As the blinding light reached its peak, the shouting of agents and hunters reached a fever pitch—chaotic, panicked, desperate.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, the light began to fade.
The world returned to dim blue hues. Eyes fluttered open. Breathless silence followed.
"I... I'm alive?" one hunter muttered in disbelief, squinting through the fading glare.
Another let out a weak chuckle, "I really thought that was it…"
But their relief quickly turned into confusion.
"Wait..." a hunter spoke up, voice trembling. "The dungeon... where is it?"
Everyone slowly turned toward where the gate once stood.
It was gone.
Not shattered. Not sealed. Just... gone, as if it never existed.
"What in the actual hell—"
"W-What do we do now?!"
"Was that a dungeon break or something worse?!"
An agent clutched his clipboard, pale-faced.
"I-I just started today..." he muttered, voice cracking. "Why does this have to happen on my first day of work?! H-How the hell am I supposed to explain this?!"
His face was the perfect blend of panic and despair.
...
Meanwhile, in a completely different world.
Joo-Hee jolted awake, coughing as her lungs burned from the dense, unfamiliar air. Her hands instinctively clawed at the earth, which was grass.
"D-Damn you, System!!" she groaned, slamming her fist on the dirt.
"For goodness' sake, don't do that again!"
As she sat up, three green notifications appeared before her, followed by a single ominous black one:
[You have entered the Minor World: Kinobgral (B).]
[The connection to the original world has been temporarily severed.]
[Boundary of the dungeon, Goblin's Hideout, has been reestablished.]
[You have received a restrictive quest, Freedom of Goblin Macabre.]
Joo-Hee stared in disbelief.
"S... severed?" she muttered. "Are you serious?!"
Her heart pounded in her chest. She had braced herself for a solo D-rank dungeon—a simple outing, something to test her new abilities and maybe grind a few levels.
"I was expecting a relaxing dungeon with a couple of goblins, not a whole damn ecosystem!"
She stood slowly, brushing off dirt and grass from her clothes, surveying her surroundings.
The skies were tinted a strange violet. The air was saturated with stronger mana than Earth.
"This... This is beyond absurd." She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling sharply.
"Who could even imagine that going alone into a dungeon would literally pull me into a whole other world?"
Her voice dropped as realization struck.
"Thank God I didn't become self-deluded after that system upgrade... If I had entered an A-rank or S-rank dungeon alone and ended up in their world..."
She visibly shuddered.
"Just thinking about it is insane... I'd be human stew—or worse by now."
And yet, despite everything, she only exhaled, lips curling into a small grin.
"Well, I've already been transmigrated once... let's see what this 'minor world' has in store for me this time."
She flexed her fingers, steadying her breath, and looked up at the strange skies of Kinobgral—dim, violet, and swirling with unknown mana currents.
"And if I'm right, then the System will probably generate the gate back to Earth after I clear whatever insanity this is... Hopefully."
Without hesitation, she tapped on the pulsing black notification hovering in front of her.
The interface shifted, revealing the full contents of the quest.
_______________________
[ Freedom of Goblin Macabre (A-) ]
Description: Kinobgral is a minor world, once vibrant and whole, now a shattered realm, a casualty of an unknown fight between [???] entities. The impact of this forgotten battle caused Kinobgral to fragment, scattering across the worlds of the Worldview. One of its native inhabitants—goblins—lost more than just their home. They lost their souls, their minds, and the very definition of mortal freedom.
.
Restriction:
— Host must be alone.
— Host is severed from their original world.
.
Objective:
— Eliminate 10,000 Goblins within 12 hours.
— Free their corrupted souls from the chains of madness.
.
Failure Condition:
— Death of the host (If slain or unable to accomplish the objectives, the host's soul will be absorbed as nourishment of the dungeon permanently.)
.
Quest Rewards:
— Fragment of Kinobgral (???)
— Soul Fragments (reward scales with the number of goblins purified)
_______________________
After reading everything, the quest box slowly faded into a faint green light, leaving Joo-Hee standing in stunned silence.
"10,000 goblins?!" she muttered, her brows twitching as her mouth twisted into a grimace.
"Is the System crazy again? How the hell am I supposed to kill thousands of goblins in just half a day?!"
Her voice echoed briefly in the twisted forest of Kinobgral, swallowed soon after by a hushed breeze. Her heart pounded in her chest—not out of fear, but frustration.
She only had so much mana to spare. Sure, she brought her sword, and her body had been strengthened by the system's upgrade, but even so—a solo extermination of 10,000 enemies?
It wasn't just insane—it was suicide.
"This is a battle of stamina and mana, huh?" she muttered.
Without hesitation, she slapped her cheeks lightly, trying to ground herself.
"Tch... damnit. I can't waste any more time freaking out. I need to start that plan now."
Kneeling, she pressed her palm against the mossy earth. The forest pulsed faintly beneath her hand.
[Verdant Growth], she whispered mentally, testing whether her powers work with this world's ecology.
Followed with a sharp command, "Thoth! Give me a scan of this world. Identify current inhabitants, the number of monsters nearby, and how strong they are."
A cold, mechanical voice echoed inside her mind:
[Request received. Initiating environmental scan of Kinobgral. Please remain still...]
Even as the scan began, a storm of unanswered thoughts still remained in her head.
The fragmented memories from earlier...
The goblins' shattered world...
The mysterious "???" entities...
And most of all, the limited allocated time and consequences of failure.
"Killing the goblins is the easy part, but the sheer amount of them is absurd, and this damn tickling clock and creepy forest," she growled softly, clicking her tongue.
The forest was dim, cloaked in a violet haze that filtered through the twisted canopy like dying embers. Shadows danced with every subtle breeze.
Joo-Hee stood in the close-field forest, surrounded by large trees akin to those of oak—but the silence around her felt heavier than any danger she could see.
She glanced around, clutching her arms.
"Man, I hate this kind of forest," she muttered, the eeriness crawling beneath her skin. "This is nothing like the Goblin's Hideout dungeon…"
She exhaled slowly, trying to settle her nerves, but even her breath felt out of place here.
"If the system ever allows me to have a pet as a companion... I swear, I'm getting one. A large one. Or maybe a walking torch. Anything. I am not doing this solo thing in creepy woods again."
But then—
A shrill screech shattered the air, cutting through the forest like a blade through silk.
Joo-Hee jumped, her body reacting before her mind. She crouched low, forcing a shaky smile as if pretending would make it better.
"What the hell was that?" she whispered, eyes darting toward the source of the sound. "Please just be goblins. Or maybe wolves. Yeah, wolves I can handle. But if this world has those creepy monsters..."
She didn't finish that sentence.
Because just then—
A voice pierced the forest.
"Help! Someone—please help!"
Joo-Hee's eyes widened. She froze.
"...A human?" she whispered, standing up with a mix of caution and disbelief.
In a place like this, this forgotten fragment of a world swallowed by war and madness—what were the odds?
A heartbeat passed. Then another.
.
.
.
.
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A/N: If you were to be thrown in the middle of a forest with only a creepy violet sky you can looked up to, how would you deal the situation?