Grand Lust Sovereign

Ghostly figures made an appearance near the spawn area and made progress difficult.

The first quest of Floor 26 was here as a few figures passed by Julien’s party.

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[Floor 26 Main Quest #1 — Far Away]

Clear Condition: Lose tail of the ghostly figures by reaching the Holy Lands.

Time Limit: 10 days.

Reward: +10,000 XP, title buff, x1 random uncommon item chest.

Failure: Corruption of body and soul by the ghostly figures.

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The rewards were good but the chance of escaping seemed slim.

Julien did not possess any holy skill to attack the ghostly figures or defend himself from them.

Only Amelia had it, and she was doing her best to protect him and Jackie.

The only way out of here was to strategize properly and utilize the limited resources they had.

When Celeste said that the quest difficulty increased tremendously from Floor 26 onwards, she really meant it.

One wrong step here would lead to a disastrous end for all of them.

For now, Julien took deep breaths and calmed down.

The six-eyed ghostly creature left and Julien and his team heaved a sigh of relief.

"How many more times can you cast this cover, Amelia?" Julien asked.

"Every three minutes." Amelia answered.

She needed time to recover her essence before casting her card’s skill again. Three minutes was roughly the time it would take.

Julien took note of it and gazed at the stone passage.

From how it was, he or his party could not beat the ghostly figures. The only way out was to escape as stealthily as possible.

"Amelia, since you can feel if the figures are nearby, we’ll be relying on you. Let us know if you feel any sort of disturbance." Julien said and began walking towards the stone passage.

There was only one direction to move in, and logically thinking, danger shouldn’t lurk as often.

This was Floor 26, still one of the lower floors of the Tower.

Even if Julien had immense bad luck, there were some mechanisms that won’t change even with his arrival.

Floor 26 should not have an impossible to clear task.

The ghostly figures shouldn’t stay in one place for long or frequently rotate. If they did that, no Player would be able to cross this passage and arrive at a newer spot.

Thinking along these lines, Julien walked into the passage.

As he had thought, there indeed weren’t any ghostly figures for now.

He reached a chamber where there were multiple doors leading to different places.

The chamber was filled with useless items and empty chests.

Players had cleared this area. There was nothing to look for.

Julien picked a random door and continued to walk.

His nose had gotten used to the stench of blood by now and he did not face difficulty walking over the squishy flesh and blood of the corpses.

As they moved, Amelia suddenly felt a disturbance and said, "There’s someone ahead."

Julien and Jackie became wide alert.

They were walking through a castle’s hallway and took cover by walking into the random door beside them.

The room they entered was empty. It had chests but yet again, they were emptied.

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Seconds passed.

"Really… I don’t think this is a good idea…"

Human voices were heard.

"Just, just trust me, okay? We’ll be fine!"

Julien, Jackie, and Amelia did not go out of the room despite hearing normal voices.

What if this was a trap? One may never know!

Julien turned to Amelia to ask whether she felt something off from the human interaction or not.

She shook her head stating she couldn’t tell.

Julien continued to stay on guard and waited until the voices disappeared, then exited the room to check for ghostly figures.

Once again, the hallway was empty.

"Let’s get going."

The trio walked straight ahead for the coming ten minutes.

They stopped when they saw words written on the wall with blood.

"One minute. Life or death," Julien said out loud so Amelia could learn what was written.

The three frowned.

"It sounds ominous." Amelia said.

"What could it mean?" Jackie asked.

The three didn’t need to guess for long as the sound of footsteps entered their ears.

The sound was faint at first, but kept getting louder with each second, as if someone was running at full speed towards them.

The three’s heart thumped rapidly.

With how quickly the footsteps were approaching, escape wasn’t possible.

Julien clutched his sword and braced for impact.

Jackie held her daggers and stayed in front of Amelia to protect her.

Amelia clapped her hands and was ready to cast holy skills.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

From the darkness, a pale phantom-like figure emerged.

It had six eyes, no mouth or nose.

The ghostly creature’s eyes were fixated on the three.

Escape wasn’t possible anymore.

Julien stayed still while holding his sword.

’Will this be my fourth death?’ He had a thought.

He had leveled up and gotten somewhat stronger, but he was just a tad bit better than average humans.

He still possessed no martial arts or combat skills. He was an average guy with a sword, in possession of one strong Arcana Card.

Neither Julien nor Jackie or Amelia moved.

The creature was still, but its six eyes were wandering about and gazing at the three.

Soon, it took a step forward.

Julien’s heart pounded wildly, his hands starting to tremble.

The creature took another step.

Julien felt chills run down his spine, but he stayed still and unmoving yet again.

If the need came, he could swing his sword right at the creature’s neck. He was in an attacking position.

The creature soon closed the distance. Its face was just an inch away from Julien’s, its eyes spinning and peering into his blue ones.

Time ticked by.

A minute passed.

The creature vanished.

"Haaah…" the trio let out an exhausted sigh and plopped to the ground.

This was too taxing mentally and physically.

Initially when he came across this ghostly figure, Julien didn’t know what to do.

But given how it did not attack them, he stood still and waited for it to make a move.

When the creature continued to be passive, Julien guessed that staying still might be the way out.

Twenty seconds into it, he comprehended the warning on the walls.

He thought that the warning meant if he moved, he may die.

And since the creature did not do anything, staying still for a minute might be the answer.

If it wasn’t, Julien was anyway ready to strike with his sword. He had his Arcana Card ready to cast, and although he wasn’t sure whether it might work on ghosts or not, this was the only trump card he had.

As more seconds passed, Julien felt more confident that staying still was the answer.

This was the 26th floor of the Tower. Even if it possessed strong creatures, it shouldn’t be unreasonably difficult to clear.

Julien’s guess was spot on, and the stronger creatures indeed did not get into conflict until and unless provoked.

With the ghostly figure gone, Julien and his party resumed their escape.

"Someone’s ahead…" Amelia said, a few minutes into their walk. "A normal human…"

"Should we avoid confrontation?" Jackie asked.

So far they were doing good by avoiding the situations. Would waiting for the human to leave work for them again?

"Let’s wait a bit." Julien suggested. There was no harm in doing so, unless some ghostly figures came.

"The person is coming closer…" Amelia said.

"Get ready." Julien changed the plans.

If confrontation was inevitable, then it was better they got ready.

The hallway and passages were too narrow. Most of the time they had no place where one could take cover or hide.

From the darkness ahead, a figure in elegant black robes emerged.

He wore a mask covering half his face. His sharp black eyes gazed right at Julien, as if he was expecting to see him.

As he came closer, Julien could see the emblem on his chest. It was a red shattered circle with nine gaps.

"Mr. Julien Von Lichtenstein, it is a pleasure to meet on Floor 26’s main scenario." The person said in a calm tone and bowed slightly.

Julien knitted his brows. ’He came here for me?’

"You are?" Julien asked, weary.

"I am but a passing merchant, here to offer you a trade." The man got to the point.

"Don’t you think this is the wrong time and place to make a trade?" Julien put his sword in front, hinting that the situation may escalate if the stranger did anything funny.

"I’m afraid it may be." The man did not deny. "But I am asked to make haste by my higher ups."

"Higher ups?" Julien found it too suspicious and shook his head. "I’m not interested in the trade, thank you."

"There is no harm in listening." The man said calmly. "If you agree to merely listen, I would gladly escort your party to the holy lands at once. We can discuss once the quest is cleared and there is no lingering stress."

"We’re good." Julien replied.

The man stared at Julien, his eyes calm despite being rejected twice.

"Well, we mean no harm. Our constellations have taken a liking to your party member Jackie. We wish to recruit Jackie and teach her our finest martial arts. This isn’t a permanent contract. Jackie can leave anytime he wishes in the ten year period he will be with us." The man stated.

"We understand that Jackie’s absence will hinder your party’s growth. For that, we are happy to provide you a Rank 4 guardian who can make your journey smoother. Ascension to the coming 100 floors would be a smooth journey."

This was it. This was the offer the man wanted to make.

Julien heard everything. He contemplated for a solid two seconds and said:

"I refuse."