At first, Hel planned to raise devils within her Undead Space.
But after discovering that Corrupted Wasteland Soil could accelerate the birth of devils,
she immediately changed her plan.
The soil was far too dangerous—Hel wasn't keen on bringing such a hazardous substance into her personal domain. In fact, she thought leaving it right here in the Snowmelt Principality was probably safer for everyone.
Still, for the sake of mimicry tag research, she decided to extract some soil and conduct devil cultivation experiments.
Of course, she wouldn't bring the soil back with her.
Instead, she planned to dig out a secret underground base beneath a forest at the border of the Snowmelt Principality.
This time, Hel intended to make the base much deeper.
A hundred meters underground wasn't secure enough—she wanted to go at least a thousand meters below the surface.
For safety, the base would be completely sealed.
The walls would be reinforced with mythril, leaving not even the tiniest crack.
With something as eerie and unpredictable as this soil, no amount of caution was excessive.
So, Hel split her focus—one of her Little Magus avatars worked on the excavation and construction deep within the forest, while another collected the Corrupted Soil using her spatial equipment.
Her spatial storage wasn't a typical ring, but actually one of her own finger bones.
After applying a Storage Space tag to it, that bone now functioned identically to a spatial ring.
The original tag had been of purple quality, but after Hel replicated and fused it, its quality had risen to orange.
This improved version had ten times the capacity—10,000 cubic meters of storage space, more than enough to hold all the soil she needed.
Naturally, to avoid arousing suspicion from the kingdom's army, Hel only collected the uppermost layer of the Corrupted Wasteland.
She didn't strip it bare, just enough to fill her storage gradually.
But as she ventured deeper into the Wasteland, she made a surprising discovery—even when she stepped directly on the Corrupted Soil, her undead body remained unaffected.
No corruption. No transformation.
The lesser devils nearby also ignored her entirely.
To them, she was no different from an insignificant pebble by the road—not worth their attention.
However, as Hel delved further in, she began encountering stronger devils.
These resembled the smaller imps in form but were much larger and far more powerful.
They had bat-like wings and humanoid bodies, but what set them apart were the curved ram horns on their heads.
They were known as Horned Devils—a form that perfectly matched the image of demons from Hel's previous life. Most of them were around Tier Two or Tier Three in strength.
Even so, these Horned Devils seemed indifferent to Hel's presence, glancing at her but making no move to attack.
Her journey wasn't without incident, though.
Deeper still, she encountered a strange creature that looked like a walking undead mantis. Her Tag System identified them as another type of devil—Bone Devils.
Unlike the Horned Devils, these creatures were very interested in her. It seemed they wanted to tear her apart and fuse her skeletal body into their own.
Despite their terrifying appearance, their strength wasn't particularly high.
The strongest Hel met was only Tier Four—and with the amplification of the Philosopher's Stone, she dispatched it effortlessly.
After that, the other Bone Devils quickly retreated, and Hel was able to continue her collection in peace.
Meanwhile, a thousand meters underground, another of her Little Magi was at work.
This one had already spread the Corrupted Soil she'd gathered earlier across the floor of the underground base.
Then she took out a glass jar filled with a writhing mass of ants she had collected from outside.
Without hesitation, she twisted the lid open and poured the entire jar's contents onto the corrupted ground.
The ants scattered instantly, swarming in all directions.
Now, all Hel needed was time—to watch and wait.
One Little Magus gathered soil, the second managed the devil-breeding base. Both tasks were monotonous, requiring little concentration.
So Hel shifted her focus to the third Little Magus, who was wandering across a vast, desolate plain.
Around it roamed a few stray ghouls—lifeless, staggering bodies that shambled aimlessly. Occasionally one would trip over a rock or collapsed ruin, fall flat, then clumsily climb back to its feet and resume wandering.
They had no purpose.
No awareness.
They were merely masterless undead.
This was the Free Nation, a land once ravaged by the Undead Scourge.
Hel had left this Little Magus here to extend her Soul Network into the Free Nation.
But that was only part of the truth.
The real reason was concealment.
Due to the limited number of undead left under her command, Hel had stripped away unnecessary disguises to optimize the network's efficiency.
The downside was that the pattern of undead distribution
had become too uniform.
If the network simply ended within Heim Territory, it would immediately draw suspicion—anyone investigating would assume the controller was hiding somewhere within Heim.
But if the network extended into the Free Nation, it would seem far more natural.
Even after the great cataclysm that wiped out most of its undead, the Free Nation still held a significant number of wandering dead—including some powerful ones.
Among them was a group known as the Death Knight Order, who occupied the ruins of the Free Nation's former capital. Each member was at least Tier Four, making them dominant rulers of the area.
When Hel's Little Magus had passed through that place before, they had even chased her off with bows and arrows.
So, for both revenge and strategic safety, Hel made sure her Soul Network's final node
extended all the way to their territory.
The Little Magus she'd left behind was the one stationed there after the network was completed.
To reduce risk, Hel allowed it to move freely, wandering aimlessly to avoid drawing attention.
Days had passed since then—she wasn't even sure where it had ended up.
Just as Hel was examining the surrounding landscape through its eyes, a deep rumbling suddenly shook the earth.
In the distance, a cloud of dust billowed into the sky.
The ground trembled under the charge of a massive cavalry army, thousands strong—perhaps ten thousand in total.
They swept through the wasteland like an unstoppable tide, trampling ghouls and skeletons alike, cutting them down without effort.
Hel narrowed her eyes.
"That banner…
The Federated Empire of Ymir?"