Manga from the Age of God

A small path could be faintly seen ahead, and snakes generally follow their feet, extending into the depths of darkness.

The left and right ends of the trail are bottomless abyss, and huge rock pillars stand in the abyss, supporting the high dome above the head.

Although these scattered rock pillars do not have any architectural aesthetics, they also make the underworld less empty and desolate.

A little strange phosphorous fire lights up from time to time, floating back and forth in the swirling airflow.

There is hardly any light source, and the environment can only be vaguely distinguished by these phosphorous fires.

"This is the underworld?"

Ash stepped on the sturdy stone slab and tentatively walked into the depths of darkness.

"Hey, be careful!"

Ishtar behind him hurriedly pulled him, with a rare seriousness and prudence in his tone:

"The underworld has a self-contained law, which is completely different from the human world and the heavenly world, and it is extremely repulsive to life, so you must not wander around in the future!"

"If you accidentally fall into hell, even if you are a god, you may be polluted by the turbid air of the underworld!"

Saying so, she coughed again, and stretched out her hand proudly, with a confident and natural expression.

"' 〃 In short, you have to hold my hand the whole way... I am quite familiar with the underworld, don't worry, I will definitely bring you back to the believer's soul successfully!"

Ash took advantage of the situation to hold Ishtar's small, flexible and boneless hand.

On a whim, he gently scratched her palm with his fingertips.

But in exchange for the goddess's incomprehensible gaze.

"what?"

It seems that Ishtar is not quite like the wind commentary described in myths and legends.

For this kind of ambiguous little action, he didn't know anything about it, and he didn't have much reaction.

"...Nothing, let's go."

He didn't go very far just now, but Yaxiu felt that his palm was lightly scratched twice.

Ishtar twitched his fingertips, showing a thoughtful look.

"It's a very strange feeling...(Noli is good).. Maybe this can be used as our next code!"

Finding that Yaxiu was puzzled, she said confidently:

"Anyway, if you encounter an accident next, I scratch your palm like this, you just step back, and leave the rest to me!"

"Then what is the strange feeling you said just now?" Yaxiu blinked.

Ishtar thought again.

After a while, he tilted his head:

"Eh, is there any?"

At this point, the two had already bypassed a big bend in front of them.

On both sides of the abyss, there are more and more dark blue brilliance, faintly illuminating the appearance of bird cages.

Although the appearance is a bit gloomy and terrifying, looking at the bird cages placed, there is an inexplicable sense of clumsy seriousness.

——The owner here is actually seriously embellishing this too desolate environment.

However, due to the natural disadvantages of the underworld, there is no way to achieve any ideal results.

Chapter 54 Apologize to show your true face

"It is a cage used to imprison the soul of life."

Ishtar's mental power swept over and instantly understood the function of the "bird cage".

She couldn't help being inexplicable, and there was a touch of boredom on her pretty face.

"Tsk...is it necessary?"

"A living human being can bring joy to the gods."

"Their civilization, their feelings, their poetry and stories, even the urge to survive...they are worthless when they die."

"After all, there is no need to imprison human beings' rotten souls after they die!"

As the god of beauty, Ishtar yearns for and pursues anything beautiful, and at the same time deeply hates ugliness.

And according to her thoughts, any dust in the lifeless underworld is undoubtedly ugly.

Ash has a different view on this.

In Mesopotamian mythology, the human soul will enter the underworld after death and embark on a new journey as the undead.

But this is just a sad fantasy born of human refusal to die.

Human sensibility hopes that it will continue after death, and let the fair and strict gods judge all the actions of life before death.

The good will be favored, and the evil will perish forever.

But...their rationality secretly believes that this naive wish is unrealistic.

When a person dies, he dies.

Unless there is a special favor from the gods, it is impossible to retain consciousness at all.

Therefore, while alive, despite the constant suffering, human beings are always afraid of death and must do their best to survive.

This contradictory impression continued to be reflected in the myth, and the gods of the underworld were subconsciously affected.

That's what caused the current situation.

Ereshkigal not only allows souls to exist in the underworld for a period of time, but it is difficult to prevent their autonomous consciousness from gradually collapsing.

It can only be installed in a "bird cage" and try to give the deceased their last sweet dream.

This may be the gentleness of the rumored ruthless Queen of the Underworld.

Continuing on the dark stone road, the two soon came to the edge of a fast-flowing river.

Yaxiu glanced over, and in the turbid river water, some rotten skeletons floated and sank from time to time, and the surging waves would bring up the cold and biting wind.

"Be careful, there are servants of death around here regularly patrolling!"

Ishtar squeezed his hand and said in a low voice:

"The servants of death are Galula spirits made by Ereshkigal. Their mission is to prevent the living from entering the underworld and disrupt the order of the world of the dead."

Just as he was talking about this, a large group of faint blue phosphorous fires faintly floated in the distance.

Ishtar hurriedly retreated with Ash. The two hid behind a huge rock pillar nearby and silently watched a dozen ghosts drift by along the Styx River.

None of them noticed the intruder.

Immediately full of confidence, Ishtar pulled Ash out of the hidden place.

"Now see how the great goddess Ishtar copes, (afcc) and sing for my wonderful conquest!"

"Tell you, the Styx River is a forbidden place for all living beings, including gods. Once a living person falls into this river, it must sink to the bottom..."

She put her hands on her waist and continued with a smug expression:

"But the great Ishtar is an exception!"

Saying so, the goddess suddenly untied the headdress under the delicate crown and gently tossed it forward.

The sapphire on the headgear suddenly shines brightly, constantly changing shapes, and finally turned into a gorgeous flying carpet.

"Relying on this ornament with the divine nature of the sky, we can safely cross the Styx River!"

The meaning inside and outside the words has been emphasizing his "important role".

Yaxiu did not refute the face of the goddess, and showed admiration at the right time.

"Ishtar is so reliable!"

"Of course!" Ishtar raised his head proudly, hugged Ash's waist without any outsider, and led him to levitate up onto the flying carpet in the void.

and warned:

"Under the constraints of the laws of the underworld, it is impossible for you to use the power of any gods, so remember to grab me!"

Ash also acted very simply, wrapping his arms around Ishtar tightly.

It made the latter a little uncomfortable, and said awkwardly:

"Hey, cowardly accomplice, you just need to hold my hand... Even if you really fall down accidentally, I will pull you up."

"But I suddenly found that I was a little afraid of heights."

Yaxiu hugged Ishtar, who was blushing, and made a random excuse.

I originally thought that these words would be difficult to hide from the goddess's wisdom.

After all, the flying carpet is only two meters above the ground, almost sliding against the waves.

But it is somewhat surprising that Ishtar accepted this reason easily.

"...Is it the same as I was afraid of the cold before?"

While driving the flying carpet, she turned around again, gave Yaxiu a helpless look, and scolded:

"Obviously, he will be afraid of heights after losing his divine power, but he still wanted to enter the underworld alone before... He is indeed a sloppy guy!"

"Fortunately you met me!"

Ash smiled inwardly.

Ishtar is actually... quite simple and cute.

The two stood on the flying carpet and quietly crossed the river.

In an atmosphere of silence, facing the heat from the male body, Ishtar finally felt a little awkward.

She blushed, moved her body slightly, then raised her head and looked at Ash.

Just as he was about to say something, he was taken aback.