Revenant’s Throne: The Rise of the Undead King

11:35 PM – Seoul, South Korea

Han Kyung-min kept running.

His lungs burned, his legs ached, but he had to keep moving. Behind him, the streets of Seoul had turned into a nightmare—a hybrid battlefield of past and future. Buildings no longer belonged to the same era; some were modern skyscrapers fused with ancient stone castles, while others had rotted into abandoned husks from a future that should never exist.

And the monsters…

They were everywhere.

A Wendigo dragged a corpse into an alleyway, its sunken, skeletal frame twitching unnaturally as it gnawed on its kill. A Deathstalker—a scorpion the size of a truck—skittered over the wreckage of an overturned bus, impaling survivors with its venomous tail. In the distance, a towering biomechanical abomination crushed cars under its malformed limbs, its body a twisted fusion of machine and rotting flesh.

This wasn't just a dungeon break.

The city itself was changing.

Kyung-min gritted his teeth and glanced at the silver-haired girl running beside him. He still didn't know her name, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting the hell out of the open.

"Where are we going?!" he shouted over the chaos.

She didn't look at him. Her gun was already in her hands, moving fluidly as she fired twice—one bullet straight into a charging Ghoul's forehead, another through the skull of a Night Fiend lurking on a building's edge.

"There's a safehouse three blocks down," she said, reloading in a single swift motion. "We can't stay in the open. The city's still changing. Whatever's happening, it's only getting worse. We need cover."

Kyung-min didn't like the way she said that.

"…Safehouse?"

She didn't answer.

Instead, she suddenly tackled him—just as something massive smashed into the street.

BOOM!

The impact sent out a shockwave, shattering windows and sending debris flying. Kyung-min hit the ground hard, his ears ringing as dust and rubble rained down around them. He groaned, blinking rapidly to clear his vision—

And then he froze.

Something was standing in the middle of the street.

No, not something.

Someone.

A man, clad in heavy plate armor forged from blackened steel, stood amidst the destruction. A long, tattered cape billowed behind him, its edges frayed with decay. His helmet was missing, revealing a face that should have been long dead.

His flesh was gray. His eyes glowed with an eerie, hollow blue light.

And in his hands, he wielded a massive halberd, its blade drenched in fresh blood.

[System Notice: Warning – Named Boss Detected.]

"Knight of the Final Dawn – Level ???"

"The last remnant of a fallen kingdom. Cursed to wander until all challengers are slain."

Kyung-min's breath caught in his throat. A boss. Not a dungeon minion, not a random spawn—an actual boss-class monster, right in the middle of Seoul.

And the worst part?

It wasn't alone.

Behind it, more figures emerged.

A Crimson Executioner—a headless knight, dragging a colossal rusted axe.

A Drowned Bishop—a rotting priest, its body draped in wet, tattered robes, whispering curses under its breath.

A Phantom Huntsman—a figure wrapped in black mist, its skeletal hounds prowling at its sides.

"…We're dead," Kyung-min muttered.

"No," the girl corrected. "You're dead if you don't move."

She grabbed his wrist and yanked him to his feet—just as the Knight of the Final Dawn raised its halberd.

Kyung-min's instincts screamed.

Dodge. NOW.

He threw himself sideways a split second before the massive weapon sliced through the ground where he had been standing. The sheer force of the strike cracked the pavement, sending a wave of sharp debris flying outward.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

He had never fought before. Never been in a life-or-death situation. But even he knew—he couldn't beat this thing.

Especially with an E-Rank Support class.

But before he could even process his next move—

A new notification appeared.

[Hidden Skill Activated: Death Echo]

"Death is a record, and you are the keeper of its final echoes."

"A being has perished near you."

Extracting Usable Skill…

Acquired: Phantom Step (One-Time Use Only).

Kyung-min froze.

"What…?"

Before he could even begin to process the meaning of that message, the Crimson Executioner lunged forward, its massive axe raised high.

He had no time.

His body moved on its own.

One second, he was standing in place. The next—he was somewhere else.

The Phantom Step skill had activated.

Kyung-min appeared ten meters away, just as the Executioner's axe obliterated the space he had just occupied.

His breath was ragged. His mind was racing.

He had just used a skill.

But he didn't have that skill.

"…I stole it," he whispered to himself, realization dawning on him. "I can steal the last skills of the dead."

He had no time to be shocked. The silver-haired girl was already moving again, grabbing him by the arm.

"That won't work twice. Run."

This time, Kyung-min didn't argue.

They ran.

11:55 PM – Approaching Midnight

They made it to the safehouse just as the next phase of the disaster began.

A chime echoed throughout the world.

[Cycle Termination Approaching.]

"The first reset is near."

Kyung-min collapsed against the cold concrete wall, his entire body trembling. He had survived. Barely. But he knew this wasn't over.

Because this wasn't just a random apocalypse.

It was something worse.

"…The world is changing," he muttered. "And I think it's going to keep changing."

The silver-haired girl didn't respond.

Instead, she turned to the doorway, where a group of survivors had just arrived.

Among them—

Seok-hoon. Min-jun. His friends.

For the first time since the nightmare began, Kyung-min felt relief.

He had found them.

…But he didn't know.