Chapter 1 : The Blood Stained World
1027 Words
The world had not ended in a single day.
There was no final war.
No warning from the heavens.
No moment where humanity knew everything was about to change.
It happened slowly.
Then suddenly.
Twenty years ago, the first Dungeon Portal appeared.
A strange crack in reality opened above a city, releasing an unknown energy that spread across the world. At first, humans believed it was a natural disaster.
They were wrong.
From those portals came creatures that belonged in nightmares.
Monsters with terrifying strength.
Beasts that could tear through buildings.
Creatures that ignored ordinary weapons and turned trained soldiers into nothing more than helpless victims.
The world learned a painful truth.
Humanity was no longer at the top of the food chain.
The monsters were.
Cities became battlefields.
The ground was stained with the memories of countless battles. The sound of alarms became normal. Families learned the fear of waiting for their loved ones to return from dungeon raids.
The world changed.
And from that chaos, something unexpected happened.
Some humans awakened.
People who survived exposure to dungeon energy developed extraordinary abilities.
Some gained incredible strength.
Some controlled fire, ice, lightning, or other elements.
Some could heal injuries that normal medicine couldn't.
Others developed strange abilities that nobody understood.
These people became known as:
Hunters.
Humanity’s shield.
The only people capable of entering dungeons and fighting the creatures inside.
To organize their strength, hunters were ranked.
From the weakest...
To the strongest.
E-Rank.
D-Rank.
C-Rank.
B-Rank.
A-Rank.
S-Rank.
The difference between ranks was like the difference between a candle and the sun.
An E-rank hunter could barely survive a low-level dungeon.
An S-rank hunter could challenge monsters capable of destroying entire cities.
And unfortunately for one young man...
He had spent his entire hunter career at the very bottom.
"Ethan Ardent."
The voice of the examiner echoed through the quiet testing room.
A twenty-three-year-old man stood in front of the awakening machine.
His dark hair was slightly messy, his clothes were worn, and there were faint marks on his old combat equipment from previous dungeon raids.
He looked like someone who had spent too much time fighting battles he was never expected to win.
The machine scanned him.
A few seconds later, a blue screen appeared.
Hunter Information
Name: Ethan Ardent
Age: 23
Rank: E-Rank
Ability: Energy Reinforcement
Growth Potential: Extremely Low
The room became silent.
The examiner looked at the results before sighing.
"Ethan..."
The young man already knew what he was going to say.
"You have been a hunter for five years."
Ethan lowered his gaze.
"Yes."
"You have entered dozens of dungeons."
"Yes."
"And your rank has not changed."
The words weren't cruel.
But somehow, they hurt more because they were spoken calmly.
The examiner looked at him.
"Have you considered leaving the hunter profession?"
Ethan remained quiet.
Leaving.
He had heard that word many times.
Every time he failed.
Every time someone stronger had to save him.
Every time people looked at him like he was a mistake.
But quitting had never crossed his mind.
Because Ethan remembered why he became a hunter.
"I can't."
The examiner frowned.
"Why?"
Ethan looked toward the window.
Outside, the city was surrounded by massive walls built after the first dungeon outbreaks.
A reminder that humanity was still fighting for survival.
"Because someone has to enter those dungeons."
The examiner stared at him.
Even after everything...
Even after years of being mocked...
The young man still wanted to fight.
Outside the Hunter Association building, Ethan walked through the crowded streets.
Hunters passed by wearing expensive armor and carrying powerful weapons.
People looked at them with admiration.
They were heroes.
Ethan walked past quietly.
A group of hunters noticed him.
"Isn't that Ethan?"
A man wearing a C-rank badge laughed.
"The E-rank guy?"
His friends turned.
"Oh, the one who never improves?"
Ethan stopped for a moment.
But he continued walking.
He had learned something over the years.
Arguing with people who already decided your worth was pointless.
The hunter laughed.
"You know, some people are just not meant to be strong."
Another added.
"Maybe monsters are more afraid of disappointing him than fighting him."
The group laughed.
Ethan kept walking.
But deep inside...
It still hurt.
No matter how many times he heard those words.
A person could become used to pain.
But they never truly stopped feeling it.
That evening, Ethan sat inside his small apartment.
His equipment was placed on the table.
His sword had cracks.
His armor had been repaired countless times.
Compared to the expensive equipment of higher-ranked hunters, his looked like something from another era.
But Ethan carefully maintained it.
Because this equipment had protected him.
And because he couldn't afford new ones.
He looked at his reflection in the window.
Twenty-three years old.
Five years as a hunter.
Still E-rank.
Sometimes he wondered if everyone was right.
Maybe he really was weak.
Maybe he was chasing a dream that would never happen.
Then he remembered the day his life changed.
The first dungeon outbreak.
The panic.
The fear.
The hunters who stood in front of ordinary people despite knowing they could die.
That day, Ethan understood something.
Being a hunter wasn't about being praised.
It wasn't about being famous.
It wasn't about becoming the strongest.
It was about standing forward when everyone else was afraid.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
Ethan looked down.
A notification appeared.
Hunter Association: New Raid Assignment
He opened it.
Normally, he expected another low-paying mission.
Another dungeon filled with weak monsters.
Another reminder of his rank.
But this time...
Something felt different.
Dungeon Raid Invitation
Location: Redfall District
Dungeon Classification: E-Rank
Team Required: Five Hunters
Assigned Hunter: Ethan Ardent
Ethan stared at the message.
An E-rank dungeon.
The lowest difficulty.
A place where stronger hunters rarely bothered going.
But for Ethan...
It was another opportunity.
Another chance.
He accepted the invitation.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Maybe this time..."
"Maybe things will be different."
He didn't know that the dungeon waiting for him was hiding a secret.
He didn't know that countless hunters had entered before him but all had perished under it's wrath.
- Writer
