Grand Lust Sovereign

"I refuse."

The man sighed and took a step back. "I understand. Please forgive my insolence."

With that, the man left the scene and did not cause any trouble.

This greatly surprised Julien.

’How is it that a random person comes up to me and makes such a tempting offer without batting an eye? There was no force used or harsh words. He was respectful throughout the conversation.’

’…a little too respectful and professional!’

Julien did not have a sense of paranoia, but he could not help but think suspiciously about the man.

He stated that his constellations took a liking to Jackie, but messed up in the worst possible way to do this trade.

Had this man met him in the holy lands, Julien wouldn’t doubt him as much.

But then again, he came here with an appealing offer. He wanted to give them an easy way out of the quest so they could favor him more, but too bad, Julien was a cautious young lad.

His immense bad luck was the biggest guarantee that nothing would go well. He kept it in mind when doing anything.

This offer may lead to a disastrous end for Jackie as Julien was involved in the matter.

Had the man approached Jackie when she was alone, then she could at least give it a thought. But with Julien in the room? It was an absolute no.

"Jackie, I should’ve taken your opinion into consideration, but I did not. If my actions have been upsetting, do let me know." Julien said as they walked through the passage.

Jackie shook her head. "I trust Master’s judgment."

Julien’s company was any day better than a random man’s who was trying to recruit her into an unknown organization.

The terms may be lax, but a Player’s life was fickle. Anything could happen in the Tower and it was better if one was surrounded with the people they know.

Her Master Julien had been with her since the start of her Tower ascension. The time duration was short, but she had enough trust to put her life on the line for him.

This short conflict came to an end, the trio returned to clearing the quest.

The narrow passage turned dark as they moved, eventually opening into a large space filled with multiple altars and runes.

Ghost-like entities moved about, letting out shrill cries.

They did not interact with Julien’s party.

The atmosphere was cold and the place smelled like a morgue.

Amelia and Julien felt like puking once again. Jackie on the other hand was doing well.

She led the trio this time and Julien was in the middle, protecting Amelia and Jackie from sudden attacks.

"…did… wrong…" Experience new stories on Freewebnovel

"…fa..milia…"

Strange cryptic sounds were heard from the ghosts moving about.

None of the three could make out the meaning behind it.

Moving in the large space, the three eventually found out that there was no exit.

There was one entrance from which they entered but no exit.

After racking their brains, Julien saw the ghosts moving to and fro the altar.

Maybe this was the way to leave? He thought.

Moving to a particular altar, a system notification appeared.

+

[Altar of the Hollowed Seer]

Offer the Mirror of Shattered Dreams, an artifact reflecting one’s most painful regret to exit the Haunted Hall of Hundred Altars.

Status: Cleared.

+

A previous Player seemed to have completed this task and

They moved onto the next altar.

+

[Altar of the Thousand Hungering Hands]

Feed the altar a "Heart Beating with Betrayal"—the still-beating heart of one who has been betrayed in death to exit the Haunted Hall of Hundred Altars.

Status: Cleared.

+

’There are many altars in this place, surely one would be available to clear, right?’ The trio thought.

They kept checking one altar another after that.

+

[Altar of the Pale Lament]

Burn the remains of a soul that has refused to pass on, using an Eclipsed Flame to exit the Haunted Hall of Hundred Altars.

Status: Cleared.

.

.

.

[Altar of the Bleeding Lattice]

Present an oathbreaker’s tongue, torn out as proof of their lies to exit the Haunted Hall of Hundred Altars.

Status: Cleared.

+

After going through tens of altars, they finally stumbled upon the one that hadn’t been cleared.

+

[Altar of the Rueful God]

Sacrifice a rueful soul to invoke the altar’s blessing and exit the Haunted Hall of Hundred Altars.

Status: Uncleared.

+

How were they supposed to find a rueful soul was a question that lingered in their minds.

"Maybe we should listen to each soul passing here?" Jackie suggested.

These souls were saying something as they went to and fro the altars.

Julien nodded. "We should do that and find the one that seems to be showing the most regret."

"How will we sacrifice it though?" Jackie asked again.

Even if they did find a soul, how were they supposed to sacrifice it?

Julien turned to Amelia. "Do you have any ways to capture the souls?"

Amelia shook her head. "The only way we can sacrifice a soul is by capturing it into a soul stone and offering the soul stone to the altar."

"…and we don’t have a soul stone on us, do we?" Julien sighed and said, knowing the answer to his question.

Amelia nodded.

It wasn’t surprising that Julien found himself in a pickle again.

"If it’s a soul stone, I am sure we can buy it on Floor 25." Jackie replied after some thought.

"Then let’s go to Floor 25 and get one." Julien responded and called for a teleportation to Floor 25.

[—Failed.]

[Host cannot leave the floor with a quest ongoing.]

"Oh wow, would you look at that…" Julien said sarcastically.

"So are we stuck here?" Jackie asked. "Do we need to wait until the quest fails so we can leave?"

"If the quest fails, we will be corrupted." Amelia said. "We have to ensure we don’t fail it."

Failing wasn’t an option, given how brutal the penalty was.

Julien was aware of it too, but with how the situation in front of them seemed, it was almost impossible to obtain a soul stone and sacrifice a soul for their exit.

Most of the places on this floor were cleared, and the ones that weren’t were probably hidden areas.

Finding them was a challenge and the three here did not possess the needed search abilities or luck to find the hidden spots.

[The constellations are looking at the incarnations curiously.]

[10 coins have been sponsored.]

What will the three do when in such a difficult position? The constellations wondered.

They were entertained to see these three fall into peril, and were getting excited with anticipation for their next moves.

Julien, when he heard the system notification, suddenly remembered something.

’Ah, I have a channel and an area available for trade and shopping.’

Julien was a live streamer like those Valkyries and possessed the Tower’s shop option.

He quickly opened it through his system panel and got a variety of goods shown in front of his eyes.

Many things were available here with prices ranging from a few coins to a few millions.

Sadly, even in the catalogue of endless items, he could not find a soul stone.

’Tsk. Can I not be a little lucky sometimes? What was the point of being a streamer when I couldn’t even obtain the thing I wanted. I’ve read so many plots where the protagonist would usually find his needed item in the shop menu, but me? I have everything available except the thing I want; if it isn’t fate playing with me, then I don’t know what is."

It was quite frustrating and even though Julien was tired of it, there was nothing he could do other than sucking it up and accepting it.

Ghosts continued to roam and blabber nonsense while Julien and his party stayed in the hall, contemplating their next moves.

Soon, Julien gave up trying to think and simply exclaimed in his mind,

’El!’

There was no response.

’Daddy?’

-…you called, my child?

Julien did not argue with this lady on this matter anymore. He simply continued.

’I am in a difficult situation and need a soul stone. Can you contact the Crimson Night Guild and ask them to send someone here to give it to me?’

-It is possible, but why do you need a soul stone?

’It’s like this…’

Julien explained the predicament he was in.

El listened carefully and replied, ’It does sound difficult and this is indeed a good way to solve the quest. However…’

El’s ’however’ was always ominous.

She had pushed Julien into doing things he didn’t want to do, like the tutorial of Floor 0.

Julien could’ve avoided doing the rest of the trial and finished it after gaining enough points, but El insisted he continued.

The result was that he immediately died from drowning, and fell into a situation which resulted in him offending a mighty demonic god.

While it was bad, there were also some good things that happened.

Julien met Amelia and Jackie. They were somewhat troublesome with their backgrounds, but really reliable nonetheless.

Julien thus had mixed feelings about El’s comments.

In any case, since her advices helped in the long run, he replied, ’Just say whatever’s on your mind without sugarcoating it. I’ll see how it is and do everything accordingly.’

-Huhu… aren’t you quite grown up, baby boy?

El found it amusing.

-Anyway, here’s what I think…