The Edge of the Forgotten World
The wind howled like a wounded beast, screaming across the jagged cliffs that marked the outer border of Hidden Valley.
Kieran stood at the precipice of the world, cloaked in an aura of shifting void, the forest behind him fading into memory, the unknown yawning open before him.
His boots crunched against bleached stone, windswept and lifeless. The mountain path he stood upon seemed to end in nothing—swallowed by clouds that pulsed with lightning and unnatural shadows. Even the sunlight seemed hesitant here, bleeding into the clouds like dying embers.
He had crossed dozens of leagues in minutes, folding space with his system's Void Steps until even the most advanced detection spells would lose his trail.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]You are entering a restricted region: "Hidden Valley – Forbidden Zone."Warning: High-tier entities detected.[Permission granted: System adaptation enabled. Synchronizing terrain data...]
A crimson ripple shimmered across his vision as the environment recalibrated within his System Field—rendering a detailed overlay of mana signatures, air pressure, magical anomalies, and thermal fluctuations.
"...It's worse than I imagined," Kieran muttered, watching lightning burst sideways through the clouds ahead. "Even the storms have magic cores."
He took his first step forward—and the storm welcomed him.
A flash of green flame erupted from the ground, taking the shape of a horned wolf, its eyes burning with arcane hatred. Kieran dodged easily, fingers raised lazily.
"Tier 5… corrupted. Guardian-class construct," he murmured, eyes glowing. "Let's try something light."
He summoned one of the basic abilities from his Mythic Job, "Voidshaper Sovereign"—a spell known simply as:
[Skill Activated: Void Needle Barrage Lv.1]
What followed wasn't a barrage. It was a slaughter.
From the tear he opened in the fabric of space, hundreds of black, crystalline needles launched forward like a monsoon of death. Each pierced through the guardian's body like it was paper. The wolf exploded into a cloud of mana dust.
"Still not used to that power scale," Kieran said, flexing his hand.
He moved forward, the terrain shifting from stone cliffs to twisted jungle. Trees the size of towers groaned overhead, their bark riddled with glowing blue fungi and mana veins. The entire valley felt alive, as if it watched him.
And yet… not a single bird called. Not an insect buzzed.
He stepped lightly over a fallen tree—and the ground beneath him shuddered. A pulse of magic, ancient and malevolent, throbbed through the roots like a heartbeat.
[DANGER ZONE ENTERED – Tier 7 Mana Beast Detected Nearby]
Kieran tensed, but didn't stop.
"I need to know how deep this place goes," he whispered.
He climbed higher, past glimmering waterfalls, over ravines that shimmered with spatial instability, through ghost villages devoured by vines and forgotten time. The monsters here didn't just kill—they guarded something. Patterns. Ritual sites. Ancient shrines.
Whatever this valley once was, it hadn't always been wild.
It had been sealed.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: Deep Core Detected – Lair of Twin Tyrants Located]
Kieran came to a stop on the edge of a clearing—one that spanned miles in a perfect circle.
In the center of that clearing, nestled among shattered statues and a massive obsidian lake… was a mountain-sized skeleton of an ancient beast. And beside it, two shapes slumbered:
A titanic, obsidian-scaled Hydra, its nine heads curled beneath its wings.
And a coiled Dragon, white as starlight, its breath forming frost clouds even in its sleep.
Kieran exhaled slowly, eyes narrowed.
"...So this is the final gatekeeper."
He reached into his inventory and pulled out a simple, silver ring. One of the girls—probably Mira or Luma—had hidden it in his pack with a small note: "Come back safe. We're waiting."
He put the ring on.
Then, for the first time since arriving in this world, Kieran let go of his suppression.
[System Lock Release: 100% Power Unsealed][Void Authority: Dominion Protocol Alpha Initiated]
A ripple exploded outward.
The sky split. The lake froze. The dragon stirred. The hydra raised one head.
The battle for Hidden Valley… had begun.