Type-Moon, the Path of a Magician

"Ah... um."

While Ishtar was still a little confused, Xia Yuan patted her shoulder gently and then slowly put her down from his arms.

During this time, he gently placed his left hand on her lower abdomen, and then used his magic power to help him relieve some of the suppression of the underworld, so that Ishtar would not be unable to leave the underworld due to the limitations of divine power.

Then, without any lingering feelings or hesitation, he turned around and walked towards the smoke mirror that was waiting for him not far away.

This time it was Ishtar's turn to be stunned.

Even the joy of being out of trouble and the desire to taunt Xia Yuan, "You finally lost to the beauty of this goddess," could no longer be expressed.

The other party was not coveting her beauty or wealth, nor was he coveting her power and status. He simply saved her without any purpose and without asking for anything in return.

This was the first time she had seen such a guy.

"Damn it... Are you looking down on this goddess? Do you think I can't give you a satisfactory reward... Stop looking down on the gods..."

"You dare to teach me a lesson? Don't think you can get rid of me so easily...Also, I didn't come to the underworld to cause trouble."

As Ishtar was thinking, she took Maanna back and quickly chased after her.

……

……

PY: I'd like to recommend a new and quite good Type-Moon book, Seedling, which tells the story of Uncle B. The idea is very interesting and you can check it out.

One of the few Type-Moon new book seedlings.

Chapter 224: Ereshkigal, the Mistress of the Underworld

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop ignoring me! Why don't you take a look at me, the goddess who controls finances, wealth, love, and beauty!!"

"Are you a piece of wood?!"

Ignoring Ishtar who was still showing off beside him, Xia Yuan stared at the dark path in the underworld ahead. Smoke Mirror exhaled a slight smoke ring, and the two continued to move forward towards the deepest part of the underworld.

“Ahhhhhh——!!!”

This scene finally completely angered Ishtar who was beside her.

She was so angry and mad at Xia Yuan's ignoring behavior and attitude that she started stamping her feet in anger.

“Damn it! Don’t you want to ask me about Ereshkigal? If your purpose in coming to the underworld wasn’t to save me, then you must be looking for Ereshkigal. That woman is not a goddess as easy to get along with as me!!”

Finally, Ishtar quickly jumped in front of Xia Yuan, then grabbed his shoulders tightly with both hands, shaking him continuously and speaking.

"You're good...together?"

Xia Yuan silently looked at Ishtar for the whole night, then shook his head without hesitation and replied, "No."

"Ahhh, you ignorant bastard... I'm going to fight you!"

Seeing that she was constantly ignored by Xia Yuan, Ishtar could no longer bear it. In the past, she was the focus of all gods' attention, and other gods or humans always took the initiative to curry favor with her.

Now, considering that the other party saved her and was a little different, she finally took the initiative, but the response was just ignorance and alienation. Ishtar's proud self-esteem could not stand such grievances, so she pretended to be angry and pounced on Xia Yuan.

In this regard, Ishtar, who was greatly weakened in the underworld, was naturally no match for Xia Yuan. As expected, he easily subdued Ishtar in just two rounds.

"Be honest, Ishtar..."

Xia Yuan looked helpless.

"No! You bastard, don't bully me by relying on the suppression of the underworld. Let's fight again when we get back to the ground!!"

Ishtar continued to shout.

"Yo yo...you are still so youthful."

Seeing this scene, Smoke Mirror, who was following nearby, did not make any move. He just smacked his lips slightly and looked at Xia Yuan and Ishtar who were fighting with a smirk on his face.

This kind of fighting scene has been repeated no less than four times, and he has long been used to it.

No one knew what Ishtar, the mentally ill goddess of Venus, was thinking. She had been rescued, but she continued to follow him and Xia Yuan.

Moreover, as the goddess walked, she also shouted many things about herself and Ereshkigal, trying to lure Xia Yuan to ask her about the underworld in Mesopotamia.

As a result, his master seemed completely unmoved and ignored Ishtar who was making a fuss nearby, and just continued to move forward silently.

Then Ishtar got so angry that she started her suicidal journey again.

Over and over again, it was Ishtar who launched the attack and Ishtar was defeated.

Then Ishtar would start the trouble again, and the process would repeat itself.

After a few times, he became familiar with the bad relationship between the two.

This useless goddess probably recognized the character and nature of her master, and knew that she would not kill anyone unless he was a traitor or a real enemy. That's why she continued to dance in Xia Yuan's minefield.

All in all, Smoke Mirror found the fight between these two people quite interesting.

Compared to a god like himself, he found Ishtar, who maintained the present world in a possessed state, very interesting.

At least he is much more interesting than those old-fashioned or indifferent guys. No wonder he is favored by the Sumerian gods.

"Are you convinced now?"

Xia Yuan grabbed Ishtar's hand and subdued her easily, then asked with a somewhat helpless expression.

"What do you want to do, Ishtar? I've already rescued you, so why are you still following me? Even if you attack me, it's just a meaningless fight, not a real anger or revenge. What do you want to do, Ishtar?"

"I don't accept it! I don't accept it at all! You are just relying on the power of Hades to suppress me, so you can easily subdue me."

Ishtar turned her head away and replied stubbornly, "Also, don't be so self-indulgent, human. I didn't follow you! I came to the underworld to find Ereshkigal this time."

"...You said you were here to see Ereshkigal, too?"

After hearing Ishtar's answer, Xia Yuan's expression changed slightly, and then he slowly let go of her hand, and then continued to ask: "Why did you come to Ereshkigal? Didn't you learn enough from the lesson you got last time? So you come to the underworld again?"

Xia Yuan knew a lot about the relationship between Ishtar and Ereshkigal, the two Sumerian goddess sisters.

Unlike Ishtar, the beloved mistress of heaven, Ereshkigal was born to be sacrificed to the underworld by the gods. She is a taboo for the gods and also a taboo for the existence of this world.

At the beginning, except for the king of gods in Sumerian mythology and several of the most ancient main gods, the rest of the gods only knew of the existence of Ereshkigal and that there was a mistress of the underworld underground, but no god had ever actually seen her.

Not to mention Ishtar, even her brother, Shamash, the Sun and the Body of Law, was like this.

The god king Anu did not allow the other gods to reach the underworld privately and contact Ereshkigal.

But Ishtar has always been defiant about the orders of her father.

Anyway, if anything really happens, Mother Goddess Ningsun and Grandpa Enki will protect her.

So when Ishtar later learned of the existence of her sister and that she was enduring endless darkness in the underworld, she took her seven pieces of divine armor that she was proud of, blasted open the earth, broke into the underworld alone, and came to meet this sister whom she had never met before.

And then the ending is...

That was Ishtar's greatest defeat ever.

Not only was she beaten from all sides by Ereshkigal who was in the underworld.

Because he passed through the seven gates of the underworld set up by Ereshkigal, all her divine weapons and divine powers were taken away from her. In the end, he didn't even get to see Ereshkigal. He was stabbed through by the mistress of the underworld with a sharp spear cage from a distance, and then hung naked by the gate of the underworld until he was taken away by the god Enki who hurried over.

It can be said that the experience of traveling to the underworld had a great impact on Ishtar's young mind.

After being severely punished by Ereshkigal, Ishtar never mentioned breaking into the underworld again.

So Xia Yuan knew very well that although they were sisters, Ishtar probably didn't know Ereshkigal as well as he did.

Instead of asking her about Ereshkigal, it would be better to visit her in person.

And in order to impress Ereshkigal, he also prepared some nice little gifts this time.

"You don't think I'm following you into the underworld just to pester you, do you?"

Ishtar looked at Xia Yuan's strange expression, "Isn't it?", and then shouted angrily, "Do I look like the kind of stupid goddess who would stay in the underworld for a long time just to make trouble?"

"Only a fool would do such a stupid thing."

"Then what do you want to do by visiting Ereshkigal? You can't beat her in her territory, so you can't be here to reminisce about the past, right?"

Seeing Xia Yuan's obviously suspicious eyes, Ishtar looked a little helpless, and then she continued: "Grandpa Enki asked me to come here to find Ereshkigal."

"Grandpa Enki? Are you talking about the god Enki who controls water and wisdom?"

When Xia Yuan heard the name of God Enki from Ishtar, his expression changed slightly.

Unlike Ishtar, who was notorious in Mesopotamia, Enki, one of the four ancient gods in Sumerian mythology, was far more powerful.

Not only that, he is the god who loves mankind the most, and he is also the main god whose strength is second only to the God King Anu.

For the sake of humanity, he was able to engage in a decisive battle with his brother Enlil, another powerful ancient god among the Sumerian gods, and eventually exiled him to the abyss.

So when Xia Yuan heard Ishtar mention this powerful god whom he had never met, he couldn't help but become interested.

Is this powerful god going to help humanity?

"Of course, apart from Grandpa Enki, there is no other god in all of Mesopotamia who dares to call himself Enki."

"What exactly happened? What did God Enki say to you?" Xia Yuan asked curiously.

"Not long ago, Grandpa Enki, who was still in the realm of gods, came to me in a dream and said that the mother goddess Tiamat would soon be revived and would return to this land with the principle of return. Grandpa Enki and the father god asked me to fulfill the duties of a goddess and help Uruk overcome its difficulties."

At this point, Ishtar suddenly sighed again: "But I have a very bad relationship with that annoying Gilgamesh in Uruk. If I personally go to his house and say I want to help him, he will definitely laugh at me for a long time."

"So... I will stay in the temple for another two days, waiting for Gilgamesh to apologize to me, and then I will go to help Uruk."

"..."

In other words, just because of anger, she violated the duty of the goddess and the will of the King of Gods and the God Enki?

Hearing this, Xia Yuan fell silent, looking at Ishtar with a strange look, and at the same time couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"Yes, that's very Ishtar."

But she was too lazy to ask further questions about this matter, so she continued to inquire: "Then why did you come to the underworld? And in such a stupid way?"

"Need I say more? It was Ma Anna who brought me here."

When Ishtar heard Xia Yuan mention this, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in her heart. She looked at Anna, the Archer of Heaven who was floating beside her, and then kicked her hard.

boom--!

First there was the crisp sound of metal colliding, and then...

“Ahhh… It hurts so much!! Damn, I forgot that most of my divine power would be taken away in the underworld!!”

With tears in her eyes, Ishtar held her swollen feet and started a new round of showmanship.

Seeing this scene, Xia Yuan and Yanwu Jing didn't even know what to say.

Although he didn't want to pay attention to the stupid goddess in front of him, in order to let her continue talking about the god Enki, Xia Yuan gently bent down and used magic to heal her feet.

"Eh? It doesn't hurt anymore. Your healing magic is really good, mortal..."

"Although touching the goddess' body is a capital crime, I will forgive you this time because it happened for a reason."

Ishtar twitched her feet twice, and then immediately returned to her previous funny self.

"Okay, human, I allow you to treasure the hand that touched this goddess. Don't wash your hands when you go back."

Ishtar said seriously, and then looked smugly at Xia Yuan's face... which was full of disgust.

"What's that look on your face, asshole?!"

"Do you believe I will throw you down from here?"

"I believe you, please don't do this!"

Seeing Xia Yuan's expression suddenly become serious, Ishtar immediately gave in.

"Okay, stop playing around and tell me what happened next about the god Enki, Ishtar."

"Oh, actually what happened next was also very simple."

"Seeing that I hadn't taken any action, Grandpa Enki might have gotten impatient. That night when I was sleeping, I dreamed that Grandpa Enki asked me to go to the underworld to seek the help of Ereshkigal. He said that if I wanted to defeat the goddess Tiamat, Ereshkigal's help was indispensable."

"Then when I opened my eyes, I found that Ma Anna, who had been used as my bed, began to fly automatically. Then she flew all the way to the underworld at a speed that I couldn't control at all. You know what happened next."

At this point, Ishtar became a little angry and began to complain continuously.

"It's already hard enough to ask me to help defeat Mother Goddess Tiamat, but now they want Ereshkigal's help. Don't they know that I have a very bad relationship with that lousy goddess of the underworld? Grandpa Enki and Father God really know how to order people around."

"It's because you took the initiative to appear in front of her wearing divine clothes that caused her anger." Xia Yuan couldn't help but complain.

"Huh? So you know our story, too."

Ishtar, who had her back to Xia Yuan, suddenly turned her head and said angrily, "You don't think I'm wearing seven pieces of divine clothing just to show off to her, do you?"