Chapter 66: The Prophet

[Sophia's POV]

All of the happenings in the surrounding countries, I have no clue, I just woke up from my evolution and all I can say is that, who the hell wrote me as a loli? Is he trying to pick a fight?

[I think that is the least of your concerns, you just usurped the ownership of a god's land.]

Yeah, you're right, and that god named Siginarugan did not even resist my attempts, as my "Father", he certainly knows that threats from some random person will not work against me, that appearance of him? Believe it or not, I have seen worse people, especially the G7 who want their hands on my "services", surely, calling me Rebellious Ungrateful Orphan Child will not work on me.

_And yet, he still went on with his "punishment"._

I was thinking of those things as I admired my new appearance, I twirled and my skirt flapped with it, the overhaul of my outfit even comes with panties, I'm impressed. My hair became longer and my temperament looked more mature, all and all, I became an adult if only it was about my looks and persona in general, however, I did not even go past the 6-foot threshold which is quite a bummer.

"Master we have arrived."

Kabuto said so in my back, I immediately covered my behind and stopped spinning around, this is the problem when your body is so tough, I can't feel dizzy even if I twirled around like a tornado.

[Emilio is no more, huh?]

No, Emilio is still here and her new name is Sophia.

I replied so as I turned around and saw all of my generals and let's say secretaries of the civil sector kneel before me, right I have to change the way they salute me, I think a palm in the chest is enough, it is too wasteful to kneel, look even Eleanor is kneeling.

"We, her servants greet the owner of the Great Forest."

...Heh...  I can feel my ego being fed because of this, but I should be humble, at least until my future nation can cause people to shiver by her name alone and not because of the name of her leader.

"At ease."

I nodded as I said those words and all of the kneeling people started to rise, I looked at Arachne, and she immediately ran towards me, she was still in her human-Half spider form so she was way taller than me, I looked at her like I am looking at the statue of Rizal in Luneta and I cannot help but curse.

_Tsk, seeing tall people feels like they are always trying to insult me with their height._

I didn't voice out my thoughts though as I commanded her.

"Take a sweep about the whole geography of the forest and make the most detailed map you can create, I want them by tomorrow, am I clear?"

Arachne nodded as she said: "I heed and Obey."

Suddenly, she started to mutter nonsense into herself and after 30 seconds, she bowed once again and went away, going back to the crowd of people before me.

I was about to ask her to investigate the happenings in other neighboring countries, however, as I was about to say those words, a giant hand grabbed the rocky mountain in front of us and lifted it, inside of it revealed the undead... well, they are undeads, the skeleton type dumped into a single place that is slowly cluttering and reforming themselves to greet their new ruler. But seeing how high the pile of bones is, I can foretell that this is at the very least a population of an entire country.

[40 Million]

...I also assumed that the ones who were in skeleton form were lower ranked ones because when the other rocky mountain was lifted, I saw men and women with the lower body of a human but the upper body of a horse started to run around at full speed.

There are also voluptuous maidens that suddenly sprouted wings and detached their bodies apart, the upper bodies that sprouted wings flew like mad creating an aerial show for every monster to see while their lower half seemed to want to yell something but could not speak so they jumped around and shadow-kicked the air multiple times.

Tikbalang (2) and Mananaggal (3)... these creatures are... there is no other way around it and the only thing I noticed is that I never saw someone portray Mananaggals to be such beauties.

I want to shout "Philippine Folklore takes the Isekai Stage!" but the situation with the citizens of my future nation is not so Ideal, all of them were skeletons and even though they were getting ready to reattach themselves, I still had to command them to do so, it seems.

"Rise," I said as I rubbed my forehead, I have to combine them to dwindle their numbers, with that, they will have flesh and will not be as shabby as this anymore, at least all of them will become super stiff because they are still not used in using muscles... I hope.

Even my living subordinates were getting worried here for they could see my slightly squinted eyes, my total silence did not help them either.

_They probably think I was not impressed by the undeads._

However, my brooding is just because it's inconvenient and not because it's hard, nor it is impossible. So I ordered all of the undead, mentally to line up, 500 thousand per session with names that start with A, B, and so on, and when the English was done, I went to Filipino, and then Japanese symbols, Chinese, Korean, and then Russian... after that process, I combined all of them, apparently the "Candy Crush" ability of mine has been upgraded and I can now combine two individuals instead of 3, it is not that great of an upgrade but a needed one as of the moment.

So I repeated this process again and again with some warnings from [Guide] that I had to take a rest, etc., and after one and a half days, the naming and combining sessions were finally completed.

I sighed and fell to the ground, however, I didn't want to take a break and not like I needed one, so I immediately went back up, I looked at the ruined city in front of me that had a destroyed castle at the center.

_So this is the true face of the fifth layer._

Well, it is quite sad, the place is like a European Imperial city at its peak that was suddenly destroyed by wars that they did not expect to befall them, oh and there was a war that happened before, I wonder how it went down.

"My Lady, as a representative of your father, let me introduce you to the current situation of your domain."

As I was thinking of such things, a man with a cigar appeared beside me, I immediately flinched and brought out my rapier, the grip of the rapier was now really uncomfortable because I grew taller. The prophet opened his eyes wide and raised his hand in the air.

"I mean you no harm."

I still held my blade in my hand as I asked.

"You are not appalled by serving the usurper of your master's land?"

The prophet, still has his hands air replied with the shake of his head.

"Why?" This is something really hard to believe, after all, prophets of this world as I observed with this single one are not made for martyrdom but for the mass murder of anyone who talked shit about their lord, it will be inconceivable for them to just forgive anyone who betrayed the one who is the subject of their prayers.

"Because I am a prophet, and until his will, I shall not aggress."

My eyes went wide and immediately drew back my sword, the people at my back who drew their battle stance too were shocked, they were about to voice out their concerns but I stopped them with a single raise of my hand.

"So prophets here are also the 'it will be done according to thy word' prophet huh, well that made them a little bit less interesting."

The prophet who seemed to understand the meaning of my words immediately drew back his hands from the air.

"Well, shall I give you a tour of your land, my lady?"

The prophet asked me so and I nodded reluctantly, I gestured for all of my executives to come with me too.

______

When we entered the city, my already heavy heart turned heavier, it seemed like this would be a lot more work than I had expected. I can imagine how this city long ago looked, it must have been flourishing with life even though its owners were undeads, but now all I can see are the destroyed rubbles of the residential area, commercial area and all of the other sectors of the city disappeared it did not disappear but more like it was turned into a pile of gigantic rocks and tiny pebbles by a battle that even I cannot describe.

Worse yet when I went into the castle I saw that not only the castle was damaged slightly, after all, it is a castle so it must be the sturdiest structure in the whole capital right? But no, maybe because of the test of time, but the interior of the castle already caved in, there was no throne or even a single chair inside that remained, and like the other structures, only rubbles could be seen standing from a bird eye view because we are flying.

Did the undeads who were piled up all over the place yesterday cause this? Probably, they might have absorbed the nutrients of the rocks and metals so that they could remain as bones and not turn into fossils. According to the prophet, this place is a prosperous city that needs a little development to be recognized as a nation, though it is a city affiliated with a Kingdom so it can't do so (in what I have speculated, at least), but a war broke out and destroyed this city, as to who is the enemy who caused all of this? The prophet just said the elves and did not elaborate further.

_Goal one: Investigate the Elven-Undead war._

I said so to myself, it is quite annoying to not know things and I still did not forget that time when I just got my memories erased, though I regained it already, that was still a great insult to me and I am still grumpy about it.

"Oh yeah, I have one more question."

I said so to the prophet who is hovering in the sky leisurely, he then turned around and replied.

"Do ask my lady."

I remembered the whole extent of the five-pronged forest and all I can say is that this place is not a place that looks like it can house 40 Million people, given of course that they are with flesh and are moving about, this place is just as big as the National Capital Region as what [Guide] said, so if it chucked in that many people, it will make the region that has 13,484,462 population that is considered the most densely populated region in the Philippines like an empty land.

"How did this city, or this forest house that many undeads, with its size?"

The prophet looked at me for a while and then turned back, I could see that his eyes had a hint of melancholy on them as he replied.

"Hundred of years ago, this forest is not our only territory, our land stretches to the place called Thanatos in which death truly prevails, in any living being not strong enough will be turned into an undead. However, after the Elven-Undead war, the two races inflicted lasting damage on each other, the elves got divided because of our race and are still embroiled in civil war up until now and the Death's Holy Land Thanatos was sealed alongside the large population of the land. Only these 40... well, I think 20 Million soldiers alongside the nonfighting military personnel who were tasked to drive the elf away from this forest survived. They degraded themselves except me to fit into this place as a skeleton and waited for the day that the "dead" would be resurrected. Well, their patience was finally bearing fruit, it seems."

Right, I have to investigate this war between seemingly two super powerful races, if I were to compare it, then this is like the war between Canada and the United States, the two are just land bordered so all hell will break lose if they duked it out. That thought was really interesting as someone who has a history enthusiast as a friend so it is more of my pleasure to investigate such things, but more importantly, it is my nation now, so I have to research things myself.

"Wait, so does that mean that this city is not the capital of the Undead Nation?"

I asked abruptly, even though I already had a guess and was quite sure of it.

"Yes, this is nothing but an extension city made to govern this area of land, it is planned to make it a state so that it will become our vassal and be more or less dependent on us economically, you see the god of the undead want a human to undead interactions, but because of the incidents that happened... Well, the dream is not realized."

Goddamn... That means the main historical archive of this destroyed city... or nation is not here, but in Thanatos, this will make my journey in unveiling the truth more tiresome and hard. As I was thinking of those things, something in my soul throbbed as I broke into a smile.

"Bakunawa is finally awake."

I muttered as such and immediately ordered my cute little slave to go to the fifth layer as fast as possible.

______

Tikbalang: is an evil spirit from Philippine folklore that is described as a blasphemous fusion of man and horse, making it a distant cousin of entities such as the Kelpie, Pooka, and Each-uisge: collectively known as Water Horses (though unlike these spirits Tikbalang is a largely land-based demon).

Manananggal: means "one who removes" or "one who separates." This refers to the creature's ability to separate or detach its upper torso from the rest of i

ts body to fly and hunt for prey.

Note: Remember that my description is MY VERSION of the two creatures and not their literal appearance.