FATE: Target of Grand Master

After assigning tasks, the four immediately began to carry them out, while Xia Yan returned to the temple alone.

He set the time for himself in the underworld to be midnight tonight. Although there are no clocks in this era, one can still grasp the approximate time by observing celestial phenomena.

Looking at the sun gradually setting, Xia Yan estimated that he had about six hours left, and he had to deal with that pile of stone slabs during that time.

While Xia Yan was away, Xi Duli was not idle either.

When Xia Yan arrived at the temple again, his "office" outside the temple had been moved inside. Although there were still many monster corpses around, the main passage had at least been opened.

"Welcome back, Governor Xia Yan. Dinner is ready."

Siduri pointed to the various foods on a simple wooden table and continued, "I will also send some to the other Masters."

Xia Yan told Siduli about the fourth Master and asked Euryale to deliver a meal to Diao Yunshang on the way.

After quickly finishing dinner, Xia Yan took the initiative to ask Xi Duli to start reciting the stone tablet, which surprised Xi Duli somewhat.

"Governor Xia Yan, although I am very pleased that you are as diligent as the King, given the King's example, we cannot afford to lose you any more. Please go and rest for a while."

"Siduri, thank you for your kindness, but I don't have that kind of leisure time. Tonight at midnight, I will personally descend to the underworld to bring King Gilgamesh back. Until then, I will do as much government work as I can, and afterwards I will hand it back to the king anyway."

Seeing that Xia Yan had made up his mind, Xi Duli said nothing more, bowed deeply to Xia Yan, and began to recite the inscription on the stone tablet.

Finally, as midnight approached, Xia Yan finished handling all of Uruk's major internal affairs.

Due to the loss of most of their population and livestock in the monster tide, many problems could not be solved for the time being. Even so, it still took Xia Yan a full six hours.

"ah..."

The intense work made Xia Yan yawn.

"Xia Yan, drink this."

Morgan, having completed the repairs to the fortifications, handed a small glass bottle to Xia Yan. The bottle contained a pale blue, semi-transparent liquid, clearly a potion made by Morgan.

"After drinking it, you will immediately regain your energy and will not feel tired for the next six hours."

Upon hearing Morgan's explanation, Xia Yan did not hesitate for a moment, opened the bottle cap, tilted his head back, and gulped it down.

"Cough...cough...Morgan, this potion smells a bit strong."

Xia Yan picked up the water glass next to him and gulped it all down in one go.

"That is indeed the only drawback of this potion. After all, I used a lot of ingredients such as the horn of a two-horned beast, the chimera whip, and the kidney of a magical boar. The smell of these things is a bit hard to mask, but Xia Yan, don't worry, the potency is absolutely guaranteed."

Wait a minute, why do the names of these materials sound so much like aphrodisiacs?

As if he had seen through Xia Yan's thoughts, Morgan revealed a meaningful smile.

"This is a potion I developed specifically for men to replenish their energy. In addition to replenishing daily energy, it will naturally also affect male reproductive abilities. Xia Yan, you will need it sooner or later."

"Well... thank you so much."

Xia Yan had a lot to say at that moment, but all the words that came to his lips could only be summed up in one sentence: "Thank you."

"Hmm. Player, this is a good thing."

Nero, who appeared out of nowhere, startled Xia Yan.

"Nero, did you hear that?"

"Hmm. Player, there's no need to feel ashamed. As a man, no matter how much energy you have, you still need to replenish it."

"Thank you, Nero. Can we move on from this?"

Faced with the naturally clueless Nero, Xia Yan just wanted to get down to business as soon as possible.

Perhaps it was the interruption, or perhaps Morgan's potion had begun to take effect, but in any case, Xia Yan felt much more energetic, and the previous fatigue had been swept away.

"Alright, let's begin the battle plan. There are actually two objectives this time: first, to travel to Ereshkigal's underworld, find Gilgamesh's soul, and bring him back; second, to communicate with the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, and persuade her to join our side. We might encounter obstacles from ghosts or even Ereshkigal herself along the way. Hopefully, you two can handle that?"

To prevent any accidents, Xia Yan had to confirm with Morgan and Nero before going that they would not have any additional reactions to the ghosts.

After careful consideration, Xia Yan decided to bring only these two riders this time, while Cú Chulainn was left in the temple in Uruk in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

"no problem."

Morgan and Nero replied together.

"Alright, let's go then."

Under Morgan's magic, the three quickly arrived in the skies above the outskirts of Kusa City.

"Morgan, use the Holy Lance to blast the ground from here at a slightly angled angle."

Xia Yan gestured with his hand, and Morgan immediately did as he was told.

Logically, bombarding Kusa City directly from above would be the most convenient method, but considering that almost all the people of Kusa City have already been taken to the underworld by Ai Lei, and Xia Yan still needs these laborers after dealing with Ai Lei, he cannot damage their bodies, so he can only bombard them diagonally from the outskirts.

boom!

The giant spear landed, causing the earth to tremble. Then, the spear plunged deep into the ground, drilling a tunnel straight to the underworld like a giant tunnel boring machine.

Although the process was quite noisy, scaring out all sorts of animals hiding in the ground, the tunnel that Xia Yan crawled through was exceptionally sturdy, allowing him to pass through with peace of mind.

After traveling down the tunnel for a while, Xia Yan clearly felt the surrounding temperature begin to drop sharply. It was dark, damp, and bone-chillingly cold. Even the pale blue ghost fire in the roadside cages seemed to offer no warmth. This was definitely not an environment suitable for humans.

"Is this the underworld?"

Nero poked his head out, curiously looking at the spiraling downward slope, unable to see the bottom for a moment.

"Be careful not to fall. We just need to keep going down this path," Xia Yan immediately reminded him.

The three of them walked down the spiral ramp.

Looking at the souls imprisoned in cages on either side, Nero suddenly asked, "If we die here, will we also be locked in these cages?"

"You stupid emperor, have you completely lost your mind? We are Servants, already dead. Even if our spirit origins dissipate here, we will simply return to the Throne of Heroes."

Morgan retorted sarcastically.

"Haha, you're right."

Nero gazed at the dark abyss, lost in thought.