[DANGER, DANGER!]

"What? Why are you screaming, Eli?!" his 'dad' barked, glancing back from the driver's seat, his voice sharp with concern.

"Eli, sweetheart, talk to us. What's wrong? Where's the danger?" his 'mom' echoed, her tone climbing into panic.

But Eli didn't respond.

Couldn't respond.

His eyes were locked on the system screen still floating in front of him—its light unwavering, cold, and clinical. The once-tingling sensation crawling under his skin had turned into something worse. It was scorching now—an invisible current crawling along his spine, making his breath shallow.

Something wasn't right.

Something was coming.

Ding.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

HINT:

> "Where danger lurks, trouble follows."

'Where danger lurks, trouble follows…' Eli repeated the words slowly in his head, trying to steady his breathing. 'That's my hint? That's it? So I'm supposed to just… chase the danger?'

How?

He could feel the danger like static in his bones, but he didn't know where it was. There were no maps. No arrows. Just a gnawing instinct and a passive ability that whispered at the edges of his awareness.

"Eli, why aren't you answering your mother?" his dad snapped again, his voice clipped—more scared than angry.

Eli's gaze flicked to the window. They were driving through Aureum Heights, where the rich strolled without care. Towering buildings lined the horizon like glass monuments to wealth. Designer shops glittered behind spotless windows. Pedestrians laughed, walked their dogs, and sipped overpriced lattes.

No screaming.

No alarms.

No smoke.

'Where is it? Where's the threat?' Eli clenched his jaw. 'Everything looks normal. Nothing's happening—'

And then—

He saw them.

Shapes. Blurred and ghostlike at first, but glowing—faint, white outlines against the steel-gray cityscape. Like a sixth sense had peeled back the buildings, revealing what lay hidden.

They were huge.

And not human.

Lumbering. Hulking. Moving steadily toward the road ahead.

'No… no, no, no—monsters? Seriously?' His pulse spiked, chest tightening with the knowledge. 'Those shapes… they're too big for C-Class. Maybe even A-Class. And there's more than one.'

"Stop the car!" Eli shouted suddenly, panic rising in his throat.

His dad instinctively slammed the brakes, the tires shrieking in protest. The car jolted violently, and a chorus of angry horns erupted behind them as other cars braked hard to avoid a collision.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" his dad barked, flushed and wide-eyed.

"We're in the middle of the goddamn road, Elione!" his mom gasped, twisting around in her seat to check on him.

But Eli was transfixed. The glowing figures were still there, moving between buildings like shadows drawn in light. Each step sent a cold wave crashing into him.

"No—we can't go that way. Turn around. Now." Eli pointed down a different street, breath shallow. "There's something ahead. Monsters."

"Monsters?!" his dad echoed, looking out the windshield. "Eli, there's nothing there—what are you even—"

"Just trust me!" Eli cut him off, louder than intended.

He turned to them, his heart pounding. They were staring at him—eyes worried, confused—but something in them shifted. His parents... Elione's parents, they knew his ability. If he said there was danger, it meant something.

They believed him. Even if they didn't understand.

Eli hesitated. Part of him wanted to stay. He'd never faced monsters before. He'd only cleaned up after the fights. He was just a cleaner, not a fighter—not a Hunter, not like Caelen or Kairo.

But he had to go.

He had to.

This was his task.

Without another word, he yanked the door open.

"Eli—Eli, what are you doing?!" his mom shouted after him, horror in her voice.

"I have to go!" Eli yelled back, feet already hitting the pavement.

"You just got discharged!" his dad roared. "What the hell do you think you're going to do?!"

"What do you plan on doing, running into danger alone?!"

"Eli!" his mom cried out again, but her voice was already fading behind him.

He didn't stop. He couldn't.

His legs moved before his mind could catch up.

Each step sent adrenaline surging through his body. The wind bit at his face. He weaved through confused pedestrians, bumping shoulders, earning stares, but not caring.

"Hey!"

"What the hell?!"

"Get out of here! Run the other way!" Eli shouted, waving his arms wildly at the handful of pedestrians moving toward the street where he'd seen the glowing figures.

They stared at him like he was insane. Confused murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few people exchanged glances and laughed nervously. One woman raised her phone, already recording him.

'They think I'm just some lunatic yelling in the middle of the street.' Eli grit his teeth. 'What do I—'

RUMBLE.

The street shuddered beneath his feet.

Like something massive had just dropped out of the sky.

A deafening crack echoed through the avenue, followed by the groan of buckling metal. A parked van across the intersection bounced—bounced—before its windows shattered inward from the pressure.

Gasps turned to screams.

Then—

BOOM.

A car flew past Eli's vision like a crumpled soda can, crashing into a lamppost and folding in on itself. The shriek of twisting steel and shattering glass ripped through the air.

Screams erupted.

Real, bloodcurdling screams.

Eli turned the corner, heart slamming against his ribs, and then he saw them.

His blood turned to ice.

Five giants lumbered down the avenue, each one easily three times the height of a man. Skin mottled gray and green, with jagged protrusions jutting out of their shoulders and backs. Their arms were thick as tree trunks, swinging wildly as they advanced. Every step made the earth quake.

One of them grabbed a parked SUV with one massive, gnarled hand—and hurled it.

The vehicle spun mid-air like a toy, slamming into a shopfront. The windows shattered. The building groaned under the impact.

People screamed and scattered in every direction, some falling, some too slow to move. A woman tripped on the curb, shrieking as a monster roared right over her.

RRRRAAAAAUUUUUGHHHH!!

The sound pierced through Eli's skull—so loud he winced, hands flying to his ears. His whole body vibrated with the roar, the pressure knocking the wind out of him.

"O-Ogres…" he breathed, stumbling back a step. "Those are ogres…"

He'd read about them. Seen footage. Even studied raid footage where teams of elite hunters fought them—but that was behind a screen. Safe. Controlled.

This was real.

They were monstrous—alive, angry, hungry.

And they were S-Class.

He could feel it. Not just from the system, but in the air. It was suffocating—dense, like trying to breathe underwater. The buzz in his veins had become unbearable, like every cell in his body was screaming DANGER.

One of the ogres bellowed and swiped at a streetlight, tearing it clean off the pavement and chucking it like a javelin. The metal pole sailed through the air and crashed into the roof of a passing sedan. The driver didn't even have time to react before the roof caved in with a sickening crunch.

A man tried to pull his child away from the crosswalk, but another ogre's foot slammed down nearby, the shockwave knocking them both to the ground.

'Move, Eli, MOVE—' his mind screamed.

But he couldn't.

His legs were frozen. His breath caught in his throat. He was paralyzed.

'I'm going to die.'

Another ogre turned its head—and for one terrifying moment—its eyes locked onto him.

Eli's heart stopped.

Its lip curled. Drool dripped from jagged, yellowed teeth.

It saw him.

"MONSTERS!" someone finally screamed in a full panic.

And that one word lit the fuse.

Chaos exploded.

People began to shove and push and run. Someone knocked over a stroller. A man tripped trying to lift his partner. Alarms started blaring from nearby shops as motion sensors picked up the havoc. The street transformed into a nightmare.

Eli stumbled back, nearly tripping over his own feet as a wave of panic surged through him. His heart thundered in his chest, legs trembling beneath the weight of what he was seeing, what he had just walked into.

The shock of it all hit him hard.

He wasn't a fighter. He wasn't a hunter. He wasn't supposed to be standing in the middle of a live, uncontrolled monster zone.

But the system had said Caelen was here.

That had been the only reason he ran—why he risked everything.

He scanned the chaos, searching for any sign of him. Yet all he saw were monsters tearing through concrete, people fleeing in terror, and overturned cars in flames.

It was then that a different kind of dread settled in—one colder than fear.

What if he misunderstood the hint?

What if this wasn't where Caelen was at all?

The realization set in like ice in his veins.