"Healers!" Jay's voice rang out, controlled by force. "Treat the burn victims! Now!"
Healers rushed in, green beams wrapping Elenya, Marcus, and others. The regeneration hissed in the air, struggling against burns that didn't feel entirely… normal.
Ethan watched without moving.
If Elenya hadn't run to him…
The clearing would be filled only with corpses.
Then his eyes found the center of everything.
Darren.
Ethan gently freed himself from Elenya and walked to the body.
Jay stood there.
Immovable.
The unbreakable tank looked smaller. Shoulders slumped. Breathing heavy. He stared at the fallen body as if something had been torn out of him.
Slowly, Jay released his golden shield.
Metal struck earth with a dry sound.
Final.
He had sworn to be the wall.
And death had passed him.
Marcus planted his sword beside Darren and stood at attention, ignoring pain.
"A soldier doesn't die," he said quietly. "He regroups in the sky. Rest well… warrior."
Elenya trembled, tears streaming.
"It was supposed to be me," she whispered. "The attack was for me."
Ethan reached the body.
Darren's face was calm. Almost peaceful. If not for the hole in his armor, he looked asleep.
Ethan touched the cold face.
Reality collapsed.
No respawn.
No return.
The man who taught him menus, saved him from wolves, laughed at campfires… was dead data.
Ethan pressed his forehead to the shattered armor.
And broke.
The cry was ugly. Raw. Undignified. He screamed into cold metal, punched the earth until knuckles bled, mixing blood with Eden's soil.
"I swear…" his voice cracked. "I'll clear this damn game."
He lifted his head, eyes red, meeting Jay's and Elenya's.
"And no one else dies for believing in me. I swear."
The system didn't wait for mourning.
From the monster's ashes, a blue interface appeared.
[Floor 1 Cleared]
Access to Floor 2 Unlocked
Unique Reward: Guardian's Ring
Greatly increases physical resistance and grants defensive bonuses to shield bearers
A small golden key and a heavy ring of fossilized wood and ancient gold floated into Ethan's hand.
He looked at it with contempt.
A pitiful reward for a human life.
Ethan walked to Jay and placed the ring in his palm.
"He's gone," he said hoarsely. "Now nothing gets past you."
Jay closed his fist around it.
"I swear," he replied quietly. "My defense will be absolute."
Sunlight broke through Eden's canopy, touching Darren's body one last time.
Then the system did what it always does.
The body began to glow.
White particles lifted slowly, rising like dust of light until they vanished into the digital sky.
There were no burials in Elysium.
Only system erasure.
They had won.
They had power. Legendary items.
But as the last particle faded, everyone understood the truth.
The First Floor was cleared.
And innocence had been left in that clearing.
As Darren's light faded, celestial trumpets echoed—not just in the clearing, but across all of Eden.
The sky, once heavy under the Guardian's presence, cleared instantly, revealing a vibrant, infinite blue.
Before every surviving player on the First Floor—from those hiding in Grovefall's inns to those hunting slimes on distant edges—a majestic golden message unfolded:
[GLOBAL MESSAGE]
THE GUARDIAN OF EDEN HAS BEEN DEFEATED.
THE FIRST STEP HAS BEEN CONQUERED.
THE PORTAL TO FLOOR 2 IS OPEN.
In Grovefall, silence broke into a collective roar.
Doors opened. People flooded the streets, crying, hugging strangers, laughing through tears. The nightmare of being trapped forever on the First Floor was over. There was progress. A path. Hope.
Magical fireworks exploded over the central plaza, cast by mages celebrating the simple, precious truth that they had survived.
But in the clearing… the mood was different.
Healers finished treating survivors. Elenya's and Marcus's burns closed. Ethan's wounds stabilized. The body endured. The mind did not.
Jay's armor was clean, but the weight of failing to protect a friend would never wash away.
"Let's go back," Ethan said hoarsely. "They need to know who paid the price."
One hundred and ten survivors formed up.
They didn't march like victors.
They marched like veterans of a war too short to justify the losses—and long enough to age them years.
They left behind the vitrified crater and headed toward Grovefall.
The walk was silent. Heavy steps. Metal clashing. Exhausted breaths.
Then they heard it.
Not monsters.
People.
When they passed through the city gate, a wall of voices hit them. Grovefall stood assembled, forming a human corridor to the Adventurers' Guild.
"THEY'RE BACK!"
"THE HEROES ARE BACK!"
Petals and magical confetti fell. Hands reached out. People cried, thanked, touched burned armor like relics.
"Thank you…"
"You saved us…"
"Now we have a chance…"
Marcus walked forward, gaze fixed ahead. A single tear fell when an NPC child handed him a flower.
Sienna, who loved the spotlight, kept her head low. The applause felt heavy. Undeserved.
Jay gripped his shield. The Guardian's Ring gleamed on his finger. Every "thank you" added weight to the metal. He nodded quietly, eyes searching in vain for a face that would never appear.
Elenya leaned against Ethan's arm.
"They don't know…" she whispered. "They don't know what it cost."
Ethan watched the crowd. Parents. Children. Smiling faces. Lives that would continue.
Darren had given them that.
Ethan didn't smile.
But he straightened his posture and accepted the burden of being the hero they needed to see.
At the central plaza, he stopped. The group stopped with him.
Silence fell.
They expected glory. A speech of victory.
Ethan only pointed to the sky, where the portal pulsed.
"The path is open," he said. "But don't forget the names of those who stayed behind… so we could move forward."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Respectful.
In that moment, Ethan ceased to be just a player.
He became a symbol.
Night fell over Grovefall, but for the first time, the city didn't sleep in fear. It slept with the exhaustion of survival.
Later, away from the crowd, Ethan, Elenya, Jay, Marcus, and Sienna stood on the Guild's balcony.
Above the great city tree, the Transfer Portal floated—a vortex of violet and silver energy, pulsing patiently.
Jay rotated the ring.
"Bring on Floor Two. My defense is ready."
Elenya gazed at the artificial stars.
"We'll carry his name to the end. Darren will see the finale through our eyes."
Ethan stepped forward. The blue mana within him was quiet. Contained. Alive. A sleeping beast.
He stared at the portal.
Not a game.
Sixty-five enemies.
"Rest today," he said. "Tomorrow… we climb."
The view pulled back, the group silhouetted against the portal's glow while the city celebrated below.
The screen faded to black.
One final system message blinked:
[LOADING FLOOR 2 DATA…]
BIOME: DESERT OF FORGOTTEN SOULS
STATUS: EXTREME HOSTILITY
End of the first Floor