Volume 8, Chapter 25 – An Astonishing Coincidence

Although she didn’t know what had happened, she just needed to wait here, right?

Fia stood dumbfounded on the Wall of Sighs.

Technically, the Wall of Sighs was a stone structure, so she should be able to use earth magic to burrow inside. However, that would damage the wall’s structure itself. It was better to wait for the maid who had entered first to realize something was wrong and come out, then discuss it further.

Taking advantage of this time, Fia stood on the Wall of Sighs and surveyed her surroundings. When she had flown up high earlier, she noticed this wasn’t the edge of the World Tree Continent. There were no cliffs like those deep in the Weeping Mountain in her field of vision. Looking around, there was only the gray plain with elevation changes of less than five meters. In the distance, the undead who couldn’t enter the Wall of Sighs still stared fixedly at her. Even from several hundred meters away, the elf’s excellent eyesight allowed Fia to see clearly—these undead envied her, a living person.

The maid had said earlier that only complete, dead souls could pass through the Wall of Sighs. These undead weren’t inside the wall, meaning they weren’t complete. Because of Noreen’s situation and her past investigations into what souls were, Fia had some understanding of the undead. Things like the undead having no sense of pain were just the basics.

There were two ways for the living to become undead. First, dying in a place rich in death energy, such as battlefields or magical beast forests where fierce combat had occurred. This was also the main reason people emphasized cleaning up battlefields—corpses didn’t just spread plague; they would most likely degenerate into undead. The second method was dying with a great regret, holding a strong attachment. Like Estelle’s sister Noreen, who couldn’t bear to leave Estelle behind and so became neither human nor ghost.

Combined with the human countries’ explanation of resurrection magic—that only those who had died within twenty-four hours could potentially be resurrected; otherwise, the soul would cross the Wall of Sighs and be received by the Kingdom of Death—putting these together, the maid’s phrase “complete soul” probably referred to a pure soul that hadn’t been turned undead. Ghosts and souls were similar but different concepts. The former were undead with negative life energy, while souls carried no attributes.

Since Noreen’s soul wasn’t complete, that meant somewhere on this wasteland before her, she should be able to find Noreen wandering outside the Wall of Sighs.

“How am I supposed to find her…”

Gazing at the monotonous, endless wasteland before her, Fia sighed deeply. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. She had no idea what Noreen looked like. The Noreen guarding Estelle was similar to the Antler Chaos—only a general body outline, no facial features.

“Fia?”

Just as Fia sighed, a surprised voice sounded behind her—Lucitine’s. She turned around. Lucitine was still wearing that same black high-slit dress, but beside her hung an ornate long sword with a hilt shaped like a scale. Her floor-length pink hair danced in the breeze, her entire body surrounded by dense magical power, as if she had recently been in a combat state.

That towering scales-sword, as tall as a person, astonished Fia. Rather than calling it a sword, Fia felt its purpose was more like a staff.

“Lucitine? What are you doing here?”

“I—”

Lucitine opened her mouth, but before she could finish, the Wall of Sighs behind her disgorged one after another attendant. Fia recognized these maid and butler figures—they were all the undead from the great hall earlier, the thirteen attendants the fifth-rank maid had mentioned. Nearly all of them had aggressive expressions, as if encountering an invader.

Lucitine’s expression instantly became flustered. She desperately signaled Fia with her eyes, then switched to a stern, unfamiliar tone.

“Fia, did you attack the Wall of Sighs?”

Ah.

Fia instantly understood why Lucitine had appeared.

Probably because she couldn’t cross the Wall of Sighs, Lucitine had sensed it, thought someone was attacking the wall, and rushed over with reinforcements.

All she had done was stand on it quite normally.

One of the maids crouched down, her fingers lightly tracing the Wall of Sighs’s surface.

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“The Wall of Sighs’s magical power is depleted. What did Her Highness the Queen Consort do?”

Depleted magical power? Crossing the Wall of Sighs required magical power?

Fia understood the reason again.

Even teleporting Chaos with the Moon Key required paying a price of life energy. Let alone herself carrying the Moon Key, whose magical power was more terrifying than even the Holy Tree. Herself plus the Moon Key? It would be a miracle if the Wall of Sighs could teleport her successfully.

Fia’s tone became awkward.

“…I just stood on it quite normally. If you don’t believe me, I can step back off and stand on it again.”

“Dealing with Chaos is the priority right now. We can replenish the Wall of Sighs’s magic later. Coincidentally, there’s unusual activity from Chaos. Fia, come with me.”

To maintain a dominant image before her subordinates, Lucitine floated forward and firmly grasped Fia’s hand. Fia could clearly feel Lucitine’s skin tighten slightly upon touching her, and her palm grew moist with sweat—clearly very nervous.

She was now a living person with temperature, capable of reacting to her environment. Disguising herself in front of a group of subordinates who despised the living—just thinking about it felt like walking on thin ice.

How troublesome.

As Fia thought such things, Lucitine, as if proclaiming to everyone that Fia was her wife, wrapped one arm around Fia’s shoulder, pressing Fia’s body close to hers. Then Fia heard Lucitine chanting an incantation. Centered on the scales-sword hovering in the air, two blue magic arrays, one above and one below responding to each other, enveloped them. The characteristic floating sensation of teleportation magic followed enveloped Fia.

In an instant, Fia quickly looked up to warn.

“Hey, don’t teleport me—”

“Ugh!”

She was ultimately too slow.

Crack.

The two blue magic arrays appearing in midair shattered simultaneously. Invisible magical power abruptly radiated outward. Lucitine’s face turned pale in an instant, so much so that Fia discreetly used [Telekinesis] to support Lucitine, preventing her from losing face before her subordinates.

“Your Majesty?”

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“…I’m fine. You all go to the front lines first. That Chaos just now used a curse on me, making it impossible to teleport Fia down below.”

“Then let me do it.”

A maid with a figure as striking as Lucitine’s stepped forward. Fia’s headache intensified. She wanted to explain that she was the problem—that she was too powerful, making it impossible for anyone to teleport her. But in these undead’s eyes, Lucitine’s status was akin to a deity. Deliberately emphasizing that she was stronger than Lucitine would make Lucitine lose all face.

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Fortunately, Lucitine, wearing her black veil, waved her hand and commanded in a detached tone.

“No need. You all return.”

“Yes.”

Although the maid wanted to say more, she didn’t disobey Lucitine’s command. As they disappeared, the area above the Wall of Sighs quickly quieted down.

Lucitine released her arm from around Fia’s shoulder, her brow furrowed tightly. Her gaze at her own palm was filled with shock and uncertainty.

“Magical power drained… impossible. Was this a premeditated plot by Chaos? When did they become so clever?”

“Ahem, it seems you’ve encountered a bit of trouble,” Fia averted her gaze guiltily. Lucitine’s pale face already indicated her magical power was completely exhausted, not a drop left. “Is there another way to enter the Wall of Sighs? It seems you’re fighting Chaos—maybe I can help you.”

“It’s not really a problem. I sensed the Wall of Sighs’s lament and rushed over, never expecting this kind of thing… Did Fia notice anything just now? When I activated the teleportation, I felt like I was carrying something incredibly heavy, and my magic was drained in an instant.”

Earlier, she had used respectful language, but now it had become “Fia.”

Perhaps Lucitine genuinely thought of her as queen in her heart.

Fia chose an answer that was both honest and dishonest.

“I didn’t notice anything.”

Lucitine looked as if she expected as much.

“Just as I thought. Only I could feel that heaviness. You carry my blessing. To cross the Wall of Sighs, you only need to chant this incantation. The prerequisite is that before chanting, you must imagine my appearance in your heart. The more positive the emotion, the faster the teleportation. Today, Chaos’s offensive is much weaker than last time—it’s an opportunity to annihilate them. Hurry.”

Lucitine’s expression didn’t seem like she was joking. Especially when mentioning Chaos, her clear pink eyes were filled with hatred, as if she wanted to tear Chaos apart the next moment.

Fia couldn’t help but feel relieved. Thank goodness she had from the very beginning concealed her relationship with the Antler Chaos. Otherwise, it would definitely cause misunderstandings. Thinking about fighting alongside the undead, her expression turned serious.

“Understood. Tell me the incantation.”

“Mm.”

As it turned out, Fia didn’t take long to cross the Wall of Sighs.

During the learning process, Fia noticed a strange coincidence. The incantation Lucitine taught her was identical to the demon language Claire used, and it even required emotions to activate. If she chanted the incantation without imagining Lucitine, the magic wouldn’t work. But if she imagined Lucitine’s appearance—though she couldn’t help but think of that noble, unclothed figure of Lucitine in the sarcophagus—she could instantly arrive on the other side of the Wall of Sighs.

There was no massive city here as she had imagined. Instead, it was an exceptionally spacious, empty black hall. The floor and walls were densely paved with cyan stone slabs. The entire space exuded a sense of lonely coldness. There wasn’t a single sound, not even an undead. The most conspicuous thing was the wide passage in the shadows ahead, looking very similar to the passages in the Holy Tree that led straight underground.

Because the air wasn’t connected to the outside, Fia couldn’t breathe in this environment. The suffocating feeling made her very uncomfortable.

“It’s good that you made it down.”

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Seeing Fia appear before her, Lucitine, who had come down first, breathed a sigh of relief. Then, as if remembering something, she instantly appeared in front of Fia, her elegant face marked with anxiety.

“Living beings can’t breathe here. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s good. I was just thinking, if you couldn’t breathe, whether I should do that thing where I transfer air to you… you know… k… kiss…”

Don’t just get embarrassed on your own.

Fia couldn’t help but feel helpless toward this fantasy-prone queen.

“Aren’t you a living being too? How come you don’t need to breathe?”

“I am, after all, a ninth-rank. Magic can improve one’s physical constitution. Not breathing for a long time is nothing. Besides, there are spells that filter air. Ah, but that spell consumes a lot of magic here, so Fia probably can’t use it. If it’s really uncomfortable, don’t worry about my feelings—just say so. I’ll transfer air to you. It’s perfectly normal for couples to do this sort of thing. You don’t need to be embarrassed. And my subordinates won’t say anything; on the contrary, they’ll only envy us.”

In other words, she was issuing a kissing invitation.

This one’s thought processes couldn’t be judged by normal logic.

“How weak do you think I am, exactly?”

“Seventh rank? My people investigated and found you’re a seventh-rank.”

“That’s intel from who knows how long ago. I’m the one who created your living body. Don’t you suspect I might be stronger than you?”

“I shouldn’t be arrogant, but I must emphasize—no one stronger than me has been born here. Even the Absolute Evil and their ilk show me deference.”

Although her magical power was still in a very pitiful state, Lucitine puffed out her trembling chest, her queenly face full of pride.

Don’t cry when that pride gets shattered.

Fia snorted inwardly.

“…You’ll find out. More importantly, where’s this battlefield you mentioned?”

“Below.”

At the mention of business, Lucitine’s expression turned serious. She took Fia’s hand and quickly flew toward the only deep passage in the hall.

“I explained to Fia before, our war with Chaos has lasted ten thousand years. This is because Chaos vainly attempts to break through from underground to the surface. Unfortunately, the kingdom of the dead happens to lie right in their path. So they decided to start by eliminating us undead first. Initially, the Death Queens didn’t notice anything abnormal. But as more and more undead inexplicably disappeared, the Death Queen of that generation finally realized that the missing undead were being devoured by Chaos. Chaos uses the undead as nourishment, devouring us to strengthen themselves.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be reduced to livestock. And so the war began. Fia mentioned wanting to cooperate with us to deal with Chaos—have you encountered Chaos before?”

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“Yes. That black slime that corrodes everything. But as far as I know, the World Tree Continent is protected by something called the World Tree Barrier. The barrier only allows people from the surface to go below, not the other way around. How do those Chaos get up to the World Tree Continent?”

“We’ve never penetrated deep into Chaos territory, so we don’t know what’s down there. In any case, Chaos comes to us. Hah, since Fia already knows so much, I won’t dwell on what you already know. Chaos also has grades. The slime-like Chaos are low-level existences used as nourishment by powerful Chaos. The troublesome ones are those with horns on their heads and eyes occupying most of their faces. Their individual strength can reach as high as the ninth rank—are you feeling unwell?”

Noticing Fia’s hand suddenly tighten, Lucitine turned back and asked with concern.

“If you’re uncomfortable, you can go back to the surface first. Their offensive this time is much weaker than before. We don’t have to be so urgent.”

“Uh… I’m a bit confused. Give me a moment to think.”

Fia made up an excuse to brush it off.

Based on Lucitine’s description, a terrible fact presented itself before Fia.

The Chaos that had been struggling with Lucitine for ten thousand years was none other than the Eye tribe.

It couldn’t be the same tribe, right…

Fia prayed inwardly. But she hadn’t forgotten Milan’s assurance that only their tribe had deer antlers on their heads, with eyes occupying most of their faces. Combined with the fact that Chaos shouldn’t be able to reach the surface, there was no other possibility—Lucitine had been struggling with Milan all along.

Come to think of it, Milan had said they cultivated Chaos as nourishment to sustain their population by having Chaos devour the magical essence and elements of the World Tree Continent. And they had always faced the predicament of insufficient nourishment to maintain their population size. Logically, if they were devouring the World Tree Continent’s magical essence and elements, they shouldn’t lack nourishment. The World Tree Continent was vast beyond measure—even eating a bit of dirt could serve as feed. If nourishment was insufficient, there must be another reason—such as being suppressed.

Combined with Lucitine’s statement that Chaos devoured undead, the matter had formed a closed loop.

What in the world was this…

Fia could only bare her teeth and draw in a sharp breath.

“You look terrible. You really should go back to the surface and rest. Hmm, it seems I need to build a palace on the surface too. Ever since I became conscious, I’ve felt it was too cruel to shut out the undead outside the wall. Now is the time to announce the Queen Consort’s existence to all undead. Let them know it was you who requested the palace be built, so they’ll be grateful to you.”

No, no, that’s not what’s giving me a headache.

Fia denied it repeatedly. She had to go to the front lines and carefully confirm things for herself.

After all, they might be Chaos with ox horns or goat horns. There were so many Chaos in the world—it wouldn’t be strange for similar individuals to arise.

Fia comforted herself with this thought inwardly, even as her mind considered how to handle it if they truly were sworn enemies. Racial hatred was absolutely not something that could be resolved with a few words. Even if Milan’s side was easier to deal with because she was their Father God, that didn’t mean Lucitine would let them off.

Fia increasingly felt that concealing Milan and the others’ existence from the beginning had been a prescient decision.

“Ahem, I’m fine. Let’s go to the battlefield first. Is the battlefield through this passage? And where is the kingdom of the dead exactly?”

“The kingdom of the dead is above. The Wall of Sighs is a gate with teleportation capabilities. The Death Queen can set the destination anywhere in the kingdom of the dead. To facilitate summoning surface undead to assist in battle, past queens built this hall to gather soldiers and set the destination here. Fia, once we enter the passage, you must be extremely careful. It’s as intricate as an ant nest inside. If you get lost, you’ll be trapped and die inside, never to return. Trust that no matter what happens, I’ll protect you. Hold my hand tight and don’t let go.”