"Hah... don’t worry, I am alright."

Soren breathed in deeply and spoke to Frost, who looked nervous, while calming himself down. His vision had finally been restored, and he didn’t feel any irritation in his eyes and nose anymore.

After the moth was swallowed by Frost, the hallucination effect of the spores seemed to have disappeared, too.

’Such bad luck... why is this system always doing this to me?’

Soren rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache. Not to mention, this absurd quest he got from Lysandra just now.

---

— Exclusive Perverted Quest —

[Quest: Robe Inspection!]

[Content: Embrace Professor Lysandra from behind, hug her tightly, and deliver a gentle, cheeky slap on her butt while holding the position for 10 seconds.]

[Reward: ??]

[Time Limit: 2 Months]

[Difficulty: ★★★★☆]

[Failure Punishment: All healing effects on you will be reduced by 90%. Debuff Applied: Frail Recovery]

[Note: ....]

—

---

’Just what I feared. Damn, and I haven’t even completed the quest with Lyra yet.’

Soren couldn’t help but smile bitterly. This mission with Lysandra was even more outrageous.

How the heck was he supposed to deliver a cheeky slap on her butt? Wouldn’t she turn him into a potion if he did that?

And why was it only a four-star quest even then?

For a moment, Soren wanted to directly abandon this ’Exclusive Perverted Quest’.

Out of mind, out of sight.

’Forget it... Let’s focus on the mission first. This should be the last Anchor point.’

But he stopped himself in time, directly ignored the quest for now, while taking out his S-rank Artifact, Dimensional Anchor.

To be honest, he was thoroughly impressed by Professor Lyra. She must have used a huge amount of mana to clear the area around, despite being outside the gate.

Except for some entity like that Abyss Moth, and the unnatural environment around, he didn’t meet much danger.

Well, his high soul power and Frost also helped him a lot.

Now, all he had to do was place his last anchor and contact Lyra that he was done. Then, she could start closing the gate.

Thinking so, Soren poured his mana into the prism, causing it to shine beautifully.

*Swoosh!*

Then, naturally, it marked the position he was in, making a connection where he could teleport.

"Now that this is over, let’s contact Professor Lyra."

Soren mumbled and took out a small crystal from his inventory. Although communicating from the dungeon to the outside world was hard, it wasn’t impossible.

Especially them being this close to the rift.

"Oh my, that’s a very nice toy you have."

However, just as Soren was about to communicate, a light, coy voice drifted from right behind him.

*Swoosh!*

And the instant that soft, almost playful whisper brushed against his ears, his entire body directly froze in place.

It wasn’t even an attack. Just the aura alone felt suffocating enough to make his heart stutter, a cold chill running slowly down his spine.

Surprisingly enough, his ever-so-reliable passive, King’s Grace, didn’t work this time as he remained fixed in his position, immovable.

Heck, Soren realized that he couldn’t even talk.

’Fuck!’

The situation suddenly turned so absurd that Soren felt the dread he had never experienced before.

He could feel that someone was right behind him, and that person was strong, like really, really strong.

In fact, the aura he felt was almost similar to the Ancient Tree Eldarth he saw in the C-rank dungeon before.

For him, it was unfathomable.

Just... he couldn’t understand why such a person was on the 10th floor of the Abyss all of a sudden.

And why the heck did she take his only trump card, Crimson Queen Lash?

Yup, Soren already lost his trump card that could save his life from a fatal danger. And all it took for that person to do so was to come close and take it.

So much for believing in it.

"This is quite ancient, and it seems to like you a lot. Where did you even get this?"

Fortunately, for now, the figure behind seemed interested in the whip and didn’t actively attack.

’Damn... what should I do? The heck is wrong with my luck today?’

Soren thought while sweating bullets. He wondered whether he had made a mistake, increasing his luck directly to 100 points.

Because after doing so, everything went so awry.

’System, add all the points I gained recently to my Luck stat.’

And yet, the first thing he did in this danger was to increase his luck further.

After all, although ironic, Soren felt only this stat might save him from this undeserved calamity now.

Funnily enough, all his recent incredible power-ups proved not useful when he really needed them. Maybe this event could be a wake-up call to Soren.

"Oh... I forgot that you are affected by my aura. I apologize."

While Soren was brainstorming a way out, the figure behind spoke again as if just realizing that Soren couldn’t talk.

So she quickly reined in her aura, freeing Soren completely.

*Swoosh!*

The moment she did so, though, Soren quickly distanced himself and tried to use the S-rank artifact, Dimensional Anchor, to teleport himself away.

He also tried sending a message to Lyra, but all came to naught.

"..."

The prism only shone brightly before dimming on its own while Soren was still in his position, standing awkwardly.

’This fuck!’

Poor Soren, nothing was working when he really needed.

"Pftt... boy, you are inside my domain. How can you teleport so easily? Besides, is there a need to get scared? I won’t bite."

Unsurprisingly, the voice came again, this time from the front, filled with a giggle.

Then slowly, Soren finally saw who was talking all this time as he saw the figure materialize before him.

Tall figure, voluptuous body, with long legs and thick thighs, with that distinct horn on the top of her head, and a long tail resembling a whip.

Smooth silver hair cascaded down her back like moonlight, contrasting beautifully against her soft crimson eyes filled with a naturally seductive charm.

Her pale skin looked almost flawless, while the faint smile on her glossy lips carried a teasing allure capable of drawing anyone in.

Even the slight sway of her hips and tail felt mesmerizing, radiating dangerous beauty and temptation.

However, despite all this, Soren’s gaze was instead focused on her forehead.

Or rather, on that crescent-shaped red moon glowing faintly above her brows, pulsing with an eerie charm that made her already seductive appearance feel even more dangerous.

"Gulp!" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Only... that crescent moon made him visibly gulp as he finally recognized who was in front of him all along.

’Is s-she... demon Lord Lilith?’

Soren’s worldview collapsed the moment he came to this conclusion.

After all, the idea that a bona fide Demon Lord stood before him was just so absurd that he thought he might still be affected by those Mirage Spores.

Maybe he really was hallucinating?

Because even Ruther, the servant, couldn’t possibly summon a demon lord directly in its true form.

Even if... this was inside the Abyss.

Unfortunately, looking at the faint smile and those curious crimson eyes focused on him, it felt as real as his own racing heartbeat.

Now Soren realized that he wasn’t just fucked.

He was royally fucked.