The moment he read the final line, a familiar system window appeared before his eyes:
[New Quest Received!]
[Rescue Kaito and Yumi]
[Eliminate: Ksarg, the Rat King (0/1)]
[Time Remaining: 59:59]
(! If the quest is failed, the user will be destroyed)
Akito froze.
— "What…?" he whispered. "Destroyed? Me?"
There was no [Accept] or [Later] option. The system left no choice.
Thoughts hit him like a freight train.
Kaito… Yumi… Why them? How are they tied to this damn system?
He remembered the dog that saved him in the last fight.
He jumped to his feet and pulled up his inventory mid-run.
[Weapon: Raident (Rare) — Durability: 38/75]
— "Half left. Damn. Gotta make it work."
The countdown kept blinking in red.
[Time until destruction: 59:12… 59:11… 59:10…]
The destination was clear — an abandoned sewer system in the southern district. About 1.2 km from here.
Akito bolted out of his apartment, raced down the stairs, and gulped in the sharp morning air.
Sewers again? Of course. Right back in the shit.
He ran. No plan. No backup. No second chances.
But the fire in his chest burned brighter with every step.
The tunnels were a maze of darkness. Good thing the system marked the way — without it, he would've been hopelessly lost.
Thoughts buzzed in his head like hornets.
If they die… what happens next? How does the system explain this? What will their families say? Police. Investigations. Everything falls apart.
— "System… you really know how to surprise," he muttered between breaths.
Then, he burst into a massive underground chamber — the center of the whole sewer network.
The lights flickered on.
And in the middle stood it — a grotesque mass of flesh, twisted together from countless rats.
Above its head hovered a name:
[Ksarg]
Rotting skin, dozens of beady red eyes, a wide maw stitched from corpses. Black slime dripped from its teeth.
Beside it — two rusty cages. Inside them: Kaito and Yumi.
Bound by thick wires, their mouths stuffed with dead rats.
The moment they saw Akito, they thrashed and screamed — but the rats silenced them with muffled, choking sounds.
Tears streamed down their faces.
— "Let them go, you bastard!" Akito roared.
Ksarg just twisted into a decaying grin.
Suddenly, a cage dropped from above — slamming around Akito with a clang.
— "Damn it! Wasn't fast enough…" he hissed. "Barely recovered, and I'm already back in a cage."
Then he heard it:
— "H-hummannn… looook…"
Two mutated rats crawled toward Yumi. One sank its teeth into her leg.
She collapsed onto the cold floor, screaming through the gag. Blood poured from the bite.
Kaito's eyes widened as he watched, helpless, frozen.
— "Stop! Please!" Akito screamed, shaking the bars.
But Ksarg turned back toward Yumi — and the swarm followed.
They tore into her. Her hair, her arms, her neck.
One final breath — then silence.
[Quest Updated: Save Kaito]
Akito punched the floor, knuckles splitting.
— "ENOUGH!"
His dagger materialized — one strike, and the cage exploded in a shockwave.
He charged at Ksarg, but the beast unleashed a wave of vermin.
Boom.
Boom.
More explosions.
He fought through the swarm, blade flashing, but Ksarg moved with inhuman speed.
Akito's strike missed — and Ksarg's clawed hand drove into his gut, sending him flying.
[-150 HP]
[Skill "Victor" Activated — All stats temporarily increased by 15%]
[Remaining Time: 47:28… 47:27…]
— "Well, that's something… thanks, system," he groaned, wiping blood from his mouth.
He forced himself up. And charged again.
— "Diiieee… twooo-legggg…" Ksarg bellowed, raising waves of flesh and rats.
They came crashing down — but Akito didn't stop. He slashed, spun, detonated.
But it wasn't enough. His arms trembled. His vision blurred.
— "I can't keep this up…" he muttered. "Think, Akito… THINK!"
Then — a spark of an idea.
He glanced up. A metal platform high above. Hanging cables.
He leapt onto a broken pipe, kicked off a wall, and grabbed a cable just in time.
— "If this doesn't work… I'm dead."
He gripped Raident tight — and hurled it at a crack in the ceiling.
— "TAKE THIS!"
The blade struck true.
Silence.
Then—
BOOM.
A huge chunk of concrete came crashing down on Ksarg.
He couldn't dodge in time. Flesh and bone sprayed everywhere.
Ksarg screamed — a guttural, monstrous sound.
Akito landed hard on the floor, back first. Everything ached. He couldn't move. Not an inch.
The swarm began to gather again. Thousands of tiny feet.
Closer… closer…
— "Not like this…" he whispered. "Please…"
But then — the rats froze.
And a message appeared before his dimming eyes:
[Boss Defeated: Ksarg, the Rat King]
[Level Up: 36 → 51]
Darkness swallowed him whole.
A Few Hours Earlier
Kaito & Yumi's Apartment
— "So, what'd you think of the trailer?" Yumi asked, curling under a blanket.
— "Eh. Looked like the last one," Kaito yawned, tossing the remote aside.
They lay in the dim light of the TV, the warm hum of Tokyo nightlife outside their window.
Everything felt calm. Ordinary.
Then, the lights flickered.
— "Ugh… probably another bulb," Yumi sighed, starting to rise — but stopped cold.
A slick, wet sound echoed from the vents.
Like something was crawling.
— "Did you hear that…?" she whispered, voice shaking.
Kaito was already up.
— "Careful. I'll check."
He reached for the switch.
And that's when it emerged from the shadows.
A grotesque creature — stitched together from tails and flesh. Dozens of eyes.
It filled the room like a nightmare.
— "Yumi! Get back!" Kaito shouted.
The creature shuddered — and hissed:
— "Sys…tem… has chosen… you…"
Then chaos.
Yumi grabbed her phone — but Ksarg dropped from the ceiling, launching Kaito aside.
It wrapped itself around her like a blanket of rot.
Screams.
Glass breaking.
That foul, choking stench.
Then — silence.
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