I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 69: Doorway

Each of Vale’s steps echoed faintly, quickly swallowed by the vast silence of the cavern. The stone beneath his boots was uneven—worn smooth in some places, jagged in others—as though countless beings had walked this same path before him. People, creatures... he couldn’t be sure.

Though the air was still, it remained deathly cold. His breath misted in short, ragged bursts as he descended deeper along the spiralling path, hopping from one platform to the next.

The platform where he’d started was long out of sight. And though the dragon was too, its presence lingered heavily in his thoughts. He kept replaying how easily the beast could’ve ended him when he’d fallen from its back.

Had the monster let him go?

His mind burned with questions, spiralling in the silence. Maybe that noise—his own thoughts—was the only thing keeping him sane in the suffocating stillness of yet another cave.

Then, a wild, echoing roar shattered that very same silence.

The sound tore through the cavern like thunder cracking through bone, sending tremors through the stone and splintering the icy surfaces.

Vale froze.

Then, without haste, he turned around.

But there was nothing behind him—no dragon, no movement. Just the endless dark.

He picked up his pace, unwilling to learn what had made that sound.

Platform by platform, he descended deeper into the cave, leaving the entrance, the ice dragon, and the cause of that roar far behind.

The architecture began to shift. The rough-hewn stone gave way to the remnants of something ancient—shaped pillars, fractured columns etched with symbols, faint carvings of beasts, battles, and stars. These weren’t the marks of animals. Whatever had lived here had built it all.

He pressed on, soon arriving at the end of the current platform. But this time, the path didn’t lead to another platform.

It simply ended.

Vale stopped in his tracks, eyes widening at the sight.

Ahead stood a towering wall of rock. Carved into its surface was a massive archway—and within it, a door. It was too pristine and too intact to belong in this cavern. It stuck out like a scar carved into the earth—something sentient had built it.

Vale narrowed his eyes. Surprise gave way to suspicion as his thoughts began to churn. Why would there be a door in a place like this? He cautiously stepped forward. One step. Then another. And another.

When he was just inches away, he stretched his arm out. His fingers brushed the doorknob. But before he could fully grab the handle, he flinched, stumbling backwards.

"It’s warm..." he muttered, breath catching in his throat. "It’s warm!"

Instinct kicked in. He summoned his weapon, muscles tensing as his head whipped around, scanning the cavern. But there was nothing. Just stone, deafening silence, and the door in front of him.

His heart pounded like a war drum, nearly drowning out every other sound. He reached again, slower this time. His fingers hovered, then pressed onto the doorknob once more.

It was warm. Undeniably, and eerily warm.

Someone—or something—had passed through recently.

Swallowing the knot in his throat, Vale gripped the handle and twisted it.

The door creaked open with surprising ease.

But what lay beyond was not stone nor ice. A gothic interior, like the hallway of a long-abandoned castle or a forgotten cathedral, welcomed him inside.

Dark brick walls stretched ahead, lined with flickering candles. Their light painted golden streaks across the floor, pushing back the gloom just enough to reveal two branching paths—one to the left and one to the right.

Neither offered any clear destination, just a seemingly endless corridor.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The moment his foot crossed the threshold, a wave of unease washed over him. Every instinct screamed against entering.

But he didn’t stop.

He turned right, moving deeper into the corridor. The door closed slowly behind him with a soft thud, stealing his attention for a brief moment, before it returned to the corridor ahead.

The sudden feeling of warmth surprised him. Whether it came from the candles or something far stranger, he couldn’t say. But it was a stark contrast to the biting cold outside.

And somehow, that very warmth only made the place feel more eerie.

Vale moved cautiously down the hallway, the flickering candlelight casting warped shadows along the walls. Each step echoed, only to be quickly swallowed by the oppressive stillness. His mind raced with questions. Who could have been living here? One thing was certain—judging by the presence of candles, whoever it was had to possess at least human-level intelligence.

He tightened his grip on his weapon.

After several long minutes, he came upon a stone staircase descending into a pool of deep darkness. He hesitated, staring into the shadows below.

With a deep breath, Vale stepped down into the darkness.

Just as he reached the final step, a foul stench slammed into him—sickly sweet rot mixed with blood and something acrid he couldn’t quite recognise. He gagged and covered his mouth, eyes narrowing as he scanned the chamber ahead.

What he saw turned his stomach.

Cages. Dozens of them. Lining the cavernous space in rows that stretched into the darkness beyond his sight.

But it wasn’t the cages that shocked him the most—it was the fact that they weren’t empty.

Monsters filled them.

Some lay in heaps of dismembered limbs and crushed skulls, clearly long dead. Others stirred, breathing shallowly, eyes dim but still watching. Vale slowly moved among the cages, jaw tight, the weight of it all pressing down on him.

Some of the creatures he recognized—ice boars and golems, monsters local to the Snowveil Mountains. But others... others defied categorisation. Shapes that didn’t make sense. Skin that pulsed. Eyes in places where there shouldn’t be any.

But before he could study the foul beings any longer, he heard something.

A soft gasp echoed from behind.

He spun around, his weapon raised, ready to strike, but what he saw wasn’t a monster.

It was a person.

Or what was left of one.

A lanky, almost skeletal figure stood trembling behind one of the cages, his body little more than skin stretched over bones. Sunken cheeks, cracked lips, eyes wide with disbelief. Dried blood matted the man’s clothes, and his hands clutched the bars with what little strength he had left.

"A person?!" Vale rushed toward the cage.

He tried to speak, but only dry, rasping sounds escaped his mouth. His lips moved, but no words formed.

Without hesitation, Vale summoned the water artifact. A shallow cut on his arm fed the magic—a single line of blood vanishing into the flask. The artifact pulsed faintly, transforming the offering into clean, drinkable water.

He thrust it between the bars. The skeletal figure snatched it with shaking hands and downed the contents in desperate gulps, like someone drinking for the first time in days or weeks.

His hands fell away, flask clattering to the floor. Then, with a slow movement, the figure lifted his head.

"I... I can’t believe it," he croaked, voice hoarse but rising with emotion. "He actually sent someone to find me..."