The descent was longer than expected.
Twenty-three hours straight.
Six battle stops. One near-collapse. Two close calls with collapsing corridors.
By the time Noah and his team reached the glowing forest of Floor 18, everyone was bruised, bloodied, and breathless.
But they were alive.
And the moment they stepped through the final passage and into the wide-open chamber, the change was immediate.
Sunlight.
Not real, but close—produced by glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling high above.
Trees. Flowers. Waterfalls. Soft, grassy fields stretching beneath towering cliffs.
A calm, wild beauty.
"This is… the Safe Zone?" Cassandra whispered, awe on her face.
"Looks like paradise," Welf muttered, lowering his massive fire-hardened sword.
Noah didn't smile.
He scanned the area, hand resting on one pistol. "Keep your guard up. Beautiful doesn't mean safe."
Lili squinted. "There's a supply camp that way. Smoke trail. Could be Guild-set."
They headed toward it.
Noah stayed slightly ahead of the group, eyes sharp, his system pinging faint heat signatures buried beneath the trees.
Nothing hostile.
Yet.
When they reached the small outpost—a half-circle of tents and a central flame to keep monsters at bay—they found a message pinned to the stone floor:
> Welcome to Floor 18.
Rest, recover, but do not forget:
The Dungeon never sleeps.
– Guild Outpost Officer #03
Raul slumped onto a crate. "I can sleep for a month."
"Ten minutes," Noah said. "Then we check the perimeter."
Everyone groaned—but no one argued.
They were learning.
---
An hour passed.
Night fell in the Safe Zone—though the glow of the crystal sky dimmed only slightly.
Noah stood alone at the edge of the forest, staring into the deeper path to Floor 19.
The map said it was sealed.
He didn't believe it.
He reached out with his system, scanning.
[Detecting Void Signature…]
[System Warning: Residual corruption detected – incompatible with current dungeon ecosystem.]
"…Corruption?" he whispered.
That's when he heard the sound.
A soft, clicking noise. Like bone tapping stone.
He spun, guns raised—
But nothing was there.
Then something stepped out from behind a tree.
Not a monster.
A humanoid.
Covered in dark red robes. Face obscured by a mirrored mask. No footsteps. No sound.
But the moment Noah looked into the mask, something slammed into his chest.
Not physical. Not magical.
Memory.
Sudden, violent memory.
Kevin Kaslana.
Fighting in a wasteland of corrupted monsters. A world crumbling. A voice whispering in his mind: Return what was stolen… Flame-Touched.
Then the voice came—real, and here.
"You carry the legacy."
Noah tensed.
"You walk with the fire of a forgotten age," the masked figure continued. "But you are not him."
"I'm not trying to be," Noah replied coldly.
The figure tilted its head. "Then die as yourself."
It lifted a hand.
And the forest screamed.
Dark tendrils of mist exploded from the trees—twisting, unnatural, filled with monster essence that burned on contact.
Ambush.
Noah jumped back, shouting into the camp: "DEFENSIVE FORMATION—NOW!"
Welf was the first up, blade in hand.
Cassandra began chanting healing prayers. Lili scrambled for high ground. Raul sprinted to flank.
The monsters emerged from the trees—warped goblins with blackened skin, crawling hounds with eyes that glowed purple.
They weren't Dungeon-born.
They were injected with something else.
Noah fired once—twice—dodging with precision as the corrupted beasts lunged.
[Flame Core Resonance: Lv7]
[Heat Armor Activated – Manual Override]
Flames wrapped around his chest and arms, forming an armored shell of kinetic fire.
He smashed his foot into one of the beasts, sending it skidding into a tree.
"Welf! Burn the line!"
"Already on it!" the blacksmith yelled, slamming his blade into the ground—causing a wave of fire to sweep across the front line and incinerate several twisted hounds.
But it wasn't enough.
The red-robed figure stepped into the clearing.
And time… slowed.
[System Warning: Corruption-Class Entity Detected]
Name: Remnant of Devourer Memory
Threat: ???
Intent: Erase Legacy Traces
Noah fired point-blank.
The bullets hit—but melted mid-air before impact.
Not shielded.
Erased.
The figure raised its hand.
A tendril of shadow shot forward—and pierced Noah's chest.
He gasped and dropped to one knee, coughing blood.
"Noah!" Hestia's voice screamed through his earring—her divine connection flaring as she felt it.
> [Vital Threat Detected]
Template Core Trigger Unlocked – 75% Fusion Threshold Breached
Legacy Unsealed: Starfire Reign – Mode 1: Full Ignition
Noah's body flared with golden-white fire.
The shadow tendril burned away with a hiss.
He rose slowly, eyes glowing with a light not of this world.
His coat crackled as it disintegrated into flame, revealing black-and-gold armor underneath—like living embers molded to his body.
"Wrong move," he said.
He blurred forward, faster than even Flame Step should allow.
BANG.
One shot.
BANG.
Two shots.
The third was a burst—a concentrated Starfire round that tore through the red-robed figure's chest and left a burning mark on the stone behind it.
The figure staggered.
Looked down.
For the first time… it bled.
A shriek echoed across Floor 18—not from it, but from something deeper.
The figure whispered, "The seal breaks…"
And vanished into black mist.
---
After the fight, the forest fell silent.
Noah stood at the center, smoking barrel in hand, aura still pulsing with the residual glow of Starfire.
His team gathered slowly around him—wounded, shaken, but alive.
"What… was that?" Cassandra asked.
Noah holstered his pistol. "A warning."
Lili's voice trembled. "From who?"
He looked toward the tunnel to Floor 19—where no one had dared go in years.
"…From below."