Chapter 9: Echoes of the Fallen
---
"Level Up."
"Level Up."
"Level Up."
"Level Up."
The sound rang four times in my ears—soft chimes echoing inside the death-stilled Boss Room.
I stood still, bloodied and quiet, surrounded by the dying glow left by Marquis Fin's shattered form.
The violet light that had burst from his body had vanished… leaving only stone, shadow, and silence.
I opened the Status Window, trying to calm my hands.
---
John Leben [Lvl. 14]
HP: 490/490 (+70)
MP: 0
Class: [None]
Rank: [White]
Title: [Dark Knight]
Skill: [Mirage Lvl. 0]
Str: 1 (+21)
Int: 1
Dex: 0 (+5)
Con: 26 (+7)
Wis: 0
Available Points: 0
Skill Points: 13
Resurrections Remaining: 13
Memory Penalties: 45
---
I dumped everything into CON again, might as well be a walking wall. The new level brought more than just stat increases.
A golden shimmer appeared across the screen.
"Title Unlocked: Dark Knight"
"Passive Effect: +15% Dark Resistance"
My skin tingled faintly as the passive effect took hold. Another alert followed right after.
"Skill Unlocked: Mirage"
"Effect: Instantly blink behind an enemy's blind spot. Cooldown: 20 seconds."
My brow twitched.
"No class… but still gaining skills." I chuckled
"This world really is broken."
And then I looked at the small black ring that had floated down after the battle, etched with blood-red runes, its appearance was modest—but when I equipped it:
"Eyes of Fin Ring equipped."
"Passive Skill Unlocked: Soul Vision."
"Effect: Reveals full status of any target within line of sight."
"Unlocked Hidden Stats (Soulbound)"
[+300 HP][+500 MP]
"Unlocked Bonus (1 of Sacred Treasures)"
[+ 5 All Stats]
John Leben [Lvl. 14]
HP: 540/540 (+70)(+300)
MP: 50 (+500)
Class: [None]
Rank: [White]
Title: [Dark Knight]
Skill: [Mirage Lvl. 0]
Str: 1 (+5)(+21)
Int: 1 (+5)
Dex: 0 (+5)(+5)
Con: 26(+5) (+7)
Wis: 0 (+5)
Available Points: 0
Skill Points: 13
Resurrections Remaining: 13
Memory Penalties: 45
My vision flickered. In the next second—I saw them. The corpses, bones scattered across the room now glowed with faint data traces. Names flickered above their remains like old code struggling to boot up.
[Ranger Kael – Deceased: Lvl 10]
[Mage – Fragmented Memory]
[Lea, Archer – Deceased: Lvl 9]
Dozens, all of them—Adventurers, real people, and now… nothing more than forgotten data.
I turned away, then looked back at the throne. This wasn't a dungeon. This was a graveyard.
I knelt beside a skeleton wearing a shattered helm. Its weapon was rusted to dust. Soul Vision revealed flickers of their last actions—
"Switched to Potion Slot"
"Cried for Help"
"Died Protecting Ally"
My throat tightened. I turned to the Gold Chest.
*Click.
It opened with an eerie echo.
"You obtained: Deep-Storage Adventurer's Bag (Capacity: 500 slots)"
Then another system message:
"You are the first Adventurer to clear Fin's Labyrinth."
Reward: 1 Alfiria Coin sent to your inventory.
I froze.
"An Alfiria Coin...?" My voice cracked.
This is not the reward I've got before?
But I couldn't celebrate. Not yet. I looked again at the bones.
The broken gear. The empty gazes of the dead. My joy… withered.
Instead, I opened the new Inventory Bag and began carefully collecting the bones, one by one. I wasn't going to leave them here. They didn't deserve to be forgotten like this.
As I moved through the room, Soul Vision kept displaying fragments—glimpses of how these players fell, hints of how long they'd been trapped here.
I picked up a cracked bow, a scarf, an iron dagger once used by a trembling hand.
Somewhere deep in the back of the Boss Room, I found a skeleton in civilian clothes—not a fighter. They were slumped in a corner, arms wrapped protectively around something.
A pendant.
"[Henda – Deceased: Lvl 1]"
"Quest Object Located: Henda's Pendant"
My breath caught. She wasn't like the others. She didn't come here to fight.
I knelt and slowly, gently, separated her bones and secured them inside a protected slot of the Inventory Bag—set apart from the rest.
I stared at the pendant in her hand. A delicate charm shaped like the sun, now dulled with age, still intact, still warm to the touch, I held it to my chest and whispered,
"You held on, didn't you?"
The system said nothing but I did.
"You'll see him again soon."
---
Once I stepped outside, the stone entrance behind me rumbled.
"Fin's Labyrinth has been cleared."
"Dungeon Instance Terminated."
The gate cracked, collapsed, and faded into dust—its curse finally lifted.
It was over.
I climbed the hill just outside the entrance and found a clearing beneath a tree.
I opened my inventory and, one by one, took out the bones. I buried them carefully—grouping what I could by armor type, or class, or just a feeling.
Some graves had weapons, others, keepsakes, everyone got a marker stone.
I buried Lea next to Kael, I didn't know if they were friends, lovers, or party members but Soul Vision said they died protecting each other.
That was enough.
Only one set of remains remained in my bag:Henda.
I looked toward the path back to Gram Village.
"I'll bury you there," I murmured.
"Next to him."
I placed her pendant carefully back into the inventory and sealed the bag. Then I stood beneath the quiet tree, letting the wind cool my sweat and grief.
---
It was dusk when I reached the edge of the woods. The faint line of Gram Village could be seen in the distance. Smoke curled from the chimneys.
The outline of rooftops stood quiet against the fading gold sky. I took a breath.
Just a warm meal… and one answer.
But then I blinked. The smoke wasn't from the chimneys, the air felt wrong, my pace quickened as I crested the hill overlooking the village—
I froze.
Flames, orange and red devoured the rooftops, screams carried on the wind.
Shadows ran through firelit streets. The inn. The Apothecary. The central plaza—everything was burning.
"No," I whispered.
My legs moved before I could think.
"No, no, no…"
I sprinted down the hill as fast as the wind.
—