Hazel brought up her staff as the Fractured Dire Wolf jumped her, instantly snapping its jaw on the gnarled wood and letting out a vicious growl. She then lost her balance from this and fell on her back, still struggling against the purple fractured monster.

It continued to gnaw on her staff, grinding its sharp teeth against the wood as if attempting to saw it off. Hazel was at a loss of what to do since she didn’t have time to adjust to her surroundings yet.

Plus, she still didn’t know how to use magic. Did she have to cast verbally, mentally, or what? Or was it a different method altogether?

“G-get off…!” She shouted, pulling her legs up and kicking the monster off her.

The fractured wolf sadly landed on its feet, almost with a bit of grace at that. It’s supposed to be a wolf, so why was it landing like a cat?

Before she was attacked again, Hazel used her staff to pull herself up. Once on her feet, her eyes were trained on the fractured monster, prepared for what was to come. Instead of charging at Hazel, it simply walked around her in a circle, possibly waiting for the right moment to strike.

Meanwhile, she clutched her staff with both hands, her mind racing, trying to figure out what to do against her opponent. Then, in a desperate attempt, she pointed her gnarled weapon at the fractured wolf, hoping this would work.

“M-Mana Bolt!” She shouted with a stutter, visualizing a bolt of pure mana being shot out from the staff.

It was her first time casting a spell, but she prayed to whatever higher being to let it work.

Suddenly, Hazel felt a surge of power swell up within her, then transferring into her staff. A bright blue light erupted from the tip of the weapon before taking the shape of a pointed rod or bolt.

She smiled, feeling elated. She could cast magic now! But she couldn’t let her excitement distract her right now. There was still a monster that needed to be dealt with.

As soon as the rod of pure mana was made, it shot forward like a bullet, going right for the Fractured wolf. However, it was quick on its feet and dove out of the way, not even getting grazed by the mana bolt as it zoomed past the creature.

“Oh, come on…!” Hazel said, feeling a bit annoyed.

That was her first time using magic, and she didn’t even hit the monster. But, she at least knew how to cast magic, so there was still a chance to win. Especially if she did this right.

After dodging the mana bolt, the fractured wolf snarled, peeling back its lips to reveal its razor-sharp canines. Then, it lunged at Hazel again, likely believing that it had a chance to take her down.

But that was where it was wrong.

“M-Mana Shield!” She shouted her second spell, imagining a dome barrier surrounding and protecting her from danger.

Her body felt the wave of energy course through her and then into her staff before conjuring a transparent blue dome. Encasing the novice mage in a protective barrier. Hazel was in awe, staring at the dome shield made of pure mana.

As for the Fractured wolf, it couldn’t change course and move out of the way while in the air, and inevitably crashed into the barrier, letting out a loud yelp while walling on the floor. Hazel cracked a grin, delighted that she was able to use another magic spell.

And this one appeared to be a barrier-type spell, protecting Hazel from danger. With this, she now didn’t have to worry about the monster attacking her. Not with her Mana shield activated.

However, something went wrong. Moments after her shield materialized before her, it began to disappear into particles. Hazel looked wide-eyed at the blue fragments floating up in the air then dissipated into nothing.

“W-what…why did it go away?!”

Hazel was certain that she didn’t deactivate her spell, so why did it disable like that? Was it on a timer or something? Or could it have been that she was out of mana? How would she know if that was the case in the first place? It felt like Hazel was extremely underprepared considering how clueless she was regarding the fundamentals of her class.

While in the middle of a crisis, Hazel then heard the familiar growl of the Fractured Dire Wolf. Its vicious snarls pulled her attention away from her dozens of questions as she realized the bigger problem. She still had to deal with this purple-cracked monster.

Her concerns regarding the Mana Shield's disappearance were a problem for later. Right now, she needed to act!

The Dire wolf let out another growl and lunged toward Hazel. Hastily raising her staff, she tried to cast her mana shield again.

“Mana Shield!”

However, instead of watching the blue transparent dome appear like before, nothing happened. No surge of energy or anything like that. In fact, for a brief moment, she could feel the energy swelling up within her before abruptly stopping. As if there was something blocking the path. A wall that obstructed her mana from reacting to her spell.

The dire wolf got closer, its maw wide open and prepared to sink its canines into Hazel and tear out her throat.

“C-crap…!” Reacting instinctively, Hazel jumped to the side, dodging the dire wolf, narrowly avoiding its vicious teeth.

When the monster lunged past her, she whipped around and kept her eyes trained on it. And before it could attempt another attack, Hazel desperately directed her staff at the monster and cast another spell.

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“M-Mana Bolt!”

Another mana bolt was conjured before her. It materialized in front of the staff and then rocketed toward the target. The projectile soon made contact with its head, resulting in an explosion of purple shards flying around. At first, Hazel was confused by what happened but quickly concluded that when she killed the Dire Wolf, it then shattered into pieces like glass.

Hazel stood there in shock; her mind unable to process the sudden turn of events she just experienced. It was only when another panel appeared in front of her that brought her out of it.

[Level 2 Fractured Dire Wolf has been defeated!]

“I-I did it…” Hazel muttered, reading the kill notification.

She felt a wave of relief wash over her, to the point where she had to sit down to calm down and catch her breath. Thankfully, there were no other enemies nearby, so she was safe for the moment. Otherwise, her best course of action would have been to run away instead.

“What even was that thing? It looked like a wolf, but it had those purple cracks all over its body.”

That panel from before when she first encountered the creature informed her that it was called a Fractured Dire Wolf and that it was from a fractured world. Did that mean this place was…dead or destroyed?

Was that even possible in the first place? And if the world was destroyed, then why did it turn into a dungeon?

Distracted by so many questions, it took Hazel a moment to realize that another panel manifested before her, discussing the very topic of the dungeon itself.

High Difficulty Dungeon

The Dungeon known as Fractura used to be known as Totum, one of the first worlds assimilated into the System. However, due to an excessive amount of mana building up within its core, it could no longer sustain itself, thus exploding in the process. It is now known as a Fractured world, completely taken over by Entropy along with its former residents. The likelihood of survival is extremely low, and if you are one of the few individuals who do make it out alive, then you have more potential than first realized.

Objective: To complete the dungeon, you have three options which are to spend one month within the dungeon, defeat a Sub-Boss, or kill the Dungeon Boss itself.

Reward: Leaving the Dungeon and an Epic Loot Box

Hazel’s eyes widened before her brows furrowed angrily. “A High Difficulty Dungeon? What kind of Tutorial was this?! I didn’t select Hard Mode, dammit!” Her voice ranged through the church building as she continued to berate the Panel.

She didn't know what a Dungeon was, but according to the panel, it seemed to be some kind of world used for her Tutorial. And apparently, it was also a High-Level Difficult Dungeons with low chances of survival. So didn’t that mean Hazel had a very high probability of dying in this place? Why did the system decide to drop her in such a death trap?!

“I know you randomly selected a Dungeon for me, but don’t I at least get a choice in picking what difficulty I want?”

She then released a sigh, realizing that talking to a panel wasn’t going to change anything. Basically, she was dealt a very short stick, and there was nothing she could do about it. Except do whatever it took to survive.

“Good grief…” She muttered while pushing herself back up. “This is not how I expected my life to go. At all.”

Even though she was in a dangerous dungeon that could kill her, she at least knew the conditions to leave this place, which was staying here for a month or defeating some Bosses. Then again, just surviving here for thirty to thirty-one days sounded just as dangerous as going up against a Boss.

For now, she needed to assess her surroundings, which meant that it was time to see what the outside world was like in this dungeon. Hopefully, she wasn’t dealing with some hellish environment or something like that.

She slowly walked down the church, walking past all the destroyed seats as she did, then making her way to the big wooden double doors. While in front of them, Hazel noticed similar purple cracks like from the Dire Wolf and everything else in this building. Whatever this fractured world was like, it clearly affected anything and everything no matter what it was.

The description from the Fractured Dire Wolf said that these purple cracks were part of the Mana Overload that turned this dungeon into a Fractured World. Thankfully, there was nothing that said it was infectious, so Hazel felt relieved by that.

However, that didn’t change her feelings regarding the cracks. They gave off an eerie and disturbing aura that Hazel wanted to leave this place immediately. Sadly, that was impossible unless one of the three objectives was completed.

For now, all she could was suck it up and push through. Right now, she needed information about this dungeon and what it was like, aside from the cracks and how it was fractured. She needed more to go on before she could do anything.

With that in mind, Hazel took a deep breath while her hand reached for the door. Turning the knob, she pulled the door to open it. Doing so, she was greeted with a bizarre sight. Something that made her pause as her eyes and mouth were opened wide with shock at the sight.

Just outside the church doors, she bore witness to an endless purple and pink space with hundreds of stars blanketing it. Along with that were chunks of landmass floating in the void. Some had buildings like houses, mansions, a series of shops, and the like, while the rest were simply pieces of the ground from their former world, drifting around aimlessly. Much like the gothic-style church, the rest of the buildings gave off the same architecture as if they were all from medieval times with knights and swords, and possibly magic as well.

Walking a little further out, she was able to look down and see that there was no ground whatsoever at the bottom. Just an endless abyss that she could easily fall into if careless enough. Moving away from the edge, Hazel slowly understood her situation and why this Dungeon had a very low chance of survival.

In the distance, she heard a loud monstrous roar that echoed beyond the void, making her flinch in fear. She turned toward the origin of the noise, only to see a giant monster with similar cracks coursing around its body. It had pale skin with the familiar purple fracture marks etched across it, stood at over ten to fifteen feet tall, and had only one eye while carrying a massive wooden club.

Hazel knew what this monster was. It was a creature that was extremely popular in the Fantasy Genre. It was a Cyclops. An honest-to-god Cyclops like from Greek Mythology and fantasy novels.

A monster known not only for its huge size and singular eye but also its fierce and devastating power. Something that only heroes of legend had a chance at both surviving and defeating it. And Hazel was looking right at one from several meters away.

Hazel continued to stare at the one-eyed monster, before seeing another panel like before, showing its description.

Level 10

A Fractured Cyclops, much like the rest of the Fractured creatures in this dungeon, is merely a husk of its former self, lacking any intelligence, and is fueled by its primal instincts to kill and destroy anything within its sight.

Reading the description of the creature, Hazel couldn’t help but gawk at the cyclops, unable to tear her eyes away from it. What frightened her most was that it was strong as well. Nine levels higher than her. If she attempted to fight that monster as she was now, there was no doubt in her mind that it would lead to her certain death.

In a panic, Hazel rushed back into the church, hiding behind the door while peering her head out to watch what the one-eyed monster was doing. It let out another roar, waving its giant club around before marching away from the church, thus away from Hazel as well.

Hazel sighed deeply while leaning her back against the door. “Yeah…this dungeon is going to be the biggest pain in the ass ever.”