Ken pulled the worn hood of his jacket tighter against the biting wind as he slipped through the crooked alleys of the Eastern Sector. The city felt different here. The tall gray towers were replaced by sagging buildings and iron grates and the streets oozed with a stale scent of rot and rust. His boots splashed through shallow puddles reflecting the dying light overhead as dusk fell across the world like a slow suffocating curtain.
The system instructions buzzed quietly in his mind pointing him forward Eastern Sewer Sector Breach Point thirty meters ahead
He found himself standing at the crumbling mouth of an old sewer line weeds and moss strangling the cracked concrete pipes. There was no grand portal no swirling magic rift nothing. Just a rusty metal door hanging open on twisted hinges creaking with the wind.
Ken frowned breathing in the heavy damp air
Was this it
He stepped forward his footsteps echoing down the dark tunnel. His heart pounded louder with each step and a cold sweat slicked his palms. No breach no monsters no danger
Maybe he was too early
Maybe the system messed up
He turned around ready to leave
That was when it hit him
A prickling sensation across the back of his neck a whisper he could not hear but felt deep inside
Ken closed his eyes the world falling into a heavy silence around him. He reached inward blindly searching hoping the way the system had taught him to sense magic just once
And there it was
A ripple in the air behind him faint but real
He spun around instinctively hands raised
The shadows burst apart as a creature lunged from the darkness
It was an ant
But not like any he had seen before
Its body was sleek and armor plated with iridescent black shell its jaws snapping with brutal force and it was fast faster than any human sprint
Ken barely managed to stumble back as the creature slashed at him with bladed legs each the size of a short sword. He shouted the first magic words that sprang to his mind
Ahalz
Fenta
Vohkai
Shenlor
The words ripped from his throat with desperation and the air around him shivered responding to his call. Fire erupted in wild hungry tongues engulfing the narrow tunnel. The ant screeched its high pitched shriek like tearing metal as flames devoured it.
But it was not alone
Behind it pouring from cracks in the wall from broken pipes from holes in the ceiling came dozens more smaller Rift Ants hissing and clattering across the stone with terrifying speed. A living river of chitin and hunger
Ken backed away heart hammering against his ribs fire swirling around him in wild spirals. He swept his hand across the ground flames obeying his will and incinerating the crawling swarm. The heat was unbearable the air filled with the choking stench of burning flesh and acidic smoke
The walls blackened and cracked under the onslaught but still they came mindless relentless
Ken stumbled against a broken pillar gasping lungs burning eyes watering
Then he saw her
From the heart of the colony lumbered a creature nearly five feet tall its monstrous body covered in thick gleaming armor plates its mandibles dripping with sickly green venom that hissed when it touched the ground. Her eyes glowed faintly with malevolent intelligence
The Queen of the Rift Ants
Ken felt a surge of raw terror seize his body locking his muscles
He turned and ran heart pounding in his ears as he shouted mentally for the system
Help me
Anything
Something
The system responded with cold mechanical calm
Weapon Acquisition Protocol Initiated
A flash of violet light burned in front of him and in his hand formed a weapon
A blade unlike any he had ever seen thin and long like a katana but lighter sharper its surface shimmering with a dark purple hue as if forged from crystallized twilight
Ken skidded to a stop turning to face the advancing Queen
The world slowed around him the smoke the fire the screeches of dying ants all faded into a distant roar
Only the Queen remained a looming figure of death
He tightened his grip on the strange blade its energy vibrating through his bones
No running now
No hiding
This was it
He sprinted forward not thinking only moving the blade singing through the hot smoky air. The Queen reared back spitting venom that sizzled against the ground where he had been just seconds before
Ken weaved left then right dodging her strikes feeling the blade guide him moving almost on its own
Then without hesitation he hurled the katana with all his strength
It spun through the air a glinting arc of violet light slicing cleanly through the thick smoky gloom
The blade struck the Queen with a sickening wet crunch splitting her massive armored body down the middle
For a frozen heartbeat nothing happened
Then her body shuddered spasmed
Split apart
The Queen fell in two smoking halves her acidic blood gushing out in a steaming tide. A few droplets splashed across Ken's face burning his skin with sharp stings
He wiped his face grimacing at the foul stench
His knees buckled but he forced himself to stay standing swaying slightly as the echoes of battle died in the tunnel
All that remained was the crackling fire the smell of death and the broken corpses of the Rift Ants
Ken staggered forward to retrieve his blade now embedded deep in the sewer floor slick with black blood. As he bent to pick it up movement caught his eye
From the smoke and darkness emerged a figure cloaked in deep gray robes their face obscured by shadow
Ken stumbled back blade raised
But the figure did not attack
Instead they simply watched silent motionless
The firelight flickered across the newcomers features revealing the stern weathered face of one of the professors
Ken's heart lurched
He did not know why the man was here or how he had followed him but something in the professors gaze made him feel small like a chess piece being studied by a player who already knew the entire game
The man said nothing merely nodding slightly as if confirming something he had long suspected
Ken wiped the blood from his cheek feeling the weight of unseen battles yet to come pressing down on his shoulders
The system chimed softly in the back of his mind
Quest Complete
Reward Pending
But Ken barely noticed
His eyes locked onto the professor still shrouded in the drifting smoke and for the first time he wondered if he had truly won anything at all