Chapter 762: 'Chasing Souls in the Underworld'
With efficiency that seemed to be sped up eightfold, the group quickly returned from Mount Ebih to Uruk. However, even though they departed at the same time, the impatient goddess had already taken her celestial boat ahead and arrived at their destination first.
Thus, the moment they stepped into the temple, they were treated to the traditional performance of Uruk's oldest comedy duo.
"Welcome back, my outstanding warriors. Hahahaha, and that shameless goddess who ran away from home and came crawling back—how does it feel to throw yourself under my command?"
"Who said anything about throwing myself under your command?! I just made a contract with that Master as a client! Just you wait—until that guy completes the commission, whether he kicks the bucket or gets blown to pieces, I'll revive him! And then you'll definitely say, 'Ohhh, Ishtar truly is the goddess of victory! Very well, I shall go die now!'"
"Who's going to die, you idiot?!"
"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have come here!"
With that, the goddess in the hall crossed her arms behind her head, snorted, and turned her back, while the king on the throne propped his cheek on his hand and turned his face away in displeasure. Fujimaru couldn't think of a better way to describe the scene than a childish squabble.
"Both of you, that's enough," Siduri, the high priestess caught between the goddess and the king, finally spoke. "Regardless of the circumstances, it is an honor to have the city's goddess grace us with her presence."
After a pause, she calmly added, "And we'll overlook the 'Livestock Owner's Damage Report.'"
"Guh." Even someone as willful as Ishtar found it hard to be stubborn in the face of the devout Siduri. "Fine, fine! Let's get back to business. That guy said we'd find answers in Uruk. Hey, Naked King, tell me who the hell did this!"
"What in the world are you talking about?" Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes, uncharacteristically neither angry nor mocking, but evasive.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Ishtar fumed. "Who was using my body at night?!"
At this, Gilgamesh's expression shifted slightly. He glanced at Sakatsuki, who had just entered, their eyes meeting briefly before he lightly pressed his lips together and nodded.
"I know."
"Where?"
The goddess's eyes lit up. In response, Gilgamesh remained expressionless, tapping the ground lightly with his foot.
"Right here. Go ahead and ask her yourself."
"Here?" Fujimaru looked down curiously at the golden sintered bricks recently laid in the palace, unable to hide his confusion.
Was something hidden beneath them?
Though the words were baffling, Ishtar's expression had already twisted strangely. She stared fixedly at the palace floor, arms crossed, her black hair fluttering soundlessly as she radiated sheer resistance. Yet her lips had lost their color, and Fujimaru could even hear faint whispers laced with fear.
"Of course... that woman..."
"How dare she... do this to me..."
It almost seemed like the goddess had come to Uruk not to find answers, but to confirm a suspicion she already had.
But what exactly was that suspicion?
"Stop guessing, Fujimaru," Sakatsuki finally spoke, cutting straight to the point. "What the king means is the Underworld."
"Eek!" Ishtar recoiled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Don't say that name! Ugh, that Ereshkigal just won't stay dead! To think she's been revived too... What the hell is going on?!"
"About that~" Merlin cupped his hands around his mouth as if shouting. "Hey—Roman from Chaldea—"
"Here, here!" Roman's cheerful voice came through the communicator.
"Let's organize the information we have so far. According to joint observations from the Divine Tower and Chaldea, there should only be one deity with Sumerian divinity in this era. But if what the king and Sakatsuki say is true, then we have the impossible phenomenon of both 'Lady of the Heavens' Ishtar and 'Lady of the Underworld' Ereshkigal appearing simultaneously... I see, I see. I get the principle now. Hey, Merlin, class representative, summarize it for us, would you~~~"
"Enough already, you two grown men acting like children," Anna muttered wearily. In response, the shameless mage just laughed and explained to the group:
"It's because of Ishtar."
"Huh?"
Merlin pointed at Ishtar, grinning. "When you were summoned, Ereshkigal was summoned too."
"Huh?! Wait... wasn't I summoned by the priestesses?"
"But according to reports, the head priestess who completed the summoning died. Ishtar, do you remember that?"
"D-died? How? I just woke up and flew off in my boat!"
"Hmm, then she was probably killed by Ereshkigal. After all, you two goddesses are two sides of the same coin—you share the same divinity. No wonder the scans only picked up one divine signature."
"So it really was her hijacking my body... Hah, hah..."
"Hey, Fujimaru." Sakatsuki nudged the deep-in-thought Fujimaru, winking. "Ever thought about bringing the priestess who summoned Ishtar back to Uruk?"
"Eh? Why?"
"Look, she's basically someone who pulled two SSRs with a single summon ticket," the young man said cheerfully. "If you have her roll for you in the future, wouldn't that be a huge win?"
"Uh..." Fujimaru's mouth twitched as countless traumatic memories suddenly resurfaced to attack him. "That... does make sense."
"Don't listen to Sakatsuki's nonsense, Fujimaru!" Roman shouted. "That priestess is already dead, and this is a Singularity!"
Bam!
The goddess stomped her foot, cracking the floor. "Ugh, the more I think about it, the angrier I get! Fujimaru, let's go!"
"Okay..." Fujimaru reflexively agreed before snapping back to reality. "Wait, go where?"
"To hell!"
"Wha—?!"
"No, I mean literally!" Ishtar raised her arm, forming a finger-gun gesture, her killing intent palpable. "I'm gonna blast the ground open with my Noble Phantasm and knock on the Underworld's door!"
Divine energy surged as the goddess's pale red eyes took on a golden hue. Amid the howling of mana scraping against the air, Roman's timely explanation came through: "In the Age of Gods, the heavens, earth, and underworld existed on the same fabric—not as separate dimensions, but literally connected to the physical world. That means..."
"That means if we blast the ground open, we can reach the Underworld!" Ishtar cackled. "Here we go! Maanna bow cannon, loading tidal cluster munitions, output at one-third lapis lazuli, isosceles—"
Before the woman could fully lose it, golden ripples instantly filled the entire palace. Countless staves emerged from the Gate of Babylon, and as the mysteries within awakened, a massive suppression magic circle formed in the blink of an eye. The clash of divinity and mana forcibly stifled the goddess's charged attack.
"Are you trying to demolish this palace, you fool?! I just finished rebuilding this hall!" The King of Uruk's eyebrow twitched as he sensed the murderous aura behind the goddess. "And who said that's the only way to reach the Underworld?!"
"What?" Ishtar clutched her forehead. "What other way is there to break into that eternal recluse's domain?!"
"By walking, of course—through the passage! At this point, there's no need to hide it anymore. There's a secret path between Uruk and the Underworld... right beneath my palace!"
"Huh?!"
This time, it wasn't just Ishtar and Fujimaru—even Merlin and Siduri raised their eyebrows in disbelief.
A connection between Uruk and the Underworld?
Since when?