Lev gave his registration form one last glance before dropping it off at the government post. Like Arthur said, almost nobody bothered with paper applications anymore. Apparently, humans preferred staring at glowing rectangles for hours instead of handing over a piece of paper.

Finding the place hadn’t been hard. As long as you could read, humans practically left signs everywhere pointing you where to go. It was almost disappointing how little challenge there was.

Afterward, he made his usual stop at the ice cream store. His everyday human ritual.

The old woman behind the counter didn’t even wait for him to speak.

“There you go,” she said, handing him a small bag. “Cookies and cream sandwich, peach sorbet, pistachio gelato, and a chocolate popsicle.”

Lev frowned. Not because she got it wrong, she hadn’t, but because it was strange to be predictable. Monsters thrived on instinct. Humans, apparently, could smell routine.

The woman eyed him up and down, clucking her tongue.

“Tsk, tsk. Poor kid. That old man doesn’t even give you financial support.”

Lev tilted his head slightly. He wasn’t sure if this was an insult, a riddle, or an attempted hunt-call.

“You’re the mayor’s son, aren’t you? You look just like him. That old fool has women all over the city. No wonder he’s got children everywhere.”

Lev blinked at her. He wanted to correct her, to say he wasn’t this ‘mayor’s son’. He wasn’t anyone’s son at all. 

The old woman waved him off before he could reply, already turning back to the glowing television box.

Lev simply tightened his grip on the bag of ice cream, adjusted his cap again, and left. 

On his way back, Lev noticed a strange metallic object rolling down the street. It screeched to a stop, and a group of humans spilled out. Their movements were sharp and deliberate, like hunters circling prey. Lev tilted his head, curious, and lingered in the shadows as they slipped into the PK Arcade.

Moments later, four children exited with them. One of them was Chichi.

Lev’s frown deepened. Does Chichi know those people?

He stayed hidden until the group filed back into the metallic object. The doors shut, the machine roared, and it rumbled off into the distance. Lev watched it vanish before resuming his walk.

By the time he reached home, his thoughts had drifted back to something more important. His ice cream. He unwrapped one and flopped onto the sofa. With his free hand, he wrestled with the phone.

‘Doiyoukn ow whot he ct mayoris’ then pressed send.

He stared at the glowing screen, waiting. Nothing. No reply. Lev tossed the phone aside and muttered, “Useless.” He could just interrogate Arthur later.

The floor suddenly trembled.

Lev sat up. Earthquake? No. His instincts screamed louder. Small chunks of plaster broke off the walls. Outside, shouts and chaos rose.

His eyes shifted into cold, deep-sea orbs glinting with the unmistakable sense of danger. A dungeon was opening.

The half-eaten ice cream slipped from his hand, forgotten. His gaze snapped forward, human guise returning. Without hesitation, he darted out of the house.

While the crowd surged one way, Lev cut through them in the opposite direction. His unnatural speed carving a path.

A deafening crack split the sky, followed by a swirling black vortex that pulsed like a living wound.

There it was.

The metallic object he’d seen earlier shot straight into the portal and vanished. Moments later, colossal bugs poured forth, their armored bodies glinting under the light. Towering over the buildings, their jagged mandibles snapped with a metallic clang, echoing through the city like war drums. One slammed a leg down, and an entire block of human-riding metallic objects crumpled flat like discarded tin foil. The pavement split. Humans scattered like brittle shells.

The stench of dungeon air rolled across the city. It’s heavy, metallic, laced with mana. It pressed against his lungs like seawater. His skin prickled, scales itching to split through, the old power rattling inside his human vessel. His eyes burned, threatening to flicker into what they really were.

Because Lev wasn’t just sensing the dungeon. He was answering it.

This place, this madness, was the same call that had always belonged to him. He knew it the way predators knew blood in the water. After all, he wasn’t just in a dungeon. He was one of its monsters. The strongest of them all.

Jaw tight, Lev forced the instincts down, pulling his human mask back over the beast inside. He couldn’t reveal himself. Not yet.

Still, his feet moved before his thoughts did, carrying him straight toward the portal, cutting through the chaos with inhuman speed.

Now in his smaller, more fragile human form, his movements were sharper and quicker. He could slip through cracks, observe small details, and react with precision. Although he could do the same in his sea-creature humanoid form, having a human vessel allowed him to blend in more easily.

Going inside the dungeon wasn’t some noble urge to save humanity. Lev didn’t care about the city, the crumbling buildings, or the terrified humans running for their lives. He wasn’t here to be their savior.

However, Chichi was… a different story. That loud, annoying little creature happened to be in there.

That reason was enough.