I WAS Humanity's HOPE-Chapter 39: Below the Threshold

The stink hit them first.

Rot-water and rust settled on the back of Meredith’s tongue as she followed her brother into the tunnel that gaped beneath London’s neat streets.

Richard, to his credit, didn’t show any signs of discomfort beyond a slight wrinkle of his nose.

He glared at his sister. And I don’t keep crying about everything.

"I’m beginning to think you collect awful smells," Meredith muttered, her green-glowing wand casting a sickly hue over the brickwork. "Old books, battlefield sweat, and now sewer soup. Is this some kind of perverse hobby? Because if it is, Rich, I don’t want to have any part in it!"

Richard adjusted his coat collar and pressed on, boots clacking over damp stone. The hush felt thick enough to bend around them.

"Hey! Do you hear me?"

"Focus, Mer," he said without turning. "We can argue perfume choices once we’re clear of the pipes."

She clicked her tongue. "Fine. Let’s start with last night instead. Vance blackmails you at midnight, you vanish till dawn, and your grand plan turns out to be spelunking in drains?"

Richard only grunted. The light in Meredith’s hand bobbed, scattering shadows that skittered like rats.

"You’re impossible," she went on, stepping over a rivulet of something unpleasant. "Do you actually trust him to stay quiet?"

"I don’t trust Vance at all," Richard said. "What I do know is that he’ll want to weave new schemes, and for that, he needs time. While he does that, I have to grow stronger."

The worry lines she hid in class deepened in the wand-light. "Then what? How much stronger do you need to get? Do you need to reach SS-Rank? Will that be enough? What if Vance doesn’t wait long enough? What will you do, blackmail the blackmailer? We don’t have dirt scary enough for an SS-Rank."

"We will."

He started walking again, faster now, as if speed alone might outpace the memory of Vance’s cold smile.

Meredith exhaled, half a sigh, half a scoff. "How?"

Richard’s answer came as a slow grin she could hardly see. "Step one," he said.

The tunnel widened where two branches met, and runoff swirled below like dull pewter.

Ahead, the darkness fractured. A bruise of violet light pulsed in the air just above the waterline, jagged as torn silk.

Meredith halted, breath catching in her chest. "Oh, bloody hell."

"Bloody hell, indeed. This right here is an S-Rank Dungeon," Richard announced, his voice laced with excitement.

"I wanted breakfast," Meredith said, massaging her temples. "You’ll be the death of me, Rich."

"We’ll be out by lunch."

She groaned but shifted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him on the ledge. "After this we talk, Richard. No more cloak-and-dagger surprises, and no more buying manors out of the blue. If you wanted to fuck Nadia so much, you could rent a room..."

Richard’s face flushed a tiny bit red in the dim light. "That..." He trailed off, jaw clenching as he turned back to face the portal.

"Deal," he said, even while knowing the next crisis would break that promise as surely as dawn broke night.

The portal throbbed like a wounded heart, throwing violet reflections over the runoff.

Meredith shivered.

"Are you sure it’s S-Rank? Can we even clear it?" she whispered.

"I’m pretty confident," Richard murmured, narrowing his eyes. "It should be on the lower end, though, making it similar in difficulty to a high A-Rank dungeon. Trust me."

Meredith merely nodded.

He lifted his free hand, palm up. "Ready?"

"Lead on, sewer-knight," she said and high-fived.

Together, they stepped forward.

The crack yawned wider with a sigh and swallowed them whole. Behind, the sewer settled into dim quiet, as though nothing had changed.

As soon as Richard passed to the other side, he felt a chilling sensation permeate through his whole body. "You’ve got to be fucking kidding me."

A single glance back told him all he needed to know.

"Well, brother of mine. You have rotten luck," Meredith murmured cheerily, although Richard noted a hint of fear in her tone. There was also a lot of annoyance...

"Do tell me about it," he muttered, watching the now-blackened portal they’d come through.

There’s no way I’m entering black dungeons back to back. What are the odds?

However, the truth was undeniable, and Richard couldn’t do anything about it. And there was something else to think about...

"Say, how often is a dungeon in an open world?" he asked Meredith with a sigh.

The cold bit at them harshly.

Richard braced a forearm across his face and squinted through the white glare.

Ice dunes rolled away in every direction, blued at their shadows, peaks glinting like broken glass beneath a sun that burned low and coppery on the horizon.

No scrub, no stone, not even the sound of wind—only a vast, brittle hush.

Meredith stepped up beside him, breath hitching as frost filmed her lashes. "I just hope the dungeon’s rank didn’t move up," she murmured, wand already brightening to throw a green halo that looked absurdly out of place against endless white. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Suddenly, Richard felt a warming sensation spread through his limbs as his body adjusted to the frigid environment.

The cold still bit at his exposed skin, but at least his core temperature remained stable.

"What was that?"

"Just a nifty D-Rank spell I have that lets your body adjust to your environment. Were we below S-Rank, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to keep us warm—and that’s considering my superb casting skills," Meredith said, lips quirked in a hint of pride.

Richard nodded and replayed Mer’s earlier words. Higher than S-Rank? Wouldn’t that be just perfect?

He flexed his fingers, coaxing circulation back into them, then summoned his gear.

He summoned his Mask, its star patterns gleaming in the harsh white light.

Two gleaming daggers of fine steel materialised next, and Richard gripped them firmly, ready.

"First rule of open-world dungeons," he said, voice muffled by the mask. "Survive." He lifted his chin; a distant ridge of jagged ice jutted from the dunes like pale fangs. "The only structure in sight is northeast."

Meredith followed his gaze, swallowing. "And the second rule?"

"Assume everything between here and there wants to kill us."

She closed her eyes for a few seconds. When they opened again, the fear was there—but so was something else, a hardened look that Richard hadn’t seen in his sister’s eyes before. "Lead the way, then."

That’s right, she’s an S-Rank like me. Even though we might not be quite the same, she’s also seen the ugly side of this world, and that’s why she’s here with me.

They trudged forward, boots crunching over crusted snow.

We should look for a different way of travelling, he thought absentmindedly, noting their speed.

Richard kept his pace slow and deliberate, letting his senses sweep the drifts for hidden presences.

So far, nothing. Either this is a peaceful place, and I am a unicorn... or we are in a powerful monster’s turf, he thought.

Meredith caught his sidelong glance. "You’re doing that face," she said, gently teasing.

"What face?"

"The I’m-thinking-ahead-of-you face."

He huffed, but tension eased from his shoulders. "The world keeps cheating, Mer. I’m just trying to keep up."

Meredith let out a low laugh. "Sure, sure. What were you thinking of anyway?"

"We’re probably in some creature’s territory," Richard said matter-of-factly, prompting a gesture from his sister that he didn’t quite understand.

"Say, you’ve never told me the stats of your mask and daggers, and you promised! Not even their ranks," Meredith said, pouting.

Richard gave her a look and summoned his system window.

"Fine."

Inventory > Items > Mirror Daggers (S Class)

Description: Masterfully balanced blades of enchanted steel, honed to a mirror’s sheen.

Stat Bonuses: STR: +15, DEX: +20

Passive Abilities

Phantom Afterimage: When the wielder makes a sudden movement, an illusory afterimage lingers for a second, making it harder to track real positioning.Light-Dancer’s Edge: In bright or reflective environments, the wielder’s speed increases and hits grow more powerful due to disorientation from light reflections.

Active Abilities

Mirror Step (4/day): Blink to a point within a ten-metre radius as if stepping through the world’s reflection.

Split Gleam (1/day): For 15 seconds, attacks made with the daggers hit twice if the disparity between the caster and the enemy is at least one rank. The second hit deals half damage and bypasses shields or magical defences.

Unique Trait: Heightens damage when employed in stealth attacks, giving the wielder a decisive advantage during ambushes and rapid strikes.

—

"What? I’m so jealous! You even have a unique trait—what the hell, Richard?" Meredith said with an exaggerated pout. "And the stat bonuses are insane! Those daggers are just... perfect. How are they only S-Rank?"

Richard sighed and shook his head.

Inventory > Items > Mask (SS Class)

Description: This enigmatic mask conceals the wearer’s identity while fortifying them against both magical and mental onslaughts. It was wrought in silence by a nameless mage whose very identity was swallowed by their creation. Originally designed as the perfect tool for infiltration during the Silent Wars, it became their undoing.

"They burned the city looking for me. They didn’t realise I was the one who gave the order."