"What is this sensation… this ominous presence?"
At the far corner of the street, people backed away, gasping. A shimmer hovered above the pavement like heat waves folding and pulsing in the air, warping the light.
Then came the sound: a deep groan of pressure, like steel twisting on itself.
A Gate was forming.
Chaos ignited. Drivers slammed brakes. Horns blared. Pedestrians screamed and fled. A glass bottle shattered in the street someone's grocery bag abandoned mid-run.
The distortion pulsed once. Twice. Then with a flash, it snapped open, fully stable.
It was massive.
And fresh.
With a void that couldn't see what was inside.
Officer Nanami's eyes widened the moment he saw it.
Without hesitation, he slammed his palm onto his comm device.
"This is Officer Nanami Level Four breach in District Four. Requesting immediate support from the nearest Dungeon Division. I repeat, we have an active gate breach."
From all directions, people began to gather drawn by instinct, curiosity, or plain foolishness. The air turned heavy, like the atmosphere just before a storm. Static. Charged.
It felt like the gate itself was calling Gin.
Like a seductive whisper from the abyss, pulling him in with a gaze no one else could see. He stepped forward unconsciously, eyes fixed on the rift now visible ahead massive, shimmering with unnatural violet hues.
"Gin, sir no!" Iwa and Tabaki called out at the same time.
Nanami quickly turned and raised his voice.
"Gin, sir please step back! That gate could be reactive and unstable. You need to maintain distance. Stay with the boys Tabaki and Iwazumi are over there."
He hurried toward his patrol vehicle, fumbling for the standard-issue yellow perimeter tape. Procedure or not, they needed to seal the area fast.
Gin finally paused, blinking as if coming out of a trance.
"Alright, alright. Sorry got carried away for a moment," he muttered, holding up both hands and taking a cautious step back.
Moments passed.
The street buzzed with murmurs. Civilians whispered among themselves some confused, some anxious, others already raising their phones, eager to stream or record. Then came the gasps. The gate's pressure intensified, a heavy, invisible weight of winds pressing against their chests like standing too close to a thunderclap.
And it hadn't even fully opened yet.
Somewhere in the crowd, a man groaned,
"What now, man? I'm gonna be late for work."
He muttered again, more annoyed than afraid,
"Dungeon Division better get here fast."
An old man beside him snapped,
"You idiot, you're worried about work while a gate's forming in front of us?"
The worker shrugged.
"So what, old man? It's probably just a D-rank. Looks stable, hasn't opened. No cause for alarm."
The old man scoffed, shaking his head.
"And how would you know that, huh? You some kind of gate analyst now?"
"Whatever, gramps," the man muttered, adjusting his tie.
"Just wanna get to work. Damn gate, damn yellow tape..."
Around them, more voices joined in some arguing, others laughing, a few filming for likes and reactions.
The commotion built steadily, loud enough to make Gin frown.
He turned to the boys nearby.
"Why don't they look scared?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Because they're stupid," Iwazumi replied bluntly.
"People think gates are entertainment now. Thanks to HeroTube and all those raid streamers it's just another show to them."
Tabaki nodded.
"Yeah. Most folks have never seen a reactive gate. They just assume it's safe if nothing's charging out of it."
Gin tilted his head.
"Reactive?"
"Gates where the creatures inside don't wait for us," Iwazumi explained grimly.
Tabaki chimed in, voice uncertain.
"They try to break out. Most gates are dormant, but reactive ones…" He scratched his head.
"Back in school, our textbooks said they don't appear anymore or outright claimed they never existed."
"They did," Iwazumi said sharply.
"They were the first types. The early days of dungeon emergence were all chaos gates opening, creatures pouring out before the timer ever ran down."
Tabaki blinked.
"Well… um, they definitely didn't teach that in school."
"Of course not. Because they're idiots," Iwazumi muttered.
"Most schools sanitize everything. Make it seem like the system's under control. But if you read old records, the earliest gates were brutal. Mostly reactive. No warning, no rules."
Tabaki snorted.
"Yeah, yeah. Not all of us majored in dungeon theory, Professor Iwa."
Gin leaned in slightly, eyes curious.
"So… what kind of creatures come out of these gates anyway?"
Tabaki answered without hesitation.
"Everything. Goblins, orcs, mutated lizards, undead Creatures... But the worst? The bugs."
He gave a visible shudder.
"Blue spine ants, spine bees, tanca worms nightmares with legs. Even dragons show up sometimes. You name it."
Gin's gaze sharpened.
"Dragons?"
He wondered if they were anything like the monstrous, mystical beasts from his old world creatures revered as divine or feared as calamities. Could dragons be the final stage of a dungeon? The last boss?
Gin smirked to himself, lips curling with amusement.
He tilted his head and asked playfully, "So... how many dragons do you think Prime could take on?"
Iwazumi gave him a flat look. "You're joking, right?"
Gin chuckled. "Half-joking. Depends on the dragon, I guess."
"Probably not that many," Iwaizumi muttered, arms crossed. "The way creature scaling works in dungeons is... weird. Some D-rank bosses hit harder than B-rank elite heroes. It's not always about rank." He paused, then added, "And dragons? Never seen one in an A-rank gate. They usually show up in lower ones, surprisingly. That's probably why Prime hasn't faced any yet."
He glanced toward the gate, voice lowering. "They're rare, dangerous, unpredictable. But honestly... who knows? Guilds only post what they want us to see. Hero tube controls most of dungeon media tight."
Gin's mind raced. The idea of entering this dungeon thrilled him with danger, mystery, the unknown. But it also pulled him in too many directions at once. Should he start with Prime? Dive straight into dungeon exploration? Or finally get his hands on a camera and begin his research and training?
He was caught in a dilemma, torn between ambition and curiosity.
Iwazumi, sensing the shift in his expression, chimed in.
"Trust me, Mr. Gin dragons are no joke. Even the weaker ones are insanely powerful. Thankfully, they're rare. And most of them? Not even true purebloods."
He scratched his head, frowning. "Still trying to make sense of their hierarchy in dungeons. It's… inconsistent."
"But Blue Spines," he went on, "those are a different story. Fairly common. We've got tons of data on them."
"Blue Spine?" Gin repeated, brow furrowed.
His mind flashed back to K-Pen the chaos, the ant-like creature that had nearly torn through a wall. Was that what it was?
"What if the ant wasn't blue?" he asked slowly. "What if it had a red spine instead?"
Iwazumi stiffened.
"Redspine?"
He exhaled, his voice dropping.
"Those are hybrids. Nasty ones. They usually show up in B-rank gates and higher. Strong, fast and worse, they adapt. One hit from a Redspine can land even a top-tier hero in the ICU."
Tabaki's eyes widened.
"No way. Red versions of those creepy ants exist? Yuck."
He visibly shivered.
"You need to avoid them, Sir Gin. Seriously. Creepiest things I've ever seen in a bestiary."
Gin stared back at the gate, eyes distant.
The aura pulsed again thick, humming with threat.
"So this… is where it came from."
Their banter was cut short by a voice from the crowd half-joking, half-nervous:
"Officer, don't you think you're overreacting? Closing off the whole street like this? If that gate turns out to be low-rank, I'm filing a complaint."
Officer Nanami didn't miss a beat.
"Please remain calm. This is standard procedure. We need to assess the situation properly before the anchor unit arrives."
That only made things worse.
"Tch. Then they should get here already. Wasting everyone's time over what's probably a damn E-rank gate."
Grumbles rose. Irritated complaints rippled through the crowd like a slow-boiling storm.
"All this for a gate that's not even open?"
"Let us through already!"
Nanami raised his voice, now firmer, cutting through the noise.
"If you don't want to spend the night in a cell, I suggest you calm down, sir. Don't make me the reason you miss work."
That shut the man up. He grumbled under his breath, backing off slightly.
Nanami continued, his tone clipped but controlled.
"If this were another district, we might let foot traffic through. But gates don't usually appear in District 4. That's why I'm exercising extra caution."
A wave of murmurs followed his words low, anxious, like static.
"Did you hear? Last time a gate opened here, they locked down the whole block for two days."
"Crap… I'm gonna be stuck here all day because of that thing."
"Wish a guild would hurry up and claim it already…"
Someone else pointed toward the shimmering void.
"Look at the size. It's different from the ones I usually see on HeroTube."
"Yeah…" another voice added, this one softer.
"To be honest… this one feels different."
The whispers layered over each other restless, uncertain. Some onlookers began backing away. Others stayed rooted, phones raised, caught between fear and fascination.
Gin couldn't explain it
But something about this gate pulled at him.
It wasn't like the ones he'd seen back in his old world.
"It's not like the sect gates back home…" he muttered.
There was a weight to it. A presence.
A low, thrumming distortion that seemed to gnaw at the edges of reality itself.
He stood frozen, eyes locked on the swirling, violet mass.
It loomed, not just in size but in intention.
"I wonder what an A-rank gate looks like..." he murmured, almost to himself.
Officer Nanami, standing nearby, didn't miss the question.
"They're bad news," he said grimly. "When those appear, my first move is always the same get civilians out. Fast."