The sll of death and rot. That was all I could think off when I took my mask off for a second, regretting my choice quite a fuck ton. The robed man with the black clouds swirling around him instantly took notice of my reaction, but ignored it a mont later. It seed they were used to it.
Speaking of people used to my reaction, other people were standing before with a similar affliction to the robed man. Zombies. Not only foul human and beastman bodies, but so of them were even animals.
As I explained, this is our ho. Our refuge. Our prison. The world for us onnikai, the robed man told . He had put his hood back up after showing his deford undead face.
The place he presented was simply an extension of the forest, the only difference was there were sheets of gathered leaves around, looking as if they were used similar to beds. Black sli and mold-covered body parts laid on the ground, making it all seem too filthy to live in unless you had no other choice.
[I am Imila! This is Emil!] One of the countless black clouds moved around wildly like an energetic puppy. [We t before, Miss!]
Yes, we did. You look different now that your body is gone, Imila. As crazy as my current situation was, I felt slightly more at ease at hearing her voice. The light-hearted way she spoke made it easier for to speak with her.
[Ahh, yes My body. Mhmm! I took so much ti to rebuild it and it was destroyed before I could]
Enough, Imila. You speak too much, the robed man interrupted her, sounding grouchy. Its your fault for leaving Human. What is your na?
Asaka.
No reason not to answer.
Asaka So you are supposed to be the one Goddess Death wanted us to et? Hmph.
[But she has the amulet, Emil! She has the amulet! Goddess Ilsaphone told us to look for it on the person she chose, definitely! Miss will help us! Yes!] Imila interjected herself in the conversation. She truly acted like a kid.
However, what confused was the information she was giving . I was chosen? By this amulet? Then, what did that make the woman who gave this thing? What was going on?
The robed man was looking at , analyzing . However, with the mask I was wearing, he couldn't find any clues from my expression. Let us say you are the chosen one, human. What are you planning on helping us with?
Nothing.
That was my answer.
Wrat?
No help? Why?
There was so commotion coming from the undead behind the robed man while the onnikais were swirling around as if they were displeased with my answer. However, lying here wasnt the way.
Assessing my situation and the risks and benefits, I concluded offering them a solution wasnt the way to go. As much as I tried, forgetting the lessons my parents imprinted into to prepare into their political pawn was impossible. It was like a trauma to . I will act as I wanted if the repercussions were worth taking, not the other way around.
And in this case, the amount of information I had was not enough. Stalling was an option, but one thing my shits-for-parents taught was to never make a decision without prior knowledge of the situation and circumstances of the opposite party. It would all blow up in your face if you did.
I could die here.
Then why did you co here? The robed mans suspicion rose up again. He was on guard, and I could hear a threat coming from his sentence.
Because I was simply given this necklace by sobody. I don't know who they were, only that they told they werent an enemy. I ca here cause sobody gave my company a Quest to solve the ghost situation in this area. Thats all. I dont know anything about what youre talking about.
[You dont? Miss?] Imila stopped moving around like her previous self, sounding lonely as her hopes were crushed.
Sorry, kid.
Then who are these onnikais you have with you? On the other hand, the robed man kept asking questions. They arent like us. They werent spirits or lesser fae before they died. I sense Goddess Deaths intervention in you, wolves.
As I was about to say sothing, my onnikais ca out of their catalyst after requesting for them to take over. They floated out of their cage and spoke with the people before , swirling around like the other black clouds.
[We are the souls of fenrirs under the alpha, Belzac!] One of them announced proudly. [We were turned into this form by the Goddess of Death, to serve our alpha even in death. This human girl, Asaka, is our current ward. We protect her at the command of our alpha]
The robed man nodded, seemingly content with sothing. I see. Follow , Asaka.
H-Huh, uh, sure?
Sohow that worked out so easily?!
I wasnt about to complain about what just happened. I should just follow along the ride.
While walking behind him, we went even deeper into the forest, where I noticed more and more corpses lying around. So were twitching around, which the robed man, Emil, was explaining were onnikais trying to recreate the bodies they decided to inhabit.
I thought I should have probably asked him about the matter there and now, but I was more interested in sothing else. Sothing I felt was quite hard to believe.
Hey, uhm, Emil, you ntioned before sothing about your goddess speaking with you? What is that supposed to an?
Impossible. It was an imdiate answer.
Huh?
You cannot speak with gods. It is impossible if you arent a blessed or a being with an extrely powerful soul. You, as a human, should have known about that, he explained, causing to frown at how he said it.
I clearly heard Imila say she told you that I was a chosen one or sothing. You reacted to that, too!
[I said nothing! Hmph!] Imila, for so reason, grumbled to the side. What caused her attitude to change so dramatically? It actually pissed off.
Emil waved his hand around, trying to flatten Imila as if she was a fly, only for her to act like a kid and fly away with a few other onnikais.
Quiet, you He scowled. Dont mind, Imila. She speaks and acts like that because Goddess Death has given us onnikai the ability to assimilate corpses. In the process, our mana bodies slowly adapt to the bodys mories and our personalities get twisted in the process. She acts exactly like you would imagine a small child would, but she dramatizes it a bit too much from how she expects a child to act.
I shrugged. I didnt care what her reason was. If she wanted to act like that to , then so be it. Not like it mattered too much to .
Now, to answer your question, we did not speak with her. Goddess Death, or Ilsaphone with her birth na, suddenly ca to us about three days ago.
Emil then took sothing around his neck and pulled it out from his robe for to see. It was the exact sa amulet as I had, from the design and na. I had to double-take [Identify] to make sure I wasnt imagining it.
She gave it to us without saying anything. We had no idea what she was trying to say, but I guess Imila interpreted sothing after she t you. From all my ti alive, I learned mortals will never truly receive the full words of our gods. We must interpret them.
He stopped walking, turned back to and continued, From whom did you exactly receive that amulet? Did you speak with her? Did you feel like you werent hearing sothing properly?
Hmm? Not hear sothing? Well, she had this weird accent that made it hard to listen to, but I know she ntioned I should hold onto this thing and how she was an ally. The onnikais had to translate a longer sentence, but it was hard enough to listen that I wish they had done everything she said.
Then that ans you actually t her. He turned around nonchalantly and began walking again, gesturing for to keep up.
Huh? Hold on, what are you talking about? Stop making all of this so mysterious!
You t the actual Goddess Death in her mortal form, human.
U-Uh WHAT?! I grabbed his arm, pulling it back to stop him but I accidentally pulled his entire arm off his body! I could only stare in horror at what I did. Eiiik!
I dropped it onto the ground after being stunned for a full two seconds. The disgust I had inside of began to surface again.
Uhm Sorry.
Emil sighed, shaking his head at my words and simply picked up his arm and put it back on with so black sli support.
Stop shaking. The bodies we all are inhabiting are unfinished. We havent been able to live up to Goddess Deaths dream to create her own patron race. Co, Ill speak. Just follow and watch.
I guess I wont be able to leave until then? I asked, feeling too stressed out to stay here any longer. My heart hasnt stopped feeling like a drum ever since I entered this place.
Emil didnt answer. His silence was his reply.
And in this silence, we continued walking through this forest of the dead. The groans and moans of the onnikai zombies stumbling away. Small rotting cats slipped past my feet, frightening . So of the black clouds were even more mischievous, using their slis to pull pranks on using the trees. And all of this while I couldnt even see if I was stepping into poop or mud, or even a piece of growing flesh.
Proficiency requirent fulfilled. [Night Vision Lv. 4] gained
Even with the skill leveling up just now, I was really tempted to level it up to level ten, but I knew I wouldnt hear the end of it when I made it back to Haruka. Such a sweet girl, until you speak about numbers with her. Then she would turn into Miss High Scorer.
Unable to take it anymore, I asked Emil if I could use [Light] to create so light for myself, and he accepted it. Thankfully. If I had gone any longer in this darkness, I probably would have pissed my pants.
And I learned about why only seconds later, as he stopped at a hole with a set of stairs leading down. A light in the middle of the dark could have attracted people. I thought he let since we were quite deep, but it was cause he wanted us to go down.
This is our real ho, and the source of our bodies. He turned around to , looking at despite the robe covering his eyes. A dungeon. Created through the many deaths of the faefolk around us, and serving as the base of the mastermind behind this place.
A dungeon? Wait, does Estralia know about this? I asked.
From what I heard, Estralia didnt have too many dungeons, as they valued the dungeon cores quite a lot in their trades with the dwarves. Tatsuya and Kyouya, in their ti at the local hunters guild, inford us many dungeons were destroyed since the cores were taken and cracked open for the shards.
If you wanted to enter a dungeon as an Estralia adventurer, any other country would have been better. Thankfully, Ullistar in Artorias was close by and had a dungeon.
Which made it weird to that a dungeon actually existed here. In this place.
Do you know why I am speaking with you? Emil suddenly asked , but I shook my head. He was articulate, but I didnt know anything else. Because I am the oldest onnikai in this community. As a spirit, I died during the War for the Faefolk. Vengeful beings, we onnikais are, and every single one of us cannot just give up on our grudge. Do not bla Imila for her bad attitude. She was betrayed by a human when she was captured and eventually used to fuel a mana battery.
Does that an all the onnikais here are in the sa situation as Imila?
He nodded. Yes. But the reason for a dungeon being created here wasnt purely because of the passive mana we exuded. The monster holding us captive here, the Master as those guards called him, placed sothing with a trendous amount of mana here. Dark mana. Dangerous. Its not a darkness elental. Its sothing far more sinister. I overheard it was taken by their enemies. After so ti, the dungeon appeared to contain all this mana.
Still, the fact we actually have evidence now on all these onnikais once being spirits and getting their mana drained should be proof enough for Tasianna. As weird as it was to find it all here. And we also now know the Resurrection was involved in it.
However, sothing didnt make so much sense. I knew about how dungeons worked and how the dungeon master could influence everything. If Emil admitted all the bodies they got ca from here, then how did they get them in the first place?
I am the dungeon master, Emil answered after I asked him. I was the first to find the presence of the dungeon and make the contract. Due to the mana barrier placed around this area, we cannot escape, and since that ant our lingering mana could perate the grounds and the dungeon, I used that to create undead bodies.
Emil explained how the object in question was placed here as rumors of ghosts appeared due to so onnikais managing to escape this area. The results of mana draining the lesser faefolk were these onnikais, vengeful mana creatures, and the people who drained the faefolk wanted to hide this. Most likely from the elves and any faemancers.
Over ti, the area turned into a monster infested area due to all the mana in the ground, sothing they couldnt control even with macula plants. To the Resurrection, this sounded like the perfect place to hide sothing important. Sadly, that was the tipping point on the scales of balance. Too much mana was around, and it created this dungeon.
And from there, after Emil beca the dungeon master, he began creating undead bodies for his friends to possess. Undead, since humans didnt count as monsters and couldnt be spawned by a dungeon. This happened about two year ago.
And the mont they received this dungeon, Ilsaphone also gave them the ability to create this black sli through their mana. It reminded of the story I heard from the Aurora gang, sothing about an onnikai gaining the ability to use a black sli from the catalyst it was trapped in. It used that black sli to create undead bodies for its friends.
I told this story to Emil, trying to further understand the situation here. Hearing it, Emil went silent.
I see, a fellow survivor of that war I am glad that he managed to find peace in the end. I am glad Goddess Zephira decided to grant the others rcy. Instead of the Wind Goddess, we received the blessing of the Goddess of Death. Ones tornt beca our blessing. He spoke about the sli oozing out from his arm. But, unlike that one, our control of this sli isnt as good. We cannot fully repair our bodies.
Is that why you can use necromancy? Well, those undead were controlled by you, right? I rembered the scare I got from their surprise attack.
Limited I rembered following a necromancer once. I learned how to use two spells [Raise Dead] and [Flesh for Mana]. Otherwise, I cannot beco better. The bodies I used to attack you ca from a few intruders who were enemies of the Master. Even as the dungeon master, the monsters I spawn do not listen to . At least they can attack our oppressors.
Emil then looked back to the hole. He didnt speak. What was he thinking about?
How did you know that woman was a goddess? I finally asked, finding this too awkward.
The amulet. And the fact you werent able to hear her properly. Her accent is our souls inability to hear all their worlds. However, you can listen to so of her words. She clearly blessed your onnikais but where did you get your blessing? Only one blessed by a god or a godlike being could listen to a gods voice!
I-Is that so?
But, from whom?
Its already been made clear that our unique skills werent actually blessings, nor was my [Saint Candidate] title. They ca from the demonkins through so thod, so where did my blessing co from? I didnt have so special skill or title for that.
Hold on! If that was Ilsaphone, the Goddess of Death, then Elrick shouldnt have heard anything. If it was the Goddess of Vampires, that would explain sothing, but Elrick couldnt hear anything!
And that was when it dawned on . There were too many factors to get a clear conclusion, but what I knew was that Elrick couldnt hear her at all while I could a bit. And what differentiated us from each other?
[Hestias Retainer] But that girl is nowhere near a goddess in strength, though. Not divine at all. This doesnt make sense.
Asaka? Emils voice brought back to reality.
For now, I should leave this thought for later, as I couldnt understand enough.
Yeah, yeah, sorry So, uh, since you probably know your goddess so well, why did she give this amulet?
[Amulet of Blessed Spirits] not only allowed to speak to the onnikais, but use them as a conduit for dark magic as well. In other words, I could emulate the elentalists of old who used elentals to cast spells. I didnt need to learn any dark elental spells with this catalyst around my neck.
I dont know.
But Emils answer was unsurprising, but still disappointing.
She couldnt say anything to us, dont forget. It makes curious how your onnikais and my fellow war survivor managed to hear Goddess Death and Goddess Zephira respectively.
Once again, another good point. Tasianna and Segawa talked to Zephira, right?! How?! Both of them have [Hestias Retainer], too. Are you actually telling , the secret is in Hestia's title shes giving out like cupcakes?
However, I do know you can help us, Asaka. Goddess Death didnt send you our way for no reason, Emil continued while I returned to that previous thought.
Urgh I groaned, scratching my head. I didnt like what I wanted to say when sobody looked as if they needed my help. I dont like expectations, Emil. I hate it, actually. I feel forced to do sothing, despite not getting a say in it. If I tell you off, I look like a dick. If I accept your request, Ill have to deal with the repercussions of my decision. I dont like it at all.
Imagine your parents not caring about you one bit, thinking of you and your brother like tools. Yeah, that was my curse after being born. Now, add to that annoying part with how Japanese society looked at people who were different than the ideal, and you start getting annoyed at everything.
You must do this, You should learn it like so, You cant speak with these people. Fuck off. This was my life. Rebelling was my only way to respond back to these expectations, even if it turned into a delinquent. I felt liberated about it, especially since it tornted my uncaring parents.
But, now? I felt bad. I hated it even more when people began to depend on . I despised having this saintess shtick pushed onto , whilst having the church constantly breathing down my neck to beco more like Aiko Hasebe, the other [Saint Candidate] from our world. How was that supposed to motivate people? Compare them to others? Really?
But outside of that, imagine having all these people injured before you, relying on you to save them with your healing. Imagine these people dying before you cause their wounds could only be cured with [Major Heal]. I wanted to spend my skill points on [Sacred Magic] so many tis, only to return to reality that I needed other skills to survive. Too often I was placed in danger, and then Elrick or Yorshka had to save .
Too often. I didnt want people to depend on since I felt uncomfortable about it, but I was making myself depend on others. I hated it so much. And how I loved it when Hestia appeared, with not only her incredible healing ability but also her talent as a leader and attacker. No longer did I need to lead The Misfits nor did they rely on my healing.
I felt liberated again, but now?
I stayed silent. I did not give Emil an answer.
Co with . Let show you the rest of the stuff in the dungeon. We need your help, Asaka. We onnikai want to leave this place and fulfill our duty to Goddess Death. But we cannot. Every ti we try, the Master simply destroys our bodies with his guards, he lanted as he took his first step onto the stairs. I can spawn monsters how often I want, but the Master simply destroys them. Afterwards, he destroys any body that we try to repair and
And my [Danger Sense] activated at that mont. I felt sothing approach from the skies, and only seconds later
Boooom!
Griiieeack!
Woah!
The onnikais managed to form a barrier around just in ti as the explosion landed, protecting from the impact.
Emil! Are you okay?! I shouted after confirming my own health, but as the dust settled, I noticed a signal with [Enhanced Enemy Sense] from above .
The target landed onto the ground with a loud thud, blasting the clouds of smoke and dirt away with a thrust of wind. Looking from within my protective ball, I saw him stand up after performing a superman landing.
Who are you? Why are you here?
It was a foxian in a suit of black armor. In the next mont, his arm literally opened up in two, revealing gushing blood and tendons as a tal barrel ca out from it. The end of it then began shining blue, looking to like a gun readying itself to shoot at ,
He gazed directly into my eye, where I noticed how absolutely devoid of life they looked. Even the zombies from before seed more living than this person.
Respond or die.
A note from AbyssRaven
Girl got herself busted.
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