[Two Months Later]

“Ah…”

He woke up already shielding his eyes from the orange rays of the sun that dipped through his window.

With a groggy essence to his movements, he sat up, shutting his curtains with a yawn before nearly falling from his own bed in an effort to get up.

The moment his eyes fully opened and he stood from his bed, his vision was obscured by seraphic, gold lights that acted as a user interface in his field-of-view.

It was simultaneously before his eyes, yet existed in such a way that he could still perceive what was in front of him.

[Good Morning, Master. Would you like to see what today’s [Daily Quest] is?]

“Hit me with it…” He yawned his response out, holding his hand in front of his mouth.

[Affirmative.]

[Processing…]

[Daily Quest: Defeat One “End Titan” | 0 / 1 | Reward: 250 EXP, 10 Angel Gold]

Learning of his daily task, he let out a quiet groan as he scratched his head, ruffling his curly, vermilion locks._.

“An “End Titan”, huh? That’s a pain,” he sighed out, “Hey, System, bring up my “Status”, pronto.”

As soon as he gave the command while bringing himself to the bathroom, looking into the mirror, the gilded interface filling his vision rapidly manifested a board of text.

[Player: Jeong-Hui.]

[Level: 8. EXP: 800/1000.]

[Age: 17. Occupation: Unemployed. Class: Intermediate Assassin.]

[Health: 1250/1250. Spirit: 1000/2000.]

[Usable Skill Points: 0.]

In all honesty, I haven’t been able to make as much progress as I’d like. The Defects outnumber humanity by a thousandfold, at least…and in my neighborhood, it seems even worse. This isn’t some fair RPG either–this is real life…it seems like one, good hit from a Defect, and you’re done. For now, I’ll focus on my dailies.

Seeing the last stat, he squinted a bit before waving his hand, causing the status interface to free his vision as he looked in the mirror.

As I thought, I used a lot of spirit yesterday taking out those End Walkers around the complex. I expected it to recover a bit more than halfway overnight, but I guess not…He thought.

“Oh well, it can’t be helped,” he sighed out.

After taking a shower and serving himself a cup of coffee, and partaking in a slightly stale pastry, he stopped in front of the door of his apartment.

He placed his glasses back on after experiencing the morning through a hazy gaze.

On the back of his right hand, an illustrious cross tattoo was etched onto his skin, glowing with a sapphire light as he tapped his finger against it.

“Equip.”

As he gave the command, his baggy t-shirt and boxers were overridden by a white-uniform, dressed in a lengthy, silver coat and a sheath strapped around his chest with a sword at his back.

It was a process that became monotonous for him; even the concept of magically equipping his gear had lost its mystique after repeating the same sort of day for enough time.

“Just one “End Titan”, right? I can handle that–probably,” he told himself.

As soon as he left his apartment, he was greeted by the distant, but all-encompassing sight of the structure that sat in the center of the city.

A colossal, ivory tower that reached beyond the clouds.

“The Tower”, in a few months, that’s where all of those who reached level twenty will go…while the rest are left on this doomed world, he thought.

The town itself was left as a shell of its former self; houses were ransacked, boarded up, and the streets were dirtied with blood, marked with burns, and torn from battle.

[System Notification.]

As he stood there on the second story of his apartment complex, overlooking the parking lot, the system intercepted his vision with a blinking interface.

“What?” He asked, squinting his eyes.

[End Titan’s presence verified.]

He looked surprised, but happy at this information, holding his hand close to his ear.

“Oh? Tell me where it is.”

[300 Meters, West.]

[250 Meters, West.]

A bit confused, he stood still for a moment as the system kept updating the location of the End Titan.

[200 Meters, West.]

[100 Meters, West—]

Just then, a large impact slammed against the street, shaking the foundation of the sector as he brought his gaze westward.

Walking down the street, barely contained by its width, a colossal entity of all-white skin, walking atop silver hooves, approached.

[End Titan: Target Confirmed. Good luck, Player Jeong-Hui.]

“Yeah…thanks,” he replied wryly, beginning to unsheathe his blade.

Just as he began to draw his sword from its white-and-silver scabbard, the End Titan turned its eyeless head towards him, parting its lipless maw to reveal gargantuan teeth and a gathering of energy in its throat.

What? He thought.

He didn’t have any time to draw his sword, instead standing atop the railings of the apartment and holding his cross-etched hand in front of him.

By this point, now that the enormous foe had seen him, the assassin skills he wielded were hardly useful as it’s focus locked onto him like a hawk.

This left him only with one choice, with only a split-second decision to be crafted:

“Cast: Radiant Shield!”

[Spirit: -150. Remaining Spirit: 850/2000.]

Confirming the spell, he manifested a translucent, golden shield in-between himself and the gargantuan, eyeless entity.

It was just in time as the beam of white light shot from the End Titan’s mouth, crashing against his shield with a booming shock wave.

His glasses rattled against his face in the presence of the booming force.

The colossal, monstrous creature of seraphic origin slammed its gorilla-like, burly hands down against the ground, caving in the concrete below as it bolstered its mouth-beam. The sheer force behind the beam kept him pinned–if he attempted to move, it would surely catch him.

“Ghh…!” He grunted, placing his hand on his arm as reinforcement.

I totally underestimated End Titans! They’re level 10 RFBs–”Roaming Field Bosses”! It’s strong…! He thought.

[Activate unique ability:–?]

“No…!”

Before the system could even finish its prompt, he declined it sharply, opting to hold his ground as his shield began to crack.

In the wind, the blue hood of his white coat fluttered alongside his scarf.

Ah, crap, am I going to die? He thought.