I returned our home while he toured with her novel Chapter 139

Chapter 35

I dragged the three rookies back from the edge of the abyss just in time. They clung to my side, trembling and sputtering thanks like traumatized children.

Then the system voice cut through the noise. It carried a glitchy, sinister undertone this time.

[Achievement unlocked. Altce has conquered the first eight floors. Level Nine is now open.]

[Survivors and monsters, proceed immediately. Time to end this.]

A low sound vibrated through the foundation, like the groan of a slumbering leviathan waking up. The entire Spire began to shudder.

My cleaver buzzed frantically at my hip. “It’s dangerous! Stay put and wait for me.”

The Ninth Floor was unlocked. That meant the invisible barriers were gone, and the monsters were

free to roam.

I tried to get a status report from the rookies, but four familiar figures materialized at the

slaughterhouse entrance. It was my family: Julian, Meg, Bernard, and Eleanor.

Julian pulled me into his cold arms before I could even blink. He checked me for injuries while casually prying Meg off my leg.

It was the end of the world, and father and daughter were still competing for my attention.

Honestly? It was adorable.

We moved out as a massive unit, ascending from the ground floor. The monsters from every floor fell in line behind me, joining the procession to the Ninth Floor.

They followed me willingly, even though they knew they might be marching to their deaths.

We had braced ourselves for a nightmare scenario. We expected a den of horrors.

But reality was anticlimactic.

The Ninth Floor was a vast, hollow chamber with walls lined with thousands of tiny drawers, like an

ancient apothecary.

It was empty, save for one elderly man sitting dead center.

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Mocked for her looks. she divorces and transforms into a beauty. Returns to…

C

He sat behind a modest wooden table, tending to a delicate, antique tea set. Draped in a grey robe, he read a book with half-closed eyes, looking utterly bored.

He sipped his tea with the air of a scholarly hermit. He certainly didn’t look like the Final Boss of

Purgatory.

My four spectral family members immediately formed a protective circle around me.

“Alice, Mom, get back,” they hissed. “He’s on another level.”

I saw the fear in their eyes and understood. Even their combined strength was no match for this old

man.

The other monsters pressed themselves flat against the walls, too terrified to even look at him. The three rookies huddled in the corner like frightened rabbits.

Guess it was time to turn on the charm.

I lifted my chin and slipped past my family’s guard. I sauntered right up to the table and slumped into the chair opposite him like we were old friends.

I stared wide-eyed through my thick lenses, feigning shock. “Did an immortal get lost on his way to heaven?”

A little flattery never hurts.

The man didn’t even look up. He simply poured a cup of tea and slid it across the table.

His voice sounded ancient, like dry leaves skittering on stone. “Child, I can heal that face of yours.”

He lifted the saucer with a hand as gnarled as a dead branch. His eyes, deep and dark as an abyss, finally locked onto mine.

“Alice, don’t do it!” Julian shouted.

The old man merely flicked a finger.

Julian choked on his words, gagged by an unseen hand from thirty feet away.

He did the same to Meg, Bernard, and Eleanor with a casual wave.

I didn’t flinch. I grabbed the cup with a grin and downed it in one gulp.

The liquid hit my stomach before I could even taste it. My scarred face began to burn.

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