"Even you can't do it?" Lan Ze looked somewhat disappointed.
Ereshkigal parted her lips slightly, then crossed her arms and turned her face away. "Of course not. Don't take things for granted. Casually sending a soul back to the surface doesn't follow the rules of the Underworld."
"But didn't you say my soul doesn't belong to the Underworld?" Lan Ze asked.
"Th-That's because..."
"Since it doesn't belong to the Underworld, logically, you shouldn't keep me here, right? That wouldn't follow the Underworld's rules either." Lan Ze coaxed her along.
Ereshkigal: "..."
For a moment, she could not find a reason to refute him.
After a long silence, she said loudly, "Anyway, no means no. Absolutely not! If you want to leave, try it yourself!"
After saying that, she turned around as though sulking and began weaving cages to house the souls, ignoring Lan Ze.
"Ereshkigal?"
"Hey—the Goddess of the Underworld, can you hear me?"
Lan Ze tried calling out beside her twice, but the goddess treated it as though it were blowing past her ears, pretending not to hear.
At this rate, he could only figure something out himself.
Lan Ze sighed helplessly.
As for a way to leave the Underworld... Ereshkigal had just told him.
As long as he passed through the Seven Gates of the Underworld, he could leave the Underworld.
Or... he could wildly grind favorability with Ereshkigal here until she was willing to let him leave?
Of course, it was also possible that once her favorability was high enough, Ereshkigal would instead no longer want him to leave.
In any case, he would first see whether he could get out. It was a little regrettable, but dragging things out here was not a solution either.
Lan Ze stepped forward and headed toward the Seven Gates of the Underworld.
Behind him, Ereshkigal sat sideways atop a huge boulder, silently weaving cages as if she did not care about anything around her.
Of course, she only appeared not to care. Though she kept her head lowered as she wove the cages, all her attention was focused on the boy behind her.
When she saw him once again recklessly walking toward the gates of the Underworld, Ereshkigal was so angry that she wanted to smash the cage in her hand against the back of Lan Ze's head.
But she merely took a shallow breath and slowly exhaled, forcing herself to calm down as she repeatedly consoled herself inwardly.
Calm down... I have to calm down... His soul doesn't belong to the Underworld anyway. If he wants to get himself killed, then let him. His soul dispersing has nothing to do with me, right?
Still... even if she said that, she could not help being a little concerned.
Just a little!
After all, after being in the Underworld for so long, she had finally encountered a soul she could talk to, yet that soul wanted to run away after barely exchanging a few words with her.
Of course, it was not because she had spent too long alone in the Underworld and was lonely or anything. She simply found things boring and wanted someone to talk to.
A gust of wind suddenly rose behind her, followed by a chilly breeze.
"Did that idiot enter the second gate?!" Ereshkigal turned her head in disbelief.
With every gate passed among the Seven Gates of the Underworld, a soul would lose a certain amount of weight. By the final gate, the soul would completely disperse. By then, it would be too late even if someone wanted to save it.
Disbelief filled Ereshkigal's eyes as she irritably clutched her head.
A sudden feeling of regret welled up inside her.
Why had she insisted on arguing with an ordinary person?
If he vanished forever within the gates of the Underworld like this, would she not regret it for the rest of her life out of guilt?
What a troublesome bad child!
"I hate bad children the most!"
Ereshkigal shook her head fiercely while clutching it in frustration. When she raised her head again, she stared resolutely at Lan Ze, who was about to pass through the second gate.
Forget it. No matter what, she had to drag him back this time. Even if she had to use force, she would not hesitate!
Just as Ereshkigal was about to step forward, the soul ahead of her suddenly flickered. Then, with a whoosh, it disappeared.
Ereshkigal froze. She instinctively staggered half a step back, as though all strength had been drained from her body, then dropped to the ground.
"It's over," she murmured to herself.
She really would regret this for the rest of her life.
Amid the howling cold wind, Ereshkigal sat weakly beside the huge boulder with her knees drawn up, her forehead pressed tightly against them as a faint sigh escaped her lips.
What an idiot. I told him there was no way to leave the Underworld. Why wouldn't he listen...?
Time passed silently. Who knew how long it had been when she suddenly felt as though something blue was illuminating the space before her.
When she slowly raised her head, she saw that a translucent pale-blue ring of light had appeared ahead of her at some point. It looked like a door.
What is that...?
After studying the "door" ahead of her suspiciously for a few moments, Ereshkigal pushed herself up with her exhausted body and slowly walked into the ring of light.
Ten minutes earlier.
Everything around Lan Ze was pitch-black. Only pale-blue floating particles of light barely illuminated the place.
This was the character login screen. In truth, it was an endless space. No matter how long one walked, there seemed to be no end in sight.
And the fact that he had appeared here now meant that he had died while passing through the second gate of the Underworld.
"There's no resurrection point? It just restarts the game directly?"
Lan Ze pondered this as he reached out and lightly touched the relogin button at the bottom of the interface. A window popped up instead:
[Your soul is being reset. Please wait patiently for five minutes before trying again.]
Then, a five-minute countdown appeared before him.
Before Lan Ze had a chance to act, another popup immediately followed:
[Match Space: Unknown] [Identifying host identity information] [Identity information recorded]
Then, after roughly five minutes of silence, a crisp female voice rang out:
[Achievement obtained: First Encounter with the Goddess of the Underworld. Reward: Holy Grail ×1]
"Strange... I didn't even save my game progress. Why am I still getting achievements?"
Lan Ze's eyes flickered as confusion filled his heart.
He tried raising his hand, and a menu really did appear. Opening his inventory, he unsurprisingly saw the system-rewarded Holy Grail inside.
"The Holy Grail... could it be that I can summon Heroic Spirits too?"
Just then, a thin booklet silently appeared before Lan Ze.
"Achievement Book?" Lan Ze saw the words written on it.
He reached out and opened the booklet. The first page displayed the Holy Grail he had just activated.
[Currently activated item: Holy Grail. Originating from the legends of Christ, it is a relic of miracles and a high-purity crystallization of magic power.] [Skill reward: Magic Supply] [Skill reward: Illusion Manifestation]
"I can understand Magic Supply... but what does Illusion Manifestation mean?"
Lan Ze frowned. There were no descriptions at all for the booklet's abilities. Whoever made this game was far too lazy, wasn't he?
Still, judging from things now, meeting Ereshkigal first had not been a bug. It was simply how the game had been designed.
Otherwise, it would not have displayed that he had completed an achievement just now.
"And this Holy Grail... is it something like a beginner's gift pack?"
Still puzzled and confused, Lan Ze gently turned to the second page of the booklet.
[Currently unactivated item: Ring of Solomon. A symbol of a wise man acknowledged by God, and the source of magecraft capable of commanding angels and demons. Activation condition: ?]
Lan Ze's gaze shifted slightly. Could it be that every item in this entire booklet had to be activated through achievements?
As for the effects of the abilities he had just acquired, he could roughly guess some of them.
Magic Supply probably meant that when his mana bar was nearly empty, the Holy Grail would replenish a certain amount of magic power for him.
But what exactly did "Illusion Manifestation" mean?
Lan Ze's thoughts raced like fleeting glimmers of light.
"Illusion, as the name suggests, means hallucinations, images within the Dreamscape... Manifestation probably means presenting those images in a tangible form..."
"I'll have to find an opportunity to test it."
Just as Lan Ze thought that, a powerful glow suddenly shone from afar. He could not help squinting as he turned to look.
A large door appeared before him, and the Goddess of the Underworld with her smooth golden hair actually walked out through it!
The girl had a delicate face. Her dazzling golden hair swayed gently with each step, while beneath the hem of her black skirt were a pair of flawless, slender legs. One of her fair thighs was wrapped in thin black stockings, and the surrounding light particles made the already captivating girl breathtakingly beautiful at that moment.
Although he had already seen her once before, Lan Ze was still slightly dumbfounded by her appearance.
He had to admit that although this goddess was the Goddess of the Underworld, no one would question it if someone called her an angel based on her appearance.
She was as beautiful as an angel.
But that was not the problem. The problem was...
Why had a character from the game come to the login screen?!
Ereshkigal still looked somewhat lost. Sensing Lan Ze's gaze, she raised her head warily and pointed the Cage Gun in her hand at him.
"Who are you? And where is this?"
Lan Ze was slightly stunned.
She forgot me...?
No, it was probably because his face was different from before.
Only then did Lan Ze remember that he had customized his appearance when entering the game. Now, his face had returned to what he looked like in reality.
"My name is Tohsaka Tokiomi," Lan Ze said.
Ereshkigal stared at Lan Ze for a long time, frowning tightly and lightly biting her lip. She looked resentful, as though thinking, This guy isn't really messing with me on purpose, is he?
Then her displeased voice rang out. "Do you take me for an idiot? You're the soul from the Underworld just now, aren't you?"
If you already knew, why did you specifically ask...? Lan Ze jokingly said, "I just wanted to see whether your memory was any good."
Ereshkigal glanced at him, her cheeks flushing slightly as she asked softly, "Then did I pass?"
Lan Ze was taken aback. "What?"
"How is my memory?"
"Mm... very good. You're a very smart girl."
Watching Ereshkigal beam with delight at his words, Lan Ze suddenly felt a little guilty.
How should he put it... this goddess was truly innocent.
"Why am I here?" Ereshkigal asked as she looked around.
"And didn't you disappear earlier? How did you suddenly appear here again?"
There were simply too many doubts in Ereshkigal's heart. She had clearly watched Lan Ze disappear within the Underworld earlier and had thought his soul had completely dispersed, yet now she was seeing him again in this strange place.
"Actually, it's like this..."
Listening to the Goddess of the Underworld's successive questions, Lan Ze pondered for a moment before ultimately telling her the truth frankly.
Thinking about it now, the meaning of "Illusion Manifestation" was probably that she could appear within the login screen.
Before you continue