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The Leap of the Apostle.

It is a calamity upon the world.

In the past, the Leap of the Apostle caused over 50 million casualties.

At that time, the total global population was roughly 450 million.

Even accounting for underreporting, the sheer magnitude of 50 million deaths clearly shook the world to its core.

This catastrophe was the price paid by nations for ignoring the existence of the Demon Dungeon.

The Demon Dungeon was constructed over roughly 300 years after the sealing of the Demon Sovereign.

When it first appeared, its very existence was barely acknowledged by the world.

Naturally, its dangers were also overlooked.

People believed the Demon Sovereign, sealed away, could do nothing.

In fact, over the last 300 years, the general public had almost completely forgotten about the Demon Sovereign.

And so, after 300 years, the Leap of the Apostle finally began.

From the Demon Dungeon, apostles poured out endlessly.

They slaughtered everyone—men, women, and children alike.

Nations, having grown complacent in their age of peace, belatedly mobilized their militaries to confront the apostles.

But even their efforts were often crushed.

Some countries couldn't withstand the onslaught and collapsed.

Still, humanity was tenacious.

They eventually drove back all the apostles and cried out in victory.

But the road of blood did not end there.

Though the world united to defeat the apostles, the aftermath was devastating—ravaged lands, dwindling population.

As droughts and floods followed, the world spiraled into ruin.

Finally, unable to endure any longer, nations began to plunder one another.

The scale of these raids grew, eventually igniting a full-scale war.

Thus began the long, drawn-out Great World War.

The Leap of the Apostle had led the world straight into war.

Humanity learned many things from this blood-written history.

They knew they must not repeat the same mistakes.

And so, they founded the Academy—training young children to be sent into the Demon Dungeon.

They knew it was irresponsible to shift such a burden onto children.

But there was no other choice if they were to avoid repeating the past.

And now, today.

Once again, the Leap of the Apostle has occurred.

Everyone following behind me understood what that meant.

Zerion Academy’s Demon Dungeon Assault Squad.

Not one among them could keep a calm face.

Even though we were climbing faster than we had descended, not a single expression had relaxed.

This was the very academy created to stop the Leap of the Apostle.

Every student in it carried their own pride.

Which is why the gravity of this situation struck them all the more deeply.

And I was no different.

The Leap of the Apostle wasn’t part of the original scenario.

So why did this story come to be?

‘Because I altered the timeline.’

Though the timeline was already broken with Lucas’s death,

my involvement had caused the world to change too drastically.

And those changes extended to the Demon Dungeon as well.

“Vikamon.”

At that moment, Sharine called my name.

She usually changed how she addressed me in front of those who knew the circumstances.

“It’s the 5th floor.”

Before we knew it, we had reached the entrance to the 5th floor.

I refocused and looked ahead.

The 5th floor connects with other academies.

So then—where did the leaping apostle go?

We came down through the Zerion Academy route.

So at the very least, it didn’t go toward Zerion.

“Sharine, can you find it?”

If anyone could figure something out, it would be Sharine and her Mirinae.

At my request, Mirinae appeared within Sharine’s eyes.

We quietly waited for her to focus.

“Ugh!”

After a moment, Sharine groaned and clutched her face, staggering.

I quickly reached out to catch her.

She slowly relaxed the tension in her tightly shut eyes.

“…It’s Panisys.”

The Illusion Kingdom, Panisys.

The moment I heard it, I bit my lip.

Panisys was currently the most unstable kingdom due to a civil war.

Most of the talented academy students had been recalled by their families.

The remaining students were commoners and those supported by other countries.

That’s where the apostle leaped.

Could a group of students made up of commoners and non-elite academy members stop a leaping apostle?

Without a doubt—absolutely not.

Their defenses were likely not properly established due to the civil war.

If they got hit directly by an apostle in their already weakened state, it would be the end of the Panisys Kingdom.

“Hania, could you join up with the Zerion students and make your way back to the surface on your own?”

Hania looked back at me.

Then silently nodded.

She was the second-ranked martial arts student—if anyone could make it from the 5th floor to the surface alone, it was her.

More importantly, she was the daughter of the Imperial Knight Commander.

Among the students here, her voice carried weight second only to the Saint.

The academy would act quickly on her words.

“Come back alive.”

“I will.”

After parting with Hania, we immediately started toward Panisys.

As I ran up the stairs, I spoke back to the group.

“From now on, I’m only looking forward.”

I was the leader here.

So I made sure everyone heard me clearly.

“If anyone’s afraid, I won’t blame you—turn back.”

Everyone values their life.

But if they’re not ready to risk it, they’re better off not being here.

Leaving just those words behind, I ran ahead, never looking back.

We reached the 4th floor.

In the distance, I saw the shattered remains of an apostle.

It must have been smashed while the leaping apostle passed through.

Apostles show no mercy, even to their own kind.

I looked behind me.

And sure enough, just as I expected—

Not a single one had turned back.

The eyes of the others met mine for a moment.

Those who came here were the very elite of Zerion Academy.

They had steeled themselves from the moment they entered the Demon Dungeon.

My worries were pointless.

“Let’s go.”

We will defeat the ascending Apostle.

* * *

Affiliated with the Kingdom of Panisys.

One of the Six Stars.

Solvas Umbra.

He swept up his wolf-cut hair with a sigh.

The reason was simple.

It was because of the hopeless team trailing behind him.

Solvas’s original team wasn’t like this.

However, due to a civil war breaking out in the Kingdom of Panisys, most of the noble heirs were dragged back to their families.

Solvas barely remained at Aquiline Academy.

To be precise, the Umbra Count’s house wasn’t in a position to call Solvas back.

Even within the Umbra family, they were hesitating between siding with the rebellious nobles or the traditional royal family.

As a result, Solvas ended up in a limbo, staying at the Academy.

Since the kingdom was in turmoil, the Demon Dungeon had been neglected.

That’s why only nobodies without families were left to descend into the Demon Dungeon.

The personnel sent from other kingdoms were no different.

They had already formed teams among themselves, and taking anyone out of those would only hinder teamwork—meaningless.

Among them, there was one person Solvas despised the most.

Hannon Irey.

In the past, Hannon had thoroughly humiliated Solvas during the international singles tournament.

When he heard Hannon was coming to support Panisys, he was speechless.

Even when they met, Hannon pretended not to know him—acted like they’d never met.

Still, Solvas had to admit his skill, but the whole thing was outrageous.

‘Maybe he’s hiding something.’

The civil war in Panisys was long and uncertain.

Applying to Aquiline Academy essentially meant staying until graduation.

The Academy was not keen on letting go of key powerhouses.

For someone who had reached the finals of the international singles to come here, there must have been a reason.

And clearly, he wanted to hide it.

Solvas wasn’t entirely ignorant of Hannon’s situation.

He’d already heard that the Heavenly Princess of the Empire had personally nominated him.

‘He probably got kicked out after offending his family.’

Solvas clicked his tongue, but then thought, “Am I any different?”

His kingdom was in the midst of a civil war, yet his family hadn’t even called for him.

He was just doing grunt work in the Demon Dungeon.

He suddenly felt miserable.

‘This is pointless.’

With this team, reaching even the 5th floor would be tough.

No wonder he felt unmotivated.

They’d probably end up dealing with low-tier Apostles before moving up slowly.

It was basically just buying time.

‘Other Academies are making headlines with ascending Apostles…’

While others were writing history, he was just wandering around the lower floors.

Nothing drained Solvas more than that.

Currently, he was on the 3rd floor.

Given the original strength of his team, this pace was absurdly slow.

It was hopeless.

Sigh.

He let out another sigh.

“Sol-Solvas, sir…”

A panicked voice came from behind him.

A teammate pointed ahead.

Solvas raised his head with an annoyed expression.

Then he froze too.

Crunch, crunch—

The sound of something chewing bone and flesh echoed around them.

Below, what looked like shredded corpses rolled on the ground.

They were wearing school uniforms.

Not from Panisys.

Those golden uniforms were from Ergo Academy.

The five-man team that had come as support from Ergo Academy.

They were notoriously arrogant.

They had strutted around like they were better than everyone else.

They had ignored Solvas and gone ahead into the Demon Dungeon first.

And now… they met a gruesome end.

Crunch.

A shattered hand rolled across the floor.

The creature, having enjoyed its snack, burped with satisfaction.

A massive being, ten times the size of a human.

Its body was covered in black fur, hiding its dense, powerful muscles.

Rip—

Then, from its snout to its entire face, red eyes opened.

Shudder!

A wave of chills ran down Solvas’s spine.

By the time he realized it, it was already too late.

Smash!

One of Solvas’s team members exploded.

Literally shattered into thousands of neat cubes and died instantly.

They didn’t even know what had happened.

One of the creature’s eyes locked onto Solvas.

Instinctively, he tried to raise a shadow in defense—

Grab!

Someone seized him by the back of his neck.

“What are you doing? Run!”

It was a familiar voice.

Solvas’s body was lifted into the air and shot forward at an incredible speed.

The person carrying him was none other than the one he hated the most: Hannon Irey.

“Ha…Hannon?”

He blurted Hannon’s name, startled.

“Wait! My teammates!”

There were still people Solvas had brought with him.

Even if they were just fillers, they were still students from the same Academy.

As team leader, he had a duty to look after them.

Hannon frowned deeply.

“When I grabbed you, it was already too late.”

Solvas’s eyes widened.

And then he saw it—all his teammates had already been shattered to pieces.

They were dead from the moment he saw that first one die.

“Thank the Myst.”

That was the only reason Solvas was still alive—thanks to Myst, the shadow lily.

Because the creature had sensed an unusual weapon on its prey, it had eliminated the others first and saved Solvas for last.

Without Myst, Solvas would’ve been no different.

“More importantly…”

Sweat trickled down Hannon’s forehead.

“This is no time to be worried about anyone.”

The creature in the distance was slowly rising on two legs.

It was preparing to chase its escaping prey.

Its jaw opened wide as it let out a gurgling laugh.

It was the expression of joy, the thrill of the hunt.

And it proved just how relaxed the creature was.

If it catches you, you die.

This is a deadly game of tag.