Martha was about to answer, "Even at the cost of my life, I would complete it." But then she remembered that death would probably mean mission failure, so she quickly changed her words: "Your wish is the meaning of my existence. I will ensure its safe delivery."

  After putting on Edwin's oversized shirt and coat, Martha rode away into the mist on horseback. Yvette didn't have time to ponder Martha's situation - she now needed to find a way to stop the overflowing lake water from claiming more innocent souls.

  Through observation, Yvette noticed there were two types of spirits in the water. The first were fragments of villagers' souls decomposed by insects - these became dim, blurry shadows, with multiple identical people sometimes appearing simultaneously, though each performing different actions, perhaps representing different memories. When these shadows encountered each other, they would cry out in surprise before attacking and eventually merging into one clearer phantom.

  The second type were complete, unfamiliar figures - undoubtedly people lured by water ghosts to shed their mortal shells. In occult studies, newly deceased souls often appear very clear; some psychically sensitive living witnesses can't distinguish them from living people, and even the deceased themselves may not realize they're dead. There are folk tales about friends going hiking or camping, surviving floods or avalanches together, only to later discover their companion's corpse already rotting back at camp - this was exactly such a case.

  Both types only appeared in water, never coming ashore.

  In various human mythologies, death's yin imagery is often associated with water. In Egyptian myths, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, descending into the Nile's western flow, while the dead depart from the Nile's eastern shore to reach the western underworld. Other examples include Mesopotamia's Hubur river, Buddhism's Three Crossings river, and Greek/Roman mythology's Acheron.

  Water is the passage of souls. Clearly, that unknown supernatural entity was harvesting mortal ghosts through the water flow. Would preventing the lake's overflow possibly stop this?

  Yvette went to the stream connecting the lake to outside the village. Just days ago, this had been the sole inlet supplying this small endorheic lake, but now the situation had reversed - water was overflowing from the lake, carrying insect corpses.

  There were woods within ten meters on either side of the stream. Yvette casually cut down several trees and pushed them into the stream until their trunks protruded about a foot above water, then used a shovel to fill gaps with mud. Just as she nearly finished, she suddenly noticed the water level had risen again, flowing over the highest trunk to continue downstream relentlessly.

  Where was all this water coming from? The lake's water level didn't seem significantly higher when viewed from shore. Why could it cause such endless flooding that even submerged her makeshift dam against the current?

  Yvette activated her supernatural ability, concentrating energy into a thin laser beam projected parallel to the lake's surface. Immediately, she frowned upon discovering the problem.

  The laser beam necessarily travels straight, making the lake's surface appear peculiar in comparison. Though barely noticeable to the naked eye, the water surface increasingly diverged from the laser toward the lake's center, while nearly touching it at both banks.

  In other words, the lake had formed an imperceptibly concave shape. The waterline appeared unchanged, but the central portion had actually significantly decreased.

  Still, this couldn't explain the endlessly flowing water's source, as even this small lake's depressed center couldn't sustain such prolonged overflow.

  Just then, Yvette heard faint whimpering nearby. Turning, she saw a fox suddenly emerge from bushes to pounce on a drinking rabbit by the shore. The defenseless prey was immediately seized by the neck and dragged into the thicket.

  Upon closer inspection, many new animal footprints marked the shore - all coming to drink?

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Yvette investigated the woods, discovering two former springs. One, slightly smaller than a bathtub, had completely dried up. The other had once formed a pool about the size of a room, now reduced to damp mud where two deer licked the last moisture before fleeing at Yvette's approach.

  With springs dried up, was the lake sucking groundwater?

  If so, simply blocking water flow wouldn't suffice. Given its concave surface, the lake shouldn't be considered ordinary water - more like living slime that no dam could restrain.

  The overflow was likely mostly normal groundwater - but what had altered it?

  The most suspicious element were those floating insect corpses - their translucent strange flesh quickly dissolved in sunlight. If the insects had consumed villagers, had their souls likewise dissolved into the water with them?

  ...

  Inside the residence, Redbud hurriedly chased down the hallway. The maid Miss Moore approached with a broom, and Redbud impulsively asked, "Miss Moore, have you seen my brother? I just sensed his presence here."

  All residents here existed as spirits, but Edwin, having lost a substantial portion of himself along with the unidentified eldritch god when they were severed, had an emptiness that made him undetectable to others.

  He'd become a ghost - even in the world of the dead, closer to death than other spirits - endlessly wandering the corridors.

  Yet Miss Moore was head maid; what Redbud didn't know, she might.

  Moore frowned, displeased. "Redbud, mind your conduct and keep away from that Untouchable. Our master plucked you from worthless gravel - despite your past wrongs, she still chose you. Thus your soul must contain godlike virtues worthy of treasuring as her temple, lest your sole commendable quality be tainted."

  "Untouchable" was Edwin's status among most residents. These dead had assimilated into this world as part of its vast space, naturally despising and fearing Edwin who'd nearly destroyed it by awakening an eldritch horror.

  "Then I believe my brother also possesses qualities our master recognized when she saved him..." Redbud muttered defiantly.

  "I'd argue our master made him a cautionary example - showing what obstinacy ultimately brings..."

  As Moore lectured Redbud, both suddenly shuddered violently.

  "This feeling..."

  "The Messiah has returned! Our master summons us!"

  Instantly abandoning their tasks, the residence's layered corridors opened like blossoming flowers, delivering them within seconds to the enormous, emptied central courtyard where other residents simultaneously gathered.

  In the courtyard's center, a shimmering humanoid light slowly coalesced. All prostrated, praising her majesty, then heard their first orders:

  "I wish to save lost souls. Using my blood as medium, can you venture outside? Even briefly."

  The groveling residents looked up with voracious, ravenous eyes - ferocious ghosts craving the living, chilling observers.

  Like standing among beasts... these could no longer be called human.

  "An honor! We'll walk in your glory, driven by truth to guide fools to your path, opening locked doors to free slaves..." The voice sounded thick and wet, as if mouth filled with saliva.

  Yvette closed her eyes, hearing several swallows suppressing drool.

  I am queen of beasts. Closing my eyes changes nothing.

  She stopped avoiding it.

  "Then go. Plant my story in hearts, transform, bless, gather and save them... but don't make them part of here."

  The ghoul doctor hesitated before replying, "Your will be done."

  Lakeside, Yvette took the knife from Edwin's neck and slit vertically along her wrist vein.

  From hospital experience, vertical cuts bleed more than horizontal.

  Blood immediately gushed down in crimson threads into the lake - but formed floating red pearls instead of dispersing.

  As if dripping into oil, not water.

  The lake was rejecting her blood? Without dissolving, would it work?

  Inside, residents awaited at the main door. Outside, a gale suddenly dispersed perennial fog as massive waves surged over corridor windows, creating an aquarium-like view.

  "The time has come. Our lord declares me guiltless - freed from myself and sins, with shackles fallen to reveal new form. Now from her springs, words flood my lips; I drink, intoxicated by living water. I'll walk worlds proclaiming truth she breathed into me - her name is great and beautiful. I await this consummation all worlds deserve." The hydra hissed laughter while turning the doorknob.

  The door opened barely a crack, revealing something half-pupae, half-human plastered outside, entangled in silk preventing wider opening.

  "What's this?"

  "Push together!"

  Others joined, but more insectile monsters piled on until the gap showed only tangled limbs.

  "Our savior crowned me with living diadem... in Messiah's light I flourish, receiving grace to proclaim truth: knowing her brings no death; accepting her brings no confusion... She is eternity, crown, truth - I declare her light! Be crowned in her covenant!" The doctor's incantations didn't deter the silk-spinning monsters.

  "Fools! Dare block truth? Her word is wisdom's gates! None withstand her! None!!!" The doctor's face twisted inhumanly in rage.

  "Enough delay. I'll open this door to save them from ignorance," Moore said coldly.

  "Why even open doors?" the doctor giggled hysterically. "Messiah stripped my rotting flesh to bathe me in light. We're no longer flesh or spirit but spiritual beings - these forms mere habits. If human shapes hinder, discard them!"

  So saying, he melted into protoplasmic ooze seeping through the crack.