Catrina finished reading the five rules displayed on the glowing panel, her gaze settling on the final line.
'I have read and agree to all the above terms | Yes / No'
She frowned and muttered, "Lock away all my magic? Are they serious?" hoặc "Seal all my magic power? You've got to be kidding me!"
[Ding! If you do not agree to the terms, please leave the Dungeon.]
The mechanical voice echoed again. Scowling, Catrina swung her sword at the floating panel.
Whoosh!
The blade passed straight through it. The panel rippled like water before reforming instantly.
If I agree to this, I'll be nothing more than a fish on the cutting board—completely at the mercy of the Demon King.
But if I refuse, I won't be able to explore this Dungeon at all.
Damn it! I've never seen a dungeon with such absurd restrictions!
She ground her teeth, hesitated for a long moment, then sighed. "Fine… I accept!"
[Ding! Initiating mana circuit lock. Please relax your body and do not resist.]
Catrina took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. She soon felt a cold current wrapping around her body—like being submerged in icy air.
The process lasted only a few seconds and wasn't painful, but when it ended, her sword and armor had vanished.
Her mana circuits were completely sealed—she couldn't feel or use even a trace of magic.
"Let's see… what you plan to do with me," she growled, eyes blazing with defiance.
[Ding! Transferring to 'Horizon'. Please prepare yourself.]
A pillar of light engulfed her, and she was propelled forward through space.
…
In the observation chamber, Alric had just appeared when a notification popped up before him.
[Ding! Catrina feels anger and frustration. You have received 300 Energy Points.]
Alric: "…"
"What the hell? Less than a minute in and I'm already getting energy points?" he muttered. "I thought the intro sequence was supposed to be slow-paced."
Indeed, the world he created had a full narrative, but its opening segment was intentionally slow-paced—almost boring—to help players adapt.
After all, this was the first time people in this world had ever experienced a "game." He wanted to ease them into it.
At first, Alric had considered modeling it after AAA games. But that quickly proved impossible.
The first problem was simple: most AAA games only had one protagonist.
That meant his Dungeon could only host one player at a time. On top of that, those games often used multiple timeskips, something he couldn't implement yet.
And lastly… in his previous life, Alric hadn't actually played that many AAA titles.
His PC hadn't been strong enough, and he'd been too busy working overtime to play much.
That was why he decided to build something closer to an Open World style game instead.
The advantage was clear: an open-world format allowed multiple people to explore simultaneously, with a flexible storyline and numerous side quests to discover.
Most importantly, he could divide the world into different regions—and simply lock the ones he hadn't finished building yet.
Alric waved his hand, summoning a holographic screen before him. On it appeared the live image of Catrina—and everything she was seeing.
"This is…" Catrina frowned as she was transported into an entirely unfamiliar world. Confusion washed over her.
The landscape was soaked in fire and blood. The corpses of countless races lay scattered across the scorched earth.
She turned slowly, muttering to herself, "This place… a battlefield? Did that bastard lure me into a battlefield? Are these the victims he deceived before me?"
Instinctively, her hand reached toward her hip to draw her sword—but there was nothing there.
"Damn it!" Catrina cursed under her breath. "My equipment, my magic… everything's gone!"
Anger began to rise within her, but beneath it pulsed a deeper current of unease and fear.
GRAOO!!!
"What the hell?!" Catrina froze as a deafening roar tore through the sky. A crushing pressure weighed down on her back—so heavy it felt like a mountain pressing on her shoulders.
From the distance, a colossal western dragon was flying toward her. Its scales were jet black, its wingspan stretching over a hundred meters, resembling a fortress gliding through the air.
Its scales shimmered like tempered steel, but what truly stood out were the countless red crystalline structures embedded in its body—like shards of ruby or quartz.
Most striking of all was the crown hovering above its head—formed entirely from blood-red crystals that pulsed with an eerie crimson glow.
GRAOO!!!
The Black Dragon roared once more, then soared upward, vanishing into the blood-red clouds above.
"A dragon?!" Catrina gasped. "Why is a dragon here? Could the Dragonkin have allied with the Demons? No… they're far too proud for that. They would never…"
Questions swirled in her mind, but there was no one to answer them.
[A thousand years ago…]
"Who?!" Catrina flinched as an ancient voice echoed inside her head—aged and sorrowful, filled with despair. "Who's speaking?!"
[The world fell into chaos because of a strange plague that spread from the crimson clouds.]
The voice continued, and with its words, red lightning cracked across the sky.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Suddenly, Catrina realized one of those bolts was streaking straight toward her.
"What?!" She tried to dodge, but her mana circuits had been sealed—her reactions could never match the speed of lightning.
BAM!
In an instant, the bolt struck her.
Dust and debris exploded into the air, scattering in every direction.
When the haze settled, Catrina was still standing—right in the center of the smoking crater.
She blinked in disbelief, looking down at her hands, then at her body.
Not a single wound.
Catrina frowned, glancing around as a wild thought crossed her mind.
She reached out, touching the flames still burning on the ground where the lightning had struck.
There was no heat—none of the searing pain she expected. Her hand passed straight through the fire as if it weren't real at all… as if she didn't truly exist in this world.
"An illusion?" Catrina muttered. "Is this whole place an illusion? What is he trying to do?"
[That plague drove all living beings into madness and bloodlust…]
The voice echoed again—solemn, ancient, heavy with sorrow. This time, Catrina no longer flinched or panicked. She stood quietly, listening intently and committing every word to memory.
[The entire world fell into chaos. People slaughtered one another like ravenous beasts.]
"So this battlefield… it's the result of that plague?" Catrina murmured, her gaze sweeping over the countless corpses littering the ground.
From their bodies sprouted eerie red crystals—the same kind she'd seen embedded in the Black Dragon earlier.
[Worse still… the Black Dragon—the strongest being, worshiped as the Lord of the Continent—was infected.]
[Faced with total annihilation, the leaders of the remaining untainted races united in desperation.]
The scenery shifted again. Catrina's eyes widened as she beheld elves, dwarves, pixies, humans, and many other races standing together.
[The twelve ruling races performed a forbidden spell to save the world.]
All around her, twelve towering mountains erupted with beams of light that shot straight into the heavens.
From each beam, intricate magical runes materialized.
Twelve glowing symbols—each representing one of the major races—interlinked to form a massive seal encasing the Black Dragon.
GRAOOO!!!
The Black Dragon's roar shook the sky.
Catrina stared upward, awe filling her eyes. The scene before her was too grand, too overwhelming to be real.
The dragon's vast wings spread wide, scattering the crimson clouds and revealing a blood-red sky behind it.
Around its body, twelve radiant sigils burned like divine fire, weaving together into a colossal spherical cage that began to tighten, closing in on the beast.
The Black Dragon opened its jaws—forming a massive orb of fire, swirling black and crimson. The heat it emitted warped the very space around it.
[To buy time for the forbidden spell to complete… a knight appeared.]
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Catrina turned sharply at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from behind.
A knight clad in white armor walked toward her. His armor was scarred and battered, marked by countless brutal battles. His face was hidden beneath a closed helmet, concealing his identity.
He dragged a greatsword, its tip scraping against the ground, and from his back spread a pair of luminous white wings—radiant like those of an angel.
[He stepped out from the depths of hell, having survived countless wars. A man the entire world revered... and upon him, they bestowed a title of both honor and tragedy—The Twilight Knight.]