Aiden hit the ground with a thud, landing in a searing hot chamber that reeked of ash and molten stone. The air shimmered with heat, waves of it distorting his vision. Fire crackled along the walls, and glowing veins of lava snaked across the obsidian floor beneath his feet.
He groaned and pushed himself up slowly, his limbs aching from the fall. "Well… that's a first."
His Chaos Core had never acted like this before. It had responded to the dungeon. No—**reacted** to it. Then it forcibly dragged him into a Red Gate.
Unlike Blue Gates, which were stable and often used for training or controlled excursions, Red Gates were unpredictable. Unnatural. While Blue Gates had entrance points, Red Gates had one rule—**you don't leave until the dungeon lets you.**
They didn't just open randomly. They **swallowed** things. People. Towns. And they didn't always spit them back out.
Thankfully, based on the ambient mana signature, it seemed like a Category 1 Red Gate. Small mercy. But even then… if the boss was Level 3, he was dead for sure.
He clenched his jaw. He'd just broken into Level 2 moments ago, and barely at that. His fight against the Direwolf had left him scraped and drained. And while he'd technically leveled up, he wasn't battle-ready for another fight—**especially not against a Level 3.**
For comparison? In his past life, it had taken him **seven whole years** to reach Level 3.
Aiden let out a shaky sigh and began to move cautiously through the dungeon. The walls were jagged, pulsing with magma veins. Heat beat against his skin with every step. The air felt like it could melt bone.
Not long into his trek, he encountered them.
Fire Golems.
At first, just one. Then two.
Their forms towered over him, burning with arcane fire. Their bodies were formed from volcanic rock, bound together by molten joints. Level 2, both of them. Aiden cursed under his breath.
If the standard monsters were **already Level 2**, then the chance of the dungeon boss being a Level 3 was now more a certainty than a possibility.
Still, he managed to avoid a fight—barely. He kept to the shadows, ducking behind rock formations and using his mana to suppress his presence. But the hope that someone from the outside would pull him out before the worst happened was the only thing keeping him calm.
He reminded himself: the gate had been forcibly closed and replaced by this Red Gate. The Academy would notice the anomaly. They'd send help. Eventually.
**All he had to do was survive until then.** Stay quiet. Hide. Wait.
That hope, however, was shattered not even ten minutes later.
Five more Fire Golems emerged from deeper within the dungeon.
All Level 2.
And all of them had already detected him.
They circled around him like vultures, embers drifting from their bodies like the ash of a funeral pyre. Their eyes glowed with crimson fury. Aiden backed up until his heel hit the wall. There was nowhere left to run.
He exhaled slowly.
"I really thought I'd make it further than this…"
He pulled out his sword. His hands trembled.
**This was it.**
---
**Meanwhile, in Central City…**
A shadow swept across the bustling skyline.
Elena Ravenheart had returned.
Known only in whispers as the **Shadow Queen**, she was one of only two known Level 9s in all of India, second only to the King himself. Her presence was a closely guarded secret, her movements untraceable. To the public, she didn't exist.
But to those who knew—**she was a force of nature.**
Six and a half years ago, she'd left her daughter Emilia in the care of Den and Elisa Pandragon, two former Level 9s and trusted allies. At the time, she'd been called away to fight sovereign-class threats on the world stage, and she never returned. Not fully.
She watched from the shadows, keeping tabs on Emilia, but never intervening.
Until now.
When she heard that Emilia had become one of the fastest students in history to reach Level 2—alongside a boy named Arthur—and that a student named **Aiden** possessed an unclassified **chaos affinity**…
She knew it was time.
The moment she arrived, she went to see Den and Elisa, only to discover that Aiden had taken a personal leave.
"He said he went home," Elisa explained.
"But… he's not there," Den added, frowning.
That was all the confirmation she needed.
Elena didn't waste time. With a simple trace spell and a few pressured words, she left a group of guild staff trembling in silence as she walked away with the information she needed.
"A Red Gate…" she murmured, eyes narrowing. "Still a troublemaker, I see."
---
**Back inside the dungeon…**
Aiden was on his knees.
His sword was shattered.
Blood dripped down his face, staining the floor beneath him. His clothes were burned in several places, and his mana reserves were dangerously low. He'd unleashed everything he had—every bit of lightning manipulation, every technique from his past life, every instinct—but it wasn't enough.
**Not against five Level 2s.**
He had managed to bring one down, barely. But the rest had overpowered him. He was beaten, broken, and out of time.
**This was it.**
He lowered his head, bracing himself for the end.
Then, he saw it.
**Her.**
Emilia's face. The pain in her eyes when she lost him.
The fear. The heartbreak.
**No.**
Not again.
He **refused** to die here.
**Not like this.**
Something inside him snapped. Not in fear—but in defiance.
**His Chaos Core pulsed.**
One of the Fire Golem's arms suddenly **disintegrated**, atom by atom, before it could strike him. Gone without a trace.
Aiden's eyes widened.
A glow spread from his hand—**a deep, rich violet** unlike anything he had seen before.
He grinned.
"You finally decided to wake up, huh?"
His lightning sparked, now no longer blue. **It was purple. Pure chaos-lightning.**
He surged forward, faster than before. Each strike now burned **through** the golems' armor. Each movement disintegrated their bodies from the inside out. Their cores cracked and shattered under the weight of chaotic resonance.
He became a storm of violet death.
And before he even realized it—**they were all dead.**
All six Level 2 golems, erased by the unleashed power of his awakened Chaos Core.
But Aiden dropped to one knee again, completely drained. He was running on fumes. His vision blurred. His body ached more than it ever had.
Then he felt it.
A tremor.
The entire dungeon shook.
A shadow loomed over him, blocking out the heat.
**A giant red golem.**
Easily ten meters tall. Its power suffocated the chamber. The boss. **A Level 3.**
Aiden's heart sank.
He couldn't even stand.
"Of course…" he muttered. "Of course it's a Level 3…"
The golem raised its molten fist.
Aiden closed his eyes.
Then—**the golem's shadow twitched.**
It **rose** unnaturally, detached from its source, and **swallowed** the creature whole in an instant.
The behemoth didn't even have time to roar.
It was just… gone.
Aiden blinked in disbelief.
"What…?"
Then, he heard a voice.
Warm. Calm. And dangerous beyond words.
"Still causing trouble, I see, little Aiden."
His eyes widened.
Standing at the edge of the chamber, dressed in black combat gear woven with shadow silk, was a tall woman with silver hair and sharp violet eyes.
**Elena Ravenheart.**
Shadow Queen. Level 9.
**And Emilia's mother.**
"Aunt Elena…?" he breathed, barely able to process it.
She smiled softly, walking toward him.
"Let's get you out of here, troublemaker."
---