The battlefield was silent.
Where thousands of monsters had fallen only minutes earlier, the ruined Citadel now stood in uneasy quiet.
Smoke drifted across the broken ground.
Cracked towers leaned dangerously over shattered walls.
The Devourer's army had withdrawn… for now.
High above the sky, the massive tear in space remained open like a scar across reality.
Beyond it, darkness moved slowly.
Watching.
Waiting.
Steni stood near the edge of the Citadel ruins, her eyes fixed on the sky.
Her Administrator Interface floated silently in front of her.
Thousands of system reports were still arriving every second.
Planetary damage.
Casualty reports.
Host survival statistics.
And one message that mattered more than anything else.
CREATOR WEAPON PROTOCOL
Status: LOCKED
Requirement:
Three System Cores
Current: 1 / 3
Andrian walked up beside her.
He looked exhausted.
His armor was scratched and covered in dust.
"Well," he said, stretching his sore arms, "that was the worst welcome party I've ever seen."
Steni didn't smile.
"The Devourer hasn't even started yet."
Andrian sighed.
"…That's not comforting."
He glanced at the system window.
"So these 'System Cores' you mentioned."
"What exactly are they?"
Steni took a slow breath.
Her restored memories surfaced again.
Ancient knowledge that had once been locked away.
"The System wasn't created as a single machine," she explained.
"It was divided into three core fragments."
Andrian frowned.
"Why split it?"
"To protect it."
Steni looked up at the dimensional tear in the sky.
"If the Devourer destroyed the System completely, humanity would lose its only weapon."
"So I separated the power."
She pointed to the interface.
"One core controls the Host Network."
"That's the one I already have."
Andrian crossed his arms.
"Okay."
"So where are the other two?"
Steni's expression darkened slightly.
"That's the problem."
"I hid them thousands of years ago."
"And after reincarnating… I forgot where."
Andrian blinked.
"…You're kidding."
She shook her head.
"I erased my own memories to protect them."
"So now we have to find them again."
Andrian looked at the sky where the Devourer waited.
"No pressure or anything."
The First Clue
Steni opened a deeper layer of the Administrator Interface.
Ancient system archives appeared.
Old logs from the earliest days of the System.
Fragments of encrypted data began reconstructing themselves.
Then something appeared.
A location tag.
CORE FRAGMENT SIGNAL DETECTED
Status: Dormant
Location: Earth
Andrian leaned closer.
"…Wait."
"Earth?"
Steni nodded.
"Yes."
"One of the cores is here."
Andrian laughed nervously.
"That's convenient."
"Where exactly?"
The system finished scanning.
Then displayed a location.
Andrian read it out loud.
"…The Abyssal Gate."
His expression immediately changed.
"…You've got to be kidding."
Steni turned toward him.
"You know it?"
Andrian rubbed his forehead.
"Yeah."
"Every Host knows it."
He looked at her seriously.
"It's the most dangerous dungeon on Earth."
The Abyssal Gate
Thousands of kilometers away, deep beneath the ocean, a massive dungeon gate pulsed with dark energy.
It had appeared ten years ago.
Since then, hundreds of elite Hosts had attempted to clear it.
None returned.
The System had classified it as:
[UNSOLVABLE DUNGEON]
Many believed it wasn't even meant to be cleared.
It was simply… waiting.
Back at the Citadel, Andrian sighed.
"So the first System Core is hiding inside the world's deadliest dungeon."
Steni nodded calmly.
"Yes."
He stared at her.
"You say that like it's normal."
Steni turned toward the gathering Hosts around the Citadel.
Hundreds of fighters were still present.
Many were injured.
Many were exhausted.
But every one of them was watching her.
Waiting for the Administrator's next command.
She stepped forward.
"Everyone, listen."
Her voice spread across the System Network.
Every Host on Earth heard her.
"The Devourer will attack again soon."
"But we now know how to defeat it."
The system screen appeared for everyone.
CREATOR WEAPON PROTOCOL
Required:
3 System Cores
Murmurs spread across the gathered Hosts.
Steni continued.
"One of these cores is located on Earth."
"And we're going to retrieve it."
Andrian whispered to her.
"You're about to send them into the Abyssal Gate."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Because this time…"
"…they won't be going alone."
The Dungeon That Eats Heroes
Later that day, the largest Host alliance in history began forming.
Guilds from every continent responded.
Elite fighters gathered.
Teleportation circles opened across the world.
One destination.
The Abyssal Gate.
Andrian stood on the edge of the teleport platform.
He looked at the ocean below.
"…You know what worries me?"
Steni stepped beside him.
"What?"
He pointed at the swirling darkness inside the distant dungeon gate.
"That thing appeared ten years ago."
"And you're telling me it contains a System Core hidden thousands of years ago."
He looked at her.
"That means someone already found it."
Steni's expression slowly changed.
"…You're right."
Andrian exhaled.
"Which means…"
"…something inside that dungeon has been protecting it."
The ocean suddenly trembled.
A deep vibration spread through the water.
Then the Abyssal Gate began glowing.
System alerts appeared everywhere.
[DUNGEON ACTIVITY DETECTED]
[ABYSSAL GATE OPENING]
The massive dungeon gate expanded.
Dark energy flooded the ocean surface.
Something was moving inside.
Something enormous.
Andrian slowly stepped back.
"…That's not good."
Steni stared at the gate.
Her administrator interface scanned the energy.
Then the system displayed a new message.
ENTITY DETECTED
Guardian of the First Core
Threat Level:
Overseer-Class
Andrian blinked.
"…Overseer-class?"
He turned toward Steni.
"You're telling me that dungeon has a boss stronger than the Overseers?"
Steni whispered quietly.
"…Yes."
The water around the Abyssal Gate exploded upward.
A colossal shadow began rising from the depths.
Something ancient.
Something that had been waiting for thousands of years.
The system revealed its name.
THE ABYSSAL WARDEN
Andrian stared at the enormous creature emerging from the ocean.
"…Okay."
"…This arc just got interesting."
Steni stepped forward.
Her eyes glowing with Creator power.
"Good."
"Because we're going in."
Cliffhanger
Just as the Hosts prepared to enter the dungeon—
The system delivered one final warning.
[ALERT]
SECOND SYSTEM CORE SIGNAL DETECTED
Location:
Unknown Planet
Distance:
Outside the Solar System
Andrian slowly turned toward Steni.
"…Wait."
"You're telling me the next core isn't even on Earth?"
Steni looked at the stars.
"…No."
Her voice was calm.
"It's not even in this galaxy."