Perspective: Alessio Leone
If my calculation skills weren't completely rusted, it wouldn't take more than a few hours before all the seals in that room shattered — and the terror sleeping within that coffin revealed itself to the world.
A world that, I knew all too well, wasn't ready to face it.
But despite that certainty, my thoughts remained simple.Direct.
I would just leave that cursed place.As quickly as possible.
Before something — anything — kept me from walking out alive.
I turned to Sith, ready to say exactly that.She still held the grimoire and the necklace in her hands, staring at them with a mix of awe and worry.
But before I could speak, something happened.
The passage at the far end of the chamber — the dark stone corridor that had been swallowed in shadow — began to glow.
A green and golden light spread across the floor, rippling outward like a living wave toward the entrance's edge.It wasn't an illusion.It wasn't the torches.
It was a signal from the System.
One of those rare moments when the System itself made an appearance — to reveal something new to the players.
A new path.A new phase.And with it… a new choice.
The doubt fell upon me like a blade.
The Black Tower — this insane game that had conquered the entire world — always followed a logic I could only describe as cruel… yet seductively fair.
A simple, merciless, universal rule:
Risk walks hand in hand with reward.
The greater the danger, the greater the prize.
And at that instant, as the passage glowed before me, that truth burned into my mind like instinct itself.
Even as the Lich of the Green Moon's seal crumbled — even as the awakening of a monster capable of wiping out entire cities drew closer with every second — my veteran brain awakened instantly.
I knew that if I simply ran now, I'd be safe.I could leave the dungeon, return to the city of Durnholde with the loot I'd already claimed, and no one would ever know I had been involved in the disaster about to unfold.
It would be the easy choice.No risk.But also, no true reward.
The other option…
To go forward.Enter the newly lit corridor.Explore the unknown, even with the clock of destruction already ticking.
That was the hard choice.To some — a suicidal one.
But the greater the risk, the greater the prize.And as crazy as it sounded, my heart had already decided.
A slow smile curved my lips.
Naturally, I would choose the hard path.I wasn't about to waste opportunities in this life.
But there was still one thing to settle.
I looked at Sith, who was still watching me, fingers tight around the grimoire and the necklace.
"I want to keep going," I said firmly. "But if we take this path, there's a big chance we'll lose everything that isn't equipped."
My gaze fell on the items in her hands.And I didn't need to ask why she was still holding them.
It was obvious.She wasn't keeping them for herself.She was keeping them for her children — the two kids she'd left behind in the city.
And as absurd as it sounded, the thought that Sith, in the middle of a cursed dungeon, was buying gifts for her children pulled a quiet smile from me.
She studied me for a moment.Then, without hesitation, she replied with a line I knew all too well.
"Will there be profit?"
For a second, I thought it was just coincidence.But there was something else in her eyes.Confidence.Determination.
I couldn't help but smile.
"Of course," I answered.
And just like that, we decided.
We simply left.No more discussion.Ignoring the chance to escape unscathed — chasing something we didn't even know.
And yet, as we walked side by side toward the glowing passage, my mind — that treacherous thing that never learned to shut up — whispered a useless question:
Was Sith following me again…just because I was a little handsome?
The passage led us into a long, narrow, dimly lit corridor.
The walls, damp and uneven, seemed to pulse beneath the faint light of torches placed every ten meters, casting shadows that danced like ghosts. Even so, the path was straight — no turns, no forks — just an endless tunnel that swallowed the sound of our footsteps.
Thankfully, Sith was still prepared.
She pulled out the third — and last — torch we'd kept, lighting it with a quick spark from her sword against the stone.
The corridor felt infinite.With every step, the sound of metal against the floor echoed slow and steady, like a distant war drum.
We walked nearly ten minutes before the passage finally opened up.
And what I saw next…
Wasn't just a room.It was a colossal hall — so vast it seemed built for gods, not men.
The walls rose into gigantic columns carved from black stone, each one shaped into intertwined gargoyles.Their features were twisted — open wings, hollow eyes, and gaping mouths frozen in agony or laughter. Some held chains; others seemed to crawl across the surface, trying to escape the stone itself.
The torchlight flickered over their faces, making them seem alive.
The floor was a dark marble, almost liquid in texture, reflecting the silvery gleam of the flames. Golden lines ran through it like veins, forming symmetrical patterns that converged at the room's center.
And there, at the far end, a monumental staircase climbed toward an elevated platform.
At its top floated a portal — an oval opening suspended in the air, glowing with a silvery-gray light, translucent and silent.
Its glow came from neither fire nor ordinary magic.It was something else… colder.Like moonlight reflected on water — but distorted, alive, vibrating in faint, shifting waves.
The torchlight wavered, casting reflections across our armor and pushing back part of the darkness.
The air around the portal felt unstable, bending space like heat over stone.And the energy emanating from it was thick — almost tangible — a mixture of calm and menace, beauty and dread.
The entire chamber converged toward that point.The columns, the carvings, the polished floor — everything existed to draw the eye toward the portal.
It felt like standing at the heart of a forgotten world.A cathedral built for something that shouldn't exist.
And then, when my eyes finally met the portal's gray light…
My mind simply stopped.
Time stretched. My own breathing vanished.For an instant, there was no Sith, no torchlight, no fear of what we'd left behind.
Only the portal.