Chapter 1: A Marriage of Fate

One hundred years ago, Earth was not the world it was today.

There were no dungeons.

No monsters.

No Hunters.

And humans had never heard of supernatural powers.

Everything changed when the first Dungeon Break occurred.

Mysterious portals suddenly appeared across the world, and terrifying monsters emerged from them.

Humanity was completely unprepared.

Millions of people died during the first Dungeon Breaks, and governments around the world struggled to understand what was happening.

But the appearance of the dungeons brought another mysterious change.

Some humans began to awaken supernatural powers.

Some gained incredible physical strength.

Others could control fire, ice, lightning, wind, or other mysterious abilities.

Then came another discovery.

Bloodlines.

Some people awakened ancient bloodlines that had been passed down through their families for generations.

Those who possessed supernatural abilities became known as Hunters.

Their strength was eventually divided into six ranks.

E-Rank.

D-Rank.

C-Rank.

B-Rank.

A-Rank.

And finally...

S-Rank.

S-Rank Hunters stood at the very top of human society.

They were powerful enough to fight monsters that ordinary Hunters could never hope to defeat.

As the dungeon crisis continued, guilds were established all over the world.

Their purpose was simple.

Enter dungeons.

Kill the monsters.

Prevent Dungeon Breaks.

For the past hundred years, humanity had fought against the monsters to protect its world.

And society had changed along with it.

Actors and singers were no longer the only celebrities.

The most famous people in the world were now Hunters.

Among them, one name stood above many others.

Victoria Hale.

She belonged to the legendary Hale family.

A family with a history stretching back centuries.

Generation after generation, the Hale family had produced powerful Hunters.

Some had become famous heroes.

Others had commanded powerful guilds.

And many had reached the highest ranks of Hunter society.

Victoria Hale was one of them.

She was an S-Rank Awakened Hunter.

Her bloodline ability was known as Crimson Sovereignty.

By circulating her bloodline power throughout her body, Victoria could greatly enhance her strength, speed, reflexes, and durability.

She could coat her sword in crimson energy and cut through powerful monsters.

She could create countless crimson spears, form protective blood armor, and even create a terrifying area of control known as the Blood Domain.

On the battlefield, Victoria was almost unstoppable.

To the world, she was a legendary S-Rank Hunter.

Beautiful.

Powerful.

Untouchable.

But there was one thing the world didn’t know.

Victoria Hale was dying.

The Hale family carried an ancient bloodline.

But that bloodline had been corrupted over generations.

The corruption slowly weakened their bodies and shortened their lifespans.

And the more they used their bloodline powers, the faster the corruption progressed.

More than a hundred members of the Hale family had already died because of it.

Victoria had watched one family member after another disappear.

Her own father had died from the same curse.

And now...

It was her turn.

According to the latest examination, Victoria had only three years left to live.

The Hale family had tried everything.

Rare medicines.

Healing magic.

Dungeon treasures.

Powerful healers.

Nothing worked.

But there was still one possibility.

An ancient record hidden within the Hale family’s archives mentioned a mysterious bloodline.

The Nameless Bloodline.

According to the ancient records, someone who possessed the Nameless Bloodline might be able to stabilize and restore the corrupted Hale bloodline.

There was only one way to establish the necessary connection.

Marriage.

After years of searching, the Hale family finally found someone who possessed the Nameless Bloodline.

His name was Daemon Miles.

An E-Rank Hunter.

He came from an ordinary background and had never accomplished anything remarkable.

He wasn’t famous.

He wasn’t powerful.

He wasn’t even considered talented among E-Rank Hunters.

But there was something unusual about him.

His bloodline couldn’t be identified.

The Hunter Association had simply registered it as...

Nameless Bloodline.

And now, that ordinary E-Rank Hunter was about to marry one of the strongest women on Earth.

The wedding hall was unusually quiet.

It wasn’t the kind of wedding ceremony people would expect from someone as famous as Victoria Hale.

There were no reporters.

No cameras.

No fans.

No guild representatives.

The outside world knew nothing about this marriage.

Only a handful of trusted members of the Hale family had been invited.

Victoria stood quietly at the front of the hall.

Her expression was calm, as always.

Beside her stood her mother, Evelyn Hale.

Evelyn looked at her daughter with complicated emotions.

She had already lost her husband to the Hale family’s bloodline curse.

Now, Victoria was the only family she had left.

And she might lose her too.

Evelyn slowly turned her eyes toward the young man standing across from them.

Daemon Miles.

He looked...

Ordinary.

His clothes were simple.

His black hair was slightly messy.

His body wasn’t particularly muscular, and there was nothing intimidating about his appearance.

He looked exactly like what his rank suggested.

An ordinary E-Rank Hunter.

Evelyn couldn’t help but feel uncertain.

But there was no other choice.

Daemon’s bloodline was their last hope.

She quietly clasped her hands together.

Please... let this work.

For her daughter, this marriage was their final chance.

Victoria also looked toward Daemon.

This was the first time she had seen him in person.

She had already read his information.

Twenty-five years old.

E-Rank Hunter.

Nameless Bloodline.

No powerful family.

No impressive achievements.

Nothing about him seemed special.

Yet this ordinary man was now standing in front of her as her future husband.

Victoria studied him silently.

Daemon noticed her gaze.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Then Daemon gave her a small, slightly awkward smile.

Victoria was surprised.

She had expected him to be nervous.

Perhaps even intimidated.

Instead, he simply smiled.

So this is the man who might save me.

She didn’t know whether the ancient records were telling the truth.

She didn’t know whether Daemon’s bloodline could really cure her.

She didn’t even know what would happen after this marriage.

But she had already watched too many people die.

She wasn’t ready to give up yet.

I’ll give it a try.

That was all she could do.

The ceremony began

.

There were no grand speeches.

No cheering crowd.

No celebration.

Only a small gathering of people who

understood how important this marriage was.

The vows were exchanged.

The rings were placed.

And finally...

The ceremony was complete.

Victoria Hale was now the wife of Daemon Miles.

For several seconds, the two of them simply looked at each other.

Two strangers.

Two people who had entered a marriage for reasons other than love.

Neither knew what the future held.

Neither knew how deeply their lives were about to change.

Victoria only wanted a chance to survive.

Daemon didn’t even know what his bloodline truly was.

But at that very moment...

Something inside Daemon’s body suddenly stirred.

His expression changed slightly.

A strange sensation spread through his blood.

It was as if something that had been sleeping deep inside him for his entire life had suddenly opened its eyes.

Daemon frowned.

What was that?

Then—

Ding!

A cold, mechanical sound suddenly echoed inside his mind.

Daemon’s eyes widened.

For a moment, everything around him seemed to become strangely quiet.

Another message appeared.

[.......]

Daemon stared at the mysterious notification.

He had no idea what it meant.

No one else in the wedding hall seemed to have heard anything.

Victoria was still standing in front of him.

Evelyn was speaking quietly with another family member

Nobody noticed the change in Daemon’s expression.

Then, another faint sound rang inside his mind.

Ding!

[System installation initiated...]

Daemon’s pupils contracted.

[1%...]

And then—

[.......]

The message disappeared.

Daemon stood completely still.

He didn’t understand what had just happened.

He didn’t know what this mysterious system was

.

And he certainly didn’t know that the quiet marriage he had just entered...

Would change his entire life.

His journey had begun.