In the dimly lit room, the white-haired girl forcefully gripped the black-haired girl’s collar, one kneeling on a single knee, the other barely holding herself up.
Bite, swirl, roam~
Suck, release…
Elea relentlessly plundered Vail’s consciousness, leaving her defenseless, unable to even muster a passive resistance…
Time seemed to slow in that moment, and the air felt thick and viscous.
“Phew—!!”
Huff!
Feeling the overwhelming power coursing through her body, Elea finally pulled away from Vail!
A translucent, crystalline thread arced through the air before quickly vanishing.
As expected!
Though this goddess’s powers were sealed, the substances produced by her body…or rather, the death energy they carried…were more than enough to fuel Elea’s growth!
At this moment, just through this interaction with Vail, Elea had fully stabilized her [Initiate] necromantic magic, becoming even stronger than before.
But…the sensation she felt during their connection, that feeling of her soul being tugged toward some unknown realm…what was that?
“…”
Thud…
Subconsciously releasing Vail’s collar, the goddess suddenly collapsed onto the floor, her face flushed and her eyes vacant, completely unfocused.
“Huh? Vail?”
Elea blinked, quickly leaning forward to check on the goddess’s condition.
At this moment, Vail looked as if she’d been over-shocked and lost consciousness, her entire body limp as if all her bones had been removed.
Was this…a side effect of magic replenishment?
Elea gently poked Vail’s cheek, pinched her nose, and softly blew air near her ear.
No reaction at all.
It didn’t seem like she was pretending.
She had genuinely lost consciousness.
“What do I do now?!”
Gurgle…
But before Elea could call Yumina in, a sound came from Vail’s stomach.
Gurgle, gurgle…
Was she…hungry?
Did magic replenishment consume that much energy?
“Yumina! Get food for three…no, five people!!”
“Yes, Young Lady!”
The twin-tailed maid didn’t open the door to check the situation but immediately set off to fulfill her mistress’s order.
Ten minutes later, the door was knocked on again, and the twin-tailed maid hurried in, carrying five loaves of bread and six bottles of milk.
Phew…
Elea pulled out a loaf of bread and held it near Vail’s face.
Sniff, sniff…
Perhaps stimulated by the aroma of wheat and nuts, Vail’s nose twitched slightly.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, her upper body shot up like a reanimated corpse!
She chomped down on the bread in front of her!
I eat!
I eat, eat, eat, eat!!
“Huh?!”
Vail’s beast-like behavior startled Elea, causing her to step back.
She watched as Vail devoured all five loaves of bread one after another, then guzzled down three bottles of milk.
Finally, she patted her round, bulging belly with satisfaction and let out a long sigh.
“Ah~ I’m full…”
At this moment, Yumina, who was clueless about the situation, was dumbfounded.
She could barely eat half a loaf of bread in one meal, yet Vail, with her smaller frame, had just eaten five?!
What was her stomach made of?
Did it connect to some other dimension?!
“How do you feel?”
Elea, now sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the goddess, showed a rare moment of concern.
“Huh? Oh…I’m full, feels great,” Vail replied, slightly startled, then seemed to recall something.
Her face gradually flushed, and she lowered her head.
“Any…discomfort in your body?”
Elea pressed further.
“Uh, not really, but…”
Vail scratched her cheek, mustering the courage to look up at the Young Lady.
“If I could have two more puddings, it’d be even better~”
Pfft…
This girl, really…
Elea gave Vail a rare, gentle smile, then stood up slowly.
“Yumina, take Vail to get some dessert. Let her eat as much as she wants.”
“Huh?! Really?!”
Vail’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Of course. This is…your reward.”
Elea reached out, gently patting Vail’s head.
What an…easily satisfied goddess.
After sending the two maids off, Elea grabbed a few sheets of paper and a quill pen.
Though she wasn’t sure of her current level, she could feel it.
She had crossed the threshold and become a genuine “necromancer.”
Moreover…she could clearly sense that her body temperature was lower than before, her heart rate had slowed significantly, yet she experienced no issues like insufficient blood flow to the brain or dizziness.
In fact…she felt her reaction speed had improved, and her vision in the dim room seemed noticeably sharper.
Beyond that…
Elea slowly closed her eyes, feeling the flow of cold, deathly magic within her body.
This necromantic magic all came from Vail.
Though Vail’s divine death power was sealed, her body was, for a necromancer, an absolute treasure—a divine artifact among divine artifacts!
The deathly magic was transferred into Elea’s body through their “lingual exchange,” but Elea herself…was completely unable to produce this power on her own.
It was as if…she were a phone.
Yes, Elea was now like a smartphone, equipped with all sorts of functions but unable to operate without a charge.
And Vail was like a power socket—her only function was to provide energy, yet she was the one thing the “phone” couldn’t do without.
The two had somehow, under these circumstances, formed such a perfectly complementary relationship.
“Heh…this is probably the biggest gain of the past few days.”
It excited Elea even more than the news about the “rock dragon eggs.”
She picked up the quill pen but didn’t dip it in any ink.
Instead, she simply used the tip to draw a symbol on the blank paper in front of her!
Whoosh…
Dense black mist gathered, lingering without dispersing, forming a strange, distorted, misty symbol!
It worked!
The thing she had been experimenting with for three days—she succeeded in a single try!
With this thought, she quickly added a few more equally bizarre symbols on the paper, then stood up, extending her right hand over the sheet.
Her lips began to murmur…
“I, in the name of Elea Bartios, summon the dead crawling in darkness, the vessel inhabited by lost souls, the skeletal servant that obeys only me…”
Whoosh—!!
Black mist instantly spread out, then contracted in the next second, converging to form a spiraling black misty gate in front of Elea!
It really worked!
“Appear…now!”
Puff!!
The next second, the black misty gate shattered, and in front of Elea…nothing appeared.
“Huh?”
How could this be?!
She was already a necromancer, with sufficient magic in her body and even the aid of a simple [Rune Ritual].
To merely summon the lowest-tier [Skeletal Servant]…
And yet it failed?
There was absolutely no reason for this…