The deeper tunnel swallowed sound.
Every footstep Elias took echoed once, then died against the purple-veined walls like it had never happened. The air had turned viscous—breathing felt like pulling syrup through his lungs. Mana saturation was so high now that faint sparks danced along the edges of his vision, tiny blue motes that fizzled out when he blinked.
His new soldiers moved in perfect silence behind him.
Four goblins—small, hunched, claws clicking faintly against stone only when he allowed it.
One ogre echo—hulking, chains dragging with deliberate slowness so they wouldn't ring too loudly.
One spearman echo—taller than the goblins, posture eerily straight, shadowy spear held at the exact angle the living man had favored in his final thrust.
Six.
The storage limit was five.
Yet the system had not complained. Had not warned of overflow dissipation. Instead, when the sixth fragment tried to form, the interface had simply updated:
**[Storage Capacity: 5/5 → Emergency Override Detected]**
**[Host Shadow Mana Pool exceeds 100. Temporary sixth slot granted.]**
**[Warning: Maintaining excess soldier will drain Shadow Mana at 2 points per minute until resolved.]**
Elias felt it already—a slow, cold leak in his chest. Like blood trickling from a wound he couldn't see. Forty-seven minutes until the pool hit zero. Then the sixth soldier would collapse back into nothing.
He had forty-seven minutes to find something worth killing.
The tunnel ended abruptly.
No dramatic widening. No grand chamber reveal.
Just a jagged tear in the wall, edges glowing dull violet, and beyond it—a cavern so vast the ceiling vanished into darkness.
He stepped through.
The floor sloped gently downward toward a shallow, black lake that reflected nothing. No ripples. No light bounce. Just perfect, light-devouring obsidian.
In the center of the lake rose a single island of cracked basalt—no bigger than a boxing ring. On it stood the source of the Gate's instability.
A chained colossus.
Not an ogre. Not a troll.
Something older.
Twelve feet tall if it stood straight. Skin like charred bark, split in places to reveal molten orange beneath. Four arms—two bound behind its back with rusted manacles the size of wagon wheels, two free but weighted with iron spheres the size of medicine balls. A crown of broken horns curved backward from a skull too elongated to be human. Eyes sealed shut with blackened sutures. Mouth stitched closed with what looked like braided shadow-thread.
It wasn't moving.
But it was breathing.
Slow. Deep. Each exhale sent a pulse of violet mana rippling across the lake surface.
**[Entity Detected: Guardian-class – "Stitched Warden" (Rank B+ estimated)]**
**[Threat Assessment: Lethal to current host without preparation]**
**[Anomaly: Entity is in dormant suppression state. Chains maintain 87% mana seal.]**
**[Destruction of chains will trigger full awakening.]**
Elias stared.
This wasn't supposed to be here.
Double-dungeons sometimes hid mini-bosses. Never full guardians. Guardians belonged in A-rank or higher Gates—the kind that required full raid teams of twenty-plus hunters, national guild backing, live-streamed broadcasts.
This Gate had been tagged D-rank.
Someone had lied on the initial scout report.
Or someone had deliberately sealed this thing here and walked away.
He glanced at his soldiers.
Six against a sealed B+.
Bad odds.
But he had forty-six minutes of Shadow Mana left before the spearman faded.
He needed more storage. More soldiers. More everything.
And the only way to get it was to kill.
He took one step onto the lake.
The surface didn't crack. Didn't ripple. His boot sank half an inch into absolute black, then held—like walking on cold tar.
He kept walking.
The soldiers followed in loose formation: goblins fanning left and right, ogre in the middle, spearman directly behind Elias like a personal guard.
Halfway across, the Warden exhaled again.
The pulse hit him like a truck.
Elias staggered. Knees buckled. Vision swam violet.
**[Shadow Mana Drain accelerated: -15 per pulse]**
**[Current Pool: 112 → 97]**
He clenched his teeth.
Another step.
Another pulse.
**[Pool: 97 → 82]**
The island was close now.
He could see the chains better—each link etched with runes that flickered weakly, like dying embers. The sutures on the Warden's mouth twitched once. Then stilled.
Elias stopped at the edge of the island.
He looked up at the sealed face.
"You're not supposed to be here either," he said quietly.
No answer.
He raised his short sword.
The goblins darted forward first—silent orders from his will.
They leaped onto the lowest chain links, claws digging into metal. Sparks flew. One link cracked.
The Warden's chest rose higher.
Another exhale.
**[Pool: 82 → 67]**
The ogre echo moved next. It wrapped both massive hands around a central chain—the one binding the Warden's right upper arm—and pulled.
Metal screamed.
A link snapped.
Violet light exploded outward.
The Warden's sealed eyes snapped open.
Not eyes.
Voids. Swirling violet voids.
The mouth sutures tore—one thread at a time—slow, deliberate.
A voice rasped out. Not from the mouth.
From everywhere.
**"Who… dares… unbind…"**
Elias felt the words crawl inside his skull.
He answered with action.
"Spearman—now."
The spear echo blurred forward. Drove its shadowy spear straight into the weakest link on the left lower chain.
Crack.
The Warden lurched.
All four arms flexed.
The remaining chains groaned.
Elias felt the drain spike.
**[Pool: 67 → 42]**
**[Excess soldier maintenance cost doubled during combat stress.]**
He ignored it.
"Goblins—flank. Ogre—brace."
The goblins split, scrambling up the Warden's legs like insects, slashing at tendon-equivalents.
The ogre planted itself in front of Elias, chains raised like a shield.
The Warden roared.
The sound was physical.
Elias's ears rang. Blood trickled from one nostril.
Then the first arm broke free.
Massive. Charred. Molten cracks glowing brighter.
It swept down.
The ogre echo met it head-on.
Impact.
The ogre's shadowy form shattered—chains flying apart, body dispersing into black mist.
**[Shadow Soldier Destroyed: Ogre Echo]**
**[Fragment returned to storage. Mana refunded: +18]**
**[Pool: 42 → 60]**
Elias didn't hesitate.
He charged.
Short sword raised.
The Warden's free hand slammed down—aimed to crush him flat.
Elias rolled under the descending palm. Came up inside the guard.
Drove the blade into the cracked bark of its abdomen.
The sword sank to the hilt.
Molten orange sprayed—burned his forearm.
Pain flared white-hot.
He twisted.
The Warden shrieked.
Another chain snapped on its own—stress fracture.
Second arm free.
It grabbed for him.
Elias leaped backward—landed hard on the island edge.
The remaining goblins were tearing at the legs—claws raking, black ichor spraying.
One goblin caught a backhand. Smashed into the lake. Dissolved instantly.
**[Soldier Destroyed: Goblin Echo ×1]**
**[Mana refunded: +6]**
**[Pool: 60 → 66]**
Three soldiers left.
Spearman. Two goblins.
The Warden was bleeding momentum now—orange ichor pooling around its feet, sizzling on basalt.
But it was awake.
Fully.
It raised both free arms.
Violet mana coalesced between its palms—swirling into a sphere the size of a basketball.
Elias felt the pressure drop.
Air sucked toward the sphere.
**[Warning: High-density mana attack incoming]**
**[Evade or intercept recommended]**
He had no ranged option.
No shield.
Just shadows.
"Spearman—intercept!"
The spear echo sprinted forward—leaped—spear aimed at the sphere's center.
It struck.
The sphere detonated.
Violet explosion.
The spearman vanished in the blast—form shredded into wisps.
**[Soldier Destroyed: Spearman Echo]**
**[Mana refunded: +12]**
**[Pool: 66 → 78]**
The blast wave hit Elias.
He flew backward—slammed into the lake.
Black surface swallowed him.
Cold.
Absolute.
No up. No down.
He thrashed once—panic reflex—then forced calm.
The system pinged.
**[Host submerged in Void-Touched Liquid]**
**[Shadow Mana affinity detected – Regeneration boosted 300% while submerged]**
**[Pool: 78 → 112 (capped)]**
**[Minor wounds healing… Ribs stabilized… Burns mitigated…]**
He opened his eyes.
Under the surface, the lake wasn't black.
It was starless night.
And shapes moved in it.
Faint. Humanoid. Dozens.
No—not human.
Shadows.
Unclaimed. Unbound. Remnants of every creature that had ever died in this Gate.
Waiting.
Elias reached out with his will.
Not command.
Invitation.
One shadow drifted closer—curious.
He pulled.
**[Unbound Shadow Fragment Detected]**
**[Absorb? Y / N]**
Yes.
Cold flooded his veins—cleaner than before.
**[Shadow Storage Capacity increased: 5 → 7]**
**[Current Soldiers: 2/7 (Goblin Echo ×2)]**
**[New Passive Unlocked: Void Affinity (Lv. 1)]**
- While in contact with high-density shadow or void liquid, mana regeneration +200%.
- Unbound shadows within range may be claimed without combat.
Elias smiled underwater—small, sharp.
He kicked upward.
Broke surface.
The Warden was staggering—two arms still bound, but the free ones hung limp, ichor pouring from the abdominal wound.
The two remaining goblins clung to its back—clawing at the crown of horns.
Elias climbed onto the island.
Sword gone—lost in the blast.
No matter.
He had something better.
He extended both hands.
Called.
The Warden's own shadow—massive, rippling across the basalt—writhed.
He pulled.
Hard.
The shadow tore free—screaming silently.
**[Guardian-class Shadow Fragment Acquired]**
**[Quality: Rare]**
**[Soldier Manifestation Available: Stitched Warden Echo (Rank B)]**
**[Warning: Manifesting high-rank soldier at current host level will consume 80% of Shadow Mana Pool.]**
Elias looked at the Warden.
It stared back—void eyes dimming.
He whispered.
"Do it."
Black smoke erupted from his palms.
The Warden's shadow surged upward—coalesced—took form.
Larger than the original.
Chains unbroken.
Four arms flexed.
Mouth unsewn—smiling.
The real Warden froze.
Then the echo lunged.
Four massive hands clamped around the original's skull.
Crushed.
Orange ichor sprayed in an arc.
The Warden collapsed—body dissolving into violet motes that spiraled upward, then sank back into the lake.
**[Guardian Defeated]**
**[Major Shadow Fragment Acquired ×3]**
**[Experience Overflow critical]**
**[Level Restriction bypassed via Guardian kill]**
**[Host Level increased: 0 → 1]**
**[All base stats +3]**
**[Shadow Storage Capacity: 7 → 10]**
**[New Skill Unlocked: Shadow Extraction (Lv. 1)]**
- Instantly harvest shadow from a freshly defeated enemy within 10 meters (cooldown: 30 seconds).
**[New Title Acquired: First Gate Breaker]**
- +10% Shadow Mana regeneration in unstable Gates.
- Intimidation effect on lower-rank entities.
Elias stood in the center of the island.
Breath steady.
Body whole.
The two goblin echoes crouched at his feet—loyal, silent.
The Warden echo towered behind him—four arms crossed, waiting.
The lake surface smoothed.
The Gate trembled once—then began to collapse inward.
Time to leave.
Elias turned toward the exit tunnel.
Ten shadows now.
One level.
One skill.
One title.
And the first name on his list—still alive somewhere outside these walls.
Harlan Voss had survived Gate #19-F.
So had Lira.
They thought he was dead back then.
They would learn differently soon.
He stepped into the rising violet light of the collapsing Gate.
The shadows followed.
Silent.
Patient.
Hungry.
And Elias Crowe walked out of the darkness smiling for the first time in three years.
End of Chapter 3