The Corrupted Rift and Forsaken Skills

The aura leaking out of the crimson portal ahead wasn't normal. It was suffocating.

The kind of suffocating that made even peak level 10 novice-rank awakeners, the ones who'd seen and done this dozens of times, tense up and instinctively reach for their weapons.

"What the hell is this…"

"I've been doing this for years and I've never seen anything like that."

Murmurs filled the air, and tension ran high. Nobody moved closer.

Even without touching the portal, everyone could feel the twisted energy that poured from it like invisible fire.

But while everyone else hesitated, Sam already knew what this meant.

'So it begins… The game's events are finally starting.'

In every apocalyptic scenario like this one, it always started small: strange anomalies, stronger monsters, new mechanics.

Then it snowballed. Minor chaos turned to disaster, and disaster turned to the end of the world.

The only reason the world was even salvageable in the hell-mode route was because the main character could reset every time they died.

Sam had no such luxury.

In his case, the only path forward was through, and through meant survival, no matter the odds.

He didn't need to guess. The moment his feet had stopped in front of the portal, a familiar blue panel blinked to life in front of him.

[Hell-Mode Analysis: This rift is corrupted. The monsters inside will all be level 10 and much stronger than usual...

...But it doesn't matter. Just kill them all =).]

Sam cracked a smile at the words. He hadn't planned on doing anything different anyway.

If the monsters were stronger, that just meant more experience for him to absorb. More blood, more chaos, more strength.

Behind him, the voices grew louder.

"Nope. Hell no," one of the guys in a nearby party said, already walking away. "Pack it up, boys. We're not dying for nothing."

"I agree," another group leader added, sighing. "This was supposed to be a high-difficulty rift, yeah, but this? This is something else."

People began to leave in groups, each with the same hesitant expression.

These were people who had chosen to stay novice-rank their whole lives.

Not because they were weak, but because they didn't want to risk more.

Corrupted rift? That didn't fall under "safe."

Only a handful remained: Sam, a few smaller parties, and one group that stood out more than the others, ten awakeners, dressed in red and black, with a strange military-style uniform and flame-themed insignias.

"NEVER BACK DOWN, NEVER WHAT?!" one of them shouted suddenly.

"NEVER GIVE UP!" the rest shouted in sync, striking a dramatic pose.

Sam blinked. '…What the hell is that?'

The one leading them was probably their commander.

Crimson uniform, long red coat, fiery aura around his shoulders. "For the sake of the Inferno Guild," he shouted, voice full of fire, "We shall conquer this rift! No one but us can do it!"

Sam raised a brow but didn't say anything. It wasn't like he could ignore them, they were among the last people left here, but he wasn't interested.

Instead, he took a deep breath and stepped forward.

The portal loomed ahead, twisting slowly, as if reacting to his presence. It didn't roar or screech, but the pressure around it grew thicker.

"Wait—he's going in? Alone?!"

Suddenly, a dozen sets of eyes locked onto him. Sam could feel the weight of their gazes. But more than that, he could feel the subtle touch of scanning abilities trying to probe his stats.

'Ah, so I can feel it too… Must be thanks to being a primordial.'

Nobody could hide their scans from him anymore. Not with what he was.

Their probing attempts might've gone unnoticed by someone else, but Sam could feel every one of them like needles poking at his back.

"He's level 4…? You've got to be kidding."

"Leader, should we stop him? He's going to get himself killed."

"No," the Inferno Guild novice party leader replied, tone much more serious this time. "He's made his choice. Let's see if he survives it."

Sam didn't wait for their judgment. He stepped forward, one foot after the other, until finally—

Fwoosh!

He disappeared into the portal.

Everything around him vanished instantly. The noise, the tension, the people. What replaced it was a brief moment of weightlessness, as if he were being pulled through a swirling tunnel of shadows.

Just like when he'd entered the first layer, he floated through an empty void. But unlike back then, panels appeared in his mind before he even touched the ground.

---

[Name: Undead Graveyard (Corrupted)]

[Recommended Level: …Honestly, even a level 10 novice wouldn't be able to do it.]

---

Then the ground slammed up to meet him.

BAM!

He landed in the middle of an eerie silence. Cold air brushed against his skin, and as he looked up, he understood why the rift had its name.

Tombstones. Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands.

He stood in the center of a massive graveyard, the stone markers crooked and aged, many shattered, others barely visible through the fog.

The air shimmered slightly, corrupted energy distorting the space in strange waves.

Sam narrowed his eyes.

[You feel its gaze on you.]

"Huh."

Seeing this weird panel, Sam suddenly remembered.

The first time he saw one of the [You have a bad feeling about this] panels, it was just before entering the first layer.

Then he'd seen it again during the train ride to this rift.

The pattern was obvious. This "bad feeling" was real, and every time it happened, something twisted the world around him, reshaping events into the worst possible outcomes.

It could be Hell-Mode twisting things behind the scenes to ensure his suffering…

But he wasn't taking this lightly anyway.

"Spatial Inventory," Sam muttered.

In the next second, he reached into the void and pulled out the [Primordial Sword].

The blade shimmered with an odd darkness, one that seemed to shift between black and deep violet.

As he held it, the air around him subtly bent.

"Alright," he whispered. "Let's do this."

Rifts weren't as big as the layers in the [Forsaken Realm], but some were still massive in size.

That said, this wasn't about exploration.

To Sam, the sole goal was killing everything that moved, and gaining enough experience to evolve past the novice rank.

And most importantly, corrupted rifts? He'd never heard of them before.

Even after pouring hours into the game and reading forums, nothing like this had ever been mentioned.

Which probably meant this was something unique to Hell-Mode. Something nobody else had lived long enough to talk about.

With sword in hand, Sam moved forward, deeper into the graveyard.

He walked past crooked gravestones, crushed coffins, and strange, whispering shadows that moved in the fog just beyond sight.

He wasn't worried, not yet. But he kept alert.

Just in case. He decided to check on his skills.

Opening his status window, he scrolled down and focused on the three fully evolved abilities he had.

---

[Primordial Sword Technique]

[Rank: Forsaken]

[Description: No one can rival your sword technique, for a primordial should stand above all others.]

[Hell-Mode Analysis: For some reason, you have the feeling that this isn't all of it.]

---

[Abyssal Obliteration]

[Rank: Forsaken]

[Description: Summon portals from which you can shoot shadow bullets, each one extremely powerful.]

[Hell-Mode Analysis: Shoot them.]

---

[Eternal Barrier]

[Rank: Forsaken]

[Description: There is an invisible barrier surrounding you at all times, and no attack, no matter how strong, can pierce through it. Shatters after 50 hits. 30-minute cooldown.]

[Hell-Mode Analysis: At least you won't be caught off guard when the entire world is against you, Primordial.]

---

Sam smiled, though he took notice of the [Hell-Mode Analysis] sentences.

And with that done, he actually moved forward.