I am Shoto. I was a collage student who had graduated and wanted to celebrate it with my friends like any other person would.
I couldn't celebrate it because.. in the evening it all went south and.. well that was the time dungeon gates opened.
There was monster swarming our city, not only our city but every single country was experiencing same things.
Our city was losing hope when.. a system appeared.
The so called system 'helped' citizen awaken certain abilities, that was done through putting them in danger. Either it was them or the ones the adored
The system gave each individual a rank. It defined the strength they held.
The lowest were F-rank, E-rank and D-rank. The highest were C-rank, A-rank and S-rank.
Unfortunately when i received my rank.. it got F-rank
I received a single ability called 'Celestial ember'. It was a pretty useless skill because even the skill was F-rank, i was speechless with the my rank but then i received a singular skill?? and even the skill was F-rank...
I couldn't join a guild because of my rank which meant..
I could only go to a small group which would pay me for collecting mana stones or to basically be a human shield.
I lost my friends and my only friend who was like a brother to me, Koto jinwok.
He was S-rank and opened his own guild after refusing to obey the government.
He named his guild, 'Kohan guild'.
'He left me because I was F-rank.. we knew each other since childhood. How could he do this to me..?'
I shook my head to focus on my work as I picked up mana stones from the dead goblins body.
'im already used to this disgusting stench'
"hey you firefly!"
There we go again with a 'firefly' nickname.
"light up the way its too dark to see, we are about to enter the cave"
they really used me as F**king flashlight. though its impressive they could even think about using my so called 'flashlight'.
"coming.." I mumbled as I raised a finger, from a spark there rose a small flame. i lit the thick wood everyone held and for my own light i used my own finger
My finger looked like a candle.
I strolled through the dark cave, after a long walking which dungeons have i we saw a light.
"we've reached the boss room-"
Byeol, our leader paused, the boss room was empty? he made a few noises maybe it would come after hearing the noise?
The sight got everyone perplexed. there was still no sign of boss here maybe it is somewhere else?
"where the hell is the boss??"
"don't know man maybe its hiding?"
Their were murmurs in the group because of the situation.
"Quiet everyone! Stop wasting time and find where the boss is!"
Byeol shouted midst the murmur, everyone went silent and grumbled before doing as they were told.
"you good shoto? I heard they were bullying you again?"
"yea.. I'm fine."
"come on no need to be shy you can tell me anything"
He spoke with a smile but I knew behind that gentle smile there was a person who wanted to toy around with me.
I opened my mouth to speak but got cut off as the group members rushed to our direction screaming, their screams sounded real terrified.
That's when byeol yelled "RUN!"
I ran along the group I didn't take any risks even looking at what the hell that thing was but it was big enough that it broke through the cave walls.
Rumble! Rumble!
THUD!
The rocks were falling everywhere.
We managed to get away from the cave we reached the entrance of the gate.
"i-it's the exit!" a person exhaled as he ran to the gate.
Thud!
The person was perplexed because he couldn't leave through the gate, he was in terror.
The reason was simple. 'The boss hasn't been defeated yet.'
"w-what..? why cant I leave!?"
"what going on??"
There were cries that were worried.
Byeol sighed and spoke as calmly as he could.
"calm down everyone! Focus on how to defeat the boss before it arrives-!"
He was cut off as there were rumbles, it felt like there was a earthquake
'just how big is that thing??' I thought of what it possibly could be.
A cold sweat ran down my face when my eyes landed a dragon. It was 10x bigger then we were.
'there's no way we can defeat that thing!'
"shit.. that things massive" our leader spoke, uneasiness was clear as sky in his voice.
"w-what do we do *hyung?"
(m/o: hyung is a word that's used in korea to address older male by another)
"we just gotta be safe until higher ups are informed about this…" the leader spoke still uneasy and uncertain
The dragon's eyes shot at where we stood because apparently someone couldn't hold back their scream
ROAR!
A deafening that managed to shake the grounds and make stones rattle from it place. it was was so strong my hands couldn't stop trembling, I griped my hand to stop it
'damn it..'
The dragon opened its mouth there was a light that resembled the sun
When i saw that thing, the only that ran through my mind was 'RUN!' I instinctively ran away from the group and hid behind a rock I could feel the intense heat reaching me
There were horrifying screams, if i was in hell it would be like the ones im hearing now.
The screamed didn't stop. I heard loud footsteps, despite the fear and terror i felt, I mustered up enough courage and peaked from the rock
The sight terrified me. the group was melting down. our leader Byeol who tried to run over to me fell mid way as he looked at me with desperate eyes.
i immediately hid behind the rock, i just.. couldn't look at this. i covered my mouth to prevent any noise from leaking at this moment i couldn't think of anything but..
'f*ck... is this how it all ends..?'
TO BE CONTINUED.