My SSS-Rank Gluttony Talent: I Can Evolve Limitlessly

That single piece of armor had changed his trajectory, making him a powerhouse, and strengthening his reputation as an indomitable hero.

Riley's lips tightened into a sharp line.

'Knowing of such a huge opportunity, there's no way I'll let it slip by!' he thought firmly. This time, things would be different. This time, that armor would be his!

And unlike Terry in the past life, Riley knew what was coming. He knew its value. He knew its potential. He knew its future. That knowledge was his advantage. His rebirth was his weapon.

There was no hesitation in his heart anymore. His path stretched forward, lit by hunger, sharpened by vengeance, and fueled by the certainty that he would carve out a destiny far different from the one he had suffered before.

The boss room suddenly shook!

The stone beneath Riley's feet trembled as though the ground itself were alive and convulsing.

Dust rained down from the ceiling in thin streams, and the dark, oppressive atmosphere of the dungeon seemed to shiver like a beast being prodded with hot iron.

Riley's eyes widened in confusion and shock, his breath catching in his throat.

For a brief second, his body stiffened, his senses straining to understand what was happening. His heart slammed against his ribs, the rhythm faster and louder with each tremor.

The shaking didn't stop. Instead, it intensified. The room itself groaned, walls splitting slightly as jagged cracks etched across their surfaces.

The vibration grew so violent that even the thick dungeon pillars quivered like fragile branches in a storm.

And it wasn't just the boss room. Riley could feel it in his bones—the entire dungeon was shaking. The tremors rolled through the walls, the floor, even the very air. It was as if the dungeon itself was being torn apart.

His jaw tightened.

'What the hell… is going on?!'he thought, his pupils dilating.

Similar scenes replayed all over the dungeon. Far beyond this boss room, other players stumbled and tripped as the world quaked beneath their feet. Echoes of their startled screams rang faintly through the dungeon corridors.

The monsters, too, were not spared from the chaos. They roared and shrieked in panic, their glowing eyes wild with fear.

Instead of holding their positions as usual, they went into a frenzied rampage, charging in blind terror. Their claws tore at stone, their fangs snapped at anything nearby.

Many unfortunate players were caught directly in their path.

Riley could picture it clearly even without seeing it with his eyes—their desperate shouts, the crushing weight of beastly bodies slamming into them, the tearing of flesh.

One after another, those players screamed before their forms burst apart into tiny white particles, scattering like snow before fading from the game.

For those unfortunate players, they found themselves back in the real world, with cold sweat dripping down their faces.

Riley's throat felt dry. A bead of sweat slid down his temple, hot against his skin despite the chill air of the dungeon.

For some reason, unbidden and sudden, the image of the high demon's glowing red eyes appeared in his mind. The pressure he had felt earlier replayed vividly, like a phantom hand pressing against his neck all over again.

His stomach twisted, and his brows furrowed deeply.

'Don't tell me… this is a plan of the demons?!' he thought.

His hands curled into fists unconsciously, nails digging into his palms.

And then, before his eyes, a harsh crimson glare interrupted his sight. Red notifications blinked into existence.

[ERROR!!]

[ERROR!!]

[ERROR!!]

The jagged text flashed violently, the crimson glow casting eerie reflections against his eyes. Riley blinked in disbelief, his face stiffening.

He was shocked, but more than that, the wariness inside him grew tenfold. Nothing about this was normal. The system never glitched.

The game [Apocalypse] was flawless—or at least, it had always seemed to be.

For such glaring errors to appear now, at this exact moment, when demons and their schemes weighed so heavily on his mind—it could not be coincidence.

Cracks suddenly appeared all around the floor, thin black lines spiderwebbing across the stone.

The walls splintered further, and even the very air shimmered unnaturally as if it too was being fractured. The dungeon looked less like a structure now and more like glass on the verge of shattering.

The red [ERROR!!] notifications multiplied, blinking faster and faster, until they nearly blinded him. His head pounded under the flashing red light.

A sudden jolt shot through his body, sharp and biting. His muscles twitched against his will, his nerves lit ablaze for a split second.

His breath hitched, his chest rising and falling heavily as he tried to steady himself.

The shaking continued, the cracks widened, and Riley could feel it—the dungeon wasn't just shaking anymore. It was breaking apart!

A strange force tugged at him, sudden and unnatural, like invisible chains trying to wrap themselves around his body and drag him away.

It didn't seem like a skill or the aura of a powerful enemy. This was different. Alien. His entire body stiffened as his senses sharpened.

His brows furrowed deeply. The force wasn't pulling from one direction alone—it came from everywhere at once, pressing, pushing, and dragging him in an erratic pattern as though the very air had become a whirlpool intent on swallowing him whole.

His teeth clenched in confusion, his mind racing.

'What the hell is this…? Where is it pulling me to?' he thought, his chest rising and falling faster than before.

He planted one foot firmly into the trembling floor, fighting against the force. Slowly, he stepped forward, resisting with every fiber of strength he had, his muscles straining.

"Ugh…" A low growl rumbled in his throat.

'Nothing like this happened in my past life…' he thought, sweat trailing down his temple. His instincts screamed at him that this was no ordinary occurrence, nothing born of chance. Something had gone wrong—terribly wrong!

His mind immediately shifted back to the memory of that high demon, the glowing eyes that had burned themselves into his skull.

'Could this… have something to do with him? With my actions?' he thought, the unease gnawing at him like fangs tearing into flesh. Every word the demon had spoken replayed in his head, twisting into a darker possibility.

The force around him intensified, no longer a gentle pull but a savage torrent.

His body jerked against his will, dragged as though by a colossal magnet. The space around him warped and blurred, his vision shattering into streaks of light and shifting shadows. His stomach lurched violently, like he was plummeting through an abyss with no end.

"—khh!" His breath caught in his throat as the next second arrived too fast.

His back slammed into the ground with brutal force, air escaping his lungs in a painful gasp. He tumbled and rolled across the rough surface for several seconds, scraping against the stone until he finally forced his body to halt. Dust clung to his clothes, and his arms trembled as he pushed himself up with a grunt.

"Hhh…" he exhaled heavily, his gaze darting around. His vision cleared slowly, shapes sharpening into focus. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock.

He wasn't in the dungeon anymore.

Towering walls, stone-paved streets, merchant stalls—he was back in the city. The familiar surroundings should have been reassuring, but instead, a chill crawled down his spine at the sheer chaos before his eyes.

Players were everywhere. Dozens of them, maybe hundreds, scattered across the streets. Many of them were bloodied, their armor cracked and shattered, some clutching severed limbs that were already dissolving into white particles. Several couldn't even stand, crawling across the ground in pitiful attempts to get to safety.

And it wasn't just players.

Among them were NPCs, their once-lively expressions twisted in horror and disbelief.

Riley saw shopkeepers who had been tending stalls moments before now sprawled on the cobblestones, crushed beneath the weight of players spat out from nowhere.

Storefronts were reduced to piles of rubble, wooden beams and broken merchandise scattered in every direction.

Angry shouts rose from the chaos. NPC merchants, faces flushed red, screamed curses at the players who had crashed into their livelihoods.

"You bastards ruined everything!" one shouted, holding the broken frame of his stand. Another waved his fists, his voice cracking with rage.

But their words were drowned out by the wails and screams echoing through the streets.

Some of the NPCs hadn't been so lucky.

Riley's gaze landed on a group lying lifeless on the ground, their bodies unmoving, their eyes wide open in terror.

A few had been crushed entirely, limbs twisted unnaturally. The ones who had survived clung desperately to each other, sobbing, their tears soaking into the dusty earth as if begging the world to return to normal.

Unlike the players, the NPC's situation could be said to be even worse.

They were first flung into the dungeon against their wishes, and now, they were spat out forcefully also, resulting in the loss of many lives.

And then there were the particles.

They floated everywhere—tiny, glimmering motes of white light drifting lazily through the air, fading into nothingness as the seconds passed.

Riley's eyes tracked them grimly, his chest tightening. He didn't need to guess what they were. He knew.

Those particles were the remains of players who hadn't survived the sudden collapse, who had been crushed, torn apart, or annihilated in the chaos.

His jaw clenched hard, the muscles in his face twitching. His expression darkened into something grave, his eyes narrowing like blades.

'This… isn't just some accident,' he thought, the weight of the scene pressing heavily on his shoulders.