Two days passed in the Nightmare realm.
Two days of silence, cold winds, and the constant smell of blood.
Avner hadn't grown stronger.
He had simply grown… careful.
Instead of chasing fights, he watched.
Waited.
Tracked.
And only killed when the situation was perfect.
Four more Awakened beasts fell to his traps, mistakes, and stubbornness.
Today, he sat leaning against a tree, bandaging a shallow cut across his forearm.
The bleeding had finally stopped.
His breath trembled from exhaustion.
A system window hovered faintly in front of him.
[System Points: 80]
[Inventory: Awakened-Rank Leather Torso (Damaged)]
"Not bad…" he muttered.
But his voice sounded hollow.
Hunting was no longer fear—
It was routine.
Cold, numb survival.
He shut his eyes to rest—
And then Void's Gaze stirred.
A faint pulse.
A shift in the world.
Movement.
Far.
Very far.
Avner focused instinctively.
Through fog, trees, and a small hill…
Two human silhouettes appeared approximately one kilometer west.
His heart skipped.
People? Here?
He hesitated for a moment.
Then—
"…I should check."
He moved.
As Avner approached, the two figures snapped into defensive stances.
Shiny weapons drawn.
The air thickened with tension.
But the moment his small, tired figure stepped into clear view, their hostility faded.
The male—maybe twenty—narrowed his eyes.
"You're… a kid?"
Beside him stood a girl, around eighteen.
Sharp gaze.
Calm posture.
Both carried Awakened-rank gear.
Awakened Rank at least.
Real ones.
Avner raised his hands slightly.
"I… lost my group. Can I… join you?"
His voice shook a little. Unintentional—but useful.
People trusted trembling voices more than confident ones.
The two exchanged looks.
Suspicious.
Evaluating.
But not cruel.
After a long pause, the girl nodded.
"…Fine. Stick close. If you run off on your own, we won't chase you."
Relief washed through Avner—real and heavy.
"Thank you."
As they walked, the male—Rye—asked:
"How did you get this deep alone?
Avner forced a weak smile.
"I hid a lot… ran a lot. Got lucky."
He fed them half-truths.
Stories that sounded believable:
stray traps, hiding under rocks, freezing nights, random monsters passing by.
They accepted his explanations cautiously, but not unwillingly.
Their mission became clear soon:
"We're here for an Awakened Tyrant," the girl—Lira—said.
Avner blinked.
That explained their confidence.
"Can I… help?" he asked quietly.
ERON shrugged.
"If you don't die, sure."
Lira added, "You stay behind us. We don't want casualties."
Two Weeks of Killing
Traveling with them was heaven compared to being alone.
Their movements were precise.
Their senses sharp.
Their fighting clean compared to his clumsy, desperate struggles.
They showed him how to walk quietly.
How to hide blood scent.
How to check enemy footprints.
And they let him finish beasts sometimes—
Not out of kindness, but out of practicality.
He earned Soul Shards on their kills.
They didn't know he couldn't use them.
But he got something else.
[System Points Gained: +10]
[System Points Gained: +10]
[System Points Gained: +10]
Dormant weapons
And kills.
Slowly, quietly, Avner accumulated 240 System Points.
But he couldn't use them until he awakened properly.
The trio grew familiar.
Not friends.
But companions.
And finally—
Void's Gaze shimmered again.
A massive movement.
Rumbling.
Slow.
Heavy.
Ahead of them spread a valley buried in snow and broken stone.
And at the center of it—
A hulking silhouette covered in frozen spikes.
Lira lowered her stance.
"There it is."
ERON exhaled sharply.
"Finally."
Avner's pulse accelerated.
It was twice the size of any beast he'd seen.
Thick fur.
Jagged bone plating.
Breath that steamed like smoke.
A monster born from nightmare.
A creature only seasoned Aspirants should face.
And yet—
He stood with them.
Knife in hand.
Armor patched.
Body trembling.
"Avner," ERON said without looking back.
"This won't be like the others. Stay behind us. If something happens—run."
Lira added softly,
"If you see an opening, take it. We'll handle the rest."
Avner swallowed.
"Got it."
The Tyrant roared, shaking the valley.
Snow fell from the cliffs.
And the three of them began their approache
The ground trembled long before the monster appeared.
A shadow moved between the broken rock formations—massive, hunched, draped in bone-like growths. Its roar tore through the valley, shaking dust from the cliffs.
RROOOAAARRR—!!
The Awakened Tyrant emerged, a four-meter beast with obsidian plates covering its frame like natural armor. Its claws were as long as swords. Its breath stank of blood and rotting beasts.
The two companions tensed.
Eron, the older boy, raised his crystalline spear.
Lira, the girl, stepped back and activated her rune—a faint silver glow around her legs.
Avner crouched behind a boulder, breathing shallowly. His hands were cold. His heartbeat louder than the Tyrant's roar.
I've never fought something like that.
I… I can't win in a direct fight.
Void's Gaze flashed inside his vision—cold, purple ripples showing the inside of rocks, the weak points in the creature's bone plates.
Only two spots were soft:
the underside of its jaw
the joint behind its left leg
Okay… okay. That's something.
The Battle Begins
"Avner, circle right! Don't get close until we distract it!" Eron shouted.
Lira darted forward, her speed-enhancing rune turning her into a blur.
The Tyrant swung.
BOOM!
The ground cratered where she stood a moment before.
Eron thrust his spear—
clang!
The tip sparked uselessly against the monster's armor.
The Tyrant slammed its tail.
Eron barely raised his shield—
CRACK!
He flew back, coughing blood.
"Eron!" Lira screamed.
Avner froze.
His mind blanked.
His limbs refused to move.
I'm going to die here.
No— they're going to die here.
The Tyrant turned toward Eron, claws rising for the kill.
Avner Forces Himself to Move
"No… no no no—MOVE!"
Avner's body finally obeyed.
He sprinted, lungs burning, and grabbed a loose chunk of stone. With every drop of strength, he smashed it into the Tyrant's weak joint—
CRUNCH!!
The monster roared in pain, spinning toward him.
Avner fell back, rolling, dust blinding his eyes.
The Tyrant lunged.
I'm dead—
Lira slammed into the beast's flank like a silver bullet, dragging its attention away.
"AVNER! GET UP!"
He did—just in time to dodge a claw that sliced the rock behind him clean in half.
The Tyrant's second claw caught him.
Not fully—just a graze.
But it was enough.
His body flew into a jagged boulder.
THUD!
Air left his lungs.
Ribs cracked.
Blurry vision.
Blood filled his mouth.
The world faded to black at the edges.
I can't… breathe…
The Tyrant loomed over him, armored maw opening to devour him whole.
Void's Gaze flickered weakly, showing the soft flesh under its jaw.
"…move… MOVE…!"
He lifted his knife.
His hand shook violently.
The monster's jaws descended.
Avner screamed and stabbed upward with everything he had—
SPLUTTER—!!
The blade pierced soft tissue.
Warm blood drenched him.
The Tyrant roared and thrashed.
Eron leaped in, spear glowing faint blue.
Lira struck from the side, slicing the weakened joint Avner cracked earlier.
All three landed their blows.
The Tyrant collapsed, shuddering, before finally going still.
Silence.
Only the sound of Avner gasping for air remained.
"You… idiot…" Lira muttered, tears in her eyes.
Eron laughed weakly. "Not bad… for someone who freezes every five minutes."
Avner tried to laugh back, but only coughed blood.
The system chimed inside his mind:
[Host has slain an Awakened Tyrant.]
[Reward: 30 System Points]
[You received Memories]
The Awakened Tyrant's corpse still twitched on the stone floor, its last breaths rattling through shattered fangs.
Steam rose from its warm blood, mixing with the cold valley wind.
Eron bent over the monster's carcass, panting heavily, wiping sweat from his brow with a tired smile.
"We… finally did it," he said, breathless. "That thing was a damn nightmare."
Lira slumped to the ground, clutching her bruised arm.
"I can't feel my legs anymore," she groaned. "I swear that beast tried to grind me into paste."
Avner stood a short distance away, silent, still coated in the Tyrant's blood.
He simply stared at the two of them.
His pulse was steady.
His senses sharp.
His body… calm.
Too calm.
Lira noticed first.
"Avner? You okay? You look—"
Strange.
She never finished the sentence.
A faint, unnatural vibration ran through Avner's limbs.
Survival Mode still pulsed faintly in his veins — a flicker of instinct left over from the battle.
Eron didn't see it.
He turned away, kneeling to pry a shard from the Tyrant's armor.
"Man, this thing is heavy. I bet it's worth—"
Avner moved.
There was no warning.
No shift of expression.
No murderous glare.
Just a blur of motion.
One moment he stood behind Eron.
The next—
SLASH—
A clean, perfect line traced through the air.
Eron's head flew upward, eyes still half-blinking, mouth open as if trying to finish his sentence.
Blood erupted in a thick spray, painting Avner's cheek, soaking his clothes, splattering the broken stones.
The head hit the ground.
THUD.
Lira's scream tore through the valley.
"ERON! WHAT—?!"
She stumbled backward, scrambling away from Avner as if from a demon.
Her hands shook violently; her voice broke into broken sobs.
"Why?! Why—what have you done!?"
But Avner didn't answer.
He didn't look at her.
He didn't even tremble.
He simply stood there, drenched in hot blood, breathing like a monk deep in meditation — as if killing another human had slipped into him as naturally as exhaling.
Lira raised her blade with trembling hands, eyes wide and terrified.
"You… you're not human."
She lunged.
She would never reach him.
Because the world suddenly—
collapsed.
The sky flickered.
The mountains warped like melting paint.
The ground dissolved beneath their feet.
Lira's scream was swallowed by the distortion.
Darkness swallowed everything.
A voice echoed inside him :
[Wake up, Avner. Your Nightmare is Over.]
[Prepare for Appraisal.]
And Avner fell in silence