I Got Reincarnated as a Zombie Girl - Chapter 271

Chapter 271: Chapter 267 – The Underworld
The air around them trembled violently.

A black fissure appeared beneath Sylvia’s feet, spreading like a cracked mirror. From its seams, thick violet light surged upward pulsing like the heartbeat of the world itself.

In an instant, the three of them vanished from the castle courtyard, leaving behind swirling mist and the faint whispers of undead soldiers bowing in solemn silence.

Space and time warped around them, as if reality itself resisted the idea of letting these three beings move between worlds so easily

A wave of magical pressure swept over them, wrapping their bodies like cold water stealing their breath as if they were sinking into an unseen ocean.

Then, in a single blink….

They arrived.

…..

A dry, heavy wind greeted them.

Before them stood a colossal black gate, towering as high as a fortress. It resembled a pair of demonic wings forged from obsidian, engraved with ancient markings and lined with glowing red fractures, each line pulsing faintly, as though it carried the memories of countless dead.

From the cracks of that gate, dark mist seeped outward slowly, like the breath of a slumbering giant.

Sylvia stared at the sight without a word. They stood now at the edge of existence literally.

The ground beneath their feet was not stone nor soil, but a polished layer of black crystal, shining like glass. Yet every step they took reflected not just their image but shadows that did not move the same way they did.

Alicia looked around, her expression tense.

“The Gate of the Underworld…” she whispered, her voice trembling faintly. “Even from here, I can feel the weight of its soul pressure. This isn’t just a portal, it’s the boundary between two realities.”

“More than that,” said Stacia softly, opening her book. The pages flipped on their own under the pull of the dark wind. “This gate wasn’t built by gods or mortals. It’s…” she paused, eyes narrowing at the central sigil, shaped like a closed eye “…it was built by the world itself.”

Sylvia took a step closer. Her hand reached out, touching the air before the gate. At once, a surge of energy rejected her, sending a deep vibration through her bones.

“You’re right,” she murmured. “This isn’t crafted by mortal hands. It feels like… the scar of the world itself.”

Silence fell.

The mist around them grew thicker, twisting in the air like ribbons of black silk. And somehow, each strand of that mist felt alive as if it were staring back at them.

“Well then,” Sylvia said, turning toward her sisters. “We made it this far. The only question now is… how do we enter without opening the gate?”

The three exchanged glances. For the first time in a long while, none of them had an answer.

Alicia frowned at the gate, sighing softly.

“You know… we probably should’ve thought this through before coming here.”

Stacia closed her book with a quiet thud. “I suppose… yes.”

Sylvia’s eyes narrowed.

“So our grand plan was basically ‘walk up to the gates of hell and see what happens’?”

Alicia shrugged, a faint smile tugging her lips. “More or less.”

Stacia added dryly, “Spontaneous plans often work best.”

Sylvia let out a long sigh, gazing up at the black sky above them split by streaks of glowing red.

“You two are really starting to make me feel old.”

They looked at each other and despite the grimness of their surroundings, laughter broke out. It rang through the darkness, soft yet vivid a fragile sound of life in a place long abandoned by it.

Their laughter echoed across the desolate world, disturbing the stillness like a melody whispered among ghosts.

After a while, Sylvia brushed her hair back, regaining composure.

“All right, enough fun. We need a way in. If I force the gate open, the entire underworld might react.”

Alicia pressed a finger to her chin, thinking.

“Opening it physically would be risky… but if we temporarily alter our existence, we could pass through without disrupting the barrier.”

Stacia glanced over quickly. “You mean Soul Veil, don’t you?”

Alicia nodded. “A more advanced version. I’ll shift our physical existence into semi-spiritual form. Our bodies remain, but in a translucent state we can phase through the energy field without breaking its structure.”

Sylvia squinted. “In other words… become ghosts.”

“Technically, yes,” Alicia said lightly. “But a more elegant kind.”

Sylvia crossed her arms. “Elegant or not, it still sounds ridiculous. But fine I don’t have a better idea.”

Stacia eyed her sister warily. “Are you sure there won’t be side effects?”

Alicia gave her trademark ambiguous smile half confident, half reckless.

“Nothing permanent… as long as we don’t get lost between soul dimensions.”

Sylvia groaned softly. “That’s not reassuring, Alicia.”

Alicia shrugged. “You’re the one who said you wanted to try something dangerous, not me.”

At last, Sylvia sighed and patted Alicia’s shoulder.

“Fine. I’m trusting you. But if we get stuck as ghosts for a thousand years, I’ll haunt your soul after death.”

“Noted,” Alicia replied with a grin.

She lifted her Staff of Soul. The lantern at its tip began to glow with a pale azure light gentle and deep, like the shimmer from the bottom of the sea.

The air shifted. The rolling black mist around them was drawn toward the glow, swirling gracefully like smoke being pulled into flame.

“Dimensional adjustment ritual, begin,” Alicia whispered. “Don’t move or your souls might slip out before I’m done.”

Sylvia and Stacia stood still.

Magic thickened around them, forming a vast circle beneath their feet ancient runes glowing faint blue, the symbols moving and reshaping like living things.

The sound of wind vanished.

Only the quiet pulse of pure magic filled the air and Alicia’s voice chanting in an old language even Sylvia had never heard before.

Their bodies began to glow. Sylvia’s skin shimmered faintly, then slowly turned translucent. Lines of blue light traced across their forms, fading away like mist at dawn.

Stacia looked at her hands, now transparent. “It feels… strange.”

Alicia smiled softly. “We’re no longer fully in the physical world but not yet in the spirit realm either. Now… we can enter.”

Sylvia turned her gaze back to the massive gate. Its dark aura had softened, as though watching them in silence. She stepped forward, slowly passing through the veil of mist before her.

The air roared around them.

The gate let out a deep, resonant sound that seemed to echo through the core of the earth like the breath of a sleeping giant. But the door itself did not open.

Their bodies simply phased through, slipping past like shadows beneath the surface of water.

A biting cold spread through Sylvia’s body.

For a fleeting second, she saw thousands of tiny lights drifting in the void of lost souls wandering aimlessly between dimensions.

Some turned toward them, but none attacked. It was as if they knew these intruders were neither enemies nor truly part of their world.

After what felt like an eternity compressed into seconds, they broke through completely. The air changed heavily, sharp, metallic with the scent of blood.

They were now in the underworld.

The sky was a rotting crimson, like dusk that had never ended.

The ground beneath them was black and moist, each step making a sound like walking on wet flesh. Mountains loomed in the distance, their peaks spilling black smoke into the air. And at the center of that bleak landscape stood a towering structure, an immense palace of mirrored black glass, reflecting the red sky from every angle.

The Black Mirror Palace.

Sylvia stared at it, her crimson eyes glowing faintly.

“So… this is the underworld of this world.”

Alicia closed her eyes for a moment, sensing the air.

“The mana density here… it’s almost twice that of the surface. It feels like standing between life and death itself.”

“The perfect place to train,” Sylvia murmured coldly, yet brimming with anticipation.

Stacia shut her book, her face serious. “The perfect place to die too, if we’re careless.”

Sylvia glanced at her, smirking faintly. “Then let’s make sure this place learns to fear us first.”

A black wind blew past them, carrying faint echoes of screams from some distant abyss.

…..

The creatures moving through this realm were unlike anything Sylvia had seen before. Not like the grotesque, twisted abominations of war, these were… beautiful.

Their bodies were formed of transparent black-blue crystal, reflecting the dim red light of the sky. Each movement left trails of luminous fragments, and their footsteps chimed softly, like glass striking metal.

Alicia stepped carefully, eyes narrowing. “These aren’t normal life forms.”

Stacia flipped through her grimoire, its pages turning slowly. “I’ve read about entities like these in old archives. They’re called Erebion Shards, manifestations of the underworld’s consciousness made physical. They’re not alive, but they’re not dead either.”

Sylvia crouched slightly, watching one of them walk near the edge of the black plain.

“They look… peaceful.”

Soft crackling sounds echoed as the creature moved. No hostility, no aggression, only a tranquil existence, flowing like time in a realm that knew neither day nor night.

But that calm lasted only a moment.

Alicia’s aura began to waver. The pale blue light cloaking their bodies flickered as the Soul Veil she had cast earlier was starting to fade.

One by one, the glowing lines across their skin dimmed snuffed out like candlelight.

Sylvia glanced at her hands, now regaining their solid form. “Alicia…”

“The effect’s ending sooner than I expected,” Alicia said quickly, slightly breathless. “The energy here suppresses external magic. I can’t hold it any longer.”

In seconds, their bodies were fully material again. Cracks spread across the ground beneath them.

The Erebion Shards froze mid-step. Then, one by one, their crystal heads slowly turned toward Sylvia and her sisters.

“…Oh no,” Stacia whispered.

In the next instant, dozens of crystal eyes flared to life. A piercing sound filled the air like glass shattering into a scream.

And without warning, the creatures charged. They moved like streaks of light, a transparent wave of death cutting through the air straight toward the intruders.

Luckily…

They were ready.