Volume 8, Chapter 46 – The Silently Approaching Pure White Ghost

The group moved through the seemingly endless ant tunnels.

Even in the broadest sense, the environment of the ant tunnels couldn’t be described as “easy to traverse.” They weren’t man-made tunnels, but the result of Chaos erosion. So some places were so narrow that one could only crawl on hands and knees, and some were even too narrow for crawling, requiring magic or a heavy hammer to violently break through to continue. Adding to that, some sections were vertical cliffs requiring climbing, and the rock walls, eroded by Chaos, were so brittle that a single touch would send down a shower of debris. Even cave exploration enthusiasts would disdain such a place.

If not for [Guidance of the Stone Spirit] leading the way, Fia wouldn’t have wanted to come to this godforsaken place at all.

“Lady Fia, we’re almost there.”

Afla, dressed in a maid outfit with her black hair tied in twin tails, whispered from behind Fia. It was worth mentioning that her gaze wasn’t solely on Fia; she also from time to time glanced at the silver-haired girl beside Fia, whose hair spread like liquid mercury, her eyes filled with awe. This woman in the dark green dress was, of course, Claire.

For some reason, whenever Afla looked at Claire, a respect from the bottom of her heart rose in her chest. This respect was infinitely close to the innate pressure the Queen of Death held over the undead. She was certain that if a mindless skeleton appeared before Claire and Fia, the skeleton would definitely attack the stronger Fia—this was the result of aura suppression.

Fia, leading the way at the front of the ant tunnel, stopped.

She had been keeping [Seeker’s Enlightenment] active and could sense that she was still some distance from the predetermined position. The group should advance a bit further. But thinking that it was all something that could be solved with a single [Great Void], she didn’t care much about the distance.

In fact, she didn’t need the cooperation of the undead warriors at all; she could destroy an entire Chaos nest by herself. The reason she didn’t do so was to preserve Lucitine’s face. Appearing overwhelmingly powerful in front of the Thirteen Attendants could be excused as an act of God, but if she appeared far stronger than Lucitine in front of ordinary undead, Lucitine, as the Queen of Death, would lose all dignity.

She nodded.

“Count the numbers. Contact the undead in the other passages. Any Chaos that slips away today will become stronger enemies in the future. When the fight starts, don’t let even a single drop of Chaos escape.”

“Contact will take about five minutes. Please wait a moment, Lady Fia.”

After instructing this, Afla left without looking back. Fia glanced at the remaining undead hanging back about ten meters away. After confirming they wouldn’t suddenly attack her, a living person, she took a cushion from her storage magic and placed it on the gravel-covered ground. Then, curving her lips, she took Claire’s warm hand, and the two sat down together on the cushion.

Although they were on the verge of battle and the surroundings were hardly romantic, this feeling of sitting closely with her lover filled Fia with satisfaction. Especially when their arms were pressed together, her skin could clearly feel Claire’s body temperature. This filled Fia with warmth, deepening her love for Claire.

If not for the undead occasionally glancing over, Fia would have wanted to gently embrace Claire’s neck from the front, or sit sideways on Claire’s lap, to more deeply experience the intimate attachment of lovers’ skin-to-skin contact.

“Little Fia has had a dissatisfied expression for a while now. We’re on the front lines, you know?”

Claire quietly leaned close to Fia’s ear and breathed, her voice full of teasing. Fia’s cheeks flushed, and with a “hmph,” she turned her face away.

“It’s just that the undead world is always cold, but being with Claire is very warm. That’s why I want to be closer to Claire—who asked Claire to always have that nice scent?”

Despite her tsundere words, Fia actually brought Claire’s hand to her nose and gently sniffed it. This made Claire pretend to be annoyed and withdraw her hand, while also not forgetting to pinch Fia’s pointed elf ear.

“Little pervert. Even if you want to do it, wait until we’re somewhere without people.”

“I just missed Claire’s scent.” Enjoying this intimate atmosphere, Fia gently leaned her head against Claire for a moment. Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly sat up straight, her ruby-like eyes becoming serious. “Did Claire feel anything special? Also, what do the words on the Wall of Sighs say?”

“Special…”

Claire furrowed her brows, her right hand resting on her chin, her clear emerald-green eyes showing contemplation. Because the ant tunnel had only extremely faint light, the faint silver glow on Claire’s silver hair and skin became very conspicuous—this wasn’t Claire using magic; she didn’t know why it happened either.

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“Ever since entering the Wall of Sighs, I’ve had a feeling of familiarity. But to say where this familiarity comes from, I can’t recall at the moment. I can only be sure it comes from another world in my memories.”

“As for the words on the Wall of Sighs, the general meaning is: ‘This is the underworld that absorbs the souls of the deceased from this world. Do not enter if you are not dead.’ And also phrases like: ‘May the glory of the Demon Lord Tartaros shine upon the underworld.’ Tartaros is the same Tartaros from [High-Level Genesis]. Since the Queen of Death governs the world of the dead and also has Tartaros in her name, I think the Queen of Death must be a relative of Tartaros, or somehow connected. The name ‘Demon Lord’ in my original world represented the strongest. I never thought I would be using a Demon Lord’s magic.”

“When Claire overuses her magic, she looks a lot like a Demon Lord… with demon horns and a tail, and a very assertive personality.”

“The assertiveness only works on Little Fia. Doesn’t Little Fia like it that way?”

“I… I do not! I don’t like being bullied!”

Mentioning something embarrassing, Fia instantly blushed, to the point where her pointed ears became burning hot, and she denied it loudly.

Then, her loud, sweet-voiced rebuttal echoed layer upon layer through the narrow space down the ant tunnels. Although the ant tunnel was extremely dim, Fia felt she could see the undead politely averting their gazes.

Well…

Both Fia and Claire were too embarrassed to speak, their faces completely red, their gazes each fixed on the ground. Ultimately, Fia, whose shame point was slightly higher than Claire’s, spoke first. She covered her mouth with her right hand and coughed heavily.

“Ahem. So in summary, there’s no clear clue. We need to see the first Venex to understand the situation, is that right?”

“Yes. I just hope she doesn’t go mad like Little Fia said.”

Claire’s hope was also Fia’s. Compared to dealing with troublesome matters like Chaos, she was more concerned about Claire’s past. Now that the wedding was set for two months later, although Claire didn’t say she wasn’t qualified like she had with Yelido, Fia could feel from the occasional worried look in Claire’s eyes that Claire wasn’t at ease. She wanted Claire to completely feel at ease before the wedding. Whether it was lifting the curse or understanding everything about Claire, both were necessary.

She needed to quickly advance the plan to assist Lucitine in “eliminating” Chaos, preferably within a week, no, five days.

Calculating in her mind, Fia noticed Afla jogging over from a distance.

“Lady Fia, we can begin!”

Fia and Claire withdrew from their casual chat and stood up together. The former’s expression was serious.

“Are you coming in with me, or staying here?”

“We will fight alongside you.”

Afla’s answer had no hesitation. This wasn’t her showing loyalty, but as an undead, she harbored strong hatred for Chaos.

“Good.”

Fia on the surface expressed satisfaction, but in reality, bitterness rose in her throat. How would she resolve the conflict between the two sides in the future?

Without further exchange, Fia and Afla’s group advanced along the prescribed route through the ant tunnels. It should be mentioned that to prevent Chaos from escaping, Afla left a few undead in the tunnels. Fia also had Claire stay there to rest. There were no Eyes in this Chaos nest, only ordinary Chaos, which would indiscriminately attack any living thing or undead that approached. Although this wasn’t a problem for Claire, Fia didn’t want to assign meaningless, boring work to Claire.

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Soon, everyone arrived at the cliff face of the large cavity.

This large cavity was about the size of two standard football fields combined. The air was filled with the stench of rotten rats. Afla, standing behind Fia, took out a pocket watch to confirm the time. When the minute hand crossed a certain mark, she slammed her great shield, which was taller than herself, onto the ground with a “thud.” The azure flames in her hollow eye sockets suddenly blazed intensely.

At the same time, Fia’s hand lit up with [Light], like a flare. In an instant, the pitch-black large cavity, constantly emitting the sound of slimy wriggling, became brightly lit.

This was the horn signaling the start of the battle.

Accompanied by the wordless roars of the undead, the undead warriors prepared long ago descended like heavenly soldiers, leaping down from the caves on the cliff face. Simultaneously, the chanting of undead archmages echoed within the large cavity. Before the undead warriors even reached the ground, a wave of bombardments, mainly fire magic, resounded one after another in the cavity.

These flames weren’t the orange-red of [Fairy Fire], but the undead’s unique azure flames that brought negative life. Fia could catch a glimpse of the Chaos writhing and struggling in the flames. Yet the undead warriors who fell into the flames seemed not to feel the fire’s temperature, moving freely within the sea of fire.

For the warriors, although ordinary weapons couldn’t harm Chaos, by attaching elemental magic on their weapons, each strike could form a magic attack effect. For a time, the cave echoed with the cacophony of battle cries and the clashing of weapons.

Even though the Chaos resisted fiercely, forming tsunamis and whirlpools trying to devour the undead warriors, or differentiating into spikes and vines Fia had seen before to counterattack, the tier gap was too obvious. Whenever the Chaos showed signs of condensing, the undead archmages flying in the air would suppress them with magic. Large-scale freezing magic and fire magic, even earth magic—as long as they slightly slowed the Chaos’ movements, their offensive would be quickly neutralized by other undead archmages. Any Chaos that leaped up would always be forcibly blasted apart by even more magic.

At this rate, even if she didn’t intervene, the Chaos would be annihilated.

Losing their advantage of endless numbers and lacking powerful individual cover, Chaos were no different from slimes. In the future, when facing Chaos, equipping the undead warriors with magic furnaces would definitely be the optimal solution.

Standing alone at the entrance of the cliff, Fia calmly surveyed the battlefield below. All she needed to do now was wait for the battle to end.

Lucitine’s side should have started too, right?

She calculated in her mind. Then, a cold, sweet breeze, like the taste of mint candy, brushed her face. Fia couldn’t help but frown. Her position was a full one or two hundred meters above the ground; the airflow from the battle couldn’t possibly reach her cliff. Not to mention, this scent also carried a fragrance that didn’t exist in the kingdom of the dead.

Driven by curiosity, she turned her head to the right. Her ruby-like eyes widened.

Appearing beside her was a mature girl with a pair of white horns on her head and silver hair spreading like liquid mercury. Her skin was as lustrous as white jade, and her crimson eyes, without a trace of impurity, reflected Fia’s stunned face.

Her curvaceous, beautiful figure was perfectly covered by a conservative-style pure white long dress. Her ankles, wrapped in fine white silk and peeking out from the hem, seductively drew Fia’s gaze like a fairy. Every gesture revealed an otherworldly temperament. In this dark, filthy world, she seemed like a pure white spirit from a land of snow, so flawlessly white that the very air around her seemed to become pure.

This suddenly appearing girl was looking at Fia with curious eyes, those large eyes constantly blinking, as if no matter how much she looked, it wasn’t enough.

After the initial surprise, Fia immediately reacted. She turned her body, putting distance between herself and the girl, while probing the other’s strength.

Her magic power appeared crimson red within [Wind of Exploration].

Ninth Tier.

She also noticed that the girl wasn’t wearing shoes; her soft feet, covered in white silk, floated in the air. Her hair and skirt also floated anti-gravitationally upward, as if weightless. Fia had seen many similar beings in the kingdom of the dead—this was a ghost.

A subordinate of Lucitine? But with Ninth Tier strength, she should at least be one of the Thirteen Attendants. Yet Fia hadn’t seen anyone like this among them. Moreover, the horns on the girl’s head and the demon tail behind her looked exactly like Claire’s, even her hair was the same silver color.

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“Who are you…?”

Fia asked first. If the girl had quietly approached her, she would have noticed earlier. The fact that she only sensed her after she appeared beside her meant she had probably used the ghost’s innate talent of passing through walls.

Crk—

While Fia was still waiting for an answer, the girl produced an ice crystal rapier from somewhere and stabbed it at Fia. Although the speed was like lightning, under Fia’s extremely acute dynamic vision, she easily caught the rapier between two fingers. Applying force with her hand, the girl’s ice crystal rapier shattered inch by inch, the crisp sound extremely piercing.

This was an attack filled with killing intent. Fia could feel the massive force behind the ice crystal rapier. That strike just now wasn’t a test; she had intended to kill from the start.

Facing the slightly wide-eyed, seemingly surprised white fairy, Fia’s eyes narrowed with hostility.

“Are you prepared to die?”

“Oh my, you wouldn’t show mercy even to a beautiful girl who’s your enemy? You’re as expected of the one I’ve set my sights on. Silvar’s Eldest Princess, the Witch of Calamity Flame, the Regent of Cold Night, Dofilia Alexia Yushir—a nice name, isn’t it? Don’t you think I look a lot like someone close to you? Even if I were her, could you still bring yourself to kill me?”

“Claire is Claire. You are you.”

“Oh? So her name is Claire.”

Even facing a hostile Fia, the girl floating in the air showed no fear. She rested her chin on her finger, nodding thoughtfully. Then she withdrew her killing intent towards Fia, instead putting her hands behind her back and revealing a quite cheerful smile.

“Don’t be so angry. I just wanted to test your strength. I didn’t expect you to be this strong, as expected. How about we make a deal? I’ll replace that person called Claire and stay by your side. No matter what you want to do to me, I’ll comply. Let me meow naked calling you master, or something rougher—I’ll gladly go along with it. Ah, if I can’t be your main wife, a mistress is fine too. How about it? A girl you can wantonly toy with like a pet, and a beautiful woman as strong and proud as me—other women definitely can’t give you that kind of sense of conquest.”

The white girl’s only answer was a single word.

“[Mind Blast].”

Not the mild version used on Lucitine before, but the maximized output, enough to be lethal. The other party had shown killing intent towards her, wasn’t a friendly subordinate nor someone she knew, and had even shown hostility towards Claire. Showing mercy was no longer an option.

The pure white girl was directly hit by Fia’s attack. However, to Fia’s surprise, the girl didn’t even pause from being hit by the mental magic. She simply tilted her head, her face full of apology.

“Sorry, sorry. I really do apologize. My words just now were also from the heart. If you agree to my conditions, I can dedicate everything I have to you, including of course my loyalty and love. Even if one day your soul annihilates from the world, I will still love you forever. I guarantee this feeling will be more intense and eternal than anyone else’s.”

“Who are you?”

“I’ll tell you after you agree to my conditions. As for my conditions… first, create a living body for me.”

How does she know?

Fia frowned. The fact that she could create bodies was known to only a few people.

The pure white girl, whose age was infinitely close to Claire’s, crossed one arm under her plump chest. As if reading Fia’s thoughts, she smiled playfully and said.

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“This request isn’t difficult for you, right? I’d also like to easily give myself to you like this. After all, the only person in this world qualified to stand on equal footing with me is you. But as you can see, I’m not actually a soul entity. I have no soul, which is why your mental magic doesn’t work. To have a complete soul, I need another thing.”

The girl, sitting upright in mid-air, smiled charmingly. Although it was a beautifully enchanting smile, the emotion hidden within was so pitch-black it chilled one to the bone.

“That other thing is—kill that fake for me. Then we can be happily together. I can bear you many, many little babies~ Whenever you want, I can respond to your desires. I’d even willingly do the dirtiest, hardest work~”

“Dream on!”

Only someone completely lust-driven would easily agree to a request to take a life.

Besides, this was a demon.

After enunciating clearly word by word, Fia, without a second thought, pulled out Laevateinn and applied [Enchanted Blade] with her own pure magic power. From low to high, she slashed diagonally at the pure white girl whose appearance was infinitely close to Claire’s.

Then, the pure white girl’s body was split in two by the longsword.

There was no sensation of cutting a physical form, just the feeling of slicing straight through air.

Fia watchfully stared at the girl, who was close to a soul entity. Even though the latter’s body was split, Fia could still hear her charming, silver-bell-like laughter echoing in the air.

“Oh dear, was that too hasty? I thought a sincere expression of true feelings would be accepted. Looks like I’ll need to take a more long-term approach. Goodbye then, my cute fiancée~ I’ll be watching you always. Whenever you sincerely think of me, I’ll appear by your side to soothe your lonely heart~”

With these words, the girl’s split body shattered with a boom, turning into countless white particles that gradually dissipated towards the sky.

Fia swept the surrounding area with investigation magic once more. There was no magical reaction nearby.

Her mood didn’t improve because of this.

Inexplicable.

Compared to an enemy with a clear goal, this kind of crazy person with an incomprehensible purpose was harder to deal with.

No.

The girl had mentioned killing the fake earlier. Who was the fake referring to?

Recalling the other’s appearance, so close to Claire’s, Fia’s heart tightened.

Claire was still outside.

Power instantly coursed through her limbs and throughout her body. Fia immediately turned back along the ant tunnel.