Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!

Chapter 858 Maria's Overwhelming Might

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Maria noticed that the powers of whatever was within the paladin's body were amplifying in response to his body being exposed to near-death experiences. But this wasn't really happening with the other Paladins, this Paladin Commander guy was really quite special in thar regard.

She also noticed that there was some sort of blue jewel glowing beneath his chest, hidden within his still beating heart, a blue jewel that was completely overtaken by a vicious darkness… This somewhat reminded her of the tale that Nia had told her about the Divine Oasis Spirit.

Where she sacrificed her own life to seal The Dark Pest with her body and soul… Yet, if Celes is truly her reincarnation, then that means that whatever they're using as her fragments, it might be something left behind, perhaps a piece of her divine body, corrupted by whatever the Dark Pest truly was!

However, Maria would have to find out if these theories were real or not once she dealt with this monster, that kept shapeshifting in an attempt to adapt to the constant damage it was taking.

"RAAAAAHHH!!!"

The giant abomination swam across the skies towards her, without even holding the ability to speak properly anymore, opening its enormous shark jaws, and constantly trying to bite Maria!

CRAASH! CRAASH! CRAASH! 

However, Maria swiftly evaded its attacks, moving at lightning speed, quite literally! Her body felt as if it was made of pure electricity, as she started to charge more and more energy into her fists, the second the giant shark beast reached her, conjuring an enormous quantity of miasmic spirit waters, shaped into hundreds of shark jaws!

"GROOOAARR!"

"Honestly, that's pretty cool." Maria laughed. "Alright, it's decided, you'll become my new Undead. [Phantasmal Limbs]!"

Her entire body shapeshifted, growing hundreds of long, phantasmal arms from her body, made out of phantasmal energy and divine golden and black lightning!

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! 

With mighty electrifying fists, she stopped the enormous wave of sharks conjured out of corrupted spirit magic, as the shark swiftly emerged from amidst the explosions, opening its jaws and swallowing Maria whole!

CRUNCH!

"GRRRHHH…?!"

However, the moment it closed its jaws, the shark felt incredible discomfort, being forced to open its jaws by Maria, who kept punching its mouth!

CRAASH!!!

"GRYYYAARGH!"

The shark's lower jaw exploded with a lightning burst, as Maria escaped the beast's maws and looked down at it from above, her lightning constantly growing stronger with each passing second.

"This flashy fighting style is not bad; I could get used to this…" Maria thought.

"RAAAAH!"

The shark, even without a lower jaw, did not give up, conjuring all the magical and spiritual powers it could into a massive aura, which summoned hundreds of tridents, firing them directly towards her!

"Again with the same?!" Maria smiled, rushing down, and punching the corrupted spirit water tridents one after another with her bare fists!

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! 

"Let's end this!"

She reached the beast, as the monster's four arms quickly unleashed a barrage of fist attacks towards her, which she swiftly intercepted with her own fists!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Her attacks were so potent that electricity constantly zapped out of her blows, breaking apart her foe's arms, as they constantly kept regenerating.

"How about this then?"

She gathered her electricity and combined it with a magic circle, conjuring a series of chains made of sealing, chaotic lightning, which quickly wrapped itself around the beast's arms, forcing it to keep still!

"[Sealing Chaotic Lightning Chains]!"

FLASH!

"GRYYAAAGH?!"

The shark was quickly taken aback by this, as Maria swiftly rushed down towards its chest, and then pierced it with her fist, overcharging it with electricity!

"[Infernal Spectral Lightning Fist]!"

Combining her Ghostly Fist Techniques with her lightning powers, she pierced her foe's chest, and then went deeper, grasping the origin of its endless power and shattering it!

Crack, crack…!

CRAAASH!

"GRYYAAAAHHHH…!"

The lifeforce of the entire beast started to disappear at the same time, as Maria absorbed it by merely touching it, its soul quickly trying to run away, for some reason.

"Nuh-huh, you're not going anywhere…" Maria smiled, grabbing the soul back and sticking it into the recently dead corpse, repairing its chest wound and then… "[Creation of Death]"

FLASH!

Phantasmal energies covered the entire corpse, as its soul was sealed within, and the entire being was reanimated as Maria's new Undead.

"GRAAAHH…"

The beast groaned in frustration, it seemed to not have liked what happened there… Especially because it used to be a person, and now it is stuck in the form of an aberrant being.

"You'll get used to it." She gently patted the shark's head.

Meanwhile, as Maria had finished off her foe, the other Paladins weren't just sitting ducks. They had all transformed into their own sorts of marine-like monsters, even the ones that little Nyx fought had fused into a big one!

However, Nyx's opponent wasn't the only one that had decided to become a giant, combined beast. Especially because the other paladins were too weak to make something strong alone, the forces controlling their bodies into turning into chimeras swiftly decided to fuse them into a gigantic multi-headed sea snake-like creature.

And the ones taking care of that beast were nobody else than Fabian's group, as Maria wanted them to train and get stronger, he and his friends had to make sure to fight properly and earn their EXP! And this was a rather ideal opportunity for that…

"RAAAAH!" The large and strong Garon rushed towards the giant chimera, his fists blazing with powerful red flames, his red hair turning into pure fire as his entire body channeled the powers he had inherited from his chimeric body before turning into a special kind of Undead. "[Blazing Ifrit's Fist Meteors]!"

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! 

With the might of his already high stats thanks to his new body, the powerful Garon managed to crush several of the skulls of the chimeric beast they fought, only for its long tail to swiftly hit him from behind, smacking him down!

BAAAMMM!!

However, before he were to fall, the little Beery appeared, conjuring a mass of purple-colored plants around his tiny body, which quickly caught Garon's body from falling further below.

"Careful!"

"Beery!"

"GROOOAARRR!"

The multi-headed beast glanced down at them, swiftly rushing towards the kids, only for a dozen spears made of Demonite to pierce its back!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! 

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