A fails, then it's time for Plan B," I muttered to myself. I lunged to the side, the three spear-like tails whistling past my ear with enough force to create a vacuum that popped my eardrums.
If I delayed for even a single second, or if my foot slipped on the gore-slicked floor, my head would be rolling alongside that decapitated youth. And then there was the stamina problem.
My lungs were burning, and my vision was beginning to fray at the edges. I could never win a war of attrition against a creature whose biology was fueled by raw mana. I had to end this with a single, crushing sequence.
"A shield!" I shifted my grip on my sword, shouting toward the hallway. "Throw me a shield! Now!"
"Got it!" Angelica's voice rang out.
I evaded another triple-strike, rolling across the concrete and coming up in a crouch, eyes locked on the silhouette of the door.
"No! Don't enter here!" I screamed.
Angelica, driven by some misplaced sense of heroic duty, hadn't just thrown the gear; she was charging into the room to deliver it personally. C'mon, I clearly said throw it! But before I could stop her advance, she crossed the threshold.
"Damn! Throw it! Now!"
The moment she entered, the Hybrid's elliptical purple eyes swivelled toward her. It recognised a softer, more vulnerable target. I had to distract it, or she was dead before she could take another breath.
Angelica finally listened, hurling a heavy kite shield toward me. It took a graceful, spinning arch through the air, bypassing the monster's hulking blue body. She immediately tried to retreat, but the Hybrid was already in motion.
"Hey! Look over here!" I yelled, trying to reclaim its aggro.
I knew Angelica was special—she had the "Witch" label and the gear—but she lacked the thousands of hours of combat instinct I carried. She was trying to fight this Hybrid with the same logic she used against hyenas, and that lack of experience was about to cost her everything.
I didn't hesitate. I channelled every remaining drop of force into my legs, kicking off the ground with a strength that cracked the floor. I soared into the air, one hand raised with my sword to strike, the other reaching out to pluck the flying shield from the sky.
"Roar!"
To my horror, the Hybrid ignored my mid-air assault. It defied the typical "arrogant" nature of its species, which usually prioritised the most annoying attacker. Instead, it moved like a blue streak of lightning toward Angelica. It stepped out of the room for the first time, and the corridor became a slaughterhouse.
The swordsmen of her elite group moved to intercept the "giant black shadow" as it erupted from the room. They were courageous, but they were fodder. Anyone in the monster's path was liquidated.
The three tails worked in a synchronised, rotating weave, acting like a biological thresher. In seconds, half the group was reduced to severed limbs and spray, and the Hybrid's massive claws clamped around Angelica's waist.
I landed behind it, hitting its back with a ferocious combination. I slammed the edge of the shield into its spine with all my body weight. This was the secret of the Hybrid: its "Inverse Defence."
While its hide was nearly impervious to the cutting edge of a Tier-One sword, it possessed a fragile, almost brittle resistance to blunt-force trauma. It was a biological contradiction—vulnerable to the hammer but immune to the needle.
I aimed for where I knew its core was housed, but suddenly, the monster's blue fur began to pulse with a blinding, rhythmic light.
"Is it using a skill now?" I gasped.
I felt a wave of foreboding wash over me. I didn't stop my shield-bashing, and I could feel the tough, scaled skin beginning to yield under the repeated blunt impact. But the brilliance of the blue light was intensifying, turning the dark hallway into a strobing nightmare.
Clang!Clang!
I could hear Angelica inside the creature's grip, frantically hacking at its claws with her sword. It was a useless effort. You couldn't cut your way out of a Hybrid's grasp with a standard blade.
"Buzz!"
As the skin finally cracked under my shield, a high-frequency vibration filled the air, making my teeth ache and my head spin with sudden vertigo.
"No way! A teleportation skill!!!"
In front of my eyes, the air began to fold. Geometric layers of light—circles of shimmering gold and silver—began to overlap in a complex, 3D mandala.
I recognised the activation sequence instantly. This was a long-range extraction. If that circle was completed, she was gone, and I would be left in a room of corpses. I instantly threw my shield aside, the metal clattering against the wall, as I reached out and shouted with every bit of air left in my lungs:
"Try to get away from it! Now!" I roared, my voice cracking under the strain.
"I can't!" Angelica screamed back, her voice distorted by the hum of the gathering mana.
I felt a cold pit form in my stomach. This was spiralling far beyond my wildest expectations. Who would believe that a high-end extraction skill would be deployed this early? And that it would be targeted specifically at Angelica? The implications were staggering.
To the Angels, she wasn't just another survivor; she was a priority target—someone far more dangerous to their grand design than I currently appeared to be. Who the hell is she?
I didn't have a second to waste on philosophy. To physically crush a teleportation circle required a level of raw magical output I simply didn't possess at this level. My only tactical option was to kill the anchor. I had to slaughter the Hybrid before the spatial tunnel reached 100% stabilisation.
I plunged my sword into the gap I had hammered into its hide with the shield, burying the blade up to the hilt. Then, I gripped the handle with both hands and twisted. I poured every ounce of my remaining strength into the motion, carving through muscle and bone, desperate to reach the core before the golden light finished its work.
"Roar!"
The monster let out a shriek of agonising pain, a sound that confirmed I had finally struck its vital centre. "Die, you bastard!" I didn't pull back. I yanked the sword out and drove it back in. Again. And again. I became a machine of steel and fury, stabbing into the wound dozens of times, oblivious to the spray of blue-black blood coating my face.
Thud!
The massive body of the Hybrid finally collapsed, hitting the floor with a weight that sent a small storm of dust and debris into the air. I stood there, panting, my lungs heaving as I leaned on my gore-stained blade. The room was silent. I looked down, but there was no sign of the girl.
"Dammit! I was slightly too late," I hissed, gnashing my teeth.
The exhaustion hit me all at once—not just the physical drain, but the crushing weight of the stress. This wasn't a fight I was supposed to win. Not in my current state. I stood in the wreckage of the generator room and forced myself to think.
Think, Hye. Think. I took deep, shuddering breaths to stabilise my mind. She must be someone precious to kill. The Angels wouldn't spend this much Blessing power—power they are clearly struggling to replenish—just to snatch a random survivor.
The subquest they had offered me earlier made sense now. They were running low on celestial currency. They had gambled a massive amount of their dwindling reserves to pull her out of the museum. But as I looked at the dead, oversized corpse of the hatchling, a realisation struck me.
"That monster was just a baby," I muttered. "It wasn't a fully developed anchor. Its mana capacity was limited. It won't be able to send her to the designated coordinate. Plus, my interference caused a systematic crash in the spell's stability."
The Angels had planned for a clean extraction, likely much later in the stage. By forcing their hand now, I had sent Angelica into a spatial limbo. She wouldn't be at their feet; she would be dropped somewhere in the park or the surrounding city—a place they hadn't fully prepared yet.
"If I look at it this way..." I stood up straight, wiping blood from my brow and pulling my sword from the carcass. "Then I still have a chance to save her before they find her."
I didn't leave immediately. I was a survivor, and I knew the value of a high-tier kill. Even a "baby" version of a Tier-Three Hybrid was a goldmine. I moved with clinical precision, harvesting the three distinct cores that powered its different tails, the razor-sharp stingers, the claws, and the shimmering obsidian scales. I even took specific organs that pulsed with residual mana and carefully gathered the leathery eggshells.
"I can't use the market while the zone is this unstable, but I'll store these for the second the connection clears," I noted. As I finished the harvest, a golden notification flickered in my vision.
[System Notification]You have slain a Lord-Rank Tier-Three Hybrid Monster: Gorlaf.Note: The target was in a weakened, unawakened state.Reward: 30,000 Coins.
"Not bad," I whispered. Thirty thousand coins in the first quest was enough to break the game's economy.
I picked up the discarded kite shield and the sword Angelica had dropped during the struggle, sliding them into my spatial inventory. I turned toward the doorway, where the seven survivors of her elite guard stood trembling, their faces pale with shock.
"Make sure no one else dies here," I commanded, my voice cold and authoritative. "Barricade the doors and hold the line."
"Wait... where are you going?" one of them asked, finally finding his voice.
"Where else?" I said, stepping over the threshold and into the main hallway. "I'm going to pull Angelica out of whatever hell they dropped her in."
I walked toward the museum exit with steady, purposeful steps. "And this time," I muttered to myself, "I'm going to make sure I hear her full story."