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He utterly despised that environment, a world filled with despair and vengeful spirits, where no hope could be seen.

Although the depths of the [Abyss] were connected to the underworld, ultimately, [Deception] was only a demigod, and most of his power had been given to John.

When facing Hades, a top-tier being even among the [deities], the fear of a superior was deeply ingrained in him.

Even though they were on the same side, and Hades wouldn\'t make things difficult for him, convincing Hades to let him take what his master had commanded was no easy task.

Moreover, [Deception] had sneaked the item out while Hades was away.

If he ran into Hades upon his return, explaining the situation would be troublesome.

But he had to go back.

Without finding John, the item he had retrieved would last no more than ten minutes before completely decaying due to the dissipation of its power.

This responsibility was something [Deception] could not bear under any circumstances.

With this in mind, [Deception] rubbed his brow but still severed the connection, returning to the real world.

When he returned to the fissure of the [Abyss], [Deception] delved deeper with an anxious heart until he passed through the gate of life and death, arriving once more in the underworld.

For a moment, [Deception] felt a surge of a familiar presence, one that seemed to share the same origin as him.

Unfortunately, this brief moment was too short for [Deception] to discern the direction of the presence, so he dismissed it as a mere illusion.

"But... since when were there footprints here?"

On the Underworld Bridge.

[Deception] furrowed his brow and crouched down to closely inspect the footprints.

They looked fresh, likely left not long ago, and they disappeared after crossing the bridge.

"Did Hades leave these?"

The thought barely formed before [Deception] dismissed it.

Clearly, someone had come to the underworld during his absence.

"Hey, hey, hey... could it be you, John?"

Although he was unharmed, he couldn\'t sense John\'s presence in the game world.

Coupled with the current coincidence, a troubling thought began to form in [Deception]\'s mind.

"Damn... damn! Are you crazy, John!"

Though it was just a guess, [Deception] increasingly felt that John could indeed do something this reckless.

After all, when he returned to the game world, [Deception] had discovered that [Betrayal]\'s presence had completely vanished, along with its host.

It was obvious that John had taken [Betrayal] down.

Even though [Betrayal]\'s strength hadn\'t fully recovered, it was still a being with Demigod-tier power.

It wasn\'t far-fetched to think that after defeating [Betrayal], John might have become overly confident and somehow ended up in the underworld, planning to cause havoc.

As his thoughts swirled, [Deception]\'s feelings grew more complicated.

Both John and the eye he had secretly taken were objects his master had commanded him to protect.

If anything happened to either, he would be to blame!

"No, I must find John as soon as possible!"

...

Meanwhile, at the perimeter of the palace!

Perhaps John\'s talent finally took effect, as Apocalypse did not hinder him this time.

Avoiding the wandering souls, John reached the outskirts of the palace without obstruction.

From a distance, the palace stood incongruously within the underworld, but as John approached, he was rendered speechless by shock.

Outside the palace walls lay countless bleached skulls, some human, others from creatures John had never seen before.

The sight was chilling, and just being near it filled John with immense fear.

"This... is Hades\' palace?"

"To be precise, the entire underworld is Hades\' palace. This structure was created to showcase his identity as the king of the underworld.

Look over there, there are even flowers blooming brightly. It\'s hard to imagine that Hades, in private, would care about such things."

Seraphina let out a cold laugh, clearly finding Hades\' effort to transplant flowers from the divine mountain to the underworld amusing.

"So, what now? Should we go in?"

"Of course! Aren\'t you curious about how many treasures Hades, the ruler of the underworld, is hiding? Any random item could be of [Demigod tier] quality or even [divine] artifacts!"

"I\'m more concerned about my safety than any potential rewards..."

John sighed deeply, looking quite pessimistic.

The underworld was a place everyone avoided at all costs, fearing any connection with it, but John had somehow decided to charge in headfirst.

Now, he was about to sneak into Hades\' lair, which was utterly insane!

"Don\'t worry, Hades isn\'t in the underworld right now, and that dead dragon is likely still asleep. As long as we don\'t trigger certain wards, you\'ll be fine."

"You better not be lying to me."

Given the situation, a treasure trove filled with countless riches and opportunities lay just ahead.

Not venturing in would indeed be a regret for John.

Besides, he still had a teleportation scroll that could break through restrictions.

If things got dangerous, he could always escape.

With that in mind, John hesitated no longer and gently pushed open the palace doors.

A crimson carpet, stained with fresh blood, came into view, with what appeared to be bits of flesh on it.

"What kind of taste is this... a corpse carpet?"

"I think it\'s quite beautiful," Seraphina interjected with a different perspective, smiling. "You could take it with you. If you manage to craft it into gear, it would at least be [Legendary] grade armor."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely! Being constantly surrounded by the aura and divine power of the underworld, this carpet is far from ordinary material. It\'s excellent for crafting armor."

Since Seraphina said so, John naturally wouldn\'t miss the opportunity. With a casual wave, he tried to store the carpet in his player inventory.

But...

"Awkward... I forgot I can\'t access my player panel right now. Do you think if I merge with my physical body inside Hades\' palace, I\'ll freeze to death?"

"You don\'t need to worry about that. Hades\' palace isn\'t part of the underworld; he brought it directly from the divine mountain. The underworld\'s aura here is very weak and shouldn\'t affect you."

"That\'s great!"

John didn\'t hesitate any longer and merged with his physical body. Indeed, the cold diminished significantly, almost to an ignorable level.

The only issue was that, according to Seraphina, if Hades returned, he would immediately sense John\'s presence as a living being.

But there was nothing more reassuring than still-flowing blood and a beating heart.

Feeling his body gradually warming up, John breathed a sigh of relief and carefully stored the bloodstained carpet in his player inventory.

"Seraphina, can you sense the presence of Tyr or Hera?"

"No, even if they were standing right in front of me, I wouldn\'t be able to detect them. Different pantheons have different auras. Unless they actively reveal their position to me, I can\'t do it."

"Damn! So many limitations? What should I do? There are probably countless rooms in this palace, holding countless vicious monsters. If I search room by room, I\'ll be dead tired!"

"What can I say? You always have so many clever ideas, but when it comes to critical moments, you act dumb. Though I can\'t sense their presence, I can use that to track them inversely. If we can find where Hades keeps his prisoners, I can help you find them."

"... Yeah! It must be the cold that\'s made my thinking sluggish."

John chuckled awkwardly, about to say something, when he suddenly felt as if something was watching him. The feeling made his skin crawl, freezing him in place!

"Something... something seems to have noticed me!"

"This presence... is it that dead dragon? Strange, it should still be asleep. Why would it suddenly awaken now? John! Quickly, find a place to hide, cover yourself entirely with the bloodstained carpet, and don\'t emit any aura!"