It was my first time entering a dungeon.
Honestly? Kinda underwhelming.
No scary music. No creepy boss waiting with glowing eyes and a sword twice my size. Just… snow.
Fucking endless snow.
It felt like getting upgraded from third class to first—cleaner, quieter, and colder, but still part of the same train.
I glanced around.
The whole place looked like someone dumped me in the Himalayas. Tall-ass trees with icicles hanging like knives. Wind howling like a hungry ghost. White powder everywhere—on the trees, on the ground, even on me within seconds.
"What the hell am I even supposed to do here?"
No monsters.
No system hint.
No minimap.
Just this frozen wasteland.
Still… it was the perfect testing ground.
[Teleport – Activated.]
I blinked forward a few meters, landing face-first in a snowbank. Spat it out, wiped my eyes, and did it again.
Ten meters.
Thirty.
Fifty.
By the time I reached the hundred-meter cap, I was bouncing across the forest like a glitchy video game character. Once, I teleported straight onto a tree branch—and immediately slipped off like a dumbass. Another time, I ended up halfway inside a snow mound.
Useful power, but the execution? Still shit.
Eventually I flopped down under a tree. Snow crunching beneath me, breath misting in the freezing air. My fingers were numb, my head spinning. I needed a break.
That's when I heard it.
Crack.
Like a twig snapping.
I froze.
I looked around.
Nothing. Just wind. Just snow.
Or so I thought.
Then a fat-ass pile of snow crashed right in front of me.
I looked up—and my heart skipped.
It was a fucking monster.
Looked like a monkey—if the monkey had bulked up on steroids, lost all its fur, and grew claws the size of my arm. It had jumped from a tree, straight down at me.
No time to think.
[Teleport – Activated.]
I blinked sideways, just in time. The beast landed with a thud where I'd been sitting, cracking the ice below.
My hand shot to my inventory.
[Summon: Slab.]
BOOM.
The steel slab came crashing down on its head like divine punishment. Snow and bone flew in every direction.
Dead.
I walked up to the corpse, crouched beside the crushed monster, and placed a hand on the slab.
[Stored in Inventory.]
Then I looked at the mangled thing.
"Let's try Cleanse."
I focused and triggered the skill. A faint blue light rippled from my palm.
The corpse twitched—then dissolved. Just vanished into snowflakes.
In its place, a glowing crystal hovered.
"...Huh."
I reached out, grabbed it.
Cool to the touch. Pulsing with mana.
"Guess that's what this dungeon's about, huh? Kill, cleanse, collect."
I pocketed the crystal, feeling weirdly proud.
Big mistake.
I looked up—and instantly regretted everything.
They were everywhere.
Dozens—no—hundreds of them.
Perched on trees like snowy gargoyles.
Red glowing eyes.
Silent.
Watching.
And then came the footsteps.
Thoom.
Thoom.
THOOM.
I turned around.
And my jaw dropped.
It was the same kind of monkey monster… but this one was a goddamn king. Twice as tall as me, built like a freight train, and covered in white fur stained with old blood. Its claws dragged through the snow like razors.
"Oh shit."
[Summon: Slab.]
The steel block dropped again—right on its shoulder.
It screamed.
But it didn't die.
Not even close.
The thing just looked pissed.
I retrieved the slab instantly and spammed my teleport.
Blink. Ten meters left.
Blink. Twenty meters back.
Blink. Right into a tree. "FUCK."
The monster charged.
I barely dodged in time.
The slab and the rods were all I had.
My legs were frozen. My brain was racing.
This wasn't training anymore.
This was survival.
I wanted to get out.
Bad.
But every time I turned around, every path looked the same. Just white. Endless white. Trees that stretched forever, wind howling through them like ghosts playing tag.
Where the hell did I even come from?
No map. No compass. No idea.
And worse, those freaks were still on my ass.
The smaller monkey bastards were jumping tree to tree, all agile and wild-eyed. But the real problem? Big guy.
That overgrown furry bastard wasn't even running. Just… walking. Slow, steady. Like he knew I'd drop before he ever would.
"Think, Ian. Think."
I pulled out one of the iron rods in my inventory, gripping it tight. It wasn't much. Definitely not enough to fight off King Kong over there. But just having something in my hand made me feel less like a naked idiot.
The ground cracked as the big guy stomped forward. Then—he grabbed a whole-ass tree.
And threw it.
"WHAT THE FU—"
I blinked out just in time. The thing smashed into the snow behind me like a meteor.
But I had an idea.
A stupid, ridiculous idea.
I teleported back and tapped the tree.
[Stored in Inventory.]
My lips twitched into a grin. "Okay... this might work."
I started baiting him.
Got in close. Flashed a finger. Tossed a rock at him.
And when he charged? I teleported 100 meters away.
Sometimes he'd throw trees.
Sometimes he'd roar and rip out entire trunks and hurl them like javelins.
And every time…
I teleported to safety… then grabbed the tree and stuffed it into my pocket inventory like I was hoarding logs for winter.
I kept going.
And going.
Over an hour passed.
I don't even know how long, honestly. Felt like a damn marathon through a frozen war zone.
I was blinking so much I started seeing afterimages. My whole body was sore. My vision was doubling. And my breath? It was just fog and pain now.
Then—
DING!
[Teleport – Leveled Up! → Lv. 5]
[Range increased to 500 meters per blink. Cooldown reduced. Stability enhanced. Directional targeting unlocked.]
I almost cried.
No, seriously. My eyes actually stung.
But I couldn't stop.
Not yet.
I kept running, barely able to stay on my feet now. My stamina bar—if I had one—would've been below zero.
And then I just… stopped.
I couldn't take another step.
The big bastard was coming again. Still walking. Still unstoppable.
"Alright, fuck this."
I turned to face him.
Let him get close. Just a few meters away.
Then I started dumping.
[Deploy: Tree.]
[Deploy: Tree.]
[Deploy: Tree.]
Over and over.
Thick-ass tree trunks raining from the sky like divine punishment. My own little lumberjack nuke.
The beast shrieked.
Crashed backward under the weight of it all.
More trees.
More.
Until the giant was buried under a mini mountain of forest.
The ground rumbled once—then went still.
I just stood there, gasping, watching the snow swirl gently over the mound of wood and silence.
The smaller ones, though… Still perched in the trees. Still watching.
But not moving.
Guess seeing their daddy get tree-dunked scared 'em.
I let out a long, shaky breath.
"I'm alive..."
I actually smiled.
But it didn't last.
The mound shifted.
Snow cracked.
And from under the pile… the big bastard moved.
He was still alive.