Or, why don’t you find another savior?

The Burning of Humanity was not his responsibility in the first place, and Shiomi could have chosen the easier path and accepted the Magic King's recruitment.

He just couldn't bring himself to choose that option, that's all.

"That's exactly what you would say." Morgan held his arms up, not surprised at all.

Silent tranquility spread, and even the slightest breeze could not be felt in the underworld.

After a long time, the door slowly opened.

The first question is passed.

Chapter 32: The Seventh Question That Strikes the Soul

There are seven gates standing on the road leading to the lowest temple in the underworld. Shiomi and his group have already passed through the first six gates.

The questions at each door were inquiring into the questioner Shiomi's concept of good and evil, and each of Shiomi's answers was successfully recognized, allowing him to pass through that door.

"It is said that in some mythical underworlds, the souls of the dead are interrogated in a similar way. If they cannot answer truthfully, they will be imprisoned in the underworld forever and will never have the chance to reincarnate."

On the way to the last door, Shiomi sighed.

As they went deeper and deeper into the land of the underworld, they could see more cylindrical cages filled with blue flames on the cliffs on both sides of the road.

Those were not purely lighting objects, but Mesopotamian souls entering the underworld.

"Will it be locked in a cage like that and preserved forever as an ornamental object?" Morgan asked with a smile.

Scathach couldn't help but smile: "Don't worry, if your beloved disciple really dies one day, your soul will only return to the Kingdom of Shadows."

"Will he die?" Xijian shook his head repeatedly.

His words silenced the three of them for a moment, as they were unable to answer this somewhat complicated question.

How can humans who have overcome death return to the embrace of death again?

"The seventh door." Ying spoke softly and reminded.

She could clearly feel that the temperature in the underworld was gradually dropping. If she relied on magic circuits to maintain her body temperature, Sakura would probably have started to shiver from the cold.

It is estimated that the temperature is below 5 degrees Celsius and has not yet reached freezing point.

The temperature was much lower than that on the ground, and the exhaled air turned into a cloud of white mist.

"I wonder what the questions will be this time? I hope I can pass the test." Shiomi walked forward and stood at the edge of the door's barrier.

Like the previous door, the pattern on that door slowly lit up.

"Answer me, answer me, the living who have entered the underworld. Answer me about the way their souls exist."

The usual low and gloomy voice sounded.

Shiomi silently waited for questions.

"There are three women around you. Answer me, which one is your favorite?"

"Huh?" Xijian was stunned.

Not only him, but also those who were standing behind waiting for him to answer the question were stunned.

The goddess of the underworld is quite gossipy and even knows all about Xijian's relationships between men and women.

Of course, to be more precise, this door is an automatic device set up by Ereshkigal with his power, and all questions are questions that will only appear after Ereshkigal examines the soul of the person being asked.

"That's a good question. If you don't answer it well enough, even if the door is opened, I will give you a hard time, my husband." Morgan nodded repeatedly with interest.

Scathach immediately became excited: "Don't be silent, answer quickly, my beloved disciple."

At this point, Sakura raised her finger in a slightly awkward but expectant manner: "Even me?"

"It's not you..." Shiomi hurriedly corrected Sakura's misunderstanding.

"You mean Altria?" Morgan nodded naturally.

Sakura showed an awkward yet cute smile: "That's true..."

The silence in front of the last door continued.

Looking at the pattern on the doorpost, Shiomi guessed that this might be some means of alienating them, but he was not bothered by it.

"It's not such a complicated question." Shiomi shrugged.

"Answer me~" Men just repeated this sentence mechanically.

"Morgan is the one I love the most, and I admire Altria more than any other Knight of the Round Table, but if I had to choose who to die with, I would choose Master."

After those few words, silence spread in the air, but there was no awkwardness that made Xijian feel creepy.

"You are so smooth-talking. I'll let you go this time." Morgan fiddled with her hair, no doubt very satisfied with the answer. "But Scathach can't die either. She has to die with her. Does that mean my husband doesn't want to die either?"

"Because Master said that he hopes I would be the one to kill her, but there is no way I can kill Master and still live." Shiomi turned around and looked at Morgan and Scathach with some sadness.

"Don't worry, at least I won't long for my own death until this planet comes to an end." Scathach's heart softened, and she patted her beloved disciple's back hard, "The door is open."

Although it is not known based on what criteria, the seventh door was indeed opened.

Scathach, Shiomi, and Morgan passed through the final door one after another, and Sakura followed behind with her wand in her arms, having a subtle feeling that she shouldn't be here.

If I had known earlier, I would have stayed in Uruk and continued the office work with everyone. At a time like this, it would be better to let Knight Wanglou, one of the parties involved, stay here.

But no matter what I thought, after passing through the last door, the temple in the center of the lower underworld was right in front of me.

"In mythology, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, cannot leave this place. In exchange, she can be said to be invincible in the underworld." Shiomi quickened his pace and walked to the front again. "Heroic spirits and gods will lose their power here."

Morgan nodded slightly. "Indeed, compared to when I first entered the underworld, my current strength is probably only slightly stronger than the combined strength of half of the clones of Hassan the Hundred Faces in the Fourth Holy Grail War. I'll have to trouble you to protect me, my husband."

"I'm not too optimistic. After all, it's someone else's territory. Perhaps because we are both masters of the kingdom of the dead, the underworld is beginning to deliberately exclude me." Scathach spread her hands.

This made Ying's heart tighten. She ran behind Shiomi and said, "So--"

"Perhaps we made a mistake in our judgment. I should have come down alone." Shiomi raised her hand. "The only ones who can fight with all our strength are Sakura and I, the living ones."

"I see..." Sakura took two steps back and stood in front of Morgan and Scathach.

"Don't be so nervous, at least we can still use magic for support. The premise is that our magic is still useful in this situation." Scathach weighed the rune stone in her hand.

She watched her beloved disciple walking alone towards the center of the underworld temple square.

"Then, mistress of the underworld, goddess Ereshkigal, I have passed your seven gate test, may I show myself to you?"

It was not Ereshkigal who answered Shiomi's words, but a sudden biting cold wind. On the altar in front, two stone pillars lit up with magic power, and blood-red spirits appeared from the void, gathering above the altar, and transformed into a huge ghost with only white bones and strange muscles.

That is the Galula spirit in Mesopotamian mythology.

"Fall in despair, human. I am Ereshkigal, the ruler of death, mistress of the underworld, and one who steps upon the sacred peak."

The goddess Ereshkigal, who appeared in the form of the Garula spirit, declared so.

Chapter 33: Xijian: Is this the goddess of the underworld?

The moment Ereshkigal appeared, Sakura's legs went weak and she almost fell to her knees.

It was neither murderous intent nor coercion, but simply because the goddess of the underworld appeared here, Sakura, as a human, realized that there could be nothing in this underworld that could rival her.

"You have seen my figure, but you still refuse to kneel. You rude people, why have you come here? To see my figure, or to seek the protection of the underworld?"

Shiomi extended his hand: "Then I will ask directly, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, have you joined the alliance of the three goddesses and intended to destroy Uruk, the last fortress of Sumer?"

Bang-!

The golden light transformed into a spear and stuck into the ground.

"The Alliance of Three Goddesses? But the Alliance of Three Goddesses is not Ishtar—" Ying asked hurriedly.

"Ishtar doesn't have the ability to kill people in their sleep. With the power she displayed, it's more like blowing people to pieces." Shiomi raised her head and faced the huge Garula spirit. "The moment you showed up, I was sure that you are one of the three goddesses, the mistress of the underworld! The citizens of Kusa also had their souls taken away by you, right?"

"So what? The other two goddesses will attack Uruk sooner or later. I want to seize the great cup of Uruk before they do and take the souls of all the people on earth back to the underworld." Ereshkigal asked back, her tone calm and majestic.

"As the patron saint of Kusa, you kill the people you protect... Is this the responsibility of a goddess?" Shiomi asked dissatisfiedly.

Garula Ling grabbed the light gun stuck in the ground and pointed it at Shiomi's head.

"This is my choice, and there is no doubt about it. Give me your soul for your rudeness, human."

After saying that, the spear stabbed the ground again, and the temple under his feet began to shake. A crack continued to spread towards Shiomi and opened up under his feet. The rocks turned into spikes and rushed straight towards Shiomi's body.

"I have made up my mind. My shadow swings the sword out!" Ying decisively launched the imaginary number magic.

The magic power of shadow shattered the rock spikes and suppressed them, preventing them from moving any further.

"Well done, but here... let Dad take the lead."

Sakura used magic to launch the first wave of defense, which was within Shiomi's expectations and also bought him time. It was a tactic that even Ereshkigal could not have expected.

He slowly raised his right hand, and blood slowly flowed out from his palm, dripping onto the ground of the temple.

This surprised Ereshkigal, she was sure that her attack had not hit Shiomi, so how could this man be injured.

"Be born."

The blood flowed into the cracks in the ground as if it had its own will, and then more cracks spread out with the crack created by Ereshkigal as the center.

Before she could figure out what was happening, a tender sapling sprouted from the ground and in an instant grew into a sturdy tree that was so thick that two people could not hug it together.

These trees grew and spread without any rules, approaching the Galula spirit, the incarnation of Ereshkigal.

"Tree?"

Ereshkigal, who originally had absolute confidence in this battle, suddenly lost his composure.

How could such lush trees grow in the underworld, where life could never exist and could never be born?

It was more than just a tree, but a dense forest growing wildly, with branches and leaves so dense that one could not see the people among them clearly.

Even though these tree trunks are winding and have no aesthetic appeal, and cannot even be used as building materials for houses,

Ereshkigal still inevitably lost consciousness.

Life, thriving life.

Solid, rough trunks, lush green branches and leaves, and the rustling sound of the treetops swaying when the wind from the underworld blows.

That is the underworld, something that has never existed and cannot exist in this realm of the dead.

"You were careless, Ereshkigal."

Shiomi's voice brought her back to reality. In just a few seconds, the trees had occupied her temple, approaching her as the spirit of Garula, surrounding and enveloping her.

"Well--"

Ereshkigal tried to cut down the overgrown trees with his gun, but he couldn't bear to do so.

Of course, she couldn't do it for the time being.

The trees did not grow wildly, but extended with a certain destination, and even in the form of a galula spirit, Ereshkigal still had a physical existence.

Her hands were entangled in the branches and she couldn't use any strength...or to put it another way, if she tried hard, she would hear the sound of branches breaking.

Hidden under the branches and leaves, she, who was about to deal with these people a moment ago, now became a prisoner.

"Don't move, otherwise the red spear will pierce your heart. Even if you are the goddess of the underworld, it won't be easy to have your heart pierced by this spear, right?" Xijian pointed the gun at Garula Ling.

He was a little confused as to why Ereshkigal was suddenly distracted in the battle, thinking it was a delaying tactic by the other party, deliberately lowering their vigilance, and then launching a counterattack.

"Because...if we do anything, these trees will be damaged..."

The spirit of Garula suddenly turned into mist and dissipated. Xi Jian hurriedly stepped back to keep some distance, thinking that the mist was poisonous, but he found that he was overthinking.

Ereshkigal revealed his true form. The blonde girl stood under the woods, lowering her head silently, and no one knew what she was thinking.

"Could it be..."

Xijian muttered secretly.

Master once said that in a kingdom where there is only death, life is an extremely precious thing.

Even in this Age of Gods, which is even more distant than Celtic mythology, there is still no difference.

But even so, Shiomi remained vigilant.

This was Ereshkigal's underworld. If she wanted, she could put them in a tough fight with just a flick of her finger.

If there is still a possibility of a peaceful solution——

He decided to change tack.