A new notification appeared in front of me.

[Deathboard Unlocked]

I focused on it, and the window expanded smoothly.

[Deathboard – Rankings determined by combined metrics:]

→ Level

→ Combat Strength

→ Impact on opposing faction

→ Killings from opposing faction

[Designation Required: Select New Name or Use Default: Kael Williams]

I didn’t hesitate.

"New," I muttered, selecting the option and replacing it without a second thought.

Billion.

The name was selected, and the interface shifted again, revealing a ranked list.

Names filled the board, each tagged clearly.

1. Aldric Voss → Believer

2. Viktor Voss → Believer

3. Kael Heavens → Defier

4. Marcus Thorne → Believer

5. Billion → Defier

6. Lucien → Believer

7. Quinton Tre → Believer

The list extended further, showing the top twenty, constantly updating, shifting slightly as if it were alive. I scanned through it once and found no sign of Knight or Lyrate.

I exhaled quietly.

"It’s just the start," I said under my breath.

Closing the window, I crouched down and searched the bodies of the two men I had just killed. Their clothing was simple, worn from use, but their pockets held something. I pulled out a few small bronze coins, each etched with symbols I didn’t recognize, the surface rough and slightly uneven as if they had been minted by hand.

I assumed it was the currency of this place and slipped them into my pocket. Other than that, there was nothing worth taking.

Still, something didn’t sit right. Those two hadn’t been teleported away like the others. They had stayed behind, just like me.

Which meant there was more to this.

"System... those two weren’t natives, right?"

[They were non-native.]

I nodded slowly.

"So I wasn’t the only one."

Others had been thrown into this world the same way, and if they had already chosen sides, then this wasn’t just a war between factions of this world anymore. It was something bigger.

I didn’t linger.

Leaving the bodies where they fell, I picked up my pace and began running down the dirt road. The change in my stats was there, I could tell, but it didn’t translate cleanly yet. My body still felt unfamiliar, slightly out of sync, like something powerful trying to fit into something that wasn’t ready for it.

At the same time, my mind played tricks on me. There was a strange feeling, as if I could shatter everything around me with a single strike, like overwhelming strength was just waiting beneath the surface.

But it wasn’t real. Not in this body. If I tried something like that now, I would break myself before anything else.

I kept running.

The road stretched ahead, cutting through the forest, while from both sides, distant roars echoed again and again, creatures moving, fighting, evolving. The entire forest felt alive with conflict.

Suddenly I slowed and then stopped completely. A question came to my mind without warning.

"Where am I even running to?" I muttered, looking ahead at the empty stretch of road. "A city? A capital? And then what?"

There was no answer.

Then the next thought followed immediately.

"Shouldn’t I just focus on getting stronger first?"

That one made sense to me. I was in a time crunch. Every step forward without strength would only slow me down later.

I turned my head toward the forest. Without another thought, I changed direction and stepped off the road, pushing straight into the trees. I didn’t need to go and find a city. The others were undergoing a tutorial and so I had to grow stronger faster outside of that.

I decided that first, I would level up. Then I would find the others. Only after that would I step into something bigger.

The deeper I moved into the forest, the denser it became, the trees growing closer together while the ground beneath my feet shifted from packed dirt to a softer, uneven mix of roots and fallen leaves. The sounds that had once been distant were now all around me, layered over one another and yet beneath all of it, there was something else, a strange stillness that didn’t belong.

I slowed.

The air felt heavier. A faint, almost sticky resistance brushed against my arm as I stepped forward, and when I looked down, I saw a thin strand stretched between two trees, barely visible unless caught in the light.

Web.

My gaze lifted slowly.

The space ahead opened slightly, and what I saw made me stop.

A massive web stretched across the trees, layered and thick, covering a wide area like a net cast over the forest itself. Tangled within it were bodies, wolves, smaller animals, even things I couldn’t immediately recognize, all wrapped tightly, some still twitching faintly as if life hadn’t fully left them.

And at the center of it something moved.

The creature stepped forward into view, its body easily twelve feet tall, supported by long, segmented legs that spread outward like spears planted into the ground. Its dark surface reflected faint light, while multiple eyes fixed onto me at once, glowing faintly as it adjusted its position.

[Monster Arachnida– Level 6]

It was a damn giant spider. The moment I stepped back, it reacted.

One of its legs shot forward, piercing straight through the space where I had been standing a fraction of a second earlier, embedding itself deep into the ground. I moved immediately, pushing off to the side and breaking into motion between the trees, forcing distance while keeping my grip tight on the sword.

Another strike came.

Then another.

Each leg moved with speed that didn’t match its size, stabbing into the ground around me, forcing me to keep moving without pause. I twisted around a tree, using its trunk to break line of attack, then stepped back in, closing the gap just enough to swing.

The blade cut across one of its legs, but the resistance was heavy, the impact barely slowing it as it pulled back and struck again.

It adapted quickly.

A sudden shift in its posture warned me a moment too late as a thin stream shot out from its body, spreading wide as it came toward me. I turned immediately but still was a second too late.

The web struck. It hit the blade first, wrapping around it instantly, the sticky threads binding over the edge and pulling at my grip as the force dragged the weapon downward.

I tried to pull it free but it didn’t budge.

Suddenly, another leg came down forcing me to release the sword and jump back.

The ground cracked where I had been a moment before. I moved again now empty-handed, weaving through the trees while the spider adjusted, its movements becoming sharper, more aggressive now that I had lost my weapon.