- One Month Later -

I can see it.

Lingering in view.

A black orb, large enough to swallow up all else. Deep in the earth, hidden from the sight of humanity, festering where it lay dormant.

A source of a true desire for destruction. The end of all things.

I can feel it. Soon… Very soon, it will rupture. It won’t be long until it releases what it contains.

…………………………………………………………………

My eyes open.

The same dream I’ve had every night starting a month ago. I can’t tell if it’s real or not. I can’t tell what I should do about it even if it is.

As I think about these things, the vision of the black source slips from the corners of my mind, only to vanish into the recesses of my subconscious once again.

I can’t remember it clearly, like trying to remember any other dream after you wake up.

What is it? Where is it? What do I do about it?

I feel like someone is trying to tell me and important message, but once I wake, the words within slide from my knowledge.

I push myself up from the cushioned bed, being careful not to wake Lys. She’s still sleeping peacefully next to where I had just been resting.

We’ve grown very close in the time we’ve had together.

I don’t want to ever lose her presence in my life.

But… I know that we all die someday.

I look at her.

… I hope that day is so very far in the future.

Sighing, I notice it’s early morning. The sun is peeking over the horizon, looking at the wall. Looking out at the Eastern City sprawling out in front of me through an open window, I think about the future. About my place in it. About what I want.

I know I want Lys to stay with me. I also want to stop the monsters from taking anybody else. I want to prevent any more pain. Suffering and death at the hands of the cruel beings that rule this corrupt world should not exist.

Perhaps there need to be bad things for there to be truly good things… but I don’t want Lys to suffer.

I don’t want to suffer.

And the black orb that I have been shown in my dreams will take everything from me. It will take everything from everybody.

I can remember that much, even though the rest escapes me.

“Are you okay?” Lys aks wearily.

I turn my head in her direction. She appears to be alert.

“I’m fine. Did I wake you?” I ask concerned.

“Kind of.” She looks out the window at the dreary sky. “But it’s about time to wake up anyway, so it’s fine.” She smiles forgivingly.

I look out the window.

A tear suddenly streams down my cheek.

While Lys nears the door, she can see my face, and when she spots the lone tear, she stops.

She walks over quickly and gently places her hand on my back as I lean against the frame of the window with my shoulder and turn to face her.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

My voice cracks as I respond quietly, “Nothing’s wrong. Not yet, at least. It’s just…” Another tear comes from my other eye as I say, “I don’t want to lose you. Ever. And I’m so afraid that I will one day.”

Lys says nothing as she draws in close to me.

She embraces me. She says nothing. The only thing I do now is let the tears flow and hold onto Lys tightly with both of my arms.

‘As long as I live, I will never let you suffer.’ I promise to myself.

…………………………………………………………………

Another day, another dream of the darkness.

The pervasive darkness that envelopes everything around it.

It won’t let go of any piece of light.

It shatters it.

It bends and absorbs it.

Like a black hole, it will take in everything, leaving nothing except nothingness.

It will destroy.

It will end.

I tighten my eyelids.

Tears stream from them as I try to stop the tears from coming.

I turn onto my right side, away from Lys.

Every day, I’ve seen it. The darkness. It won’t let me go. It won’t let me escape.

I want to. No, I need to!

I open my eyes wide.

I will escape from this darkness!

I quickly pull the covers off myself, and spring up from the bed. Lys jerks awake as I do.

“What’s happening?!” She asks. The adrenaline seems to have woken her up quicker than an alarm clock. She pulls her gun from its place on the bedside table.

“Nothing. Just stay there.” I say firmly.

I pull my knife and armor from my inventory.

“What are you doing?” She asks, curious.

“I’ve been thinking about the most likely place for the black source, and I think I know where it is.”

I look at her for a moment as she seems to be thinking about something.

“Sure, you can go look for it.” She nods, but continues with apparent finality. “But not alone.”

…………………………………………………………………

It’s still dark out right now. The dawn will come soon, I can see the sun rising. The team is gathered in the central courtyard of the city. It’s a large plaza with a fountain in the middle. The four of us are near it. Lys and I are sitting down on the edge of the fountain. It took a little time for Brighton and Charlie to get here.

“So where is it?” Brighton asks in a low tone. I had already sent him and Charlie a message containing what I wanted to talk about when we came face-to-face.

It should be noted that ever since that day, a month ago, he’s lost his usual ‘brightness’. Actually, it would be right to say we all did. It changed us.

One example of how I changed is how I haven’t been hunting in the past month. I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue.

“I don’t know for sure.” I pause. “I don’t even know if it’s real or not…” I rub my cheek and sigh.

“70 years ago, normal people dreamed of the calamity. It’s not unprecedented to say that you have been dreaming of something real.” Charlie says.

“Alright… the wall. We all know it was built around the largest, most dangerous area in the world.”

“So it’s there?” Lys asks.

“If ever there was a likely place for the black source to be, the very center of the Nightmare Zone would be it.”

“It makes sense.” Charlie nods.

“So what do we do about it?” Brighton speaks up.

“I don’t know. But we need to do something.” Lys says.

“We need to break the dungeon.” I say. “Like we always do.”

“I don’t think… we can do it alone.” Lys says. “We need everyone.”

“Even if we get the word out for everyone to come to this dungeon raid, I’m not sure people would come. It is the Nightmare Zone, after all.” Brighton reminds everyone. “And like you said, you aren’t sure about this.”

“I know. But it’s the most likely place. And I’ve been dreaming about the source for the past month. Not once has it felt like it was just a dream.”

“Then we can do the mission, with everybody. And make sure. Even if there’s nothing there, it will be worth it.” She looks directly into my eyes. “I trust you. And I’ll do my best to make others believe you, too. We’ll get rid of the monsters. We’ll be free from them.”

She looks into the eyes of Brighton and Charlie, then nods.

“Let’s go save the world.”

…………………………………………………………………

- Ten Days Later -

10,000.

That’s how many people have gathered in response to the unsure call of Squad 1.

I myself wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but when I spoke to the association manager for this city, he seemed to believe me. I suppose the word of the strongest hunter in the world carries that much weight.

He sent the word out on behalf of Squad 1, and here we are.

In ten short days, the population of this city increased by 40%. Every single one of the people who recently gathered are hunters, even with nothing promised in exchange for their service.

Except, of course, the chance of breaking the largest source in existence.

I think… they’re all gathered because they want to take the fight to the monsters.

Ever since the beginning of this seemingly never-ending fight against the monsters roaming the world, humans have failed to fight back in any meaningful way.

For being the fight for all of humanity itself, ten thousand is actually a small number.

I suppose that’s what happens when it’s only a chance of being the last battle.

But with our ten thousand, we will march into the hole that Myccysk made when he trampled the wall. In the same way he brought their army, we will bring ours. We shall bring the monsters doom.

…………………………………………………………………

My, how time flies when there’s a war to prepare for.

We’re here. In front of the giant passage that was forced into existence just over a month ago by a monster that nobody aside from myself had any possible way to fight against. The manticore. A monster that broke a hole in the world’s best defenses.

As we near the rubble-filled hole ourselves, I can see the looks on the faces of the hunters near us turn cold. They know what lay in store for them if this goes poorly, because they can tell what kind of strength would be required to break through this wall. This wall with a height of 300 meters was broken easily by the single Commander class.

I can tell more of what they’re feeling because some of them look in my team’s direction. They feel unsure, and want to be able to feel sure.

We are the people that others turn to in situations like this. Us.

It’s our job to keep them safe. To keep the world safe. Their responsibilities before this venture only included keeping their cities safe from weak monsters. But now, the fate of the world rests on all of us.

Actually, now that I think deeply about it, the fate of the world has always rested on the shoulders of everyone in the world that is still alive and breathing. They can still effect change. They can prevent disaster. They can end suffering.

That’s the goal today. To end the suffering of humans brought about by monsters.

To that end, there are ten thousand hunters. And did I mention that every single Squad is here? Every force responsible for closing dungeons is here. To close this source, the association brought together the hunters whose job it is to do so.

Also… I was aware that there were 12 squads, but I never imagined that the force they represented were such a small number.

12 Squads. Each squad contains three to seven people. It’s not many. At least, not enough to be considered a main force in the coming battle.

That’s also because… they wouldn’t even stand a chance against Myccysk. Only I did. And only because of my abilities did most of my team survive.

Whatever monster we find, I will take care of it.

So, I put on a confident face, take hold of Lys’ hand, and step forward into the darkened breach.

This is what must be done to save the world. To save all we love. We will destroy the black source.

The source of the end.

…………………………………………………………………

[ALERT: Memory loss. Full Status cannot be displayed.]

Name:

Age: 20

Race: Human

Titles: Old One, Instant Death

Title Effect: Grants Skill Set – Mind Over Matter.

Level: 98

Experience: 1.32%

Condition:Memory Loss (Severe).

Condition Effects: None.

HP: 1600/1600

MP: 126/126

Strength: 169 (119+50)

Intelligence: 63

Wisdom: 68

Dexterity: 116 (+30% Move Speed) (-22% Inertia)

Constitution: 200 (60+140)

Unassigned Stat Points: 165

Skills

Swiftness (Passive) [F] – Lv. 30

Increases movement speed.

Sturdy (Passive) [E] – Lv. 14

Increases constitution.

Dismantling (Active) [E] – Lv. 5

Dismantles the target corpse. Higher levels increase chance for bonus materials.

Regeneration (Active) [D] – Lv. 15

Regenerate HP at the cost of MP. Can restore lost limbs.

Appraisal (Active) [A] – Lv. 4

Appraises the target.

Mana Blade (Active) [A] – Lv. 7

Create a blade of pure mana. Increases damage and cutting ability.

Cartography (Passive) [A]

Maps the area which can be sensed. A map can be applied to a medium at the cost of MP.

Atlas’ Strength (Passive) [S] – Lv. 1

Increases strength.

Mental Influence Immunity (Passive) [S]

Grants complete immunity to mental influences from external sources.

Instant Hit (Active) [S] - Lv. 2

Guaranteed to instantly hit the target. The more difficult the hit, the higher the MP cost.

Instant Movement (Passive) [S] – Lv. 22

Reduces inertia, allowing you to alter your movements much quicker.

Inventory [Special] – Lv. 5

Grants an extra-dimensional space for the storage of allowed items.

One with Mana (Passive) [Special] – Lv. 1

Increases mana capacity.

Mind Over Matter [Special]

Control (Active):

Control what you can sense with Sense and what you can see.

Skill Strength: 338 kg of force

Expert Proficiency (42.11%)

Sense (Passive):

Allows you to sense your surrounding at all times. Focus on an area to sense greater detail. You may sense mana as well as matter.

Skill Range: 6.8 meters

Expert Proficiency (99.98%)

Unassigned Skill Points: 31