[The attempt to clear the First Dungeon has been aborted]
[Remaining attempts: 2/3]
[Physical reinitialization at 22%]
[Warning: Desire collapse has reached Stage Three]
["Return Point" activated]
He was lying on the cold ground near the gate. His eyes barely open, staring at the stone ceiling like someone who saw doomsday in a dream and came out of it without flesh or blood.
Everything in him was exhausted. His member, his body, his chest, his voice—even his soul.
Even breathing felt like a burdensome task.
He wasn't even trying to get up anymore.
Then... tall shadows loomed over him, shading his weakness without mercy.
It was them. The two giantesses. The first, with silver hair cascading like a night curtain down her back, her eyes sharp like blades. The second beside her, quieter—but not kinder.
She leaned over him, her eyes glinting with something between contempt and dead lust.
The first one said, in a voice choked with disgust:
"I told you. You're too weak... You can't even get past a gate. So what did you learn?"
He shook his head, his voice barely audible:
"I... I just wanted to have sex... That's all..."
The second one laughed, lightly, mockingly.
"Hah?"
He lifted his head slightly, as if it required a surgical operation.
"I... I didn't ask for much. I didn't ask to be a hero, or a ruler, or even a mage... I just wanted to be touched, to be desired by someone. Why me? Why can everyone else do it and I can't?"
"Fuck you…" the first muttered. Then she spat beside him.
Her spit evaporated instantly, as if his body wasn't even worth defiling.
"I don't know how the system labeled you as Untamed Desire... You don't even have desire. You're just a soggy pile of trash. Not a man. Not even a male."
He trembled. Not from cold—but from humiliation.
Then they turned, and vanished as they came. Without mercy, without pity.
He found himself again in the cave. The tears had dried, but the mark they left on his cheek looked like an old burn scar.
Zara was there, asleep. She didn't see him, didn't feel him.
As if his return had no value.
He sat apart, no longer feeling hunger, or desire, or even anger.
All he felt... was emptiness.
He looked at his hands.
One was trembling. The other gripped nothing.
Still seated, he stared at his hands:
One trembling, the other grasping emptiness.
He felt nothing.
Then suddenly, a soft movement behind him broke the stillness.
He turned slowly.
Zara had woken up.
Her tangled hair looked less wild now, and the faint light reflected on her primitive features in a way that made her... slightly more human.
She was holding something in her hand. It looked like she'd gathered the scattered coins in the cave and tied them in an old cloth.
Beside her, a sturdy rope, the tip of a rusty dagger, and a sack containing something he couldn't make out.
She approached him. She tried to speak, gestured with her hands, waved the coins, then pointed to the cave's entrance…
But his eyes remained glassy. No reaction.
She kept speaking, in her language he didn't understand. But her tone was gentle, insistent.
He said nothing.
Zara hesitated for a moment, then suddenly—moved.
Just one step, then knelt before him, slowly as if piercing a field of glass.
She placed her forehead on his.
Her warmth surprised him.
She was incredibly warm, as if trying to tell him through body language: "I'm here. Don't go any further."
He remained frozen for a moment, then closed his eyes. Something inside him trembled.
But before he could surrender to that warmth, a sudden chime rang in his head:
[Partial Dungeon Clear Reward: A+ Rank Dungeon]
[Reaching the gate has been registered, despite the failure to clear]
[+200 Special Power Points]
[Digital Map: Kingdom of Nova – Activated]
[Desire Shard – Rank F: Added]
[Level Up: 04]
He opened his eyes slowly, his heart beating faster than before.
What...? All this just because I reached the gate?
He turned his head slowly toward the stone gate he failed to cross. Despite its stillness, it looked like the mouth of a sleeping beast.
"A+... A Rank Dungeon... That's why I got these rewards just for reaching the entrance..."
A Desire Shard?
The entire kingdom's map?
Two hundred points?
Reality hit him like a hammer: this system wasn't fair—but it was generous to those who survived.
He looked at Zara.
Her forehead still touching his, her eyes shining silently.
Maybe... just maybe, there was something worth staying for.
Her forehead still pressed against his.
He could have stayed like this forever... but something in him had broken. That emptiness inside... returned to gnaw at the edges of his awareness.
He swallowed, and looked into her eyes. So close.
How many times had he imagined a woman coming close like this? How many times had he dreamed of a bare body that didn't flee when he touched it?
He closed his eyes and leaned in, slowly… until his lips touched hers. A short kiss. Trembling.
But it wasn't a kiss. It was a disaster.
In an instant, Zara moved like a wild beast.
A faint growl escaped her, then—
She bit his nose. Hard.
"Aaah!"
He recoiled, clutching his bleeding nose, blood pouring.
She stared at him with savage eyes, growling in a language he didn't understand, but the message was very clear:
"Do not cross the line, follower."
[Trait Upgraded: "Instinctual Bond" → Level 2]
"Great. Even the system's mocking me now."
He sat on the ground, pressing his nose, staring silently at the dirt.
Zara had returned to her corner of the cave, humming to herself, watching him from a distance like she was saying: Even here? Even now? You want to own me?
He opened the reward window.
The digital map was loading:
A complex network of dots and paths detailing the terrain of an entire kingdom.
Name: Kingdom of Nova
"Nova... So we're in the heart of one of this damned world's kingdoms."
His eyes slid eastward. A large red dot:
Capital – Valhemar.
"She must have fled from there… Zara. That place is three days' walk away. Three more nights of hell.
And if she's being hunted, we're still within the danger zone."
But he noticed something else.
A much smaller dot… much closer.
Village: Arlin. Two hours' walk.
"At last… a glimmer of hope."
He browsed the other rewards.
Desire Shard – Rank F
"What the hell does that mean?"
He opened the description:
[A rare element of the "Essence of Desire"]
[Can be used to enhance physical capabilities or stored for the shop upon reaching Level 10]
The shop? So there's something bigger awaiting him...
Something deeper, and maybe even darker.
But before he could sink into thought, another notification appeared:
[Level 4 Reached: Side Quests Unlocked]
[You can now accept special quests to level up or enhance your physical/magical/sexual abilities]
"Sexual? Of course. Why not? This cursed system knows only hunger."
He muttered as he stood up, wiping the blood off his nose with his thumb, then licking it with faint madness.
"I'll crush this world... no matter how long it takes."
He looked toward the map, then squinted at the image of the two giantesses.
"And I will return to you, you arrogant whores... I'll make you scream my name until the void cracks, and I'll fuck you until you beg for mercy."
His heart was beating faster than it should.
Desire, pain, mockery—all mixed inside him.
He muttered to himself:
"I need to grow stronger... I need to fuck. Even the damned cockroaches fuck—except me."
He looked toward Zara… then toward the map.
"But first... the village."