Chapter 17 – Scars, Sparks & ShadowsPart 1: What Remains
The forest was silent again. Not with peace — but with the hush that follows violence.
Kuro crouched beside the largest of the fallen wolves, his hand resting on its twisted jaw. The creature's body still shimmered faintly with that strange phase-light, even in death. Up close, it didn't feel like victory. It felt like a warning.
Alice stood a few paces behind him, cleaning her blade in the grass with sharp, practiced motions. Her left hand was still bleeding, but she hadn't said a word about it. Yumi sat on a low rock nearby, head bowed, her breathing shallow and uneven.
Kuro exhaled slowly. Then, without speaking, he opened his system.
[System: Salvage Request]Target: Phase 4 Lupine Pack (5)Processing...Valid Materials Detected:
• Phase Hide (x5)• Iridescent Fangs (x10)• Alpha Core Fragment (x1)• Residual Ether — MinorSell all for IP/SP?
He hesitated. Something in him felt... strange about turning corpses into currency. But then he looked at Yumi's trembling shoulders and the cut running down Alice's arm.
"Yes," he whispered.
[Confirmed.]Salvage Complete.+12,000 IP+5,000 SP+1 Rare Crafting Material Stored (Alpha Core Fragment)
A faint ripple of light passed over the wolves' bodies as they disintegrated into ash, leaving behind faint outlines burned into the earth. Yumi flinched slightly at the sound.
"You okay?" he asked quietly, not looking at her.
"No," she said.
Fair enough.
Alice finally turned. "Those wolves weren't normal. Phase 4 or not, they moved like they knew us."
"Or knew how to break us," Kuro muttered. He stood, dusting off his knees.
Yumi spoke again, voice barely audible. "I couldn't hold the barrier… not at the end. I tried, but—"
"You kept us alive," Kuro said, turning toward her. "That's what matters."
She didn't respond. But she didn't argue either.
The silence stretched again, this time not from shock — but from calculation. The air felt heavier, as if the forest itself was watching. Every root and branch a reminder that this world didn't care whether they were tired or scared.
It just… was.
Alice finally broke it. "We keep moving?"
Kuro nodded. "Not far. Just off the path. Rest, recover, patch up. Then we keep going."
Yumi looked up at him. "You still want to find that dungeon?"
He held her gaze. "Now more than ever."
She gave a small, shaky nod.
They gathered what little they had left and moved off the trail, leaving behind a patch of ground scorched by magic and soaked in truth.
They didn't speak much as they moved — the kind of silence that didn't need words. Just bruises, slow steps, and the way Yumi leaned ever so slightly on Kuro when she thought he wasn't noticing.
They found a small glade, sheltered by mossy boulders and thick trees. No monster tracks, no strange energy. Just stillness. For now.
Kuro lit a small fire with practiced hands. Not with magic — with flint and dry bark. The ritual calmed him more than he expected.
Alice sat with her back to a tree, tunic rolled up as she used a sterile cloth to clean the slice on her arm. "Next time, I'm bringing smoke bombs."
Yumi tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She sat cross-legged across from her, hands outstretched to the flames, as if trying to warm something deep inside.
Kuro pulled up a flat stone and lowered himself onto it. "Alright," he said softly. "Let's talk strategy."
Alice glanced at him. "We're still doing this?"
"We're not running," he said. "Not now."
Yumi's voice was small. "You saw what just happened."
"I did. And I'm not pretending it didn't shake me. But it also taught us something — we can bleed, yes. But we didn't break."
Alice leaned forward slightly, listening.
Kuro continued, eyes on the fire. "The dungeon's 2.2 kilometers east. Moderate threat, according to the system. But I don't trust that label anymore."
"No kidding," Alice muttered.
"So we assume worst-case. Traps. Ambushes. Maybe another pack. Maybe something worse." He looked between them. "We go in together, we stay close, and we don't play hero. Every move counts."
Yumi nodded slowly. "I'll conserve energy. Only shield when it matters. No flare casting, no emotion-driven bursts."
Alice smirked. "Growth looks good on you."
"Painful growth," Yumi muttered.
Alice gave her a rare, soft glance. "The real kind."
Kuro added, "I'll scout with the cloak. Not too far ahead — just enough to keep us from walking into jaws. Alice, you anchor the rear. Yumi, stay between us."
Alice gave a short nod. "Understood."
The fire crackled softly.
Yumi looked up at the stars starting to bleed through the canopy. "If we make it through this… what then?"
Kuro didn't answer immediately. He stared into the fire, seeing not flames, but the memory of glowing eyes and too-sharp teeth.
"We keep walking," he said at last. "One step stronger than the last."
A gust of wind stirred the flames. Sparks rose like tiny stars, dancing upward before fading into the dark.
Yumi's voice was quiet. "I'm scared."
Kuro looked at her. "So am I."
Alice tilted her head. "Only a fool isn't."
They sat like that for a while. Just three broken pieces of will, huddled around a flame — sharpening themselves in the heat, like blades reforged.
The sun had begun its slow descent by the time they reached the ridge. The air had turned cool, carrying the faint scent of moss and minerals. Kuro crouched behind a jutting rock, motioning for the others to stay low. The forest had thinned out into stony terrain — the trees giving way to jagged cliffs and uneven ground veined with old roots and patches of worn grass.
A few meters below, half-hidden by wild growth, lay the entrance to the dungeon.
It wasn't dramatic. No dark portal or eerie glow. Just a weathered arch of stone, cracked with age and partially swallowed by ivy. The mouth of the cave yawned open like a secret too old to remember why it was buried.
Kuro narrowed his eyes. "There."
Alice slid up beside him, her voice low. "Looks ancient. Any movement?"
"Wait for it…"
They watched in silence.
And then — a flicker.
A squat, hunched figure emerged from the shadows just inside the stone arch. Its skin was greenish-grey, mottled and pockmarked. It walked with a twitchy limp, arms longer than proportion suggested, and a rusted blade strapped to its back.
A goblin.
Then another appeared. Smaller, but faster. It sniffed the air and grunted, baring cracked teeth. From deeper within, they could hear guttural voices — high-pitched, erratic, almost childlike in rhythm. There were at least six of them. Maybe more.
"Goblin pack," Kuro confirmed, eyes hard. "Phase 2 or 3 at most. Probably nested deeper inside."
Alice's hand drifted toward her knife. "Hate those little creeps. Fast, unpredictable, always in groups."
Yumi peeked over the rock, whispering, "That one's limping. Could be a scout. Or bait."
Kuro nodded. "We're not rushing in. We need a plan."
He opened the system interface again, this time quietly scrolling through a submenu he rarely used — Environment Tags.
[Local Biome: Subterranean – Infected][Primary Inhabitants: Goblinoids – Phase 2 to 4][Anomaly Present: Magical Contamination – Mild][Dungeon Status: Uncharted – Unclaimed]
"Contamination?" Alice asked, reading over his shoulder.
"Probably ambient mana — twisted over time. Might affect spellcasting or summon links. Could cause hallucinations if we're in there too long."
Yumi paled. "Oh. That's new."
Kuro closed the menu and leaned back into the grass, the stone cool against his spine. "We'll rest tonight. Go in at first light. We need to be sharp. No mistakes."
Alice nodded. "You want to take shifts again?"
"I'll go first," Yumi offered. "I slept the best last night."
Kuro gave her a small smile. "Thanks."
They set up camp a good distance from the ridge, screened by underbrush and a fallen tree that created a natural wall. Alice used a mix of twigs and a silent flint striker to start the fire — low, controlled, nearly smokeless. They warmed some of the last dried meat, sharing it quietly. No one had the appetite to say much.
Every so often, they heard a distant shriek from the cave. Sometimes goblins laughed. Sometimes it sounded more like crying.
Kuro sharpened his blade again, watching sparks jump and fade. "They're waiting for something."
Yumi hugged her knees. "Like what?"
He didn't answer at first.
"Maybe nothing. Maybe someone."
Alice's voice was quiet. "Or maybe us."
They all felt it — the weight of what's coming. Not just another fight. Not another phase rating or system log. This would be their first real dungeon. A descent into somewhere older, darker, with rules of its own.
Kuro stared into the fire. "We enter at dawn. We move as one. If we split, we die. If we panic, we lose."
He looked at both of them.
"You don't leave anyone behind. Not even a limb. If one of us falls, the others pull them out — no matter what."
Alice met his gaze and gave a single, firm nod.
Yumi bit her lip, then said softly, "We'll be fine. We have each other."
Kuro didn't smile. But he didn't doubt, either.
That night, the stars shone down over the clearing. The cave waited, patient and full of secrets. And the trio — worn but bound by growing trust — readied themselves for the descent to come