"This isn't where I entered from."

A hollow voice rings out, "I see you're sufficiently perceptive. So it wasn't entirely a wasted effort."

I turn towards the source of the voice and see a skeleton dressed in tattered clothes. And I doubt it wants to work as my second in command, lacks the scythe for that. Shit.

"Uh... hi?"

"As you might guess, I was the one that brought you here. I have some business with you."

Name Basluth Status none Age 534.628 Classes Sorcerer 93, Druid 92, Scholar 91, Cleric 92, Fire Shaper 90

Bishop 89, Lore Seeker 83, Soul Keeper 87, Elven Sage 90, Ritualist 85

Shadow Sorcerer 86, Venomancer 84, Spirit Keeper 90, Sky Whisperer 87, Chaos Magician 89 Race Woof Elf 68, Shadow Elf 67 Extra Lich 75, High Lich 72, Lord of Death 71, Arch Lich 70, Lich King 69

Superior Undead 73, Daywalker 72, Necromancer 73, Destroyer 71, Spiritualist 74 Divine Calamity Origin 100 HP 62134/62134 MP 98499/98499 SP 60130/60130 STR 5749 DEX 5978 VIT 5789 [7706] +10 MAG 12180 FTH 10867 WIL 11135 CHA 9965 Equipment Rags Skills - Weapon Curse Hand 73, Mace Training 92 Skills - Magic Animate Dead 73, Arcane Glyphs 83, Cure Magic 273 (Rank 9), Curse Magic 164 (Rank 9), Dark Magic 142 (Rank 9), Earth Magic 92 (Rank 9), Fire Magic 90 (Rank 9), Holy Magic 181 (Rank 9), Ice Magic 72 (Rank 9), Light Magic 69 (Rank 9), Lightning Magic 93 (Rank 9), Poison Magic 84 (Rank 9), Prismatic Barrage 90, Space Magic 90 (Rank 9), Spirit Household 74, Summon Spirit 90 (Rank 9), System Shock 84, Water Magic 90 (Rank 9), Wind Magic 93 (Rank 9) Skills - Status Charm Eye 86, Illusion 86, Intimidation 70, Invisibility 86, Stealth 67 Skills - Special Air Jump 87, Aura of Undeath 71, Dominate Undead 144, Force of Devastation 71, Friendly Fire 90, Healing Aura 89, High Magic Ritual 90, Magical Wings 87, Mana Reserve 85, Meditation 84, Scrutinize 91, Soul Steal 87, Wolf Shape 68, [SEALED SKILL] 87, [SEALED SKILL] 87 Skills - Passive Ailment Boost 89, Alter Shapes 90, Channeled Spell 85, Contractual Status Immunity 100, Curiosity 68, Cursed Touch 72, Dark Lord 100, Extra Language 91, Extra Summon 90, Font of Power 100, Keen Perception 83, Magical Secret 83, Mana Boost 89, Mana Regeneration 69, Max Rank Magic 100, Necromancy Boost 71, Physical Resistance 211, Overload Spell, Quick Learning 91, Ritual Spell 85, Sleepless 75, Slow Fall 87, Summon Expertise 74, Sunlight Immunity 69, Sunlight Tolerance 72, Supernatural Toughness 70, Total Destruction 71, Tracking 92, Undead 75 Weakness Water, Fire, Light, Holy none

I hope this... person just wants to talk...

Any of those overleveled bosses I had to stall out with bugged cold status? He(?) could probably one-shot them.

Is it a he, a she, something else? Heck if I know. And what the hell is a Woof Elf? ...did it say 'Ed...ward' in the past?

Please be friendly...

"So, what can I help you with? Sorry, I've no idea how to pronounce your name... Bassloof? Basluf? Well, I'm Jared Delacroix, just call me Jared?"

"It is... Basluth. Base. Loof, like aloof. Please remember that."

"S-sure, ...Basluth."

The skeleton gestures, "Come, let's have some treats and talk over there. Don't worry, I've prepared some appropriate snacks for a vampire."

Why do I get the feeling that the overpowered lich is more nervous than I am?

We start walking towards the pointed-at table. There are several plates with cookies on them.

I take a seat. It is quite a comfortable chair, can I keep it?

"What do you want to talk about with me?"

"I have an important proposal for you. Here, are you familiar with this gem?"

I get handed a truth gem, "Uh, yeah, got me into trouble a few times... so I take it you don't trust me even after abducting me personally, right?"

"On the contrary. I want you to trust me. If you have seen my skills, you should know that I have the [Dominate Undead] skill. If I wanted to I could force you to do my bidding, but if I would rather refrain from doing that to a business partner. Really sours the mood."

The gem stays green the whole time but that doesn't mean word trickery can't be at play. Not that I can verify that the lich can't just blatantly overpower the gem's detection in the first place. Who knows, maybe there's a level cap on the gem as to how far it can check someone.

"Umm, thank you? That's reassuring. So how do you know about me in the first place?"

I take one of the cookies and try to eat it. It indeed has a chocolaty taste with a faint trace of blood. I better not ask where they got that...

"I take it you have at least a passing understanding of the system. I have admin access... is that a term you know from your previous life?"

"Yeah, I do. I thought only the devas were able to mess around with it?"

"Well, that is a longer story and it ties into what you need to know anyway. Mind if I start from the beginning?"

"Would that also explain why you chose me specifically?"

"Hmm... I didn't choose you personally per se. But I need someone with a very specific skillset, so to speak. Bluntly put, I need someone that is or at least was a 'Lost One' but has also ties with demons or is at least willing to entertain them, yet is not allied with the Creed of Whispers while also willing to go against a deva. You can imagine how limited that pool of candidates is."

"Sure. So, I'm the only candidate for that position?"

"Nah, I had twelve others before you, or at least tried to talk to them but it didn't work out. Some attacked me on sight and found out the hard way that a single bitchslap would kill them. Others declined my offer with varying levels of politeness. ...and one of them pissed his pants and died from cardiac arrest."

I guess that is one way to lose some of my predecessors... be careful what you do now, Jared.

"I... can imagine... Say, can I take some of the cookies with me? My wife would probably love to have some as well."

"I don't mind, they are all yours. Hmm... that reminds me, do you still have the three Title Cards the Creed sent you?"

"Uh, yes, I do. That 'B' person was you then?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Indeed. Can I have them, please?"

"That depends, what do you want them for?"

"As I initially said, I have an offer for you. But for that, I need you to be stronger. Whether you accept my offer is up to you, and there are a few things I'm willing to give you whether you accept or not. See it as an investment from my side. Those cards though... as far as I can see they are 'fake' in some form. I want to investigate what exactly the Creed has done to create those and what the effective differences are. A normal person wouldn't be able to see the differences between them and a real Title Card."

"Okay, they weren't of much use to me anyway."

I take out the three Title Cards and hand them to the lich, "Here."

"Thank you. This might prove very helpful to my cause."

The lich stores the cards in its inventory, "So what I want you to do is kill the deva Gyev Brightborough. No, not just kill, I want you to destroy his very soul! I think you know who I am talking about. According to my research, he was the one responsible for sending you to this world."

That came out of nowhere. What relationship do these two have?

Though I'm not 100% sure that Basluth talks about the same Jeff I know. He never gave his last name and the pronunciation is a different kind of weird from what even Eva or Elly had.

Also, forget the soul destruction business, I wouldn't even know how to find him. Where even is the deva realm? Can a regular person like me even enter it? I took it to be some kind of 'god-exclusive club'.

"That's a cold start... I mean... so far Jeff was acting suspicious, yes, but nothing that warrants outright murder so far."

"Understandable. But before you make up your mind, let me first recite the story of why he has to disappear."

"That would certainly be preferable. I'm listening."

"So about nine-thousand years ago, I was still a regular elf. I worked as a magic researcher. Back then, monsters weren't as widespread as they are today. And instead of this artificial seal on our world, it was engulfed by a natural 'story bubble' as the devas call it. With me so far?"

"Yeah, the devas explained that one. Those bubbles separate a world from the universe until a specific 'story' is completed, like a final fight of good versus evil or something."

"Good. In the final year before the bubble's story was cleared, a final demon assault destroyed my hometown and killed my back then fiance. To be honest, I never got over losing her. Well, four years later, I met a certain girl in a bar. Her name was Yulia. She was about to be forcefully married to Gyev. In our drunken stupor, we bonded over our similar problems. As it turned out, she as well lost someone important to her during that demon assault. She wasn't over it but circumstances lead her to be together with Gyev. She complained a lot that he would either neglect her or when he was home for once would physically abuse her. But despite that, she couldn't bring herself to abandon him. She could never tell me why though."

"I'm no expert in psychology, but sadly such situations are common."

"Yeah. So eventually, she concedes that she only wants to forget everything about her old life and start over, away from the abuser. But as long as she has her memories of him... she just can't. So, I ended up researching if there was a way to obtain magic to modify memories. I wanted her to forget her painful past, so she can start over. And then... I screwed up. Something in my magic research went wrong and I turned into a lich. I suspect my rage over how this Gyev jerk mistreated her was at fault."

"That's a lot to take in."

"...it gets better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it. As you know, getting transformed into an undead messes up your mind. Sanity clearly is not in the cards for me anymore."

"Right..."

"So, eventually the day arrived when their wedding is fully planned and Gyev holds his bachelor party. I ended up kidnapping one of his drunken guests on their way home."

"Why did you drag an unrelated person into this?"

"...it was an honest mix-up. I thought I had Gyev, I wanted to teach him a lesson but as it turns out I never met that guy directly in my whole existence. Well, my former research into memory manipulation then allowed me to find out who my unintended guest was. As luck would have it, he was one of the system admins and in his drunken state didn't even resist when I tried to scan his mind for the password. I got it and then changed it."

"So you're the culprit that everything in the system is falling apart?"

"...not really. The system was already a mess, I only prevented further garbage from those fools. As far as I can see, there's still one other in the system. No one else was able to get back in. Serves them right for abusing a poor girl!"

"How did you even read his mind? I didn't see a skill in your stats that suggests you could do that."

"A combination of dark and wind magic. Took me a couple of years to master that."

"Alright... Well, so far I'd say both of you are monsters that need to be dealt with. ...but please continue, what happens next?"

"Right, so I took the liberty to add a few skills and classes to the system so I can take them. I also took over this dungeon. After that I search far and wide for where Yulia was kept. It took me a while but eventually, I found her whereabouts... they had changed her into some weird purple-skinned, orange-eyed monster. I took her back with me into this dungeon, intending to change her back somehow."

Why would they turn her into a monster? Even if I accept that the devas aren't remotely close to being the good guys, this still makes no sense. Abuse or not, Jeff seemed to care for her in his own strange way...

The lich continues, "Needless to say, I failed. No matter what I tried or researched I could make no progress. Over the next few years, I had a few fights with some of the devas until eventually one of them managed to find my dungeon. At that point, it was just a duel between him and me and I ended up killing him. But before he passed away, he used a specific form of sealing magic on me trapping me in this dungeon. This seal had a steep cost, for one the soul of the caster, for another... the one the target loves the most. The latter would then be used as the seal itself."

"What kind of bullshit seal is that!?"

"You ask the wrong one, Jared. I didn't invent that. Anyway, ever since that day, I'm trapped here as the final boss of my own dungeon. If you want to enter this dungeon properly, you have to destroy Yulia's soul. If you want to use the dungeon's exit behind me, you have to destroy me or the door stays closed."

"So you're trapped in here. Basluth, can't you do something with your admin access?"

"No. To do anything of import with that access, I need DP. And as long as the demon artifact exists, it sucks up all DP that isn't already collected."

"What is DP?"

"Divine power? Divinity points? Heck if I know. It is the currency used to enact divine powers like anything to do with the admin access."

"Well, I'm no god, so it is of no concern to me."

Bone rattling noises

The lich laughs, "Oh, you are so wrong there, little blood elf. For a fact, I know that you have agreed to the Demon Lord title. As such you will gain a divine class. Did you truly think that it is called 'divine' just for laughs?"

"It... what?"

"All major divine classes are the first step into godhood. Well, maybe not the small fries like Hero Candidates."

That is news to me...

"So given enough time, I'll step into the realm of gods?"

"Exactly."

"What even does that mean? What is a 'god' in this context?"

"I'll properly teach you that when the time comes."

"Huh... Wait, so... I heard that you need divine intervention to free a slave. Would that mean I just need to sufficiently grow with the divine class?"

"Hmm... not sure", the lich scratches its non-existent chin, "That depends on the exact action, and I'm not into slavery."

"Neither am I, that's why I want to free the slaves that were pushed unto me."

"Fine, let me check..."

The lich gestures as if looking through a menu.

I eat another cookie. Cherry flavor.

"Doesn't look too good. Just freeing them seems to be a higher-level task. You would need to be at least on the level of a world-renowned god, not just a random one. But you can replace it. As a vampire, you could switch them from slaves to familiars. Well, once you've obtained your divine class."

"Not sure I would want that... I promised Anna that I'd do my best so that she could become a hero... Does either status interfere with that goal?"

"That's a tough one... hmmm... hero trial requirements... bluntly put, they are treated the same and don't automatically disqualify her. But that doesn't mean she is guaranteed to succeed either."

"Honestly, that's a relief. ...say, can't you just tell me the admin password? Then I could look for the answers myself."

"Are you serious?", the lich's mouth stays agape.

"Why not? You've stolen the access code as well."

The lich facepalms, "...be my guest. You don't need a password, you only need to be known in the security crystal that I've stored in the next room. Just need to lay your hand on it and think '#JUSTICEFORYULIA'. Easy-peasy."

"So that's a no then, I have no access to that room. Can't you just pretend to be a puzzle boss and give me an easy quiz?"

"No, I don't have the necessary extra class for that."

If the skeleton still had lungs you could probably see them now take a deep breath.

"Alright, enough fooling around. You've heard my side of the story. Now, will you help me?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I understand why you have done all of that but you've still caused a lot of problems for people that were not involved. Also, I feel like I'm missing important information from the events, Basluth. The gem supports that you've told the truth from your point of view but there are too many unknowns to take it as the full truth."

"That's fair. I have told you everything that I know. I don't know much about Yulia's situation besides what she has told me. For all we know, it could've been greatly exaggerated. Could you at least agree to destroy the demon artifact? That's also a massive thorn in my side."

"That's something I have to accomplish anyway, so yes. But as for Jeff... I don't even know how I could find him. But if I do... I want to at least hear his side of the story first. I can't promise anything beyond that."

"No, no, that's alright. I can work with that, Jared. But I can guarantee you, you won't improve your impression of him."

"I need to verify that for myself. This is too tall a tale."

"Understandable. I'll do what I can to get you that far. If you then decide to not go through with it... well, then we go our separate paths."

As far as deals with a devil-counterpart go, this one seems reasonable so far. ...and that makes me even more worried I'm walking right into a trap. I really need to check the fine print on this.

I really need all the help I can get but... this is too much in my favor. I only have to agree to two things I already wanted to do: destroy the artifact and get Jeff to talk. Just for that I already receive aid from what is basically an evil god.

There must be a catch.