They say you only see your true worth when you're at death's door.
For me, it happened beneath ten tons of collapsing stone, ankle-deep in the blood of my teammates, staring up at a ceiling of glowing runes about to fall.
I wasn't supposed to be there.
I was a porter. A trash-class E-rank Walker. The guy who carried potion bags and collected monster teeth for extra coin while the "real" hunters got the glory. But when a team's short on numbers and the payout's good, they don't ask questions. They just throw you a used dagger and say, "Stay in the back."
That day, I stayed too close.
The dungeon was supposed to be D-rank. A cave gate, barely glowing, with a bunch of low-level bone wolves. The kind of thing even a rookie team could farm half-asleep.
We were eleven strong. Ten Walkers from a mid-tier guild called Iron Fang... and me.
They laughed when I tripped over my sheath. Scoffed when I asked if we had a map. I didn't mind. I was used to it. I kept my head down, stuck to the rear, and prayed we'd clear it fast.
But two rooms in, things went wrong.
The monsters weren't bone wolves.
They were hollow shades—ghost-like wraiths with screaming skulls and poisonous claws. Monsters that don't appear in D-rank gates. The moment we saw them, three hunters went down.
The leader, Halven, shouted for fallback, but the tunnel twisted behind us. The dungeon had shifted.
A red flag. A gate this unstable should've been sealed.
And yet… they kept going. Not to escape. To push forward.
"We're close," Halven muttered. "Don't stop now."
I didn't understand. We were dying, and he wanted to press on?
Then I saw it: the way he kept checking his comm-crystal. As if he knew where we were headed.
Room by room, we lost more. Six dead. Then seven.
And when I turned to run—because I wanted to live—I saw something worse than monsters.
I saw the betrayal.
Halven smiled.
"Sorry, porter. You were never part of the plan."
He threw a seal stone at the entrance. The last of the team vanished through a portal. And I was left behind.
Trapped.
The ceiling cracked above me. Screams echoed in the chamber—some mine, most not. I ran, not knowing where I was going. The map was useless. The walls shifted with each step, stone sliding like flesh.
Then… I fell.
A hidden floor gave out, and I dropped through pitch blackness into silence.
---
When I woke, I was lying on ancient stone.
It wasn't like the dungeon above. No corruption. No wraiths. Just a cold, echoing darkness. And one thing at its center.
A coffin.
Black. Ten feet long. Covered in chains etched with glowing runes.
It pulsed like it was alive.
I should have run. Screamed. Prayed. But something in me—something deeper than fear—pulled me forward.
I touched the lid.
It opened.
And the voice came.
> "You have died in the eyes of the world."
"Would you live again?"
Words burned into the air before me, as if carved in flame.
> [SYSTEM ACTIVATION: TOMB OF ECHOES]
[Class Acquired: GATEWALKER — Unique Soulbound Designation]
[Initializing Core Permissions...]
My head felt like it would split open. My vision blurred. But something inside me clicked—like a lock turning in my blood.
> [WELCOME, AIDEN KROSS.]
[YOU ARE NOW THE LAST GATEWALKER.]
[DAILY DEATHLIST INITIALIZED.]
More words. Too fast to process.
Then, silence.
The coffin sealed behind me. The runes vanished.
And in my hand... a dagger. Jet black. Engraved with the same symbols.
My first weapon.
Footsteps echoed beyond the chamber. Something had followed me down.
A figure emerged—a malformed humanoid stitched from the bodies of the dead. Hollow eyes. A crooked blade.
The interface flashed again.
> [TARGET: UNDEAD SHADE — LVL 12]
[Initiating Combat Simulation. SURVIVE.]
I had no armor. No skills. Only the dagger and a body running on fear.
I moved. Not because I knew how—but because something inside me took over. Muscle memory that wasn't mine. Reactions faster than they should be.
The shade lunged. I ducked. Slashed upward.
Its throat tore open.
The creature staggered, clawing at black mist pouring from its wound. Then it fell.
> [ECHO ABSORBED.]
[Skill Gained: SHADOW LUNGE]
I blinked.
> [DAILY DEATHLIST PROGRESS: 1/3 Completed]
What the hell was this?
> [WARNING: FAILURE TO COMPLETE DEATHLIST WILL RESULT IN SYSTEM DECAY.]
And then I understood.
This wasn't just power.
It was a curse.
And I had already used my first life.