The Cursed Gamer, Book 3

339: The Underworld (2)

Chapter 339: The Underworld (2)

—

Spiraling paths that led from the top to the bottom of this terrain, as if stairs, they rolled down in a circular motion. Each circle stretched for hundreds of meters and there were dozens of those circles.

However, the paths weren't plain and clear. It was wet to the feet, and it didn't seem like normal water. There was a smell, a stench in the air that made even Neji uncomfortable.

On either side of the bridge-like road, there were cages. The cages all had a round blue light shining within them.

This was Babylon's Underworld, [Kur].

"Whoa..."

"Don't touch it."

Jaguarman was about to touch one of the cages, but Neji slapped her hand away.

"How clumsy, despite being a Goddess."

Neji shook his head while the Goddess' eyes went teary and withdrew her hand away. She didn't say anything in retort.

Neji turned to look at Fujimaru and Mash who just landed; he gave both of them a nod.

"Ereshkigal likes to keep the soul she takes a liking to, close to herself. In the past, there used to be a few. However, it seems she changed after allying herself with the two Goddesses. There are thousands of souls. They can't pass onto peace, and are just stuck here."

They needed to stop Ereshkigal. A battle head-on wasn't impossible to break out. They had to be prepared to risk their lives; because dying in the Underworld meant that even Neji wouldn't be able to revive them. Dying here would kill their soul, and so Tenseigan wouldn't help.

"If we bought Ishtar, she would have been as useful as an ant by the time we reached the end of this path. However, that doesn't imply we are well off now. An underworld is a place where Divine Spirits and Heroic Spirits lose a lot of their powers, so they are unable to flee once they get here. Though the nerf is weaker than the one placed upon Ishtar."

Neji explained, and everyone listened attentively.

"Let's move a bit forward; it'll be easier to explain the next part there."

Neji led the group forward, stopping Fujimaru who was about to ask why he did what he did back then. The group walked for quite a few minutes, before coming across a large stone gate. The gate was unique and had two animal engraving on each side of it.

Neji took two jewels out of his inventory and threw them forward. It was a sort of ritual. The two jewels banged against a barrier around the gate that stretched infinitely on all sides of the gate, so someone couldn't just fly around it.

– Boom!

With a loud boom, the two jewels exploded in the group's faces. The energy of the loud explosion traveled to the four animal signs on the gate and started to glow.

The group flinched in surprise, and that surprise only grew when an eerie voice spoke from every direction.

'"Answer me,"

The voice of a female, eerie and cold, spoke. That was she; Ereshkigal.

'"Answer me, you lot who have fallen to the underworld from the land of the living."

There was a short silence before the voice continued.

'"What must your souls be; evil or good?"

Neji dove into his memories and looked for this incident. Back when Gilgamesh had come here. Opening his eyes, he nodded at the girls.