The clock on my System HUD flickered to midnight. The numbers glowed a cold, neon blue against the darkness of the subway. In the station behind us, the whispers of the Exiles finally stopped. The people went quiet, hiding in their blankets, waiting to see if we would ever come back. Maki led us to a heavy iron door at the very end of the rusted subway tracks. It was covered in thick orange rust and yellow warning signs that said "KEEP OUT," but she pushed it open with one hand as if it weighed nothing. Her glowing green sword lit the way, casting long, dancing shadows against the damp walls.
"These are the maintenance tunnels," Maki whispered, her voice low and serious. "They were built deep, even deeper than the city's sewer lines. Most things living down here have forgotten what the sun looks like. They don't have eyes anymore; they hunt by feeling your warmth and your fear. Stay close, and whatever you do, don't touch the walls. The moss down here eats through skin."
[LOCATION: THE HOLLOW PATH]
[DANGER LEVEL: VERY HIGH]
[STATUS: SYSTEM BLIND SPOT]
The tunnel was narrow, cramped, and dripping with oily water. The only sound was the steady drip-drop from the ceiling and the sound of our own heavy breathing. But because of the [Soul Link], the silence wasn't lonely. I could feel Nobara and Toge behind me as if they were part of my own body. Their hearts were beating in perfect time with mine—a rhythmic thump-thump, thump-thump that reminded me I wasn't alone in the dark.
I could feel Nobara's grip tightening on her broken hammer, her palms sweaty with nerves. I could feel Toge's throat burning, his body tired but his mind sharp like a needle. We were three hearts beating as one drum.
Suddenly, the ground beneath our boots began to vibrate. It wasn't a quick shake like a train passing by. It was a slow, heavy scraping sound, like giant pieces of sandpaper being rubbed together by a monster.
"Something is coming," Toge whispered. He didn't use his cursed speech yet, but his hand went straight to his collar, ready to unzip it.
The Guardian of the Deep
A hundred meters ahead, the tunnel curved sharply to the left. As we rounded the corner, Maki stopped so fast I bumped into her back. Her sword flared with a brilliant green light, cutting through the dark to reveal a nightmare that made my stomach turn.
A giant centipede, as long as three subway cars, was clinging to the ceiling. Its body wasn't made of flesh, but of hard, black bone that looked like polished obsidian. Instead of normal insect legs, it had hundreds of pale, human-like arms reaching out from its sides, their fingers clawing at the air. Its head was the worst part—a flat, white mask with no eyes and no nose. In the center was a giant, circular mouth filled with rows of rotating teeth that ground together with a metallic screech.
[BOSS IDENTIFIED: THE TRACK-EATER]
[LEVEL: 55]
[REWARD: 4,000 OP]
"It's a Cursed Beast," Maki hissed, her muscles tensing like a coiled spring. "It doesn't care about the game or the points. It just eats the cursed energy that leaks down from the surface. It's been starving for weeks, and it just found a five-course meal."
The Track-Eater let out a high-pitched scream that felt like a needle being driven into my ears. It dropped from the ceiling with a heavy thud, its hundreds of human arms scratching against the concrete walls as it rushed toward us like a high-speed train made of bone.
The Three-Headed Strike
"Nobara, left! Toge, right!" I yelled, my voice echoing down the tunnel. "I'll take the head! Don't let it get past us!"
I didn't wait for it to reach me. I lunged forward, activating [Gravity Anchor]. But instead of making the whole room heavy, I focused every ounce of my power into my right fist. I felt the air around my hand warp and twist. My arm suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, but because of the System, I could swing it with the speed of a bullet.
[SKILL: CRUSHING PALM - DIRECT HIT]
My hand slammed into the center of the centipede's white mask. The sound of the impact was like a semi-truck crashing into a brick wall. The bone mask shattered into a dozen pieces, and the massive beast was thrown backward, its hundreds of arms flailing wildly as it tried to catch its balance.
"STOP!" Toge's voice boomed.
He didn't just say it; he threw the word like a grenade. The centipede froze mid-air, its long body twisting into a strange, painful knot. Toge's command locked its muscles so tight that the beast's own bones began to creak and pop.
"My turn! Clear the way!" Nobara yelled.
She didn't have her usual nails, but she had been busy in the subway. She pulled out a bag filled with sharp metal scraps, broken bolts, and jagged glass she had found near the tracks. She threw a handful of the metal at the beast's soft, grey underbelly.
"Ren! Give me the spark! Now!"
I reached out with my mind, using the [Soul Link] to bridge the gap between us. I sent a hot, pulsing burst of violet "Void" energy directly into the metal pieces flying through the air. They began to glow with a dark, hungry light.
"RESONANCE: VOID BURST!"
Nobara snapped her fingers. The metal scraps didn't just explode outward; they imploded. They turned into tiny black holes that sucked the centipede's stomach and internal organs into a single point. The beast gave one last, gurgling shriek before its entire body collapsed into a pile of black dust and splintered bone.
[BOSS DEFEATED]
[REWARD: 4,000 OP RECEIVED]
[SYNC RATE: 21.5%]
The Shadow of Ikebukuro
"Good work," Maki said, breathing hard. She wiped a splash of black monster blood off her cheek and looked at the pile of dust. "But don't start celebrating yet. We're only halfway there, and the things above us are much meaner than a hungry bug."
We walked for another ten minutes through the cooling tunnel until we reached a rusty vertical ladder. One by one, we climbed up, our hands slipping on the cold iron rungs. I pushed open a heavy manhole cover, and the smell of the city hit me—smoke, ozone, and something sweet and rotten.
We emerged in the middle of a street in Ikebukuro. But it wasn't the bright, crowded city I remembered. The tall "Sunshine 60" building stood in front of us, glowing with a sickly, pale yellow light that made the shadows look like they were moving. But the most terrifying part was the people on the street.
Dozens of them—salarymen, students, tourists—were standing perfectly still, like statues in a museum. They were all staring up at the top of the building with blank, milky-white eyes. Thin, silver threads were attached to the backs of their necks, stretching high up into the dark, swirling clouds.
"The Puppet Master," Nobara whispered, her face turning pale. "He's already caught them all. They aren't even people anymore."
Suddenly, one of the "statues"—a young man in a neat business suit—slowly turned his head toward us. His neck cracked with a loud, sickening pop, but his face stayed expressionless. He raised a kitchen knife he was holding and started walking toward us, his movements jerky and strange, like a doll being pulled by a child.
"The King has arrived," the man said, but it wasn't a man's voice. It was a high-pitched, squeaky voice that sounded like a cruel circus clown. "The Architect wants to see your show, Ren! He says you're the star! Come up to the roof... if you want to see your friend Megumi one last time before he becomes a permanent part of the collection!"
Around us, dozens of other puppet-people started to move, their silver threads glowing with a ghostly light in the dark.