Ding—

[Please select a job quest.]

(Caution! This choice cannot be undone.)

-[Clear Sky Garden] -Hidden

-[Warm Underworld] -Hidden -[Joyful Doll Kingdom] -Hidden

-[Give up on Job Change.]

Four options popped up in front of Mimic.

“Huh?!”

Mimic tilted her head with wide, sparkling eyes.

‘Job quest?’

Every quest Mimic had received was a Hidden job option.

Every player in this place had faced the exam hoping for just one of those options.

But Mimic had gotten three of them.

A situation that would have shocked even Ha Gangwoo if he’d known right then.

‘What kind of test was that?’

But Mimic wasn’t particularly impressed.

She just felt curious about Biske, the one who’d given her the test.

Mimic ignored the system window that had suddenly appeared and shifted her gaze to Biske.

Since he’d said she passed, it meant the test was over.

Passing without even sparring… it was a little disappointing.

“Let’s spar with me!”

So Mimic approached Biske, pointing her dagger at him.

The existence of Mana she’d learned today. Traits.

She was curious how they affected a sparring match.

But Biske let out a long sigh, as if he’d seen this coming.

“Knew it.”

You walk off with three Hidden Job Quests, and there’s a limit to how blatantly you can snub them.

He’d had a hunch she wasn’t interested in the test from the start, but seeing it in person still deflated him.

“No sparring. The exam’s over. Just pick fast and go.”

Biske waved his furry paw dismissively, rejecting her outright.

But Mimic grinned, baring her teeth, and held something out to him.

“Beat me and I’ll give you this!”

Biske shot a flat look at the object she offered.

A golden coin—worth about 1,000 Gold.

‘Another pointless thing.’

Biske stared at the coin with a bitter expression.

Normally he’d have just ignored her, but her actions kept reminding him of someone else.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Biske rose from his small frame and met Mimic’s gaze. Her eyes sparkled in response.

“Good, right? A thousand Gold — that’s enough for tons of delicious stuff! So let’s fight soon~”

Mimic thought Biske was accepting her Sparring challenge, and her heart soared. But Biske’s goal wasn’t Sparring.

“I’ll take this as the advance, then.”

Biske scooped the Gold from Mimic’s hands with his furry paws, then pointed at a man nearby.

“You’re fighting that Player instead of me. If you win, I’ll give you several hundred times the Gold you’ve already received. How about it?”

“Several hundred times?!”

For an instant, Mimic’s translucent eyes gleamed.

Not only the Sparring she’d wanted — but Gold on top of it. Mimic was thrilled.

“Okay!”

She accepted the offer without hesitation, and Biske, watching her face break into a wide smile, curled the corner of his mouth.

How long had it been since he’d felt such pure existence?

‘Not bad.’

For the first time in ages, Biske was in a good mood.

But then his expression hardened as he turned his gaze to a certain man.

“Whoa!”

There he was, without fail — rolling across the ground, wincing and grimacing.

This was the kind of stubborn bastard who’d keep the test going for five days straight with that rate of learning and tenacity. It was Jo Seunghyun.

Ordinarily, he never changed the exam’s contents. But for this man even a bout of Sparring wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Biske had already made up his mind. He snapped his fingers—Crack!

In that instant—

Shkrrrr—

The magma Golem, which had been belching intense flames, dissolved back into a corona of light with a soft pop.

“Huh?!…”

Jo Seunghyun stared at the empty space where the Golem had vanished, thrown off guard.

‘What the hell?! Is the test over…?’

He was uneasy. Until now, all he’d managed to do was get battered by the Golem and roll around on the floor.

Biske walked toward him.

Jo Seunghyun grabbed his trembling legs and forced himself upright.

‘I’m screwed…’

He thought he’d failed.

The test’s objective was to dispose of the magma Golem. This was effectively a failure.

But the answer that came back was unexpected.

“I’m changing the content of the test.”

“What?”

Jo Seunghyun frowned in confusion, but Biske dismissed it lightly, shoving Mik forward in front of himself.

“What—what’s this? All of a sudden?”

Seunghyun kept pressing, but Biske just stroked his whiskers with a deadpan expression.

“The test content: defeat this little one.”

“What?!”

Seunghyun tilted his head again in bewilderment, but—

“Ooh~! Sparring!”

—before he could even ask, Mik lunged at him.

Clang!!

A sudden PvP erupted without warning.

***

Whoosh—

A roaring blaze of flame lit up the thick darkness.

“Haaah… haaah…”

Ha Gangwoo stood at the center of the fiercely burning fire, his face twisted in a scowl.

From the tips of his left hand, a sinister darkness crept up along his body.

With each spread, a bone-gnawing agony lanced through him as his flesh disintegrated.

But he didn’t care.

A lost body part? As long as he had enough HP, regenerating it was no trouble at all.

‘Damn it…’

Yet Gangwoo’s expression was grim.

Ding-

[You have consumed 400 HP.]

[Restoring lost body tissue.]

Szzzzzt—

[The Darkness of Ruin has destroyed the recovery effect.]

Because this darkness had a property that negated healing.

So Gangwoo grabbed hold of his own shoulder.

The darkness creeping from his fingertips. Once it spread across his entire body, there would be no stopping it.

Which left only one way to survive this crisis.

Crunch!

The only way: tear his own flesh off.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gangwoo yanked at his arm.

Tchrrrk—

Muscle tore away, the tendons holding bone to socket ripped apart.

With each sound came a maddening wave of pain.

But Gangwoo didn’t falter.

Crunch! He wrenched the shoulder clean out—

[You have consumed 1,400 HP.]

[Restoring lost body tissue.]

—and immediately regenerated the flesh.

“Haaah… haaah…”

Gangwoo gasped for breath, staring straight ahead.

Whoosh— Amid the intense heat, a single knight stood watching him.

A knight in splendid black armor, wreathed in a viscous, pitch-black aura. The Destroyer, Ruin.

Scrape—

Ruin advanced toward Gangwoo without fail.

The grating sound with each step told him Ruin’s condition.

The once-gleaming armor had lost its luster; the solid metal was cracked and splintered.

The scars of a battle lasting over ten hours.

As exhausted as Gangwoo was, Ruin was also reaching its limit.

Gangwoo locked eyes with Ruin, planted his feet wide, and lowered his stance.

Ding-

[HP is below 5%.]

(Warning! Be careful not to die!!!)

His vitality was below 5%.

His legs quivered. The flames that had blazed across his entire body were dimming.

“Hah… hah…”

He had reached his limit—even simple breathing was a struggle—

but Ha Gangwoo’s eyes blazed with the will to win.

‘Go.’

He kicked off the ground and charged straight at Ruin.

CRRRUNCH—his frame tore across the earth at tremendous speed.

*Krrriiik—*

Ruin tracked him, then *whoosh*—swung the greatsword.

The moment the blade slammed into the ground,

*CRACK!*

black blades erupted from the earth beneath Gangwoo’s feet.

The pattern he’d eaten hundreds of times before.

Gangwoo twisted his body with all his strength.

*Swoosh*—a razor-sharp blade grazed his side, splitting the air.

A cutting force that would have skewered him had his judgment been a split second off.

But Gangwoo didn’t stop. He kicked off the earth with everything he had and hurtled toward Ruin.

Ruin caught the motion and set its stance in earnest. Like a knight drilling kendo, it *whoosh*—swung the greatsword with all its might.

Dozens, hundreds of sword strikes embroidered the air.

And with each one—*CRACK!* *CRACK!*—hundreds of blades burst from the ground.

Like a stampede of wild bulls, hundreds of blades flew straight at Gangwoo.

But Gangwoo didn’t stop. He pushed forward without hesitation.

Because he’d eaten this pattern hundreds of times too.

And so, watching the blade hurtling toward his brow, Gangwoo’s eyes flashed.

*Shwoooosh*—the blade cleaved the air with a spine-chilling shriek. It closed to within a centimeter of his face.

That was the moment.

*Ding—*

[You have reached the Realm of Transcendence.]

Everything slowed as if frozen. In the dragging time, Gangwoo etched all hundred blades into his pupils.

First blade: the one aimed at his brow.

*Sswik*—a slight twist of the head, and it passed.

Second blade: his abdomen.

Third blade: his solar plexus.

Dozens, hundreds of blades flew in a mad torrent.

Gangwoo kept advancing through the Realm of Transcendence.

But dodging them all was impossible.

*Sseok*—a blade gouged his thigh. *Sseok*—it tore open his shoulder.

But Gangwoo didn’t stop.

The darkness of ruin engulfed his body. Ghastly terror gnawed into his flesh, but he didn’t stop.

And when he burst through the blade barrage—*Uuung*—a solid barrier stretched before his eyes.

The Dark Curtain guarding Ruin—Ruin’s second pattern.

Gangwoo didn’t hesitate. *Phat*—he kicked off the earth and charged the Dark Curtain.

The barrier of the Boss called the Destroyer.

Even a decent strike wouldn’t leave a scratch.

But to Gangwoo, a skill like the barrier meant nothing.

‘Force Discharge.’

*Cheng!!!*

[The effect of Ruin collapses the Dark Curtain.]

The moment Ha Gangwoo’s fist struck the barrier, a deafening Crack! spiderwebbed across its vast surface—a fracture that made space itself seem to shatter.

Then—thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The broken curtain rained down, striking the ground like shards of glass.

Ha Gangwoo threaded through the falling fragments, charging straight at Ruin.

True to form, Ruin hoisted its greatsword in the same stance, the same pattern as before.

A wide-area skill—slamming the blade into the ground to blast enemies back with a wave of darkness.

Ruin’s third pattern.

Ha Gangwoo’s lips curled into a bitter smile.

‘Seismic Stomp!’

Ding-!!

Without hesitation, he stomped the earth—a tremor that sent Ruin’s stance subtly crumbling under a massive resonance.

He didn’t let that instant slip.

‘This is it!’

Ha Gangwoo clenched his fist with all his might, then—Whum—drove it into Ruin’s abdomen.

Perfectly timed.

“Hssh-“

Drawing a deep breath, he—Whum—threw the punch.

Bang!

As his fist struck Ruin’s midsection, a dizzying shock traveled up his fingertips.

Bang!!

But he didn’t stop.

Bang!!!!

He kept hammering.

Bang!!!

Even as Ruin’s counterattacks tore into his own gut,

Bang!!!!

He had no strength left to endure—this close-quarters brawl had to end it.

And so Ha Gangwoo launched his all-in final assault.

Starting with Ruin’s light armor, then its jaw, collarbone, abdomen, brow, solar plexus.

Hundreds, thousands of blows hammered Ruin’s entire body.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

An eerie resonance filled the cavern.

Bang! Bang! Shing-bang! Bang! Shing-bang! Bang! Bang! Shing-bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Shing-bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Shing-bang!

In that maddening limit-state, Ha Gangwoo and Ruin clashed with everything they had.

How many minutes passed? Or was it hours?

Time itself became a blur.

‘….’

Silence descended on the cave, once filled with explosions.

Fssss-

The fiercely blazing flames slowly died down.

Drip— drip—

Blood streaming from Ha Gangwoo’s fingertips soaked the ground.

“Haaah… haaah…”

As Ha Gangwoo gasped for breath, barely forcing himself upright—

Ding-

[You have defeated the Destroyer, Ruin.]

[You have acquired 5,500,000 EXP!!]

[The Perk grants 5,500,000 additional EXP.]

[Your level has increased!!!]

[Level up!!!]

[Level up!!!]

[Level up!!!]

……..

…..

….

At the end of a long, grueling trial.

Ha Gangwoo had succeeded in clearing the path of Ruin, the Destroyer.

***

“Hah… hah…”

Jo Seunghyun gasped for air, his eyes locked on the figure before him.

“Whoa~! This feels amazing!”

Mimic, wreathed in flames from head to toe, beamed as she wrestled the fire under her control.

‘No way…’

Seunghyun’s face twisted as he watched her.

When Biske had changed the trial’s conditions, he’d had his doubts.

‘Isn’t this too easy?’

Suddenly ordered to fight Mimic? He’d thought the revised test was a joke.

But it wasn’t.

PvP against Mimic had been a string of shocks.

He didn’t know how she’d earned her Stats, but her raw physical ability surpassed his own.

Her close-quarters combat was superb too — unpredictable, sharp, vicious.

Still, he’d held his own.

He’d trained in swordsmanship his entire life. Bit by bit, he’d felt himself pushing back.

But then it happened.

*Whoosh—*

A Trait Mimic claimed she’d never used before. The moment it awakened, Seunghyun was helpless.

He’d tried to counter with his own Trait, but the frost slowed him to a crawl, and Mimic exploited every opening relentlessly.

‘Damn it…’

And so here he was — on his knees, watching Mimic celebrate.

Seunghyun was furious.

-Why can’t I be like that.

His Trait ate him alive.

The moment he activated it, his already sluggish body slowed even more, and it froze his comrades too.

A godawful Trait. So he’d abandoned it.

He only used it as a last resort to protect himself.

-Traits are just support, right? Better to focus on swordsmanship!

Throw away the garbage Trait, learn the blade. Even without a Trait, a proper class would be enough. That’s what he’d told himself.

But now, seeing Mimic like this, he understood.

No matter how much you hone a sword, it’s useless against an overwhelming Trait.

Seunghyun grabbed his trembling legs and forced himself upright.

His burned abdomen throbbed with the movement, but his eyes burned with life.

*Crack—*

An eerie chill seeped thickly from around Seunghyun.

*Ding-*

[You have suffered Frostbite.]

[You have taken 450 HP of damage.]

“Hah… hah…”

Each breath turned the air to ice.

*Crack—*

From skin to muscle, everything went cold and rigid.

It was clear that pushing further would leave severe damage.

*Crack—*

But Seunghyun had already made up his mind.

Even if it meant dying right here, he was determined to break through this wall.

His eyes flashed as he gripped his sword with both hands.

*Crackle—*

The cold that had been spreading through Jo Seunghyun’s entire body condensed into a single point.

[You have been afflicted with Frostbite.]

[You have taken 650 HP damage.]

The condensed cold rose from his fingertips, traveling up the blade of his sword.

For an instant, a searing pain that felt like his very bones were freezing gouged through his body—but he didn’t stop.

‘Control it!’

The moment Jo Seunghyun gritted his teeth and activated his Trait, a single system window appeared.

Ding-

[You have created the Blade of Freezing.]

The Trait control that Jo Seunghyun had so desperately wanted, so desperately wished for.

He had achieved his first success.

***

Whirr-

A black orb rose above Ruin’s mangled, shattered body.

A jet-black orb that blazed like a flame.

Just looking at it was so ominous it made your skin crawl.

‘This must be Ruin’s core…’

Ha Gangwoo stared at that orb, then looked at his quest.

[Path of Ruin the Destroyer] [Job Change]

Description: Defeat the Destroyer Ruin at the end of the Cave of the Abyss and inherit his power.

Reward: Job change to Ruin[M].

The completion condition of the job-change quest was to inherit Ruin’s power.

So, without a moment’s hesitation, Ha Gangwoo reached out and grabbed the core.

And in that instant.

Whirr-

The deep darkness that dwelt within the core enveloped Ha Gangwoo’s entire body.

The darkness that had covered his torn arms and legs, his whole body, soon swallowed even Ha Gangwoo’s face.

It was in that very moment, as everything was being dyed in pitch black.

Ding-

[You have inherited Ruin’s power.]

Along with a welcome notification sound.

Ding-

[The effect of the Golden Altar activates.]

[You have acquired the upper job of the Destroyer:Ruin.]

[You have changed jobs to the Lord of Ruin.]

Ha Gangwoo’s job-change trial was over.