Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!

-----

After the battle against that powerful Nightmare Beast, Maria's party made their way back to the beach of the island slowly and carefully, making sure not to trigger any Nightmare Beast from ruining their trip.

However, Maria was also beginning to hunt down Nightmare Beasts on her own, as she had sent several ghostly phantoms around, making them hunt down anything that moved.

From snake-like creatures to weird elephants made of toilet paper, and even the occasional giant rat or rabbit made of poisonous candy, they had all sorts of weird shapes and sizes, a truly bizarre place.

Eventually, in that little time they made their way to the island, Maria quickly called them all back. the island wasn't by no ways small, but any visible monster had been more or less slain, it was incredibly quickly because there were only a couple hundred at most.

Ding!

[You and your party have defeated: [Fairy Tale Book Nightmare Beast Colony (SSS+ Rank)]!]

[You have defeated over a hundred [Nightmare Beasts (B Rank ~ S Rank)]!]

[You've received +200% Bonus EXP for having completed all Trial Tasks necessary to complete it but have chosen to remain.]

[You earned a large quantity of EXP!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 271 to Level 280/300!]

[All your Stats have increased, you earned Bonus System Points.]

[The Title Skill: [Spiritual Heart Master] has Leveled Up to Level 4!]

[The Title Skill: [Nightmare Slayer] has Leveled Up to Level 6!]

[The Skill: [Dream Heart Weapon] has Leveled Up to Level 5!]

It seemed that because she used the power of her Dream Weapon to defeat the Nightmares more effectively and deal damage to pierce through their Nightmare Barriers, innate powers they have that make them much tougher than the "normal monsters" of Yggdrasil unless you fight them using Dream Weapons, the related skills had leveled up quite a lot.

"Burp, thanks for the meal~"

Meanwhile, Beatriz, in her cat form, enjoyed a feast of Nightmare Cores Maria gave to her as she helped her find the Nightmare Beasts easily through her ghostly clones, making the work quick and efficient.

Ding!

[You have feed your Spirit and made them very happy.]

[The [Nightmare Demon Princess: Beatriz (Affection: 0/100)] Affection has increased by 10!]

"So she's slowly loving me, huh? And all I have to do is feed her, she's a gluttonous girl."

Maria giggled internally for a bit, much like actual pets, Beatriz was easy to please as long as she was fed a lot of delicious food and snacks.

"So any ideas what that monster could be?" wondered Martina. "I know everyone's tired, but it has been on my mind for a while now."

"Yeah, it was definitely not a normal creature," said Sofia. "It was most likely brought here by something else… or someone else."

"A-Are you implying someone left the monster here?" Alma wondered. "B-But why, Sofia?"

"To kill us, of course!" said Emily. "Why else? But who did this? Could it had been more Nightmare Demons?"

"Nightmare Demons, huh…" Martina nodded. "I've heard about them; did they attack you guys before?"

"Yeah, I mean, a couple of times they appeared," said Maria. "We fought them and defeated them… They're dangerous, and I believe also very organized, as intelligent as us humans. So we need to be careful."

"You're not even a human either, Maria~" Beatriz giggled. Nobody could hear her but her master, but Maria ignored her stupid words.

"Shut up I was born a human and I might've been killed and turned into a ghost later, then evolved into some sort of cosmic horror, but that doesn't mean I am not a human deep down! Somewhere…" Maria responded. She was unable to actually ignore her at the end.

"Organized and intelligent? Now that sounds like a pain…" sighed Emily. "Ugh, how are we even going to survive against these damn bastards? This is not an easy thing to do."

"We'll have to somehow find a way," said Alma. "Well, together, we could do something! We've done of great things together, right? As long as we remain together."

"Well, we're not getting attacked by anything right now, so calm your horses," said Maria, crossing her arms. "However, what's been happening so far is not good either. The world is coming to a crisis that might even swallow everything… When the times comes and we could… well, find a way to stop this, would you girls join us?"

"E-Eh? Where did that came from…" said Emily.

"Maria…" muttered Alma, surprised. "You mean… you want to stop the entire thing from happening? I mean, the Nightmares as a whole?"

"Is it even possible? It's more like a force of nature, no?" wondered Martina. "I've never thought as something we could defeat and stop…"

"Yeah, we can," said Maria. "I've investigated various things myself, but keep this a secret, alright? I think I've even figured out where the Nightmare Demons could be, and what they want."

"How?" wondered Alma. "That's amazing but I wonder… how did you figure that out?"

"Ah, well, I said I've investigated, right?" asked Maria. "So I've sent my Undead Familiars inside of Nightmare Realms and explored their interior."

Maria was lying, but it was a lie born from the truth she learned from Beatriz and her other investigations with her family.

"Oh wow… but shouldn't we report this to authorities beforehand? It's not like we should do it ourselves," said Sofia.

"Yeah, I know where you're coming from, though, Maria," nodded Emily. "I also want to protect the world and everything. but we're still studying and stuff… once we graduate, we'll become heroes though! And once we get there, we'll work together to protect the world's peace, right?"

"Ahhh… Yeah…" nodded Maria.

At the end, she knew that the girls couldn't really come with her to the last battle.

But that was fine with her, as long as they were here they would be safe.

-----