Personal Trial: Devour ???
Reward: ???
Failure Penalty: ???
Jiho took a quick glance at the sudden message that appeared before his eyes but chose to ignore it as he continued stepping backward. It wasn't something he could afford to care about right now. Was the system seriously telling him to swallow that writhing black mass?
That thing was devouring the large Sphinx-like creature whole. Just looking at it made his head spin—there was no way he could even consider consuming it. The best choice right now was to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"I need to get back to the exit first… There has to be an answer there."
With that thought, Jiho cautiously stepped backward, making sure not to draw any attention to himself. He couldn't risk that writhing black mass noticing him.
Luck seemed to be on his side. Even when he reached the central area of the pyramid, where he had once found the mirror, the writhing black mass showed no signs of reacting to his presence. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward the exit.
Inside the silent pyramid, only the sound of his own footsteps echoed through the vast space. Nothing else could be heard.
Minutes passed, and Jiho finally arrived back at the spot where he had first emerged. As he had expected, something awaited him there.
When he and Kalyira first arrived, there had been nothing behind them—only a solid, unbroken wall. But now, those very walls had crumbled away, revealing fragmented glimpses of the world beyond.
"Garr…"
As Jiho stared at the ruined walls, a deep, guttural growl echoed in the distance. The voice was thick with pain—raw, struggling, as if the creature was fighting against an inevitable end.
Jiho didn't need to think twice. This was not a place to linger. Without hesitation, he stepped past the collapsing ruins and out onto the open road.
What lay before him…
was nothing like the world he had left behind.
It was as if two separate realities—never meant to touch—had collided.
On the outside of the walls, the world still felt like a maze, just as it had when they first arrived, but other things were now vastly different. Just as in the Soul Realm, everything was bathed in a crimson glow, and the air was filled with the presence of dark energy. The colossal entity that had been watching them from above since the beginning of the 4th Trial was now nowhere to be seen. Instead, the entire sky was engulfed in a thick haze of black and red.
As Jiho took in the scene, countless questions arose in his mind. At first, he had thought that stepping beyond the wall would mean returning to the world of the living. However, judging from the sights before him, it was clear—he had not yet escaped the Soul Realm.
"If things look the same as before, then I guess the first step is to find a gateway back to the living world..."
Jiho muttered as he looked at the vast, empty road stretching ahead—silent and devoid of any sign of life. His thoughts drifted back to the 4th Trial. Was he still within its boundaries? What if he failed to escape the maze in time?
"Trial..."
His priority was to find out how much time he had left to clear the 4th Trial. Yet, unexpectedly, everything remained eerily silent—no messages, no system notifications.
To confirm his suspicions, Jiho shifted his focus, directing his thoughts elsewhere.
Personal Trial: Devour ???
Reward: ???
Failure Penalty: ???
This time, it worked. The moment he thought about it, a black screen flickered into existence before him, floating in the air. With that, his suspicions were confirmed.
If his guess was correct, then the blue system—which controlled the trials and everything else—was not functioning properly in this "other side of the world," also known as the Soul Realm. That would explain why there were no Trials here and why the colossal entity that had been watching over them had disappeared.
In other words, this place could be considered the blind spot of the system. And it seemed that only his black system could function in this realm.
"Let it be... I don't have time to think about this right now... First, I need to find the gateways to get out of here..." Jiho pushed aside his thoughts and continued down the street ahead.
Since the environment was constantly changing with time, the roads no longer looked the same as they had when he arrived. They had changed so much that it was hard to recognize them.
After walking for nearly twenty minutes, Jiho began to hear indistinct murmurs echoing through the silent maze. The sounds resembled the restless whispers of wandering spirits, accompanied by the relentless scratching of unseen claws against the walls. As he moved forward, the dark energy around him grew even denser.
The unfamiliar atmosphere made Jiho feel momentarily dizzy. Even though he had experienced death and entered the Soul Realm before, everything unfolding before him now felt completely new. Thus, he continuously observed and remained alert to his surroundings.
After moving a little further east, he started seeing the vague shadows of dark energies lurking. The eerie, unsettling sounds grew clearer as well.
"I don't want to die..."
"I want to go home..."
"I'm sorry, sister..."
The words came in waves, overlapping and tumbling over one another, as if hundreds of voices were trapped in a constant loop of unfinished regrets. Each whisper sent a chill crawling down Jiho's spine. He felt the weight of their sorrow.
"Please... don't leave me..."
"Help me..."
And the voices continued, growing louder, more urgent. Jiho felt as though many voices were speaking at once, overwhelming him, and he became dizzy.
Then, a harsh, jarring message appeared in the corner of his vision:
[Echo of the Fallen is now activated...]
As he struggled to make sense of the text that appeared before his eyes, the entire surrounding environment began to change. What had once been surrounded by dark energy mist and a clear road was now filled with thick, oppressive shadows. Jiho himself could not understand why this was happening.
Numerous spirits were scattered throughout the road, fleeing from a large spirit in the distance that was devouring the others with dark energies. This large spirit had been consumed by dark energies, and its original form was no longer recognizable. In size, it was much larger than the other spirits, and its body was covered with faces.
Evil spirits... Jiho recognized this from his experience in the Soul Realm. Evil spirits are those whose thoughts have become consumed with destruction, and they have lost the ability to control themselves. Jiho had only heard about them before, but now he was experiencing them firsthand.
The malevolent spirit he was witnessing was devouring nearby spirits. Each time a spirit was consumed, a face would appear on its body. Each face brimmed with hatred and fear, embodying the malicious emotions it harbored...
"Is today my unlucky day?" Jiho muttered as he observed the scene before him, shaking his head with a faint smile.
He couldn't fault himself for thinking this way. From the beginning, he had been fleeing from the writhing black mass... and now, once again, he found himself in close proximity to a malevolent spirit.
While lost in thought... he suddenly noticed a vague human figure running toward him. Jiho, feeling helpless, failed to avoid it in time. The figure passed right through him.
Suddenly, with a flash of black light, an unseen force extracted something from Jiho's body, pulling in the spirit that had passed through him and consuming it. At the same time, the memories and emotions of the spirit seemed to collapse, and Jiho was swept into its thoughts.
But the black light didn't stop there. It continued to pulse, drawing everything nearby into its grasp. Spirits that had been fleeing from the malevolent presence now found themselves unable to escape. One by one, they were pulled in, their struggles futile against the irresistible force emanating from Jiho's body.
The fleeing spirits, once filled with fear, were now caught by the merciless black light and consumed by it.
The force, which was gradually intensifying, became more overwhelming, and the malevolent spirit in the distance fled in terror. However, like the others, it was unable to escape and was slowly dragged back toward the west, as though there was no way out.
Meanwhile, Jiho's mind was overwhelmed by the relentless flood of memories and emotions, causing unbearable pressure. His head felt as though it would explode, and he lacked the strength to resist it. He was forced to bend down, clutching his head with both hands.
As time passed, the pain grew stronger, and soon Jiho lost consciousness, slipping into a haze. In that moment, the black light and the energy absorbing from his body vanished.
All the spirits, including the evil one, fled in fear, running far away from Jiho.
…
A place where silence lingers, veiled in desolation, and forgotten souls drift unseen…
"Hmmm…"
A sound, dry and devoid of any emotion, floated through the air.
"Are the spirits disappearing without a trace, their existence lost…?"
The voice continued to echo…
"I wonder if it's connected to when parts of my own soul vanished…"
"Fascinating…"
The owner of the voice, with her left hand's fingernail, gently scratched at her other right arm, and from the scratch, blue spirits began to emerge.
End - 25