The ground beneath Jin's feet didn't just shake; it groaned under the weight of the descending monstrosity. The "Guard Dog" was a marvel of 2300-era corporate engineering—a fifteen-foot-long dragon-construct made of shimmering liquid-chrome and carbon-fiber plating. Its eyes were twin laser-sensors that pulsed with a lethal crimson light, and its wings were rows of hovering gravitational stabilizers.
This wasn't a monster born of the higher dimension; it was a "Security Asset" injected into the game world by the Thorne Corporation to protect their assets. It bypassed the natural laws of the grotto, its presence causing the nearby crystals to crack and turn grey.
"It's a MK-V Sentinel," Seraphina hissed, her silver hair whipping around her face as the construct's gravitational wake hit them. She tried to raise her greatsword, but her arms trembled. The "Overclock" pill was wearing off, leaving her muscles screaming in protest. "We can't fight that. Its armor is reinforced with anti-mana coating. Even high-level spells bounce off it."
The Sentinel let out a mechanical roar—a digitized sound wave that forced Jin to his knees.
[Warning: Critical Energy Overload!] [Your 'Primordial Bloodline' has absorbed 400% of its current capacity!] [Neural Link Stability: 62% and dropping...]
Jin's right arm was no longer just glowing; it was vibrating so violently that the air around it began to distort. The [Spring Essence] he had stolen was like liquid sun trapped in his veins. It wanted out. If he didn't release it, his arm—and likely his real-world nervous system—would explode.
The Sentinel's sensors locked onto Jin. To the machine, he was a "Foreign Data Anomaly" that needed to be purged. It opened its mechanical maw, a ball of concentrated plasma forming between its chrome fangs.
"Get back!" Jin roared.
He didn't run. Instead, he lunged forward.
This wasn't the movement of a Level 3 player. The Neural Reflex passive he had gained earlier, combined with the raw energy of the spring, had turned his body into a conduit for something ancient. As he moved, his Runic Eyes didn't just see the Sentinel; he saw the "Anchor Points" where the machine's digital soul was tied to its physical frame.
He saw a tiny, flickering rune of [Binding] behind the dragon's neck—the "leash" the corporation used to control it.
The Sentinel fired. A beam of white-hot plasma tore through the air.
Jin didn't dodge. He swung his right hand, the one overflowing with the golden essence, and slapped the beam aside as if it were a mere curtain of water. The sheer force of the contact sent a shockwave through the grotto, shattering the crystalline pillars nearby.
[Bloodline Awakening: 0.12% -> 0.85%...] [Inherited Memory Fragment: 'The First Strike' unlocked.]
A vision flashed in Jin's mind—a titan standing on a dead star, carving symbols into the void with a single finger. Instinct took over. Jin didn't use a skill. He didn't use a spell. He used Runic Alchemy on his own body.
He forced the golden energy to condense at the tips of his fingers, shaping it into a singular, sharp rune of [Erasure].
He reached the Sentinel in a heartbeat. The machine tried to swipe at him with a chrome claw, but Jin was already under its guard. He slammed his glowing palm into the dragon's chest, right over its central power core.
"Delete," Jin whispered.
The golden light didn't explode outward; it imploded. The rune of [Erasure] sank into the metal, turning the chrome into black ash instantly. The golden light spread like a virus through the Sentinel's frame, traveling along its power lines and circuitry.
The mechanical dragon froze. Its crimson eyes flickered once, turned gold, and then went dark.
A moment of absolute silence followed. Then, the entire fifteen-foot construct disintegrated. It didn't break into pixels like a game monster; it dissolved into fine, grey dust that coated the floor of the grotto.
[You have destroyed a Corporate Sentinel (Level 25 Elite).] [Calculation Error: Reward adjusted due to Level Disparity.] [Gained: 5,000 Credits, 1x 'Chrome-Steel Core', 1x 'System override Key'.] [Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! ... You have reached Level 9.]
Jin collapsed, his right arm charred and smoking, the golden glow fading into a dull throb. The "Neural Reflex" was still firing, making his world move in slow motion.
Seraphina stood ten feet away, her jaw dropped, her broken sword forgotten on the ground. She looked at the pile of ash that used to be a million-credit security asset, then at the hooded boy in starter rags.
"That wasn't... that wasn't a skill," she whispered, her voice trembling. "There is no 'Erasure' spell in the database. Who are you? What kind of bloodline do you have?"
Before Jin could answer, a loud, piercing alarm echoed through the grotto. It wasn't a game sound; it was the Real World Alert from his Sync-Pod.
"Jin! Log out!" Mei's voice screamed in his ear, sounding terrified. "They're tracing the feedback from the Sentinel! The Sector 4 Enforcers are two blocks away! You have to go!"
Jin looked at Seraphina. He could see her "Sync-Rate" was still dangerously low. If he left her here, the Silver-Fang reinforcements would find her.
"Hold my hand," Jin commanded, his voice raspy.
"What?"
"If you want to live, hold my hand. I'm going to bridge our logout."
Seraphina hesitated for only a second before grabbing his hand. Her palm was cold, but the moment they touched, Jin used the last of the [Spring Essence] to etch a temporary [Link] rune between their souls.
[Forced Logout Initiated...]
Jin gasped for air as the Sync-Pod hissed open. The smell of ozone was gone, replaced by the pungent, real-world stench of burning insulation. His right arm felt like it was on fire in reality—a "phantom pain" from the neural feedback.
"Jin! They're on the floor below!" Mei was frantically packing a small bag, her wheelchair spinning around their tiny unit. "I scrambled our IP, but they have a physical scanner. They know a high-energy pulse originated from this block!"
Jin climbed out, his legs wobbly. "We have to go. Now."
He grabbed Mei's wheelchair, but just as he reached for the door, it slid open.
Standing in the hallway was a woman. She was wearing a tattered, high-collared coat over an expensive but ruined combat suit. Her silver hair was messy, and her eyes were wide with shock. She was leaning against the wall, clutching her head as if in deep pain.
It was Seraphina. Physically.
"You..." she gasped, looking at Jin. "The 'Link' rune... it led me here."
In the distance, the heavy thud of Enforcer boots echoed up the stairwell.