Mikael_Guerrero_3059

In a world where nearly everyone awakens to powerful abilities at the age of fourteen, Ren Kisaragi remains powerless. Scarred by the trauma of his father’s death in a dungeon collapse, his awakening never comes, leaving him to survive as a scavenger—harvesting monster corpses to support his ailing mother and little sister, Yui.
Looked down on by hunters and ignored by society, Ren bears the weight of his family’s survival with quiet determination. But everything changes the day he encounters a forgotten creature deep within a dungeon. Marked by a strange symbol, Ren unlocks a terrifying new power—not from the world of light, but from the void itself.
As dungeons grow unstable and ancient threats awaken, Ren begins a dangerous descent—not just into the depths of the earth, but into the heart of what he truly is. Guided by pain, grounded by love, and shadowed by a power that could consume him, Ren must forge his own path. Not as a hero. Not as a monster.
But as the boy who refused to break.

Dungeons Scavenger:The Boy Who Couldn’t Awaken

The dungeon welcomed them like a mouth ready to swallow.

Ren stood at the edge of the gaping chasm—this time sanctioned, this time guarded, but still pulsing with that same dark hum that lived inside him. Kaede stood at his side, dressed in reinforced gear lined with warding runes.

"You don't have to go all the way," she said.

There were others with them—two hunters Kaede trusted, both silent, both uneasy in Ren's presence. No one said it, but they feared him. He didn't blame them.

As they entered the dungeon, the walls shimmered unnaturally. Ren could feel the Void twisting behind the stone—like something watching from the seams of reality.

It wasn't like before. The monsters were different now. Twisted not by instinct, but by intention. Smarter. Hungrier. They attacked in silence, coordinated, almost guided.

One of the hunters fell on the fourth floor. Ren didn't stop.

Kaede tried to pull him back, but Ren pushed deeper. His mark grew brighter with each level. The runes on his skin reawakened.

He knew the path now. He could feel it. The heartroot—the source of the dungeon's life—waited below. If he could take a piece of it, extract its essence, he could bend it into healing. It had given him corruption. It could be made to give restoration.

But the deeper he went, the louder the voice became.

"You return to bargain?"

Ren stopped. The others couldn't hear it, but Kaede saw the shift in his eyes.

"You are not meant to heal. You are meant to consume."

He gritted his teeth. "I'm not yours. Not anymore."

"You were never free."

Ren clutched his head as the walls rippled around them. Kaede drew her sword, the air thick with mana.

Ren hit the ground hard, alone. The others were gone.

A voice—his own, but older—whispered from the void:

"If you want to save her, you must become something worse than you've ever feared."

Ren looked up. The heartroot pulsed in the distance—a massive, glowing mass of twisted roots and ancient energy, beating like a heart.

And at its base stood the masked figure.

"Then I'll become it," Ren said coldly, rising to his feet. "If that's what it takes to save her."

Chapter 17: Descent Once More