The silence in the subway station was suffocating, thick enough to be felt against the skin. The low-rank hunters stood like statues, their eyes wide and trembling as they stared at the young man in the center of the shattered concrete. Aryan stood there, his tattered clothes swaying in a wind that shouldn't have existed underground.
"Who… who are you?" the leader of the party stammered, his shield clattering against his armor.
Aryan didn't offer a glance. He didn't offer a word. To him, these people were merely background noise—minor glitches in a world he was destined to overwrite. His eyes, glowing with a faint, dangerous violet hue, were locked onto the pitch-black abyss of the subway tunnel ahead.
[Status: Hungry]
[Void Energy: 92%]
The mana in the air was shifting, twisting into jagged purple lines that only he could see through his [Dimension Vision]. It wasn't just a monster den; it was a wound in reality itself.
"Wait!" the girl he had saved earlier cried out, her voice echoing off the tiled walls. "The scanners… they're going off the charts! There's something down there that shouldn't exist in a D-Rank zone! It's suicide!"
Aryan didn't stop. He didn't feel a shred of gratitude for her warning, nor did he feel the warmth of being a savior. His heart was a hollow chamber, a void where emotions had once lived but were now replaced by a cold, calculating hunger for EXP.
"Stay back," he said. His voice was flat, like the sound of grinding stone.
With a sudden ripple in the air, Aryan's form blurred and vanished, leaving behind only a wisp of purple smoke.
[Skill Activated: Void Step]
He reappeared a hundred meters deep into the tunnel. The environment here was a nightmare. Rusted subway cars lay overturned like the carcasses of giant metal beasts. The walls were covered in a pulsating, black organic growth that hummed with corrupted mana.
SCREEEEE—!
The screeching began—a high-pitched, metallic sound that grated on the nerves. From the shadows beneath the train cars and from the cracks in the ceiling, dozens of creatures emerged.
[Monster Identified: Grave Digger (Rank D)]
They were horrific—multi-legged horrors with pale, translucent skin and mandibles that dripped with a corrosive, glowing slime. There were at least forty of them, a swarm that would have overwhelmed a B-Rank team through sheer numbers.
Aryan didn't move. He stood in the center of the tracks as the swarm surged toward him.
The first Grave Digger leaped, its jagged claws aimed at Aryan's throat. Aryan simply tilted his head a fraction of an inch. The claw whistled past his ear, and before the monster could land, Aryan's hand shot out like a serpent. He grabbed the creature by its neck—not to choke it, but to find its 'flaw.'
Through his [Dimension Vision], he saw a thin, flickering line at the base of its skull. He didn't just squeeze; he applied [Void Pressure].
The space around his fingers collapsed. The Grave Digger's head didn't just break—it imploded, turning into a spray of grey ash that vanished before it could hit the floor.
[Target Eliminated. EXP +20]
But the swarm was relentless. Five more lunged from different angles. Aryan pivoted on his heel, his movements fluid and efficient. He moved through the swarm like a ghost, his [Void Step] allowing him to flicker in and out of existence.
One monster tried to bite his leg; he stepped on its head, the weight of his Void Energy crushing its skull into the tracks. Another swiped at his chest; he caught the limb, twisted it until the bone shattered through the skin, and then used [Void Extraction] to rip the mana directly out of its living body.
The tunnel was a symphony of snapping bones and the sound of creatures disintegrating into nothingness. Aryan was a whirlwind of silent destruction. Every time a creature touched the aura surrounding him—his [Void Aura]—their limbs began to wither and turn to dust.
"Too weak," Aryan muttered, his eyes cold as he watched the last of the swarm fall.
He raised his palm, and a violent vortex of purple energy swirled in the air.
"[Void Extraction]."
Dozens of glowing purple orbs rose from the pile of ash and corpses, flying toward Aryan like stars falling into a black hole. They entered his chest, sending waves of raw power through his veins.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 6]
Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate. A low, guttural roar echoed from the depths, so powerful that the rusted subway cars actually rattled on their tracks. The black mist in the tunnel was pushed aside by a massive, crystalline foot.
A titan emerged. It was ten feet tall, its body composed of jagged, obsidian-like shards that pulsed with a dark, violet light. It had no head—only a massive, lidless eye embedded in its chest, staring with a hunger that matched Aryan's own.
[Boss Monster Detected: Void Sentinel (Rank C - Corrupted)]
The pressure was suffocating. The air itself felt like it was being squeezed out of the tunnel. Ordinary hunters would have been paralyzed by the sheer killing intent of a C-Rank Boss.
Aryan didn't flinch. He didn't feel fear, and he certainly didn't feel excitement. He only felt the cold logic of the system.
"Rank C," Aryan said, his voice echoing in the gloom. Black lightning began to dance between his fingers, crackling with a sound like tearing silk. "You're just a larger pile of data waiting to be deleted."
He didn't wait for the Boss to strike. He walked forward, his footsteps heavy with the weight of the Void, ready to tear the reality out of the Sentinel's heart.