The sky burned.
Cracks of white energy spread across the broken dimension as the Devourer's army poured into the universe.
Millions of creatures flooded through the massive tear in space.
Shadow beasts.
Winged abominations.
Creatures made of dark matter and living void.
Entire swarms rushed toward the nearest stars like predators smelling blood.
Every second, new alerts flashed across the System.
[WORLD UNDER ATTACK]
[MULTIPLE PLANETS FALLING]
[DEVOURER FORCES SPREADING]
At the center of the battlefield, Steni slowly opened her eyes.
They no longer glowed like a normal Host's system interface.
They shone like stars.
Ancient knowledge filled her mind.
Memories of centuries.
Wars across galaxies.
The birth of the System.
And the enemy she had once fought before.
The Devourer.
Andrian stared at her cautiously.
"…Steni?"
For a moment, she didn't answer.
Her gaze was fixed on the dark ocean of monsters pouring through the broken sky.
Then she spoke.
Her voice sounded deeper.
Older.
"I remember now."
Andrian swallowed.
"…All of it?"
Steni nodded slowly.
"Yes."
She looked at the Devourer's army.
"And this time… we won't lose."
The First Wave
The Devourer's creatures moved like a storm.
Thousands of monsters dropped toward the Citadel.
Their bodies twisted between physical matter and shadow.
Some looked like enormous insects.
Others were massive serpents made of pure darkness.
Their screams distorted reality itself.
Andrian drew his weapon instantly.
"Well… guess we're starting already."
The first monster crashed into the ground in front of them.
The creature was enormous.
A six-legged beast covered in black armor with glowing red eyes.
It roared and lunged toward Steni.
Andrian moved immediately.
His blade flashed.
SLASH!
The creature's head separated from its body.
But the corpse dissolved into black mist.
Andrian frowned.
"…That's not normal."
Steni shook her head.
"No."
Her administrator interface appeared again.
New information filled the screen.
DEVOURER SPAWN
Type: Void Predator
Threat Level: S-Class
Weakness: Creator Energy
Andrian groaned.
"Of course the weakness is something only you have."
Above them, thousands more creatures were descending.
Steni raised her hand slowly.
"Then I'll handle them."
White light exploded from her palm.
Reality bent around her command.
A massive wave of pure energy blasted into the sky.
The incoming monsters were erased instantly.
Thousands of creatures disappeared in a single flash.
Andrian stared upward.
"…Okay."
"…that was cool."
But the victory lasted only a moment.
Because the sky continued to darken.
Even more creatures poured out of the dimensional tear.
Millions.
Billions.
The Devourer wasn't sending a scouting force.
It was invading.
The Hosts Join the War
Across the world, every Host received a new message.
[GLOBAL WAR EVENT ACTIVATED]
Enemy: DEVOURER ARMY
Objective:
Defend Humanity
Reward:
SURVIVAL
Guild leaders across Earth immediately reacted.
In Seoul, a top-ranked guild leader shouted:
"All Hosts assemble! This isn't a dungeon raid anymore!"
In New York, dozens of high-level players teleported toward the battlefield.
In Tokyo, thousands of awakened fighters rushed toward dimensional gates opening across the planet.
For the first time since the System began—
Every Host was fighting the same enemy.
Battlefield of the Citadel
The sky filled with streaks of light as powerful Hosts began arriving.
Teleportation circles opened across the battlefield.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
Andrian looked around.
"Well… looks like the whole world showed up."
A group of elite Hosts landed nearby.
One of them stepped forward cautiously.
"You're Steni… right?"
She nodded.
The Host pointed toward the sky.
"Then give the orders, Administrator."
Steni looked around at the gathered fighters.
Thousands of warriors.
All staring at her.
All waiting.
She took a deep breath.
Then spoke clearly.
"Listen carefully."
Her voice echoed through the system network connected to every Host.
"These creatures cannot be killed normally."
"You must damage them and let me finish them."
A warrior raised his hand.
"Wait… why?"
Steni answered calmly.
"Because they're not fully inside our universe yet."
"They're projections of the Devourer."
"And if it fully enters this dimension…"
She looked up at the massive tear in space.
"…everything dies."
Silence spread across the battlefield.
Then Andrian raised his sword.
"Well then."
"Let's make sure that doesn't happen."
The Battle Begins
The second wave crashed down.
Thousands of monsters slammed into the ground like meteors.
The battlefield exploded into chaos.
Blades clashed against claws.
Explosions lit up the ruined Citadel.
Magic, abilities, and system skills filled the air.
Andrian dashed forward.
His sword cut through two Void Predators at once.
A group of Hosts launched powerful attacks.
Flames.
Lightning.
Energy blasts.
The monsters staggered.
Then Steni raised her hand.
White light flashed.
Every weakened creature dissolved instantly.
One Host shouted in disbelief.
"She's deleting them!"
Another wave attacked.
Even larger creatures descended.
A massive serpent crashed into the ground, destroying half the battlefield.
Andrian jumped onto its back.
"Hey Steni!"
"Little help!"
She snapped her fingers.
The creature disintegrated mid-roar.
The battle continued like that for several minutes.
Humans fighting desperately.
Steni erasing the monsters with Creator energy.
But slowly…
Something began to change.
The Devourer Moves
The sky suddenly went silent.
The endless flow of monsters stopped.
For a moment, the battlefield grew quiet.
Andrian wiped blood from his face.
"…That's suspicious."
Steni was already looking upward.
Her expression had turned serious.
Because the darkness behind the dimensional tear had moved.
Not the army.
The Devourer itself.
Its massive shape shifted closer to the universe.
Two enormous eyes opened again.
This time they weren't distant.
They were close.
Too close.
The system screamed warnings.
[CRITICAL ALERT]
DEVOURER APPROACHING DIMENSIONAL BARRIER
Andrian whispered.
"…Steni."
"…Is it getting bigger?"
She shook her head slowly.
"No."
"It's getting closer."
The Devourer's voice echoed across reality.
"Creator."
"You have grown stronger."
"But it changes nothing."
The tear in space began expanding rapidly.
Entire stars were pulled toward it.
Gravity itself was collapsing.
Steni clenched her fists.
"…No."
She opened the Administrator interface.
A hidden command appeared.
CREATOR WEAPON PROTOCOL
Status: LOCKED
Requirement:
Three System Cores
Current: 1 / 3
Andrian frowned.
"…What does that mean?"
Steni looked toward the expanding void.
"It means we can't win yet."
"Not like this."
Before Andrian could ask more—
Something massive pushed through the tear.
Not a monster.
Not an army.
A single colossal creature.
A Devourer General.
Its body was the size of a mountain.
Black wings spread across the sky.
The system analyzed it instantly.
VOID GENERAL
Threat Level: Planet Killer
The creature roared.
The sound shattered mountains.
Andrian stared upward.
"…Yeah."
"That looks like a boss fight."
Steni's eyes glowed.
Then she whispered one sentence.
The sentence that made every Host freeze.
"We're not ready to fight that."
The Devourer's voice echoed again.
"Then perish."
The Void General began charging a massive sphere of dark energy.
Large enough to erase the entire continent.
Andrian looked at Steni.
"…Any brilliant Administrator plans?"
Steni stared at the incoming attack.
Then she spoke quietly.
"Yes."
Her system screen flashed.
[GLOBAL SYSTEM COMMAND INITIATED]
Every Host received the same message.
Administrator Order:
RETREAT IMMEDIATELY
Andrian blinked.
"…Retreat?"
Steni's voice hardened.
"This war isn't won today."
She looked up at the Devourer.
"But the next one will be."