"The Fallen Kenekin Station"
"Source World: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress"
"Recommended Level: 110"
"Introduction: As the world was swept by the waves of the industrial revolution, transitioning from the near-modern to the modern era, immortal monsters suddenly appeared.
Covered in steel skin, they could not be destroyed unless their hearts were annihilated. Those bitten by them would seemingly resurrect after dying once, and then begin to attack humans.
These monsters, later named Kabane, multiplied explosively and covered the entire world.
To counter the threat of the Kabane, the people of the Far Eastern island nation of Japan built fortresses called 'Stations' in various locations, and Kenekin Station was one of them."
The dungeon pop-up appeared as expected.
Naruto looked at the pop-up, visible only to him, holding his elbow with one hand and stroking his chin with the other.
"So it's 'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.' The difficulty of this world is probably even lower than 'Demon Slayer,' right?"
Naruto sighed inwardly, shaking his head with a hint of disappointment.
Even the Twelve Kizuki in the Demon Slayer World didn't give much experience, let alone the Kabane of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.
Although they were called Kabane, they were no different from zombies, at most having the setting of a heart covered by a steel membrane.
A single Kabane was not much stronger than a Goblin in the Goblin Slayer World.
Therefore—Naruto gained no experience from killing Kabane.
"Side Quest: Burning Night"
"Quest Content: Kenekin Station has been overrun by Kabane. Survive one night at Kenekin Station."
"Quest Reward: 20 experience points, 3 exchange coupons, Steam (Green) * 1"
Naruto was speechless after reading the second pop-up.
20 experience points, could it be any less?
Given his current situation where he needed tens of thousands of experience points to level up, 20 experience points were barely anything.
The equipment given was just a "Green Gun."
Naruto couldn't even be bothered with epic equipment of a quality lower than purple.
"Although a mosquito's leg is still meat, 20 experience points are too little. I'd have to do thousands of quests to level up once. Forget it, I'll go back."
Naruto quickly closed the pop-up, preparing to log out of this Underground City.
But there was no [Logout] icon in his sight. "Oh right, I almost forgot, usually there's an exit quest to leave a dungeon."
Naruto found the exit quest for the current Underground City dungeon, which was actually very simple: just kill three Kabane.
"Three Kabane, heh, why do I feel like a max-level boss entering a beginner village?"
Naruto's lips twitched as he prepared to randomly select and eliminate three lucky Kabane.
Just then, a commotion and terrified screams came from not far away!
"Kabane! Kabane are approaching!"
"Quick! Protect Lady Ayame!"
Several pale-skinned monsters with glowing blue cores embedded in their chests, moving with twisted speed—Kabane—were roaring as they rushed out from the shadows of a Abandoned warehouse, lunging at a group of civilians who were transporting supplies!
The samurai responsible for vigilance immediately raised their steam guns, but they were clearly outnumbered, and their formation was somewhat chaotic.
Protected in the center of the crowd was a young woman in a purple kimono, with a dignified and gentle demeanor—Ayame Yomogawa.
Although her face was pale, her eyes were firm, and she tightly gripped a decorative short sword, attempting to command: "Don't panic! Samurai squad, form ranks! Protect the civilians and retreat!"
However, an extremely fast Kabane broke through the sparse barrage, roaring with open mouth, its sharp claws bringing a fishy wind as it lunged directly at Ayame's face.
The nearby samurai were too late to help, Ayame's pupils constricted, and she instinctively raised her short sword, but a hint of despair flashed in her eyes!
"Danger!"
A clear shout rang out like thunder.
Ayame only felt a blur before her eyes as an orange figure appeared between her and the Kabane as if teleporting.
Fast!
Faster than her visual capture limit!
Judging by his back, he was just a blond boy.
Naruto didn't turn around. His left hand shot out like lightning, grabbing the Kabane's swinging claw with incredible precision.
The immense force instantly halted the Kabane's movement!
"Roar—!" The Kabane let out an inhuman roar, its other claw frantically grabbing at Naruto.
Naruto's expression was indifferent. He backhanded with a palm like a spear, thrusting directly into the Kabane's heart.
"Splat!"
The steel membrane covering the Kabane's heart, originally indestructible and difficult for even ordinary steam guns to penetrate, was like paper against Naruto's hand, easily pierced, and the fist-sized heart directly exploded.
"Hmm?"
Naruto's eyes flickered.
He noticed that when the Kabane's heart exploded, a tiny but extremely pure essence, like refined vitality, flowed into his body through his palm.
"This is—life force?"
As Naruto was secretly surprised, many thoughts flashed through his mind.
If not for Naruto's complete understanding of himself, fully commanding his hundreds of trillions of Naruto cells, he might have easily overlooked this extremely faint wisp of life force.
Unlike absorbing natural energy or devouring the life force of other species to replenish his own, the life force extracted from crushing a Kabane's heart improved Naruto's own life form.
Of course, the improvement brought by one Kabane was negligible, almost ignorable.
But...
What about a thousand Kabane?
What about ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million!
Such astonishing numbers would surely lead to a qualitative change through quantitative accumulation.
Making his own life force even more robust!
"Perhaps—this Black Iron-ranked Underground City is not entirely useless," Naruto mused.
The killing of the Kabane was instantaneous.
Silence!
Dead silence!!
The previous commotion and gunshots ceased instantly.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the blond boy standing in front of Ayame, who had instantly killed the terrifying Kabane with a single punch.
He withdrew his hand from the Kabane's chest, his expression exceptionally calm, as if he had merely swatted a fly.
Ayame looked at the boy's back, still feeling lingering fear, but an unprecedented sense of security welled up within her.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in her heart, and stepped forward, her voice gentle and sincere: "Th-Thank you very much for saving my life! I am Ayame Yomogawa, the temporary leader of this Iron Fortress. May I ask who you are—?"
Naruto turned around, shaking off the blood from his hand, and revealed his signature, bright smile, dispelling the oppressive atmosphere around him: "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, a traveler passing through Kenekin Station."
In fact, knowing that Kabane could enhance his life force, Naruto temporarily decided not to leave, so he continued: "Miss Ayame, please don't be so polite. How could I stand by and do nothing when I see someone in danger?"
"A traveler?" Ayame and the surrounding samurai and civilians all showed confused expressions.
In this dangerous apocalypse overrun by Kabane, would anyone truly travel around?
"Hmph! A traveler? I say he's a suspicious individual!" A cold voice, full of wariness and hostility, rang out.