"No…" Raon whispered.
"No—he wouldn't—"
The manager tilted his head.
"My audience will get bored if the tension stays this low."
His eyes glowed with cold amusement.
"Let's make it more interesting."
⟪ Scenario Difficulty Increased: From B → S ⟫
The notification blared violently in Raon's mind.
Han swore under his breath.
People around them screamed.
Then—
A monstrous cry ripped through the sky.
A cry so loud the air vibrated.
So deep it cracked windows across the street.
So powerful it made Raon drop to one knee.
The wyverns paused mid-air—
And turned their heads toward the sound.
From the direction of the mountains beyond the city, something enormous emerged.
A wyvern—
But not like the others.
Its wings were wide enough to cover an entire block.
Its scales were black and crimson, reflecting the flames burning below.
Its eyes glowed molten gold.
And it was not alone.
Behind it, dozens of more wyverns followed— at least three times the number of the ones they were already killing people.
Raon's breath caught.
"This… this is impossible…"
The largest wyvern landed with an earth-shaking crash, splitting the street in half.
Cars flipped.
Buildings swayed.
Then it roared—
KRRRRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!
The shockwave alone tore down two entire structures.
People flew like ragdolls.
The city became hell.
Raon and Han staggered backward, barely keeping their footing.
"Raon—RUN!"
But Raon's eyes stayed locked on the colossal wyvern.
On the chaos around him.
On the screaming world.
On the overwhelming truth—
This wasn't fiction anymore.
This was a nightmare.A nightmare that had only just begun.
Screams shook the air.
The burning smell of collapsed buildings mixed with the thunder of wingbeats. I blinked hard—coming back to my senses—as the shadow of dozens of wyverns crawled across the ruined city square.
"Raon! Hey—Raon!"
Han's voice finally pulled me out of the fog.
I raised my head.
A torrent of monsters rushed down the shattered road—scaled, winged, fanged—like a living avalanche of death.
My grip tightened.
"…They're coming," I whispered, and my system window flickered like a heartbeat.
Han gulped. "What do we do?"
I inhaled once. Cold and sharp.
"Cover the people," I said. "Don't let anyone behind you die."
Han nodded and ran to gather the survivors, shouting orders. Soldiers, civilians, and scavengers clutched guns, pipes, and broken steel bars—anything they could use to survive.
I stepped forward alone.
The monsters crashed into us.
The first wyvern dove, claws screeching against the cracked asphalt.
I swung.
CLANG—!
My sword tore into its neck, blue blood spraying like mist.
Another leapt. I twisted, slicing its wing.
A third lunged with jaws wide—
BOOM!
A rocket exploded beside me as someone with a launcher fired recklessly.
"Keep firing!" Han shouted. "Aim for the wings! Don't panic!"
Bullets rained.
Bombs flashed.
The street became a battlefield of fire and shadows.
I tore through monsters, using every inch of my strength.
But then—
A sharp, horrifying sound.
CRRRACK…!
My blade fractured.
"No—"
SHATTER!
The sword broke into glittering fragments, scattering across the ground.
It was the same steel that had clashed against the centipede's armor… and now it gave up.
Han yelled from behind, "Raon, your weapon!!"
Monsters kept coming—crawling, flying, screeching.
I raised my hand.
"Fine. Then I'll use this—"
〔Skill Activated: Ice Shaping〕
Cold spiraled around my arm.
Frost bloomed across the ruined street.
A sword of pure ice formed in my grip, crystalline and deadly.
I dashed in.
The ice blade sang as it cut through scales.
But—
Crack…
Crack…!
SNAP—!
After just a few kills, the blade shattered into powder.
"Tch…!"
"RAON!" someone screamed and threw something at me.
A rifle spun through the air.
I caught it mid-motion.
"Good throw."
I fired.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Wyverns fell.
Their skulls exploded.
Their wings tore apart.
But bullets don't last forever.
Click.
Empty.
I threw the gun aside. "Han!"
Han ducked under a wyvern's claw and rolled toward me. "Yeah?!"
"Cover me for five minutes! Just five!"
"What are you planning?!"
"Buying us a chance to live."
Han didn't hesitate.
He turned and shouted at the fighters:
"FORM A LINE! DEFENSIVE WALL—NOW!"
Gunfire lit the sky as Han and the others held the monsters back.
I stepped behind a piece of broken concrete.
Deep breath.
"System. Open Shop."
…Nothing.
"System. OPEN SHOP."
Still nothing.
A thin, cold smile floated above him and he was froze there.
The battlefield was collapsing.
Screams. Buildings cracking. Wyverns circling like vultures above the ruined city.
Han was still firing wildly at the pack rushing in from the north, but the line was breaking.
And then—
The shop refused to open.
[Shop access locked.]
[Scenario Restriction Applied.]
My breath hitched. "No… no, no—open. Open!"
Nothing.
A mocking voice echoed as the Manager faded into motes of golden dust.
"Using the Shop in this scenario is not allowed. Try harder, little players."
Then he vanished.
The street shook under another wyvern impact. The ground cracked under my feet. My gun clicked empty.
Han shouted, "Raon! We need five more people moved—Raon? Hey!!"
But I wasn't looking at him.
I was staring at the figure.
Someone stood on top of the broken clock tower—
Wrapped in a dark robe, face completely hidden, like an ink stain against the grey sky.
He wasn't here a second ago.
He wasn't human.
He wasn't monster either.
Yet the moment our eyes met—though I couldn't even see his—
A cold sensation drilled into my skull.
A system message slammed into me.
[New Skill Copied: Archive Mind (A–Rank)]
You can instantly read and recollect any information you have seen, heard, or read before.
Past knowledge becomes perfectly retrievable.
My vision blurred.
A thousand pages flipped inside my mind like a storm of white paper.
Flip.
Flip.
Flip—
Lines of the novel I once read started surfacing, glowing as if carved by lightning.
Not here.
Not this chapter.
Further… deeper… there—
A sentence from the novel burned inside my head:
"During the Second Scenario… the giant wyvern was slain by the woman bathed in moonlight."
My heart froze.
That was the female lead of the book.
The one who never failed a hunt.
The one who was the true beginning of the novel's story.
If the scenario was the same…
If this world had truly become the novel…
Then she must have to exist Somewhere in this world Right now.
But she wasn't here.
And the giant wyvern…
Was still alive.
A deafening screech ripped through the sky, so loud the tall buildings trembled like cardboard.
The robe-wearing figure disappeared before I could blink—
Like a shadow dissolving.
"Raon!!" Han grabbed my shoulder, shaking me hard. "Snap out of it! Look ahead!"
I looked.
And felt everything inside me turn to stone.
A massive silhouette burst through the smoke
Wings like torn steel, scales black as a starless night, eyes burning with molten hatred.It was none other than the Giant Wyvern.