Chapter 18
The entire forest reeked of energy — ancient, distorted, and unknown.
But there was no one standing.
No enemy.
No hero.
Only ruins and silence.
The Scene of Silence
The elite Seekers of the region — masters of aura, experienced monster hunters — arrived, expecting chaos. Death. A massacre.
Instead, they found something far more unsettling.
Varnyx the Crimson Fang — Level 6 boss monster, feared across all regions — was gone.
Not defeated.
Not killed.
Erased.
No body. No soul remnant.
Only a faint bloodstain burned into the soil.
And right next to it — Anshi, unconscious. Barely breathing.
Who Fought the Beast?
The Seekers stood over the battlefield, stunned.
"This destruction… It couldn't have been done by any of our students."
"Then who was here?"
"A teacher?"
"Or something else?"
Anshi was carried back to Sinjai Academy on an emergency stretcher.
Her injuries were real — claw marks, internal damage — but no one could explain how she survived.
And where was Aeren?
They checked every record. Every student's tracker.
Aeren's showed… nothing.
He wasn't in the system. Not even a trail. It was as if he'd vanished from space and time during the attack.
Meanwhile: In the Infirmary
Aeren slowly opened his eyes.
His heart raced. His hands trembled.
Not from fear — from something else.
Heat.
A strange warmth pulsed across his spine. Like something had branded him.
He got up in a daze and looked at his back in the mirror nearby.
What he saw wasn't normal.
A glowing symbol — ancient and shifting like living ink — marked the center of his upper back.
It moved like a slow-burning flame. Sometimes forming a circle, other times an eye, and occasionally… a clock.
Aeren backed away.
"W-what is this...?"
"What happened out there…?"
"Why… can't I remember clearly?"
Flashes returned.
Varnyx.
Anshi.
The dream realm.
The cloaked man…
The monsters kneeling…
His body trembled, but not with fear.
With awakening.
At Sinjai Academy – Investigation Office
The Academy Director stood with the Daimond -level Seeker who led the dispatch team.
"Nothing explains this…"
"Even a Diamond-level Seeker couldn't destroy Varnyx that cleanly."
Another voice added:
"There were no witnesses. All students accounted for… except the one called Aeren."
The director frowned.
"The weakest boy?"
They nodded.
"Yes… but his tracker was inactive. And strange data fragments showed spatial interference during that hour."
"You're saying… space was distorted?"
"Yes, sir. Time as well. It's like… the battlefield didn't exist in normal dimensions for a brief moment."
A silence followed.
"Then... someone — or something — with domain-level powers was present."
"Possibly beyond even Platinum…"
Back in the Dorms
Aeren sat by the window.
He hadn't told anyone what he saw. What he felt.
Even he didn't fully understand it.
But that mark… was still glowing.
His hand hovered over it.
"I… don't think I'm just 'the weakest' anymore…"
He turned his head slightly, sensing something.
A shadow, for just a second, stood outside the window — watching him.
When he blinked, it vanished.
"Someone's watching me…"
He didn't know yet… but the clock had started ticking.
And the world was beginning to whisper his name.
🩸 End of Chapter 18