Chapter 305: Land of the Dead
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The Underworld, the Garden of Truth.
A gray light flashed, the space shook, and Hades staggered out of the void.
At this moment, his face was extremely tired, full of the look of surviving a disaster.
Just like when the Typhon disaster just started, Helios in the sun was infected by the branches of the mother tree. As the interface closest to the abyss and Niflheim in the concept of time and space, the underworld was directly eroded by the power of the mother tree. Endless power has been pouring in along the cracks of time and space from the beginning, bypassing the seal and assimilating everything around.
Some small interfaces that are very close have their properties changed almost instantly, and the underworld has also encountered a disaster. Almost immediately, Hades chose to merge with the symbol of the priesthood to fight against this sudden disaster.
Hades naturally could not fight against the mother tree, but fortunately, compared to Helios, who only occupied a small half of the power of the sun, the gods who held the power of the underworld were united and tried their best to block the erosion of the power of the mother tree. In addition, as a whole, the underworld was larger than the sun, so Hades still managed to hold on until the moment of Typhon's fall.
At this moment, although many tributaries of the Styx had been quietly changed, many places in the underworld divided by the river of fire had been assimilated by foreign powers.
Feedback to the gods was that Hades' robes were missing a lot; a large number of traces of corruption appeared in the gray plains, and countless undead lives were polluted into monsters, but in any case, the main body of the underworld was intact.
So Hades, who had actually worked hard for many years in the disorder of time and space, could finally relax a little. He withdrew from the special state of fitting with the underworld and let Persephone run for him.
Since Typhon's death, the Mother Tree's erosion of the outside world has changed from the initial violent to an endless trickle, and the pressure on the underworld has also been greatly reduced. Even if the power of the Queen of the Underworld is not as strong as his, it can be replaced temporarily.
At this moment, Hades was extremely fortunate to have found his own Queen of the Underworld as soon as possible, otherwise he would really be alone.
"The Outer Gods... What a terrible disaster."
"Even the ancient spirit world and the realm of the primitive gods did not escape the disaster, only Tartarus was an exception - no, perhaps this is just because the abyss has no power extending outside."
Finally able to take a breath, Hades looked at the vast gray plain, heartbroken and a little horrified.
He had no time to count the specific losses of the underworld, but how terrible this sudden disaster was, just by looking at the state of several primitive gods, you can roughly judge one or two.
During the outbreak of the Typhon Rebellion, day and night were still rotating, so the power of the Land of Eternal Night and the Land of No Light was the same as before, surging or sinking like the ebb and flow of the sea. And these powers released from the realm collided with the power of the Outer Gods, and two terrible existences were born.
[Ancient Evil · Crown of Silence] [Ancient Evil · Twisted Shadow], they descended on the land of the underworld as soon as they were born, one occupied a vast area and turned it into a forbidden area, and the other raged wildly on the underworld, adding more trauma to the interface that was already affected by the Outer Gods.
As for the spirit world... the power of the mother tree also did not enter the spirit world, but one of the rivers of the underworld, the [River of Oblivion] that the underworld and the spirit world jointly controlled, did not escape his poisonous hands.
A few tributaries were eroded, and a large number of souls that were contaminated with the power of evil things on the ground but did not dissipate gathered there. They gathered together under the power of [Ancient Hatred·Mother Tree of Flesh and Blood], triggering a qualitative change - it was impossible to cross this boundary with just numbers, and no matter how many souls there were, they would not be sublimated into gods, but now, countless souls have united and become [Ancient Evil·Thousand-Faced Soul Eater].
This last born ancient evil almost perfectly embodies the chaotic and crazy side of the Outer Gods. "Thousand Faces" is just a nickname. In fact, countless evil spirits are fighting each other in its body all the time, and the evil creatures are also eager to devour the spirits of the outside world all the time.
In its body, every evil spirit that reaches a certain level can be regarded as part of the will of the Thousand-Faced Soul Eater, and every spirit has its own will, so reflected in the outside, no one knows how it will react as a whole.
Now it is constantly moving upward along the tributaries of the Styx, trying to swallow more spirits, and the undead on both sides have become part of it in the howling evil spirits.
"Heh, it's only because Styx and Hades have stabilized the situation, otherwise there would be two more big troubles."
Hades shook his head slightly, feeling somewhat fortunate.
Compared to the River of Oaths and even the Underworld, Hades was the focus of the Outer Gods' erosion during the entire turbulent process.
Just like He chose the sun on earth, as the only light body underground, once Hades was affected by the mother tree, then along with the moonlight that illuminated the underworld, His power could spread throughout the entire interface, and even many small worlds surrounding the present world could not escape the disaster.
In this situation, Hades saw with his own eyes the blood mist hovering around the purple moon and the scattered crystal leaves. Even at the most dangerous moment, Hades once noticed that the dark moon seemed to be briefly activated, and a black moon seemed to be separated from it, but then it was locked firmly in the moonlight by a brass-colored ancient book.
As [Ancient Evils], just like the true gods, there are also differences between them. Hades can be sure that if the dark moon is really torn in half, the existence born from it will definitely be much more terrifying than the previous three.
"Your Majesty, the matter you ordered has been found."
While thinking, at the edge of the Garden of Truth, a black shadow in armor came from a distance. Judging from the breath on him, it was a rare and powerful undead.
"Well done, Evans, where is the entrance?"
The complexion looked much better, and it was considered to be a good news. Hades looked at his temple that was destroyed again, and couldn't help but sigh at its many disasters.
"Your Majesty, in my perception, the most 'weak' entrance is near the 'Realm of Silence'. I sensed the connection but did not dare to approach it."
The undead warrior lowered his head slightly. The place he was talking about was the place where the ancient evil creature was born not long ago.
"There is nothing unusual there, but my intuition tells me that it is dangerous, Your Majesty."
"I know, Evans. I originally planned to deal with it last after the disaster, after all, it does not look aggressive... Forget it, it's the same."
Hades had a headache after forcing himself to cheer up, but he decisively changed his plan, after all, he knew what he was looking for.
Just like Zeus discovered Asgard in the belly of Mount Olympus, Hades, as the lord of the underworld and the king of the underworld with half of the power, also noticed something strange with the return of the queen of the underworld Persephone.
Helheim, the land of the dead in Scandinavian mythology, the domain of Hela, the god of death... Although Hades did not know its name and past, it did not prevent him from sensing the existence of this place and the strong breath of death contained in that interface.
But compared with Asgard, where the gods live, this country originating from the Nine Realms obviously has a different nature.
The gods of foreign lands can die, and there are precedents of their souls entering the land of the dead after the death of their bodies. Even the son of the god king Odin did not escape such a fate, but the gods of Chaos cannot die. This leads to the fact that even though Hades knows that such a place exists, he is still the rightful king of the underworld, but he cannot enter here at all.
So in order to completely locate Helheim, Hades can only rely on his undead subordinates.
He tried his best to train them, and then let them sense the entrance to the land of the dead in different places in the underworld, but the power of mortals is ultimately not as good as that of the gods.
So until today, perhaps due to the disorder of the laws of the world, or perhaps because of the invasion of the Mother Tree of Flesh and Blood, the turbulence of time and space caused by this series of changes finally allowed the undead to lock the location of the Land of the Dead. Although Hades himself may not be able to enter, at least he can try to send the undead in.
"Very good, you stay here, I'll go there to take a look, it is very likely that you will need to go there again later."
Waving his hand, Hades looked at the area where the ancient evil was hovering.
It is better to be hasty than to be slow. No one knows why [Ancient Evil·Silent Crown] chose that place as its own domain. Maybe it is also eroding that interface for the Outer Gods.
Therefore, Hades can't wait any longer. He wants to kill - at least seal, or expel that evil, and then build a city there. It would be best if the undead could explore there, but if not...
"I heard that the goddess of the magic net had power comparable to that of a true god before she obtained the priesthood... Maybe there will be a chance for such a powerful being to be born in the future?"
Hades thought silently, and he didn't care about it. Since he sent disasters, brought plagues, lies, and disputes to the world, he didn't care much about the beliefs of mortals, so he naturally didn't mind the birth of such a strong man among mortals. Even in a faint way, he still had some expectations.
All things will die one day, and after death, they will naturally become undead.
"The foreign gods that infect the world, the chaotic thinking... are really the enemies of all intelligent life."
Hades flashed, resisting the idea of taking a rest, and fled to the distance.
I don't know what the situation is on the ground now... But for the King of Hell, it is more important to solve his own troubles.
…
“It is really the existence that erodes everything, the mother tree of flesh and blood, it seems that He wants to take everything under His control and make it a part of Himself… a sinful thing.”
In the starry sky, in the spiritual world corresponding to the zodiac star field, the goddess of starlight, Esther, looked at the distant sun through the barrier of time and space.
In the spiritual world, the reflection of the sun is more ‘real’. The trees growing on the back are gurgling, and baby-like fruits are growing on the crowns. The old face is hidden under the flowing flames on the surface of the sun, and the expression looks gentle and kind, but inside is pain and struggle.
As if being tortured - Esther could understand the pain of the sun, but she could do nothing. Ryan was not in the spirit world, and Lyanna was still doing her best to fight and expel the influence of the underworld, so naturally no one had the time to pay attention to the changes in the sun.
In fact, not to mention them, even Esther herself might not care much about the sun, but the zodiac domains were the trajectory of the sun's movement. If it really became the fulcrum of the mother tree in the outside world and became a tool for it to infect the heavens, then the zodiac star domain closest to it would inevitably not be spared, and the essence of the core of the starry sky would become a restricted area from then on.
Esther didn't want to see this happen, but she was powerless. Even the [Sun Devourer] might not be able to deal with the sun's drastic change at this moment. Frowning and thinking, the goddess of starlight was a little at a loss, until she discovered the streamer flying from the earth in her peripheral vision.
"Is that... Athena?"
Thinking of what Ryan said before he left, Esther's eyes lit up slightly, and she thought of a way to solve the problem.
Although this would result in no sun on earth from now on... but that was something the God King should consider. What happens in the world has nothing to do with her.