Chapter 763 What the Hell Is This Place?!
When the gemstone slotted into the depression and the passageway to the depths below rumbled open, everyone finally believed that there truly was a tunnel beneath the palace.
"Your Majesty, you really kept this tightly under wraps..." Merlin let out a bitter laugh. "You even kept me in the dark."
"Naturally, this was one of Uruk's core secrets. When victory is achieved, you may sing praises of my foresight to your heart's content!"
The King, laughing heartily with hands on hips, remained completely oblivious to the black-haired goddess behind him narrowing her eyes with overwhelming resentment.
"Hah, indeed. To think there'd be a direct path to the underworld in my city—how could I, the city's goddess, not know about this?"
This... was the aura of a battlefield.
Not between people, but a struggle of divine territorial claims.
As Uruk's city goddess, Ishtar simply couldn't tolerate traces of her nemesis—the Queen of the Underworld—lurking within her domain.
"Speak, Gilgamesh! Have you been colluding with the underworld all along?!"
It sounded like childish bickering. The King of Uruk rolled his eyes, initially unwilling to indulge Ishtar's unreasonable pestering. But when his peripheral vision caught sight of a certain green-eyed young man at the back of the group lost in thought, his eyelid twitched, and the words slipped out:
"Indeed, the goddess of the underworld is far more tolerable than some unruly, bratty goddess!"
"Wha—t—did—you—say—?!"
Her black hair billowing wildly like a demon's, Ishtar-Rin was so furious her chest hurt as she lunged forward, claws bared: "I'll fight you to the death!"
"Hmph, bring it on! I haven't even settled accounts with you for that stunt at the pasture yet. Truly, disobedient does ought to be strung up and whipped soundly!"
Tension spiked instantly. The two old rivals with longstanding grudges seemed ready to escalate into an all-out brawl. Everyone quickly turned to Sakatsuki—only this white-clad youth could forcibly separate them.
Yet the young man merely smiled as gently as a spring breeze, uttering words that sent chills down everyone's spines: "Gil, hold her down for me. I'll find an opening to pierce through her divine core."
This was no joke. Merlin, standing closest to Sakatsuki, clearly saw the countless divine chains stirring restlessly and the sharp blades materializing along his arms.
"Hey now, you're joking, right...?" Cold sweat trickled down Merlin's forehead. He thought he might have realized just who this young man before him was.
If things went south, their underworld expedition team might suffer casualties before even setting off!
"Hmph, ganging up on me? How shameless!" Fortunately, Ishtar-Rin hadn't completely lost her head. Lifting her long leg, she executed a neat backflip to return to her original position, sweeping back her cloud-like cascading black hair with flair. "This goddess is magnanimous—I won't stoop to your level."
"Oh? What a pity." 'Sakatsuki' and Gilgamesh snorted with identical smirks, pretending not to notice the goddess's violently trembling legs.
"Um." Fujimaru cautiously raised a hand. "Can we get going now?"
"Of course. I've no time for your antics." Goldie waved dismissively. "Let's move. By the way, this time I'll be accompanying you to the underworld as well."
"So, the King is coming with us?"
"Foolishness. Who would trudge along as slowly as you? I'm no part of some elderly sightseeing group!" The King cast a sidelong glance. "The path I was meant to walk was completed long ago in my youth. I have my own means to reach the underworld."
"So, you lot had better get moving already, you rabble... cough In any case, hurry it up!"
Fujimaru noticed how Gilgamesh abruptly cut himself off. Watching the white-clad youth who stood there smiling, he grew pensive.
Something feels... off about this?
Regardless, the group eventually set off toward the underworld.
"Ereshkigal keeps the souls of humans she fancies locked in cages, playing with them for tens of thousands of years. With the ongoing Beast Wars, the underworld must have stored enough souls to build an entire kingdom of the dead by now..."
A kingdom of the dead... As Ishtar spoke, Fujimaru's eyes flickered with recollection. He remembered accidentally stumbling into the underworld at Kutha—the sacred grandeur amidst that prosperity, the order underlying the countless flourishing souls. It remained vivid in his memory.
And that gentle, beautiful mistress of the underworld, whose personality was completely different from Ishtar's...
"Let me tell you guys, Ereshkigal is super gloomy, utterly unreasonable, and has zero personality!"
Huh?
Fujimaru blinked at the goddess of heaven, who looked utterly convinced. After a moment's hesitation, he swallowed the questions rising to his lips.
After all, he'd only had brief contact with the underworld goddess. Maybe she'd just been in a good mood that day, which was why she seemed so approachable? Besides, Ishtar was closely connected to Ereshkigal—surely she knew the goddess's temperament better than he did...
Unaware that Fujimaru had visited the underworld, Ishtar-Rin spared no effort in badmouthing her "good sister": "Staying alone in the underworld is one thing, but she never even bothered to fix up the place. After tens of thousands of years, it's still barren and desolate—worse than some primitive tribe's settlement!"
Barren? Desolate? Never fixed up?
Fujimaru gaped, struggling to find the right words.
Miss Ishtar... are we talking about the same underworld?
The others showed little reaction, but Sakatsuki sneered. "Enough. Everyone knows you once descended to the underworld. Shall I 'brag' to everyone about how that adventure ended for you?"
"Huh?! How do you know—no, shut your mouth!"
The flustered goddess tried to clamp a hand over the young man's mouth, but he frowned and stepped back as if avoiding garbage.
"The Master wasn't wrong about you... you've changed quite a bit."
"Of course! Even a goddess keeps up with the times!" Ishtar-Rin shot back reflexively, then deflated under the curious stares of the group. Her shoulders slumped.
"Fine, you'll find out sooner or later anyway... The truth is, I once went to the underworld and failed."
"You... failed?" Fujimaru couldn't hide his surprise. "Even as a goddess?!"
"In the underworld, divinity is ineffective," Rin Ishtar sighed. "After conquering Mount Ebih, I thought there was nothing I couldn't do, so I recklessly charged into the underworld—only to suffer a crushing defeat, an utter and complete defeat."
Recalling the misery of that time, Ishtar hugged her arms as if feeling cold: "Seven authorities were stripped away, and in the end, I was dragged before that guy stark naked, pierced full of holes by his spear."
"That's certainly..."
"Challenging a Lancer-class in reverse compatibility—only someone as reckless as you would try that."
"Shut up already! That's exactly why I hate the underworld, including that goddess no one likes!" Rin Ishtar flushed bright red as she argued. "Besides, what's so great about the underworld anyway? It's just a garbage dump created by the gods! Just looking at it makes me thoroughly displeased—it's only natural that I'd dislike it..."
Her voice grew weaker as Ishtar stared at the path gradually coming to an end. Through the wide opening of a cavern, some kind of brilliantly illuminated scene reflected in her eyes, leaving the goddess momentarily stunned before she shouted:
"Wait, what the hell is this place?!"