Rebirth in Another World as the Undead Queen

The Black Fish Tail

Following the blood slave to a wooden house, maro was already waiting outside.

”Queen Serea.”

”Hmm, I heard you brought back a girl?”

”Yes, her name is Nora. She’s inside now.”

”Tell me what happened.”

”I found her while taking over Captain Little Black’s mission to clear the undead. She looked like she was lost, and wouldn’t say where her home was. With the blizzard approaching, I decided to bring her back.”

”I see. Let’s go in and have a look.”

Serea lifted her foot to enter, and before she even stepped inside, the group heard an unfamiliar young woman’s voice.

”This is really delicious!”

Upon entering, they saw a blue-haired girl sitting excitedly on the bed, grabbing bite after bite of simple sandwiches, eating like she hadn’t had food in days.

”There’s more if you need it, no need to rush.”

”Mmh, thank you, big sister. You’re such a good person.”

Nora handed Doluka a heartfelt thank you. Doluka merely smiled in response, but as soon as she saw Serea enter, she hurriedly bowed slightly.

”Queen.”

Hearing that, nora also glanced over. When she saw Serea, her eyes widened and, wanting to urgently speak, she choked on her sandwich and couldn’t make a sound.

After Doluka helped by patting her back a few times, nora pointed at Serea after swallowing the food.

”It’s you!”

Seeing the girl’s strong reaction, Serea pointed at herself in confusion.

”Me?”

”Yes, it’s you! You took my lady’s gemstone, making me chase after you all night!”

”Gemstone? Oh, I think I get it now.”

Serea spoke, recalling the words of that ”Lake God” mermaid before. It turned out Nora had been chasing her because she’d taken the ”Deep Sea Relic”.

”It’s only a walk of just over two hours, but you chased for half a day and half a night. That’s impressive.”

Serea teased, and Nora flushed bright red in embarrassment.

”None of your business!”

Getting lost almost instantly after setting out—how could she admit something so embarrassing?

”Anyway, hurry and return the gemstone to me. Also, I want 100 packed servings of that delicious food from earlier. Otherwise, I won’t forgive you.”

Nora pouted as she spoke. Serea pulled out a gemstone.

”Is this what you’re talking about?”

Seeing the Deep Sea Relic in Serea’s hand, nora stood up in excitement.

”Yes! Give it back to me!”

As she lunged forward, an unexpected radiance enveloped her legs.

To everyone’s astonishment, nora’s legs vanished, replaced by a blue fish tail.

Thud!

A face-first fall to the ground—it hurt just to watch.

”Mermaid!”

Lola cried out, and everyone realized Nora’s identity. The girl on the ground looked back, exclaiming in alarm.

”Oh no, I forgot the time!”

She tried to cover her tail, but how could she possibly hide it surrounded by everyone?

”Don’t look! Don’t look! Don’t look!”

She shouted, her eyes glistening with tears. Clearly, being seen with her fish tail meant something deeply personal to her.

Seeing her look so pitiful, Doluka gently picked her up and put her on the bed, but Nora wouldn’t let go, as if using Doluka to shield her tail.

”Merfolk are usually active in deep sea regions and often take on human form. For that, they must hide their tails to avoid being discovered,” explained Dogsius to Serea.

”So that’s how it is...”

Serea muttered. Looking at Nora again, she saw that Nora’s skin was turning red and her breathing had grown rapid.

”Oh no, she’s been away from water for too long. Merfolk can’t stay out of water for long,” said Lola.

Upon hearing this, Serea responded decisively, ”Put her in the Blood Pool.”

Without hesitation, Doluka carried Nora toward the Blood Pool. Although the Blood Pool wasn’t fully complete yet, the Spring of Life had already been poured in.

”Um... Please put me down...”

Nora wanted to get to the ground and use magic to summon a water source, but Doluka ignored her plea, and jogged Nora to the pool.

Thud!

Nora was tossed straight into the Blood Pool.

As she landed inside, nora sensed the rich life energy of the Spring of Life infusing the water. After happily swimming a few laps, she surfaced.

”So comfortable~”

She seemed to thoroughly enjoy being immersed in the Spring of Life. Seeing that Nora was alright, Serea let out a sigh of relief.

”Your name is Nora, right?”

”Hmph, why would I bother answering you? You’re a bad person.”

”Tsk tsk, I just wanted to let you know, someone’s been looking for you, wanting you to return to Lake Nos as soon as possible.”

”My lady!”

Hearing that her lady was searching for her, nora felt guilty. She only meant to get the Deep Sea Relic and return quickly, but ended up lost, worrying her lady.

Oh right, the Deep Sea Relic!

”Bad person, hurry up and give the Deep Sea Relic back!”

”Huh? Why should I give it back to you?”

”Because it belongs to my lady.”

”Your lady said she doesn’t want it anymore, only that you should be brought back.”

Serea replied, and Nora responded excitedly:

”Really? My lady really said that?”

”Of course.”

”Just as I thought! My lady cares more about me than the gemstone. I’m so lucky!”

Nora was lost in blissful thoughts, forgetting about her exposed tail. Seeing this, Serea thought the girl was rather naïve—perfect to take advantage of...

”By the way, your lady also wants you to tell me how to use this stone, as payment for helping you.”

”Oh, that’s really simple. Just place the gemstone in water and inject mental power into it.”

”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome, but at most, that stone will just glow,”

Nora said with a smile.

”Alright, stay here tonight. I’ll send someone to return you to Lake Nos in the morning.”

”Fine, but I still want tasty food!”

”Whatever you want.”

With that, Serea left without turning back. Now that she knew how to use the Deep Sea Relic, she couldn’t wait to explore its secrets.

A golden item... what might it be hiding?

”Queen Serea, about that girl...”

Doluka came over to ask. Serea replied, ”You’ll be in charge of watching over her. Just throw her back into Lake Nos tomorrow.”

”Yes, queen.”

With the matter settled, Serea dismissed the others and returned alone to her treehouse, where Lilith had not gone to bed yet.

”All done?”

”Mm.”

After replying, Serea poured herself a glass of spring water, then picked up the Deep Sea Relic.

Seeing Serea’s mysterious manner, lilith leaned over. As soon as the gemstone hit the water, that strange magical power began to emanate again.

”Just as I thought.”

Excited, Serea closed her eyes and tried to inject her spirit into it, when suddenly, the System notification sounded.

System: Detected a massive amount of pure fear energy. Absorption may activate ’Abyss Altar’ hero unit.

”Hero unit! That means I could open the main Abyss Altar branch!”

Serea was overjoyed. She’d unlocked the Death Altar before with exactly this kind of notification. This was a huge opportunity now!

”Absorb!”

System: Absorbing. Please wait...

In an instant, a cloud of purple mist spewed out from the Deep Sea Relic, flooding into Serea’s body. She could feel the incredible power and grew excited—but then...

System: Absorption complete. Activation failed.

”Huh?”

Baffled, Serea noticed the ”sealed” status on the Deep Sea Relic. It seemed the seal had blocked her absorption.

”Dogsius, can this seal be removed?”

”This seal uses a special mechanism. Without knowing the particular unlocking method, no one else can break it.”

”I see...”

Serea looked disappointed. The chance to unlock the Abyss Altar had slipped away, something she was unwilling to accept.

At that moment, lilith hugged her from behind.

”Serea, you seem unhappy.”

”I’m a bit down, yes.”

”Because of that stone?”

”Mm.”

”If you feel down, get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow, you’ll find a way.”

Lilith offered. Serea wondered if the seal was put on by that ”Lake God”. If so, perhaps she could learn how to break it from her. That way, the Abyss Altar would still be within reach.

With hope rekindled, Serea let go of her disappointment. Just as Lilith said—if nothing else, she’d simply visit Lake Nos again tomorrow. With the item unwanted by its owner, surely she could get the help she needed.

”Alright, I’ll try again tomorrow.”

With that, Serea stopped worrying about the Deep Sea Relic and stowed it into her spatial ring before going to sleep.

But soon after she fell asleep, a strange dream appeared. She saw herself at the bottom of a deep sea, surrounded by darkness. Amidst fear and cold, her consciousness slowly slipped away...

System: Acquired a brand new class—’Deep Sea Mermaid’.

Unconscious, a black light enveloped Serea’s legs. As she faded deeper into the dream, a beautiful fish tail appeared...

Who knew how much time passed before Serea felt a burning thirst. Needing water, she sat up in a daze.

”It’s not even morning yet...”

She saw darkness outside her window—Lola and the others shouldn’t have arrived yet.

But her parched throat urged her to climb out of bed.

Yet somehow, her body felt strange—as if her legs had vanished.

Serea shook off that absurd thought and tried to move off the bed. Then—

Thud!

Serea fell to the floor, sitting up groggily and rubbing her aching head. The noise woke Lilith, who sat up and looked over.

”Serea, are you... okay...?!”

But she suddenly froze, as if seeing something unbelievable. Her drowsiness vanished in a flash.

”Your legs!”

”Hmm? What about my legs?”

Looking down, Serea saw a beautiful black fish tail. The moment she glimpsed it, her long deprivation from water overtook her, and she lost consciousness.

In the last moments of awareness, she heard Lilith’s desperate call, fainter and fainter, until it faded into nothing.

Unconscious, Serea felt herself enter a cold environment—but rather than discomfort, the chill gave her peace.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

”Blub-blub.”

She opened her mouth, but only bubbles rose in her vision instead of sound.

Water? She was underwater!

Frightened, Serea choked on water, but didn’t experience the expected suffocation, which puzzled her even more.

While Serea was still confused, a girl’s voice rang out.

”You’re awake.”

A blue-haired girl’s face filled her entire view—it was Nora.

”Where am I?”

Serea tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t come out. After a moment’s thought, she realized she was underwater and couldn’t speak aloud. But then...

”Huh? Weren’t you guys the ones who threw me in here? How could you not know?”

Nora hadn’t opened her mouth, but the voice sounded directly in Serea’s mind.

”You can hear me?”

”Of course! It’s a unique way our merfolk communicate.”

”We? Merfolk?”

Suddenly Serea recalled how, half-asleep, she’d seen a black fish tail beneath her—and...

Lowering her head, she saw her own fish tail swaying in the current, and black hair trailing by her head.

”This is... my tail!”

”Yeah, I wanted to ask you too—how did you turn into one of us?”

Shocked, Serea didn’t answer. Instinctively she flicked her tail, half-rising above the water.

She looked around at the familiar roots—this was the tree hollow beneath the elf king tree, and she was in the Blood Pool!

”Queen Serea, you’re finally awake,”

As Serea surfaced, Lola and the others hurried over. Seeing their familiar faces, Serea asked,

”What happened?”

”We’re not sure either. Just after falling asleep last night, we heard Miss Lilith scream. When we hurried over, queen Serea, you were already...”

After listening, and glancing at her tail, Serea was furious from embarrassment. She went into the consciousness space and shouted,

”Damned System, get out here!”

System: Very happy to serve you.

”What’s with my tail and hair?”

System: As the host absorbed the power of the ’Deep Sea Relic’, a new form was unlocked.

”When did I permit you to turn me like this!”

System: It was the host’s choice to absorb the power. Nothing to do with this System.

”Didn’t you say the absorption failed? How could this still happen... Forget it, I’m done arguing. How do I turn back?”

System: At present, the power is uncontrollable, unless the host gives up the power of the ’Deep Sea Relic’.

”Then I...”

System: Reminder—if the host gives up the Deep Sea Relic’s power, it may be impossible to ever unlock the ’Abyss Altar’ by this means.

”... ...”

No longer able to unlock the Abyss Altar with the Deep Sea Relic?

”I feel like you’re doing this on purpose, system!”

(To be continued...)