The ventilation shaft was a vertical coffin.
It was narrow, slick with condensation, and smelled of rust and old blood. Ren climbed mechanically. His bone-claws, protruded from his fingertips like climbing picks, punched into the metal walls with a rhythmic thud-crunch, thud-crunch.
He had been climbing for two hours.
His muscles burned, but it was a distant sensation, like a warning light on a dashboard he could choose to ignore. The [Constitution: 11] stat was doing its heavy lifting, flushing lactic acid from his system faster than a normal human body could manage.
But the silence was the hardest part. It gave him time to think.
"You're breathing too loud," Gluttony noted.
"I'm climbing a chimney," Ren grunted, pulling himself up another meter. "Cut me some slack."
"I am merely preserving our investment. If the humans hear you, they will kill you. And I will be forced to spend the next century digesting inside a corpse until a rat eats your brain. A degrading fate for a King."
Ren paused, hanging by one hand. "They won't kill me. I'm a survivor. I'm one of them."
"Are you?"
The voice in his head shifted tone. It wasn't mocking anymore; it was dangerously soft.
"Kael was one of 'them'. He buried you alive to buy himself three seconds of running time. The Association? They sent you into a dungeon with faulty scanners. They don't see you as human, Ren. They see you as an operational cost. A meat shield."
Ren gritted his teeth and resumed climbing. "Kael is a scumbag. That doesn't mean everyone is."
"Statistically, they are. And biologically? You are closer to the Rot-Behemoth now than you are to them. Your DNA is rewriting itself. Your mana signature is... dark. If you walk into the Hunter Association, do you think they will give you a medal? They will vivisect you."
Ren didn't answer. He knew Gluttony was right, and that terrified him.
"My proposal remains," Gluttony whispered. "When we reach the surface, we do not report in. We hunt. Humans are weak, Ren. Soft skin. No natural armor. And their mana... oh, it's so refined. Like aged wine compared to the sewage water of monsters."
"I am not eating people, Gluttony."
"Why? Is it a moral objection? Morality is a luxury of the apex predator. Sheep do not have morals; they have fear. You are no longer a sheep."
"I'm not a monster," Ren hissed, slamming his bone-claw hard into the metal. "I still have a sister. I still have a life."
"You have a debt. You have poverty. You have a sister who is dying because you cannot afford a potion that costs less than a Hunter's lunch. Embrace the Hunger, Ren. We could eat the landlord. Problem solved."
"Shut up."
Ren saw a light above him.
It wasn't the blue glow of dungeon moss. It was the harsh, white glare of Mag-Lights.
He had reached the upper levels.
Ren slowed his ascent. He reached the top of the shaft, where a grate looked out into a familiar corridor. This was Sector 2 of The Weeping Caverns. Usually, it was a safe zone.
Now, it was a disaster area.
Ren peered through the slats of the grate. The corridor was filled with rubble. But more importantly, it was filled with people.
A team of four Hunters stood in the hallway. They wore the silver and blue armor of the "Silver Wings" Guild—a mid-tier corporate guild known for being efficient and expensive.
"Signal is still jammed," one of them, a Mage holding a staff, complained. "The quake messed up the relay towers."
"Forget the signal," the leader, a bulky man with a shield, grunted. "Check the bodies. Priority on mana cores and equipment. Leave the meat."
Ren watched as the Shield-User kicked over a body. It was a Scavenger. Ren recognized the jacket. It was Old Man Miller, a nice guy who usually shared his tobacco with Ren.
Miller was dead. Crushed by a falling rock.
The Shield-User didn't look sad. He crouched down and stripped Miller of his utility belt. "Garbage. Standard F-Rank trash. Didn't even find a core?"
"Waste of a trip," the Mage sighed. "The Association said there was a 'Variant' down here. Where is it? We're just cleaning up garbage."
Ren felt a cold heat rise in his chest.
"See?" Gluttony purred. "Garbage. That is what you are to them. You mourn the dead; they loot them. Kill them, Ren. The Mage... his liver looks succulent. High mana density."
Ren's fingers tightened on the grate until the metal groaned.
[Hunger: 35%]
[Adrenaline Rising.]
He wanted to. God, he wanted to. The thought of dropping down, driving his bone-spikes into the Shield-User's neck... it felt right. It felt like justice.
No.
Ren closed his eyes. If I kill them, I prove Gluttony right. I become the monster.
He exhaled slowly. He scanned the room.
To the left of the Hunters, sitting on a crate, was their supply pack. It was unguarded. They were too busy looting the dead Scavengers to watch their own gear.
"I'm not killing them," Ren whispered to the voice in his head. "But I am taxing them."
"Boring," Gluttony sighed. "But I suppose theft is a gateway sin. Proceed."
Ren activated [Bone Weaving]. This time, he didn't make claws. He focused on his wrist bones, shifting them slightly to pop the lock of the grate without making a sound.
Click.
He pushed the grate open.
The Hunters were distracted. The Mage was arguing with the Scout about the payout split.
Ren dropped.
He landed in a crouch behind a pile of rubble, ten feet from the supply pack. He didn't have a stealth skill, but he had 14 Agility and a lifetime of learning how not to be seen by bullies.
He moved like smoke.
He reached the crate. He didn't take the whole bag—that would make noise. He unzipped the side pouch.
High-Grade Mana Potion (x2).
Ration Bars (x5).
A filtered water canteen.
Ren swiped them, shoving them into his pockets.
He was about to retreat when he saw it.
Hanging from the Shield-User's belt was a Guild ID Card.
An idea formed in Ren's mind. A dangerous, stupid idea.
"Oh?" Gluttony perked up. "Now this is interesting."
Ren picked up a small rock. He tossed it down the hallway, away from the exit.
Clatter.
"What was that?" The Scout whipped around, drawing a dagger.
"Something's there! Movement!"
The four Hunters turned their backs to Ren, facing the noise.
In that split second, Ren moved. Not away, but toward them.
He closed the gap in two strides. He didn't attack. He reached out with sticky, thief's fingers and snatched the ID card from the Shield-User's belt.
Then he dove into the shadows of a side tunnel, rolling silently behind a stalagmite.
"Probably a rat," the Shield-User grunted, turning back around. He patted his belt. He paused. He patted it again.
"My... my ID," he stammered. "It's gone."
"What?"
"I just had it! It fell off?"
"You idiot," the Mage groaned. "If you lose that, the Guild docks your pay for a month. Look for it!"
While the "Heroes" scrambled around on the floor looking for a piece of plastic, Ren was already fifty meters away, sprinting silently through the darkness of the exit tunnel.
He reached the surface access—a heavy blast door that was slightly ajar due to the quake.
He slipped through.
Rain hit his face.
It was night. The forest outside the dungeon entrance was wet and cold, but to Ren, it felt like paradise. He could see the lights of Sector 9 in the distance—the slums where he lived.
He leaned against a tree, gasping for air. He pulled out the stolen rations and tore the wrapper off a bar with his teeth. He devoured it in two seconds.
[Hunger: 20%]
"We made it," Ren said, chewing swallowed chocolate and protein.
"We survived," Gluttony corrected. "But you left four enemies alive behind you. And you stole an ID card. What is the plan, little scavenger? Identity theft?"
Ren looked at the ID card. [Silver Wings Guild - Rank C Access].
"Something like that," Ren smirked. "If I'm going to evolve, I can't do it eating rats in the sewers. I need access to better dungeons. And for that..."
He flipped the card.
"...I need a disguise."
"Deceit," Gluttony hummed, sounding pleased. "Delicious. I suppose I can work with a con artist. Just promise me one thing."
"What?"
"Next time we see Kael? We eat him."
Ren looked at the city lights. He thought about the man who had left him to die.
"We'll see," Ren said.
He pushed off the tree and disappeared into the night