Chapter One: Awakening! The Devouring Demon Eye

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A dark, damp realm filled with the stench of decay—a secret domain.
Michen woke in pain.
He opened his eyes to see fragments of equipment torn apart by magical force scattered everywhere.
Not far off lay shattered remains of bodies, their blood long dried and seeped into the soil, turning it black.
Empty eyes devoid of life.
He recognized those who had died.
They were the hunters who had hired him.
Slowly, he got up and picked up a flashlight lying nearby, while the dim glow of his fuel lamp formed a protective barrier around him.
Michen was a low-level porter in the secret domains, unawakened to magic, relying solely on tools to resist the miasma within these realms.
Originally, this was to be just another ordinary mission—nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, those foolish hunters inadvertently triggered a trap, wiping out the entire team.
This line of work was perilous; life could be lost at any moment without warning.
Those who had been chatting moments ago were now shattered corpses.
Michen felt no great disturbance.
Since crossing into this world, where the sky had changed drastically and magic and secret domains abounded, he had witnessed death too many times.
He reached into his pocket.
A gray-black stone, resembling a die, cracked apart in his hand.
“Damn it, it won’t activate.”
It was an escape stone—an indispensable tool for secret domain exploration, capable of instantly transporting the bearer to safety.
Because space laws governed these stones, each person was allowed only one.
The escape stone in his hand was damaged by the trap’s impact.
His last hope was shattered.
This meant Michen could only rely on himself to leave this perilous secret domain.
But he was merely a porter, no different from an ordinary person.
Could he survive and escape on his own?
He discarded the broken escape stone.
Michen did not fall into despair but calmly considered his next move.
He approached a pile of shattered equipment.
From the debris, he retrieved a relatively intact longsword.
An enchanted longsword.
Pale blue magical energy flowed along its blade, capable of slicing through steel and rock with ease.
Though he had not awakened any magic, he could not wield its full power as a hunter would.
Still, when it came to experience exploring secret domains, he was no less skilled than professional hunters.
Looking around, he roughly deduced that he had been transported to the second level of the secret domain.
The ceiling above was broken, exposed rebar twisted like some grotesque creature’s spine.
Inside the abandoned skyscraper, a broken pipe dripped water incessantly, echoing with a steady drip-drop.
The monsters on the second floor differed from those on the first.
The mournful wails of deep wandering souls echoed along the corridor.
The scent of blood would soon attract the bloodhounds of this level.
If he wished to avoid the same fate as those unlucky hunters, he had to escape quickly.
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