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"If I had known it was this dangerous, I wouldn\'t have risked it."

"You\'re lying. You knew this journey might be one of no return, which is why you left all your companions behind and chose to come alone."

"...I\'m not as noble as you think. I just didn\'t want to put others in danger with me."

John sighed, feeling as if the distance to the palace was growing longer.

"Am I going in the wrong direction? Why am I not getting any closer to the palace?"

"What? Are you sure?"

"I\'m sure. I\'ve walked so far, but the distance to the palace doesn\'t seem to have changed at all. What kind of trick is this?"

"...If it\'s not your imagination, John, we might be in trouble."

"What do you mean...?"

Before John could finish, a raspy voice suddenly echoed in his ear!

The sound was as dry and brittle as breaking twigs, sending chills down John\'s spine.

The most unsettling part was the proximity of the voice.

It seemed to come from right beside John\'s ear, as if he could feel the faint breath on his cheek!

"Wh... who\'s there?"

"Help... help me, please, take me away from here..."

An oppressive presence spread from in front of him, and where there was once nothing, a figure abruptly appeared.

The figure was so emaciated it was almost skeletal, with a faint, weak aura, stumbling forward and muttering the same phrase over and over.

"Take me away from here."

In an instant, every hair on John\'s body stood on end! It wasn\'t that John was cowardly, but the scene was too terrifying.

Despite being mentally prepared, John found it difficult to breathe.

"W-what is this thing..."

John swallowed hard, his ears filled with the sound of his own rapidly beating heart.

"It\'s a soul, just like you.

The only difference is that you can still maintain your sanity, but he seems to have completely lost his mind and is already lost.

Moreover, this soul\'s identity is not ordinary.

Remember, this is Hades\' domain.

For him to influence other souls here, he must have been exceptionally powerful in life."

"Exceptionally powerful meaning..."

"He was at least a demigod."

John: "..."

A demigod, again!

How many deities and demigods does Olympus have?

They probably can\'t even count themselves!

It seems like anyone who shows up has a significant background.

"Can you recognize his identity?"

"It\'s difficult. No one knows how long he\'s been wandering here. Even in a soul state, there\'s a limit to longevity. His soul is clearly reaching its end, and he may already be unrecognizable."

"What should we do? Go around him? We don\'t have much time left, right?"

"If you can call out his true name, I might be able to help you."

"Sigh... The gods of Mount Olympus are unbelievable. Do they spend their days having children just for fun?"

Gazing at the eerie figure, John swallowed again and cautiously took a step closer. In an instant, the figure stopped and turned to stare at John!

The gaunt face and deeply sunken eyes looked like those of a dying man, yet those bright blue eyes shone with a peculiar intensity.

Meeting those eyes, John felt as if some force had pinned him in place. For a moment, he even forgot to breathe!

"You... you are not him. Where is he? Tell me! Where is he? Why won\'t he see me!"

The voice seemed to pierce through John\'s ears and strike directly at his soul, intensifying his fear. Sensing John\'s terror, Seraphina immediately spoke into his ear.

"John! Calm down. It\'s just a wandering soul. He\'s not that terrifying! Calm down and don\'t get drawn in!"

"I... I can\'t!"

John clenched his teeth, feeling as though his body was moving on its own, slowly approaching the emaciated soul.

Seeing this, Seraphina was frantic but could do nothing.

As John was about to step forward, Seraphina made a desperate decision, merging John\'s soul with his body.

The piercing coldness snapped John back to reality!

"Don\'t get close! Your soul is too weak. It will be forcibly devoured and become his nourishment!"

"I\'m... I\'m about to become a dead man myself!"

John could feel his limbs losing sensation, turning a bluish-purple.

A layer of frost spread from his limbs towards his heart.

It was clear that if the frost completely covered John\'s body, he would be done for.

"Don\'t worry. I\'ll separate your body and soul again soon. Just stay calm and don\'t get drawn in!"

"I... I\'ll try."

John\'s entire body trembled like a leaf, the frost having completely covered his limbs.

He could no longer feel them. Fortunately, just as the frost was about to spread to his torso, Seraphina managed to separate his soul from his body again.

The frost receded, and the sense of impending death faded.

However, the soul\'s call echoed in John\'s ear once more!

"Damn it, will this never end?"

John frowned, trying his best to resist the maddening voice.

If he could, he would have rushed forward and torn that soul apart.

Unfortunately, in his soul state, he couldn\'t even open his player panel, let alone launch an attack.

Fortunately, the soul\'s influence didn\'t last long.

Seeing that it couldn\'t affect John, it seemed to give up on the idea and turned away, continuing its endless march towards the palace.

Seeing this, Seraphina finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It\'s over... It seems it doesn\'t harbor any malice towards you. It\'s just driven by its body\'s instincts."

"Are there many such entities in the underworld?"

John swallowed nervously, though without a physical body, he couldn\'t actually do so.

"Considering all the souls from Olympus gather here, even Hades himself probably doesn\'t know how many souls are imprisoned here.

Be careful; that was a soul that has almost completely lost its self-awareness.

The closer you get, the more you\'ll encounter. Some souls might still retain memories of their past lives.

If they realize you\'re not dead, it could become very troublesome."

"Could they possibly be revived?"

"If they find a suitable body and pass through the [Gate of Life and Death] deep within the palace, they can leave the underworld. Although this isn\'t true resurrection, it\'s better than wandering the underworld endlessly."

"So, essentially, I\'m up against the entire underworld?"

"Even though I don\'t want to add more pressure, yes, that\'s correct."

"Well, that\'s just great..."

John sighed deeply, carefully bypassing the wandering soul and continuing his way towards the palace.

...

Meanwhile, in the game world:

"Strange... John\'s presence was clearly here, but why can\'t I find him? He couldn\'t possibly be dead, right?"

Checking the player leaderboard, the top rank was still held by an anonymous player. If it wasn\'t John, who else could it be?

"Could he have been taken by those guys?

That doesn\'t make sense. If he had encountered the [Divine Emissary], he would have been directly erased without any chance of survival.

So, I went through all the trouble of bringing this thing out from the depths of the [Abyss], only to find I can\'t even get it to John?

This is so frustrating!

The problem is, now that it\'s out of the divine power-filled environment, it\'s clearly losing its vitality. I can\'t just let it rot, can I?"

[Deception] pinched the bridge of his nose, looking very distressed.

If he could avoid it, he didn\'t want to return to Hades\' domain.

Thankfully, Hades wasn\'t around, or he would surely suffer for it.