I stood before the heavy, stone doors of the boss chamber, my hand resting on the cold, damp surface. My stomach cramped, a sharp, gnawing pain that reminded me I hadn't eaten a real meal in over twenty-four hours. The debt to the Association sat on my chest like a physical weight, making every breath feel shallow. I needed this kill. I needed the final payout just to see a number other than zero on my bank app, or I wouldn't even be able to afford the subway ride home.
Then I stopped. I looked down at my feet, expecting to see the usual swarm of red eyes looking back at me, ready for my command. But the floor was empty. Only two scrawny, limping rats remained, their fur matted with grime and blood.
I'd been so obsessed with grinding my Mastery of skill [Rat-king]—obsessively pushing my Rat Wall and Rat Blade to the limit in the corridors—that I'd completely burned through my supply. I'd started with forty-two, but after the constant skirmishes with the scavengers in the dark halls, I was tapped out. Every time I had held a Rat Wall for that extra second of practice just to see the mastery percentage tick up, I had traded a living tool for a fraction of a percent.
Panic started to set in. I checked my phone, hoping the new Scan License had at least registered the fifty scavengers I'd slaughtered in the tunnels.
[Current Balance: ¥0] [Pending Rewards: ¥0 - Gate Must Be Closed for Payout]
My heart sank. In K-Rank gates, the system didn't give out partial credit. There were no Energy Crystals to scavenge, no Skill Stones to loot, and the Association didn't pay for "effort." If the Gate didn't collapse, the work didn't exist. I was effectively standing at the finish line with no ammo and a stomach that felt like it was digesting itself. I couldn't fight an Orc boss with two exhausted rats and my bare hands. I was a Hunter, but without my swarm, I was just a hungry nineteen-year-old in a dirty hoodie.
I had no choice but to pull back. I retraced my steps through the jagged, torch-lit stone halls, the silence of the dungeon mocking me. Every shadow looked like a threat I no longer had the means to stop. I exited the Gate, the familiar violet shimmer of the portal washing over me as I stepped back into the freezing, oil-slicked basement of the abandoned warehouse.
I sat on a rusted crate, my head in my hands. I had wasted hours, I was starving, and I was still dead broke. But then I felt it—the mental itch. My training hadn't been for nothing. My Mastery of skill [Rat-king] had hit 41.7%, and the "signal" I put out was no longer a desperate plea; it was a command. I closed my eyes and reached out into the dark corners of the city. I felt the nests in the sewers beneath the warehouse, the colonies living in the walls of the nearby factory, even the strays in the dumpster two blocks away. The reach was incredible.
"Rat Call."
The response was a tidal wave of scratching. They didn't just trickle in; they poured from the vents and the cracked floorboards like a grey flood. They snapped to attention around my boots, a sea of twitching whiskers and sharp teeth. I counted them. Forty-eight. My capacity had grown with my mastery. I stood up, the weakness in my legs replaced by a cold, desperate resolve. I wasn't going home empty-handed.
I turned back toward the shimmering portal, my forty-eight soldiers flowing in after me. I marched back through the tunnels I had already cleared, my sneakers echoing on the stone, until I reached the boss doors again. I didn't hesitate this time. I shoved them open, the grinding of stone against stone announcing my arrival.
But as the heavy doors groaned open, a sudden shadow loomed over me from the side. I hadn't even cleared the threshold when a massive, green-skinned hand reached out from the darkness of the doorway's alcove.
THUD.
A heavy blow caught me square in the back, sending me flying forward into the boss room. I hit the stone floor hard, my glasses sliding off my face as I skidded across the grit. The Orc hadn't been waiting in the center of the room—it had been waiting behind the door. It was smarter than the scavengers, and it knew I was coming back.
As I scrambled to find my glasses, I heard the heavy, metallic scrape of an axe being dragged across the floor. The Orc let out a low, guttural chuckle that sent a shiver down my spine. I was inside now, the doors slamming shut behind me with a finality that made my blood run cold. There was no retreating this time.