Searching for the Sub-Layer

BAM!

Sam landed on solid ground as the portal closed behind him, dispersing in a soft hum of energy.

The ruined landscape of the first layer spread before him, a familiar sight of the ruins.

Alicia and Lily had already been here since they stepped into the portal first.

"Alright," Sam said, glancing around the cracked stone floor beneath their feet. "We need to find that Sub-Layer."

He spoke with focus, not bothering to waste time.

Being from Earth, Sam had grown up with video games.

That perspective had helped him make sense of this world more than once.

Sub-layers, to him, felt like optional sub-levels, hidden content that wasn't obvious unless you were actively looking for it or knew exactly where to check.

And if this really was still modeled like a game, then the Sub-Layer had to be hidden somehow.

"But how are we supposed to find it?" Alicia asked, her voice tinged with concern. "I mean, I've never heard of a sub-layer before this. Not once. And I've spent hours researching dungeons, layers, you name it."

"Or..." Sam said, tilting his head as a small smirk crept across his face, "maybe people did find it. But they never lived long enough to talk about it."

That sentence alone was enough to make Alicia blink, and Lily's expression subtly darkened.

It made sense. The system already warned them that no one had cleared the Sub-Layer. So it wasn't about no one finding it.

It was about no one surviving it.

The more he thought about it, the more that "really bad feeling" in the back of his head started to claw its way into his chest.

It had never left since he received the advancement task, and now that they were here… it was only getting stronger.

Still, the question remained, where was it?

"This might take a while," Lily sighed, scanning the surrounding ruins. "There's no map for this place. We might have to comb every corner before finding anything."

"It's fine," Alicia responded. "We're here now, we're ready. I believe in us."

Sam stayed quiet, closing his eyes for a moment as he took a slow breath.

The more he lingered in this place, the more impatient he became.

He didn't want to search for hours.

He didn't want to waste energy pacing through every corridor or guessing random corners of the map.

No, he just wanted to jump in and get this over with. Clear the Sub-Layer, finish the task, and finally ascend to the Apprentice rank.

So he reached out.

'Hey,' he said in his mind, focusing on the passive voice that had helped him before. 'Hell-Mode Analysis. Tell me where it is.'

He knew the skill didn't always respond. It activated when it wanted, when it felt there was something to say. But asking cost nothing.

And just as he was about to open his eyes and give up—

Ding!

[Hell-Mode Analysis: It's in the ruins.]

The panel flashed in his vision for a second, then vanished.

Sam grinned. That was enough.

"Perfect," he said aloud.

Alicia blinked. "Did you find something?"

"Maybe," Sam replied, keeping it vague. "Let's keep moving."

They advanced into the crumbled ruins, taking cautious steps.

Thirty minutes passed, the stone corridors stretching deeper and deeper, forming a maze-like structure with winding paths and dead ends.

But something was strange. No monsters approached them.

They spotted a few lurking in corners or creeping near broken columns.

But the moment any of those creatures caught sight of the trio, they ran.

Turned tail and vanished into the darkness without even attempting a fight.

"That's… weird," Lily said, narrowing her eyes. "Even weak monsters usually try to lunge at you."

"Exactly," Alicia nodded. "We're strong, sure, but monsters don't usually care. They attack anything that breathes."

Sam already had the answer, of course. He glanced toward a thin corridor where a goblin was retreating and the skill triggered.

[Hell-Mode Analysis: They are scared of you.]

Sam didn't say it out loud, but he suspected it had to do with his nature as a Primordial.

That, or maybe the monsters could sense his aura.

Either way, it was peaceful. Too peaceful.

Eventually, after dozens of turns and long walks, they arrived at a room unlike any other.

It looked plain square, with four torches lining each wall, and the same dusty stone tiles that covered the entire ruin.

But the moment Sam stepped in, he knew.

[This is it.]

He crouched and brushed some of the dust away from the floor in the center.

There, concealed beneath the grime and dim lighting, was a trapdoor.

"Found it," Sam said with a confident grin.

The girls quickly moved beside him, their eyes widening.

"No wonder no one ever found it," Alicia muttered. "That's ridiculously well hidden."

Sam didn't think so. Not really. The trapdoor wasn't that hard to find, which only confirmed his earlier suspicion, people did find it. They just never came back.

"But wait," Lily said, frowning. "That doesn't make sense. I get that no one's cleared it, but why didn't anyone report this trapdoor? Even if they died inside, someone should've mentioned it before heading in."

"I've never heard a single mention of a trapdoor in the first layer," Alicia added. "Ever."

Sam blinked.

Then turned his head toward the entrance they'd just come from.

"…Oh."

His eyes narrowed, and the pieces clicked.

The hallway they'd used to enter the room? Gone. Completely vanished.

"What the fuck?" Alicia gasped, spinning around.

Lily's expression turned to full-blown panic. "That… hallway was just there!"

A panel slid into Sam's vision, confirming the truth.

[Hell-Mode Analysis: The "Forsaken" realm traps anyone who enters this room until they complete the Sub-Layer. But… no one has ever managed to do that.]

That was why the trapdoor was a secret.

Because once you found it, once you even entered the room, it was already too late.

The system didn't give you a choice. The only exit now was forward.

Sam didn't waste time. He crouched again, gripped the edge of the trapdoor, and with one fluid motion, lifted it open.

A cold wind blew out from the dark abyss below. No stairs. No light. Just emptiness.

Sam stared into the void.

[You still have a really bad feeling about this.]

'Doesn't matter.'

Without hesitation, he jumped.

Lily and Alicia stared in shock as his figure vanished into the darkness.

"He really just—" Alicia blinked.

"—jumped without a second thought," Lily finished.

They didn't hesitate long.

Weapons drawn, the two girls leapt after him.

...

Falling felt like forever.

The air was thick and heavy as Sam descended into the unknown.

Then— BAM!

He landed on cold, cracked stone again, but this place was different. The light above was gone. No torches.

Only black.

---

[You have entered a Sub-Layer.]

[First Sub-Layer: "The Abyssal Ruins"]

[Good luck. You'll need it.]

---

Sam rose to his feet, his hand on the hilt of his [Primordial Sword].

All around him, there was nothing but pitch-black silence. And yet... something watched.

He knew it.

[You are surrounded by darkness. The creatures lurking in here will not spare you.]

His crimson eyes shimmered faintly, casting a small glow as he scanned the area.

Moments later, Alicia and Lily landed beside him.

"What… is this place?" Alicia whispered, her voice shaking slightly. "So this is the Sub-Layer…"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Lily muttered. "I don't know whether to be honored that the system thinks I'm strong enough to survive this... or terrified that it wants me dead."

Sam didn't respond. But in his mind, he was leaning toward the second.

This wasn't a test. It was a culling. Still, he would pass.

Gripping his blade tighter, Sam promised himself that he would clear this nightmare, and do so with the highest rating possible.

"Let's go," Lily said, raising her bow and summoning a [Fire Arrow], which crackled to life and illuminated a small part of the path ahead.

The three of them stepped forward into the endless dark.

The weight pressing on Sam's chest grew heavier, but he wasn't scared, he couldn't feel fear after all.

In the corner of his vision, a small panel appeared:

[Just kill them all.]