Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1767: Maria Invades Hell

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Hell.

Floor Zero.

Purgatory.

It has many names, but it is a special "World" within the Tower, created by the Tower Master—the Heavenly Father—to seal away the Seven Archdemons.

From what Maria understood through Leviathan, Hell was a World that predated all others added to the Tower.

It was the first world the Heavenly Father ever created: a vast prison. Upon this foundation, he built the Tower itself.

Hell is immensely vast, almost endless—a realm of eternal flames, volcanic wastelands, bleeding forests, poisonous swamps, and countless other horrors.

It was not a place where ordinary souls would ever arrive, unless the Tower catalogued them as "extremely sinful and dangerous."

In such cases, those souls would be drawn into Hell, fueling its entire structure while undergoing relentless tortures that cleansed them of sin.

These agonies generated massive amounts of energy from the emotions of the tormented, sustaining Hell and its inhabitants.

Demons would also devour souls when they could, or turn on one another in an endless cycle of slaughter.

It was a far worse fate than even Murim, yet a fitting end for those wretched beings who deserved no mercy—not even the cold wandering of skeletons in any ordinary Underworld.

Of course, the true rules of Hell were poorly understood, even by its inhabitants. Not even Leviathan knew for certain if it truly worked that way; it was simply what he believed.

After all, the Tower apparently possessed a "Soul Reincarnation Engine" that constantly cycled souls across its worlds, transferring them and harvesting their energy.

Nonetheless, Hell’s structure was divided into seven layers. Maria could roughly guess their design: each was a vast realm connected by enormous caverns.

There was no sun or moon in Hell. Night never came; the world was always bathed in harsh, unrelenting light. Each layer was ruled by a different Archdemon.

Leviathan had held dominion over the Layer of Envy, Belphegor over Sloth, Satan over Wrath, Lilith over Lust, Beelzebub over Gluttony, and so on.

But everything changed after Maria killed Leviathan and bound him as her undead servant. Once he announced his defeat to Hell, the other Archdemons moved swiftly to claim his territory.

Or rather, three of them did. The remaining three showed little interest, including their supreme leader, the Archdemon King.

They could not comprehend how a mortal had slain an Archdemon. Yet if Leviathan had been weak enough to fall, they reasoned they could easily seize his layer, his demons, and his resources.

A grave mistake.

Maria herself wasn’t entirely sure how she had done it. She had simply struck at the very core of his existence, slashing through his soul, consciousness, and demonic body hundreds of times.

Perhaps it was a matter of unique circumstances. Archdemons were normally immune to death unless utterly disintegrated by divine authority wielded by the Administrators—the Archangels serving the Heavenly Father.

But Maria existed beyond such rules. As an Outer God, she manipulated her own Concept, perhaps even transcended it.

And among those rule-defying powers was the authority over "Death."

With Maria’s gift, no immunity mattered. If she inflicted enough damage to kill something, it would die like any mortal—no exceptions.

Their bodies would remain, their souls would rise, seeking whatever afterlife awaited.

Through this dominion over Death, Maria could also twist logic itself, raising these supposedly unkillable beings as Undead, just as she had done with Leviathan.

It certainly helped that she had fought from within his Soul Stomach—a vulnerable place left unprotected by his scales, body, or powers.

Thus, she destroyed him from the inside.

Yet instead of draining his strength, Maria chose to make him her "friend," infusing him with even greater portions of her own power.

And so the war began. The factions of Beelzebub, Satan, and Lilith launched their invasion.

Their generals soon faced a terrifying reality: millions of Undead Demons marched forward, shrouded in nightmarish auras, tearing apart everything in their path.

At their forefront loomed Leviathan himself—a colossal, ghostly demonic serpent—spewing torrents of nightmare flames from his jaws.

Millions upon millions of demon soldiers perished in these battles, only for their corpses to rise again, swelling the relentless army that now claimed the territories of their attackers.

"H-How is this possible?! What is the meaning of this?! Lord Satan!!!"

Dozens of demonic generals screamed in horror and disbelief as they were overwhelmed by wave after wave of what Maria playfully called "Nightmare Demons," a nod to certain troublesome monsters from Azure Star.

The Layer of Wrath fell first. Hundreds of millions of Undead surged toward the castle, shattering barriers and formations alike.

At last, Satan emerged from his fortress. He appeared as a towering, muscular titan with crimson skin, black scales, sharp bull-like horns, and flowing dark hair.

He swung his weapons with devastating force, shredding hundreds of thousands of undead in single blows. Yet each time they fell, Maria—through Leviathan—triggered Undead Detonation, turning the corpses into explosive bursts that chipped away at him relentlessly.

"Nnnggh! This is impossible! After millions of years! What entity dares invade us?! Nightmares, Death, Chaos everywhere! Is this the Heavenly Father’s doing?!"

Satan’s voice cracked with despair as the endless horde pressed forward. Even the demons he destroyed returned as spectral tormentors, layering curse upon curse.

And just like Death, Maria’s curses—though weakened against such a foe—still took hold despite his supposed immunity.

Slowly, inexorably, Satan was worn down.

"I apologize for this, Satan, but my master will not stop until Hell belongs to her."

Leviathan’s massive form coiled across the crimson skies, his body now hundreds of times larger than before, leaving Satan stunned.

"Leviathan! What is the meaning of this?! How dare you betray us after all this time!"

"You were the ones who chose war. You attacked first. Do we not have the right to retaliate?"

"Damn it! Who is this Master—this ’Friend’ you spoke of?!"

Satan charged, clashing with Leviathan in the heavens. His thousand weapon techniques carved through the serpent like sashimi.

Yet Leviathan regenerated endlessly through strange, otherworldly power, splitting into dozens of phantasmal clones that assaulted Satan from every direction while bombarding him with devastating magic.

"She is an Outer Goddess."

"W-What?!"

Satan froze in shock upon hearing the truth.

"Outer Gods are not meant to exist within the Tower! How is that bastard father of ours allowing this?!"

"He isn’t. She was born inside the Tower. It is too late to expel her now. The blessings of the other Outer Gods have shaped her into the one who will destroy it."

"She will?!"

Satan groaned as phantom jaws tore into him. Blood poured from wounds that no longer healed. He plummeted from the skies, crashing into the ground below.

"I warned you she would come, yet you refused to listen," Leviathan said, gazing down. "I made the mistake of opposing her once. Now she has blessed me with power beyond imagining. Join us, Satan. After death, everything will become clear."

"NOOOO!"

Satan roared, struggling to rise, but the swarm overwhelmed him. Hundreds of thousands of demon zombies devoured his flesh while Leviathan’s jaws severed his head.

In that moment of death, he heard her voice.

"Arise, my child."

He felt the cold, sorrowful embrace of a mother—his soul trembling with both terror and inexplicable joy—as he was drawn back into a new body, reborn as her Apostle.

Just as Leviathan had been.

"Welcome back, Satan."

Leviathan greeted him. Satan rose, feeling strength surge through him like never before. The hollow emptiness that had always gnawed at his demonic heart was gone.

Somehow, he felt whole.

"I see now! I understand her benevolence! Through death, she grants us her eternal embrace!" Satan laughed, eyes blazing with fervent madness. "Oh, Mother of Sorrow! I was blind! I will devote myself to your great plan!"

"Come, brother. There are many more waiting to be converted. Lilith and Beelzebub await us. Then we shall see if the others will join willingly," Leviathan said.

"Yes... Lilith and Beelzebub are mighty. They will become magnificent Apostles to our Mother of Sorrow!" Satan exulted. "At last, it begins! The end of an era! The Tower of Babylon will crumble, no matter what anyone does! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

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