Inside the Sunken Necropolis the air was quiet.

Glen stood in the center of the ruined crypt testing his new B Rank skill. He focused his mana and stepped backward into the shadow of a massive stone pillar. The world dissolved into a rush of cold darkness and a split second later he materialized fifty meters away near the entrance of the boss room.

"Shadow Step is incredible" Glen laughed brushing dust off his jacket. "There is zero cast time. It is completely instantaneous."

"Do not get cocky Mcdonald" Isla said walking into the crypt with Caleb. She was spinning her runic pistols expertly before holstering them. "It consumes a lot of mana. If you spam it you will drain your reserves and end up a sitting duck."

"She is right" Caleb agreed tapping his staff against the shattered remains of the Necromancer. "But it is a massive upgrade. Combined with Lightning Movement your mobility is basically lower S rank level now. No one below S rank is going to be able to touch you."

Glen smiled looking at the massive purple core he had ripped from the boss. The system had already absorbed the skill but the core itself was still highly valuable. "We clear the rest of the loot in this room and we head back. This was a solid first run."

Before Isla could reply the ground beneath their feet violently shuddered.

It was not a normal dungeon tremor. The ambient mana in the air which had been a heavy dark purple suddenly shifted. It turned pitch black. The glowing moss on the walls withered and died plunging the cathedral into absolute darkness.

The temperature dropped below freezing.

"Caleb" Isla snapped drawing her pistols instantly. "Did you trigger a trap?"

"Hey! I did not touch anything" Caleb said his voice tight with panic. He slammed his staff into the ground casting a glowing orb of light into the air to illuminate the room.

Glen did not say a word. He could not speak.

Deep inside his spiritual core the dark fragment of The Lost was screaming. It was a burning agonizing sensation that radiated through his chest. His left hand the hand he used to channel Void Touch began to twitch uncontrollably leaking faint wisps of dead gray energy.

"Glen?" Isla asked noticing his sudden distress. "What is wrong?"

"Something is coming" Glen gritted his teeth drawing his heavy black longsword. "Something terrible."

Footsteps echoed from the long hallway leading to the crypt. They were slow deliberate and perfectly rhythmic.

A figure stepped into the light of Caleb’s glowing orb.

It was a man wearing the gray uniform of a Valor Guild logistics manager. He had greasy hair a permanent sneer etched into his face and stern brown eyes.

"Duncan Carmichael?" Caleb asked lowering his staff slightly in confusion. "What is a logistics manager doing inside an Independent gate?"

Isla kept her pistols raised her instincts screaming at her. "That is impossible. The Gate Hub locked this dungeon to our licenses. No one else can enter without overriding the Association mainframe."

Duncan stopped at the edge of the crypt. He did not smile. He did not gloat. He simply stared at them with eyes that looked like empty voids.

"You carry the scent of my god child" Duncan spoke. His voice was perfectly flat echoing directly into their minds. "Your existence is a threat to my kind."

Glen gripped his sword his knuckles turning white. The burning in his chest was unbearable. The Void Touch passive was reacting to the man standing in front of them.

"That is not Duncan" Glen warned his voice low and dangerous. "Get back. Both of you."

The entity wearing Duncan’s skin tilted his head slightly observing Glen like a scientist examining a microbe.

"Do not be afraid I won’t harm you yet. You are weak" The Wanderer stated. It was not an insult. It was a simple terrifying fact. "The void inside you is starving. If I cut it out of your stomach now it will be a meager harvest. A seed must grow before it is reaped."

The Wanderer raised a single pale hand.

He did not cast a spell. He did not summon a weapon. He simply exerted his will upon the dungeon.

The stone walls of the Necropolis groaned and shattered. The ceiling cracked raining massive boulders down into the cathedral. The purple spatial gate at the entrance of the dungeon the only way back to Earth began to violently pulse turning a deep blood red.

"I claim this tomb as my nest" The Wanderer’s voice echoed shaking the very foundations of the dungeon. "Leave. Grow. Ripen. Return before it’s too late or else you along with all the countless humans on this world will return to dust ."

The Wanderer flicked his wrist.

A massive shockwave of pure concentrated anti mana exploded outward. It hit Glen Isla and Caleb like a freight train. The sheer kinetic force shattered Glen’s Obsidian Skin instantly. His ribs cracked and the air was driven from his lungs.

The three Hunters were violently thrown backward flying through the air across the length of the massive cathedral.

"Glen, The gate!" Isla screamed twisting in mid air.

Glen saw the purple portal rapidly shifting to crimson. If it turned completely red it would seal permanently.

"Shadow Step!" Glen roared grabbing Isla’s coat and Caleb’s collar.

He burned every ounce of mana he had left. The world dissolved into black mist. They bypassed the remaining distance and materialized directly in front of the portal just as the edges began to solidify into a Red Gate. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

They threw themselves through the swirling vortex leaving the suffocating darkness of the mutated gate alone.

The Wanderer stared at the now fully solid red gate for a long while then he let out a sigh. It was deep sigh that carried the weight of years.

"I have arrived, and now I shall pave the way for the rest of my people."