"You? Entering an A-Rank Dungeon? Are you brain-dead or just suicidal?"
The dungeon supervisor glared at Sage Hwan as if he were a roach wearing a crown. Behind her, several A- and B-Rank hunters smirked, their weapons already drawn and enchanted.
They were guild members from The Arcanum, one of Korea's top 10 guilds.
All richly dressed. All blessed with elemental affinities. All overconfident.
Sage, in contrast, wore a faded black hoodie, sleeves rolled up to reveal lean, veined forearms. His storm-silver irises gleamed lazily. He looked bored, annoyed even. He scratched his ear with his pinky and yawned.
"It's an open slot. No guild tag. No legal restriction. I'm going."
The supervisor blinked. "You'll die."
He stepped past her.
"Then enjoy my corpse."
[Dungeon Gate — Classification: A-Rank, Unstable Rift]
Inside, death roamed freely.
The environment was dark and metallic, like a twisted alien factory. Pipes leaked steam. Platforms floated midair. Energy surged like lightning veins through the walls.
Monsters here weren't goblins or trolls.
They were Arc-Tech Predators — biomechanical serpents fused with magic cores and blade limbs. Agile. Intelligent. Carnivorous.
One dropped from the ceiling. Fangs bared.
CLANG!
Its head twisted midair, shattered by a single telekinetic slam before it reached Sage.
"Still too light," Sage muttered, rotating his shoulder.
He moved forward with casual grace, hands in his pockets. His Telekinetic Core activated silently, manipulating his environment like invisible puppeteer strings. Every breath synchronized with his Internal Elemental Circuit, developed through brutal personal training.
Fire in the gut. Ice in the heart. Lightning in the nerves. Wind in the joints. Earth in the bones.
That's my flow.
Three predators leapt from the shadows.
Fwish—Crack—Boom!
Sage exploded into motion. A roundhouse enhanced with wind, a palm strike with embedded lightning, and a spinning elbow cloaked in fire took them out in one smooth sequence.
Their cores shattered.
"Still no resistance. I was hoping to feel pain this time."
Elsewhere in the Dungeon
A group from Arcanum watched him through surveillance relics.
"He's... actually clearing this solo?"
The guild heir, Kael Yun, a noble-born ice manipulator with glacier-blue armor and a massive ego, narrowed his eyes.
"No... He's showing off. That arrogance—he'll fall eventually. I'll make sure of it."
Mid-Dungeon Boss Room
The doors creaked open. The room pulsed with chaotic Aether.
In the center stood the dungeon boss:
[Aether Bladeking - Dri'Varos]
A ten-foot-tall armored behemoth with eight plasma swords floating in orbit. Its class: A+. Intelligence: High. Personality: Berserker. Weakness: None recorded.
Sage stared.
"You look fun."
The boss roared, blades flying toward Sage like a meteor storm.
Flash—Flash—Flash—CLANG!
All eight blades froze mid-air.
Suspended.
Unmoving.
Sage raised two fingers.
"You're in my range."
He snapped his fingers.
BOOM!
A telekinetic burst imploded the air. The blades turned and stabbed the boss's own core.
But it didn't die. Instead, it unleashed an elemental burst, fusing with darkness and wind, slicing the air.
"Interesting..."
Sage dropped his stance. His hands began moving — forming a new martial kata mid-battle.
Modern Martial Form 2: Elemental Requiem — Silent Tornado
The floor cracked.
Wind spiraled. Fire flared. Lightning coiled around his leg. With a perfect pivot, he vanished, reappearing mid-air and driving a knee into the boss's head, followed by an uppercut enhanced with earth and wind.
CRACK!
The boss's armor shattered. Its core burst like glass.
Sage landed silently.
"That's better."
Post-Dungeon Report
The association screen blinked:
A-Rank Dungeon Cleared — Solo Completion by: Sage Hwan (E-Rank)
Time Taken: 18 minutes
Casualties: 0
Behavior: Uncooperative, Disrespectful, Highly Efficient, Unreadable Threat Level
Outside the Gate
Reporters swarmed. Arcanum members stared, half in fury, half in awe.
Sage stepped out, blood splattered on his cheek, hoodie shredded, chest exposed — lean, wiry, cut like ice under tension.
Kael Yun approached, clapping slowly.
"Impressive. But don't get cocky, E-Rank. You're just a freak incident."
Sage tilted his head. His voice was velvet and venom.
"You're loud for someone who did nothing but watch."
Kael's hand twitched toward his sword.
Sage's telekinetic pressure dropped instantly, heavy like a collapsing star. Everyone nearby stumbled backward, choking.
"Want to go now, pretty boy?" Sage said, smiling coldly.
Kael froze. A single bead of sweat ran down his brow.
Sage turned away, walking past him like stepping over trash.
"Train harder. You might survive next time."