Before Major Cynthia Vance could even vocalise her surrender, the heavy concrete wall at the westernmost end of the subterranean bay completely imploded. A rain of pulverized rock and twisted iron reinforcement bars blasted outward, throwing up a secondary, choking cloud of gray dust.

"Guraaaaaa".

A monstrous, blood-curdling roar echoed from the newly formed breach. Charging through the smoke was a Level 22 Abyssal Executioner Titan—a terrifying, twelve-foot-tall demonic brute skin-clad in plates of raw obsidian bone armor, carrying a massive, blood-slicked executioner’s cleaver that hissed with corrosive green void acid.

It wasn’t attacking Min-jae. It was actively hunting someone else.

Sprinting backward out of the breach, her boots skidding across the blood-slicked concrete, was a young woman who looked to be exactly nineteen years old— but she fought with the raw, unhinged ferocity of a wild apex predator. She possessed striking, feral features, wild, shoulder-length crimson hair that whipped around her face like real flames, and a pair of burning, amber-gold eyes that refused to betray a single ounce of fear. She wore a shredded, high-tier dark leather combat armor that perfectly accentuated her exceptionally voluptuous, athletic hourglass curves and tight, muscular midriff.

Her right arm was heavily bandaged, bleeding dark crimson fluid. In her left hand, she held a shattered, heavy iron greatsword that was pulsing with a desperate, dying red aura.

This was Kang Chae-yeon (Level 19), a legendary solo rogue who had been trapped in the sanctuary’s deepest subterranean trial vaults when the global descent began. Her S-Rank talent, Blood-Frenzy Berserker, multiplied her physical strength the lower her health pool dropped, but right now, her health bar was flashing a critical, dangerous 15%.

"Die, you stone-skinned bastard!" Chae-yeon roared, her voice a fierce, melodic scream. She planted her boots, swinging her shattered greatsword in a desperate, horizontal line to deflect the incoming giant cleaver.

The structural force of the collision snapped her iron blade into a dozen flying shards. The heavy kinetic impact blew her voluptuous frame backward, sending her skidding across the concrete right toward the center of the bay, her back slamming heavily against the iron tracks of Min-jae’s parked flagship carrier. She coughed up a splash of dark blood, her amber eyes widening as the giant Level 22 Titan lunged forward to execute her with a downward, splitting strike.

"Min-jae!" Han Seo-yoon called out, her knuckles turning white against her dark celestial silver bow.

Min-jae didn’t give a verbal command. He simply executed his Spatial Void Phase skill, his figure vanishing from the center of the bay in a fraction of a millisecond.

Space fractured directly in front of the bleeding crimson-haired berserker. Min-jae materialized smoothly out of the purple spatial fold, his hands casually stuffed inside his cargo pockets, his posture completely relaxed as he stood directly between the lunging demon titan and the shocked young woman.

Crash.!

The giant, acid-slicked executioner’s cleaver brought down enough physical and magical force to split a tank in half, striking Min-jae squarely on the forehead.

A blinding golden-crimson ripple erupted across his skin, absorbing the cataclysmic kinetic impact and converting the magical acid parameter to absolute zero physical force.

[ Received 9,500 points of Calamity-Rank Kinetic and Acid Damage.]

[S-Rank Mutation Active: ’Vajra Ward’ converts Acid Magic into Physical Impact... Successful.]

[SSS-Rank Talent Active: ’Eternal Vajra Deity Body’ triggered! Total Damage Negated.]

[Vajra Retribution Active: Reflecting 150% True Damage to the target!]

[Reflecting 14,250 points of True Damage straight into the Titan’s life signature!]

Booom.!

A horrific, invisible counter-shockwave exploded from Min-jae’s skin. The 14,250 points of True Damage traveled instantly up the cleaver blade, completely ignoring the Titan’s heavy obsidian bone armor and level-based damage reduction parameters.

The twelve-foot-tall demonic brute didn’t even get to complete its roar.

With a sickening crunch of fracturing bone, its entire upper torso and muscular green arms violently disintegrated from the inside out into a gruesome spray of black fluid. The heavy cleaver shattered into a thousand jagged fragments, and the massive lower half of the Titan collapsed to its knees before dissolving into a giant pile of premium system gold and high-tier loot drops right at Min-jae’s boots.

[ You have eliminated the Level 22 Abyssal Executioner Titan! Gained 2,800 Exp!]

The subterranean bay fell into a dead, suffocating silence once more.

Kang Chae-yeon sat frozen against the carrier tracks, her amber-gold eyes wide with unadulterated, primal shock. Her berserker mind completely short-circuited. She had spent the last three hours using every ounce of her blood-line mana just to scratch this monster’s armor. Yet, this handsome, impossibly calm teenager had simply stood there, taken the hit with his bare skin, and the titan had literally turned itself into dust upon contact.

Min-jae slowly turned around, his bottomless obsidian eyes looking down at her bleeding, voluptuous figure with complete indifference. His system cheat instantly flared to life, scanning her data.

[Scanning Target: Kang Chae-yeon (Age: 19)]

[Innate Talent: Blood-Frenzy Berserker (Rank S)]

[Description: Multiplies physical damage parameters by 400% when health drops below 20%.]

[Hidden Evolution Path Found for Target!]

[Evolving to Rank-SSS: ’Asura Goddess of the Infinite Carnage’ (Requires 35,000 Mana Crystals).]

Min-jae’s lips curved into a cold, highly intrigued expression. Kang Chae-yeon. The future "Asura Queen" of the human alliance, whose unyielding frontline vanguard damage had broken entire demon armies before the final betrayal.

He walked up to her, stopping right in front of her kneeling figure. He reached down, his strong, dominant fingers gently gripping her chin, forcing her to look up into his cold eyes. The physical touch sent an unexplainable, grounding wave of safety through her chaotic, adrenaline-fueled veins, causing a deep, sultry crimson flush to creep up her pale neck.

"Your blade is broken, berserker," Min-jae said, his voice a low, seductive baritone that sent a deep shiver down her spine. "In this new world, fighting until you bleed to death is a garbage tactic. Join my team, give me your loyalty, and I’ll turn your frenzy into a sub-divine weapon that never breaks."

[ Target ’Kang Chae-yeon’ has initiated an emergency rescue allegiance calculation!]

[Current Team Trust Metric: 65% (Shocked / Completely Captivated by Absolute Might).b]

Chae-yeon looked up into his bottomless black eyes, her wild, independent solo pride completely melting into absolute, willing submission to his dominant strength.

"I am... yours," she whispered, her heart racing violently as the team seal dissolved into her chest.