The entrance to the E-Rank Dungeon was a swirling vortex of blue energy, located in the middle of a cordoned-off public park. Police tape fluttered in the wind, and a small crowd of onlookers snapped photos from a distance.
For normal Hunters, a Gate was just a portal—a door to another dimension.
For Kang Min-Soo, it looked different.
As he stepped off the bus, he felt the Gate before he saw it. It was a heavy, sagging point in the fabric of the world. It felt like a drain in a bathtub, silently pulling the air, the light, and the mana toward its center.
It has mass, Min-Soo realized, adjusting the oversized backpack on his shoulders. The portal itself has gravity.
"Hey! You the porter?"
A voice barked from near the containment unit. A man in flashy, polished steel armor waved him over. He held a longsword that looked more decorative than functional.
"Yes. Kang Min-Soo," he answered, keeping his head down.
"I'm Kim Tae-Ho, D-Rank Striker and leader of this raid," the man said, puffing out his chest. "You're late. We don't pay you 150,000 won to drag your feet."
Min-Soo checked his watch. He was ten minutes early. He didn't argue. "Sorry, sir."
The rest of the party consisted of two E-Rank novices—a nervous mage holding a wooden staff and a bulky tank carrying a tower shield—and a bored-looking Healer smoking a cigarette.
"Alright, listen up," Kim announced, looking at the camera of his live-streaming drone. "This is a Goblin Cave. Simple stuff. Tank takes the front, I do the damage, Mage supports. Porter, you stay twenty steps back. If you drop the loot bag, I deduct it from your pay."
Min-Soo nodded, his eyes scanning Kim.
[Target: Human (Rank D)]
[Est. Mass: 85kg]
[Mana Density: Low]
He looks… light, Min-Soo thought.
The leader's movements seemed floaty, lacking rooting. Since Min-Soo had endured 2G gravity training, the rest of the world looked like it was moving in slow motion, bouncing around in low gravity.
"Let's go!"
Kim stepped into the blue vortex. The others followed.
Min-Soo took a breath, gripped the straps of his bag, and stepped into the ripple.
The inside of the dungeon was damp and smelled of sulfur and wet dog. The walls were rough limestone, illuminated by glowing moss.
KIEEEEK!
Within minutes, the screeching started.
Three goblins, green-skinned and holding rusty daggers, leaped from the shadows.
"Tank! Block!" Kim shouted.
The bulky tank raised his shield. CLANG. A dagger bounced off the steel.
"Eat this!" The mage fired a small bolt of fire. It hit one goblin in the chest, singing its skin.
Kim Tae-Ho dashed forward, his sword glowing with faint mana. With a flourish, he slashed the injured goblin across the neck. Black blood sprayed.
"Easy!" Kim grinned at his drone. "Did you guys see that angle?"
Min-Soo stood back, watching. It was pathetic.
The goblin's movements were telegraphed. Kim's swing was wide and full of unnecessary motion. If Min-Soo wanted to, he could have walked between them, slapped the goblin, and sat down before Kim finished his swing.
Is this what having stats feels like? Or is it the Time Dilation?
The party moved forward, killing two more groups of goblins.
"Porter! Loot!" Kim commanded, pointing at the corpses.
Min-Soo walked over to the dead goblins. He pulled out a hunting knife—standard porter gear—and dug into the chest cavity to retrieve the Magic Core (a small mana stone).
As his hand touched the warm, sticky blood of the goblin, the hunger returned.
[Biomass Detected.]
[The Singularity desires sustenance.]
Min-Soo glanced at the party. They were busy celebrating their minor victory, backs turned to him. The cave was dimly lit.
He grabbed the goblin's arm.
Devour.
Slurp.
It was a sickening sound, like a noodle being sucked into a vacuum. The goblin's arm didn't get cut off; it simply… flowed. The flesh, bone, and skin liquefied into a dark stream and shot into Min-Soo's palm.
[Consumed: Goblin Arm.]
[Strength +0.02]
[Agility +0.01]
He quickly let go. The goblin corpse now looked deflated on one side, like a popped balloon.
"Hey! Hurry up!" Kim yelled.
"Got it," Min-Soo called back, wiping his hand on his pants. He pocketed the Magic Core and stood up.
0.02 Strength. It was minuscule. But there were hundreds of goblins in a dungeon. If he ate them all…
They reached the halfway point of the cave. The tunnel widened into a large cavern.
"Something's wrong," the Tank whispered, sweat beading on his forehead. "It's too quiet."
Usually, the Boss Room was at the end. But they were only in the middle.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the darkness ahead.
Min-Soo felt the gravity shift. Something heavy was coming.
"Prepare for combat!" Kim shouted, raising his sword.
Out of the shadows stepped a creature three times the size of a normal goblin. It had red skin, tusks jutting from its lower jaw, and it dragged a massive stone club reinforced with rebar.
"H-Hobgoblin?" the Mage squeaked. "That's not supposed to be here! This is an E-Rank dungeon!"
"It's a wandering elite," Kim cursed, his confidence wavering. "Tank, hold it! I'll flank it!"
The Hobgoblin roared—a sound that shook dust from the ceiling—and charged.
BOOM!
The club smashed into the Tank's shield. The Tank screamed as his arm bone snapped under the impact. He was sent flying into the wall, sliding down unconscious.
"Tank!" the Healer screamed.
"Dammit!" Kim lunged, stabbing at the Hobgoblin's side. The sword pierced the skin but got stuck in the thick muscle.
The Hobgoblin backhanded Kim.
Crack.
The D-Rank leader spun in the air like a ragdoll and crashed into the rocky floor, his sword clattering away. He groaned, clutching his ribs, blood frothing at his mouth.
The Mage fired a panic-induced fireball, but it fizzled harmlessly against the monster's chest. The Hobgoblin turned its gaze toward the Healer and the Mage. It raised the stone club high.
"No… please…" The Healer fell backward, trembling.
Min-Soo watched from the shadows near the entrance of the cavern.
If I step in, I expose myself.
If I don't, they die.
He looked at the Hobgoblin.
[Target: Hobgoblin Elite]
[Mass: High]
[Calories: Very High]
It wasn't a monster. It was a meal.
Min-Soo reached into his inventory and pulled out the Obsidian Dagger.
"Hey, ugly," Min-Soo said.
His voice wasn't loud, but in the cavern, it carried a strange resonance.
The Hobgoblin froze. It turned its head toward the porter.
Min-Soo stood there, his back straight, the heavy backpack lying on the floor beside him. He wasn't shaking.
"Run, you idiot!" Kim wheezed from the floor.
The Hobgoblin snorted, dismissing the small human. It turned back to crush the Healer.
Min-Soo sighed. "I guess I have to come to you."
He took a step.
[Skill: Gravitational Lensing activated.]
Min-Soo didn't run. He fell.
He manipulated his personal gravity vector, changing "down" to "forward." To the onlookers, he didn't accelerate like a runner; he blurred. One moment he was ten meters away, the next, he was directly under the Hobgoblin's raised arm.
The Hobgoblin's eyes widened. It swung the club down.
Min-Soo didn't dodge. He raised his left hand.
[Event Horizon.]
The stone club, weighing at least two hundred kilograms, slammed into his palm.
WHAM.
The ground beneath Min-Soo cracked, forming a crater. But Min-Soo's arm didn't bend. The kinetic energy of the swing hit the invisible barrier on his skin and vanished—absorbed into the void.
The Hobgoblin looked confused. It tried to pull the club back, but it wouldn't move. Min-Soo was holding it with a grip strength that defied logic.
"My turn," Min-Soo whispered.
He slashed upward with the Obsidian Dagger.
It wasn't a cut. It was a deletion.
A thin black line appeared on the Hobgoblin's thick bicep.
Silently, the monster's right arm—still holding the club—detached from its shoulder. It didn't fall immediately. It just… separated.
ROAAAAAR!
The Hobgoblin shrieked in delayed agony, stumbling back, blood spraying like a fountain.
Min-Soo didn't stop. He stepped into the blood spray. The red liquid didn't touch his coat; it curved around him, repelled by his field.
He grabbed the Hobgoblin by the throat. The monster was seven feet tall, but Min-Soo slammed it into the cavern wall with the force of a hydraulic press.
[Devour.]
Min-Soo's fingers dug into the red skin.
This time, he didn't hold back.
The black smoke poured from his eyes. The violet ring flared in his irises.
The Hobgoblin's scream was cut short as its body began to distort. The massive chest, the legs, the head—everything was pulled toward Min-Soo's hand. The monster stretched, spun, and spiraled into darkness.
In three seconds, the Hobgoblin was gone.
Not dead. Gone.
Only the Magic Core clattered onto the stone floor.
[You have devoured an Elite Monster.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Strength +2]
[Gravity +1]
[Skill Obtained: 'Heavy Strike' (Common) -> Mutated into 'Gravity Punch'.]
Silence descended on the cavern.
Min-Soo stood alone, the black dagger already back in his inventory. He picked up the Magic Core.
He turned around.
The Mage was passed out.
The Tank was unconscious.
The Healer was staring at him with her mouth open, tears drying on her face.
Kim Tae-Ho, the leader, was propped up on one elbow, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You..." Kim stammered. "What... what was that skill? Are you a False Ranker? An assassin?"
Min-Soo adjusted his collar. The hunger was gone. He felt full. Stronger.
He walked over to Kim and tossed the Hobgoblin's Magic Core onto the leader's chest.
"I just finished the job," Min-Soo said, his voice flat. "The monster ran away. It fell into a fissure in the back."
Kim looked at the solid wall behind Min-Soo. There was no fissure. There was only the crater where Min-Soo had stood.
"That's the story," Min-Soo said, leaning down, his pitch-black eyes locking onto Kim's. The air around them grew heavy, pressing Kim into the dirt. "Right?"
Kim swallowed hard, nodding frantically. "R-right. It ran away. We drove it off."
Min-Soo smiled. It didn't reach his eyes.
"Good. Now, let's finish the raid. I have bills to pay."