Part 1
The first sensation he felt was cold.
Not the battlefield kind—no shattered armor, no flaming spears, no roaring traitors ripping his throne apart.
This was a colder kind of cold.
Quiet.
Still.
Almost… peaceful.
Then breath surged back into his lungs.
A violent gasp tore through a small, dimly lit room. Wooden beams above him shook with every exhale, and the stench of iron, soot, and cheap ale burned his nostrils. His eyes snapped open—sharp, crimson, ancient—and for a moment he didn't move.
He was alive again.
"Two thousand years… and this is the vessel I'm given?"
His voice was younger, smoother, lacking the echo of a Demon Lord—but the soul behind it hadn't dimmed.
He pushed himself up. The body felt frail compared to his former monstrous strength. Human. Young. Probably around sixteen. Slim. Malnourished. Not ideal.
But when he pressed his palm to his chest—
it pulsed.
A faint glow followed the heartbeat.
A symbol surfaced beneath the skin, only visible to him.
「ARCHIVE: SOUL-BOUND — REBOOTING」
「SYSTEM RECONSTRUCTION: 12%」
His jaw tightened.
Good.
They didn't steal it.
They couldn't.
The Archive—the world-devouring repository of ancient magic, forbidden knowledge, extinct races, monsters that once ruled continents, artifacts capable of rewriting fate itself—was returning with him. Slowly, piece by piece.
For now, he needed patience. Something his past self never mastered.
He stood and walked toward the cracked mirror at the far end of the room. The reflection staring back wasn't terrifying—just a young boy with unruly black hair, dark under-eyes, and a lean frame. But his irises were unmistakable: deep crimson, the color of old blood.
A reincarnation, not a resurrection.
Fine. I'll rebuild from scratch.
And this time, no traitor walks away breathing.
A knock broke his thoughts.
"Oi, kid! You awake yet? Get downstairs—customers'll be here soon!"
A gruff voice, the owner of this tavern-slash-boarding-house.
The Demon Lord—now Lyn Ashborn, the name this body carried—exhaled. Annoyance flickered, but he shoved it aside. Right now he wasn't a Demon Lord, a sovereign of ten thousand armies, or a wielder of forbidden magic.
He was just a nobody.
Perfect.
Obscurity was the best place to begin a world conquest.
---
The World's First Movement
As he stepped outside the room, the world welcomed him with a strange shift in the air. Something faint. Almost inaudible.
A faint ripple.
Magic—old magic—moved somewhere in the atmosphere.
And deep inside him, the Archive responded.
「NEW SIGNAL DETECTED」
「ANCIENT RACE SIGNATURE: UNKNOWN」
「RECOMMENDATION: INVESTIGATION REQUIRED」
He paused mid-step.
Ancient races were extinct.
Because he wiped most of them out himself.
So how could their signatures still exist?
He smirked under his breath.
"Good. The world hasn't gotten boring without me."
---
The Other Identities Begin
As Lyn walked through the busy tavern hall, something invisible spread behind him—like shadowy strings stretching into the air, branching, splitting, evolving.
They weren't illusions.
They were identities.
Shells crafted from mana, shadow, and soul-fragments—shaped by the Archive's reconstruction process. They would gradually become fully independent avatars: the blacksmith, the merchant, the thief, the adventurer, the Demon Lord.
They would grow separately, gain reputations, influence nations, infiltrate guilds, manipulate economies, and shape politics—while all being him.
But for now, they were embryos. Weak. Barely defined.
He could feel one forming faster than the others:
The Blacksmith.
A quiet man in the human capital, hammering steel and earning trust.
The second one took shape:
The Merchant.
A ghostlike information broker trading secrets for ancient coins and rare enchantments.
He would become the world's most dangerous invisible man.
The third identity shivered awake:
The Thief.
A shadow swallowing other shadows, slipping through criminal syndicates and ruling their networks from the dark.
The fourth surged with a darker mana:
The Demon Lord-self.
Hidden in the deepest abyss, gathering monsters and forging the foundations of a new empire.
And the fifth:
The Adventurer.
A rising rookie destined to shake guild hierarchies without them realizing he plays a different game entirely.
Five bodies.
One soul.
Five stories.
One puppeteer.
And he would build a sixth soon—an archivist, one who hunted ancient ruins and extinct races.
---
The Beginning of the Harem? Not Yet.
Other reincarnators jumped into romance immediately.
He didn't have time for that stupidity.
But the world did not care about his priorities.
As he walked into the tavern hall, three women—each vastly different in aura—felt an instinctive twitch.
One was a noble knight eating breakfast alone.
One was a beastkin waitress with sharp amber eyes.
And one was a cloaked witch reading a tome that no civilian should own.
All three looked up at the exact same moment.
Their hearts didn't flutter.
This wasn't romance.
It was instinct.
Predator recognizing predator.
Something ancient in him brushed against their souls, and their blood remembered an old fear their ancestors once had.
But maybe later, they could be his allies… or his toys… or his problems.
He wasn't rushing anything.
---
The First Step Toward Vengeance
Lyn cleaned tables, washed plates, and served customers—just a normal boy.
Inside, the Archive pulsed faster.
「RECONSTRUCTION: 46%」
「INITIAL MODULE UNLOCKED — STATUS WINDOW」
A transparent window opened.
NAME: LYN ASHBORN
RACE: HUMAN (TEMPORARY)
CORE: SEALED DEMON LORD HEART
ARCHIVE ACCESS: LIMITED
TITLES: THE RETURNED ONE / WORLD EATER (SEALED)
MANA: 1,200 / 1,200 (Limit: 8,900,000+)
ATTRIBUTES: Calibrating…
SOUL THREADS ACTIVE: 5
He smirked.
Weak on the surface.
Terrifying underneath.
Exactly the balance he needed.
He glanced at the tavern's open door.
Outside, the world was moving.
Races, kingdoms, guilds, cults, beasts, titans, dungeons, and forgotten monsters.
Two thousand years of change had reshaped the map.
Good.
He didn't want the same world.
He wanted a bigger challenge.
PART 2
A World That Forgot Its Nightmare
Lyn stepped out of the tavern during a short break. The morning sun washed the streets of Helios District, one of the lower rings of the Iserion Human Capital. The city was massive—built in nine concentric rings that rose like a doughnut-shaped fortress, each layer richer and more magically protected than the last.
In his previous life, he leveled this capital in three hours.
Now he walked unnoticed through the same streets.
Pathetic?
Not at all.
Humility is a weapon when everyone expects arrogance.
---
A Strange Pulse From Underground
He felt it again—
A pulse of dormant power under the cobblestone ground.
Ancient.
Chaotic.
Uncontained.
The Archive chimed.
「ANOMALY DETECTED」
「SOURCE: SEALED DUNGEON (CLASS UNKNOWN)」
「STATUS: LOCK BREAK EST. 4–7 DAYS」
He paused mid-step.
This city shouldn't have a dungeon beneath it.
Human capitals avoided dungeon cores like a plague—they were unpredictable, unstable, and often tied to ancient races or monsters that predated civilization.
If a core was waking up now…
Someone either planted it—or something woke it.
And the humans had no idea.
Interesting.
More interesting than expected.
He lifted his hand toward the ground.
A whisper of black mana flickered between his fingers—too faint for anyone to notice but potent enough to make the core pulse again.
It reacted.
Not like a dungeon core.
More like a sealed beast.
He smirked.
Unregistered ancient beasts were extinct according to every modern record.
Good thing he wrote the records that erased them.
---
A New Threat Emerges
The Archive fed him more data.
「IDENTITY THREAD: THIEF — ACTIVATION LEVEL 1」
「SHADOW-WALK SKILL RECONSTRUCTED (LIMITED)」
So one of his alternate selves—the Thief—was stabilizing.
But the real shock came next:
「HUNTER MARK DETECTED」
「TARGET: YOU」
「SOURCE: UNKNOWN ENTITY / RACE: ???」
He stopped walking.
Someone marked him.
Not magically—spiritually.
A technique only used by high-grade monsters or ancient races who hunted prey across dimensions.
The Archive tried to trace it.
「MARK SOURCE SEALED BY EXTERNAL AUTHORITY」
Authority?
Not deity-level. Something different. Something new.
"So the world's evolved enough to hunt even me now… good."
He loved it when the food chain got complicated.
---
The First Trouble of This Life
Heading back toward the tavern, he saw three men cornering a young beastkin girl in an alley. Cat ears. Orange hair. Tail trembling.
Rookies.
Street rats trying to act like predators.
Normally he wouldn't care.
Not his problem.
Not his mission.
But one thing irritated him—
The moment he walked by, one of them pointed at him.
"Oi! Kid! Bring your skinny ass here and—"
The idiot grabbed his shoulder.
That was enough reason.
Lyn turned his head slightly.
No anger. No intimidation. No emotion.
Just cold assessment.
The thug wanted to keep speaking; instead, his throat locked. His instincts flared like a kicked hornet's nest. He couldn't understand why a random boy made his entire body scream danger.
Lyn tapped the man's forehead with a single finger.
Mana? Hardly.
Just intent.
Crack.
The thug collapsed. Completely unconscious.
Not injured—just overwhelmed by a pressure his brain wasn't built to handle.
The other two froze.
Lyn didn't even look at them.
He simply grabbed the girl by the back of her collar and set her aside like an item blocking the walkway.
"Go home. Or don't. Just stay out of the way."
She blinked rapidly, failing to comprehend what happened.
The remaining thugs backed away as if facing a mythical creature.
He walked past without giving them another thought.
---
The Harem Seeds Start Moving
Unavoidable.
Because some women don't need saving—they need understanding.
The beastkin girl followed him.
Not because he looked heroic.
Not because she felt grateful.
But because something about him triggered an old instinct buried deep in beastkin bloodlines: the recognition of an apex predator.
"Y-You… what are you?"
"A customer carrier. I take plates from one table to another."
"That's not what I meant!"
Lyn ignored her and stepped back into the tavern.
Behind the counter, another woman watched him:
The cloaked witch from earlier.
Her eyes fixed on him like she was dissecting a growing anomaly.
She sensed something far more dangerous than the beastkin.
Her mana trembled.
Not out of fear—
But curiosity.
A bad sign.
He didn't need attention from mages who studied forbidden magic. They were the type who would willingly blow up half a continent just to see what color the explosion produced.
Still, he noted her presence.
Potential pawn.
Potential threat.
Potential bed-warmer depending on mood and usefulness.
But that was for later. Not now.
---
The Archive Unlocks Its First Real Ability
Back in the kitchen, Lyn felt the pulse again—this time from his own chest.
「ARCHIVE RECONSTRUCTION: 67%」
「NEW MODULE UNLOCKED — SOUL DUPLICATION: STAGE 1」
A small orb of black-and-gold light materialized in his palm.
The first identity was ready to deploy.
The Blacksmith.
The orb shot out of his hand, passed through the wall, and flew toward the capital's inner rings.
It would form a new body, new identity, new life.
The world had no idea a Demon Lord had just multiplied.
---
The First True Foreshadowing
The witch—still watching from a corner—finally spoke.
"You… feel like something that shouldn't exist."
Lyn didn't face her.
He set two mugs on the counter.
"Maybe. But neither should some of the things buried under this capital. Yet here we are."
Her eyes widened.
So she understood the hint.
Good.
Smart people were useful tools—but only if you reminded them that you were three steps ahead.
Her next words were nearly a whisper:
"Do you know what's waking up beneath us?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to tell the kingdom?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not my problem… yet."
And with that, he walked off to serve customers.
PART 3
Whispers Beneath the Capital
By midday, Helios District swarmed with merchants, adventurers, and tourists from the outer rings. Magic pulses lit street lamps even in broad daylight. Elemental carriages floated along cobbled roads. Street performers juggled fire, summoned illusions, and occasionally disappeared entirely—either part of the show or permanent. Nobody cared anymore.
To Lyn, it was all noise.
Noise hiding opportunity.
---
The Pulse in the Underground
Beneath the capital, hidden under layers of old stone and enchanted wards, a dungeon core stirred.
Small tremors rippled through the floor.
Dust fell from ancient beams.
Mana reacted unpredictably.
A soundless scream echoed.
Something buried for centuries clawed its way upward.
The Archive buzzed in Lyn's chest.
「ANOMALY: DUNGEON CORE — CLASS UNKNOWN」
「MONSTER PRESENCE: MULTIPLE — EVOLUTION STAGE: RAPID」
「RECOMMENDATION: INVESTIGATION ADVISED」
He frowned.
A dungeon core shouldn't behave like this. Not in the middle of a human capital. Not with so much magic interference.
This wasn't natural.
Whatever woke it had intelligence.
And not human intelligence.
---
The First Glimpse of His Thief Identity
Far across the city, the Thief fragment stirred.
Shadowed in the alleys, he watched nobles and adventurers alike enter a restricted area under the guise of inspection. Guards whispered of strange disappearances and fleeting monsters seen at night.
Instinct flickered.
Reflex sharpened.
The Thief was aware of the dungeon core before even the mages realized it pulsed. A predator detecting another predator.
He slipped between shadows, a ghost moving faster than any ordinary human could track.
And while Lyn had yet to fully control this fragment, the Archive connected the two.
"Prepare," it whispered.
"The first trial begins."
---
The Merchant Identity Moves
In a small, windowless room in the outer ring, the Merchant sat cross-legged before a floating arcane console. Data flowed through magical circuits—the black-and-gold tendrils of information the world still barely understood.
He received reports almost instantaneously:
Dungeon tremors in the capital's substructure
Unexplained monster activity in nearby forests
Political tension rising among guilds competing for "lost artifacts"
Whispers of a new demon rising in the shadows
The Merchant smiled.
A perfect storm of chaos and opportunity.
Orders were sent silently:
Inform select adventurers of dungeon activity.
Offer guidance for coin and enchanted artifacts.
Monitor the reactions of the noble houses.
The world was being nudged along the path Lyn had laid out centuries ago.
---
First Monster Encounter
Deep in the partially awakened dungeon, a creature born of primordial chaos twisted and grew. Its body pulsed with black ichor, tentacles coiling around stone like serpents. Eyes that reflected no light scanned the chamber, absorbing the aura of mana that had drifted into the city above.
It sensed something familiar.
Something ancient.
The demon-born predator didn't wait. It tore through the stone ceiling and ascended.
Aboveground, common citizens screamed. Guards fired spells that fizzled uselessly against its evolving body. It didn't care.
It was hungry.
It was intelligent.
It was ready to test the predator whose soul had just returned.
---
First Hints of Harem and Allies
Meanwhile, the adventurer fragment of Lyn noticed commotion in the streets. Civilians scattered in panic.
He ran instinctively—though he didn't understand why—toward the chaos.
At the scene, three figures were trapped:
The noble knight he had glimpsed earlier
The beastkin waitress from the tavern
A scholarly mage girl, who had been investigating magical anomalies in the city
All three looked to him—not because he was heroic, but because something ancient in his aura reassured them.
The adventurer's smile was calm, almost playful.
"Don't worry. I've got this."
They didn't understand that "this" wasn't about bravery—it was instinct. They were drawn into Lyn's orbit before even knowing his name.
And somewhere far away, the Archive pulsed.
「SOUL THREADS: LINKED — MULTIPLE FRAGMENTS ACTIVE」
「PREDATOR PRESENCE CONFIRMED — ENGAGEMENT RECOMMENDED」
The game had officially begun.
---
Political Whispers Aboveground
Back in the capital, nobles who had no idea what was happening below began noticing strange anomalies:
Magical wards fluctuating randomly
Dungeon seals showing signs of decay
Rumors of monsters no one had ever documented
Adventurers reporting creatures that should have been extinct
One councilor whispered to another:
"Something's coming. Something old… and it's not just monsters. I can feel it."
The other scoffed:
"Don't be ridiculous. Monsters don't appear in the capital. That's… impossible."
The first councilor didn't respond.
He just stared at the sky.
And far above them, black clouds gathered—not naturally, but as if the air itself recognized a predator returning.
---
The First Lesson of the New Era
The dungeon, the monster, the citizen panic, and the political intrigue were all connected.
The Archive chimed for Lyn again:
「WARNING: MULTIPLE THREATS — STRATEGY REQUIRED」
「RECOMMENDATION: DEPLOY FRAGMENTS STRATEGICALLY」
He nodded slightly.
No one would see the threads connecting his multiple identities.
The Blacksmith would provide weapons.
The Merchant would manipulate information.
The Thief would scout and eliminate threats unseen.
The Demon Lord would rise in secret.
The Adventurer would bind allies and civilians alike.
The Ancient Heir would awaken later, unlocking secrets buried centuries ago.
All six fragments were ready, and the world had no idea what storm had returned.
Lyn's crimson eyes glinted in the sunlight.
"Let's begin."
PART 4
The Awakening Below
The ground trembled again, harder this time. Merchants stumbled, carriages tipped, and faint cracks appeared along the streets of Helios District. Citizens screamed, and guards scrambled to contain the chaos.
Lyn, standing casually near the tavern's open window, observed everything without panic.
"Amateurs," he muttered under his breath.
---
The Dungeon Surfaces
Beneath the capital, the dungeon core erupted. Stone shattered as black, jagged cracks spread outward like veins, releasing a foul, dark mist into the sewers.
From the shadows of the tunnel emerged creatures no historian could have predicted:
Magma-scaled serpents with molten eyes, dripping acid from their fangs.
Twilight wraiths that phantomed in and out of reality, leaving screams that lingered in the minds of those nearby.
Tentacled horrors, each arm bristling with spikes and eyes, moving independently with unnatural intelligence.
The city above reacted with delayed panic. Guards formed lines, casting basic fire, ice, and wind spells. Their magic barely phased the newcomers.
Lyn smiled.
This was perfect.
---
The Thief Emerges
From a nearby alley, the Thief fragment moved. Shadows bent toward him like obedient followers. He slipped between citizens and monsters alike, observing weaknesses in both.
He didn't need to fight yet. His instincts told him the situation wasn't a threat to him personally—it was a test.
Still, he moved silently to a vantage point and marked the dungeon's exits, its monster spawn points, and the magical fluctuations in the air.
"Interesting," he whispered.
"They're evolving… fast."
The Archive confirmed it:
「DUNGEON CORE: EVOLUTION ACCELERATED — MONSTERS ADAPTING TO HUMAN MAGIC」
「RECOMMENDATION: INTERVENTION STRATEGY REQUIRED」
The Thief made a mental note.
---
The Blacksmith Prepares
Meanwhile, back in the city's human capital, the Blacksmith fragment worked in his modest forge. Each strike of the hammer reverberated with an unnatural precision. Weapons crafted in this forge were no longer mere steel—they contained latent mana channels, reactive enchantments, and instinctive balance that could kill monsters previously thought unbeatable.
He crafted quickly, methodically:
A longsword infused with minor fire mana
A pair of daggers that could cut magical wards
A short bow with arrows capable of piercing spectral creatures
"The first wave isn't a problem," he thought.
"It's the warm-up."
---
The Adventurer Protects Civilians
On the streets, the Adventurer fragment guided panicked citizens to safety. He didn't understand why they trusted him so instinctively. They just did.
Children clung to his legs
Elderly citizens followed his lead without hesitation
Even minor mages placed their lives in his hands
"Stay calm," he said, grinning.
"Everything's fine. You'll see—it'll be over quickly."
And for the first time, one of his allies—a beastkin girl—grabbed his sleeve.
"You… you're not scared?"
"Why should I be?" he replied casually.
The truth: fear had no place in his blood.
---
The Demon Lord's Presence Felt
Even as his fragments moved independently, Lyn's core self—the Demon Lord fragment—felt the pulse from the dungeon deep beneath the city.
Mana surged in the air.
Darkness whispered promises of power and chaos.
"Good," he said, his voice low and commanding.
"You're awake. Show me what you've learned in two thousand years."
From the shadows of the Abyssal fragment, he observed the creatures that had emerged. They were impressive, yes—but still nothing compared to what he had commanded in his previous life.
And the best part? The humans believed themselves capable of handling it.
Pathetic.
---
First Confrontation
A magma-scaled serpent lunged toward the Adventurer fragment. Its molten jaws snapped shut just inches from the citizens he protected.
The Adventurer smiled faintly.
"Step aside."
With a flick of his wrist, the serpent froze mid-air. Not killed—frozen. Just held in place by a subtle magical pressure no one else could feel.
The Thief's observation:
"Not a coincidence. Someone is controlling… something."
The Blacksmith sent his weapons through the streets via minor portals, hidden from human eyes. Mysterious strikes and enchanted weapons began subtly crippling the monsters.
From a distance, the Merchant observed the flow of panic and chaos. Data streamed into his Arcane Net—he could predict every move the humans and monsters made.
The world had no idea that five lives of one soul were working in tandem.
---
The Awakening Hint
Finally, deep within the dungeon, the largest of the tentacled horrors paused. Its gaze, multiple eyes reflecting chaos, locked onto something far aboveground.
It sensed intelligence.
Not random mana.
Not instinctual survival.
Predator intelligence.
It shrieked—a sound that rattled windows and shattered streets.
And somewhere, Lyn felt the stirrings of the sixth fragment: the Ancient Heir.
「UNLOCKING: ANCIENT MEMORY THREADS — CONNECTION ESTABLISHED」
This dungeon was not merely a test—it was a signal.
The world had begun sending challenges.
The fragments were beginning to link.
The Archive was awakening in earnest
PART 5
The First Shadow of a Demon Lord
The sun had reached its peak, casting Helios District in a harsh white light, yet the streets below were drowning in shadows. The dungeon's eruption had created a sudden rift in the city's magical wards. Mana surged like a storm, creating pockets of unstable energy.
Citizens ran screaming. Merchants screamed at guards. Guards fired spells that fizzled. And above it all, five unseen threads of control wove through the chaos—each pulled by one mind, one soul, one consciousness: Lyn Ashborn.
---
Coordinated Action
The Blacksmith fragment had weapons scattered across strategic points. Enchanted hammers slammed into the ground, arrows whistled unseen, and daggers struck monsters where they weren't expecting attacks. Each weapon seemed to move with awareness, a silent partner in a deadly ballet.
The Adventurer fragment guided panicked civilians, his aura of calm instinctively manipulating fear. Monsters avoided him where possible, sensing a power that was both predator and master.
The Thief slipped through shadows, disabling traps, sniping weak points, and silently guiding monsters into the enchanted traps the Blacksmith had prepared.
The Merchant remained unseen, manipulating the Arcane Net. He sowed misinformation, feeding guards and guilds just enough to keep them busy—but never enough to interfere with Lyn's plans.
And the Demon Lord fragment, deep in the abyssal awareness of his reborn soul, simply watched the battlefield as if it were a chessboard. Every movement, every pulse, every breath of magic was calculated and cataloged in the Archive.
---
The Monsters Respond
The dungeon monsters, growing faster and smarter by the second, began to recognize patterns in their attacks. Tentacles twisted to avoid traps. Twilight wraiths phased through where the Adventurer was leading civilians. Magma-scaled serpents started coordinating, their molten eyes glinting with intelligence.
But then the largest horror—the Ancient Abyssal Horror, a creature whose body seemed to shift between dimensions—paused. Its multi-eyed gaze fixed on the shadows aboveground where Lyn's fragments moved in invisible synchronization.
It shrieked, a sound that made even hardened mages recoil.
And the Archive pulsed in response:
「THREAT LEVEL: CLASS UNKNOWN — EVOLUTION ACCELERATING」
「RECOMMENDATION: DEPLOY FULL FRAGMENT SYNERGY」
---
First Synergy
Lyn closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He didn't need to think—the soul threads connected automatically.
A sudden pulse spread from the Blacksmith fragment's weapons, through the Thief's shadows, amplified by the Merchant's Arcane Net. The Adventurer's aura guided monsters into the trap, and the Demon Lord's fragment pressed into their consciousness, subtly manipulating fear, instinct, and reaction.
The Ancient Abyssal Horror roared, thrashing against invisible chains it didn't understand. Its tentacles struck the streets above, smashing carts and magical wards, but each attack was met with another carefully calculated counter.
The citizens didn't know what was happening. They only felt an invisible hand guiding the chaos, keeping them alive.
The first city-level threat had been neutralized without a single citizen dying.
---
Harem and Allies React
The noble knight who had been observing from a distance finally joined the fray, cutting through minor monsters with precise strikes.
The beastkin girl, eyes wide, assisted civilians and retrieved trapped children.
The scholarly mage girl, still unsure, began following the faint magical signature emanating from Lyn.
All three had now become unknowingly tied to him, drawn by instinct, fate, and the subtle recognition of his predator's aura.
Later, the Archive would mark them as potential allies. For now, they were pawns, but pawns that could evolve into the first layer of a harem, a network of influence, and allies capable of understanding—if not fully controlling—power they had never seen before.
---
Political Ripples
Far aboveground, councilors and guild leaders watched the chaos through magical scrying crystals.
Guild A sent adventurers to investigate, only to have them fail against monsters that didn't obey known rules.
Nobles demanded explanations, but no official mage could answer.
Rumors spread that the dungeon core had awakened after centuries, yet no one could locate its origin precisely.
The Merchant's subtle manipulations ensured that blame shifted randomly among incompetent mages and rogue adventurers. The city's leadership had no clue that the person responsible was standing casually among them, disguised as a boy.
---
The First Victory
By dusk, the initial wave of dungeon monsters was neutralized—or at least contained. Minor fires burned, streets were damaged, but no permanent fatalities occurred.
Lyn stood atop a small pile of rubble, crimson eyes scanning the horizon.
"Good. The world still has teeth."
The Archive pulsed again:
「SOUL THREADS: STABILIZED」
「DUNGEON CORE: PARTIALLY SEALED — EVOLUTION CONTINUING」
「REWARD: ARTIFACT SCAN INITIATED — IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL TREASURES」
The first test had been passed.
The fragments had acted in unison. The world had been nudged without knowing it.
And somewhere, in the distance, a faint pulse of dark magic stirred—a prelude to the next, far greater trial.
---
The Demon Lord's Reflection
Lyn returned to the tavern under the guise of a boy exhausted from work. He washed dishes and cleaned tables. No one suspected the city's savior—or its first hidden manipulator—was hiding in plain sight.
He smiled faintly as the Archive whispered:
"Soon, all threads will merge. Soon, the world will remember the true Demon Lord."
And deep in his soul, a memory from two thousand years ago resurfaced—the betrayal, the death, the fire, and the Archive disappearing with him.
"Let them enjoy their brief peace," he murmured.
"Because the Sovereign's return is only beginning."