"What are we going to do?" one of the awakeners asked, his voice strained with nerves. "That boss is blocking the exit to the ruins!"
"I know!" another said, pacing anxiously. "We already sent five people inside and none of them came back. Are we supposed to just charge in together now?"
"Hell no," a third interrupted sharply. "That's not normal. I think it's a mutation or something. There's no way a basic Novice Ruins boss would be that strong."
"What? A mutation already? At this stage?" another shouted in disbelief. "That's way too early—how the hell are we supposed to survive something like that?"
While the group argued in panic, Sam turned the corner and finally caught sight of the group.
Around twenty [Awakeners] stood bunched up at the edge of a long hallway, all of them hesitating before a thick mist of silver that marked the path forward.
The exit lay just beyond that mist, but not a single one of them was willing to step through.
From the looks of it, they hadn't arrived together.
It was more like different students from all over had converged here one by one, naturally meeting up at the same place once they'd reached the boss room.
Some wore the insignia of [Eclypsia Academy], others bore uniforms from smaller institutions, and a few didn't seem affiliated at all. Privately trained, perhaps.
Sam already knew the rules. To leave the [Novice Ruins], the boss monster had to be defeated—there was no backtracking. And if no one beat it, they were all trapped.
As he approached, some of the awakeners turned toward him. They took one look at his face and their expressions soured.
"Ugh. It's Sam," someone muttered.
"He's the one without a Class, right?" another scoffed.
"Yeah. Great. Like he's going to help us."
"Waste of space. We're screwed if we're relying on that guy."
Sam heard them, but he didn't respond.
He kept walking with a neutral expression, spinning the [Primordial Sword] in his hand casually as if their words meant nothing.
In truth, they didn't. They didn't know who he really was, or what he could do.
'I don't have time to wait,' he thought. 'The longer I waste here, the less time I have to grow. I'll handle it myself.'
None of these people looked familiar, which meant none of them were important. Just background extras in the story of someone else. Or perhaps… in his own.
He stepped forward, calmly making his way through the group.
"I'll go," he said plainly, stopping in front of the hallway wrapped in silver mist.
The awakeners instinctively stepped back to make room.
Something about Sam's expression, the unnatural red in his eyes, or maybe the slow movement of the shadowy aura wrapped around his body—it unsettled them.
Without saying another word, Sam walked straight into the mist.
They stared after him.
"He actually went in alone?"
"He's insane."
"He's not coming back," one muttered darkly. "Did surviving this long get to his head? He's useless. No Class, no power—he's done for."
Sam didn't hear their voices anymore, but he didn't need to.
Their expressions, their tone, even the tension they gave off earlier all said the same thing: they thought he was weak.
And yet, somehow, Sam had been enrolled in the most prestigious Awakener academy in the continent, without a class and without powers.
The encounter on the bus. The way people talked about him. Everything made it clear.
'Whoever put me here is definitely enjoying this,' he thought.
Eventually, the silver mist parted.
On the other side was a large, enclosed chamber that resembled the rest of the ruins in structure but was far more damaged.
Stone pillars had collapsed, and blood painted the broken ground. The faint smell of decay filled the air.
Then he saw it.
At the far end of the room stood the boss.
A twisted fusion of goblin and slime—standing nearly as tall as Sam himself, with blue, gelatinous armor wrapped tightly around its body.
Its eyes were wide, yellow, and filled with madness.
---
[Slimoblin (Mutated Boss)]
[Level: 3]
[Description: A fusion between a goblin and a slime, the two merging to become something stronger.]
---
Sam narrowed his eyes.
"Well… that's not normal."
He knew what this was. Mutations.
In rare, unpredictable moments, monsters could evolve or merge after consuming enough power.
Some happened through overwhelming power, some by accident, and others as a result of instability within the layer.
Whatever the reason, mutated bosses were rare and deadly.
It was extremely rare, but in some cases, there were times when all the awakeners who entered the [First Layer] were wiped out since they couldn't defeat a boss blocking their path.
Sam couldn't recall if this monster had existed in the original game—or if it did, it had never shown up so early.
But here it was. A creature so strong that even twenty awakened students hadn't dared to face it.
Sam looked again, focusing on the final line of the status screen.
---
[Hell-Mode Analysis: The goblin wears the slime as a shield. You won't hurt it with normal strikes. But... it's still a slime. Its weakness is the same.]
---
He blinked and looked closer.
Inside the creature's body, faintly moving and pulsing, were three small cores—glowing dimly. Its life force.
"Alright," he said with a grin. "No point wasting time."
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Instantly, five shadow bullets formed from the dark aura that coiled around him.
'Each one costs a soul,' he thought. 'Good thing I collected enough.'
He launched the bullets with sharp precision.
The boss sensed danger and tried to move, but it didn't do it fast enough.
Bang! Bang! BOOM!
Two of the bullets struck true, shattering two of the three slime cores. The armor rippled, shuddered, and thinned.
The creature screamed in pain, a garbled, unnatural sound. It staggered, the slime reacting wildly.
But Sam wasn't done yet.
The Slimoblin lunged, covering the distance between them in a single, sudden movement.
It didn't wield a weapon, but the slime surrounding it lashed out like acid-filled tentacles.
Sam dodged the first swing, then the second, but a stray drop splashed against his shoulder.
"Agh—dammit!"
The burn was immediate. His jacket sizzled and tore as the corrosive slime began to melt through.
"You son of a—"
He fired again.
Bang!
The third and final core shattered, and in an instant, the slime armor collapsed. The creature's mutated protection splashed uselessly to the ground.
Now, standing in front of him, was just a goblin. Tall, strong for its kind—but unarmed and exposed.
The Slimoblin's eyes widened. It was vulnerable.
It had managed to kill all the other humans that came so easily after all, so why...
But Sam didn't hesitate.
Slash!
His sword cleaved straight through its neck. Blood sprayed across the broken stones as the creature's body collapsed and dissolved in crimson particles.
"You killed me hundreds of times before," Sam muttered, "I'm just paying you back."
Ding.
[Absorbing…]
Black tendrils slithered out from the mouth on Sam's sword, piercing into the remains and dragging in the goblin's core.
A surge of shadow energy pulsed through him, and the burn on his shoulder faded instantly.
He exhaled, feeling the power settle in his body. A little stronger. A little faster.
And then—he noticed something on the ground.
Not just random drops like crude daggers or rusted armor. This was different.
He crouched down and picked it up.
"A skill scroll?" he muttered, lifting the golden-lined parchment. "Perfect."