Chapter 41 – Cast Out by the Abyss
??? AM – The Moment of Collapse
The moment Kyung-min stepped through the door, everything went wrong.
A violent force wrapped around him, something beyond anything he had ever felt.
Not pain.
Not damage.
It was erasure.
Like the world itself was undoing him.
His legs buckled. His vision blurred. His breath turned ragged.
And then—
🔹 [Floor 0 Should Not Exist.]
🔹 [User Was Never Meant to Exist Here.]
🔹 [System Reset Detected.]
🔹 [Rank Readjustment in Progress.]
Kyung-min's heart pounded.
"What…? What the hell does that mean?"
Then—
🔹 [Stat Reduction in Progress.]
His body convulsed.
His strength vanished.
His speed dulled.
His mind felt sluggish.
His very existence was being rewritten.
And when the notifications finally stopped—
🔹 [New Awakener Rank: E-Rank.]
🔹 [Class Retained – Revenant Necromancer.]
🔹 [All Attributes Partially Reduced – Growth Potential Retained.]
His vision swam, his rage boiling over.
"Not again—"
"NOT AGAIN!"
Kyung-min screamed.
"YOU—!"
His voice broke the silence of the chamber.
"You're taking it all away AGAIN?!"
His staggered forward, fists clenched.
"I FOUGHT—! I BLED—! I CRAWLED THROUGH THAT HELL—!"
His lungs burned as he roared at the empty void.
"AND NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME IT WASN'T EVEN REAL?!"
His legs collapsed beneath him.
His breath came out in ragged gasps.
His vision darkened.
Then—
His summons shattered.
One by one, the undead under his command disintegrated into nothingness.
The Abyss Crushers. The Carrion Maulers. The Riftborn Stalkers.
They were unmade.
Even his Phantom Wraiths flickered out of existence.
And then—
ShadeStalker remained.
For a single moment—
It stood before him.
Its hollow, unreadable gaze met his weakened glare.
And then—
It lowered its head.
Not in submission.
Not in obedience.
But in understanding.
As if—
For the first time—
It felt something.
Then—
It vanished.
And Kyung-min?
He collapsed.
The world faded to black.
10:23 AM – The Awakener Party's Discovery
A group of five awakeners moved cautiously through the stone corridors of a C-rank tower dungeon. A low hum filled the entrance of the C-rank tower dungeon as the five-person awakener team stepped inside. Their leader, a spearman, glanced at his party.
"Stay sharp. We clear the first floor, then move deeper."
They weren't adventurers.
They weren't heroes.
They were just people doing a job.
Tower dungeons had become part of daily life.
Clearing them meant profit.
Clearing them meant opportunities.
They moved cautiously, weapons drawn, mana senses spread out—
Then—
A scream tore through the dungeon.
A raw, guttural explosion of rage.
"YOU—!"
The sound shook the cavern walls.
It wasn't a monster.
It wasn't a trap.
It was human.
"YOU'RE TAKING IT ALL AWAY AGAIN?!"
The swordsman of the group flinched.
"The hell—?"
A second shout followed, filled with fury and despair.
"I FOUGHT—! I BLED—! I CRAWLED THROUGH THAT HELL—!"
The party exchanged quick glances.
"What kind of idiot is yelling in a dungeon?"
"That's not the sound of someone fighting—"
"That's someone losing their damn mind."
The healer's expression hardened.
"We need to find them. Now."
They rushed forward, navigating through the dimly lit stone corridors—
And then—
They saw him.
A lone figure stood in the center of the dungeon's first floor.
His clothes were torn, stained with dried blood.
His body trembled violently.
His eyes were wide, filled with rage and despair.
And above all—
His mana signature was flickering.
Like it was being forcibly drained.
The moment their eyes locked onto him—
His body convulsed.
And he collapsed.
The watching Awakeners tensed as they saw something impossible.
Shadowy figures crumbled into nothingness.
What had once been monstrous beings of different shapes ceased to exist.
Even the phantom-like creatures flickered and vanished.
All except one.
A massive, blackened beast—
Its hollow gaze fixed onto the fallen man.
For a brief moment—
It lowered its head.
And then—
It too vanished.
He lay motionless.
The dungeon fell silent.
The Awakeners stood frozen, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
"...What the fuck was that?"
10:25 AM – The Awakener Party's Shock & Decision
The spearman swallowed.
"...What just happened?"
The healer checked Kyung-min's body.
"He's alive. Barely."
The shield-user clenched his jaw.
"That wasn't normal."
The swordsman exhaled sharply.
"No shit. That wasn't normal. That was something else entirely."
The healer placed a hand on Kyung-min's wrist.
"He's an awakener," she confirmed.
"But his mana is weak—too weak."
A pause.
Then—
"...We're taking him back."
The spearman hesitated.
"We don't even know who he is."
The healer's gaze was firm.
"We're not leaving him here."
Another silence.
Then—
"Fine."
The party carefully lifted Kyung-min's unconscious body.
And with that—
They carried him out of the dungeon.
10:47 AM – The Hospital & The Awakener Association's
A steady beep filled the sterile air of the hospital room.
Kyung-min lay motionless, his body wrapped in fresh bandages, connected to an IV. His breathing was steady, but his face remained pale.
Outside his room, two Awakener Association officials stood in the hallway, their expressions tense.
"Did you get a read on him?"
One of them, a middle-aged man in a formal suit, tapped the device in his hand—a mana-scanner, a standard tool used to gauge an awakener's classification.
"Yeah. We confirmed his class."
"...And?"
The official let out a slow exhale.
"Revenant Necromancer. E-rank."
His colleague frowned, his expression shifting from curiosity to outright confusion.
"A necromancer…?" He hesitated. "That's impossible."
The official gave a slow nod.
"It should be."
There were no necromancers.
Not in this world.
Not in any registry.
Not in history.
"Is this a mistake?" his colleague asked, voice lower now. "Maybe a reading error?"
The older man's grip tightened around the scanner.
"We ran it three times. Same result."
Silence.
Then—
"What the hell was he doing in a C-rank dungeon?"
Another pause.
The official turned, staring through the hospital window at the unconscious man.
"I don't know."