"He has seen it."
Hades curled his lips into a satisfied smile, though to [Deception], it looked unsettlingly strange.
"Seen... seen what?"
"The death goddess Hera, the ruler of the Underworld in the Norse pantheon. Unfortunately, she's still just a little girl, not fully matured."
Hades seed to be in a good mood and surprisingly willing to explain a few things to [Deception].
After all, to [Deception], the River of the Underworld was just an unending, dark river.
Indeed, John had seen it.
John's body continued to sink, his consciousness gradually fading.
His heart, which had been beating frantically, now slowed to an occasional spasm, each one barely keeping him alive.
Noticing the approaching presence of a living being, Hera looked up, her gaze eting John's.
"Human..."
"Goddess..."
John finally fell.
Despite being at the end of his strength, he forced himself to stand and quietly looked at Hera.
She was bound by chains, kneeling on the ground, while he was barely clinging to life.
"What do I need to do to get her out of here?"
"Hera is bound by chaos chains, forged from tals found in the deepest abyss of the Underworld. To my knowledge, nothing can cut through them."
"So there's still a chance?"
"John! Calm down. If you keep going, you will surely die."
"You said the sa thing before, that I would die if I jumped into the Underworld River. But look at now... I'm not dead yet, am I?"
John grinned, stumbling towards Hera.
After enduring centuries of tornt, Hera had long lost her divine deanor, now a broken, almost insane figure.
But John had no ti to dwell on that.
Either he pulled out the damned chains, or he beca just another lost soul in the Underworld River.
"Good! A wise choice! His na is... John, isn't it? What an interesting human, no wonder he was chosen by her."
Hades laughed heartily, then suddenly stood up and, to [Deception]'s shock, leaped into the River of the Underworld.
In an instant, the river erupted in massive waves!
The water seed to co alive, parting to create a path straight to Hera.
The tornt that had been continuously eroding John's soul vanished, and even the cold began to subside.
Unfortunately, John's consciousness was too clouded to notice what was happening around him.
He was focused solely on pulling out that damned chain!
Hera was the first to notice Hades.
As he slowly approached, her face turned pale, and she began to struggle wildly, rattling the chains.
"Stop moving! I'm almost there... just a bit more..."
John gritted his teeth, using every ounce of strength he had.
Even as the chains wrapped around his arm threatened to break it, he seed to feel no pain.
"Don't move!"
To Hades' surprise, as Hera continued to struggle, John raised his hand and slapped her across the face.
Hades paused for a mont, then burst into laughter.
"The mighty... goddess of death, slapped by a human! Hahaha... let give you a hand."
With a casual wave of his hand, the ground beneath John cracked open.
The chains that seed to span the entire Underworld shattered under Hades' gaze, and the death goddess, who had been bound at the bottom of the river for millennia, was finally freed.
But she remained kneeling, trembling, showing no intention of fleeing.
John, now noticing the sudden appearance of Hades, was more curious than afraid due to his hazy state of mind.
This king of the underworld didn't seem as unapproachable as Seraphina had described.
"Are you John?"
"And... you are Hades?"
"What do you plan to do now that Hera is free?"
"Of course, the plan is to take down that dead dragon. But it looks like this so-called goddess of death is too scared to be of any use," John said, shrugging and collapsing onto the ground in a starfish position, panting heavily.
"The goddess of death is like this, so I suppose the war god Tyr isn't in any better shape. None of them are reliable."
"Indeed, the Norse gods lack a certain boldness. In this regard, they don't even have the awareness you possess as a human."
"See? But having awareness isn't enough. I can't kill that dragon, and I can't kill you. I can't just go back empty-handed. I'll take these chaos chains."
"No problem. They are of little use to anyway."
Listening to the conversation between John and Hades, Seraphina couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
She didn't understand why Hades hadn't imdiately erased John's existence upon seeing a living person intruding into the Underworld.
Now, she could only watch and see how things unfolded.
"John, you should know that this is the resting place of the dead. As a living person, you've violated the rules by intruding into the Underworld."
As expected...
It seed Hades wasn't planning to let John go after all. Seraphina's heart tightened, ready to intervene at any mont.
Fortunately, [Deception] had recovered so of her powers.
If it was just a matter of delaying Hades for a mont to buy John ti to escape, it shouldn't be a problem.
However, Hades suddenly changed his tone.
He walked slowly to John, squatted down, and looked at him with great interest.
"But, I do have an intriguing proposition."
"Let's hear it."
"Accept my authority, beco my chosen one, and gain a portion of the Underworld's power. This will protect you from the erosion. What do you think?"
Hearing this, John's eyes widened, and his foggy mind cleared. He stared at Hades in shock.
"You... you're serious?"
"Of course. I've observed this ga long enough to find it interesting.
If they can send agents to assassinate you, I can also grant you power.
I don't care whether humanity survives or perishes, but you... you intrigue .
If it's you, how far can you go? Accept my power, and I'll help you kill the dead dragon.
You won't be bound by any of my restrictions.
Face and change everything with your own ideas. What do you say?"
"...Deal!"
...
Mine Labyrinth, outskirts!
The mountain toad, almost fused with the entire mine, finally awoke, causing the ground to crack, the earth to shake, and the sky to change colors!
No one knew how long this monster had slept in Mine No. 3, but it seed to have swallowed most of the mine.
But sothing strange was happening...
The mountain toad's originally large body began to swell, especially its belly, which inflated like a balloon several tis over.
In the next mont, a green wisp erged from the mountain toad's nostrils.
Then, a massive green tornado forcefully pried open the mountain toad's mouth, sweeping across the sky!
The astonishnt didn't end there.
Through the gaps in the tornado, a colossal teor could be seen tearing through the sky, plumting rapidly!
"What in the world... is going on?"
The players, who were initially eager, lost their enthusiasm after witnessing this scene.
Whether it was the mountain-sized mountain toad, the all-encompassing tornado, or the falling star, it was evident that these were not challenges within their capabilities.
The apocalyptic scene made everyone hesitant to proceed.
Until the falling star crashed heavily onto the mountain toad, the explosion resonated, its deafening sound echoing across the entire Blazing Plains.
The mountain toad, shattered by the powerful impact, exploded into a mist of blood, staining the tornado with a grueso red hue!
"Finally!"
"We did it..."
Elaria hugged the unconscious Lily, a glimr of joy in her eyes.
They had succeeded in escaping from the mountain toad's stomach.
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