Today's world was in a constant flux. The people – I mean, challengers, as we would like to call ourselves – are hard-pressed, spending our days fighting against beings we thought did not exist before. Only that we still do not know that this is just the beginning of our constant trial to survive. Five years ago, when a large quake shook the earth, a world-changing phenomenon occurred. Monsters and unimaginable creatures started appearing on the surface of the earth; They just randomly appear here and there. No one really knows the reason, not until recently. We wished it could've been a stunt, we really do. But countless had already died, it was like a flash of a bomb. No one sees it coming.
I opened my eyes and a white ceiling entered my view. My decapitated arm was still there intact like nothing had happened. My mind was hazy, and the bits of memories were interfering with my brain. "What happened?" I asked myself, looking at the surrounding area. "I…. Survived?" Ever since I met the convenience store attendant, Ivana Luvia, I almost never opted to go to a hospital. Though, I still have a sense of familiarity with being treated in a hard mattress inside a hospital, just as I’d be sitting in a chair inside a local convenience store. I moved my body and it is surprisingly light. I almost wanted
"You don't know what happened afterwards?" the CA's agent asked while making doubtful glances at me. For some reason, he seemed to be troubled by the lack of information I gave him. "Like I said I blank out…" I said, leaning on the bed while crossing my arms in dismay. "Well, you might not believe me but the demon found on the subway was in fact an Archdemon. It's true that we don't have much information about it, but we are sure that it's strength is not something that can be defeated even by an A-tier alone…. Much more of a raid composed of 2 C-tier, 5 E-tier, and an F-tier. Given its appearance it could easily be labeled as an S-tier quest." "So you're saying someone was able to defeat the Archdemon?" I asked.
I retraced our footsteps before and I quite remember the route, thankfully the footsteps are still intact within the slightly dried mud and the familiar scent of sewage water reek around the area even now. I finally went down to the 2nd level, somewhere in the side there's the demon corpse. Its horns are already detached from its head, as well as it's heart and some of its body parts. I find my sword sticking out of its lower left chest, they didn't bother to retrieve it, they probably don't expect me to use it again. Well I did, but I guess it will be handy to clean off the monsters here. I anticipated that the demonic imps would rush at me, but instead of imps, shadow
I gathered a lot of attention dragging thousands of carcasses as I exited the Daejeon Underground Subway Station. Thankfully the devourer's mask was able to mask a bit of my presence. "This is not good," I said and used the skill <Shadow Transfer> as I hid myself in the alleyway, through the dimmed floor I traveled in the shadows. I was able to arrive silently in the Challenger's Association building, "I wish to trade these carcasses with coins…. How much do you think all of these will cost?" The NPC receptionist looked at me gladly, "If you may, you could put it in the scanner, just at that corner," she said pointing at the adjacent counter. "The attendant there will calculate the cost for you. You shall receive a claim voucher from there, then you may now come back to me to exchange it for coins
We arrived and the heavy air, and the eerie whispers of the wind greeted us. Instead of a jovial bunch of people, there were chaotic monsters lurking in the shadows. I know for a fact that whoever came here was planning to die. That time the gates were wide open, inviting everyone to come in, yet no one in their right mind would dare to. No one except us maybe. If my calculations were right, the monsters hiding here we're A at best, but they are dormant right now so the place was silently peaceful. Normally monsters won't attack Challengers who come here, at least not until they get closer to them, but now that my senses are heightened I could feel some fleeting aggression from those monsters, as if they are waiting to pounce at us any moment. "So
We left the amusement park with contented hearts, and went back to the convenience store. "That was amazing!" she said. "Well, does that mean I have been freed from my debt!" I said with self-satisfaction. "Yeah…. But to tell you honestly, everytime you come back alive, it is already a payment in itself…." she confessed. Hearing her thoughts, I felt that it would be rude to continue to treat her like a normal NPC, she really cares for me, that I could tell. "Ah, by the way, I need some armor and a weapon…." I said trying to shift the topic, be that as it may it is a proper request since I'm aiming for a higher tier quest, so I better prepare something. "Ah, why are you always interrupting me! I haven't even confessed everything!" She seems be
We only needed a few minutes to get ready. Once we received a call that we had been registered to participate in the quest, each one of us hopped on the taxi and headed off to the location point. We arrived at an abandoned mining site, from the looks of it aside from monster carcasses, minerals, metals, and gems must also be found here. The dimming street lights were the only source of light available, and the path ahead was fairly dark. Before we proceed Oren, the man with a fairly big physique called our attention. He smiled softly and walked closer while speaking to us. "Right now, the Silent Meadows team will be subjugating a D-tier quest, with the intel we've got, this quest involves fast and quick monsters, sadly, there is nothing much