Hide didn’t turn around to look at the center of the park just yet. He kept his eyes locked on the masked man standing behind him.

"Did you open this gate as well?" Hide asked.

His voice was steady. The dark mana swirling around his armored body thickened, reacting to his rising anger.

"And why did you push me into that Dungeon?"

The Joker stiffened.

For a fraction of a second, the relaxed posture vanished. It was replaced by a rigid, absolute stillness.

Then, the Joker chuckled.

"You indeed are sharp," the Joker said.

He tilted his head, the painted diamond eyes of the mask boring directly into Hide.

"Here is a question... what do you think the gates are?"

Then he took a single step forward, at the same time as Hide pushed his body to attack and then he vanished.

Hide stood alone with Zenith besides him.

He slowly lowered his sword and scanned the empty amusement park, but his enhanced senses picked up absolutely nothing.

’What the hell is that talent?’

Was it related to speed? Or was it pure teleportation? Because if it was speed, he was far too fast. Hide had fought strong opponents recently, but this man... he was easily more powerful than a Major in the National Exterminator Agency. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Maybe he was at the level of the Commanders.

That thought sent a genuine chill down his spine. The Commanders were the absolute peak of human strength in the country. They were walking natural disasters. Why the hell was a figure with that level of power after him?

And more importantly, how did he know about his mother and father?

That was the most suspicious part. Hide’s mother had almost never talked about his father. As far as Hide remembered, she had only mentioned him maybe five times in his entire life. And always in vague, brief passing. Never a name.

Just a sad look in her eyes before the Calamity Beasts took her.

No.

Hide gritted his teeth. His grip on the hilt of his sword turned his knuckles white.

The beasts didn’t take her. The government did.

Remembering this made a bitter taste rise in his mouth. He was furious at his current self. He was wearing the NEA uniform. He was taking their orders, playing their little game, working for the exact same people who caused his mother’s death.

But it couldn’t be helped.

The government and the NEA were the ones who knew the most about his mother’s research. They held the restricted files. They held the truth. He would certainly dig that up, no matter what it took. Even if he had to become their dog for a while to get close to the files.

But the Joker’s question echoed in his mind.

’What do you think the gates are?’

Hide frowned. Weren’t they just spatial tears bringing monsters from another dimension? Why would the Joker ask something like that?

More importantly. If that guy used a talent... then why didn’t the system pick up anything? It had even followed with an adaptation to Rol’s talent.

He was violently forced out of his thoughts by a massive, thundering blast.

BOOM!

The shockwave rattled the rusted roller coaster tracks above him, shaking loose decades of dried moss.

It was followed by the guttural, metallic shriek of a monster. And then, cutting through the humid air of the gate... the terrified scream of a girl.

Evelyn.

Hide snapped his head toward the center of the amusement park. That was exactly where the Joker had pointed.

"Return," Hide ordered.

Zenith instantly dissolved into dark smoke, sinking seamlessly back into Hide’s body.

He sprinted down the ruined, overgrown pathways of the park, his boots crushing the dead grass.

He headed straight for the massive, collapsed Ferris wheel that marked the central area of the amusement park.

The area was a labyrinth of rotting concession stands and broken rides. The eerie silence of the gate was completely shattered now.

As he darted past a rusted carousel, a slight distortion in the air caught his eye.

A blur of motion detached itself from the wall of a nearby booth.

Hide ducked purely on instinct.

A pair of incredibly long, muscular arms swept over his head. The sharp claws scraped against the dark scales of his Carapace armor, throwing blue sparks into the air but failing to pierce the defense.

Hide rolled across the pavement and sprang to his feet, bringing Night Singer up.

Standing in front of him was a bizarre, grotesque Calamity beast.

It stood on two legs, but its torso was hunched over, its massive arms dragging along the ground. Its hands possessed only three, terrifyingly sharp fingers.

But the most unsettling part was its head. It didn’t have a face or a head to have one.

Apart from its head, the rest of its skin was actively shifting colors. It rippled like water, perfectly matching the rusted metal and green moss of the ground it stood on.

Like a chameleon.

The beast shrieked, a sound that seemed to vibrate directly from its chest cavity. It lunged at Hide with startling speed, its long arms whipping forward like heavy chains.

Hide didn’t back down.

He sidestepped the sweeping arc of the beast’s right arm, stepping cleanly inside its guard.

The short sword singed in a lethal arc.

The faceless beast swung its left arm in a desperate counterattack, but Hide was significantly faster. The stat points he had dumped into Agility were showing their worth.

He brought the sword up in a clean, brutal upward slash. The dark blade sheared through the beast’s dense muscle, severing the arm cleanly at the elbow.

Black blood sprayed across the cracked pavement.

Before the chameleon beast could shriek again, Hide spun on his heel. Using the momentum of his spin, he drove the blade directly into the center of the beast’s chest, twisting the hilt to widen the wound.

The beast convulsed once and went completely limp. Its camouflage instantly faded into a dull, muddy grey.

[Calamity Beast (Faceless) - Eliminated]

Experience points gained: 200

Hide ripped his sword out with a wet tearing sound. He didn’t even bother cutting it open to look for the core. He had no time.

He kicked the dead beast aside and kept running.

He rounded the corner of the Ferris wheel.

"AHHH!"

Evelyn’s scream came from his left.

Hide turned his head just in time to see the reinforced concrete wall of a funhouse explode outward in a massive shower of dust and debris.

Evelyn threw herself out of the shattered second-story window.

She landed hard on the mossy pavement, rolling awkwardly to absorb the impact. She let out a sharp gasp of pain as she hit the ground.

Hide’s eyes narrowed in shock.

Her pristine military-grade uniform was torn and bloodied. Her usually perfect hair was matted with dirt. But that wasn’t what caught his attention.

Evelyn’s hands were bound tightly behind her back with a thick, glowing cord of hardened mana.

She couldn’t use her hands. For a tamer without her shikigami’s and not even her hands to use, she was completely helpless.

She scrambled to her feet, her face pale with absolute terror. She desperately tried to run toward the center, stumbling over the broken concrete.

A second later, the rest of the funhouse wall completely collapsed.

Bursting from the rubble was an Armored Buffalo.

But it wasn’t a normal one.

It was easily three times the size of the beasts Hide had fought not too long ago. Its thick, metallic armor was jagged, protruding from its hide like broken, rusted blades. The metal plating was completely stained with fresh, dark blood.

Its massive, red eyes rolled madly in its skull. Thick, boiling steam shot from its nostrils with every labored breath.

’What the hell happened to that!’ Hide gasped in surprise. It was his first time seeing or even hearing about such a thing.

The beast had gone completely feral.

The massive beast let out a deafening, metallic bellow. It lowered its massive, rusted horns and charged.

The ground shook violently under its heavy hooves, cracking the pavement with every step. It was locked directly onto the bound and defenseless Evelyn.