To become a king and a magician

"No, it's nothing, I'm just a little bothered by it."

(The excavated grave...it must be Enkidu's grave.)

(If there's an opportunity later, I'll rebury it after defeating Jingu.)

36. The Lock of the Sky at Night

The Persian Gulf.

After flying out of the gates of the underworld in Kusa, Natsukawa Tora flew directly here.

Ishtar also came along.

What are you doing here?

"Ishtar asked, leaning against Maana."

Natsukawa Tora pointed to the observation post not far away, which faced the Persian Gulf: "Gilgamesh asked me to come here to conduct a water quality survey—after all, Tiamat is sleeping in the Persian Gulf, and we can probably find out some things by analyzing the water."

"More importantly, why did you come along too? Don't you need to go back to your Mount Aibif?"

"Any objections?"

Ishtar smiled and raised an eyebrow: "Anyway, going back to Mount Aibif is pretty boring now, so I might as well follow you around. My intuition tells me that interesting things will happen wherever you go."

"Well, I guess I'll just treat it as a little spice in my boring life."

Ishtar is right about that.

Even though he has toned it down a bit in recent years, Natsukawa Tiger is still easily drawn into all sorts of strange things. Even when he's sitting at home, trouble comes knocking on his door. It only got better after he went to Chaldea.

She truly lives up to her title as a goddess; she saw through Natsukawa Tora's strange constitution at a glance.

After letting out a soft sigh, Natsukawa Tiger landed at the entrance of the observatory: "Do as you please, just don't cause me any trouble—I'm going into the observatory to find the researchers, what about you?"

"Then I'll wait for you outside. The people inside will probably be scared half to death when they see me, after all, I'm a goddess."

"alright."

After saying that, Natsukawa Tiger walked into the observation post. After watching Natsukawa Tiger go in, Ishtar put away the smile on her face, turned around, got into Maana, and went directly to the top of the Persian Gulf.

While it was said that he wanted to make fun of Natsukawa, more importantly, Ishtar wanted to verify the truth of what Natsukawa had said.

The goddess Tiamat now sleeps beneath the Persian Gulf.

"It's really unbelievable... that Mother has actually returned."

Ishtar had always believed that the Sumerian divinity existing in Mesopotamia consisted only of herself, but unexpectedly, Ereshkigal and Tiamat had now appeared...

"Mother wants to destroy humanity."

Gazing at the last rays of the setting sun, which was almost completely submerged in the water, and the deep Persian Gulf bathed in its light, Ishtar couldn't help but feel a little heavy-hearted.

Things have really started to get complicated.

.......

Time passed quickly, and more than an hour went by.

When it was completely dark and the moon hung high in the sky.

On a beach on the shore of the Persian Gulf.

"You're here."

Natsukawa Tora's voice came from not far away.

Ishtar, who was resting under a tree, glared at him irritably: "You've really kept me waiting for a long time. Did you finish your business? By the way, why are you carrying so many jars?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Shaking the jar in his hand, Natsukawa Tora explained, "This contains seawater from the Persian Gulf that we're going to bring back to Uruk. It seems to be a regular activity to conduct water quality surveys here; Gilgamesh sends people here every now and then."

"However, Gilgamesh did not explain the specifics to me before I came. He only said that I was coming here. Fortunately, the researchers in the observatory all knew what to do, otherwise I would have been completely clueless."

Without even specifying what to do, he just asked someone to come over. Xia Chuanhu didn't know if this counted as Gilgamesh trusting him.

After putting down the jar and sitting down next to Ishtar, Natsukawa Tora looked at the Persian Gulf in the distance and asked, "What are you looking at here?"

"It's nothing, just passing the time. Although it would be fine to go straight back to Mount Aibif, I said I would wait for you outside, so it wouldn't be right to just leave."

"You know about this kind of thing?"

"Well--!"

Ishtar's forehead veins throbbed: "I...I'll say it...Ah...Are you treating me like an idiot who can't care about other people's feelings at all? Although my original divinity would indeed do something like that, I wouldn't do it now that I'm under the influence of this body."

"So, you're the kind of goddess who's clearly understanding but might not necessarily pay attention to others?"

"I should say there's no one worth my time. After all, I'm a goddess, why should I cater to the thoughts and feelings of mortals?"

At this point, Ishtar added, "But you're an exception, so feel honored. You're the first person I, Ishtar, have ever considered your feelings. Remember to pass this down as a divine message to your descendants, and pass it down from generation to generation."

Is your attitude a family heirloom?

Natsukawa Torato gave a wry smile: "But I appreciate that you considered my thoughts—so, what are your thoughts on your observations of Tiamat?"

"I don't have any major thoughts about it."

After a pause, Ishtar said nonchalantly, "What, are you planning to invite me to deal with Mother, just like you invited Ereshkigal?"

"Half and half," Xia Chuanhu laughed. "After Tiamat appears, I'll probably have no spare time at all. But besides Tiamat, there are countless Rahms as enemies. I don't have the strength to deal with them. I hope you can help me deal with them then."

Lahm?

The child born to the mother.

"That's alright... By the way, what exactly are you planning to do to Mother? You seem to be plotting something, do you actually have a plan to deal with her?"

"correct."

"There really is one!?"

Looking at Ishtar's surprised expression, Natsukawa Torama smiled and said, "Well, it's just an idea. There's still a lot of preparation to be done. Only after all the preparations are done and there is enough time will it be possible to defeat Tiamat. Actually, I'm just doing what I can do."

To put it dramatically, Natsukawa Torato is similar to Ereshkigal, except that unlike Ereshkigal, who wanted to shoulder the burden alone, Natsukawa Torato has learned to share his responsibilities with others.

After all, saving the world isn't a one-person job.

In addition, he is currently unable to truly save the world.

(Until all preparations are complete, I will do everything in my power to delay Tiamat's advance, and then—)

"—!"

Just then, a powerful magical reaction suddenly appeared within Natsukawa Torato's perception range, and it came from an individual that was moving at high speed, heading directly towards the location where he and Ishtar were.

After a moment's thought, Natsukawa Tora stood up: "Excuse me, Ishtar, could you please take a look at these water jugs for me?"

"Huh? What are you going to do?"

"Just to greet the unexpected guests."

As he said this, Natsukawa Tora looked up at the sky.

Under the pitch-black night sky, a figure floats high in the air, looking down at the two people below.

Long green hair, delicate features that defied gender interpretation, a white robe, and crystal-clear purple eyes—

"I never expected to meet you here. Is this some kind of destiny?"

“Jin Gu”.

37. A true hero kills with his eyes!

Metal is solid.

The Magic King, who was given the Holy Grail by the Magic King, possessed Enkidu's body and was a direct subordinate of Tiamat.

The successor to Enkidu.

To be honest, Natsukawa Tora didn't expect him to be here.

Not to mention that the other party appeared at an ultra-high speed of 500 kilometers per hour.

Almost the instant their eyes met, Jingu, who was in mid-air, swooped down with incredible speed, his arm transformed into a blade, and slashed down at Xia Chuanhu with unparalleled speed!

"Bang------!"

A column of sand was suddenly stirred up on the beach.

Standing amidst the falling sand, using the wind to protect himself from being covered in sand, Xia Chuanhu, who had blocked Jingu's attack with his hand, looked at him, who was so close, through his arm.

"How about we try a different way of greeting each other? Since we're meeting for the first time, let's keep it a little more peaceful, shall we?"

"That's true."

As Jin Gu spoke with a rather gentle smile and tone, a chain flew out from behind him and lashed out at Xia Chuanhu.

"Clang!"

Just as the Chain of Heaven was about to touch Natsukawa Tiger, a thick chain suddenly appeared out of thin air, collided directly with the Chain of Heaven, knocked it away, and then turned to strike Kingu!

"Boom!"

The sand was cleaved open by the chains, creating a huge gash.

Not far away, Jin Gu lightly landed on the ground, watching the chains slowly disappear beside Xia Chuanhu: "Hmm, it seems to have some commendable power. There aren't many warriors who can fight me."

"Judging from your tone, it sounds like you've come here specifically to test me?"

Xia Chuanhu's question made Jingu smile: "No, I just happened to spot you on my way here, and it was just a whim. After all, you, a stranger, almost wiped out the monster horde on your very first day here, buying us three whole days of breathing room. Such a huge obstacle is naturally not something I can ignore."

"If only I could kill you here."

Jingu spoke with considerable confidence, as if in his eyes Xia Chuanhu was not an enemy that needed to be treated with caution, but simply someone that could be dealt with at will.

It must be his background that gave him such confidence.

His body is the greatest masterpiece created by the gods, a perfect weapon of the gods, and now he also has the Holy Grail personally delivered to this era by the Magic King. In terms of combat power alone, Kingu is now superior to Enkidu and Gilgamesh in the past.

Adding the Chains of Heaven, even considering all the goddesses, Kingu should be the strongest being outside of Tiamat in this singularity.

That's probably why he underestimated Natsukawa Torama so much. In his eyes, the strength Natsukawa Torama was currently displaying was only at a level that required a little more serious attention.