Floor 18 was supposed to be a haven. A rest stop. A natural border between life and madness.
But the ambush had changed everything.
Noah stood at the edge of the forest, his armor still faintly pulsing with white-hot flame. He stared into the sealed passage to Floor 19—a wall of broken stone and overgrown moss covering an entrance the Guild had marked as "inaccessible."
He wasn't buying that anymore.
Welf came up beside him, holding a hammer nearly as tall as he was. "That stone's not natural. Looks placed."
Noah nodded. "It's a gate."
Raul squinted at the wall. "But to what?"
Noah stepped forward and placed a hand against the rock.
Heat surged through his palm—not from the Dungeon, but from inside him.
His flame pulsed, syncing with something buried deeper.
And the wall responded.
[System Override Detected: Core Signature Verified – Kevin-Class Template]
Unlocking Sealed Path: Zone 19A – Relic Storage Layer]
The stone shattered in a burst of golden light, disintegrating to ash.
The tunnel behind it was cold. Artificial. Black metal built into ancient stone. Runic lights flickered weakly on the walls like veins.
The air smelled like dust, ozone… and memory.
Welf's jaw dropped. "What the hell is this place…?"
Noah didn't answer. He was already walking forward.
The others followed, weapons drawn, nerves tight.
Step by step, the forest behind them faded, replaced by corridors that looked like they belonged in a world long buried by gods.
Lili scanned the walls. "These aren't Dungeon materials. They're… engineered."
Cassandra whispered, "I've seen this before. In old prophecy scrolls. 'Where metal sleeps, the fire remembers.'"
Noah said nothing.
But something in his chest burned brighter with every step.
---
After several minutes, they reached a chamber that hadn't been disturbed in centuries.
The walls were smooth steel.
At the center stood a raised platform, with a throne-like structure—surrounded by cables and floating shards of glass, frozen in midair.
And at the heart of it all…
A holographic silhouette sat, waiting.
Noah approached slowly.
The silhouette flickered—then turned its head toward him.
And spoke in a voice that didn't belong to this world.
"...Designation: Kevin Kaslana."
Noah froze.
The others stepped back instinctively.
The figure stood, only half-solid, its shape made of flickering red and gold lines. His face was similar to Noah's—but older. Scarred. Worn.
And in his eyes was war.
"Warning: Flame Protocol corrupted. Final record initialized."
The projection walked toward Noah—no sound, no weight.
"If you're hearing this… then the fire has reached its second bearer."
Noah couldn't move.
Kevin's voice echoed around them, not as a message, but a presence.
"This Dungeon was not always a Dungeon. It was a vault. A containment chamber. What lies beneath is not a 'floor.' It is a prison. And what it holds… was never meant to wake."
Welf swallowed hard. "What does that mean?"
Noah whispered, "Something Kevin sealed here. And now it's breaking out."
The projection flickered again.
Kevin looked directly at Noah.
"You are not me. But if you carry my flame, then you carry my burden."
He raised one hand.
A white ember floated toward Noah.
"Take the Ember Core. Awaken what remains. But be warned… The Deep remembers. The flame was not built to save. It was built to destroy."
The ember touched Noah's chest.
And the world went white.
---
He wasn't in the chamber anymore.
He stood in a memory—Kevin's memory.
A battlefield of glass and fire.
The sky black.
The world breaking.
Kevin stood at the edge of a cliff, eyes hollow, hands glowing with burning gauntlets.
He turned to Noah.
But this Kevin could see him.
Truly see him.
"You're the next one," Kevin said, voice heavy.
Noah stepped forward. "I don't understand."
"You will. When it calls your name."
"What will?"
Kevin turned toward the storm on the horizon.
"…The one I couldn't kill."
The memory shattered.
---
Noah gasped as he collapsed to one knee in the chamber, his armor steaming, eyes glowing faintly gold.
The projection was gone.
But something remained.
Floating in the air where Kevin's silhouette had been—
A single, jagged crystal, burning with internal flame.
The system chimed:
> [Ember Core Acquired – Starfire Expansion]
New Legacy Ability: Starfire Drive (Lv1)
Temporarily pushes flame techniques into a hyper-state, doubling effect at the cost of massive stamina drain.
Welf stepped forward, stunned. "That… that wasn't just some leftover magic."
Noah stood slowly.
"No. That was Kevin himself."
He looked toward the final sealed door deeper into the relic floor.
"Whatever he sealed here… it's waking up."
And from the dark corridor ahead, something growled—
Low. Ancient. Intelligent.
Not a beast.
Not a man.
Something else.
And it already knew Noah's name.