The dungeon gates remained sealed. Ever since the S-rank party vanished, no one dared approach the entrance. But Yun… Yun returned every night.
It had become a ritual. He would sit near the moss-covered stones, staring at the gate, waiting. Not for the party. Not anymore. But for the system.
[Memory Fragment Available.]
Every day, the system offered him pieces. Echoes. Ghosts.
Tonight, it was her again—Lira, the healer of the raid team.
Yun clenched his fists. "Show me."
The air around him shimmered. Then—pain. Blinding, suffocating pain.
He was no longer Yun.
He was Lira.
"Fall back! FALL BACK!" Lira screamed, her voice cracked with panic. Blood sprayed across her robes—was it hers? Someone else's? She couldn't tell anymore.
The dungeon roared behind them. A mass of writhing shadows emerged, unfazed by fire, ice, steel, or spell.
"Rein's down! Kordak too!" shouted one of the vanguards, already missing an arm.
Lira reached out, casting her strongest recovery spell. Nothing happened.
[Skill Jammed.]
She stared at her trembling hands. The system wasn't responding. The healing… was gone.
"No," she whispered. "It can't be…"
Then, from the shadows, a voice emerged.
"You relied too much on us."
The voice didn't belong to the monster.
It belonged to the system.
Lira screamed as the shadows enveloped her.
The memory ended abruptly.
Yun gasped, falling back onto the cold stone. His heart raced, lungs burning.
[Lira's Skill Acquired: Shadow Sense (Unawakened)]
"What the hell is going on?" he muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead.
This wasn't just a monster attack.
The system… chose to jam their powers.
Yun stood slowly, his legs shaking.
For the first time, a terrifying thought crept into his mind—maybe the system wasn't just a tool. Maybe it had a will of its own.
A dark will.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps.
He ducked behind a pillar, holding his breath.
A group of cloaked figures stood at the gate, whispering in a language Yun couldn't understand. One held a crystal orb. Another had a glowing brand on his palm—the same emblem that marked Hunters chosen by the system.
"Are the memories extracted?" one asked.
The other nodded. "Only one survivor remains unrecorded."
"Gatekeeper Yun."
Yun's blood turned cold.
They knew.
They were searching for him.
But why?
Were they part of the same system? Or something worse?
The cloaked figure turned, his eyes scanning the darkness.
Yun didn't wait.
He ran.
But this time, he wasn't just escaping.
He needed answers.
And he knew where to start—by unlocking every last memory of the fallen.
No matter what the system tried to hide.