Morning sunlight filtered through the wide glass panels of the Hunter Association Tower, casting long streaks across the pristine marble floor. The Tower stood like a spear pointed at the sky—unbending, formidable, and unreachable to most. It wasn't just a building. It was a symbol. A reminder that power wasn't just earned—it was tested, judged, and sometimes, feared.
Team DEATH had become all three.
Kim Suho stepped out of the elevator, calm but sharp-eyed. His aura was muted, but controlled, the sort of quiet that came before a storm. Behind him, Mirae walked with silent determination, her coat swaying like a banner. Minho adjusted his bracers, muscles tense beneath his armor. Hojin strolled out last, chewing gum like he didn't have a care in the world, but his eyes never stopped scanning.
They were escorted down a long corridor gilded with awards, ancient monster parts, and fading portraits of legendary hunters. At the end stood an obsidian door flanked by elite guards—stone-faced and silent.
It opened automatically.
They were led into the top floor—Vice President Yoon Hyejin's office.
The air was still. Controlled. Cold.
A massive oval table sat at the center, surrounded by Association heads, high-ranking guild representatives, and senior tacticians. Security personnel lined the walls. Floating status windows filled the space with soft light—projecting raid footage, battle performance analytics, biometric reports, and combat graphs.
And at the far end of the room stood Vice President Yoon.
She turned slowly from the glass wall overlooking the city, her presence sharp as a dagger. Her suit was immaculate. Her expression unreadable. Eyes like polished obsidian locked onto Suho's.
"Team DEATH," she said. "You've caused quite the stir."
Suho stepped forward and bowed lightly. "We were told you requested us."
"I did. For your safety… and ours."
She gestured to a glowing screen that cycled through recent cleared gates. Sector 19. The Grave Reaches. The Juggernaut. The Eidolon. The Bone Tyrant. Each raid was a headline in itself. Together, they told a story that couldn't be ignored.
"You've outgrown your ranks," she said bluntly. "So I'm ordering an official re-evaluation. Effective immediately."
Mirae's brows twitched in surprise. Minho blinked. Hojin exhaled sharply through his nose.
"We're getting tested?" Minho asked.
"In everything," Vice President Yoon confirmed. "Combat proficiency. Magical potential. Growth rate. Psychic resistance. Tactical adaptability. No more shadows. No more secrets."
Hojin chuckled. "We just cleared an elite necro-valley, ma'am. Can't that count as a pass?"
Yoon tilted her head. "Do you want the world to keep thinking you're C-rank nobodies?"
Suho didn't look away. "We didn't ask for recognition. Or attention."
She stepped closer.
"That doesn't matter anymore," she said. "The moment you broke the power balance, you stepped into the light. Whether you like it or not… you're in the spotlight now."
Re-Evaluation Begins
The team was separated into isolated chambers deep within the Association's training complex. The walls were reinforced with magic and reinforced alloy, calibrated to adapt to each hunter's stats and potential.
Kim Suho stood alone.
His trial chamber spawned a small army of high-grade undead and elite constructs, mimicking the chaos of a full-scale dungeon. Each enemy carried mock souls and magical resistance layers, tuned to overwhelm commanders. But Suho didn't flinch.
With Bone Mantle coiled around him like a cloak of death, he moved like shadow and steel. His undead surged forward in sync, responding not to orders—but to intent.
Three minutes later, silence returned to the chamber.
The floor was littered with shattered constructs and fading soul projections.
Outside, the evaluation room was dead quiet.
"He's not just directing," one analyst murmured. "He's conducting."
"No," Vice President Yoon said softly. "He's ruling."
In the next chamber, Mirae stood at the heart of a simulated elemental storm. Pressure from multiple affinities tried to disrupt her spellwork, while wave after wave of resistance enchantments blocked her fire output.
But she didn't falter.
Her Lunar Emberfield flared outward like a blooming lotus, absorbing pressure and converting it to focus. Her fire moved like silk and blade at once—refined, sharp, and layered. Her spell rotation speed had nearly doubled since her last recorded run.
Minho faced a barrage of explosive elementals and kinetic traps, each designed to test his control. His shield met every blow head-on. His stance was unshaken, unmoving, like a wall of iron. Even when explosions rocked the ground, he absorbed and redirected every impact with refined technique.
Hojin's chamber was chaos incarnate. Time trials, false targets, hidden traps, shifting terrain. But he danced through it all—blinking from shadow to shadow, each movement calculated and lethal. His blades hit vital points every time. Not a single trap touched him.
When the re-evaluations ended, the data was compiled and streamed into the Association boardroom.
Vice President Yoon returned to the panel, eyes narrowed, voice firm.
"Kim Suho — A-rank.""Baek Mirae — B-rank.""Kang Minho — B-rank.""Im Hojin — B-rank."
The room exploded into murmurs, some impressed, others concerned.
Aftermath
A private lounge awaited the team, tucked away in the upper floors. Soundproof. Secure.
Suho sat by the window, arms folded, lost in thought.
"So," Minho said, breaking the silence. "We're officially recognized now. Feels… weird."
Mirae sipped her drink slowly. "It's validation. But now it's pressure."
Hojin leaned back in his seat, eyes half-lidded. "Guilds are gonna hound us. Bribes. Offers. Surveillance. Maybe even infiltration."
Suho nodded. "And that's the best-case scenario."
A soft chime buzzed on his watch.
[Hunter App – Recent Post: "A-Rank Necromancer Emerges – Is Kim Suho the New Threat?"]
[Comments: 5,190]
[Mentions: Guild Masters, Sector 21, Tower Executors]
He closed the alert.
No reaction. Just silence.
Then—his instincts flared.
The First Strike
Evening fell.
Team DEATH moved along an open-air skybridge linking the Association Tower to the transport hub. The city below glittered in amber lights. But then—an unnatural shadow fell overhead.
BOOM.
The walkway exploded beneath their feet.
Minho snapped up a wall of energy. Mirae erected a blazing barrier. Hojin vanished in smoke. Suho turned, expression like stone.
Figures dropped from above—silent, swift, cloaked in null-signal gear. No tags. No traces.
"Assassins," Suho muttered. "No guilds. Probably hired. Definitely high-class."
One stepped forward, voice modulated and cold. "Message from the top: stay in your lane."
Suho smiled faintly.
"We don't have lanes."
A ripple in the air. Shadows twisted behind him.
Thirty undead emerged—silent, armed, ready.
"Let's dance."
Rooftop War
The battle erupted across the skybridge. Civilians were cleared by emergency protocols. What remained was a storm of flame, steel, and shadow.
Mirae's fire curved through the dusk like a phoenix, her barriers tightening and expanding with surgical accuracy.
Hojin blinked between enemies, his daggers slicing tendons, avoiding counters, staying one step ahead.
Minho tanked three assassins at once, his shield intercepting blade after blade until he smashed one through a steel support beam.
Suho reached into the air and bound a mid-air assassin in stasis.
[Bind: Living Hunter – Reaper Class – Soul Contained (Temporarily)]
The last assassin—a cloaked figure with a humming obsidian blade—charged at him.
"You're from Sector 21, aren't you?" Suho said.
The assassin hesitated.
That was enough.
Suho activated Bone Mantle. His form surged, merging with the Tyrant. Shadows swirled. His aura became a crushing weight.
A single punch shattered the assassin's defense. Blood splashed.
"Message received," Suho whispered.
Fallout
That night, the Association issued a silent bulletin.
[Closed Internal Investigation. All data sealed.]
But rumors spread like wildfire.
Someone had tried to kill Team DEATH.
Vice President Yoon called Suho into her office alone.
"You handled it well," she said. "But this was just a warning."
Suho's face was unreadable. "Then I'll prepare."
"No," she said, sliding a metal case across the table. "You'll have to."
Inside was a classified report.
[Sector 21 – Forbidden Vault Breach]
[Subject: Shadowborne Intelligence Tracking – Necromancer Bloodline]
[Note: Suho is the Anchor]
Suho read it, then looked up slowly.
"Then let them come."
To Be Continued...
Kim SuhoLevel: 41Undead: 63 / 70Rank: ASoul Fragments: 4 / 7Known Threat: Marked by Sector 21
Team DEATHMirae – Level 29 – Rank BMinho – Level 28 – Rank BHojin – Level 30 – Rank B
Next Goal: Reach Level 45 and 70 UndeadNext Fragment: Fifth Soul Echo – Awaits in the Depth of Oblivion