Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 185

The information Zaus provided was entirely new to me.

“You must be here looking for someone, too, right? If you pay, I’ll guide you to where their soul is.”

“Oh.”

“What’s the name of the person you seek?”

Loki answered the question.

“Canus.”

“Tell me about their characteristics.”

“…I know him as a man. He’s said to be ten feet [approximately 3 meters] tall, with red skin and horns on his head.”

The lich nodded.

He opened a book that appeared to be made of human skin and scanned through it.

“…Not in the registry.”

“He’s said to be alive.”

“A living person… in the underworld? Are you sure?”

“I am sure.”

The lich looked perplexed.

“If he’s not in the registry, we can’t find him.”

How disappointing. I thought this would be over quickly…

“Then take me to the underworld.”

“That much I can do.”

In the end, I had no choice but to find him myself.

“Give me gold.”

As the lich reached out his hand again, Loki handed him a gold pouch.

Receiving the jingling pouch, the lich smiled.

“Is there any use for gold in the underworld?”

“Rare, but not nonexistent. Melted gold is used to make decorations. More than anything, even in the underworld, the greed for gold doesn’t disappear.”

“……”

“The underworld is just another world, a world where souls experience another life. Gold is rarely used there, too. Of course, the most common currency is fingernails.”

Ral was right. Fingernails are treated as currency…

“Here are books with information about the underworld.”

At that moment, Ral approached and handed Loki the books.

“Most of it seems far-fetched, but take it in case it helps.”

“I will make good use of them.”

Loki accepted the books and looked at the lich.

The lich elegantly gestured, pointing to an empty spot on the ferry.

Loki turned around and looked at Karen.

He tied a red thread around her pinky finger. This is a common practice in some cultures to signify a connection or promise.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you, Karen? Stay put.”

“Yeah! I got it.”

Karen had heard some of the story from Loki.

Her mission was to protect the red thread and wait for a few days, or at most a month.

Karen scratched her ear and nodded.

“Get on.”

Loki boarded the boat and sat down.

As Sallot tried to follow, the lich spread his palm to stop Sallot.

“Only one living person can ride this boat.”

“…I can’t ride?”

As Sallot asked with a dissatisfied tone, Loki interjected.

“Is there no way for both of us to go?”

“Unless you’re dead, I can’t guide two living people at once. Another way is….”

The lich pointed to the other liches on other ferries with his finger.

“Take another ferryman’s boat. That is the law of the underworld.”

As Loki nodded, Sallot stepped back.

The lich picked up an oar and dipped it into the river.

He began to row upstream.

Very slowly, he sailed between the cliffs.

The flowing water gradually turned into a deep red color.

Watching Loki disappear, Sallot turned his head.

Another lich, as if waiting, led a ferry and approached Sallot.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a living person. Is there someone you want to meet? Then hand over the gold.”

Sallot, recalling Loki’s actions, took out a gold pouch from his pocket.

The lich who received the gold smiled as he looked at Sallot.

For some reason, he looked more sinister than the lich he had seen earlier.

“I’ve received the gold. Get on quickly.”

“…Okay.”

Sallot turned around and looked at Karen wagging her tail.

Sallot, tying a red thread to his pinky finger, also tied a red thread to Karen’s pinky finger.

He cut the thread.

Even so, the red thread fluttered in the air as if connected to each other.

“Take care of me.”

“Of course!”

At Sallot’s words, Karen nodded.

“Get on. What is the name of the spirit you want to meet?”

“Calib. The race is-”

“Ah, I’ve heard the name, so that’s enough. Get on first.”

The lich pointed to the boat with his finger.

“Ah! You don’t have to tell me the characteristics. Calib. I understand. I’ll take you to him.”

“……?”

The story was different from the previous lich.

“…First, take me to where Loki is.”

“Loki?”

“I mean the person who left earlier.”

“We only allow you to meet the spirits in the registry. So… after going there, join him separately.”

The lich smiled.

Sallot boarded the boat.

The ferryman rows between the valleys.

As soon as the boat left, another lich turned the boat and approached Karen.

This lich was a little different from the other liches.

He was wearing a pointed hat and had a staff instead of an oar.

Also, his build seemed smaller than the other liches.

It was a small ferry, and behind it, two knights in armor were riding.

The lich wearing the pointed hat asked Karen.

“Aren’t you going?”

“Huh? Yeah! I’m not going! Hoonie will stay here!”

Karen sits on the floor and wags her tail.

It feels more like a dog than a cat.

The lich wearing the robe stared blankly at Karen.

“…? Why?”

Perhaps he was regretting missing the opportunity to receive gold?

Karen thought so.

The lich wearing the robe grabbed the brim of his hat and wore it even deeper.

He stared at the ferry carrying Sallot, which was gradually disappearing into the red mist.

“That elf has been deceived.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t give help without a price.”

The lich said, looking at Karen.

“I will properly guide your companion. Can you give me gold?”

“You mean you’ll help my friends?”

“Yes. I will help your friend to face the dead.”

Karen rummaged through her pockets.

She took out a pouch and handed it over.

The lich with the pointed hat received the money bag and opened it.

Inside, there were about three gold coins.

The price was ridiculously low.

“The price is not enough.”

“Really?”

“…No, considering the old ties, this price is just right. So, do you want to help your friend?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what it is… but help that kid!”

‘What a simple and ignorant beastkin [a creature with both human and animalistic features].’

But he received the gold.

The lich with the pointed hat agreed.

He uses his staff as an oar and flows into the river.

Karen stared at the back of such a lich.

Suddenly, she felt a chill down her spine.

When Karen turned around-.

Thump! Thump!

“…Uh, uh?”

A huge shadow is visible.

Karen raised her head and faced the one-eyed monsters.

Cyclops.

The surviving Cyclops from other forests have come here.

***

The ferry carrying Sallot passes by.

In the process, numerous ferries with liches moving passed by her.

Their boats were carrying many souls.

They parked their boats at a pier made of bones.

The liches were busily moving, writing something on large leather parchments.

“That is….”

“It’s the registry. The dead are engraving their names. You are alive, so you don’t have to write.”

The ferry carrying Sallot passed the pier.

Sallot scanned the surroundings with anxious eyes.

The stench that stimulates the tip of her nose.

It smells like iron.

The river of blood gradually widened, reaching a space reminiscent of the sea.

“……”

Sallot’s gaze turns.

A completely different world unfolded.

The place she arrived at was the coast.

However, what was there were not sand, but bones.

Various bones, whether human, magical beast, or monster, were piled up like sand.

In the sky, a black hole was tearing through the air and burning.

Lightning struck through the hole, and poison flowed out.

As if proving a different dimension from the present world, even though the constellation of light had died, the sky here was very bright.

“Kkyaaaaaak!”

“Aaaaaaak!”

Screams echo in the sky.

Spirits with bodies fall from the cracked black hole.

Evil spirits fly in the sky, and zombies walk on the rotten land full of sticky flesh.

“…I, is this the underworld?”

The lich nodded at Sallot’s nervous words.

“That’s right. The underworld was originally a beautiful place. However, as the constellation of death corrupted, it turned this place into this terrible hell.”

“Beautiful?”

“Yes, the constellation of death, who was imprisoned here by the Azellan constellation, tore the sky to escape this underworld. To connect with the present world. As a result, this underworld has been ruined. The thunder and poison flowing out from the flow of dimensions have destroyed this underworld.”

“……”

The zombies wandering on the earth turned their heads and looked at Sallot.

They reach out their hands and say.

“Sa, save me…! I’m not dead!”

Sallot’s face hardened.

“Zombies have ego?”

“This is the underworld. The spirits here are different from ordinary undead. They are no different from the living beings of the present world. Well, if there’s anything different… it’s that they don’t die even if they die.”

“……”

“So, when the Red Moon rises, the spirits gather at the entrance of the underworld. They crave to escape from this broken hell and go to the warm and vibrant present world. Ah, did you say that the person you wanted to meet was Calib? Let’s go to where he is.”

Sallot was nervous, but on the other hand, she was filled with anticipation.

Could it be that she can really meet her father?

The lich headed to the coast where the bones were piled up.

There is a lighthouse there, spreading red light.

The lich who arrived there says.

“The name is Calib. The gender is female.”

“……?”

“Her neck was twisted and pulled out, and she died.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

The person she was looking for was her father.

The demon king who once led the Hanes Empire.

Of course, he was a man and died at the hands of heroes.

But, a woman!

The lich gets off the ferry.

He smiles as he looks at Sallot on the boat.

“Didn’t you say you were Calib? I will follow your wish-.”

The lich kicked the ferry with his foot.

The boat is pushed back.

At the same time, the middle of the sea of blood began to swirl.

“I took you to the place where the constellation of the sea, Calib, is. My role ends here.”

Behind Sallot, a winged goddess emerged.

***

Loki’s boat went forward.

He entered the sea of blood.

Hands rise from everywhere, grabbing and shaking the boat.

It was the struggle of the spirits trying to overturn the boat and devour the living.

The lich holding the oars slapped those spirits’ hands and knocked them off.

“Hoo… that’s tough.”

The lich pulled the boat to the shore.

“We have arrived.”

Loki got off the coast covered with bones.

The bones crumbled as they rustled.

Beyond the coast of bones, sticky land can be seen.

It was full of flesh, and flames were burning as the ground cracked.

Surprisingly, trees were growing, but they were not ordinary trees.

Tree trunks snatched up the staggering zombies and put them into large tree holes.

Sharp branches chewed and swallowed the zombies like teeth.

It looks like they are using the corpses as nourishment.

The zombies wandering on such land looked at Loki.

“It’s a living person….”

“I’m going to eat it….”

The lich advised Loki.

“You have to be prepared since you came here. Those who died and came here have very weak powers, but their numbers are enormous. Also, in the forest, there are scavengers that chew and swallow everything that moves, Blackwood is growing. These guys will be quite strong. Even skilled adventurers can’t last a day.”

“……”

“Then…. I wish you luck.”

The lich rowed and disappeared.

At that time, a storm blew from the sea of blood in the distance.

Loki turned his gaze and looked at that place.

The sea of blood is shaking.

Blood gathers and forms a pillar, and blood rain falls.

Small waves gather and become a tsunami, rushing towards the coast.

“That is….”

The disaster of the sea I saw before.

It was similar to the constellation of the sea, Calib.