[Necklace with a Living Eye]

An artifact of the Ruler of Death that rules over the Nether Realm even before the first-second ticked-tock in the Great Universe.

This is an exclusive item for a Death Executioner.

Rank: Unholy

Classification: Artifact (Bound)

Effects:

1. Envelopes the wearer and anyone near the wearer with the miniscule 'Aura of Death', which gives immunity against the pressure or powers of Nether Creatures.

The immunity is only in effect if the wearer is a Death Executioner or a companion of the Death Executioner.

2. Upon wearing, the wearer will be able to see the souls of living beings with the wearer's naked eyes.

3. Upon wearing, the wearer will be able to interact with souls in the Soul Realm, the realm where the souls wander aimlessly before being sent to the Nether Realm, Heaven's Sanctuary, or [Classified].

4. Dead or Alive – this effect will grant the wearer a choice to change his or her body status.

Alive – the wearer will simply remain alive.

Dead – the wearer that activates this effect will become a Nether Creature or Undead.

The 'Dead' effect can be activated through the wearer's thoughts.

5. When the wearer becomes an Undead due to the 'Dead' effect, the wearer will be able to communicate with every Nether Creature more proficiently and peacefully.

***

"It'll be my first time using this."

Freya muttered while under the concealment of Junain's Blanket, holding the ancient necklace in her hand as she was scurrying towards the point of the battle between Jiho and Rumia against the Horror Murloc.

The others, on the other hand, were occupied with the seemed endless spawn and respawning of the Zombie Murlocs.

<Oppa, distract their vision on other direction.>

Freya gave the signal after her distance between the fight against the Boss Monster was narrowed by a few meters. She was standing behind Jiho and Rumia who were wonderfully synchronized with each other.

At that moment, she wore the [Necklace with a Living Eye]. The eye charm was moving, glancing around, but it didn't care about anything other than being a display on the necklace.

Freya looked at the party, defending themselves by blocking or attacking the Zombie Murlocs, since attacking was the best defense, after all.

<Oppa, Amelie, Amery! Now!>

<Alright! Don't worry about us, and just do your job.>

Amelie telepathically responded.

<Good luck.>

Amery added.

<Don't be afraid.>

Russell's encouragement gave Freya the will and motivation to get the job done.

At that moment, Russell shouted towards the Zombie Murlocs, and lured some of them in his direction, opposite Freya's, so that the other party members would follow his direction.

"Zombie bastards!"

Seemingly understanding the provocative words of Russell, some of the Zombie Murlocs lunged towards him, but, wearing the Mask of Night, he blended in the shadows and quickly reappeared again. He then intermittently repeated the process to confuse the Zombie Murlocs, but not to the point when these monsters would change targets.

Samantha, looking at the spectacle, didn't understand the intent behind Russell's action, but she remembered him telling her about some kind of plan.

"Come! You freaking bonefish!"

Uncharacteristically, Samantha joined Russell's barrage of profanity toward the mindless Zombie Murlocs.

The rest of the party members looked at her, perplexed.

"Samantha... You... look adorable, provoking them."

Elizabeth teased her as she vanished from her spot and appeared behind one of the monsters that were near them, subjugating it.

Samantha flinched at Elizabeth's words, but more likely, she was getting laughed at inside her head by the mysterious entity.

<Hahahahahahahaha!>

<You said you're sleeping!>

***

While still under the Junain's Blanket concealment effect, Freya glanced in the other direction where Russell and the others lured the Zombie Murlocs away. The distance between these two small battlefields didn't matter at all since the Zombie Murlocs acquiescingly respected the Horror Murloc's fight against the Rumia and Jiho. Even if they're two to three meters away from the Horror Murloc, they wouldn't dare to interrupt the intense battle.

'Alright... Let's do this.'

Wearing the artifact given to her by the Ruler of Death, Freya, standing a few meters behind Jiho and Rumia, who were engaged in combat with the Horror Murloc, took off the Junain's Blanket.

[Activating the "Dead" effect of the Necklace with a Living Eye!]

[You are turning into an Undead Creature of the Nether Realm!]

At that moment, Freya, who was fearing that her skin would be peeled off and she would turn into moving bones, had undergone the change from being a human to being an undead.

But unlike what she feared, it wasn't the likes of undead that's made of bones she turned into. The pupils of her eyes, from deep blue, turned deep black as though it was a miniscule, bottomless abyss; her waist-length deep black hair turned greyish white and her flawless fair skin turned ashen. A dark and grey aura emanated from her; the latter seemed to be the aura of death being a Death Executioner, while the former seemed to be the aura of being a Nether Creature or Undead.

She looked mystifyingly beautiful.

***

"Y-you..."

As an intelligent Boss Monster, the Horror Murloc seemed to stutter for some reason, looking behind Jiho and Rumia. This given opportunity, considered as an opening, was taken by two of them as they simultaneously attacked the Horror Murloc. They didn't look in the direction of where the Boss Monster looked, especially since the duration that was given to them was nearing an end — which would cause all of them to receive the Failure Penalty.

With uncertainty about the weak spot of the Boss Monster, Jiho and Rumia aimed at the vital part with the hope to kill the Horror Murloc instantly — the head, but before they managed to cut down the Boss Monster, a strange thing happened.

In that span of time, using the dilapidated eight-meter scythe weapon, the Horror Murloc committed suicide by cutting his own fish head.

***

<Everyone, hold on!>

Freya's voice delivered telepathically, resounded in each of her Star Quest party members. Without responding to her, Russell and the others knew what to do — distract and defend.

"Boneheads!"

Russell provocatively screamed. He waved his mysterious weapon that garnered the attention, not just of the Zombie Murlocs, but rather of the other party members. Amelie, being both a cheerful and cheeky woman as she was, refrained from boisterously guffawing out, while Amery, being amiably aloof as usual, constricted her deep black eyes and seemed to feel cringe all over her body.

"You gotta do everything to survive."

Russell muttered. He couldn't blame the reactions of these young players whether they were his Chaos Companions or not, especially since they have an assurance that they would be safe — Raya and Yara.

'Well, I can't blame them. This is so uncharacteristic of me, but I'm surprised Samantha seemed to catch on.'

<Oi! What are you planning to do?! This is mortifying!>

As he thought of that, Samantha's voice resounded in his head, causing him to falter for a moment.

Spurt-!

"F*ck!"

He was slashed by the bone scythe by one of the Zombie Murlocs. Russell recalled the first time Samantha used a telepathy skill, during the Banquet of Obelisk.

<J-just hold on!>

<Alright, sorry about that.>

Russell gritted his teeth, and quickly took out a Health Potion, he then poured it into the back of his left forearm which was shallowly cut.

A minute or two passed, and at that moment, the Zombie Murlocs fell down, one by one seemingly being called by the ground from where they should have belonged. Sounds of notifications rang in their heads.

[The Player Party has defeated the Horror Murloc!]

[The Player Party has successfully cleared the 20th Floor of the Tower of Growth!]

[A random reward will be given to each party member.]

[Generating the rewards...]

[...has received the...]

[...has received the...]

[The Player Party will be transferred to the "Waiting Room" in a minute.]

[Duration: 3 minutes, 55 seconds.]

Samantha looked at Russell in disbelief.

"I-is it done? W-what happened?"

Celine, whose role was to give them moral support, asked curiously. But her perplexed reaction seemed contagious as it was also painted in everyone's face except for the exhausted Russell, Amelie, and Amery, as well as Freya herself.

They slumped down on the small island's soil, waiting to be transported to the waiting room.

***

'Sigh. I'm glad it went well! I thought it won't be effective.'

Freya thought. She didn't remove Junain's Blanket as of yet because the confusion of the party members would be directed at her if she suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

It was her first time to use the "Dead" effect of the artifact because when she was visiting the Nether Realm, she only needed to wear it to communicate and be recognized by the Nether Creatures apart from the region she was entrusted with.

'I didn't expect the Horror Murloc to commit suicide.'

Freya browsed the System messages she received as soon as she transformed from being a human to being a Nether Creature or Undead.

[The Tower of Growth has recognized your authority as a Death Executioner!]

[Any weak undead creature will heed your command!]

[The undead does not feel regret!]

[Strengthen your authority as a Death Executioner to be recognized by strong undead!]

'I can't believe the Tower considered the Horror Murloc as weak undead... I wonder how strong the strong undead will be. But I need to be stronger and... I need to thoroughly read the Profession-related books given to me.'

Freya thought. What she did was command the Horror Murloc to commit suicide. However, she received two strange System messages after the Boss Monster killed himself, which she planned to ask later her older brother about.

[The Horror Murloc feels grateful to you.]

[You have freed its soul from the Tower of Growth under your authority as a Death Executioner.]

***

"..."

Inside the waiting room, Samantha was standing in front of Russell. She wasn't saying anything, and all eyes were on them.

"What's the matter?"

Russell asked, somewhat coldly. He didn't like being stared at because of the introverted personality he possessed.

'If it's not a battle of life and death, I'd gladly sit around on the corner.'

Russell felt that Samantha was going to ask what exactly happened, but he had no plan to give her a proper answer.

'I'm not a fool. You're even suspicious of me about being an author or something. Clearly, you wouldn't ask it simply because Freya told you that I like reading books.'

Looking at her brown eyes, Russell inwardly spoke as a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"What's the reward you receive? Let's make a trade."

Russell's eyes constricted at the unexpected words that he almost choked, even though he wasn't drinking or eating anything at the moment.historical

'If you're going to ask for a trade, why directly at me?!'

Russell lampooned inwardly.

After some time, some of them traded with something they received as a reward, finding what was necessary or more helpful for them. Apart from those who traded rewards, the others seemed to have received the exact item they longed for or meant for them, causing a momentary euphoria of gratitude.

***

"This is a very, very sweet weapon."

Anya said as she held the bone scythe that was wielded by the Horror Murloc. It was shortened to its original size of at least a meter and a half.

"Anyways, please be reminded of the information that was given to me regarding the 25th Floor. We need to go all out, not held back anything unlike earlier. Crap, that almost gave me anxiety. I'm glad, though strangely, the Boss Monster killed himself."

She casually added.

"Anya, what's the Boss Monster on the 25th Floor?"

Rumia asked. The others were listening attentively.

"I don't know. My father didn't tell me. He just told me various stuff; bits of advice of some sort. Well, I guessed he wanted me to think of this as a challenge, which technically is. If that Horror Murloc wasn't so short, we could have easily defeated him, you know."

Anya glanced around, seemingly to find someone.

"Alright. Are all of you ready? There are a few minutes left since the next floor. Should we proceed?"

Samantha interjected, and as a leader of the Player Party, she asked. Everyone nodded with determination to finish these challenges.

Preparing themselves, and checking everything necessary, they vanished from the waiting room and shortly, arrived at the 21st floor.

[The Player Party has arrived at the 21st Floor of the Tower of Growth!]