[The Ghost of d'Arc has evolved.]
The mont the notification arrived, the ghost in front began screeching and thrashing.
It ran towards Julien but before it could reach him, the ghost's body dissipated outwards through the slash Julien's sword had made earlier.
In seconds, the ghost beca a pile of flesh.
This state did not last for long.
The pile of flesh clumped and an entity with ten arms, six legs, six eyes, a mouth, and two ears manifested before the three.
[The Ghost of d'Arc has evolved.]
Through its mouth, the ghost let out a soul piercing screech, shaking the walls of the floor and sending Julien and his party flying.
It jumped in its place, forming a crater beneath, and tried to crush Julien's body.
Once again, before reaching him, it turned into a puddle of flesh, raining on the trio.
The scene was grotesque, and the stench churned their stomach.
It was gone as fast as it had arrived.
The blood, the flesh, the bones… it all clumped once again.
A new entity appeared before the three.
It was standing on its twelve hands, its ten legs spread out in an arch.
The entity had two heads, six eyes, one mouth, and two ears on each head.
Its eyes turned pitch black and the space before Julien twisted. A dark mist appeared and spread in the room.
The entity plopped into a puddle.
The feather earring on Julien's ear flashed and enveloped him and his party.
The mist did not corrupt him, and the curse never reached.
The entity once again manifested itself.
This ti, it was not scary. Rather, it looked like a man.
It was a blonde skinny man with ssy hair. He seed to be an adventurer with how his outfit was.
His worn and tired eyes gazed at Julien.
As Julien peered into it, the world around him spun and his vision darkened, eventually turning completely dark.
…..
The sky was torn in two—one half bathed in blinding radiance, the other swallowed by endless darkness.
Beneath it lay the ruins of a fallen kingdom. Crumbled towers, shattered banners, and streets paved with the dead.
At the heart of the destruction, a lone knight knelt before an altar, his armor cracked and bloodstained.
Surrounding him were corpses—friends and foes alike, their lifeless eyes reflecting the divided sky above.
The sound of distant war horns echoed through the ruined city. The sky rumbled, shifting as divine and infernal forces clashed beyond the mortal plane.
The air rippled, and in an instant, two figures erged before him—one bathed in golden radiance, the other cloaked in abyssal shadow.
The God of Judgnt stood to his right, a spear of light in hand. His celestial wings unfurled, casting a blinding glow upon the battlefield.
The Demon Lord of Damnation lood to his left, draped in a shifting void, his burning eyes filled with cruel amusent.
They both looked at d'Arc. Not at each other. At him.
He was the only thing that mattered now.
"d'Arc, the last knight of this forsaken kingdom," the God spoke, his voice carrying the weight of eternity. "Swear yourself to us, and we will raise your land from the ashes. The dead will be reborn. Your suffering will end."
The Demon chuckled, stepping forward. "Or serve us, and we shall grant you vengeance and resurrect the dead. The gods who watched your people burn will suffer. You will be their executioner, free of chains."
Two paths lay in front.
But both felt like an illusion.
d'Arc had seen what ca of mortals who served gods. He had seen what happened to those who served demons.
Neither cared for humanity.
Neither had ever cared.
The corpses around him, the ruins beneath him—this was proof.
Sothing inside him snapped.
With shaking hands, d'Arc reached for the sword at his side.
Not to kneel. Not to submit.
Instead, he drove the blade into the altar.
A shattering sound filled the air, like the breaking of unseen chains. The divine light flickered. The abyss trembled.
The God's serene expression cracked.
The Demon's smirk disappeared.
This was not what was supposed to happen.
The war in the skies ca to a halt.
The mory blurred. The burning sky, the broken kingdom, the shattered altar—everything collapsed into darkness.
And when Julien's vision cleared, he was no longer watching the past.
He stood before d'Arc, but the man was no longer a knight—only a ghost wrapped in chains. His form flickered, held together by lingering resentnt.
Darkness flashed in front of Julien's eyes again.
He was back on Floor 26, with the ghost of d'Arc right before him.
The ghost glanced at Julien with its hollow eyes one final ti and dissipated.
[Ding!]
[Defeated - the Ghost of d'Arc!]
[ 1,000,000 XP, x1 soul stone, x1 broken sword, 1000 coins, 1 title]
[Title obtained - Unchained Victor!]
[Ding!]
[Ranked up!]
"Whaaa—"
So much experience points!
Julien felt his body get lighter and sturdier, but imdiately got distracted by a shining blue stone falling in place where d'Arc's ghost once was.
He went near it to pick it up.
As he bent down and touched the stone, he felt a cold breeze brush over his body.
Suddenly, the scene in front of his eyes changed.
The world was ablaze.
Everything was in ruins.
In the skies, divine beings fought against demonic entities.
In the middle of them, Julien was standing still, watching.
The scene shattered, Julien found himself bent down, touching the soul stone.
'What was that?' He wondered.
"Master…"
Jackie and Alia called and broke him out of his stupor.
"Are you alright?" Alia asked.
"Yeah." Julien got up and nodded. "Did you guys get rewards?"
"Yes! I gained over a million experience points and a title!" Jackie replied with visible glee.
"Sa." Alia added with a smile.
"No rewards?" Julien asked the important question.
The two shook their heads.
"The experience points and title are good enough. I believe the rewards were distributed on the amount of work done in defeating the ghost." Jackie said.
"What's the title?"
"Unchained Victor."
"Unchained Victor."
"Hm, all of us got the sa title. That's nice." Julien was amused.
He picked up the rest of the items from the floor, which were a few pieces of gold, a broken sword, an amulet, and a talisman for capturing spirits.
"Here, you can have it." Julien tossed the broken sword to Jackie.
"Vengeful Sword of d'Arc? This ghost?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah. We can fix that in the upper floors perhaps. It'll be a great tool for you." Julien replied.
Jackie turned and gazed at the sword from hilt to tip. It seed fascinating, but was broken and unusable nonetheless.
Jackie put the sword in her inventory and nodded. "We'll see how it is after the fix."
"This is for you." Julien gave Alia the amulet and talisman.
The amulet was to protect oneself from evil spirits.
Julien already possessed an artifact that protected him from evil. It was the feather earring containing a fragnt of the God of Honor and Glory.
The amulet would thus help Alia more.
The three checked for more spoils but there wasn't much available. They got a few high quality items and that was it.
The title, Unchained Victor, was in honor of defeating the Ghost of d'Arc.
This was a ghost that could not be defeated by soone who hasn't cleared Floor 90's main quest.
It was a big accomplishnt and the rewards were naturally high.
Julien checked his stats panel and was astonished.
[General Stats]
Na: Julien Von Lichtenstein
Title: Unchained Victor «new»
Rank: 2 ( 1) «new»
Level: 59 ( 34) «new»
XP: 48,922 /104,737 ( 1,000,000) «new»
[Attributes]
Health: 1000 ( 750)
Essence: 10,423 ( 7,552)
Strength: 204 ( 117)
Agility: 219 ( 76)
Endurance: 441 ( 206)
Intelligence: 57 ( 17)
Charm: 21
Luck: N/A
A million experience points did wonders on his stats. Julien was quite happy by it.
If the God of Honor and Glory was within the Tower, he would've gained even more benefits!
All stats were enhanced except intelligence and charm.
He had also broken through to Rank 2 and was halfway there to Rank 3.
It was a good day. The harvests were bountiful.
Julien was glad this went well, though he knew sowhere in his heart that this could've gone horribly wrong had he charged blindly.
The Forbidden Arcana Card was goated. It worked even on ghosts and the wounds caused would bleed their souls until they vanished.
This made him wonder, what place were forbidden cards in the hierarchy?
This was but a passing thought. He focused on the newly obtained title next.
[The Unchained Victor]
-Restore stamina and health by 30% when HP falls below 50%. Cooldown: 24 hours.
-Temporarily nullify any one restriction or limitation. Cooldown: 1 month.
"Wow…" Julien was amazed by the buffs.
'Do I really have imnse bad luck? Wasn't I too lucky today?' Julien thought when he saw the rewards.
Unbeknownst to him, in a dark and distant world, an ancient altar stood between the ruins of all.
It was dusty and seed to have not been touched in ages.
Right at this mont, it began glowing. It was faintly red at first, but beca bloody crimson instantly.
A beam of light shot at the skies and illuminated the world a deep sanguine.
Tremors ran through the ground.
Thousands of kiloters beside the altar, a deep crevice was ford.
As the ground split, embedded within the bedrocks, thousands of years old giant demonic statues could be seen.
One of the statues' hard covering slightly chipped off.
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