The thunderous sound of tless pounding footsteps filled the air—was it hundreds, or maybe even thousands of monsters? They raced across the desert pins, kig up clouds of sand that shrouded their figures, making it nearly impossible to see them clearly.

  Their deafening roars mixed with the relentless sound of poundi, creating an overwhelming cacophony. Suddenly, the sharp cracks of gunfire erupted—tat-tat-tat-tat!—followed by earth-shaking explosions—BOOM! Sand and debris shot into the air as the monsters' howls grew even more ferocious.

  A lizard-like creature sprinted forward, its body hammered by a volley of bullets. It screeched in pain but colpsed moments ter, crushed beh the stampede of monsters charging behind it.

  The explosions tinued—KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM!—tearing through the monstrous horde as they pressed relentlessly toward the city walls, the mighty Dune Bastion, the pride of the Saharan Empire.

  On top of the t walls, automated turrets roared with wild—rat-tat-tat-tat!—spraying bullets into the horde with uing forbsp;

  Meanwhile, massive o loose with deafening bsts—THOOM!—ung explosive shells that detonated with devastating power among the advang monsters.

  Despite the relentless bombardment, the creatures shrieked louder, some of them reag the base of the city wall. They smmed into it with tremendous force, g and climbing, determio scale or destroy the imposing barrier.

  This was a mota an unpreted scale!

  Everyog—from their televisions or the streets of the city—was caught between awe, pride, and sheer terror.

  Surely, they trusted in their city’s teology, in the might of their empire. The Saharan Empire was renowned for having the most advaeology on h, wasn’t it? Of course! Yes, of course!

  But those monsters?! Could the fallen awakeners have truly ventured into a dungeon filled with creatures this numerous and this savage?

  And all the awakeners who had bee—had they really perished in the line of duty?

  People should have been m their fallen defenders. Yet now, all they could do was hope—desperately—that this motack would be resolved quickly, so life could return to the peaceful routihey depended on. They o work, earn money, pay for housing, buy food, aheir children to school for a better future. Normal life had to go on.

  On the ss, hundreds of Dune Phantoms—the Empire’s sleek hover bikes—zipped across the battlefield. Saharan soldiers perched on them wielded massive hand ons, firing BOOM! BOOM! with every shot. The recoil sent their bikes jolting backward slightly, but it wasn’t enough.

  It was clear: they needed more high-level awakeo turide. Without them, this wasn’t going to be enough.

  Edrik sighed as he watched the se unfold.

  “What do you think, Edrik?” Ats muttered.

  “Do they not have high-level awakeo hahis?”

  At that moment, the café owner, who was als as their waiter, approached and chimed in.

  “The number of high-level awakeners isn’t rge, and they’re spread thin across all the cities. On top of that, they’re divided into different roles—some explore dungeons, others work as meraries for Lords. As for the team sent to hahis dungeon…”

  “Abyss Dungeon,” Edrik interjected.

  “Oh, it’s called an Abyss Dungeon? I thought Raid Dungeohe highest tier?” The waiter asked.

  “This kind of massive monster wave only e from an Abyss Dungeon,” Edrik replied with certainty.

  The waiter hen added, “But… it does seem like the number of monsters is starting to thin out…”

  Edrik gave a bitter smile. “We haven’t seen the dungeon boss yet.”

  “The dungeon boss?” the waiter said, his brows furrowing. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “What kind of boss would e from a dungeon with monsters of this scale and type?” Ats asked, joining the versation.

  But Edrik hesitated, relut to voice his answer.

  The waiter turo him, curious. “You seem to know a lot about this, sir,” he said with a slight bow. “Perhaps you even have the strength to help? Surely, the Empire would enerous reward for your assistance.”

  Ats offered a wry smile at the ent. He knew Edrik and the others had faced situations like this before, but none of them had regaiheir full strength yet.

  His thoughts were interrupted wheiced Manna. She had quietly fiheir entire order and was now watg the s, her crimson eyes fixed otle.

  Realizing this fight wasn’t ending anytime soon, Ats signaled for more food. They would be here for a while.

  “Abyss dungeons usually have massive areas,” Edrik began expining. “That’s why it takes so long to explore every er of them.”

  Ats and the waiter turheir attention to him, intrigued by his insight.

  “The number of monsters is also enormous. However, sihey’re spread out, clearing them be done gradually. That’s very different from a Dungeon Break, where all the monsters emerge at once, like what’s happening now.”

  Ats hen asked, “What about the dungeon boss? Do they only have one, or could there be more?”

  “Mostly one,” Edrik replied, “but it’s not unon for there to be two, three, or even more.”

  Damn! A nightmare sario. Could this city even hold out?

  A, Ats thought to himself, this still wasn’t as brutal as the high-grade beasts Karian and Lyrassa had described from their past battles. The thought was both reassuring and uling.

  “Beastkin shouldn’t even be allowed in this café!”

  The sudden outburst startled them as another er smmed their hands oable, then stormed out, shoving the door open with unnecessary forbsp;

  Ohe disgruntled er was gohe waiter gave a bitter smile and bowed politely toward Ats and especially Kurogasa, who sat quietly with the group.

  “My deepest apologies for the unpleasant i, my friends,” the waiter said, his tone sincere.

  “Nah, I uand that,” Ats said with a nod.

  Kurogasa then stood and bowed toward both the waiter and Ats. “My—” he began, but Ats cut him off, deliberately stopping him from addressing him as "Lord."

  “Yes, you want to buy something outside?”

  “Yes… I o take care of something,” Kurogasa replied, then quietly left the café.

  Ats sighed as he watched him go, reminded of the persistent discrimination against beastkin on h.

  Despite existing for over 1,500 years, beastkin were still regarded as a “strange species” by many.

  Not all beastkin had appearahat people found acceptable or appealing.

  Some of them had striking looks and enjoyed a good reputation. Take Mira, for example—a bunny girl whose charm and charisma could captivate anyone. Her presence alone made her easily likable.

  Some beastkin even held high-ranking positions in the union, gaining respect through their skills and aplishments.

  However, those who couldn’t keep up or were sidered too “on” often faced harsh and degrading treatment.

  To many, beastkin were still viewed as mere animals. Just like animals, some were sidered repulsive, while others were seen as cute and fit to be “pets.”

  This was especially true for Kurogasa, a Rat Beastkin. Rats, no matter the circumstances, remained symbols of filth and unpleasantness in most people’s minds.

  But Kurogasa defied those stereotypes entirely. He was , calm, and perhaps the most posed of all Ats’s subordinates. Yet even with his dependable nature, esg the deeply ingraiigma hill battle.

  EARTHQUAKE! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

  The TV s shook violently, tables trembled, and gsses and ptes toppled to the floor with a crash.

  The sudden chaos ss out of his thoughts, and he grabbed onto his chair for stability. His gaze darted back to the s.

  What… What is that?!

  A massive what? Godzil? No, it looked like a giant lizard—smming into the Dune Bastion with earth-shaking force!

  The dungeon boss?!

  ***

  (Author’s Note:)

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