Deep within the E-Rank Dungeon Gate inside the boss room stood a massive pile of corpses. Which included the broken bodies of slimes, dead hellhounds, crushed goblins.

But something was wrong, they weren’t disappearing. When a monster is killed inside a gate it was bound to disappear. But these corpses didn’t.

At the center of the room was a tall, bulky, ugly looking human-like creature. It stood around six feet tall and had pale green skin with several strange black markings around its body. It was an ogre.

Its body was thin and old, yet the mana surrounding it was so dense that even the air around it felt heavy.

Several glowing monster cores floated around the old ogre while dark purple flames burned beneath them.

The old ogre slowly raised its wooden staff. Then it slammed it against the ground.

BOOOOM!

A massive magic circle suddenly spread across the cavern floor.

The corpses scattered around the cave instantly began to twitch violently.

CRRRRRKKKK!

They all started moving.

Each corpse slowly joined together with the one next to it like a horrifying puzzle. It looked like some terrifying science experiment coming to life.

The dead monsters slowly combined into what looked like a giant egg-like cocoon at the center of the magic circle.

Then the old ogre began chanting in an unknown language.

Its voice sounded ancient and distorted like multiple creatures speaking together at once.

The floating monster cores suddenly shattered one after another.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Large amounts of mana exploded out from them before pouring directly into the giant pile of flesh.

Then something horrifying happened.

The egg-like cocoon suddenly began to crack open.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Several giant ogres crawled out from inside it. There were twelve in total. Each one stood over ten feet tall with bulging muscles and glowing red eyes filled with madness.

They glanced at the old ogre but paid no attention to him.

Instead, all of them immediately started devouring the cocoon they had crawled out from.

The sound of flesh tearing echoed throughout the cavern.

After eating everything, the giant ogres slowly stood before the old ogre who now looked tiny compared to them.

"Krrs frh ghr frr lmma\~ My children... you need to grow stronger so we can attack the world beyond this place. Go out and hunt monsters. Feed on their cores and grow stronger. Spare nothing and kill all." The old ogre spoke again in that strange foreign language.

Immediately, all the ogres turned and began walking out of the boss room.

Each heavy step made the cavern tremble slightly.

The old ogre slowly raised its head.

"Dhh rrvv\~ This is only the beginning of the great plan... Cadillazik\~ We shall rule..."

***

Reiji stared at the system notification in confusion.

"It morphed into a D-Rank dungeon...? But why is there a minus? It’s qualified to be called a D-Rank Gate but not quite?" Reiji muttered to himself as he removed the Knight Sword from his inventory.

Every corner he passed became quieter and quieter, making the dungeon feel even more dangerous.

At least when monsters were around, he could see what wanted to kill him.

But this silence? It felt far worse.

Reiji gritted his teeth as he continued walking. He didn’t dare let his guard down even for a single second.

A sudden sound echoed from deeper inside the tunnel.

SKRRRKKK!

Reiji immediately stopped walking. His grip around the sword tightened as his eyes narrowed toward the darkness ahead. "...Finally."

Heavy footsteps slowly echoed through the tunnel.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sound was slow and uneven like something dragging its feet across the rocky ground.

Then a figure slowly emerged from the darkness. It was massive at least eight feet tall.

Its skin was pale green and rough like hardened stone while its muscular body was covered in scars and crude leather armor. It held a giant wooden club that rested on its shoulder.

But what caught Reiji’s attention the most was its face.

It looked human like. At least it tried to.

Its mouth stretched too wide while its nose looked flattened like it had been crushed several times. Two small tusks protruded from its lower jaw.

The creature tilted its head slightly as its pale yellow eyes locked onto Reiji.

"...What the hell is that?" Reiji muttered under his breath.

Ding!

[Warning!!! – Anomaly Detected!]

[Dungeon Anomaly – Anders Helm (D++)]

"What the... Isn’t it the Boss Monster or something?"

Reiji stared at the creature in shock as he backed away slowly, he didn’t expect to encounter a powerful creature at first sight.

Though it looked terrifying, he didn’t think it was harmful. But if the system sounded so serious about it then it was no joke.

The creature tilted its head genuinely confused.

Reiji immediately returned the Knight’s Sword and equipped the Soul Torture Blade, then took his stance as he stared at the creature ready for a fight.

*Growl*

The large creature suddenly got on all fours like a wild animal as it felt hostility from Reiji and the deathly aura around his blade.

Reiji’s eyes didn’t waver as he stared at the creature whose growling grew from warning to intense.

"Raaarrr!!!"

The creature lunged forward like a blur.

*Slash*

"Ahh!!" Reiji screamed in agony as he felt the deep cut left by the creature claws.

’Damn it... It’s so fast thank god my speed is at the realm of D-Rank unless that strike would have ended me.’ Reiji thought bitterly. The creature was aiming for his neck but Reiji was able to dodge the attack, but it still clawed his shoulder.

The creature lunged again but Reiji wasn’t falling for the same thing twice he pretend to leap backwards but lunged forward instead catching the creature off guard only for a second. Just as the blade was about to touch the creature’s stomach. It leaped upward, twisting its body in an inhumane way leaping over Reiji’s head.

Before Reiji could react it landed and immediately swung its leg trying to make Reiji trip and lose balance. But Reiji immediately leaped backwards but the creature lunged forward with an explosive strike using its fist.

"Shit." Reiji used the dagger and blocked the attack but was knocked a few meters backwards.

’This thing is fighting like a wild animal and a veteran human and really does know how to attack open spots... This is really going to be troublesome... System add all Free Stats Points to Agility!’ Reiji then remember then thousands of high-ranking Rank D+ soldiers and those seven elders. That was way worse.

"It’s only had a flexible body and mainly focus on speed so I won’t let it overwhelm me... "

Ding!

[Speed: +10]

Reiji instantly felt his body become lighter than before. It stared at Reiji with vicious eyes.

"Raarr!!"

It lunged again but this time it was so fast to him like before he could see its movement. The creature stretched its hands out and it claws extended. Reiji parried it with the Soul Torture Blade, immediately equipped the Knight Sword but just as he was about to swing it the creature’s tail grabbed the hand he was holding the Soul Torture Blade

’It has a tail!!!’

The creature immediately used a leg to kick the Knight’s Sword out of his hand and followed up using the soles of both legs and hit Reiji square in the chest.

Reiji stumbled backwards several meters but he was still able to stop himself from falling.

"Blergh...!!" Reiji coughed up a mouth full of blood. That hit was definitely no play.

The creature stared at him and walked slow with both legs this time. Its footsteps were calm and unhurried as if saying that it had already won the battle.

"Blergh....!!!" Reiji continued to cough up blood as the creature slowly closed the distance between them.

Just as the creature raised its hand to land the final strike...

"Soul Torture Flame!!!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

VOOM!!

Pale amber flames instantly enveloped the anomaly.

"Arrrhhhhh!!!!!" It let out a deafening shriek as it fell to the ground roll around.

Reiji didn’t pay attention to this and immediately rushed to pick his sword and dagger.

When he returned his gaze back to the creature he saw it was now black and its legs were twitching before they stopped after a few seconds later.

Reiji didn’t think it would work, even if it was real or fae he didn’t care as long as there was now an opening then he must do the needful in order to survive.

Reiji rushed over with the Soul Torture Blade in hands and raised it high above the creature ready to end it once and for all. But what he didn’t notice was a small wicked smile that played on the creature’s lips.

Its eyes snapped open startling Reiji. ’Shit... It was a setup.’

It leaped over Reiji once again in a inhumane way but this time it planted its claws on Reiji’s shoulder and before he could react the creature threw Reiji.

Just as Reiji’s body was still in motion, heading to hit a wall the creature appeared so fast it seemed as if it teleported.

’Shit!’

BOOM!

It sent a punch straight to Reiji’s abdomen and his eyes rolled back.

BOOOM!

Reiji’s body collided with the wall faster because of the force of the punch.

Then fell face-first onto the ground.

Reiji tried to stand up using all the strength he could muster but nothing. He was now a bloody mess.

Reiji gritted his teeth as he stared at the figure walking calmly towards him. His vision was blurred as he collapsed.