The shopkeeper brought an old wooden shield and placed it in front of Max.

Max inspected it for a moment. "This will do good," he muttered as he placed the rune he had drawn on the shield.

Holding the shield, Max turned to Alice. "Attack it with your sword."

Alice nodded, drew her sword, and swung it down onto the shield.

Clang!

The shield vibrated slightly after the attack but didn't break. It easily withstood the force of her strike.

"See that? I win," Max said, grinning.

Lily pouted, her expression shifting several times before she slammed five chaos stones down in front of Max. "Humph! It's only five stones, do you think I care?" she said with disdain.

"Never mind then." Max smiled gleefully as he shamelessly took the five chaos stones.

Lily almost teared up at the sight. As a runemaster herself, she knew how valuable those stones were, and now she had just given them away to this bully.

"Lily, let's go get something to eat," Alice said, noticing Lily's face. Having known her for years, Alice understood how easily Lily could cry.

Lily nodded, but her expression became fierce as she pointed at Max. "But I won't go if this bully comes with us!"

Max felt the sting of her words but maintained his composure. With a calm smile, he replied, "Alright, you two can go ahead and eat on your own. I'll stay here and draw some more runes today."

Alice nodded to Max before leaving the room with Lily.

The old man with yellow hair turned to Max at that moment. "If you had made her cry, I would've accidentally killed you." With those words, he too left the room, quietly following his granddaughter.

"Is he joking?" Max asked the shopkeeper, feeling extremely nervous as he had nearly made Lily cry.

The shopkeeper smiled at Max. "He is Garrison Ashford, one of the strongest men in the entire East Region, but he is very doting toward his granddaughter. There have been several cases where he went berserk over people who made her cry."

Max sweat profusely upon hearing this. _Damn, I was playing with fire just a moment ago._

"Until you are given the title of rank 1 runemaster, you cannot claim to be one. This is against the law of the Rune Tower," the shopkeeper said, warning Max. "If you want a place to draw runes in peace, the Rune Tower has several such areas."

Max nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll stay here for a few days. How much are the materials?"

The shopkeeper thought for a moment. "That will be a thousand UNI," he said, tapping his holowatch.

Max nodded and paid him through his holowatch. Just then, Viola entered the room.

"He is a future rank 1 runemaster. Show him a place where he can peacefully draw runes," the shopkeeper ordered Viola.

Viola nodded and turned to Max. "Follow me, distinguished guest."

Max nodded and followed her. Viola led him to the topmost floor, where they reached a garden. The peaceful garden had a blue sky above, and from its edge, the entire view of Central City was visible.

"Master, you can either use this garden or the room beside it," Viola said politely.

"Alright, you can go now," Max said in satisfaction as he admired the peaceful nature of the garden.

Viola nodded before leaving.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

However, before she had fully left the garden, the blue sky above them suddenly darkened with ominous black clouds. Red lightning bolts began to strike one after another, creating a deafening noise and lighting up the area with an eerie glow.

"What's going on?" Max muttered, finding the situation strange. The sky had changed from blue to black so quickly—one moment it was clear, and the next, it was dark with swirling clouds.

Just then, Max witnessed something that sent a chill down his spine.

At the far end of the city, vines as thick as buildings suddenly sprouted from the ground, countless in number. They rose to the sky, tearing open a crack in the void.

Max's eyes widened, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the scene.

"What the hell?!" he cursed in pure shock, but he hadn't yet seen true horror.

From the crack in the void, monsters began to pour out in large numbers—long centipedes, hundreds of wolf-like creatures, many flying monsters, and more. They poured out, continuing to emerge from the rift.

Max was blown away by the sight. He had never seen anything like it.

"What is this? Is this a dungeon break or something?" Max wondered as he looked at the sky, now filled with flying monsters.

At that moment, a transparent dome began to materialize around the crack, its shimmering surface glinting faintly as it expanded to seal off the area. The barrier pulsed with ethereal energy, attempting to contain the chaos spilling out.

However, it was too late.

Numerous monsters, both flying and ground-bound, had already managed to escape the dome's range before it was fully formed. The airborne creatures scattered in all directions, their wings slicing through the sky like dark specters, while the creatures on the ground surged forward with relentless speed, spreading chaos and destruction as they went.

The dome shimmered resolutely, trapping the remaining horde within, but the escaped monsters were already too far away for it to contain them, leaving the city and surrounding regions in a state of dread and turmoil.

Just then, Max's holowatch rang. He turned to see a notification from the guild.

'It's an announcement from the guild,' Max thought as he read the content of the message.

[F Rank Hunters handle the Novice Rank monsters, E Rank Hunters handle the Apprentice Rank monsters, and so on. The rewards are as follows…]

Max was surprised by how swiftly the guild had responded. It wasn't even a minute after the dungeon break, and they were already ready with an announcement.

"I'll take care of the Apprentice Rank monsters that escaped the dome." He muttered as he saw many flying monsters heading toward their region. However, he also saw many hunters already fighting them, stopping them before they could get any further.

Max observed them for a moment before choosing his target. It was a centipede the size of a bus, with the strength of a level 5 Apprentice Rank. It was burrowing in and out of the ground so swiftly that the hunters had a hard time attacking it.

Seeing that, Max turned to Viola. "I'm going to hunt some monsters," he said before jumping from the tower.

"No!" Viola screamed as she saw him leap off. She rushed to the edge, only to see him rocketing toward the horde of monsters.

She sighed in relief upon seeing that he could fly and headed back to notify the shopkeeper. Explore more at empire

It didn't take long for Max to reach the monster horde. It wasn't far from the dome where the other monsters were trapped.

Floating above the horde with his Sky Float skill, he looked down at the chaos happening on the ground while keeping an eye on his surroundings in the air with his Three Dimensional Body skill.

Seeing no flying monsters targeting him, Max aimed at the centipede from above. A small sword formed at his finger, glowing with bluish light.

Just as the centipede emerged from the ground, Max launched his attack.

The blue sword shot forward like a bullet, striking the centipede's carapace, entering from its head and emerging from its tail, splitting it in half.

"Watch out!" A shout reached Max's ears. In that exact moment, his _Three Dimensional Body_ skill detected a figure blurring toward him. It was moving too fast, and before he could react, it appeared right in front of him, its fist poised to strike.

Max immediately activated his Omni Guard skill. A spherical force field enveloped him, causing the figure's strike to hit the shield and send it flying down like a missile.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay