New York East coast.
Boom! Boom! Boom !
The sound of tank gun fire boomed loudly. A burst of hot bullets shot out from the muzzle of the gun. The sound of mortar explosions capable of rupturing the eardrums did not stop.
The normally bright blue sky was gloomy with puffs of smoke. The air was scorching. When it blew, it carried the smell of blood and gunpowder. The tall skyscrapers collapsed. Human corpses strewn on the streets.
Currently, New York was defending against a monster invasion.
"Oooo!"
A Direwolf howled in a shrill voice. The big black wolf was standing on top of the tank. The dozens of soldiers standing around the Direwolf bombarded it with bullets.
Tatatatatata! Tatatatatata!
Cleak!
They ran out of ammo.
The Direwolf's red eyes glowed fiercely. There wasn't a single scar on its body.
Splat!
"Aaargh!"
Pieces of flesh and bones flew. Internal organs mixed with blood splattered on the black asphalt.
"Aaaarrgghh!"
Madness and terror were painted on the faces of the soldiers who witnessed the horrific incident. They threw away their weapons, running wild to save themselves. The Direwolf preyed on them one by one. The sound of bone grinding was heard as the Direwolf chewed on the head of a soldier.
Those who managed to save themselves from the Direwolf could not breathe a sigh of relief.
From the sky, countless black bats bolted. The necks of the soldiers were bitten, then every drop of blood that was in the body was sucked out, leaving skin and bones.
Monsters continued to prey on them. One by one, the soldiers died horribly. There was no way to be free from the ferocity of monsters other than death.
However, hope had not been lost.
Amidst the massacre by the monsters, a soldier roared.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Between desperate resolve and remaining willpower, the human attacked the crazed Direwolf all alone. When they were very close, with all his might, he punched the Direwolf.
Bang!
The Direwolf fell down. The soldier who hit the monster was taken aback. What was even more shocking was his entire body shrouded in a strange blue aura. Strength was flowing within him.
He just had a awakened!
The other surviving soldiers watched him with stunned expressions.
"No way…"
However, the blow earlier wouldn't kill the Direwolf. The creature rose with fiery red eyes, glaring at its prey.
"What happened to me?" the soldier pondered.
Instantly, other soldiers also experienced the same thing. Their entire bodies were shrouded in a strange blue aura. They felt a great power flowing within their body. Suddenly, in their chest, they felt the courage to retaliate what the Direwolf had done to them. They clenched their fists and got up.
"Ooouuuwwwrrgg!" The Direwolf howled, screaming in rage.
"Charge forward!" The soldiers did not remain silent. With a short knife, they charged at the Direwolf all together.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
"Oooowwwrgh!" The Direwolf screamed in pain. Dozens of blades in a blue aura tore through its flesh.
"Continue! Kill! Kill!"
Direwolf blood sprayed onto the soldiers' bodies. Sharp blades repeatedly stabbed and slashed the Direwolf's body. Until finally, the beast was no longer moving.
However, the battle was not over yet.
The soldiers realized the Direwolf was dead. They shifted their eyes to the other monsters. A look of rage and hatred flashed in their eyes.
"Attack!"
This incident did not only happen in New York.
Similar incidents had occurred in other parts of the world, especially densely populated cities; Mexico, São Paulo, Delhi, Shanghai and Tokyo.
It all started one week ago.
108 mysterious towers descended from the sky almost at the same time. Everything underneath was crushed under, be it buildings or people. Within hours, various media reported the appearance of the Dungeon.
Everything was messed up, especially the internet. Various issues circulated.
[Alien tower, harbinger of extraterrestrial life!]
[God sends disaster, harbinger of the apocalypse?!]
[China creates biological weapons against America!?]
Chaos was just the beginning.
From those Dungeons, appeared thousands of monsters preying on humans. Military heavy weapons didn't have much effect. Even North Korea launched missiles to eradicate the monsters that came from China, but no monsters were killed.
Humanity continued to survive the onslaught of monsters, despite fighting back with non-functioning weapons.
However, The Dungeon's presence was like Pandora's box. It brought not only catastrophe but also hope.
When mankind fell, they experienced a resurrection. Their bodies were shrouded in a strange blue aura, then their physical strength increased drastically. Thanks to the blue aura that appeared on their bodies, monsters that were ineffective by guns could be killed with knives.
Humans slowly rose from adversity. The gear had changed direction. It was their turn to suppress the monsters. After going through a struggle for three months, humans experienced total victory.
Under the auspices of the United Nations, each country agreed to stop the causes of this disaster. It was by destroying the Dungeon.
Various deadly weapons were launched to destroy the Dungeon. Unfortunately, all the attempts failed. One of the Dungeons on the African Continent which happened to be far from residents, was attacked with an atomic bomb. The result was Dungeon still stood tall. Not even a minor scratch could be seen.
Instead, the Secretary General of the United Nations made the decision to send awakened people to the Dungeon to hunt down every monster within. With the hope that no more monsters came out to the surface of the Earth.
People who carried out this noble task were called Hunters. They risked their lives for the safety of mankind.
However, the noble task did not last long.
The next month there was an exploration of the Dungeon to investigate what was inside. The first dungeon to be explored—located in New Orleans—was found flaming purple pebbles.
After the investigation, it turned out that the stone had a powerful energy. One kilogram of stone could replace the electricity needs of one hundred thousand homes for one month. Researchers called it the Power Crystal.
Instantly, the news of its whereabouts became an uproar. Not because of its usefulness, but because of its price.
A bag of pebbles was valued at 150,000 dollars. This value was enough to make people who were below the poverty line and those who were greedy tempted.
People who experienced immediate awakening flocked to the Dungeon. Even though the government and the United Nations forbade ordinary citizens to enter the Dungeon, they still violated it.
The government was overwhelmed. In the end, governments in every country legalized the Dungeons for civilians to enter. Of course, with some terms and conditions.
As time went on, the number of people experiencing awakening increased rapidly. Research on monsters was growing. It turned out that the monster's body had certain properties and functions, so that every part of the monster's body began to have value.
People began to switch professions to become Hunters because they were very productive. Entering the Dungeon was a common sight.
Because the number of Hunters increased dramatically, some Hunters began to create their own organizations to accommodate and cooperate with fellow Hunters. These organizations were then called 'guilds'.
Hunter, which was originally a noble job, was now like a office work.
From here, the era of hunting in the Dungeon began!
While Isaac was grinding, disaster was happening in the human world.