A tear in the sky. shaped like a door yet black as the void, hovered ominously above the ground, exuding an aura so intense that even the most seasoned hunters felt their hearts tremble.

The Black Door… is what the media has termed it.

It is unlike any Tear they had encountered in over two centuries, dwarfed the power of even the most dangerous S-rank Tears. It rippled with energy that seemed to twist the very fabric of reality around it. The air felt dense, almost oppressive, as if the weight of the world had shifted towards this singular point in space.

'This is it.'

Jae Lyn-seok took a deep breath as he scanned the team of elite hunters standing in front and beside him.

Thirty of the world's most powerful Hunters, Myths, gathered from different powers, all here for one purpose: to close this Tear and defeat whatever monstrosity controlling things inside.

For the past two weeks, these hunters had trained together, trying to develop some level of synergy between themselves in order to fair a better chance against whatever was inside.

At the forefront was Ma Jung, their unofficial leader and the strongest amongst them. His broad shoulders seemed to hold up the sky as his people depended on him coming back, his sword glinting under the darkened sky.

Next to him stood Sonica, sharp-eyed and dangerous, her calculating gaze swept across the cavern inside the Tear Room and as if anticipating a breach.

"Everyone ready?" Ma Jung's voice broke the tension of everything present, carrying a weight that demanded respect.

There were nods and murmurs of affirmation. Jae stayed at the back since he was the weakest of the bunch.

As an Adamantium-ranked Hunter, he technically didn't belong here, among the Mythril hunters, but his awakened ability had given him a place. His aura was stronger than it should be. Allowing him to step into the ranks of the Myths.

Yet, even now, he could feel it—the oppressive energy emanating from the Black Door gnawing at the edge of his mind.

They moved in silence, stepping cautiously into the dark cavern that lay at the base of the Black Door. The entrance yawned open to reveal an eerie quiet, as if the world itself had stopped breathing.

Every footfall echoed in the stillness, their senses heightened to the extreme, each hunter poised for combat.

Jae felt his heartbeat quicken as they ventured deeper. His instincts screamed that something was wrong, but he forced the panic down, focusing on the task ahead. He had to keep moving, had to stay strong—especially now.

At the end of the cavern, a dim light flickered in the distance. The team emerged into a vast, cavernous chamber… an enormous stone throne room, its ceiling stretching impossibly high, half a mile above them.

Blood, dried and ancient, painted the floor and walls, adding to the foreboding atmosphere. Stone staircases lined the walls, leading to countless tunnels and passageways, as if they stood at the center of some massive labyrinth.

As the last of the team stepped through the light, the world seemed to shift.

An overwhelming, suffocating pressure slammed into them, dropping even the strongest hunters to their knees. The air became heavy with malevolent intent.

Jae gasped, feeling the pressure crush against his chest, blood trickling from his eyes and mouth. His body screamed in agony, but somewhere deep inside his will refused to break. He wouldn't pass out. Not here. Not now.

The oppressive silence was broken by the sound of laughter.

Amused, dark, and echoing among the walls, the laughter reverberated through the chamber. The group couldn't help but feel chills down their spines. It was the kind of laughter that spoke of cruelty, of disdain, as if their very existence was nothing but a joke.

"Pathetic," a voice boomed, deep and unsettling, almost as if two beings were speaking in perfect unison.

The laughter resumed and drew closer, the thudding of colossal footsteps reverberating through the stone floor. Each step sent tremors through the ground, shaking the very foundations of the room.

And then, from the shadows, a figure emerged—towering, monstrous, and terrifying.

Incendarin.

Standing at ten feet tall, clad in dark, jagged armor that seemed to absorb the light, Incendarin strode forward with a menacing presence.

His horns twisted upward, casting a shadow on his face that added to his malice. In one hand, he carried a massive axe, the shaft and hilt constantly shifting underneath the shiny glinting, as though it yearned to taste the blood of countless victims to come.

Jae's heart pounded in his chest as he stared at the creature. This isn't just any Tear Boss.

"Hahaha," Incendarin's dual voice echoed again, filling the cavern. "You ants truly believed you could come here unnoticed? That I wouldn't feel your pathetic presence? You, the strongest of your kind, yet you can't even withstand my aura."

Jae's limbs trembled under the weight of Incendarin's presence, his body on the verge of collapse. He could hear the ragged breaths of the other hunters, their fear palpable. The once proud and powerful Myths were now frozen in place, unable to move.

Ma Jung struggled, his sword trembling in his hand, but even he couldn't rise to his feet. "What… what is this power?"

"It's… like nothing we've faced before," Sonica choked out, her usually sharp voice strained to a level a bit under a squeak. Blood dripped from her mouth, her eyes are wide with fear.

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"This c-can't be a n-normal S-rank T-T-Tear," stuttered Liao, another hunter from a rival power. "We should've felt this much pressure before we even entered."

Jae, despite his lower rank, was resisting—if only slightly. He could feel the crushing aura pressing onto his bones, yet somehow, his body was adapting. The pressure was intense, but his will was fiercer. Blood continuously dripped down his face from his eyes, but he grit his teeth, forcing his body to move, centimeter by centimeter.

Incendarin's gaze snapped toward him.

"Oh?" The giant took a step closer, his eyes narrowing as he focused on Jae. "Interesting. You're weaker than the rest, yet you're the only one still fighting. How amusing."

He strode toward Jae, each step a thunderous impact that shook the ground. The other hunters looked on, unable to move, their faces displayed true helplessness.

Jae clenched his fist as a sign that he refused to give up. His vision blurred, his muscles trembled, yet there was a fire in his heart that could not be extinguished.

"Why…" Jae spat blood onto the stone floor. "Why can… you talk?"

The question hung in the air, and for a moment, Incendarin's expression shifted from amusement to mild surprise.

"So, the little insect is curious," Incendarin chuckled. "You humans… you're so used to fighting mindless beasts, you've yet to figure out that someone or something could be commanding them. But, no matter. You'll understand soon enough. When your world falls, you'll know who it is that brought your pitiful race to its knees. Actually, I take that back. You all will be dead when that happens."

The hunters around him, still immobilized, began to tremble in fear. Lara, one of the youngest members, fearfully asked in a mutter, "What… what does he mean?"

"We're… we're in over our heads," Ma Jung finally admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. "This… this Tear… it's beyond us. We weren't prepared."

Incendarin's laugh boomed once more, louder this time, shaking the very walls. "Enough talk. Prepare yourselves. You have four hours. Heal, rest, strategize. And when I return… we shall have our death match."

Without waiting for a response, Incendarin leaped into the air, disappearing in a fiery streak, leaving the hunters to collapse to the ground, gasping for air, their bodies wracked with pain.

For a moment, there was only silence between the group, only the sound of their labored breathing is audible.

"We're… we're going to die, aren't we?" Nuwaret asks, her voice breaking.

"Shut up," Sonica snapped. "We have four hours. We'll use every second. I'm not about to let that… thing… toy with us."

But even she couldn't mask the fear in her voice. Jae remained silent, his eyes still locked on the spot where Incendarin had disappeared. His mind was focused on one thing.

The notification that still hovered in front of him gave him some semblance of hope.

[Primal Fear Evolution 89%]

The number told him just how close he was to something greater. And yet, despite the danger, despite the crushing fear… he felt an odd sense of anticipation.

This wasn't over.

Not yet.

***

The group sat scattered across the cavern floor. For a few minutes, no one else spoke, they were struggling to cope with the sheer power Incendarin displayed.

Some wiped blood from their mouths; others simply stared at the floor. The usual confidence that surrounded these powerful hunters had been shattered, leaving only doubt in its place. Making them no better than Bronze Hunters, newly awakened Hunters with little to no experience in Tears, after going through their first monster fight.

Ma Jung was the first to rise, his muscles strained as he pushed himself to his feet. His face was grim and his usually unflinching resolve was replaced by something else. He let out a deep breath, and with a steady voice, he says, "We don't have time to panic. Four hours. That's all we have. We have to come up with some sort of plan or stall for time. The Tear should reopen between 4 to 5 hours."

The words hung in the air like a command, shaking the others from their stupor. Slowly, one by one, the hunters began to stand, though their movements were sluggish due to the insane pressure from earlier.

"We need a plan," Liao muttered, his eyes aloof. His dark eyes flitted across the cavern, as if searching for something— anything, that would give them an advantage. "That thing… Incendarin… it's beyond anything we've faced. How the f*ck are we supposed to fight something beyond the Mythril Rank?"

"I don't need to be told that," Sonica snapped, her sharp tone cutting through the tension. She was pale, more pale than usual, but her mind was already racing. "First, let's heal our wounds, restore our mana. Ma Jung, what's the strategy?"

Ma Jung didn't respond immediately. His gaze remained locked on the far side of the cavern, where Incendarin had disappeared. "He's stronger than a Mythril Hunter," Ma Jung finally said, his voice quiet but carrying the weight of truth. "That's for sure. Maybe he's reached the rumored a Heroic Rank."

There was a moment of silence as the implications settled in. Heroic was a tier of strength they had only heard about in legends from the ancient ruins and others during the past Hunters' time going through countless Tears. None of them had ever faced anything like that. Even the strongest Tear Boss was only said to be at the Peak of the Mythril Rank. It took 5 Myth Hunters to take down that Boss.

Lara, the youngest of the group, swallowed hard, her voice shaking. "Are we… are we in a Tear that's stronger than S-rank then? That would explain why even from outside, we were exposed to that oppressive aura."

The question sent a ripple of dread through the group. It was unthinkable. For centuries, S-rank Tears had been the ultimate threat, the highest level of danger. If this Tear was something more…

"We can't think like that," Ma Jung said, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter what rank the Tear is. What matters is that we're here, and we have to fight. There's no turning back."

Juggr, a Nordic Hunter from Iceland stepped forward, irritated with Ma Jung's assessment. "What the hell do you mean "it doesn't matter what rank the Tear is"? It matters the most. If it's an Heroic-ranked Tear Boss, you better believe we are not going to stand a chance. You've read the files and the data from past civilizations. It's a world-ending being. It's worst than 10,000 nukes going off at once," Juggr says, on the verge of losing it.

Liao sighed, glancing around at the group. "Calm down, Juggr. That's not goingto help us. But, Ma Jung, that's easier said than done. Most of us are already struggling to stand after that little display of his. We need a solid plan. We've got four hours to get ourselves together, and we'll only get one shot at this."

Sonica nodded, her eyes flicking toward Jae, who remained silent at the back of the group. "Jae, you're with us. Stay in the back. When the fight starts, wait for an opening and hit him hard. You're Adamantium-ranked, so you'll be less of a target. Use that to your advantage."

Jae simply nodded. His mind wasn't on the conversation. His focus was on the flickering notification still visible in his peripheral vision:

[Primal Fear Evolution 89%]

That percentage had haunted him for years. His ability to grow through fear and had plateaued a long time ago. No matter how many battles he fought, no matter how many monsters he had slain, that number refused to rise. Until now.

In the presence of Incendarin, something had changed. He had felt the raw terror in his bones, the primal instinct to survive. And with it, the evolution percentage had surged by a whopping 9%.

But what did it mean to reach 100%? Could he use it? Would it be enough to turn the tide of the battle?

"Jae?" Sonica's voice cut through his thoughts, and he blinked, focusing on her sharp gaze. "You good?"

He hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I heard you. I'll be ready."

Sonica didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the matter. "Good. Stay sharp. When the time comes, we need you at your best."

Jae exhaled, looking around the group. Some of the hunters were already meditating, restoring their mana and healing their wounds.

Sonica was speaking with Ma Jung, strategizing, though their voices were low, barely above whispers. The tension in the air was thick and unnerving.

They were powerful, yes… However, they were facing something they didn't understand. And that fear had a way of seeping into even the most hardened warriors.