Chương 73: River Styx
Waking up the next morning Shara looked peaceful next to me in her sleep. Apparently, her human body has less stamina than her former one and the fatigue over the night's activities made her rather reluctant on leaving the bed.
It was probably dawn. The sky was still dark with a mix of sunrays that began to chase away the darkness.
The palace had nothing to entertain me with at this moment, everyone was probably asleep. However, my hopes of a peaceful and lonesome walk were betrayed by the appearance of Beelzebub who showed up from nowhere.
"Daiki! You are up! Good, good, I have something to show you, follow me please," said Beelzebub
"Where is your pet?" I asked as I noticed that he was alone
"He went on an adventure yesterday I believe he will be back with information soon."
"Information? About what?" I asked
"About what I want to show you, follow me," he said and moved forward
Sending a cockroach on a recon mission? How strange, but for this guy, this should be within the realms of reasonableness. I gave up long ago on trying to reason with him, for now, I will be taking whatever he is saying at face value.
After all what use is there to try and reason with a devil?
The darkness of the always within the palace was no hindrance to me, as I could see in the darkest of places like if it was broad daylight.
We delved deeper into the corridors of the palace until we reached a gigantic library.
"This contains the history of the kingdom of the Sun, now it is a desert, but you must have guessed that this land was prosperous before." Said Vendir said as he looked to be reading the old parchments and scrolls that were neatly stacked inside this place.
"You are up," I said toward the lich that was looking more interested in the knowledge of the book than giving greetings.
"I am now a lich, we don't need sleep or food. It's better to use this unlimited time I have to learn more about the world." Said the man without batting an eye or giving me a glance.
"He is been like that the moment I showed him this place. Your friend is really anti-social." Said Beelzebub in a hushed tone.
"I would rather have an antisocial friend than being forced to hear you blabbing about random trivia," I said remembering all the random nonsense he used to speak. "Anyway is this all you wanted to show me?" I asked.
"No, there is something else." He said. A group of cockroaches came forward. This assortment of pests was rather interesting, they were five of them, four were helping each other carrying a large golden scroll while one of them was leading the way. The moment he reached Beelzebub he climbed up to his shoulder and gave a salute.
"I presume that this is captain Timothy the third?" I said
"No!" Beelzebub shouted
"We do not talk about Captain Timothy the third! He is no longer amongst the living, he betrayed our creed and suffered the consequences!" said Beelzebub with all seriousness.
"Creed?"
"Yes!" said Beelzebub "I saw him courting a lower classed cockroach. He was hanged for betraying his kin and mating with a cockroach from this world. That is unacceptable!" he said
… how the hell do you hang a cockroach…
"Then who is this?"
"This is general Charles!" said Beelzebub then got closer to me and whispered "Don't aggravate this guy, he is really scary when he gets angry," he said.
… an angry cockroach… right, this is Beelzebub, why the hell should I even take anything he says seriously.
"Anyway, what is that?" I said pointing at the scroll.
It was truly big, a golden rode wrapped with a parchment around it, it was familiar looking… I must have seen something like this before…
"This is called an Elder Scroll, it contains important information regarding where we will be going soon." He said
Ah… that game… now I remember
I picked it up before he could and opened it.
It was white, made from some sort of dried and preserved skin.
It was written in melted gold and the insides of it were the following
For you who are reading this, know that your journey is not easy to accomplish. Crossing the river of the dead is but the first step towards your destiny, there, in the unclaimed world of water you shall meet tribulations of great danger. Only after proving yourself worthy, shall you pass towards the gate of heavens. A gate is destined to hold intruders to one's domain, and the domain of the Divine is guarded by a monster of a creature, unwilling, unwanting and unresponding unless challenged to a battle of wits. Should you prove yourself capable of solving this beast's riddle then are you going to cross the gates. For this, not only the strength of muscles is needed, but know that the mind of the one to take the journey must be sharper than their blade.
Interestingly, this was just a regular scroll… I thought that I would be needing some special items to be able to read it…
"Why is this called an Elder Scroll?" I asked Beelzebub
"Well, that is not truly its name but it certainly resembles one from that game, Ehh what is it called… sky-" he said before I stopped him
"Copyrights! Copyright! We all know what you want to say now let's continue, so the scroll mentioned a guardian that we need to solve a riddle before we can cross right? Like a Sphynx riddle?" I said
"I don't know what a Sphynx is but right, you need to solve this riddle." He said
"Can't we just beat him up then cross the gate?" I said
"No, the guardian is the gate, beating him is the same as destroying the gate and we will not be able to cross, we need to do it the hard way… use our heads, and not headbutting it, no really, we will have to...Think" he said sighing
"That shouldn't be a problem," I said
"Why so? You don't strike me as a genius,"said Beelzebub then added "no offense…"
"None-taken," I shrugged, I was never a genius, hell look at all the stupid shit I did through this journy and you will know, i am not the smartest in the bunch. "But this guy here I don't think he will have a problem with solving riddles," I said as I pointed at Vendir.
"Huh? Of crouse" said Vendir as he coughed once, "No matter, I am quite proud of my intellectual ability." He said
"Well, that should be it," I said.
A Djhin then showed up before us, it was Hidi, the female Djhin
"His Majesty wishes to see you, lord Herald," she said giving a courteous bow.
"Well, let's go meet him then," I said as I walked forward.
Vendir seemed uninterested in meeting the King but Beelzebub followed. His pet, however, kept giving me some weird glances… I don't know how to even explain it but I actually shivered a bit.
It seems that Beelzebub was true after all that cockroach is a bit frightening.
Once in the main hall of the palace, the king was no longer sitting in his high above ground throne, but was standing on ground level meeting my eyes with a look of serenity and gratefulness.
"Herald, know this, your help had given me all I could have ever hope for. My kingdom my subjects or my wealth I would have gladly traded it back for what you have just given me, so please ask me of whatever you need and I shall comply, it is the least I could do." He said
"There is no need for such words, it was something I did regardless of reward. However, I do hope to have your support in fighting the divine." I said
"That goes without saying, Herald, let me be your sword."
"Then the river, how can I find it?" I asked
Soloma looked to the side and pointed saying, "It runs through the desert and into the open sea. There is a condition to summon the ferry that will take you to the other side of the world. You will be needing a certain payment to use the ferry. A coin of sorts and I have enough for you and your companions, here" he said and opened his left palm revealing a pouch of golden coins with nothing inscribed on them, the system isn't even recognizing them as normal golden coins.
I took the pouch and placed it in my inventory.
"It seems that I won't be able to take Nemu with me," I said
"You mean the dragon? Don't worry about that, once you give the required payment for that lizard he will also be able to fly along the ferry, it runes not on normal space but it has its own course. Without the coin, you will not be normally able to follow the ship as it just vanishes from the world." Said Solomon explaining the whole thing
"It should take half a day's flight time on the back of your dragon to reach the northern side of the desert, there, where river waters and sea cross you will be able to use those coins." Said Solomon.
"I won't be accompanying you, however, once you succeed in reaching the Upper Realms, unlock the seal and with the Devil's ability I will be able to help link both this world, heaven, and hell into one single domain.
"Alright now, this is a plan. Thank you for your hospitality, I will depart as soon as my companions are ready." I said
"Your companions are already awake, I will inform them, you will soon be able to leave, may fortune be with you, Herald." Solomon said as he hinted at one of his Djhins to inform everyone.
It took a couple of minutes before everyone was ready. And once they got out the looks on their faces were a mixture of excitement, anticipation and a bit of fear. But I don't blame them, we were but high school students, and now we are preparing for a war against The Divine.
Shara got closer to me while whispering
"Shouldn't we wait a bit more? I mean we were just reunited…"
"There is no time to waste Shara, the more time we wait the more those guys will have to prepare for us. Rushing them while they still believe in their abilityto vanquish us is most crucial." I said
I took a final glance at my companion's faces and saw that Haruka was acting a bit assertive. More than usual.
She looked concerned about something, especially after Shara got closer to me but I couldn't put my hand on it. However, she didn't say anything.
Haru was holding the hammer I gave him with more confidence as he placed it on his left shoulder
"Time to hammer some divine ass I say." He said
"I guess this is where we will be making history right? Either sink or swim." Said Misaka.
"I have no intentions of failing and don't worry about dying either guys, even if you do I will still bring you back as useful corpses," I said with a smirk.
"That is not comforting Daiki!" said Haruka.
"You just want to use us even after death…" said Haru with a shiver running down his spine.
"Yes, I don't plan on protecting you, so you have to do that yourselves, I did not force you to come along, you can step down if you wish right now. What say you?" I asked
"We will be going with you," said, everyone.
"Right, that's the spirit. Beelz, I won't be needing you for the moment though, you should wait here with Solomon until I unlock the seal. I guess Solomon will know when." I said
"I wasn't going to come along even if you asked me, at least not right now, the heavenly realms are a bit too bright for my tastes, and I am needed here, for the most part, making the world fusing magic will take few days of preparation at least." He said
"Good, now let's leave," I said as I walked first while the rest followed.
Vendir was the first to speak
"You are rather adamant about fighting the divine, you should know with your power right now, I don't think they will do anything stupid like coming down here and forcing your hand. I am not speaking out of fear when saying that you could live a long life here without having to fight them, but why don't you choose that?" he said
"There is no point in delaying the inevitable, I made my mind long ago, and I will be the one to end this. A world with no cruel and commanding deities is much better than this world with punishment and reward. There is no need for this to happen, I need to bring the Requiem, it is my final quest." I said
"Very well, Herald I shall follow," I said
Roar then soon reverberated through space as Nemu descended in front of the palace gates.
"It seems our ride is here," I said
And shadow stepped top Nemu's back
"Using an almighty dragon as a ride… I don't know if I should feel laugh or cry at the fate of this beast" said Vendir as he floated beside me.
Everyone didn't even need me to ask them to hop in as they soon showed up on Nemu's back.
"Let's go Nemu. Head north. There, the end of our journey will start." I said with a laugh
"So be it, Herald" replied the dragon and swung his wings lifting us all in one swoop.
It took but half a day like Solomon said before we reached our destination.
There a huge river of green water was flowing into the blue sea.
Crossing through the desert into an open beach with golden sand.
We stopped at the beach and got down. I was first to reach the river bank.
"You know what to do now Herald?" said Vendir who was like always floating near me.
"Yes. How many of us are here again?" I said as I looked behind me.
Me, Vendir, Shara, Haru, Haruka, Misaka and Nemu. So seven this means seven coins.
I then grabbed seven coins from the pouch that Solomon gave me and unceremoniously threw them in the river.
Nothing happened in the first few moments. But soon after, the atmosphere turned heavy as a fog began to accumulate. It was so thick that you could barely see anything.Of Nemu's gigantic figure only his eyes could be seen.
"What is this?" asked Haruka
"This should be the place where we will be taking our ride. It should come soon."
Then a squeaking sound was heard, like old rotten wood being squeezed.
The fog dispersed at a single spot where a ginormous ship showed up. It was so huge that it dwarfed Nemu's already enormous size.
The ship was without sails nor masts, it was an enormous boat with hundreds of opening where rotten and old wooden rows would push the ship that was floating in the air.
"Holy shit! This looks like the flying Dutchman… only older and creepier!" said Haru.
"No matter, we were not here to go on a luxury ship, this should be enough, I guess it is even possible for Nemu to ride with us. Without needing to follow us in flight.
"Let's go" I added
Then I shadow stepped on the hull of the grand ship.
The rest followed me, some climbed back on Nemu due to his ability to fly and we all managed to find a place on the ship.
"Is there a captain here?" asked Haruka to no one in particular as the ship was voided of life. Not even my soul vision showed a living being or soul in here.
"There are no captains in this ship, there are only those that want to cross the river of the end. Welcome aboard the ferry," said a man that showed up before us, literally out of nowhere.
He had two golden coins instead of eyes, his skin was dried up like an undead. But his body gave no signature nor was it identifiable even after inspecting him.
He wore old gray drabs that looked to be ancient and barely able to withstand their own weight.
"What are you?" I said
"Strange choice of words, most everyone would say who are you, but indeed I am not a being known to this world, I am this ship and you are my passengers, so tell me, Herald," said the man with a smirk
He even knows about me…
"I presume that your destination is the gates of heaven. But beware that I only provide the ride, your safety is on your own, the road that we will cross is not safe and is filled with danger, many had lost their lives before reaching the gates, and the rest died before crossing it. This is my final and only warning. Make yourself at home, it may very well be your grave" he said with a laugh as he disappeared into thin air.
The ship then moved on its own, floating in mid-air as the fog began to thicken even more.
It seems that the vessel walks not on water… but sailes through this mysterious fog…
Warning!
You have entered the labyrinth of the river Styx.
Make sure to protect the vessel and the safety of all passengers before the journey ends.
Time before the Vessel reaches its destination
3 days.
So it wasn't so simple… I thought to myself.
Then the ship was shaken terribly as if we had hit a reef.
Everyone almost lost balance before Haru said
"What the hell was that?"
I then walked to the side of the ship to see what happened to see a frightening scene.
A giant of a monster that resembled a giant black whale with hundreds of eyes and three large fins like a shark's that was swimming in open space.
Unknown entity
Level ???
A dweller of the river Styx, it feds upon all arrogant that wish to cross this unholy river.
Looking behind the giant beast I saw several of the same species running forward to meet us… this journey will probably prove to be quite problematic…
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