Chapter 31: Stepping Into A Past

  The ruined city swallowed their footsteps.

  Each crumbling structure loomed like a silent monument to something long forgotten. Faded signs, shattered storefronts, abandoned vehicles—all frozen in time.

  Yet Marcus knew this place.

  Not just the architecture, not just the layout. The feeling of it. "What happened to it all, Marcus thought struggling to grasp what he was seeing.

  The others moved ahead, their focus on potential threats. Marcus, however, couldn’t shake the familiarity clawing at his mind.

  His gaze landed on a rusted street sign.

  The language should have been foreign—but he read it instinctively.

  He swallowed hard.

  He was losing control of what was supposed to be real.

  As Ragn inspected his surroundings...

  A faint hum began

  Marcus instinctively screamed..."MOVE NOW!"

  Ragn twisted just as a shadow blinked into existence, its clawed hand slashing where his throat had been a second ago. The Spectral Sentinels emerged from the fog—tall, humanoid figures shifting between states of existence. Their bodies flickered like broken holograms, unstable yet dangerous.

  [Enemy Identified: Spectral Sentinel]

  [Threat Level: Moderate]

  Boruk reacted first.

  "Positions!" he barked, bringing his axe to bear.

  Ragn lunged, his blade swinging—only for his slash to pass through the Sentinel as if cutting smoke.

  "They phase!" he cursed, stumbling back.

  Vira adjusted instantly, waiting for the right moment to cast an electric pulse, short circuiting one as it solidified. It let out a distorted, digital screech before dissolving.

  Marcus steadied himself.

  Their phasing patterns weren’t random. They followed a rhythm.

  The Sentinel in front of him shifted—phased—solidified. Marcus lunged, his fist pushing into its core. The creature shattered into black mist.

  But something changed.

  The remaining Sentinels stopped moving.

  Their heads tilted in unnatural synchronization—watching Marcus.

  Then—

  They adapted.

  Marcus deflected a strike—only for another Sentinel to weave around his punch, its movement eerily familiar.

  Too familiar.

  Marcus’ heart pounded. It had just used—

  A slipping roll. His slipping roll.

  Another Sentinel shifted its stance, mimicking his footwork perfectly, its attacks coming faster, sharper.

  Each time he struck them down, they learned more.

  One Sentinel stepped in close, feinting a high strike before burying a hook into Marcus’ ribs.

  A textbook body shot.

  Marcus coughed, staggering.

  Then he saw it—

  The Sentinels weren’t just fighting him.

  They were fighting like him.

  No—they were surpassing him.

  The next attack came with brutal efficiency—a Sentinel bouncing lightly on its feet, its hands raised in a stance Marcus had only seen in professional boxing rings.

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  It darted forward, jabbing.

  He barely dodged.

  Another feinted left, before cutting off his footwork, trapping him in a corner.

  His own tricks. Used against him.

  His pulse raced. They weren’t just imitating him. They were evolving faster than he could react.

  The final blow came—a Sentinel shifting into a stance Marcus knew well.

  The peek-a-boo guard.

  Mike Tyson’s peek-a-boo guard.

  The Sentinel lunged forward in a terrifying burst of speed.

  A right hook exploded into Marcus’ gut.

  Pain.

  Marcus gasped, barely staying on his feet.

  The system notification..."laughed"

  [Whats wrong little fighter?... overwhelmed!?]

  The voice—cold, warped, taunting—whispered in his mind.

  [Can you survive]

  Marcus clenched his fists.

  He hated this.

  A grunt of pain snapped his focus to the others.

  Vira was constantly casting spells, but the Sentinels had adapted to her magic. Her mana drained rapidly...

  Boruk’s power meant nothing when the Sentinels dodged with Marcus’ precision.

  Ragn? He fought like a beast. But now they did too.

  One by one, the warband fell back, struggling to keep pace.

  Boruk cursed. "Damn things—!"

  Ragn collapsed, gasping as a Sentinel’s knee drove into his ribs.

  Marcus saw it—they were losing.

  He exhaled.

  No more hesitation.

  No more thinking.

  His body moved before his mind caught up.

  Marcus whispered five words.

  "Activate: Floating Butterfly, Stinging Bee."

  A pulse erupted from his core.

  The world slowed.

  His footwork became effortless—a blur of motion.

  His stance sharpened. His eyes locked onto every opening, every flaw, every vulnerability.

  The first Sentinel lunged.

  Marcus sidestepped, his counterstrike already landing before the creature realized it had missed.

  Marcus engulfed his fist in lightning mana.

  A jab—fast, surgical—cracked into a Sentinel’s core.

  A feint—drawing another into an overcommitment—before a liver shot ended it instantly.

  Boruk barely dodged an incoming blow—only for Marcus to weave in and annihilate the attacker with a crushing uppercut.

  Ragn, gasping, looked up just in time to see Marcus’ footwork turning the tide.

  He wasn’t fighting them anymore.

  He was dismantling them.

  The Sentinels stuttered—struggling to keep up—

  And then, Marcus ended it.

  The final Sentinel rushed him.

  Marcus let it come.

  One step back. One sidestep. One final punch.

  His fist drove into its core, shattering it completely.

  Silence.

  The battle was over.

  Marcus panted, his hands still shaking from the rush of combat.

  Boruk wiped blood from his lip, staring. "That… was something."

  Ragn grinned, despite the pain. "That was insane."

  Vira’s gaze stayed locked onto Marcus, her expression unreadable.

  Marcus exhaled. He had done it.

  And then—

  The system spoke again. But only to Marcus

  [Well done.]

  [But I’m keeping the points until you defeat the boss.]

  Marcus froze.

  "...What?"

  [No power-ups yet, little fighter. Not until you prove yourself.]

  His fists clenched.

  What the hell is going on! Ragn, shouted. Panicked as he reviewed his stat sheet...my experience points haven't moved...

  Mine either!, Vira responded

  Same! Boruk responded

  While the others tried to make sense of what was happening.

  Marcus's eyes drifted to the tower in the distance—the boss dungeon’s core.

  Something was waiting for them there.

  And he would have to earn his next level.

  Boruk exhaled. "Strange creatures."

  Marcus knelt, studying the flickering data cores left behind. He hesitated, then touched one.

  The system shuddered.

  [Data Fragment Recovered.]

  [Decrypting…]

  A voice—garbled, broken, but human—filled Marcus’ mind.

  "This is… Director Kael of Black Horizon Industries. Containment failed. Evacuation incomplete. The anomaly is spreading. If anyone finds this…"

  The message corrupted, dissolving into unreadable data.

  Marcus jerked back, his breath unsteady.

  Black Horizon Industries. Containment. Anomaly.

  Vira stepped closer. "Marcus. You just froze. What did you see?"

  Marcus hesitated.

  Tell her. Tell them.

  He took a breath, about to speak—

  A deep, mechanical howl split the silence as a larger Sentinel materialized—this one armored, its body reinforced with glowing red circuitry.

  Marcus barely had time to react before it was on them.

  It moved faster than the others. Its clawed arm lashed out, sending Marcus skidding backward.

  "Talk later—fight now!" Boruk roared.

  Vira clicked her tongue. "Typical."

  The Sentinel Overlord loomed, its presence warping the air around it.

  Marcus pushed himself up, wiping blood from his lip.

  Fine.

  He’d survive this first.

  Then he’d tell her.

  Suddenly, Boruk stepped forward, ordering the group to stand back.

  "Get back," he said, his voice calm yet firm.

  Ragn turned to him, concern etched across his face. "Boruk, what the hell are you doing?"

  Boruk didn’t answer immediately. His gaze remained locked on the Sentinel Overlord, his grip tightening on his weapon.

  "You guys need to recover," he finally said. "You need to be ready for the boss. Get out of here."

  Vira, noticing the tension in Ragn’s expression, took a step closer. "What’s going on? What is he doing?"

  Boruk exhaled, then turned slightly toward them. "Ragn—get them out of here."

  Ragn’s eyes widened in horror. He understood.

  "Don’t use it!" he roared, his voice filled with desperation.

  Boruk ignored him.

  He looked at Marcus instead. "Hey, Marcus... take care of Vira. I’m sorry your first delve went this way."

  Marcus froze.

  Then it clicked.

  No.

  Marcus lunged forward, trying to stop him, but Ragn grabbed him, holding him back.

  "We have to go!" Ragn shouted.

  Marcus struggled, but Ragn's grip was unyielding.

  The Sentinel Overlord stood motionless for a moment, its glowing red circuitry pulsating. Then—

  Its hollow, metallic voice echoed through the battlefield.

  [Battle data from fallen has been integrated.]

  [Adjusting form to accommodate new strength.]

  Its metal body liquefied, reshaping itself, shifting and twisting—until it took on the form of a faceless golden humanoid.

  A new, perfected version.

  Ragn didn’t hesitate. He hoisted Marcus and Vira and ran, dragging them away from the battlefield.

  As they fled, Marcus could still hear Boruk’s voice behind them.

  "Take care, you guys."

  Then, his final words—

  "Activate Blessing: Herald of the End."

  Boruk’s ki surged, rising to incalculable levels. His skin glowed red-hot, heat radiating from his body in violent pulses.

  The ground beneath him melted, molten stone forming beneath his feet as waves of heat scorched everything around him.

  The air distorted, warping under the intensity of his power.

  The Sentinel Overlord lunged, aiming a devastating punch at Boruk’s chest.

  It never landed.

  Mere inches from impact, the Overlord’s fist began to melt. The metal warped, disintegrating before it could reach him.

  The rest of its body followed.

  Momentum carried it forward, but the moment it entered Boruk’s aura, it erupted into liquid slag, collapsing into a formless heap before vanishing entirely.

  The battle was over.

  But so was Boruk.

  The heat radiating from his body began to fade, his glowing skin cooling.

  Marcus, still struggling in Ragn’s grasp, turned just in time to see Boruk begin to change.

  His skin, once a deep green, did not return to normal.

  Instead, it turned a lifeless, ashen gray—like a burnt-out matchstick.

  Then—

  His body cracked.

  And Boruk crumbled into dust.

  A long silence followed.

  Then, the system’s cold, sadistic voice whispered into Marcus’s mind.

  [You weak little fighter... You made your mentor and friend sacrifice himself for you.]

  Marcus' breath caught in his throat.

  [Too bad you can’t have these experience points. They were quite substantial.]

  The air around them felt heavy, suffocating.

  Then—

  A final, cruel taunt.

  [Oh no!... Would you look at that? No rest for the wicked.]

  Before Marcus, Vira, or Ragn could process what had just happened—

  A system notification appeared.

  [WARNING: ENTITY "██████" DETECTED.]

  [Threat Level: ???]

  The shadows ahead twisted.

  Something was coming.

  Marcus’ blood ran cold at the final system message.

  [Welcome home, Marcus.]