That afternoon, I went to the laboratory alone.
It was for a regular progress check.
The report was sent to me, but it was still prudent to personally take a look.
As I arrived at the entrance, the director, wearing her usual white coat, was waiting there.
She bowed deeply.
“Welcome to our place, Demon Lord-sama! We have been waiting for your arrival!”
“Thank you for your hard work. Sorry to impose on you during this busy period.”
As I said this, the director wildly shook her head.
“No, no, there’s no way that’s the case! We owe a lot of gratitude to you, Demon Lord-sama, so please allow us to help you this much. Also, ever since I’ve gotten this body, I can continue researching without rest or sleep!”
The director proudly proclaimed such.Her legs below the knees were transparent.
She was in an ambiguous state, with her deathly pale skin.
It was beyond unhealthy looking.
As one could tell from her appearance, the director has abandoned her humanity.
She transformed into a race known as phantom.
They belong to the astral race among undead, and possess medium to high strength for undead standards.
Depending on the individual, they could subdue a number of other ghosts and create their own territory.
They are also quite strong as individuals.
To be honest, this was not the desired result.
My original plan was to turn her into a unique ghost who still had her own ego.
While both of them were astral races, ghosts were much more common.
Although ghost's weren't that strong, it wouldn't have mattered much to her, since she was a researcher.
There was also the fact I could turn her into one quite easily and reliably.
Once she abandoned the fetters of the flesh, fatigue and sleep were no longer a concern.
She could also partially materialize herself, so there wouldn’t be any problem for her research.
It was the most ideal race to turn her into.
With that in mind, I used a spell to turn the director into a ghost.
The spell was successful.
However, she turned into a phantom instead.
I didn’t make any mistakes.
I checked it several times later, but there were no defects in the spell.
Nevertheless, the result was different from what I'd expected.
After ruminating through the various possibilities, I came up with a hypothesis.
The conclusion I made was related to the director’s mentality.
Her obsession for research had uplifted the race she turned into as an undead.
Such strong thoughts amplified the effect of the magic.
That fact became even more prominent since the spell would force her to abandon her flesh and become a spiritual being.
That was the only reason I could think of.
I've always been surprised by her temperament, but I never thought it would go this far.
Even so, it wasn’t bad for her to turn into a phantom anyway.
It was a greater species than what I'd originally planned to turn her into, but it was not inferior to a ghost in any way.
“Is there anything inconvenient about abandoning your humanity?”
“I don’t have any issues at all. I can no longer eat or sleep, but since I’ve always thought it was troublesome, I don’t consider it an inconvenience. Ever since I turned into this, my efficiency jumped up, and even if an accident happens during experiments, I won’t be injured at all, so it’s all good!”
The director, who was floating lowly, wandered about as she spoke quickly about her experience.
At that time, sunlight shone at her near the entrance.
The director screamed and rolled about in an exaggerated manner into the depths of the laboratory.
The other staff members watched the scene with annoyed expressions.
Since she is a spiritual undead, it seems she is bad with sunlight.
Even so, she wouldn’t perish instantly since she was a phantom.
Since the effect was not dangerous enough to be a threat, I didn’t have to worry about it.
The director seemed to hate sunlight even during her days as a human.
She hated going outside on a regular basis, and lamented often over how she wanted to keep herself shut in the laboratory.
Considering such things, it wasn’t that different to what happened just now.
With a little concern, I entered the laboratory.
The director, who recovered from the damage she received from direct sunlight, immediately moved to guide me.
Then she asked.
“By the way, did you come here today to check about that particular thing?”
I understood what she wanted to ask me.
Since I wasn't really hiding it, I agreed with her.
“Yes. Is there any problem with that?”
“No, it’s okay! We've been properly monitoring it. If any abnormality is detected, then the alarm should immediately activate.”
The director put on a fearless smile.
She moved her glasses with her finger as she said that with a pretentious tone.
She shouldn’t need the glasses anymore, but the director still wore it for some reason.
It was the same for her white coat.
It might be her commitment as a director.
We moved to the 5th floor of the underground laboratory.
It was a new location that had been built in the last six months.
It was steadily expanding, with the number of upper ground floors and other buildings also increasing.
It was currently one of the biggest facilities in the capital.
It would eventually surpass even the Demon Lord’s Castle in size.
The director released multiple locks and proceeded inside.
I also followed her in.
Eventually, the last door was opened.
There was a fixed glass container installed in the center of the room, which wasn’t very large in size.
The director stopped at the entrance.
“Please go and check it.”
I nodded and stepped into the room then gazed into the glass container.
There was a substance similar to black water inside, which was sealed with multiple layers of barriers.
The black substance wriggled abnormally inside the container.
It was the soul of Baruch, one of the former Four Heavenly Kings
I killed him, and then he tried to secretly revive himself.
The destroyed soul was about to be repaired again.
Therefore, I gathered the pieces together and sealed them.
It was quite troublesome, but I couldn’t just ignore it.
By constantly destroying his soul, it would prevent it from repairing itself and helped destroy the sense of self inside.
The piece of Baruch, which was sealed inside the container, was currently more of a residual thought.
It probably couldn’t think of anything.
Even so, I was amazed by Baruch’s obsession.
He was trying to overcome his second death using his own power.
If I didn’t interfere with it, he would eventually resurrect himself in a few years.
There was no doubt that he was a superhuman.
He was living for the sole purpose of revenge and resurrecting the Demon Lord’s Army.
I couldn’t help but feel scared of his tenacity.
This room was constantly observing the state of Baruch’s soul.
While monitoring it, we were also analyzing the mechanism of soul restoration.
Our goal was to create an unprecedented technology for resurrection.
Having a soul restored from a state of destruction was a tremendous achievement.
If we could reproduce such a phenomenon, we could apply such a thing in various situations.
It could be a breakthrough for the stagnant research.
I left the room after I finished observing it.
The director locked the door and asked me.
“Are you done?”
“Yes, I already confirmed it. It’s plenty.”
We returned back the way we came from.
On the way back, the director began to explain.
“Regarding the soul restoration’s technique, it seems difficult to systematize it just yet… There is a problem with aptitude, and the analysis is still not yet completed. It feels like it is that particular soul’s unique ability.”
“That sounds difficult, but you seem happy about that?”
“Of course I am! It means it is worth researching! I feel very enthusiastic about that. If I stayed human, I would have died from overwork ages ago!”
The director raised her thumb with a big smile.
What she said wasn’t a joke.
There was a time where she was on the verge of dying from overwork.
Even in that state, she was still absorbed in her research, so it made me glad that I turned her into an undead.
The director looked happy for a while, but she suddenly noticed something and grimaced.
Then she bowed tp me in a hurry.
“Ah, but in Demon Lord-sama’s perspective, difficulty in analysis should be a bad thing, right? Sorry about that!”
“No, I don’t mind. I’m aware of how difficult it is. Don’t be impatient and proceed freely. I’ll leave it to your discretion.”
As I said so, the director suddenly stiffened.
Her whole body suddenly shivered.
“Ah, aaah, aah…”
The director leaked her voice bit by bit.
It was apparently not a normal state.
As I began to wonder of her sudden weird action, the director suddenly genuflected in front of me.
She raised her voice as her head slipped past below the floor.
“Thank you very much! I’m really happy about that! I’ll sincerely do my best to the point of dying!”
“…I see.”
As I was surprised by the turn of events, I couldn’t give her any nifty words in response.