The next two weeks were a grueling blur of blood sweat and monster ash.

Glen Isla and Caleb hit every B Rank and C Rank dungeon they could legally access with their Independent Licenses. They fought mutated arachnids in the rusted subway tunnels. They cleared out nests of venomous harpies in the overgrown botanical gardens. They barely slept surviving on stamina potions and sheer willpower.

Internally Glen watched his system interface with obsessive focus.

[Current Level: 21]

His core capacity had expanded granting him a fifth slot for stolen skills. He had filled it with a C Rank passive called ’Iron Lungs’ which allowed him to process oxygen more efficiently drastically reducing his stamina drain during prolonged combat.

But as they sat in the courtyard of the Sinclair estate bandaging their wounds after a particularly brutal dive the reality of their situation settled over Glen like a heavy blanket. He kept his system interface hidden from his team but he knew the truth. His physical stats were barely brushing the bottom of the A Rank threshold. If he fought an S Rank right now he would die.

"It is not enough" Glen said staring at his bruised knuckles. "We are hitting a wall. I am not fast enough. I am not strong enough."

"You are pushing yourself too hard Mcdonald" Isla said wrapping a glowing restorative bandage around his forearm. "You went from F Rank fodder to fighting B Rank bosses in less than two months. I have never seen anyone adapt like you do. But you cannot force your body to move faster than it is capable of."

"The monster in the Red Gate is not waiting for us to adapt" Glen argued his voice tight with frustration. "The joint expedition launches in two days. One hundred elite Hunters are going to march into that trap. When that thing consumes them... raw strength is not going to close the gap."

Caleb sighed leaning back against the stone fountain. "So what is the alternative? We cannot access A Rank dungeons. The Guilds have them all locked down for the expedition prep. And even if we could we would probably get slaughtered."

Glen stood up pacing across the courtyard. His mind was racing analyzing the problem from every angle.

"If we cannot beat him with raw power we need a conceptual advantage" Glen muttered thinking out loud. "That monster uses a black energy that rots magic and metal. But there has to be a weakness. When it attacked us it called itself a noble from the ’outer worlds’."

Isla looked up her green eyes narrowing. "Outer worlds. My father used to whisper about that when he had too much to drink. He said there were highly classified Association files from the first Tower breaches thirty years ago. Things that did not come from the dungeons but from somewhere else entirely."

"Exactly" Glen said stopping and looking at his two partners. "And we have seen that black energy before. In the tournament. The kid who mutated in the arena was one of Eden’s right. Rumor has it they have been researching that exact same rotting mana for years. They probably know more aabout how it works. They might even know how to neutralize it."

"Eden is a terrorist organization Glen" Caleb warned sitting up straight. "They operate entirely on the black market. If the Association catches us looking for them they will revoke our licenses and throw us in a penal colony."

"If we do not find a way to counter that monster there will not be an Association left to arrest us" Glen stated flatly.

Isla finished tying the bandage on Glen’s arm and stood up. She brushed the dust off her tactical pants a dangerous smirk spreading across her face.

"I know a guy" Isla said.

Glen and Caleb both looked at her.

"My family used to run the Astra Guild’s black market acquisitions before we went bankrupt" Isla explained walking toward the estate gates. "There is an information broker in the lower levels of Sector Four. He deals in forbidden relics and classified Tower data. If anyone knows how to contact the Eden organization it is him."

Glen grabbed his heavy black longsword strapping it to his back. The path forward was incredibly dangerous but it was the only option they had left.

"Lead the way Sinclair" Glen said.

The grind was over. It was time to hunt for the truth.

...

The private secure line in Elias Vance’s office chimed softly.

It was a heavily encrypted frequency completely disconnected from the Hunter Association mainframe. Only three people in the world had the clearance code to call it.

Elias sat in his massive leather chair the heavy battle axe resting against his desk. He pressed a button on the console and the holographic projector flared to life. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The image of Vane the lead researcher for the Eden organization materialized in the center of the room. Vane looked worse than usual. His pale skin was slick with sweat and his dark eyes were wide with a frantic manic energy. He was broadcasting from a dimly lit underground laboratory surrounded by glowing monitors displaying jagged erratic mana signatures.

"Elias" Vane breathed his voice trembling slightly. "Tell me you have not finalized the deployment roster for the joint expedition."

Elias narrowed his eyes leaning forward. "The roster was finalized an hour ago Vane. Fifty of my best A Rank Hunters are prepping for the breach. Astra is sending fifty of theirs. Why? What have your instruments found?"

Vane pulled up a secondary hologram displaying the mana readings from the slaughtered Ironclad team in Sector Seven. The graph was not a normal bell curve. It was a massive jagged spike of pure black energy that seemed to consume the light around it.

"I managed to recover a drone recording from the Sector Seven massacre before the Association locked down the grid" Vane explained his fingers flying across his terminal. "Elias this is not a mutated monster. This is not a dungeon anomaly. The Ghost of Valor... it is one of them."

Elias felt a cold heavy weight settle in his stomach. "The Lost."

"Not just a foot soldier" Vane corrected his voice dropping to a terrified whisper. "Look at the density of the anti mana. Look at the absolute zero decay rate. This is a noble. A high ranking lord of the outer worlds."

Elias stood up his massive frame casting a long shadow across the office. "A noble of The Lost is walking around my city wearing the face of my logistics manager. How did it bypass the Tower barriers?"

"Im assuming it must have slipped through a micro fracture during the tournament" Vane said running a hand through his greasy hair. "When the anomaly Glen Mcdonald consumed that fragment of anti mana it created a temporary bridge. The Ghost Of Valor must have followed the scent. If so, then that means that thing is here for the boy Elias. But he is using the Red Gate to build a nest."

"If he is here for the boy why is he slaughtering A Rank teams?" Elias demanded gripping the edge of his desk.

"Because he is hungry" Vane said his dark eyes locking onto the Guild Master. "From our years of research we find out that Nobles of The Lost do not just kill Elias. They consume. They eat classes. They eat memories. They eat mana cores to increase their own density. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

Elias stared at the jagged black graph on the hologram. The realization hit him like a physical blow.

"The joint expedition" Elias whispered his deep voice barely audible.

"It is a buffet" Vane confirmed nodding frantically. "If you send one hundred elite A Rank and S Rank Hunters into that Red Gate That thing will not just kill them. He will eat them. He will absorb the combined power of a hundred elite classes. If that happens he will instantly reach we wont be able to stop him. It will be unstoppable. It will wipe your city off the map."

Elias turned away from the hologram looking out the massive glass window at the glittering skyline of the Mega City.

He was an S Rank Berserker. He had built the Valor Guild with his own two hands. He had sacrificed his humanity to maintain his power. And now he was trapped.

"I cannot pull my forces back" Elias said his voice hard and bitter. "Viktor Rostova made the challenge public. If Valor retreats Astra will brand us as cowards. The Association will strip our sector rights. We will lose everything."

"If you send them in you will lose the city!" Vane shouted slamming his hands on his terminal.

"Then we make sure Astra takes the brunt of the casualties" Elias growled turning back to the researcher. "I will order my vanguard to hold the rear. Let Viktor’s mages march into the meat grinder first. If The Ghost of Valor is as strong as you say Astra will be wiped out in the first ten minutes. Once they are dead I will order my men to collapse the dungeon entrance and seal the Red Gate permanently."

Vane stared at the Guild Master in absolute horror. "You are going to sacrifice fifty Astra Hunters just to save face?"

"I am going to let my enemies feed the beast" Elias corrected his eyes cold and calculating. "And while The Ghost Of Valor is distracted eating Viktor’s mages I will bury them all under a million tons of solid rock."

Elias cut the transmission. The hologram vanished plunging the office back into silence.

The Guild Master picked up his heavy battle axe. The political game was over. It was time to cut his losses and let the city burn.