Midnight – Abandoned Train Station, Sector 14
No one came to Sector 14 anymore. The trains had stopped years ago, after the first wave of gates consumed this part of the city. Everything here had been left to rot—stations buried in dust, lights flickering weakly, and forgotten tunnels whispering like ghosts.
And yet, one of those tunnels now pulsed faintly with red light.
Joo Yeong-su stood at the entrance, black hoodie pulled low, the Black Fang sigil card in his hand. As it neared the gate, it shimmered and melted into his skin.
The tunnel warped.
A scarlet ripple passed through the air.
And a hidden gate opened.
---
[System Alert – Entering Dungeon: Blood-Eye Catacomb]
Type: Unranked / Rogue-Class
Status: Unregulated
Threat Level: Undeterminable
Boss Presence: Confirmed
System Restrictions: None
---
He stepped inside.
Immediately, the atmosphere changed.
It was not like a normal gate. It didn't feel alive. It felt wrong.
The ground beneath his feet was a patchwork of shattered bones and bleeding stone. Eyes were carved into the walls—hundreds, all blinking independently. Some blinked too slow. Others blinked backward.
> 'This place shouldn't exist.'
He moved forward cautiously.
His system was quiet now.
Almost like it didn't want to speak.
> "Wait!"
A voice called out from the shadows.
Yeong-su stopped.
From behind a ruined altar, a girl stepped forward, wearing a long cloak and silver armor too large for her small frame. Her white hair was matted with dried blood, and her eyes glowed faint gold.
> "Don't step on the sigil," she whispered. "It bites."
He looked down. Beneath his foot was a crimson rune.
It blinked.
He moved just in time before spikes of bone erupted upward.
> "You're not from Black Fang," she added. "They never send help."
> "Then why are you here?" he asked, blade half-drawn.
> "To die," she said simply. "Same as you."
---
System Ping – New Presence Detected
Name: ???
Class: Unregistered
Mana Type: Restoration / Abyssal Echo (Fragmented)
Status: Corrupted / Sealed
> 'She's a healer… and something else?'
---
They moved together in silence deeper into the dungeon.
The Blood-Eye Catacomb didn't follow normal structure. The rooms shifted when you looked away. Paths reversed. And sometimes, whispers offered you the memories of people who had already died there.
Twice, they were attacked by malformed beasts—monsters stitched from broken Hunters, some still breathing.
Yeong-su killed without hesitation.
The girl, despite her injuries, sang strange hymns that slowed the monsters down and warped their vision.
> "You don't fight like a rookie," she said quietly.
"You don't hesitate."
He didn't reply.
He couldn't.
Because ahead, they finally reached it.
The Heart Room.
And inside it pulsed a giant, hovering red eye, stitched to a massive cocoon of flesh.
---
[Boss Detected – The Seer of Grief]
Class: Echo-Type Horror
Type: Manipulator / Parasite
Trait: Devours Systems
Threat Level: ???
Warning: Engaging may cause data corruption
---
> 'It eats systems?!'
Suddenly, Yeong-su's interface glitched.
[WARNING – SYSTEM BREACH ATTEMPT]
[Emergency Lockdown: Core Layer]
The eye turned to him.
> "One of us. One of us. One of us..."
The girl collapsed, blood leaking from her ears.
> 'It's targeting her mind.'
Yeong-su charged.
---
[Chain Blink – Activated]
[Tempo Disruption – Activated]
He struck fast, dancing between crimson beams and black tendrils, each hit aiming for the eye's nerves and exposed tissue.
It screamed, and the room pulsed violently.
The system flashed a final warning:
---
[Ghostwalker Evolution Path Engaged]
Do you accept Full Phase I?
Y/N
> 'No choice.'
Y.
---
The world shifted.
Yeong-su's body blurred at the edges—his footsteps silent, his presence half-vanished, his eyes glowing with rippling light.
The Seer of Grief reacted too late.
He was already inside its blind spot.
PHANTOM STRIKE – TRUE FORM
He hit the core.
And the Eye exploded in a cascade of red, bone, and rotting data.
---
System Restored
[BOSS DEFEATED – Echo Collapse Detected]
[Class Upgrade: Ghostwalker – Phase I Complete]
> You have become an entity the system cannot fully map.
---
New Abilities Unlocked:
Blind Echo (Passive): Presence cannot be tracked by system-bound enemies
Pulse Step (Active): Accelerate into 0.5s forward time window
Silent Mark: Target marked enemies retain your afterimage when you vanish
Title Gained: Systemless Hunter
---
The girl slowly stood.
> "You killed it," she whispered. "You survived."
> "What's your name?" Yeong-su asked.
She hesitated.
> "Nari."
> "But my system calls me... Echoborne."
---
Outside the Dungeon – Black Fang Waiting Zone
The rogue agent watched the gate begin to shatter.
> "He survived."
The woman next to him chuckled.
> "Then we're too late. He's already begun to outgrow even us."
---
Post-Chapter Tease:
Back in Baekho Guild, Seo Rina held a new report.
> "Blood-Eye Dungeon is gone," she muttered.
> "Vanished?"
> "No." She narrowed her eyes.
> "It was devoured."