บท 338: 338: The Underworld (1)
Chapter 338: The Underworld (1)
—
There were three Nejis active at the moment. Omni-Neji-1 was in Uruk, while Omni-Neji-2 and Omni-Neji-3 were making their way to Underworld and Judah respectively.
Surprising as it may sound, the underworld was actually just an underground city. It could be accessed by anyone, with no need to travel dimensions. It was also within the 100 kilometers limit of Neji's Jōgan, so the Omnipresent Divinity was being sustained for Neji-2.
Neji-2 casually made his way to a nearby group, with Jaguarman and the Chaldean girls floating by his side. They didn't complain and were rather delighted by the prospect of a free flight.
The problem occurred with Neji-3, who was with two Goddesses of Venuses. One of them, Goddess Ishtar, could already fly so she was rather annoyed when he pulled her with his telekinesis.
"Ugh! Release me!"
"Okay, okay, let's not be so agitated. Geez."
Neji released his hold on her as Ishtar hmphed and sat down on her Boat of Heaven, Manna.
On the other hand, Quetzalcoatl shook her head in visible regret.
"The Avenger Class restricts me to battle mode. So not only can I not transform into my beast form, I can't even bring my wings out."
She sighed dramatically, as her body swam through the air, and her arms clung to his neck.
"If only we could mate~ The energy created should free me off this servant body, and allow my true Divine Body to descend."
Neji was surprised to hear that and wrapped his arms around her to keep her waist.
That was possible?
In general, there were three ranks of bodies. Mortal Bodies, Servant Bodies, and Divine Bodies. Naturally, a servant body was a downgrade to Gods, who are used to their divine bodies.
Artoria, or Ryuko in this case, in her Goddess Rhongomyniad form was an evolution to her servant form. She gained divinity thanks to her weapon, her spear named Rhongomyniad. Due to evolving into a God, in both body and soul, she was much stronger than her servant counterparts.
On the contrary, was this Quetzalcoatl who was clinging onto his arms, smiling lovingly. She had the spirit of a God but her body was that of a servant. So if she could regain her body of a God too, then she would be stronger than her current Tier 15 self.
Then, should he….
"Ah, it should take a while though. A few dozen nights? Only then should I be able to truly descend."
Quetzalcoatl said with a curious face, as Neji closed his mouth that he had just opened.
"By the way, didn't you have a flying dinosaur summon? What's its name… ah, quetzalcoatlus. Summon it. I don't want you to cling to me for hours."
"Ahhw, why? I like it here."
He did too but now wasn't the time.
"Summon it. Now."
With a dramatic sigh and a troubled blush, Quetzalcoatl did as per his order.
* * *
Later, this Neji-3 had to activate Jōgan and keep it like that, as he left the 100 kilometers distance to both of his other selves.
In his current state, he had entered a 3rd-person point of view of himself. It was like playing a video game, in more than one way too— due to the Map floating in the corner of his eye.
Like that, he continued traveling with a pouty Quetzalcoatl who was riding her pet dinosaur, and a pouty Ishtar who was just a jealous tsundere.
In the meantime, Neji-2 reached the 'gate' to the underworld.
He dropped the girls to their feet and looked at them with his arms crossed.
"First of all, let's see,"
[Jaguarman – Low Tier 10]
[Leonardo da Vinci – Mid Tier 7]
[Mash Kyrielight – Mid Tier 6]
[Fujimaru Ritsuka – Main Character – Low Tier 6]
"Hmm,"
Neji scratched his chin.
"Mash, you don't yet know your True Name, right? That's why you're such a pathetic mongrel right now."
"...."
"Ah, I didn't mean to be rude. Forgive my Gilgamesh vocabulary."
Neji smiled awkwardly and looked at the pink-haired armored girl. She was cute, and that crazy submissive girl energy. She reminded him a little of Hinata, whom he was yet to properly reconcile with.
"Anyhow, I'll do you a favor and name-drop the True Name of your servant. Let's see…"
Mash was supposed to learn her True Name on the Sixth Singularity, but due to the mess, she had yet to learn it. So Neji decided to fix it.
He couldn't remember the name, though. So he opened up her status page.
===
Name: Mash Kyrielight
Tier: Mid Six
Age: 16
Race: Demi-Servant/Human
Class: Shielder
Skills: The Galahad Package (...click to expand…)
===
This girl was crazy. Tier Mid 6, even though she was yet to know the true name of her servant. Considering that she was a Shielder, nor an attacker, that was indeed impressive.
"Mhm, alright. It seems your True Name is Galahad. Some of his other titles are Galahad of Revelations, Knight of Heaven, and the Knight of the Grail. Impressive." Neji smiled at her. "Lord Camelot is your main skill. Yell out that name, and the skill should present itself. You'll know the gist of other things afterward."
Galahad was one of the Knights of Camelot, subordinate to Artoria. He wasn't summoned to this world, though even if he was it wouldn't have changed Mash's powers.
"Ah…"
Mash was speechless as she stared at his face. The other girls also looked impressed, but she had a light of gratefulness flash across her face.
After all, why wouldn't she be? Sure, there was no flashy sign that her power had increased, but she knew her body well and Neji's eyes too saw the change.
[Mash Kyrielight – Mid Tier 11]
…How the fuck did that work? And it wasn't even her full power. At her peak, she could defend against a domain where time is paused. This cutie was dummy overpowered.
'Crazy shield users.'
Neji shook his head while thinking, but Mash seemed to take that as a sign of disapproval. Quickly, she bowed and stuttered out.
"I- thank you! I promise to work hard on this mission. I'll use my shield to keep y-you and everyone safe!"
"Ahm, good. Anyways."
Neji decided to ignore her since she was too dangerously cute, and turned around. His finger pointed beneath the hill they were standing on top of.
"See that ground? We break it, and we fall to the underworld. There's no real gate, we have to break the ground to enter."
"Jaguarman,"
Neji turned to look at the Goddess who flinched at his gaze, still scared from the incident last time. He didn't try to break the fear and pointed down.
"Jump, and slam down on the spot. I'll mark it, wait."
As Neji said and moved his finger to spray water on a certain spot.
"Right there. Destroy it. Prepare to fall very deep down too, by the way. Though I am sure your body will be able to handle it."
"Ugh…"
Jaguarman hesitated but sighed in the end. Now that she had come here, she knew she couldn't reject his orders. Last time was enough of a display of what he could do when annoyed.
"Alright,"
With that, Jaguarman nodded. Taking a deep breath, she kicked the ground and leaped up in the air.
Her staff appeared in her hand, and she spun it over her head. When she approached the ground, she flexed her muscles and then slammed down…!
– Boom!
There was a loud explosion as the ground shattered to fall into the abyss beneath. Jaguarman tried to jump back to safety, but there was a suction force that pulled her down into the abyss.
"Kyaaaaaaaaah~"
Her screech distanced slowly until it vanished entirely.
Neji and the Chaldean girls stood on the hill, with the girls shivering, while Neji's eyes looked into the underworld with no problem whatsoever.
"She's safe. Mhm, it's pretty deep. I suppose some dimensional magic was used here after all, to stretch the area more in more radius than its physically capable of."
Neji turned around and gave the Main Character, the cute redhead, a look.
"Fujimaru, activate Sage Mode and bring out your dragon wings. Take mash with you."
While Fujimaru blinked and began to ask what he meant, Neji refused to answer and took Vinci in his arms. Wings popped out of his back, and he jumped into the abyss like that.
"Hey! I don't know how to bring out my wings…!"
The Main Character called, but Neji was too deep down to answer her.
"Argh…"
In the end, Fujimaru just activated her Sage Seal, entering a form similar to Neji's hybrid form, where her bright red hair became faint. In this form, she jumped right into the abyss as well.
"Sorry, Mash!"
She grabbed Mash in her arms, who was surprised at first, but could only scream when no wing popped out of Fujimaru's back.
Until at last, wings did flap out of her back right before the landing–and saved both girls from getting pulverized.
Gently, they landed. In the land of darkness where points of light, souls, were littering parts and parts of it.
"Good job,"
Neji stood smiling, dropping Vinci to her feet as he looked at Fujimaru.
"We are here."
…The place from where Kurai's race originated, the place where the innocent Ereshkigal was locked within.
Indeed, the underworld was here.
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