The world came into focus with a violent gasp as Ren's lungs filled with salty air. His body was slick with seawater, his clothes clinging to his skin as he dragged himself onto the coarse sand. The sun burned overhead, a merciless eye in the sky, and the scent of blood and smoke stung his nostrils.
*Where… am I?*
His vision cleared just in time to see two men locked in a brutal struggle nearby. Their fists were slick with gore, their faces twisted into snarls of desperation. One drove a jagged rock into the other's throat, and blood sprayed in a crimson arc as the victim collapsed, choking on his own life.
Ren's stomach lurched. *They're killing each other.*
His gaze darted across the beach. A few meters away, a man sat calmly beside a fire, turning a skewered fish over the flames as if the world weren't ending. Behind him, a group of survivors hammered together a crude wooden shelter, their movements frantic but coordinated.
*This isn't just chaos. They're preparing.*
Then he remembered the words burned into his mind:
**[Be the last 5 person alive to win, in 21 Hours.]**
**[Rewards: ???]**
**[Any more than 5 persons survive within 21 hours, everyone will die on the spot.]**
A death game. And the clock was already ticking.
Instinct screamed at him to move. He couldn't stay here—not with killers and survivors alike sizing each other up. The ocean was his only escape.
Ren dove back into the water, the cold shock of it sharpening his senses. He kicked deeper, the sunlight fading into a murky blue haze.
Then he saw it.
A shadow moved beneath him—an impossible, colossal shape. Scales the color of midnight gleamed like polished metal, and as the creature turned, a single golden eye, slit like a serpent's, locked onto him.
**[Storm Breaker Dragon]**
The name seared into his brain as the beast unfurled, its body stretching longer than a ship, its fins cutting through the water like blades. Ren's blood turned to ice.
*Move. MOVE!*
He thrashed upward, lungs burning, the surface agonizingly far. His head broke through just as a monstrous tail whipped beneath him, sending a wave crashing over the shore. He barely had time to suck in air before—
**"Die!"**
A girl lunged at him, her dagger flashing silver in the sunlight. Ren barely registered her face—wild eyes, bared teeth—before instinct took over. His hand shot out, and the **Black Blade** materialized in his grip, its obsidian edge humming with dark energy.
He meant to block.
But the girl was too fast, too close.
The sword cut through her mid-swing—not deflecting the dagger, but slicing clean through her torso.
Time froze.
**[You have killed Mortal Rank Level 1 Human +600 EXP.]**
Her eyes widened. The dagger slipped from her fingers as her body separated, blood painting the sand in a grotesque arc. Ren stumbled back, bile rising in his throat.
*I didn't mean to—*
But there was no time for guilt. The rules were clear.
Only five could live.
And now, one less stood in his way.
The dragon's roar shook the island, and Ren knew—the real fight had only just begun.