Chapter 5 - 6: The wraiths Beneath

It’s only been three hours since we left our apartment and reached the fifth floor. Just three hours since the world changed. The distant sounds of screaming and monstrous roars echoed faintly through the shattered windows. Outside, chaos reigned. Some survivors had barricaded themselves inside their homes, others fled to underground shelters or huddled in high-rise buildings. But none were truly safe. Monsters of all shapes and sizes roamed the city—tiny cannonball-sized rabbits with jagged teeth, towering mantises that could rip a man in half, even things with wings that cast terrifying shadows. "Hyung, do we really have to keep moving?" Ye-Rin asked, panting and sweaty, slumped on the stairwell wall as she took a sip from a half-empty bottle. "Didn’t we already get to level five in just three hours?" "That’s the problem," I muttered, standing guard and scanning for threats. "In most games, the early levels are quick to keep players hooked. But after that? The grind begins. We only killed ten monsters. Mom took out eleven, sure—but we need more. If the scaling works the way I think it does, the rest won’t be as easy." Ye-Rin groaned. "So you’re saying it’s going to get worse?" "Exactly. That’s why we need to use Day One properly. Grind, grow, and prepare." Mom nodded, calm and cold as ever. "Ye-Rin, check the dragon’s stats again." Ye-Rin pulled out the interface and read aloud: Name : Forgotten Race : Dragon Age : unidentified Nature : Thunderstorm Title : (Unlocks after Subclass) Level : 20 (Temporary) Strength : 350 HP: 2500 Agility : 200 Mana: 500 Stamina: 350 Mom then brought up her own. Name : Shin Mi-Sun Race : Human Age : 56 Nature : Bloody Eyes Class : Priestess of Dead Sub-Class : (Unlocks after Mission 5) Title : (Unlocks after Subclass) Level : 005 Strength: 024 HP: 048 Agility : 058 Mana: 093 Stamina: 026 "See the difference" she asked, her dry tone. Ye-Rin squinted. "Umm... everything? You’re level 1 but you’ve got decent stats. That dragon, though? Level 20 with monster stats. Literally." Ye-Jun leaned in. "Yeah, I think we’ve been scammed on your tuition, Ye-Rin." Ye-Rin stared at the dragon’s stats on her screen and nearly choked on her water. "Hyung! Its strength is 350?! My whole body isn’t even worth a single toe of that thing!" I chuckled. Mother continued, serious again. "I have 250 total stat points. That’s 50 per level. The dragon? Almost 3,900 total. That’s 195 per level. If we don’t level up fast, we’ll be nothing but side characters in someone else’s nightmare." Ye-Rin blinked. "Wait, how did you even calculate that?" "I added numbers. It’s called math." Mother glanced at Ye-Jun. "Maybe we really did waste our savings on her education." Ye-Jun chuckled. "I’ve been saying it for years." Ye-Rin pouted. "I’ll have you know I passed math with a solid 51%." Mother didn’t even blink. "That’s a failing grade in life." Ye-Rin groaned and slumped down. "Great. So we’re broke, under-leveled, and apparently the dragon we’re babysitting could delete us with a sneeze." Ye-Jun shrugged. "On the bright side, at least you’re lucky." Mother raised an eyebrow. "She got cursed by a vending machine last week." "I was trying to get chips," Ye-Rin defended. But beneath the jokes, we all knew the truth: the deeper we went, the worse it would get. We were heading for a battlefield. No—a slaughterhouse. "Let’s head down to the lower floors, do one more sweep, and be back in our apartment by 4:00 p.m. Stick together, no matter what," I said. We nodded. Weapons ready, we moved. Fourth floor: Four cannonball rabbits. Dispatched quickly. Third and Second floors: Empty. Too empty. But there was a pattern. Each floor was marked with blood trails, claw scratches, broken doors—and silence. Some doors were bolted shut. Behind them, we heard hushed sobs, whispered prayers, or shallow breaths of those too afraid to make a sound. A few apartments stood wide open. No sign of the people who once lived there. It had only been a few hours. But it felt like the end of the world had already arrived. Our XP barely ticked up. We were only 16% into level 4. That’s when we reached the lobby. And we stopped in our tracks. A hill of bodies—at least a hundred corpses stacked in a grotesque pyramid—stood in the center. Blood pooled around it, soaking into the cracked floor. Shattered glass glittered like ice across the lobby. And at the summit of this mound, three ghostly figures hovered. Wraiths. Wraiths weren’t just spirits—they were nightmares stitched from death and ritual. They floated above the floor, silent, their hollow eyes glowing like cursed embers, whispering in a language no human should hear. Their weapons dripped with shadow, and their bodies crackled between solid and ghostly, untouched by ordinary steel. System Message: ~Wraiths are performing a spiritual ritual to summon their god. ~After completion, one Wraith will transform into Immortal Wraith. ~Bonus rewards for slaying each Wraith. ~Time remaining: 20:00:18... 20:00:17... Ye-Rin pointed with a trembling hand. "Is that... Mr. Suiske? From the fourteenth floor?" Mom didn’t speak, but I saw her hand tremble. Mr. Suiske was her friend. A good man. A kind neighbor. He had been part of our world yesterday. And now, he was a part of this. "So that’s why there weren’t any bodies on the upper floors," I said numbly. "They dragged them here. All of them." We ducked behind a broken wall near the stairwell. The Wraiths hadn’t noticed us yet. The three of us crouched behind the stairwell, watching the three wraiths hover silently above a hill of corpses. "They’re not moving much," I whispered. "That’s what worries me," I continued, narrowing my eyes. "Wraiths are never alone. These three might be the ritual anchors. The rest are likely hiding." Ye-Rin shivered. "So what? We wait for them to show themselves?" "Exactly. If we charge in now and more emerge mid-battle, we’re dead." And so we waited—watching, listening. Occasionally, a muffled scream echoed through the shattered windows, distant but real. Four hours later, the sun was at its peak. No reinforcements had arrived. No new wraiths stirred. The tension had thinned into a decision. "We go now," Mi-Sun said. "We can’t wait for nightfall." Ye-Jun took a deep breath and crept out of cover. He had a plan. As he neared the closest wraith, he muttered, "Here goes nothing." He spun his staff and slammed it into the wraith’s lower mouth, sending its jaw flying across the room. The wraith shrieked in confusion.But it didn’t die. Its eyes locked onto me. Two others spun around, raising their weapons—a spear and a machete. They screeched and dove toward me. I blocked the spear with my staff. It pierced partway through. Ye-Rin parries the wraith, it’s machete bounced off.wraith dropped its weapon and fled into the body pile. The other two hovered, forming a triangle around me. I yanked the spear from the staff... and drove it into my thigh.Pain exploded through my leg. The Wraiths paused. They stared. Then looked at each other in confusion. A whisper passed between them in a language I didn’t understand. "Now, Mother!" System Message: ~Shin Mi-Sun is using [False Healing]. The shimmering thread of cursed healing magic linked the wounded Ye-Jun to the wraiths. They tried to sever it, but it was too late. Their vitality drained through the tether. Jawless collapsed. Then the spear-wielding one disintegrated into ash. I groaned, "Worth it. Maybe." Mother yanked my ear. "You suicidal brat. Next time, use your arm, not your femur!" "Who told their sons to stab himself huh? Atleast my stupid idea worked" "Well at least you agree that it was stupid" Ye-Rin joking added.But she suddenly remembers and yells, "Wait—where’s the third one?!" That’s when the corpse pile twitched. Wraith after wraith rose from the bodies, like spirits crawling from hell. Twenty... thirty... forty... all armed with an array of grim weapons. "A hive," Mi-Sun whispered. "The corpses are breeding grounds." When they burst from the mound of corpses in the lobby, it was like the dead themselves had risen, clawing their way out with shrieks and soul-tearing cries. The air turned colder than winter, thick with blood and ash—Hell hadn’t opened beneath them, it had already arrived. We could handle a few of them but these numbers were impossible for us to survive. Leave the bees alone and they will leave you. We should have never tried taking the damned thing. But suddenly, Ye-Rin stepped forward, raising her Axe: Drakecleaver. Her eyes shimmered with madness—and a little fear. ???? Nature: Lucky Roulette Master ???? Weapon’s Ability: Infernal Bite – Blades retain heat and release flames at user’s command. The ax hissed with red light. "Ye-Rin, wait—!" Ye-Jun shouted. Too late. Her ax glowed, storing heat from every attack she’d made. Sparks danced along the blade. She slammed the ax into the ground, roaring with all her might. Infernal Bite: Critical Burn Triggered! A cone of blazing fire erupted, bathing the entire lobby. Wraiths howled.Wraiths screamed.Despite Ye-Rin’s stats being geared entirely for physical combat, the fiery magic that burst from her axe was nothing short of a miracle. Flames roared from the strike like a dragon’s breath, consuming the wraiths and the mound of corpses in one sweep. For a second, the lobby looked like it had been hit by napalm—scorched black and eerily quiet. Ye-Jun stared in disbelief. "Did... did that really just work?" Mother blinked twice. "I thought her magic stat was below ten." Ye-Rin, before collapsing, grinned faintly. "Lucky Roulette Master, remember?" Ye-Rin collapsed with a thud. I ran to her, heart racing. "She’s alive!" I cried, checking her pulse. A chime rang. ~Shin Ye-Jun has leveled up to Level 5. New Skill Unlocked: Command Low-Level Nature Spirits ~Shin Mi-Rin has leveled up to Level 5. New Skill Unlocked: Lucky Evasion – Predict high-risk attack patterns. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But one thing was certain-we had survived by sheer,absurd luck. "Let’s wrap it up for today," Mi-Sun said softly. I nodded, lifting Ye-Rin onto his shoulders. "You were amazing, Rin." Location: Hiroshima, Japan – Midnight Somewhere beneath the shattered skyline of a burning city, inside a collapsed temple now reduced to ruins and blood, the same eerie ritual was taking place. The clock struck 00:00:01. ~Wraiths are performing spiritual rituals to summon their god. ~After the completion of the summon, one of the wraiths will transform into Immortal Wraith. ~Extra rewards will be awarded after killing every wraith. ~Time Remaining: 00:00:00... The ritual was complete. From the top of a crimson mountain of corpses, the Immortal Wraith rose. It was huge—towering above the rubble, with skeletal wings and a swirling mass of spectral fire coiling around it. A ceremonial crown of bones floated above its head. It let out a scream so shrill, windows shattered across the district. And then—its head dropped clean off. Silence. Behind it stood a figure in flowing black—face hidden beneath a porcelain mask, blade dripping with cursed silver. "Even in Death. You Are mine". As soon as the mystery figure says this, it rises up in a shadowy figure like an undead. "They’re always so dramatic," the stranger said coolly. "Even in death, they think they’re gods.But they are nothing but imposters." The wraith’s severed soul rose in a plume of smoke, its burning eyes dim. But it didn’t resist. It knelt before the masked figure. "Your command is my will, Master." The stranger’s voice echoed like a whisper in a tomb. "Rise, my vessel. Your god failed you—but I won’t. I will be waiting for you, Dragon’s born." Far above them, a blood-red moon burned through the sky like an omen.