Frey lay still.
Not out of exhaustion—his body no longer felt it—but because the sight before him demanded a moment to process.
Ice bear corpses were piled beneath him, crushed together in an uneven mound of fur, bone, and torn flesh. Jagged ribs jutted out at unnatural angles. Organs spilled freely, steaming faintly as blood flowed down the snow in dark, sluggish streams.
The smell hit hardest.
Iron.Burnt meat.Cold air failing to mask either.
"This is unreal," Frey murmured.
His voice sounded distant to his own ears, swallowed by the forest.
He summoned the system.
SYSTEM STATUS
Name: Frey StarlightRank: CStrength: C-Speed: CAgility: CAura: SSSTemplate Progress: 0.25%
Skills: LOCKEDTechniques:Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow (Unlocked)Weapons:Balerion — The Black Dread
MISSION: Slay a MonsterREWARD: 0.25% Template ProgressSTATUS: Mission Accomplished
External Aura: Unlocked
Frey stared.
The cold no longer reached his skin the same way. His heartbeat felt slower, heavier—each pulse reverberating through his limbs with unfamiliar strength.
"…Just 0.25%," he whispered.
His breath fogged, steady.
"I was E-rank an hour ago."
The numbers barely captured the difference.
The most jarring change wasn't the rank.
It was the aura.
It flowed now.
Not trapped inside his body like a sealed current, but pressing outward—brushing against the air, sinking into the ground beneath his boots. The sensation was subtle, but unmistakable.
Everything felt… connected.
This changes everything.
He flexed his fingers.
Shadow responded.
One Hour Earlier
Frey lay on his back in the snow, blood pooling beneath him, warmth fading rapidly into the frozen ground. The sky above blurred into white haze as the system notification hovered in his vision.
Mission accomplished.
"…Great," he coughed. "Now what?"
His chest barely moved.
"My body is already brok—"
Something surged inside him.
Heat.
Not burning—expanding.
Energy flooded outward, threading through shattered bones, torn muscle, ruptured organs. Pain didn't disappear, but it dulled, replaced by pressure, like something knitting him back together by force.
He gasped as air returned to his lungs.
"…Wow."
His fingers twitched.
"What is this?" he muttered. "Do I get healed after every mission?"
The system did not answer.
Silence.
"…Fine," he said hoarsely. "Be mysterious."
He pushed himself up.
Blood soaked his clothes, clinging cold and sticky to his skin. He looked down, then sighed.
"Thank god I packed spare clothes."
He turned toward a tree, where his bag rested.
Then—
Roars.
Low.Deep.Everywhere.
The sound vibrated through the snow, through his ribs, through his skull.
Frey froze.
"…Of course," he said quietly.
He turned slowly.
Shapes moved between the trees.
Heavy footsteps thumped against the ground, sending tremors through the forest floor. Snow slid from branches as massive forms emerged.
Ice bears.
One.Two.Five.
More followed.
"…About fifteen," Frey muttered.
Cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck. His palms dampened, grip tightening instinctively around Balerion.
"All C-rank," he breathed. "This really is my life, huh…"
The bears roared and charged.
Snow exploded beneath their weight.
Frey inhaled slowly.
Don't fight head-on.
Look for openings.
Escape.
He stepped forward.
"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow," he whispered.
The air darkened.
"Infinite Darkness."
A curtain of shadow surged outward, swallowing the first wave of bears. Sound vanished where it passed—no roar, no impact.
Then the darkness withdrew.
What remained fell.
Two bears collapsed forward, sliding across the snow, their upper bodies erased cleanly—as if existence itself had been cut away.
They stopped at Frey's feet.
He stared.
"…What."
The remaining bears slowed, instinct overriding frenzy. Their growls lowered, uncertain now.
Frey's lips curved.
"…So that's who you are," he murmured. "Nameless."
Just 0.25%.
And C-rank beasts fell in one strike.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
"Well," he said softly, stepping forward, "I'm not helpless anymore."
The rest was brutal.
Efficient.
Uneventful.
His body moved faster than thought. His shadow techniques dictated the battlefield. Where strength failed, positioning prevailed. Where speed lagged, technique compensated.
By the time the last bear fell, the forest had gone silent again.
Present
Frey shifted, sitting up atop the mound of corpses.
By now, Sung Jin-Woo would be entering the gate.
His jaw tightened.
"Now what do I do?"
He looked around.
"I was a non-awakened civilian," he muttered. "Now I'm C-rank."
The cuts were too clean.
The bodies too precise.
"And I can't show Balerion."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a container.
Flammable liquid.
He poured it over the corpses, the sharp chemical scent cutting through the iron in the air.
Then he lit it.
Flames roared upward, consuming fur and flesh alike.
Sung Jin-Woo's POV
Everything proceeded exactly as expected.
Kim Chul took his elites and left the weaker hunters behind, well according to him they will slow him down. Park Hee-Jin remained with Sung Jin-Woo, heading deeper into the forest.
While moving towards the forest Hee-Jin asked
"Why the forest?", Her breath fogging.
Jin-Woo while scanning the trees, took some winter jacket from his inventory and gave it to Hee-jin.
Hee-jin was stunned but came back to senses when Jinn-woo replied
"If we stay in the open, we'll be attacked from all sides, In the forest, we only need to worry about the rulers."
He paused.
"And if the victim is alive, he'd be here."
Hee-Jin blinked."…You think he survived?"
"I don't know," Jin-Woo replied. "But I have a feeling."
Smoke curled upward ahead.
Black against white.
Jin-Woo moved fast without hesitation.
While running, he could smell blood and burnt flesh.
When he arrived, he stopped.
A boy stood near a huge fire.
White hair.Blood streaked across his cheek.
The flames reflected in his eyes.
Then the boy looked at him.
Jin-Woo met his gaze.
And froze.
They weren't the eyes of a civilian.
They were hollow.
Like two bottomless pools of void.
There was an explicable Aura around the boy,
And he can't explain what it is?
At that moment, Sung Jin-Woo knew—
There was no chance in hell this was a normal kid.