The Underworld's Plan

Rovey remembered perfectly well that this guy had lost the bull, and lost a divine beast comparable in size to a thundercloud swarm, spanning across mountains, so he had no hope for Ishtar at all. But Gilgamesh and the others didn't know that yet, so he was already popping champagne.

The gloom that had been hanging over him by Tiamat and the departure of Merlin and Merry vanished. He began to celebrate while patting Ishtar's head, and even Kingu and Siduri praised him, which was rare for them.

"As expected of Lady Ishtar..."

"Hmph, even a useless goddess has something she's got up her sleeve."

Kingu smiled and said, "The Bull of Heaven possesses power comparable to the god Marduk. With this, holding off Mother for about a minute is indeed not a problem."

"So, this isn't a victory that can be achieved easily, is it? Oh dear, what are we worried about? We should use this tactic as soon as possible!"

After Merlin and Merry disappeared, Quetzalcoatl, acting as the atmosphere-setter, started to stir things up.

The two Artoria also applauded for Ishtar, which was quite rare for them.

With so much attention on her, Ishtar's expression gradually became strange, especially after she clearly felt that everyone's expectations were pinned on her, which made her feel increasingly apprehensive.

Even when Gilgamesh touched her hair, she didn't have time to resist and stammered.

"You're trying to use the Bull of Heaven to fight the Mother Goddess... is that right?"

"Isn't this obvious? What else can we rely on besides that guy who's stronger than Marduk?"

Gilgamesh's answer was taken for granted, which made Ishtar's expression even more unpleasant.

"Well, actually... even the Bull of Heaven isn't that powerful..."

"Hahaha, you're actually being modest? You weren't this modest when you ravaged Uruk Mesopotamia... Do you think I don't know how powerful it is?"

"Oh, I see. So you want me to pay more? You should have said so earlier! If you had just done the job properly, I would have shared my treasury with you, how about that?!"

Based on his understanding of Ishtar, Gilgamesh assumed Ishtar was trying to raise the price, and without hesitation, promised her a shared treasure vault.

Upon hearing the price, Ishtar involuntarily swallowed hard. Although she was very tempted, she shook her head, her expression extremely unpleasant.

Meanwhile, Ritsuka and Mash, having heard that everyone had returned, cheered for Ishtar after communicating with Roman using Merlin's livestream equipment.

Suddenly, Ishtar became the center of attention.

The more she was stared at, the more uncomfortable Ishtar became, especially with everyone popping champagne. Although she wanted to laugh it off, she knew that if she did, she would be asking for trouble.

The idea of trying to hold off Tiamat is completely unrealistic.

So, in the end, she could only silently look at Gilgamesh, who had a smile on his face, and then whisper.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that, the cow is lost."

"What?!"

Gilgamesh's eyes widened.

"--"

In an instant, the previously cheerful atmosphere in the palace froze.

Gilgamesh was in the lead, suddenly widened his eyes, then grabbed Ishtar's shoulders with both hands and roared loudly with an almost murderous gaze.

"--What did you just say?"

"I'm so sorry, sob sob... I don't know why, the cow just can't be found."

Ishtar said, sobbing.

"You damned, useless, good-for-nothing goddess! What do you think I wanted to do by bringing you into my fold?!"

Chapter 292 The Underworld Plan

"Waste!"

"You piece of trash, you utterly worthless piece of trash!"

Inside the royal palace in Uruk.

At this moment, Gilgamesh had transformed into a fiery hot pepper, his face flushed with rage, as he unleashed the fury of his life upon Ishtar, shouting and cursing at her.

As a result, Ishtar, who had just made a big mistake, initially muttered to herself.

"I didn't mean it, and besides... is this how you treat the goddess who risked her life, disregarded past grievances, and showed great magnanimity to save you? Putting aside the fact that you haven't given me the agreed-upon gems, now... what exactly is going on?"

"You still have the nerve to ask me what happened?"

The palace staff, whose joy had turned to silence after such a dramatic turn of events, were now too displeased to speak. Only the weak complaints of a certain goddess could be heard in the entire palace, but all that answered her was Gilgamesh's profanities.

Enraged by Ishtar, even Kingu, unable to bear this shameful creature, unleashed a barrage of golden chains to bind her tightly. He then hung her upside down, with a sign on her chest bearing the prominent words: "[I am a useless goddess]".

If Siduri hadn't stopped them, Kingu and Gilgamesh would have really been tempted to attack Ishtar today, to personally tell her, on behalf of the gods, why the flowers are so red.

Therefore--

"Hasn't this completely trapped us? We're back to square one!"

Dr. Roman also cried out in pain. Who could have imagined that just moments ago he thought the matter was successfully resolved, only to have it take such a dramatic turn? This rollercoaster of emotions left him feeling extremely exhausted.

"Just as I thought..."

When Black Lancer Artoria heard the news, he was furious, but upon reflection, he felt it was still reasonable. After all, it was a miracle that Ishtar never made a mistake.

"Waaah, put me down! This is disrespectful! It's a grave offense against the goddess! I've already come to help you!"

Ishtar, hanging upside down, was still struggling loudly, but everyone ignored her and let her suffer.

"Shut up! You've been arguing pointlessly since the beginning, and you can even mess up something so important. A goddess like you is utterly useless."

Finally, after a few minutes, someone answered Ishtar's commotion seriously, but the person who replied was Kingu, whose expression was even colder than before.

"You bastard, who are you—"

"Enkidu?! Right, I've been wondering about your existence for a long time, and I've even wondered if you're really Enkidu. But they say you're someone else using Enkidu's body. However, your appearance and abilities really do look exactly like Enkidu's."

Hanging from the Chains of Heaven, Ishtar felt the cold yet familiar touch on her body, and those unpleasant memories from the past immediately flooded her mind. This made her glance a few more times at the green figure in front of her, whom she had subconsciously ignored, and she suddenly screamed.

Just like her relationship with Gilgamesh, Ishtar's relationship with Enkidu was extremely hostile. In fact, it could be said that Ishtar was more wary of Enkidu, a man with Enkidu Gilgamesh, who constantly berated her. Despite his always smiling demeanor, Enkidu far more cunning and ruthless Gilgamesh when it came to actually fighting. Coupled with the Chains of Heaven's restraint on divinity, Enkidu left Ishtar with a terrible memory. Right now, seeing Kingu in Enkidu's body was triggering Ishtar's PTSD; Enkidu had tormented her quite a bit in his previous life.

"You're nothing but a disgraceful god who clings to life in this world by possessing others, but your utterly foolish nature hasn't changed at all."

Although he wasn't Enkidu, Kingu's tone was equally unceremonious when facing Ishtar.

"What! Who are you calling a shameful goddess? You're just a clay doll, what are you showing off for! If I can find the Bull of Heaven, you'll end up like the owner of this body—ooh!"

Before she could finish speaking, the chains binding Ishtar suddenly tightened. The pain of being tightly bound not only interrupted her harsh words but also caused the previously incessantly chattering goddess to let out a brief cry of sorrow.

"Alright, alright... that's enough for now, stop fooling around."

Attracted by the noise of the group of guys playing around him, Rovey walked over and told them to stop for now.

"Ah—you big liar who uses jewels to cheat people!"

Immediately, Ishtar screamed even louder.

"You meddlesome bastard, if you had waited a moment longer, I would have strangled this disgraceful fellow."

Kingu was also completely ignited.

"Hey, hey, hey! I didn't do anything, why are you strangling me?! All I did was lose the cow, it just disappeared on its own, what does that have to do with me?! We're allies now, allies, do you even understand what 'allies' means?"

Ishtar struggled and shouted.

"You have the nerve to say that... it's just that we lost a cow."

"..."

Faced with this guy's utterly out-of-line behavior and complete lack of awareness of the stupid things he had done, everyone present was speechless and at a loss for words.

With this guy's interference and Rovey's mediation, Kingu slowly loosened his fist and lost the aggressive urgency he had shown towards Ishtar, though a hint of regret still flickered in his eyes.

Kingu's hatred for Ishtar can be said to be instinctive, and indeed, as Ishtar said, Enkidu killed by her, and that hatred was engraved in his body.

Although Kingu always considered herself completely different from Enkidu, everything about Enkidu still influenced her, even if she didn't want to admit it. That's why Kingu's attitude towards Ishtar was so cold and ruthless; it was a combination of old and new grudges.

"So... even if you kill me, I can't get the cow back. It's lost, it's gone, it's gone. Even if I search the Mesopotamia won't find it... I admit it's my fault, but now's not the time to blame me! And—that shady guy has something to ask you! Seriously, why did I agree to share a body with that shady guy?! And I've been being spied on by the guy below, it's so annoying—achoo!"

As she spoke excitedly, Ishtar grew increasingly agitated, until she suddenly sneezed.

"Finally got in touch—and besides, I'm not some dark goddess!"

At this moment, Ishtar's body twitched, then her eyes lit up slightly, and her entire body shimmered with a bright golden light. Ishtar's hair color changed, and her entire demeanor underwent a dramatic transformation.

"Anyway, I finally caught up—ouch! It's so tight! Why is it so tight?"

Ereshkigal, who had just entered Ishtar's body after suddenly completing her ultimate technique, felt pressure on her limbs and her skin was stung by the cold. She couldn't help but cry out. The feeling of being bound by the Chains of Heaven as a goddess was truly not pleasant.

"..."

Seeing this, Kingu silently loosened the chains. Ereshkigal was also one of the Three Goddess Alliance and had intricate connections with Ishtar. Although she harbored only malice towards Ishtar, she did not dislike Ereshkigal. After all, the other party was just an innocent goddess who was naive and ignorant of the ways of the world. Now that the Three Goddess Alliance, including herself and her mother, had all become traitors, she naturally did not need to be overly wary of anything.

Meanwhile, Nitocris also used the mirror to establish communication between the Underworld and reality, raising a magic mirror in the Uruk palace that could communicate in real time.

Everyone looked up and saw the scene of the Underworld reflected in the dark mirror. They saw Nitocris looking tired or perhaps relieved, as well as the missing Scáthach and Ereshkigal, who was wearing many flower wreaths and looked a bit Ereshkigal.

"Nitocris ..."

Several people called out her name, and behind her appeared Scáthach and Ereshkigal.

"Huh?"

Ereshkigal, who had just seized control of Ishtar and was preparing to use this method to send a message, blushed and cried out in embarrassment and anger when she saw that the Underworld had actually made contact and Projection her disguised appearance.

"Nitocris, take the camera away right now! Your mirror is reflecting me! Aaaaaah--!!"

"I'm sorry, without Lord Anubis's help, the Underworld Mirror still has some minor operational errors, but it's nothing, or rather, it's a bit strange to deliberately take over Ishtar's body out of concern for others seeing your disguised appearance. Boss Ereshkigal is so beautiful, dressed up so pretty, isn't she meant to be seen by others anyway?"

"Ugh... Shut up, shut up! I'm so embarrassed now!!"

Upon discovering that her true form had been exposed, Ereshkigal, using Ishtar's body, rolled on the ground in shame and indignation, her appearance strikingly similar to that of Ishtar herself.

Seeing this, Quetzalcoatl smiled and said, "What a lively and cheerful god of the underworld."

"I agree with that. Rather, the question is, how did someone with such a personality become the Queen of the Underworld? Could the gods of Mesopotamia really entrust such an important place as the Underworld to someone with such a personality? Would this goddess really not let people go back just because she has a soft heart?"

Scáthach on the other side nodded. She shared the same opinion about Quetzalcoatl. After all, Ereshkigal didn't seem like the right person to be the god of the underworld.

Gilgamesh nodded. He also felt that Ereshkigal the god of the underworld was a mistake. Although she did a good job, her personality was indeed more suited to a better divine position.

Only--

Seeing the flower-covered figure on Hades's body, he was also very curious about what kind of "play" this was.

"This is not a play."

Nitocris nodded and said, "Rovey Lovi's seed and blood have successfully grown flowers in the Underworld. Ereshkigal loves these flowers, so she always secretly picks them to adorn herself. This time, I just happened to catch her in the mirror. However, it seems she's a little shy about this hobby."

"..."

After glancing at Ereshkigal rolling on the ground, the group didn't say much and went straight to the topic.

"Let's not talk about the flowers for now. Scathach, Nitocris, and Ereshkigal, are you aware of the current situation?" Rovey asked.

"Of course, my Master. The outside world has changed so much. As the Queen of Warriors, if I couldn't even notice these things, I would be a complete failure."

Scáthach said, "However, this development is indeed somewhat unexpected. It seems that Tiamat's power is stronger than anticipated, isn't it?"

"That's right, the intensity is indeed excessive, and it's far too troublesome."

Looking at Scáthach and Nitocris, Rovey thought for a moment and then asked, "How are things over there? Have you been affected? Scathach, when did you go to the Underworld?"

"We're fine here, Rovey Lowe,"

Nitocris immediately replied, "The appearance of Lahmu was foreshadowed. Thanks to prior preparation, although we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, fortunately, there weren't too many casualties. Ms. Scáthach returned for certain reasons."

"What's the reason? Is it related to the matter that you specifically contacted us about?"

Rovey asked, "Goddess Ereshkigal, you've specifically contacted us now, surely not just for idle chatter?"

"Ah... yes, that's right! I have something very important to tell you, it's that, that--"

Ereshkigal was somewhat unsure how to explain, but Scáthach finally sighed helplessly and said, "Let me explain. The purpose of the contact is quite simple, and that's also why I returned to the Underworld. In short, I'm here to fulfill my promise to Gilgamesh."

"The promise to Gilgamesh?"

Upon hearing this news, Rovey was stunned; clearly, this was information he was unaware of.

"Hmph, what are you surprised about, you mongrel?"

Upon hearing this, Gilgamesh on the throne merely sneered, then said, "I am a king, and naturally I cannot place all my hopes on you. I must have a backup plan, which is precisely what the second option is about."

"Plan?"

"Yes, that guy did die from overwork when he went down to the Underworld, but he didn't resist; he came down with a purpose."