Darkness.
No torches.
No windows.
Only the steady sound of Noah’s footsteps descending the ancient staircase.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The air grew colder with every step.
It carried the scent of dust... and something older.
Something forgotten.
The staircase finally ended.
Noah stepped into an enormous underground chamber.
His crimson eyes widened.
"...What is this?"
It wasn’t a dungeon.
It was...
An underground city.
Ancient streets stretched into the darkness.
Collapsed houses lined broken roads.
Massive statues stood frozen in time.
At the center of the city rose a gigantic palace carved from black stone.
Everything had been abandoned.
Yet...
It looked untouched.
As if everyone had simply vanished.
The System suddenly appeared.
Hidden Area Discovered
The City Beneath the Tower
Status: Unknown
Exploration Reward: +1,000 EXP
Noah slowly walked forward.
His footsteps echoed through the empty streets.
Not a single creature appeared.
Not a single sound answered him.
The silence itself felt alive.
He stopped before one of the statues.
A man wearing a crown.
His sword pointed toward the sky.
At the base...
Ancient letters were carved into the stone.
The language was unfamiliar.
Yet somehow...
Noah understood every word.
"Here stood King Aldren, First Guardian of the Gate."
His heart skipped a beat.
"The System translated it?"
"No."
A calm voice answered.
"It was Ragnarok."
Noah spun around.
No one.
The voice wasn’t outside.
It came from within him.
"Who’s there?"
Silence.
Then...
"I am only an echo."
"The same echo you met beyond the Sea of Thrones."
The First Successor.
"You’ve reached the place history erased."
Noah looked around the abandoned city.
"So this existed before the kingdoms?"
"Long before them."
"What happened?"
The voice grew quiet.
"For now..."
"You are not ready to know."
A low rumble shook the city.
The ground trembled.
Small stones rolled across the streets.
Something enormous moved beneath the palace.
Noah instinctively reached for Shadowfang.
His Predator’s Instinct exploded.
Danger.
Real danger.
From the darkness...
A giant wolf slowly emerged.
Its body was made of black stone.
Crimson cracks glowed beneath its surface.
It stood nearly four metres tall.
Its eyes burned like molten rubies.
The beast stared directly at Noah.
It didn’t growl.
It didn’t attack.
It simply watched.
The System chimed.
Ancient Sentinel
Name: Fenrir’s Watcher
Threat Level: A-Rank
Warning
Do Not Engage.
Noah cursed under his breath.
"...You’ve got to be kidding me."
An A-Rank monster?
At his current strength...
He wouldn’t last ten seconds.
The wolf took one slow step.
Then another.
The chamber shook beneath its weight.
Noah slowly backed away.
Every instinct screamed at him to run.
But before he could move...
The wolf stopped.
It lowered its massive head.
Its crimson eyes narrowed.
Then...
To Noah’s complete shock...
It bowed.
Not deeply.
Just enough to acknowledge him.
The First Successor’s voice echoed once more.
"It remembers."
Noah frowned.
"Remembers what?"
"...The King it once served."
The wolf let out a deep, resonant howl that echoed through the forgotten city.
Far beneath the palace...
Another chain snapped.
CLANG!
The sound rolled through the underground like thunder.
The wolf immediately lifted its head.
For the first time...
Fear appeared in its crimson eyes.
The First Successor spoke with unmistakable urgency.
"Noah..."
"You have awakened something."
A crack split the palace gates.
Ancient crimson light spilled into the city.
And from within...
A voice laughed.
Softly.
Coldly.
Patiently.
"...After a thousand years..."
"...someone finally came home."
Noah tightened his grip on Shadowfang.
Whoever was behind those gates...
Had been waiting for the Seventh Successor.
The laughter faded.
Not because it had stopped.
Because the entire underground city had fallen silent.
Even the wind refused to move.
Noah stood motionless, Shadowfang drawn.
His instincts screamed.
Don’t open those gates.
Yet...
The crimson mark beneath his shirt pulsed once.
Like a heartbeat.
Calling to something beyond the shattered palace doors.
Fenrir’s Watcher stepped in front of Noah.
Its massive body blocked the path.
The stone wolf growled.
Not at Noah.
At the palace.
The growl carried fear.
Noah frowned.
"...You’re protecting me."
The wolf slowly nodded.
The First Successor’s voice echoed in Noah’s mind.
"It cannot stop what sleeps inside."
"But it will try."
A deafening crack split the air.
BOOOOOOM!
One of the colossal palace doors burst open.
Ancient dust rolled through the streets like a tidal wave.
Broken banners fluttered.
The crimson light intensified.
Then...
A single figure stepped out.
A man.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed in worn black armour trimmed with faded gold.
His long crimson hair reached his waist.
His face was young.
No older than thirty.
Yet his crimson eyes...
Held thousands of years of loneliness.
He looked at Noah.
Then smiled.
"...So."
"The Seventh."
Noah didn’t lower his sword.
"Who are you?"
The man looked almost offended.
"You carry Ragnarok..."
"...and you don’t recognise your own king?"
The System exploded with warnings.
Unknown Entity Detected
Identity: Unavailable
Threat Assessment: Impossible
Warning
Do not provoke the target.
Noah’s grip tightened.
"Answer the question."
The man laughed.
A genuine laugh.
"I like you."
"You don’t kneel."
He slowly walked down the palace steps.
Each footstep caused ancient runes beneath the city to glow.
"My name..."
"...was erased."
"My kingdom..."
"...was buried."
"My people..."
"...were forgotten."
He stopped several metres away.
"But once..."
"They called me..."
"...Ragnar."
The name echoed across the city.
Fenrir’s Watcher immediately lowered its head.
Every statue lining the streets began to tremble.
Ancient bells rang somewhere deep underground.
The First Successor spoke, his voice filled with disbelief.
"...Impossible."
Noah frowned.
"You know him?"
"I shouldn’t."
"The real Ragnar..."
"...died."
The man smiled wider.
"There it is."
"The confusion."
He looked at Noah with genuine curiosity.
"Tell me..."
"Do you know the difference..."
"...between dying..."
"...and being forgotten?"
Noah remained silent.
Ragnar answered his own question.
"When the last person forgets your name..."
"That..."
"...is true death."
Without warning...
He appeared directly in front of Noah.
No explosion.
No blur.
Just...
There.
Noah couldn’t even react.
Ragnar raised one finger.
He gently tapped Noah’s forehead.
A flood of memories crashed into Noah’s mind.
A kingdom burning beneath a crimson eclipse.
Thousands of warriors fighting impossible monsters.
Seven thrones surrounding a black sea.
The First Successor kneeling before a king.
And above them all...
A colossal figure wrapped in chains, sleeping beneath the world.
The vision ended.
Noah staggered backwards, breathing hard.
"What..."
"...was that?"
Ragnar’s smile disappeared.
"The beginning."
The ground shook violently.
A third chain snapped somewhere below.
CLANG!
This time...
The entire underground city tilted.
Buildings cracked.
Statues collapsed.
Fenrir’s Watcher roared.
The roar wasn’t one of anger.
It was a warning.
Ragnar looked toward the abyss beneath the palace.
His calm expression finally changed.
For the first time...
He looked concerned.
"So soon..."
He whispered.
"No..."
"It’s waking faster than I expected."
He turned back to Noah.
His crimson eyes sharpened.
"Listen carefully."
"You cannot tell anyone you’ve met me."
"No one."
"Not your friends."
"Not your teachers."
"Not even Seraphina."
Noah blinked.
"You know Seraphina?"
Ragnar gave a small smile.
"I knew her..."
"...before history began lying."
Before Noah could ask another question...
The entire underground city began fading.
Everything dissolved into crimson light.
Ragnar’s voice echoed one last time.
"When you reach the Fifth Floor..."
"Come back."
"I’ll tell you..."
"...why Ragnarok chose an Extra."
The city vanished.
Noah found himself standing once again in the Tower’s stone corridor.
As if he had never left.
Only one thing proved it had been real.
Resting in his palm...
Was a small black chess piece shaped like a king.
The System chimed softly.
Hidden Item Obtained
The Forgotten King’s Seal
Classification: Unknown
Description:"A promise carved into eternity."
Noah slowly closed his hand around it.
"...What have I just stepped into?"
Far below the Tower...
Something enormous opened a single crimson eye.
And smiled.