Hel looked at Lily with a mix of exasperation and amusement, then smiled warmly at her.
"Lily, when we were synthesizing the skeletons earlier, we happened to end up with four extra fifth-rank skeletons.
I originally planned to dismantle them and distribute the elemental crystals inside for you all to consume.
Since you said there's another way to take them, I'm curious—why don't you demonstrate it for us?"
With that, Hel took out a fifth-rank elemental crystal removed from one of the skeletons and handed it to Lily.
Compared to the sixth-rank crystal in Hel's hand, this fifth-rank one was noticeably smaller but still about the size of a ping-pong ball.
When Hel had consumed one herself, it had taken considerable effort, and she had almost choked.
"Come on, don't be shy," Hel said with a smile, holding the crystal closer to Lily.
Lily looked embarrassed, unsure how to react.
She was thinking that shoving something that big inside could be fatal—oh, but Hel wasn't human, so it didn't matter.
Still, it would probably hurt.
Soon, a small smirk appeared on Lily's face. She proudly smiled at Hel, loosened her shirt, and pressed the elemental crystal against her lower abdomen.
Then, something bizarre happened. The flesh in her lower abdomen began to writhe and form blood-colored tendrils, quickly enveloping the crystal.
In just a moment, the crystal was completely absorbed, and the surface of her abdomen smoothed out perfectly.
"See, Master? It's that simple."
Hel was stunned. That worked?
She had seemingly forgotten a trait of the bloodline—every vampire was extremely adept at controlling their own flesh.
Making tendrils sprout from the abdomen was child's play for them.
Humans couldn't do such things.
Wait.
Hel's eyes lit up.
"This method might actually work…"
Before she could finish, Lily hugged Hel and quickly apologized:
"Sorry, Master. My little joke got out of hand just now. Don't do anything reckless—you're not a vampire. Cutting into your abdomen could be fatal."
"What are you talking about?" Hel grumbled, patting Lily's head and gently pushing her aside.
"I meant using the goblins' instruments to perform a small procedure, so I can get the crystal into my stomach."
"Eh? That's possible?"
Lily was momentarily stunned, but after glancing at Niv, she dismissed her doubts.
After all, a race capable of crafting such lifelike dolls must have incredibly advanced technology.
"Alright, this one is for Anna."
"Thank you, Master."
Hel handed another fifth-rank crystal to Anna. She was initially delighted but then frowned, clearly worrying about how she would take it.
Lily, ever observant, noticed Anna's expression but only smiled faintly without commenting.
"Lily, you take these two and give them to Sebas and the others," Hel said, handing over two more crystals.
After finishing the summoning earlier, Sebas had gone to handle the affairs of Heim.
By the time he entered the Necromancy Space, a significant amount of governance had already piled up in the territory.
Hel, as usual, didn't bother with administrative matters, and Arwin was even more clueless.
All the responsibilities had fallen onto Sebas, so she let him go to finish them.
This also explained why Lily was so unabashedly showing her eccentric side—she wouldn't dare do this with Sebas present.
"Alright, if everything's done, let's head out. Niv, come with me for a moment."
After sending Anna and the others off, Hel kept Niv behind.
She didn't immediately give instructions but instead brought out the five blood crystals.
Placing them on the table one by one, Hel activated her mental power and began inscribing a formation.
The formation was a pseudo Territory Refining Array, originally recorded by Hel in the goblin ruins.
From the start, when she planned to capture undead from the Free Nation, Hel had considered how to deal with those undead that didn't pass through the array.
After all, she wasn't a demon; she didn't want the entire Sacrificial Kingdom to suffer from a necromantic catastrophe.
The closing plan was to use the Territory Refining Array.
She would inscribe the array across the fallen lands of the Mandrake Principality, starting from the north of Heim City, covering most of the territory.
Then, a true territory refinement would occur.
All the undead and small beastmen in the area would be transformed into pure spiritual energy and fall under her control.
Hel had already instructed Niv to dig tunnels underground throughout the Mandrake Principality to inscribe the array.
The tunnels, less than half a meter in diameter, could only accommodate mechanical spiders—but that was sufficient.
The elemental crystal powder for drawing the formation had been sprinkled in the tunnels, and what remained were the five blood crystals at the formation nodes and a mage to oversee it.
Of course, the overseeing mage would be the Little Mage herself.
Clearing a path to the center of the array would take some time—two to three days—but during this period, Hel only needed Niv to place the five blood crystals on the nodes.
…
Meanwhile, in a corner unknown to Hel,
a man in a flashy pink suit with frilly decorations on the chest and sleeves found the eldest young master.
"Yo, Allen, you didn't die after all."
"Bazel? What are you doing here?"
The eldest master was cautious—he hadn't completed the Church's instructions and even lost the sacred relic.
Seeing his superior, he assumed Bazel had come to reprimand him.
"No big deal. Just catching up with an old friend, and I wanted to ask you something," Bazel said casually.
But it was clear Bazel didn't care about trivialities. Seeing the reaction of the two, he grinned menacingly and asked:
"Do you… want to go big?"