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Chapter 7 - Echoes of the past

The morning after the first dungeon burst, the sky remained the same dull gray color it had turned overnight. Clouds hung low, heavy with mana that shimmered faintly when the wind moved. The people of Seoul were restless. Sirens echoed across the streets while helicopters circled above the damaged parts of the city. The once bright skyline now looked like a wounded giant covered in scars of blue light where the dungeons had appeared.

Sung Jinwoo walked through the empty streets, his black coat brushing softly against his legs. His steps made almost no sound. Around him, shadows followed quietly, unseen by normal eyes. He had sent most of them back to their realm for now, but a few still lingered near him as silent guardians.

He stopped near a broken storefront and watched as a group of lower rank hunters struggled to calm a trembling portal. Their leader was shouting orders, his voice shaking with fear. Jinwoo did not step in. He knew they needed to learn to stand on their own. Yet as he watched the unstable gate pulse and twist, he felt the same energy from the creature he had fought the night before.

The same cold power. The same strange heartbeat inside the mana.

He turned his eyes away and continued walking.

Inside his mind, the System spoke again.

System Message: New anomaly detected. Second Wave pattern expanding. Estimated global spread: 23 percent. Estimated time to full manifestation: 72 hours.

He whispered under his breath, "Seventy two hours before the whole world is covered."

The System did not answer. It only hummed softly, like a quiet machine deep inside his soul.

When he reached the headquarters of the Global Hunter Command, the guards at the entrance froze. They saluted him instantly. Everyone in the building knew his face. Even though he had retired years ago, his presence still carried a weight that made the air itself grow heavier.

Inside, the atmosphere was tense. Dozens of screens showed maps of the world covered in blinking red dots. Gates were appearing everywhere, spreading faster than they could be classified.

The director, a man named Nathan Choi, approached Jinwoo with visible relief. "Hunter Sung, we were hoping you would come."

"What is the situation," Jinwoo asked simply.

Nathan gestured toward the largest screen. "We have confirmed more than six hundred new gates in less than a day. Most of them started as E Rank, but their readings rise the longer they stay open. It is like they are feeding on something."

Jinwoo stared at the glowing map. "The mana is evolving."

"Yes. It is as if the energy itself has memory. Some of the scientists think these portals are not just openings but living structures, learning from our world."

Jinwoo remained silent. He could feel it too. The dungeons were not just places anymore. They were growing, thinking, adapting.

Nathan continued, "There is something else. Teams sent into several of the new gates never returned. Their signals disappear within seconds. We are calling them Silent Zones."

Jinwoo looked up sharply. "Show me one."

Nathan brought up a file. It showed a gate deep inside the Siberian wilderness. The reading beside it flickered uncontrollably, showing numbers beyond measurable limits.

"This one opened six hours ago," Nathan said. "Every hunter we sent vanished instantly. The last transmission we received was a scream."

Jinwoo's eyes darkened. "That is not a dungeon. That is a nest."

Nathan hesitated. "Do you plan to go there alone?"

"Yes."

He turned to leave, but Nathan stepped forward, lowering his voice. "Hunter Sung, forgive me, but are you certain this is wise? The Second Wave has already spread beyond containment. If we lose you too…"

Jinwoo stopped. He did not turn around. "If I do not go, there may not be a world left to protect."

The room fell silent as he walked out.

---

By the time he reached the airfield outside the city, the sky had darkened again. The clouds above formed spirals that glowed faintly with blue lightning. His private transport was already waiting. He did not need a crew. He could pilot it alone, though in truth, his shadows did most of the work.

As the aircraft lifted off, he looked down at the shrinking city below. He had once fought to protect this place, had once risked everything to restore it. Now he might have to fight again to keep it from falling into ruin.

Hours later, the landscape beneath him turned white. The endless fields of snow stretched to the horizon. The coordinates he had seen on the screen appeared on the radar. The Silent Zone.

He landed the craft near a frozen ravine. The wind was cold, biting, filled with particles of mana that glittered faintly like ash. The portal stood in the center of the frozen valley, a huge sphere of dark light twisting silently.

He stepped forward. The ground cracked beneath his boots.

As he neared the gate, he heard the faint hum of the System.

System Message: Dimensional pattern unstable. Multiple energy sources detected.

Then he saw them.

Scattered around the edge of the portal were the remains of the missing hunters' gear. Weapons, armor, torn emblems half buried in the snow. He knelt and picked up a broken sword. The metal was melted near the edge, as if burned by something far hotter than fire.

He looked up at the swirling gate and whispered, "So this is what you are hiding."

Without hesitation, he stepped through.

The world vanished in light.

When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in a place that did not belong to any known dimension. The ground was black stone that pulsed faintly, and the sky was filled with floating islands made of glowing crystal. Rivers of light flowed through the air like veins, carrying mana in every direction.

In the distance, he saw movement. Dozens of creatures were walking across the floating bridges between the islands. Their bodies were tall and thin, their faces covered by bone masks. Each one carried a weapon that emitted dark fire.

Jinwoo could sense their strength immediately. They were not ordinary dungeon beasts. They were organized. They were guarding something.

He moved quietly between the rocks, his presence hidden.

Then, in the middle of the largest island, he saw it.

A monument made of crystal, taller than any tower on Earth. Inside it burned a symbol — a mark he had not seen since the Monarch Wars. The sigil of Agnorath.

The realization hit him like thunder. Agnorath was not just sending creatures into his world. He was creating entire dimensional networks. Every new gate on Earth was connected here. This realm was the core of the Second Wave.

Jinwoo stepped closer, his expression unreadable. His aura began to shift, shadows rising slowly around his feet. The air trembled.

One of the creatures noticed him. It turned its masked face toward him and screeched. In an instant, hundreds more turned their heads.

The sky darkened.

Jinwoo sighed softly. "So it begins again."

He raised his hand. Shadows burst from the ground. Igris appeared first, his sword burning with red flame. Beru followed, roaring with anticipation. Behind them came the army of the dead, thousands of shadow soldiers forming a wall of black armor that shook the dimension itself.

The creatures screamed and charged.

The battle that followed was chaos and fury. The ground shattered, the floating islands collapsed, and rivers of mana exploded into the air. Jinwoo moved like a ghost among the storm, cutting through enemies faster than they could react. Every strike of his shadow army tore the enemy lines apart.

But for every creature that fell, two more appeared from the crystal monument. The portal inside it glowed brighter with each death, feeding on the battle's energy.

Jinwoo realized the truth. This realm was alive, feeding off conflict. The more he fought, the stronger it became.

He raised his hand again, and his voice cut through the battlefield. "Return."

The shadows obeyed instantly, vanishing into mist. Silence returned.

He walked slowly toward the glowing monument. The symbol of Agnorath pulsed once, like a heartbeat, and then the air cracked. A voice echoed across the realm.

"You found my garden, Shadow Monarch."

The voice was deep, ancient, calm.

Jinwoo's eyes narrowed. "Agnorath."

The light within the monument swirled, forming a vague figure. The shape smiled.

"Your world will drown in its own light soon," the voice said. "You cannot stop what has already begun."

Jinwoo stared into the glowing figure. "I will destroy every gate you open, every realm you create. If you have returned, then I will end you again."

The light dimmed slowly, as if laughing. Then it vanished.

The realm shook violently, and Jinwoo knew the portal was about to collapse. He stepped through it, returning to the frozen valley just as the gate exploded behind him. The shockwave threw snow into the sky, lighting it with blue fire.

He looked up at the northern lights above him. They shimmered faintly with unnatural color. The world was changing faster than anyone could understand.

Sung Jinwoo stood in the silence, his breath forming clouds in the cold air.

"This was only the beginning," he said quietly.

The Second Wave was no longer a mystery. It was a war.

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