The moment Ethan Cross's silhouette melted into the night, the air itself seemed to recoil. A gale of unnatural force erupted without warning, howling through the abandoned storefronts like a vengeful spirit. Dust devils twisted skyward as something massive stirred within the swirling debris—a hulking silhouette with eyes that burned like dying embers in the darkness.
The Entity's crimson gaze swept the battlefield, searching for the one who had slaughtered its lesser kin. Finding nothing but cooling corpse-mist and shattered concrete, it unleashed a roar that shook the very foundations of nearby buildings.
"GRRAAAAUGH!"
The soundwave alone shattered every remaining window for three blocks. Brick facades crumbled like sandcastles before a tsunami as the Entity vented its fury. A parked sedan flipped end-over-end before smashing through a pharmacy's display window. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the colossal figure dissolved back into the shadows—its hunt far from over.
The Bureau's Response
THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!
Heavy tactical boots hit pavement in perfect sync as six armored figures rappelled from a hovering VTOL aircraft. Their matte-black combat suits absorbed the moonlight, the red sensor arrays on their helmets sweeping the area in precise grid patterns.
"Second Special Operations Team confirming arrival," barked the squad leader, his voice modulator flattening all emotion. "No active Entity signatures detected. Primary hostile has vacated premises."
A subordinate knelt beside a puddle of blackened sludge—all that remained of the Giant Roaming Corpse. His gauntlet's scanner emitted a series of rapid chirps. "Residual energy matches Category 3 dispersal pattern. Probable intelligence guiding this one, sir."
The leader's helmet tilted toward the scanner readout. "Noted. Mark sector 7-D for aerial thermographic sweep at dawn." His visor flickered with incoming data. "And someone tell Logistics we'll need another civilian cover story. 'Gas explosion' won't cut it this time."
The Abandoned High-Rise - A Investigator's Burden
Lucian Steelgrave's knuckles cracked audibly as he clenched his fists. Before him, the derelict office tower loomed like a rotten tooth against the city skyline—its broken windows staring down like empty eye sockets. As Beihai Bureau's foremost C-Class Investigator, he'd faced horrors that would break lesser men.
Yet this building... this damnable mass grave dressed in concrete and steel... had nearly claimed him.
His last reconnaissance mission had turned into a slaughterhouse ballet. Though no C-Class Entities registered on scanners, the building seethed with D and D+ Class Specters—ghost-types mostly. The kind that laughed at bullets and walked through walls.
His ability, Adamant Fortress (C), transformed his body into living titanium. RPGs? Tank rounds? He'd walked away from both with just scratches. But against Entities that simply phased through his defenses?
He might as well have been naked.
Only his raw durability and a retreat that still tasted like cowardice had saved him. The memory of dragging two crippled junior investigators through that hellscape still haunted his dreams.
"If only that showoff Dante Vega were here," he thought bitterly. "His damn fire abilities would've cleared this place weeks ago."
But elemental Awakened were rare. Precious. And every single C-Class one in the city was already stretched thin. Which left him—a brute-force specialist—to handle a problem that required finesse.
Behind him, a squad of D-Class Investigators stood ready, their expressions grim beneath their helmets. A scant few possessed elemental abilities—those were positioned at the rear, protected at all costs. They were the only ones who could reliably combat the ghost-types lurking within.
"CONTACT!"
A scout came flying out of the building's shattered lobby entrance—literally. His grav-boots sputtered as he tumbled across asphalt, barely avoiding the trio of Giant Roaming Corpses (D+) that came crashing after him. The lead abomination swung a fire axe bigger than most men, shearing through a steel lamppost like it was balsa wood.
Lucian's lips peeled back in something too feral to be called a smile.
"No ghosts. Just dumb brutes."
His combat harness disengaged with a hiss as his ability activated.
Adamant Fortress - Full Unshackling!
Muscles swelled to grotesque proportions beneath his skin. Subdermal armor plates slid into place with wet snick sounds. When the transformation completed, a three-meter-tall juggernaut stood where the man had been—his grayish hide gleaming dully under the streetlights.
BOOOOOM!
The sonic boom from his charge shattered every remaining window on the block. The first Giant Corpse had barely registered the threat before Lucian's fist pulped its skull like an overripe melon.
SPLORTCH!
The second monster managed half a step backward before a clothesline strike decapitated it cleanly. The severed head was still airborne when Lucian caught the third Entity's axe swing bare-handed—and crushed the weapon into scrap metal.
"RAAAAAAAAH!"
His battlecry shook debris from nearby rooftops as he slammed both fists downward, reducing the last abomination to a crater of gore and broken pavement.
The surviving Investigators cheered—some in relief, others in bloodlust. Their commander had just turned three D+ Class nightmares into paste in under six seconds.
Lucian exhaled through his nose, steam jetting from his flared nostrils. The display had been necessary for morale... but it changed nothing.
Until they cleared that building of its real threats, this war was far from won.
Ethan's Triumph
Five blocks northeast, Ethan tore the last Zombie's head clean off with a wet RIIIP. Black ichor sprayed in an arc before evaporating midair—another Entity returned to the void.
[Ding! Host has eliminated: D-Class Zombie]
[Reward: 2 Supernatural Points]
[Daily Mission Complete: 10/10 D-Class Entities Eliminated]
[Reward Issued: Spatial Ring (1m³ capacity)]
The simple silver band that materialized in his palm felt deceptively light. Ethan focused—and the Coiled Dragon Sealing Box vanished from his backpack, now stored in an extradimensional pocket no larger than a suitcase.
"No more hiding you in my waistband," he mused, rotating the ring. The craftsmanship was flawless—no seams, no inscriptions, just cold metal that somehow thrummed against his skin.
His night's tally glowed in his vision:
Total Supernatural Points: 17
8x Roaming Corpses (D)
1x Giant Roaming Corpse (D+)
1x Zombie (D)
"The outskirts are picked clean," Ethan assessed, watching dawn's first light creep over the skyline. "If I want real challenges—real rewards—that building's my only option."
But first, an investment.
"System. Enhance Strawskin Manifestation."
[Ding! 5 Points deducted.]
[Strawskin Manifestation (D) → (D+)]
[New Capabilities Unlocked]
● Partial Transformation: Convert select body parts into razor-edged straw
● Vital Displacement: Shift organs to avoid fatal wounds
● Offensive Manipulation: Launch straw tendrils (10m range)
Ethan willed the change—his right arm unraveled from fingertips to elbow, becoming a swirling mass of golden stalks. With a thought, they coalesced into a scythe-like blade that could bisect a telephone pole.