Chapter 774: 763

Title: Gasps of the Dead

"Fascinating," Morgan whispered with a mesmerized expression. The boat needed to be rowed, a task falling in the generous hands of Nik and Jennifer while Angela had her sword clutched with full focus. Her pupilless gaze focused on the phantoms surrounding the dark, wooden ship. The stream on which the group sailed quite wide with the banks already reaching the horizon while the river only grew wider with each passing moment.

But, this was not the main issue.

"He bears the snake," Angela heard a gasping whisper. It was nothing but an unintelligible whisper in the mist layering the stream, but Angela and Loki could hear these whispers clearly. Even Morgan had to strain herself slightly to understand the contents but Nik could simply ask Angela whatever these phantoms hissed.

The soothing sound of water being pushed by the pedals filled the surroundings alongside eternal hisses.

"I'll say it! This is creepy as hell!" Janet shivered.

"Preach, sister!" Poole shouted in agreement.

"It's alright. Just think if all of them attacked us," Nik chuckled, making the expression of everyone on the boat turn grim.

"They don't look that tortured to me," Nik continued as he gazed at the phantoms with an eased expression, "I've seen ghosts... and these aren't one of them," Nik stated while he felt his spine turn cold. The thought of that ghostly encounter as the woman kept looking for a cat named Kuro... 'Damn, there's some strange shit. Now that I think about it... will there be ghosts in Hell?' Nik thought with a deep expression.

These phantoms came in many colors. But more of them were darker shades of grey, blue, and purple.

Hearing Nik's words, Loki chuckled, "These are the souls who have lost their earthly bounds. Unlike gods and beings of other dimensions that are given special preferences, these souls only hold their basic instincts now. To attack living beings and gods from other realms and to fear the Hel-snakes for their poison. As we move forward, we'll come across more tormented souls. Those that still keep their faces, their emotions... their regrets."

"I'll say it again, I'm never siding with you again," Jennifer snorted, completely chilled out by this cruise. What should have been a calming voyage turned out to be an extremely traumatic experience.

*Marzha Jixcv*

Morgan's gaze flashed with purple lightning as a sparkling violet chain pierced out of her chest and latched onto one of the nearest shadows.

"Hmm?" Everybody's attention now fell on Morgan who coldly looked at the brownish phantom writhing in pain, struggling against the shackle only to be pulled towards Morgan.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Loki growled.

"I think there is a need for souls for my next research. If they are present here, of course, I'll capture a few."

Morgan looked towards Nik with a narrowed gaze, 'Since we already have one method of actively unshackling ourselves, why not test it and build on it? Souls... I don't know if these can be considered souls similar to what we are born with. All these might just be spirits. But, testing it will prove beneficial.'

Nik then looked towards other phantoms, his eyes flickering in greed. The quicker he breaks his shackles, the greater his understanding of his own soul and the quicker he will find out why he's being hunted for his soul.

If experiments on these souls can work out then...

'Say, Sky, are these really souls? Or just some form of phantoms?'

'Impure and injured souls, but yeah, what that necromancer said could work out for you guys.'

"The moment any of these souls disappear, or are affected more than their natural destiny, the ruler of this realm will be notified!" Loki shouted, "So, for god's sake, let go of this soul. Make allies with the lord here and you'll get your fill, you damned woman!"

Morgan frowned, a little unwilling to stop her harvesting. Seeing the look of hesitation, Loki quickly persuaded, "If you want souls, Hel is not the only place to find these delicacies but it certainly is one of the strictest realms. Even if this does not work, I have a few sources to harvest souls."

"Fine," Morgan pursed her lips as the chain instantly crumbled apart. Meanwhile, the Phantom instantly shot back and hovered with other souls.

"Keep rowing. We need to reach the Shores near the end of this realm. Let's keep up this pace!" Loki smiled.

The journey ahead was quite time-consuming, pushing Janet to the end of her wits while she was accompanied by Poole in her grumbling which finally made Spider frustrated enough to join them. With Nik and Jennifer rowing the boat, their minds were already a little occupied but their tensions reached the highest point when Loki's words came true.

"Aaaah! I didn't want to hurt him!"

A man-shaped phantom shrieked while flailing in the river. Nik could see the man's face. His eyes were sunken as terror emanated from his body.

"Please! Stop! I've given everything!" Jennifer saw a deplorable woman screaming and swimming away. Gulping, she quickly looked away.

"We should help them," Jennifer whispered.

"Mom! Where... please, help me!" A young girl begged, gagging in the river as her 'body' slowly corroded, revealing a brown light. She was turning into a phantom similar to the ones Nik and others had passed.

"Help?" Loki sneered, "How cute, and might I add, naive. How many souls can you actually help? Once you've helped them, can you provide them with a body? A home? Their loved ones?"

Loki turned with the twirl of her foot. A mocking smile on her face as she gazed at the green-skinned woman.

"You understand what I mean," Jennifer replied with a cold expression, "By help, I mean easing their pain. Nobody should laugh at others' pain."

"In the past month on Earth, I caused many pranks. Making elderly slip over peels of banana, children cry by taking their sweets, racing a car through pools of water to drench those around it. Don't you teach me what I should take delight in or not," Loki's smile turned more mischievous but her eyes turned threatening.

"You call all these pranks?" Jennifer growled.

"None died. No lasting injury. What else should I call them? Conquests? Blood Battles? Selection of Warriors?" Loki crossed her arms, "Beautiful, just row the boat."

'I should probably speak up,' Nik thought to himself.

"Psychopath!" Jennifer growled, instead of paddling, waving the large wooden board towards Loki with such ferocity that it made the pupils of the woman shrink.

'Then again... they are more than capable of settling dispute amongst themselves. Oh... look, that soul is actually humping rock while crying,' Nik grinned at the sight.

"Woah! That dude is fucking rock and tearing up!" Janet's shout attracted the group as even Loki and the frustrated She-Hulk looked towards the humper.

"I... can't stop! I'm sorry! Please!" He shrieked yet his words only made Loki, and Nik more delighted at the comedic plight of the man. Of course, one showed it while the other hid it.

"That's rough," Poole winced while Morgan spoke up, "Eyes ahead. We don't want to ram the boat into rocks... and the cruise is picking pace."

With the distraction proving little effective in relieving the accumulated stress formed by the distressed cries of the dead, the group could only wallow in self-regret for not picking the option of flying and continue to soldier through this experience.

However, deep down, every one of them had a chance to learn a little about themselves after facing such a horrible situation.

The journey lasted for a total of two more hours. With the water picking an even greater pace, all Jennifer and Nik had to do was tilt the ship in the right direction and avoid some rather dangerous obstructions which would have resulted in a gruesome end for any ordinary explorer of the mythical regions.

Although the group had not sailed through the entirety of the realm in a matter of few hours, Loki did inform that Niffleheim is comprised of many isolated dimensions that push the borders of the realm further. Some of these realms are already occupied and some of them are still not known even to the lord of the realm herself.

And finally, the group reached the ruins of the shore of corpses.