As I continued forward, the woman's voice started to echo faintly from a far distance behind me. She repeated the same warnings from earlier, and of course, I continued to ignore them. Though, maybe I shouldn't have.
My resolve to venture the rift was fortified from my greed and spite, but as I gained my composure, reality started dawning on me.
Well, less so reality, and moreso the corpses of wild dogs, which grew both in size and number. What began as scattered bodies and remains soon turned into heaps of of decaying flesh and bones, rising into mountains of rot.
Large pools of lava seeped through the cracks in the ground, and sweat poured out my skin, only to evaporate before they reached the ground.
The air became thick and heavy. The stench of death and ash lingered in the air, forcing me to breathe out my mouth. The smell was simply too unbearable for my nose to function.
Damn it. Whatever. I already made it this far. If I head out now, nothing but jail time and fees are waiting for me. Government fines aren't going to pay for my mom's treatments.
I trudged on for about half an hour until the echoes of a weak cry made its way into my ears. A girl was crying.
That must be the CEO's daughter! My golden ticket!
I sprinted my way towards the sound, passing through a large corridor of chiseled stone. Its walls were carved into twisted faces of dog like gargoyles with their eyes crying tears of molten lava.
Soon, a figure of a short girl lying atop a massive pool of blood, which was deep enough to submerge half of her body, came into view.
The girl had dirty blonde hair and porcelain pale skin, stained with smudges of soot and blood. Her clothes were surprisingly intact, only torn off under the elbow of her right arm, which seemed oddly healthy compared to the rest of her body.
Seeing my reward money sprawled out into a bloody mess, I exerted all my energy and ran as fast I could.
Unfortunately, I ran too hurriedly for my own good and failed to stop myself before I fell and rolled my way over to her, stopping near inches from her face.
She looked up at me with tears spilling out her eyes and flinched at the sight of my excited, disfigured smile.
"Uhh, hey! I'm here to save you. Sorry for the botched entrance. I got too eager to rush here once I saw you on the ground."
Her eyes lit up with a slight sparkle of hope. She barely managed to open her lips as a delicate voice croaked out softly.
"D-did my father send you?"
"Umm, no…"
Her eyes suddenly darkened and a small frown creeped onto her face.
I anxiously calculated a string of words to enlighten her with hope. I couldn't afford to make a bad first impression to the girl that would be my path to riches.
"But don't worry! I should be strong enough to kill that monster and get you out in one piece! You won't even gain another scratch on your pretty face. Just make sure you remember to mention me to your da—"
"What about Ruby?"
Her weak voice unexpectedly gained some strength as she interrupted my speech.
"Who's that?"
"Ruby is my bodyguard. She shielded me from a blast and was thrown down the cave by the rift guardian. She's a commander rank shaman, so she shouldn't have died to the attack. Did you see her on your way here?"
"Umm, if you're referring to the lady with red hair, I definitely saw her earlier. She was still alive. I don't think she could move well though."
The girl gently closed her eyes and exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Okay, thank you for letting me know."
A sudden worry penetrated my mind.
Wait, is this really the time for conversation?
"Yeah, you're welcome, but uhh, where's the rift guardian?"
"It should be arriving soon. It took the corpses of my comrades and took them underground. It left me here believing I was dead. I'm sure it'll come back up to retrieve my body as well. It's strong, but it's been heavily damaged by Ruby before she was thrown back. And all the other spirits have been subjugated prior. You should be able to defeat the guardian easily if you're at least a strong senior or commander rank."
The mention of ranks left me stumped me once again.
"Hey, I don't really understand all the ranks and stuff. What rank do you think I would be?"
The girl looked up at me with a dazed expression.
"W-what do you mean?"
"Well, I only awakened earlier today, so I don't really know how the rank stuff works."
Her eyes widened and panic filled her face as her jaw dropped, leaving her mouth fully agape.
"Y-you… What do you mean you only awakened today? What abilities do you have?"
I suddenly realized I never even bothered to check what ability I had before entering the rift. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I closed my eyes and let the system fade into my mind.
[Name: Damin Lee]
[Trait: The Gambler]
[Abilities: Martingale]
[Martin Gale:]
[Ability Type - Passive]
[Ability Description - The user grows 2x stronger with every injury received from an enemy. The ability is reset once the user is out of combat or when spirit energy is depleted.]
I opened my eyes and responded proudly, puffing my chest with vigor.
"I have one passive ability called Martingale. It says I grow two times stronger with every injury I take from a spirit in a fight, but don't worry. I'm sure my base stats are crazy good. The damn monster won't be able to damage me much."
The girl exclaimed out in a frenzied voice.
"Y-y-you only have one ability? And you just awakened this morning? That means you're no stronger than a fresh rank officer!! And how can you be so certain that you won't take damage from the guardian? It managed to debilitate a commander!!"
I let out a sly smirk and leaned closer into her ear.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. I actually awakened with a system. You know those systems like the ones in the games or webtoons. I think I've been blessed by the heavens to save the world or whatever. So I'm sure I can take a measly rift guardian on in a fight."
She pushed me away with what little strength she had left and shot daggers into me with her glare.
"You idiot!!! The system appears for everybody when they awaken! Why did you think you were special?! Oh, we're doomed! The rift guardian will arrive and kill us all! You better pray that my father has sent a mercenary here to save us!"
My jaw dropped.
Oh… fuck.
Before I could even fully process what she said, cracks erupted on the ground behind us. A thunderous quake rattled the cave as massive claws tore through stone, crushing it under their weight. A gigantic pair of jagged feet crashed down just a hundred feet away from us.
The rift guardian had arrived.