Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 83: Ch81. Pain as a teacher (5) - [Clue]

Chapter 83: Ch81. Pain as a teacher (5) - [Clue]

Shinji’s body convulsed as something unseen ripped through him. It was not physical – not entirely, at least – but it was real.

The sensation of a thousand invisible hooks sinking into his flesh, pulling at the marrow of his bones, at the very essence of what he was. He wanted to scream, but his voice had been stolen, held captive in his throat.

The entity before him shifted, its amorphous head tilting, watching. Its countless eyes blinked in eerie unison, each one digging into him, stripping him layer by layer.

"Power has a price." The voice whispered, but now it was inside his head, pressing against the walls of his skull.

The blood he had offered was no longer his own. It had become something else. The tendrils of darkness that had emerged from the abyssal creature drank it, fed on it, transformed it. The sigils on the altar pulsed faster, their glow intensifying until they were no longer red, but black, a void in the shape of light.

The entity reached forward, its clawed fingers stopping just before touching Shinji’s forehead. Yet, he felt it.

Something inside him shattered like a mirror.

His soul, his very existence was altered in that moment. The whispers inside his head multiplied, their words indescribable and unintelligible, a maddening chorus that sang of power, hunger, and an unbreakable bond that had now been forged.

The pact was sealed.

Shinji gasped as his body finally released the tension, his limbs trembling, drool dripping from the corner of his lips. The entity’s form was already fading, withdrawing back into the abyss it had crawled from, but its eyes remained, lingering in the darkness even as the sigils on the altar dimmed.

"Go forth, pawn of ruin," the voice murmured one last time. "Your will is mine, as mine is yours."

And with that, the candles extinguished as Shinji opened his stats window.

[Name: Hinata Shinji]

[Affiliation: The Unspoken One]

[Level: 49]

[Classpect: Pawn of Ruin]

[Strength: 68(+10]

[Agility: 68(+10)]

[Dexterity: 68(+15)]

[Perception: 70(+15)]

[Intelligence: 75(+20)]

A wicked, mad grin parted Shinji’s lips as he looked at his newly grown power.

***

Miles jolted awake.

His body lurched forward, hands clutching his skull as his breathing came in ragged gasps. The vision was gone, but the lingering weight of it pressed against his ribs like a vice, almost making him vomit. His skin was clammy with sweat, and his heart hammered violently against his chest.

He was back in his apartment.

Back in reality.

Thankfully, the moon was still on the last quarter of its journey toward the horizon, which meant he still had time, but the aftershocks of what he had just witnessed still clung to him like shadows that refused to disperse.

"Shit..." He muttered, swallowing hard. His fingers trembled as he ran them through his hair, forcing himself to focus. "He’s not just strong... He’s a monster!"

He had seen everything.

Shinji’s ritual. The thing he had made a pact with. The power that had changed him.

And the worst part?

It hadn’t been a dream.

It had been real, and the thing’s name still flickered in his memory, marked in a glitched system tag above that hideous cocoon, black like the void.

[Demon: Unspoken One]

[Level: ???]

Miles’ gaze flickered to his status screen, his breath catching as he focused on the line that had led him to this nightmare.

[Echo: Blood Pact]

"It was..." His jaw clenched.

It was his new attribute, [Shadow of the End]. It had done this. [Wraith’s Echo] had made it possible for him to experience the remnants of a past event, to witness things that had already happened but left a memory on an ethereal being...

He had seen the truth firsthand. Shinji had been altered, corrupted.

And whatever it was that had changed him was still out there, that [Unspoken One]. Chained and trapped wherever that gallery was hidden, yes. But it was still out there.

Miles exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. He needed to think. He needed a plan. Sarissa needed to know, but... His eyes flicked back to his status screen.

[Echo: Clue]

There were four echoes, and it was second. Another piece of information waiting for him. What if it was connected?

His fingers hovered over the option to play it. His gut twisted, warring with itself. He already felt like his mind had been dragged through shattered glass from witnessing the ritual. What if this one was worse?

But if he ignored it now... What if it was something he needed to see?

Miles clenched his jaw, his thoughts spinning. If he activated it, he might gain another crucial insight.

If he didn’t, he could get to Sarissa faster.

"Damn it, I so hate this..." Miles’ foot tapped anxiously against the wooden floor, his breath shallow. Every second he hesitated felt like a wasted opportunity. But if he pushed himself too far, if he overloaded himself with information he wasn’t ready for...

He bit his lower lip unconsciously, only noticing it when he tasted blood.

’What would Sarissa do? No, scratch that! What would Diego do?’

That thought steadied him. Diego would want him to gather every piece of information possible, instead of running into something blindly. His little brother, no matter how reckless he might have been at times, always planned ahead when it mattered most.

Miles exhaled sharply through his nose, making up his mind.

"Alright," he murmured under his breath. "Let’s see what you’ve got for me."

After throwing a final glance toward Diego’s sleeping form in his bedroom, Miles reached out and activated the second echo.

[Echo: Clue]

The world lurched.

For a brief moment, everything went black. But instead of falling into another vision of a ritual chamber, Miles was transported somewhere else.

***

The descent was long and suffocating.

Shinji walked in silence, his boots echoing against the damp stone floor as he ventured deeper into the underground passage. The air was thick with moisture, and each breath he took carried the scent of something old, untouched for centuries.

The further he walked, the more he felt it, that presence.

Something unseen, lurking just beyond the veil of his senses. Watching him, just like the system message had told him it would after he had unlocked his unique class, or whatever that [Classpect] thing was.

[Watching in the shadows of the ruin resurfaced, it lies awake, waiting for those who are brave and strong enough to face the trial]

The tunnel walls were carved with strange markings, symbols that pulsed faintly in the dim torchlight. They weren’t like any script he had encountered before, not even the arcane glyphs used by high-ranking mage-type players or ancient artifacts. These felt... Alive.

Then, he reached it.

A massive gate stood before him, towering over everything like the entrance to some forgotten pt. It was forged from dark metal, intricate patterns of intertwining roots and veins carved into its surface, glowing with faint crimson light. The air around it thrummed, charged with an unseen force, warning him that this was not a door meant to be opened.

But Shinji wasn’t just anyone.

He stepped forward, his heart hammering in his chest despite himself. The pact he had made still pulsed within his veins, the entity’s influence lingering like a second heartbeat. He exhaled sharply, lifting his hand, the cut on his palm still open, refusing to close no matter how many times he used his – Diego’s – [Major Healing].

The moment his palm pressed against the cold metal, the symbols on the gate flared to life.

A deep groan reverberated through the chamber, the metal shifting as if awakening from a long slumber. The air around him grew heavier as if the world itself was holding its breath. Then, with a thunderous crack, the gate split open, revealing what lay beyond.

Shinji stepped forward and froze.

The chamber beyond was vast. So much more vast than he had expected, stretching far beyond the reach of his torchlight. The walls were lined with jagged formations of obsidian and stone, but it was what stood at the center that stole his breath.

Suspended in the air, held by thick chains of black iron, was... Something.

It was not a person. Not entirely.

It was a mass of shifting darkness, vaguely humanoid in form, its limbs stretched unnaturally as it hung from its bindings. Its chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged breaths, as though it still clung to life despite being long forsaken.

Where its face should have been, there was only a void. A gaping maw of swirling darkness that seemed to pull at reality itself.

The moment Shinji laid eyes on it, the system reacted.

[You have witnessed the bearer of the - Hidden Piece (001/365)]

A chill ran down his spine. He might not have been the first to find this thing.

But he would be the first to do something about it.