[Location: Western Borderlands – City of Varn]
The bounty board was overflowing.
Torn pages. Burnt corners. Bloodstains.
But one posting gleamed like polished gold:
WANTEDCORE ENTITY: "BLACK MAW" (LEO)
S-Rank Threat
Killed multiple elite adventurers
Suspected Divine Taint
Reward: 700,000 Gold, Land Title, Artifact of AscensionKill or Extract Core
Men and women gathered, eyes hungry, greedy, or cold.
But only one hand tore the paper cleanly from the board.
A woman dressed in white leathers. Hooded. Her face half-hidden beneath a veil of froststeel chain.
On her back: a spear with a shaft made from god-wood.
And in her eyes: the stillness of death.
"I'll take the job."
The crowd parted like water.
"T-that's the White Reaper," someone whispered.
"That's Kaska."
[Location: Dungeon – Leo's Chamber]
"We're being watched."
Myra's voice broke Leo's concentration. He'd been meditating, surrounded by glowing dungeon code like a digital spell matrix in motion.
"Define watched," Leo said calmly.
"There are birds in the outer forest that aren't real birds," Myra replied. "And one of them exploded when Lyssa tried to talk to it."
Leo stood, golden eyes narrowing.
"So it begins."
[Location: Forest Near Black Maw – 1 Mile Out]
Kaska knelt by a blood-red mushroom, fingers brushing the edges of the spore cap.
"Intelligent terrain."
She smiled beneath her veil.
"Cute."
She opened a scroll—divine-scripted, sealed with a fang-shaped wax emblem.
"I invoke the Contract of the Pale Hunt," she whispered.
The scroll burned into white fire.
Snowflakes began to fall around her in a perfect circle.
From her shoulder, a spectral wolf's head emerged—glowing like pale moonlight.
"Find him."
The hunt had begun.
[Location: Dungeon – Control Nexus]
Naelia frowned as she watched readings blink red.
"High-level divination just pulsed on the perimeter. I'm talking archpriest-tier."
Cael's tail lashed.
"You want me to eat it?"
"You don't eat magic, Cael."
"I could try."
Leo appeared behind them, arms crossed.
"What's the composition?"
"Frost-mana. Divine-tinged. South-western signature."
Leo paused.
"Kaska."
Naelia blinked.
"You know her?"
"No," Leo said, his voice calm. "But the system does."
[System Alert – Memory Echo Accessed]
[HUNTER NAME: KASKA, THE WHITE REAPER]
S-Rank Bounty Slayer
Divine-Touched: Lesser Blessing of Mertia, Goddess of Silent Ends
Last Mission: Killed the soul of a rogue god fragment
Weakness: Unknown
Leo's eyes narrowed.
"The gods are moving pieces onto the board."
[Location: Lyssa's Garden]
Lyssa trimmed glowing mushrooms gently, her hands trembling just slightly.
"There's someone in the forest," she whispered.
"Someone dangerous."
Mossie quivered.
"She smells like snow and old blood."
Leo approached, quietly.
"Stay inside the core zone for now."
Lyssa looked up at him.
"Leo… are you scared?"
He hesitated.
"I don't fear death."
"I fear losing myself before it gets here."
[Location: Dungeon Perimeter – Nightfall]
Kaska stood at the dungeon entrance.
No troops. No backup.
Just her and the wind.
"I see you," she whispered.
The stone pulsed red.
Leo's voice answered, not through words—but through the ground itself.
"Step forward, and you agree to the hunt."
Kaska smiled.
"I was born for it."
She walked in.
The dungeon sealed behind her.
[Location: Core Room – Moments Later]
"She's inside," Naelia said.
"And alone," Myra added. "That's not bravery. That's precision."
Leo nodded.
"Cael, deploy Phase One—maze corridors. Cut her line of sight."
"Already did. She didn't even flinch."
"Then we test her with pressure."
He raised his hand, and red mana lit the air like coals rising in the dark.
"She wants the Fourthborn?"
"Let's see if she survives the firstborn of this dungeon's wrath."
[Combat Initiation: The Maze of Screams]
The walls shifted.
The stone cried.
The air warped.
Kaska didn't stop walking.
A shadow lunged—a construct with ten arms and blades for fingers.
She spun.
Her spear flashed once.
It died mid-motion, spine severed.
"One down."
Another trap triggered—acid fog hissed from the vents.
She didn't cough. She didn't flinch.
"Your dungeon's angry."
"Good."
She stepped into a shadow gate, disappearing in a blink of white frost.
[Location: Command Nexus – Panic]
Naelia cursed.
"She's bypassing layers like she's memorized our layout."
Leo's eyes narrowed.
"She's using a divine map."
Myra looked worried now.
"Can you still stop her?"
Leo turned to the throne, where the core pulsed like a black heart.
"I'm not going to stop her."
"I'm going to test her."
"If she makes it to me… I'll see if she's worth killing myself."
Final Scene: Kaska Approaches the Core
The final chamber opened.
And Kaska stepped into the Core Room.
Snowflakes drifted from her cloak.
Leo sat on the throne, silent, glowing gold like a buried sun.
"You came alone."
Kaska nodded.
"I don't trust armies."
"They make too much noise."
"And you," she added, lowering her spear tip slightly, "aren't what I expected."
Leo's lips twitched, not quite a smile.
"You came to kill a monster."
"And found a man who became one."
She raised her spear.
"I came for the bounty."
"But if I find something else—"
"—maybe I'll walk away."
Leo's eyes gleamed.
"Then let's find out who bleeds first."