Chapter 23

—–

A large red gate emerged before us at the end of floor 19. On the other side of the gate was floor 20, the last floor of the dungeon!

“Lucifer, are you there?”

“You’ve come… Thank you… I am surprised by how strong you’ve grown….” Lucifer quickly answers me.

“Yeah, your dungeon was a pretty good source of EXP for Partner and me. We even got a new companion along the way.”

“A new companion? Ah… a black cat? I see… W-Well, step inside. I will show you how… Well, you will see how I am now….” Lucifer sighed.

As I wondered what was wrong with this depressive dragon, we opened the red gates and walked downstairs. Slowly yet steadily, Kuro carried us on his back towards Floor 20. Within the darkness, something glowed. Two blue eyes resided in the darkness, resembling phantasmal flames like those of a Will-o-Wisp. We took a torch and illuminated the place, Lucifer’s appearance greeting us.

“This is… what remains of my former self….”

“But… this is just….”

“Bwones!”

Indeed, just as Partner said… Lucifer was just bones, and bits of dry skin stuck to them. His eyes were empty, and only two little blue flames resided within the eye sockets.

“That’s right… I am just bones now. I cannot move from here because my soul seems sealed into the dungeon’s structure….” Lucifer sighed, his voice emerging from his soul that was stuck to his skeleton.

“So you’re dead?” I asked.

“T-That’s right… I saw how you were able to raise Undead, and I thought that perhaps… By raising me as your Undead, you could free me from this damned place.” Said Lucifer.

“I see… But wait, couldn’t you do it for yourself? You raised the undead in the graveyard!” I asked.

“No, that’s different. Unlike you, who has the innate power over Death, what I did was merely infect the graveyard with Miasma that leaked from my remains. Miasma naturally corrupted the souls within that place and raised Undead without any of my powers playing into account. Miasma is even capable of forcing mutations into living beings as well.” Said Lucifer.

“I see… You got pretty lucky then! I am quite a proficient user of [Fake Life]!”

“Thank you… Erm, what is your name?”

“Well…. (Should I use my past world’s name? Hm… better not) Name’s Maria! You can call me Mary too or whatever,” I said.

“I see! When you raise me as an undead, I will end up becoming your subordinate… So I better know your name beforehand.” Said Lucifer.

“Yeah! …But are you okay with this? I thought dragons were prideful beings. Wouldn’t it be a disgrace to serve a ghost after death? I would think that if you were a prideful dragon, you would rather die or go to peace than serve someone as humble as me.” I asked.

“That’s an interesting question, but I don’t think you’re so humble….” Lucifer muttered.

“What did you say?!”

“N-Nothing! Erm… Well, I am not like that. I’ve always wanted to live a lot. Yes, I am prideful, but I am… also filled with wrathful and vengeful thoughts. This is why my soul has stayed here for so long, perhaps… Due to that, I can throw away my pride and honor as a dragon and serve you as long as I can have the opportunity to one day exert revenge against those that did all this to me, my family, and the Demon King… my lord….” Lucifer sighed once again.

Oof, there’s a lot of things going on here that I don’t know about…

“Hm, seems like a heavy topic… Well, we can talk that out later on. No need to force yourself to talk about this stuff if you don’t want to.” I said with a smile.

Lucifer’s phantasmal eyes flicked a bit as I sensed some of his emotions wriggling.

“T-Thanks… You’re more considerate than I thought, Mary.”

“Now…! [Fake Life]!”

FLAAAASH!

I immediately used [Fake Life], causing my mana to pour into the skeletal corpse of Lucifer!

“E-Eh? Y-You’re doing it already?!”

“Yeah! Now, rise, my fallen dragon!” I shouted with excitement… I’ve always wanted to say something this edgy.

“GUUUOOOOOOHHH!”

Lucifer began to scream as if he was being showered in power. His soul began to mutate with my power as the phantasmal energies merged with him and his remains.

FLASH!

The bones began to crackle and rattle, unifying themselves with the help of the phantasmal force of his soul!

Clank… clank!

As if they were reassembling themselves, the bones quickly began to regain mass, as I realized that I could actually give him some flesh too! I opened my Inventory and threw all the meat I had, some Slime Cores, and even the other lizards’ scales, eyes, and whatever else I found.

“E-Eh? What are you throwing at me? UAAAGGH…!”

“Magic materials so you can get some flesh too! Necromancy is like crafting in this world, so the more materials you got, the higher quality the Undead becomes! Now rise!”

The flesh began to spiral around his body and the bones stuck to one another. Scales were added to the areas with no scales, and the cores moved inside the empty ribcage. All the materials went into their respective places, and he even got new eyes, which were the ones from the illusion lizards.

BOOM!

An explosion of phantasmal energy was released all around us, and after a few seconds, the smoke slowly dissipated, revealing a new freshly risen Undead.

Ding!

[You’ve Raised a [Lesser Dracolich Chimera]!]

Eh? After all those materials, this guy is still lesser?! Damn…

Well, maybe Dracolich are strong, so even as he is now, he is “lesser” compared to true Dracolich… Yeah, let’s leave it at that.

“Ugh… I feel strange, but… At the same time, familiar with this body? I really do have flesh now….” Lucifer mutters.

Lucifer emerged from within the smoke. He had gained a more dragon-like appearance than just bones stuck together, but he still looked rather old, rugged, and dry. His eyes shone with bright colors, and he exuded a strong magical power from his chest, where all the shattered slime cores were assembled.

“Good morning, sunshine!” I said.

—–