A roar of thunder split the heavens and slammed into the earth. From its impact rose a colossal, tower-shaped dungeon that pierced the clouds, unleashing a storm of mana that deafened all of Cebu City. Panic swept through the city as hundreds of battle mages and magic knights gathered their resolve and raced toward the impact zone… unaware of the fate that awaited them.
No one understood it yet, but the city had already crossed a line it could never return from.
---
One of the 3 Region Island Kings, Dani Pangilinan, Champion of Visayas sensed something foreign, something unknown yet existential.
It was not raw power that unsettled him, but the way the mana felt wrong, like a rule had been broken, and the world had not yet realized it.
His instincts screamed before his mind could follow.
"What was that?" he muttered. "A mana wave? No… this feels like a presence."
Michael De Guzman; one of the 3 Region Island Kings, Champion of Luzon, noticed Dani's cold sweat.
"What's wrong? You look paler than usual."
Dani's eyes were fixed on the distant horizon. "Something fell from the sky," he said slowly. "Something gigantic… I'm not sure what."
Michael replied, "Oh, relax. Most of the Dark Society clans have been neutralized thanks to Zahir. Anyways, I think Christopher's a solid pick for the upcoming battle, his magic fits the role perfectly."
Dani's face tensed with nervous energy. "I need to go… I need to check"
He walked towards the window and glanced… he froze.
What he saw was;
A colossal, tower-shaped dungeon stretched from earth to sky, tearing through the clouds.
It did not feel newly born. It felt as though it had been waiting.
He did not know whether shock or dread held him tighter, but one fact was undeniable. The tower he had just witnessed was an anomaly, unnaturally vast, and despite being non-living, it pulsed with mana.
His voice cracked as he screamed, "WHAT IS THAT?!"
This was not a dungeon meant to be conquered.
---
Location of the Dungeon Tower
The dungeon tower stood upon the largest cemetery in Cebu City Carreta Cemetery, also known as Cementerio Del Norte, in Barangay Carreta, Cebu City.
Hundreds of mages gathered outside the Tower. Among them, Cebu City's top fighters, ranks ten through six, quickly took command.
Rank 6, Jane, tilted her head with a mocking grin. "So… should we wait for the honorable Dani?" she asked, laughing softly.
Jason, ranked 10, chuckled. "What for? That goody two-shoes will just say something saintly like, 'Wait for the government to respond,' blah, blah. And while we wait, we'll miss our chance to loot? No way."
"That settles it then," said Rank 7, Martin. "We'll just say we acted independently because of how dire the situation is and that fool will believe it." He laughed.
Rank 8 Pilar laughed and said, "Guess we're getting rich tonight."
None of them noticed the way the tower remained silent, as if waiting…
Rank 9 Anton pointed at the lower rank and said, "Hey you, open the door!"
Following his orders, as the door creaked open, a narrow gap appeared and from it, a sudden burst of mana erupted, blasting through the air and hurling the Battle Mages backwards.
The entire platoon felt it, mana that reeked of death itself. Moments later, the dead began to rise.
It wasn't pain that struck them first… it was instinct.
Every mage felt it at the same time: the ancient warning buried deep in the soul, the one that whispered this is wrong. Breath turned shallow. Hands trembled despite years of discipline. Some felt the urge to kneel. Others felt the urge to run.
No one spoke. Fear had already arrived.
To witness such a scene was like staring into a zombie apocalypse.
Rank 8 Pilar shouted in panic,
"What the hell are we in a movie?!"
Rank 6 Jane gasped, eyes wide. "The mana… it's feeding them!"
A sudden realization struck her. "It's… Dark Mana! Someone inside that tower is a Black Mage! With Grand-level mana and perfect control…it's a master-class Lich."
She whispered urgently, "Call him."
Rank 10 Jason blinked. "Call who?"
Jane snapped, voice trembling, "Call Dani!"
The undead went berserk, attacking without reason.
Then, to everyone's horror, one of them spoke, no… chanted! It's eerie voice weaving a spell no corpse should ever know;
"Inferno of the Damned"
The sight alone sent fear through everyone's heart.
Black fire burst forth, coiling around the corpse like a living curse.
Yet instead of consuming it, the flames gave it new life, birthing a revenant forged from Dark Mana.
The battlefield had changed.
What was once a simple raid had become an S-Class dungeon, a ticking disaster waiting to burst open.
Rank 9 Anton stared at the scene, the undead were untouchable, their bodies cloaked in black flame. Several mages had already been burned to a crisp.
As a support mage, Anton began casting holy enchantments, his voice trembling. But the sight of the dead casting spells sent a chill down his spine, stirring an old memory.
He remembered the Battle Mage of Manila, once hailed as the Philippines' strongest, and the closest to breaking into the Global Top 10.
Anton realized, with terrifying clarity, that this was how legends ended... not with glory, but with a single bad decision.
During the Great Dungeon Outbreak, the Philippines bled.
Countless lives were taken, and in that chaos, the Dark Society struck.
That day marked the fall of an era, and nothing was ever the same again.
That mage… known across the world as Angelo The All King was left crippled, a legend fallen in flame.
The thought ran through Anton's head:
"When I see a chance, I'll leave this post. This isn't about who takes who down, it's survival.
I'll act useful for now… but the moment things turn south, I'm gone. This isn't worth my life!"
This was not a battlefield worth dying on, and no title in the world was worth staying behind for.
---
Inside the Dungeon Tower
A master-class Lich saw the area in total chaos and said "Not enough, 'We' need more, 'IT' chanted;
"Rise, O Undead King!"
---
Outside the Dungeon Tower
The ground trembled.
The undead froze in place, every corpse halted mid-swing, their heads twitching toward the same direction.
Then, one by one, they began to move; running, merging, fusing into a single abomination.
The air itself turned foul, thick with unholy mana that reeked of death, choking those with weak wills. Fear spread like wildfire, chaos erupted.
They tried to run… but a dark voice was heard across the battlefield.
The master-class Lich spoke in an eerie tone, his voice echoing like a funeral bell.
"None shall leave this place."
As his words faded, he began to chant a Death Seal.
"Fear is your keeper; flee no more."
This magic incantation doesn't bind the Battle Mages' bodies, it binds their minds.
Instead of sealing movement, it amplifies the emotion of fear, freezing them from within.
Rank 6, Jane cried out, tears in her eyes. "Look!"
An abyssal entity took form, the 'Undead King' had risen.
This was not a creature meant to rule the dead… it was meant to remind the living of their place.
It reeked of death, its mana so vile that most of the Battle Mages were knocked to their knees… and some lost their sanity entirely.
Jane's voice shook. "The book we studied… it's real. I thought it was just a myth, nothing more."
Martin's voice trembled, his face drained of color.
"The… Black Book of Noctorine."
He swallowed hard, his voice barely a whisper.
"The first grimoire of the dead… the very origin of all Black Magic."
The Undead King moved with terrifying speed, swung its bone-forged blade, cutting into Martin before he could even react.