Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1818: Floor 24, Seleneum

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Upon her arrival on Floor 24, Seleneum, Maria and her family confronted a disturbing sight: dozens of pyramids burrowing into the moon’s surface, relentlessly extracting a sparkling silver liquid into enormous vats and funneling it deeper inside without pause.

"Ah, these guys again!" Partner growled angrily. "It looks like they’ve been at this for a while now!"

"Thebes..." Maria murmured, gazing into the distance while healing the woman cradled in her arms.

Emeraldine’s nature and light magic had failed to heal her. Maria had to sacrifice her own life force to restore the elf completely.

It seemed these elf-like people were somehow resistant—or immune—to elemental spells other than their own.

"Are you feeling better?" Maria asked gently, still holding her.

"Ahh... Saintess..." the woman whispered, reaching up to touch Maria’s forehead with a long, trembling finger. "Please listen to our plea..."

"Huh?!"

FLASH!

Countless images flooded Maria’s mind as the woman narrated the tragic history of Seleneum over the past decade.

The inhabitants were Moon Elves, descendants of Star Elves who had fled their home planet thousands of years earlier after a cataclysm devoured all life there. That world, once lush with greenery and blue seas, was now a barren brown wasteland.

Some survivors settled on this moon, rich in Mana and Moonlight Energy, gradually transforming into Moon Elves. They prospered, blending their flora and fauna with the lunar landscape to create a beautiful, harmonious ecosystem.

Over time the moon "woke" from a long slumber. From its craters emerged a silver liquid, a potent elixir, the very lifeblood of the living moon they revered as their Great Moon Mother, Seleneum, named after an ancient goddess.

By drinking her lifeblood, the Moon Elves adapted perfectly to the surface, gaining their distinctive features, psychic abilities, and moon magic. They could hear her voice and lived in reverence and balance with her nature.

For thousands of years they thrived in peace, until the Tower arrived. The Great Moon Mother endured wave after wave of calamities. Each one was more brutal than the last, yet the Moon Elves fought valiantly as warriors and magicians, barely prevailing every time.

Then came a force far greater and more terrifying than any calamity: invaders from another world.

Giant floating pyramids descended, impervious to their magic and attacks. They embedded themselves in the surface. Armored figures in golden suits emerged, raiding villages and cities, capturing and enslaving the Moon Elves. They forced them to reveal every secret and assist in extracting the moon’s lifeblood, a rich fuel that could power their machines for centuries.

The woman in Maria’s arms was Seleneia, an Oracle who had evaded capture for ten long years using her clairvoyance. She had waited for the prophecy she once received: the arrival of the Saint of Moonlight.

"With pale skin like moon dust, silver hair like moonlight, and red eyes like blood... you’re our savior... please help us," Seleneia begged. "Since the queen was publicly executed after her failed rebellion, our people have lost all hope. Please bring us hope."

"I see..." Maria sighed heavily. "I’m sorry, but I can’t."

"Eh?" Seleneia’s eyes widened in shock. "W-Why...?"

"It’s not that I don’t want to help. But I don’t want to fulfill prophecies. I’m not honestly a bringer of hope," Maria explained, her voice steady but weary. "I just take care of things. And I will do that. I don’t have the talent to rally people through sheer charisma. Some follow me, some even love me, but I don’t run a whole nation."

"A-Ah..." Seleneia stared into Maria’s crimson eyes.

"I am a warrior, not a saint," Maria said with a bitter smile. "But if you want them dead, then I am the one who will do it."

"..."

Seleneia sank onto the moon dust, gazing into the distance.

"Now, Seleneia, tell me," Maria continued. "Do you want me to kill them? Or do you want me to waste time trying to rally people together? What would be faster?"

"...Please," she whispered, voice breaking. "Please kill them... these monsters deserve no pity..."

"Will do," Maria nodded firmly. "After all, before the day ends, all those pyramids will be destroyed. Now tell me—are there people inside?"

"Yes... Moon Elves are forced to work in various fields..." Seleneia sighed. "They say they appreciate our talents, but we are nothing but slaves, never equals to them..."

"I see," Maria replied. "They’re harsh in the end and deserve no pity. Yet somehow they might not be as aggressive as the Crimson Order or Olympus in their approach. They even allow some cultural assimilation... even then, they’re still evil."

"There are many types of evil in the Tower after all..." Nia said quietly. "We’ve seen them with our own eyes."

"Indeed," Emeraldine agreed. "So, what do we do first?"

"We should help the people evacuate before we destroy the pyramids... I think I have an idea," Maria said, a faint smile forming.

Seleneia welcomed them into her small adobe. She had survived alone, though wounded from a close encounter days earlier.

She was kind, offering what little food and tea she had, smiling warmly despite her exhaustion.

"You must be tired. Before you go, please drink this Moon Leaf Tea. It’s good for the mind," she said, closing her eyes and bowing.

"Thank you," Maria replied. "I always repay kindness."

Maria sipped the tea. It carried a strong yet rich, almost romantic flavor, with hints of mint and strawberry. It sharpened her mind and even refined her Dantian. Truly wonderful.

The food consisted of small purple moon biscuits shaped like half-moons, slightly hard, studded with dried fruit bits, perfect with the tea.

"Yummy!" Nyx exclaimed. "Auntie, if we help you, can you make more biscuits?"

"Of course, my dear child..." Seleneia smiled warmly. "But... you’re so young. Shouldn’t you stay behind and let the adults handle things?"

"Heheh, don’t worry, I’m super strong!" Nyx declared, steam puffing from her nose. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"She’s a dragon," Maria explained. "Don’t worry—my daughter is strong even at her age."

"Yes," Lucifer added. "She’s my great offspring, after all."

"So the Saintess has a husband and even a daughter... how beautiful," Seleneia said softly. "This was not in the prophecy... perhaps... just perhaps, I shouldn’t follow it completely."

"Take prophecies as suggestions," Maria advised. "Reality can be so much more different."

"So your queen led a revolution?"

"She tried to rally everyone, and she succeeded at first, but we were too weak. Many died, and she was publicly executed..." Seleneia said. "Since then, we’ve all lost hope."

"Hm..." Maria nodded. "I don’t know if what we do will bring you hope, but we’ll destroy them, crush them, and make sure they learn the pain your people have endured."

"Thank you, but I must ask you to hurry..." Seleneia urged. "The Great Moon Mother... her life force has already fallen below half of what it once was. I fear she may never fully recover past a certain point and will slowly die... so before that happens...!"

"We’ll take care of it," Maria promised, finishing the last biscuit and the tea. "Thank you—that was delicious, Seleneia. Let’s go beat some Thebian trash, everyone!"

Seleneia watched them soar into the dark skies, noticing the "bodyguards" Maria had left behind: a large group of Vampire Zombies and Skeletons.

"Oh my... H-Hello. I don’t really have any more snacks, I’m so sorry. But perhaps I could offer you some tea?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The Vampires remained silent, but the Skeletons glanced at one another, then stepped forward and nodded.

In the end, they sat with her and accepted the tea.

"Oh, the tea is spilling..."

When they tried to drink, the liquid simply fell through their bones.

"..."

The skeletons looked visibly dejected.

"Haha..."

Seleneia couldn’t help but laugh softly, despite everything.

She shared a quiet tea party with the skeletons while hoping Maria would soon end their long suffering.

Within the nearest pyramid city, hundreds of Moon Elves labored without rest—exhausted, hollow-eyed, on the verge of collapse.

"Move! Faster!"

The Thebans, seated on mechanical thrones, cracked whips across their backs, forcing them onward.

"Or do you want the children to work instead?!"

One slave master pointed toward a group of malnourished children locked in a massive cage, guarded heavily.

Moon Elves cherished their goddess so deeply they would die rather than aid in her destruction.

So the Thebans had kidnapped their rare children, precious due to their long lives, and held them hostage, threatening to force the young ones into deadly labor that would kill them in days.

Unable to resist, the parents worked tirelessly...

For their precious children.

"When will this hell ever end...?"

The man gazed upward, sighing.

Perhaps death was the only escape.

No one in the Tower had ever helped them.

Players passed through and did nothing.

Sometimes they even completed tasks for Thebes and moved on.

"Hey, I said move!"

A soldier approached him.

"I’m tired... I’ve been working for five days..."

"You were part of the rebellion, weren’t you?! You should be grateful you were even forgiven! Now get back to work—even if your arms and legs tear off!"

"Nngh...!"

The metallic whip slashed across his back, opening deep, bleeding wounds.

"Ahhh..."

The man collapsed, unable to rise.

Furious, the soldier kicked his stomach repeatedly, cracking ribs.

"Great Moon Mother... Please welcome me after death..."

He closed his eyes and prayed.

The pain gradually faded until it vanished.

A cold wave washed over him, and he thought he had finally died.

And yet...

"Huh?"

When he opened his eyes, shadows enveloped him.

The shadows carried him away.

"W-What is this?! Hey!"

The soldiers shouted in shock as the darkness swallowed them too.

The entire area, and the pyramid itself, was engulfed.

Everyone floated within a vast Shadow Realm.

A woman appeared at the center.

Long silver hair. Sharp red eyes.

With a snap of her fingers, she separated the Moon Elves into one sector and the Thebans into another.

They stared in stunned silence.

"W-Who...! Who are you?!"

A voice echoed from the pyramid. The Household member in charge, interrupted mid-enjoyment of exotic dancers who had vanished, sounded panicked.

Maria ignored them.

She looked at the Moon Elves with genuine pity.

"You’ve endured so much. Now I give you the power to fight back."

A heart-shaped pink crystal materialized above them, releasing a shockwave of dream energy.

Inside every Moon Elf, a Dream Heart crystallized.

Their dreams manifested as weapons and spirits of every shape and size, astonishing them.

Their health returned instantly, Maria shared her life force freely.

"Who...! Who are you?!" the man who had been near death asked.

"Your Oracle said I was the Saint of Moonlight," she answered. "But please, just call me Maria."

"The Saint?!"

"She’s here!"

"So the prophecy was true!"

"I cannot believe this...!"

The Moon Elves burst into joyful tears, embracing the children Maria had freed and placed beside them.

"You must be tired and malnourished, but I call on you now to turn the weapons born from your Dream Hearts toward your enemies!" Maria declared. "This is how I do it. I will give you the ultimate revenge, tear your foes to shreds!"

"...!"

"These weapons?"

"This spirit?"

"Our power...!"

The Moon Elves, whose Mana Circuits and Moonlight Cores had been crippled, leaving them unable to cast magic, suddenly felt their strength return.

"FIGHT!"

The man who had nearly died roared.

"WE MUST FIGHT ONE LAST TIME!!!"

With everything he had, he charged forward.

The others, still hesitant, watched in awe as he swung his long spear and pierced the chest of the soldier who had beaten him.

The Theban was surprisingly fragile without his armor.

"Without their technology, they are weaker than us!" he shouted. "IT’S NOW OR NEVER!"

Realizing they could finally strike back, the Moon Elves surged forward.

Some stayed to protect the children, but the rest rushed into battle.

"OOOOHHHH!"

The Theban soldiers trembled, retreating as they tried to summon their divine powers and weapons, only to discover their armor had vanished.

They remained strong, certainly SS Rank at minimum.

But something was wrong with this place.

Curses.

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