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Several System notifications appeared in front of my eyes. After fully exorcizing Sara, I felt exhausted, quickly dropping on the dry, cold floor.
Ding!
[The Constellations are in awe!]
[Your amazing achievements have surprised many Constellations, some that had never been interested in you are now intrigued!]
[You have completed the {Special Subjugation Quest}: {Defeat Hel’s Incarnation}!]
[Because this Quest has been completed with the help of many, everyone has received a certain amount of rewards.]
[Reward distribution will be based on the total contribution to the subjugation.]
[You received the Completion Rewards]: [50000 Plot Points] [Elixir (S Rank)] x1 [Panacea (A+++ Rank)] x3 [Skill Level Potion (B Rank)] x3 [Skill Evolution Stone (A Rank)] x2 [Hel’s Netherworld Grimoire (S Rank)] x1]
[You have gathered [Hel’s Phantasmal Death Scythe Fragments (A- Rank)] x26]
[How lucky! The gathered items have risen by one Rank.]
Of course, I also gathered the fragments of Hel’s scythe, which were now leaking a phantasmal essence. They might come in handy to craft something new, perhaps with Hilda’s help, so I better not leave them here.
“It’s done…” I sighed in relief. “Is everyone alright?”
“Y-Yes…” My brother sighed, resting on the ground. “Where did you get that urn thing?”
“A Constellation gifted it to me,” I said with a plain voice.
“I-Is that so?” He sighed. “You’re really quite favored by them, aren’t you?”
“Hey, as long as we’re alive, there’s nothing to complain about here.” Kevin laughed. “That cocky Hel got what she deserved!”
“Maybe it was a Constellation that hated Hel.” Henrietta sighed. “But well, it is a relief that things ended well; after all this battle, I am honestly very exhausted. Hector’s alright, at the very least.”
“Well, Odin and Skadi were looking; they probably did something- huh?” Dan Baihe and everyone else quickly noticed as various potions and other items emerged in front of them.
“What’s this?!” Annabelle gasped.
“Constellation gifts,” I said.
“How generous of them…” Henrietta said it slightly annoyedly. “If this hadn’t happened to Sara... If I hadn’t been so weak that she ended up dying in front of me, I- Wait, Sara, is she okay? She’s not dead?”
Henrietta realized that something was odd; Sara’s presence had not disappeared, and her acute senses easily discerned that her Mana Aura was within her body. Even if there was no longer any Life Force coming from her.
“Well…” I looked at Sara with a sigh.
[The Effect of the [Let’s be Friends! (F Rank Privilege)] has been activated.]
[The [Netherworld’s Specter: Sara (A Rank)] has become your [Friend]
“Huh?”
Wait, what the heck was that?!
This has to be a joke, right?
Right?!
I checked the System message over and over again, but it wasn’t an optical illusion or something; this was all the truth.
“She’s… a Netherworld Specter? I guess she’s no longer human, which makes sense because she was long dead and was resurrected through the powers of a Goddess of Death.” I said, analyzing her sleeping body. “But she’s in a terrible condition.”
“Oh, I see…” Henrietta nodded.
“So she’s dead and became an undead, alright.” Jack seemed perfectly fine with it.
“Yeah- EH?!”
Everyone else followed Baihe’s scream of surprise; nobody could believe what I had said so nonchalantly. I’m sorry, but I just can’t care too much anymore. So many crazy things have happened that a companion becoming an Undead is not that... well, out of the ordinary.
“S-Sara’s alive, yet she’s not?! Can't we revive her then?!” Henrietta quickly stood up and ran towards her, about to unleash a bright healing light from her hands.
“W-Wait! Don’t do that!” Jack stopped her before I could, dragging her away.
“Jack?!”
“If you heal her as she is, she’ll only get hurt more! Remember, undead get hurt with healing spells!”
My brother tried to be as clear as possible. As Henrietta glanced at the poor Sara, tears flowed from her eyes.
“I don’t know if I should be happy or sad... But I'm somewhat relieved you’re not completely gone, Sara." She quickly hugged her unconscious body.
“Well, this is certainly something strange, but is it that strange in our daily lives after the Awakening and the Gates and the monsters and the Constellations? I guess not so much." Kevin shrugged. “Man, I’m starving…”
“I guess it’s not so weird; we’ve even fought demons, gods, and countless beasts; this is... not as strange if you put it like that.” Baihe tried to be pragmatic about it, yet she was still looking at Sara with a weirded-out face. “But she’s not stinky, right?”
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"I can't smell anything bad from her,” I confirmed. “Anyways, we should-”
[Your [Friend], the [Netherworld’s Specter: Sara (A Rank)] is in critical condition!]
[Her body is too damaged! If she continues in this state for longer than an hour, her soul will disperse from her body and go back to the clutches of Hel!]
[If you don’t want her to fall into such a fate, you must heal her.]
Wait, what? Why am I getting this message out of nowhere? Am I somehow responsible for her now? Is she a puppy or what?
But I guess I did choose to leave her "alive,” so she somehow falls under my responsibility, to an extent. Thankfully, she doesn’t smell putrid or look particularly "dead,” aside from being overly pale.
Is this because she’s not actually a zombie-like Undead, but a Netherworld Specter instead?
Then how can I heal her if normal healing doesn’t work- Wait, the Grimoire.
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[Hel’s Netherworld Grimoire]
{Item Type}: [Grimoire] [Magic Item] [Magician Weapon]
{Item Quality}: [S Rank]
{Item Requirement}: [Sacrifice 100 Souls to the Grimoire]
{Item Durability}: [5000/5000]
{Item Effects}
[MP]: [+10000] [INT]: [+5000] [WIS]: [+5000]
{Item Abilities}
[Grimoire of the Netherworld]: An ancient Grimoire once created by Hel, which stores the many Spells related to the manipulation of Phantasmal Energies, Souls, the Death Element, and Undead. Whenever you wield it, your Mana, Intelligence, and Wisdom will increase exponentially, and any Spell you conjure while holding the Grimoire will receive a boost to their Powers and Effects by +50%, if the Spell is Death Attribute, the bonuses double.
[Forbidden Death Spells]: As long as you meet the requirements, a list of special Death Spells becomes available for you. If you don’t possess Death Attribute Affinity, you gain the most basic affinity. If you already possess it, your affinity is increased by a further +100%.
[Soul Sacrifice: Grimoire Growth]: To be recognized by the Grimoire, you must offer 100 Souls. Unless you don’t meet the quota, you cannot use the Grimoire. The more Souls you offer to the Grimoire, the more of its abilities you can unlock, and you can even upgrade its Bonus Stats and the Spells you can utilize.
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It was an outstanding Item! And I only had to offer 100 Souls?! What a bargain! I have over eighty thousand Souls inside the Urn, so go ahead and eat as many as you want!
I quickly took out the Urn, offering 100 Souls for now.
[The [Hel’s Netherworld Grimoire] has absorbed 100 Souls you’ve sacrificed.]
[You have now gained the right to wield its mighty death magic powers.]
[Some Death Spells have been unlocked.]
[To unlock more Spells, offer more souls…]
[You need 500 more Souls to unlock more Spells.]
Wow, this Grimoire’s greedy, huh?
Its pages opened, showcasing a list of spells, and if I checked further, each spell had a small description inside a page; it even had some drawings showing what they did.
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[Available Death Spells]
{Rank 1}: [Soul Talk] [Death Charm] [Undead Restoration]
{Rank 2}: [Locked]
{Rank 3}: [Locked]
[???]
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Wait, Undead Restoration? That’s what Sara needs!
“Then what do we do if we can’t use normal healing magic? Ah, maybe potions can work?” Henrietta asked.
“Most potions are made using holy attribute materials, so they’re also quite lethal to Undead.” Sighed Jack. “And among all my abilities, I don’t have anything that could heal them either.”
“I got this book from the rewards.” I stepped in. “Let me see…”
I quickly walked to Sara’s side and concentrated pure Mana into my hands, imbuing it into the black grimoire on my hands, which was finely decorated with bones above its black cover and a small skull with two red jewels on its eyes, which it used to eat the souls I offered.
“{Undead Restoration}”
FLASH!
There was no need to even build a magic circle first; the runes and everything were within the grimoire itself! A bright, almost phantasmal black light emerged from my hands, covering Sara’s body.
In just a couple of seconds, broken bones, open wounds, and even the blood over her body were quickly healed and cleansed; this was the ultimate skill to keep the Undead alive! Or, I guess, healthy. Whatever helps them maintain their motor functions and existence.
[You have conjured [Undead Restoration] on [Netherworld’s Specter: Sara (A Rank)]!]
[All her wounds have been fully healed.]
[Cooldown: 1 Hour.]
Ah, it has a cooldown. Well, that’s fair; it healed her completely. I might as well save it for a trump card. It didn’t even drain that much MP. Maybe because this Grimoire, by just holding it, adds ten thousand MP to my stats.
It is certainly a cheat-like item like Gram, but it is lower-grade than the sword even though its bonuses are higher, isn’t it? Maybe the true Gram is even more overpowered. And this is a growth-type item, so it might increase its Rank from S to SS, or even SSS and beyond, in the future.
“Hm? A-Ah… W-What’s… going on?”
Sara slowly opened her eyes, now glowing bright red. She seemed very confused and slightly dizzy, looking around in confusion.
“Sara!” Henrietta hugged her tightly. “I’m so happy you’re not... completely dead!”
“Dead? I… Huh?” Sara was confused, even more than before. “I was- Ungh…! My head… I feel like something else is using my body. Just what happened?”
She quickly noticed my presence, and she quickly raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“This aura… Your name’s Anna, right? You saved me, isn’t it?” Sara asked.
Wait, she just guessed it? Or is this some sort of connection because she somehow became my, uh, "friend"? Shouldn’t that only happen with monsters? Well, she has become one now, technically.
“It’s a long story.” I laughed slightly nervously. “How about we go back home for now? It has been a long day.”
“Yeah, let’s explain things there.” My brother nodded. “Come on, Sara, let’s go. You need to rest.”
“A-Ah, yes…” Sara nodded with a slightly dull response.
We slowly made our way back to the city, where we were greeted by Hilda and the rest of the hunters there. The Undead army had been completely subjugated by now, and the hunters were resting and celebrating; most were looting the undead out of anything they had to sell.
“You guys are back!” Hilda cried. “I’m so glad!”
“Hilda! Good job holding the frontlines.” Henrietta complimented.
“Yeah, thank you; without you, we wouldn’t have been able to fight all-out against Hel.” Jack smiled. “You have our gratitude.”
“I-It’s nothing, hahaha!” Hilda giggled while blushing a bit. Having my handsome brother thank her personally made her a bit embarrassed.
He’s really quite the Casanova, conquering girls from left and right.
“Jaaaack~!”
Ah, talking about conquered girls...
“Scarlet?!”
BAAM!
Scarlet flew directly towards Jack, hugging him tightly with her own arms and huge hands made of blood energy. She seemed happy to see him well.
“I was so worried! But I couldn’t go to help you because I was so busy here dealing with the Undead!” She cried. “I’m so happy you’re alright! And everyone else, of course! Anna too! And Annabelle!”
“I’m glad you were so worried, but please let me go…” My lucky brother complained; his face was tightly stuck into Scarlet’s large chest.
“Hey, Scarlet! We have yet to talk about your situation, you know? Get off, Jack!” Henrietta instantly got jealous, trying to push Scarlet away from her beloved.
“Huh? And who are you to talk to me in such a tone? Only Jack can judge me!” Scarlet said angrily.
“Y-You arrogant little…!” Henrietta was quickly losing her composure, a rare sight.
I could even notice sparks coming from their eyes, clashing against one another. Wow, my brother is in real trouble.
“Anyways, see ya. Let’s go eat something, guys.” I said, leaving my brother behind as I walked inside the city with my friends.
“E-Eh?! Anna! Please help me!” My brother cried in the back, constantly being dragged by the two girls.
I’m sorry, big brother, but I am not going to even bother helping you with that.
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