The sky over the city turned red.
A strange echo spread through the streets, and before anyone could understand what was happening, pieces of debris began to float slowly into the air.
Then something appeared above the tallest building. Right in the middle of it was a glowing purple centre that throbbed over and over, like someone's living heart. The space around it turned violently outward. In a few seconds a huge vortex formed at the centre of the structure, and broken platforms floated around it, connected by heavy chains, the whole thing rattling loudly as it shook.
It was a gate. And whoever was on the other side was about to come inside.
A team appeared in front of the dungeon. They were known as an elite team, and each one of them had an impressive presence. Their clothes, their weapons, even the way they looked down at the world — everything about them said that they were different. They seemed like nobles. Some of them looked like warriors skilled in war. But one thing was crystal clear the moment they appeared: they were the most powerful.
In the central square of the city, a news crew was broadcasting the event on a giant screen. The reporter announced that today at two in the afternoon, an elite team called the Divine Rhino Corps — considered one of the strongest teams in the world — had officially begun its challenge against the final SSS-level dungeon, the Scythe Abyss.
People gathered in the square and watched the huge screen in astonishment. Many of them could not believe their eyes. The reporter went on: the Divine Rhino Corps had already cleared two other SSS-level dungeons, and this final dungeon was considered the hardest dungeon in history. For ten years, countless top-tier teams had tried to win it, and every one of them had been completely defeated.
One man in the crowd said that in all these years, no team had even made it to the final boss room. Another shook his head and said he wanted to know what was actually inside that dungeon. A middle-aged man wrinkled his nose and frowned in disgust. He said this team was just a group of people who existed for show, and if they failed to clear the dungeon in the end, he would troll them mercilessly online.
Then the reporter revealed the leader of the Divine Rhino Corps. The man leading the challenge was none other than the one known as the strongest man alive: Yan Hanu.
From his head to his feet, Yan Hanu wore seven complete pieces of SSS-grade equipment. Every one of them had been won by overcoming an SSS-level challenge. In a way, they were symbols of respect. Only people who had survived impossible battles could wear them.
Yan Hanu stood in front of his team with a calm expression. He looked extremely confident, incredibly attractive, and, most importantly, he looked incredibly powerful.
That year, Yan Hanu was thirty-two years old.
The world he lived in was full of dangers, challenges and opportunities. In the very year he was born, strange space-time gates had suddenly begun appearing all over the world. At first, people did not pay much attention to them, but with time, dangerous beasts started coming out of these gates and attacking humanity.
Humans fought them, and during those battles they made an important discovery. Equipment could be obtained by killing the beasts, and with that equipment, people could become even more powerful. That discovery changed everything. Since then, humanity had kept fighting the beasts and holding its ground.
But in this world, money did not decide everything. What mattered most was capability.
Equipment and weapons were divided into levels, from the lowest to the highest: F, E, D, C, B, A, and the highest levels, S, SS and SSS. But whether a person could actually use high-grade equipment depended entirely on that person's capability. Capability could not be changed or influenced by anything.
If someone's capability was only E grade, it did not matter how rich he was. He would never in his entire life be able to use equipment above E grade. But if someone was born with S grade capability or more, it did not matter if he was poor. Countless organisations and armies would compete with one another to recruit him and make him an elite warrior.
As for Yan Hanu — when he was only five years old, his examination was taken, and he was found to have SSS-level capability. He was truly an extraordinary genius. People were stunned to learn how young he was, and from that moment on, Yan Hanu began living what people called an extraordinary life.
At eight years of age, he cleared an E-level dungeon. He became the youngest human in history to do so. At fourteen, he crossed a C-level dungeon. At eighteen, he cleared a B-level dungeon alone, and at twenty-five, he made history by leading the human team that beat an S-level dungeon for the first time.
Perhaps it was because he had been born in the very year the monsters first appeared. With time, people began giving him a different name. The chosen one, who would defeat the monsters and drive them away. Many people believed that one day Yan Hanu would lead humanity, wipe the monsters out completely, and bring the world back to normal.
Above the tallest building, the vortex in the sky kept spinning rapidly.
Yan Hanu looked at his team and ordered them to get ready. They were about to enter the dungeon. His companions answered confidently, as if they had been prepared for this moment their whole lives.
Then Yan Hanu took out a special card and activated it in one motion. The chains around the dungeon began to break, one by one. As the last chain snapped, the Divine Rhino Corps advanced together.
It was an SSS-level dungeon. It was their final challenge. Yan Hanu was completely sure that he would get through it.
But he had no idea that this mission would change his life forever.