Chapter 6: The First Embrace
Darkness.
It wasn't the kind that came with sleep or the dimness of a cave. It was thick, suffocating, ancient. It wrapped around Adam like an ocean of ash, swallowing him whole the moment he whispered that single word:
"Yes."
> [System Update: User has Accepted the Death Covenant]
[Initiating: Awakened Path — Necromancer]
[Warning: Pain Threshold Critical. Commencing Adaptation.]
His screams were swallowed by the void. Fire tore through his limbs, his bones grinding as if reforged. Shadows writhed beneath his skin, whispering in forgotten tongues, drilling their purpose into his soul.
He wasn't dying.
He was being reborn.
—
Somewhere far above, time crawled forward.
To the world outside the dungeon, Adam's signal had vanished. The Hunter Association's monitors showed flat lines. A team was being prepared, but they were minutes—lifetimes—too late.
And within the cursed dungeon…
The B-rank Golem stood motionless, its molten core dimmed, confused. The last source of resistance—Adam—had collapsed, unmoving, crumpled like a broken doll in the middle of a ruined hallway.
Then the shadows moved.
At first, it was subtle—tendrils coiling like smoke around Adam's fingers. Then they surged outward, digging into the stone, creeping along the ceiling. The air grew heavy. Cold.
Adam's body jerked upward—spine cracking as if yanked by invisible chains. His eyes opened.
But they weren't his eyes anymore.
They burned violet.
> [Skill Gained: Deathlink (Passive)]
[Skill Gained: Shadow Reanimation (Locked)]
[Skill Gained: Deathless Will (Passive)]
[Essence Capacity Increased. Death Energy: 500/1000]
[First Summon Unlockable: "Graveborn Shade"]
> Use Keyword to Summon.
Adam stumbled to his feet. His wounds—while still bleeding—no longer ached. Pain dulled beneath the roar of something else in his head. A voice. A whisper. The same one from the Death Trial, colder than time itself.
"Say the word."
He looked toward the throne chamber.
The golem had noticed.
It turned, pounding forward. Thunder echoed with each step.
Adam didn't flinch.
He stepped into the center of the corridor, body still trembling, eyes glowing.
And he spoke the word:
"Emerge."
The shadow beneath his feet peeled open like a portal. Darkness gushed upward in a geyser, shrieking as it took shape—a humanoid form of bone, ash, and soul-fire rising from the abyss.
A single blade formed in its hand. Its hollow eyes locked onto Adam like a knight kneeling before its king.
> [Summon Successful: Graveborn Shade — Tier 1]
[Bond Established: Shadow Core Stabilized]
The golem swung.
The Shade blurred forward.
Their blades met with a sound like cracking glaciers. Sparks flew. The Shade twisted, flowed like smoke, slicing into the golem's wrist. Stone cracked. Molten light bled.
Adam surged forward behind his summon, Soulfang dagger humming. He didn't aim for a killing blow—he aimed for the runes. The cracks. The power source.
The dagger drove in, right under the glowing core in the golem's chest.
> [Soulfang Effect Activated: Essence Disruption]
[Enemy Core Stability: 7% … 4% … 0%]
The golem froze.
Then it exploded—stone and molten blood blasting out in a pillar of light and death.
Adam was flung backward, crashing against the dungeon wall.
Silence.
Smoke.
And then… the Shade stepped out of the rubble, its form partially dispersed but stabilizing. Adam looked up at it, panting, blood dripping from his lips.
It knelt again.
He laughed. A weak, broken laugh—but real.
He was alive.
> [Quest Complete: Death Awakening]
[Reward: Necromancer Class (Tier 1), +20 Stat Points, Skill Unlocked — "Graveborne Pact"]
[Daily Quests Updated]
---
By the time the rescue team arrived, the dungeon had fully destabilized.
They found only one survivor amidst the rubble.
Adam stood there with the Shade behind him, covered in blood and dust, eyes dull with exhaustion.
They stared.
Because standing in front of them was no longer an F-rank hunter.
It was something else entirely.
---
Elsewhere…
Inside a cathedral of bone and glass in a place not bound by time, a figure stirred.
The God of Death, Belial, reclined upon a throne of chained souls.
His eyes opened.
"You lived," he murmured. His smile was not warm, nor cruel. It was pleased.
"Now… let's see how far you fall."
---
Back in Seoul...
Hours later, Adam sat alone on the edge of the hospital bed. The medics had examined him, stunned that he was alive. His vitals were stable. His mana readings had tripled.
But Adam couldn't stop thinking about their faces—Heeseok, Minji, Jin, Do-yun.
Gone.
All of them.
And him… still here.
"You made it back."
He turned.
Lyra stood at the doorway, her A-rank uniform slashed and bloody. She'd clearly just returned from her own raid, her braid undone, her eyes tired.
"I heard what happened," she said. "The system nearly called a national alert. You were... gone."
Adam didn't speak.
She stepped inside, closing the door. "I saw the dungeon logs. You were outnumbered. Outranked."
He looked up. His eyes, still faintly glowing violet, held something new.
"Lyra," he whispered. "I couldn't save them."
She knelt beside him. "You're not a god, Adam."
"No." His fists clenched. "But I'm not just human anymore either."
The Shade flickered into view behind him briefly, before dissipating into smoke.
Lyra's breath caught.
"What… did you become?"
Adam's answer was quiet. Heavy.
"Something that should have died."