That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

Skilled sorcerers possess the ability to protect their own souls. For example, Hohenheim used alchemy to cast a curse after his death to prevent others from summoning his spirit and then interrogating him to reveal knowledge related to alchemy.

Clearly, this group of ordinary priests did not possess similar abilities.

Hall began counting down: "10."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the spirit of a man in black robes couldn't contain himself and jumped out, shouting, "I'll talk!"

The remaining men in black robes roared in exasperation.

Damn it!

What do you want to do?

Are you going to betray the goddess?

"Coward!"

The black-robed man, who wanted to be honest, shrank back in fear, avoiding eye contact with them.

Hall said calmly, "You only have one chance. If I find out you're lying, you'll face the consequences."

After a pause, Hall glanced at the remaining black-robed souls and said jokingly, "Perhaps they can serve as witnesses."

"No! No! No! Investigator, I won't lie to you! I'll tell you everything I know," the man in black said hastily.

"Go ahead."

The man in black robes nodded repeatedly. "We did capture two women today. One has already been sent out of the city to Lord Enkidu, and the other will be kept as a sacrifice to the underworld."

"Go on, explain in more detail." Hall's expression remained calm and composed.

What would you like to know?

"All."

The black-robed man's soul recounted everything in detail.

They were priests of Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld. When the three goddesses appeared, they all received a decree from the goddess to curse Uruk and offer it to the underworld.

Furthermore, they received no information and followed the goddess's will to cast a curse, the purpose of which was to set up a gate to the underworld, similar to expanding the underworld's territory, which could eventually devour Uruk in one fell swoop.

At this point, Hall recalled that Ereshkigal did indeed take similar actions in the original story, as the territory of the Underworld was originally limited to the city of Kusa.

When Tiamat arrived in Uruk, Ereshkigal confessed to secretly cursing Uruk. The expansion of the underworld, which would have taken years to complete, opened an entrance to the underworld in Uruk's underground in just three days.

"Continue," Hall commanded calmly.

The man in black robes smiled bitterly and said, "But the plan is not going smoothly. The Goddess of the Underworld is feared by most humans. The priests of Uruk are weak and powerless and can do nothing."

When the priests of Ereshkigal were at their wits' end, Enkidu came to them, claiming to be on the same side as the goddess of the underworld. He said that if they cooperated with him to complete a plan, they could successfully offer Uruk to the goddess of the underworld.

The priests had no choice but to agree. Some of them disguised themselves as fugitives and infiltrated Uruk during the rescue operation at the Northern High Platform, where they joined up with the small number of priests already present in Uruk.

The priests of Ereshkigal brought death, created the curse of decay, and recreated the undead god of death.

However, the plan to dismantle Uruk from within failed when Death mysteriously disappeared, and Hall, the investigator in charge of resolving the deterioration incident, came into the priest's sights.

Next came the second plan, orchestrated by Enkidu, aimed at weakening King Gilgamesh's fighting power and providing an ancient sacrificial ritual to suppress spirits.

They failed to capture the Servants, but accidentally captured Olga Marie and Joan of Arc. After the priests established contact with Enkidu outside the city, they kept Olga Marie as a spiritual sacrifice and sent Joan of Arc out of the city, according to Enkidu's orders.

"That's all I know, Investigator," the black-robed soul said tremblingly.

Hall remained silent, pondering. He knew better than anyone what Kingu intended to do with Joan of Arc: simply placing the general into the Sea of ​​Life in Tiamat would corrupt her spirit origin, achieving a corruption effect similar to that caused by the Holy Grail's black mud.

Jingu's plan was interconnected, and the failure of one link would not affect the next.

"While I was scheming against Jingu, Jingu was also scheming against me and Uruk. I underestimated him."

Once again, I was deceived by the preconceived notions about the character. Because Jingu will be redeemed later, Hall underestimated his abilities. In the end, someone who can deceive three goddesses and establish the Three Goddess Alliance is no simple guy.

Hall's face darkened, and his demonic eyes swept over the remaining black-robed souls. Judging from their reactions, he could tell that the honest black-robed man had not lied. He immediately swept his right hand forward and drew a line of primordial runes.

呲味味~

The radiance emanated from the runes, flowing through the souls of the four black-robed men, who then screamed and dissipated.

"Get lost."

The honest man in the black robe watched his companion's fate with trepidation, then hurriedly nodded and vanished from his spirit form.

The souls of the dead go to the underworld beneath Kusa City.

Chapter 378 Ancient Tomb

Based on the information provided by the black-robed man's soul, Hall found the sacrificial site where the black-robed men had gathered in less than a few minutes. It was located in the deepest part of the underground palace, a huge space about the same size as the sacrificial site in Uruk.

The blue flames illuminated the surroundings, revealing a structure resembling the Roman Colosseum, with trapezoidal, concave sections. At the bottom was a flat area roughly the size of two basketball courts, with a rectangular ancient tomb at the center.

Dozens of people in black robes gathered here to perform a mysterious sacrificial ceremony, chanting in a language that Hall could not understand.

Hall sensed Ereshkigal's aura from that ancient tomb; it was even more profound and cold, a manifestation of the complete divinity of the goddess of the underworld.

Hall dared not be careless. He scanned the arena with his magic eye, seeing through the faces of the men in black robes. He recognized two-thirds of them as people he had met in Uruk, and many of them were fugitives from the Northern High Platform.

Just seconds after Hall entered the sacrificial grounds, a man in black robes spotted him and demanded sharply from afar, "Who are you?!"

"It's him!"

"He is the Uruk investigator assigned by Wang!"

"How did I get here!"

Didn't he encounter Ibn and his men?

"The ceremony is underway! We can't stop!"

Hall strolled down the top steps, his magic eye analyzing the sacrificial ritual, and said loudly, "Are you talking about those six guys dressed as strangely as you? Of course I encountered them. I killed them all and destroyed their souls along with them."

The man in black robes was filled with shock and anger, and panicked.

“Didn’t Ibn and his men just pass by? But they couldn’t have gotten to the sacrificial site without going through there.”

"Are you kidding me!"

"High Priest! High Priest! He killed Ibn and the others!"

"Summon Death! This bastard doesn't deserve eternal sleep! Drag his soul from his body, and I'll make him pay!"

Hall could tell who their high priest was from the black-robed man's reaction. He knelt on the ground, muttering incantations, and did not react to Hall's arrival at all.

The sacrificial ceremony continued, and Hall had no intention of standing idly by. Whatever they planned to do, it must be related to Olga Marie as a sacrifice. Delaying it would only be detrimental to Olga Marie, so he warned her directly: "Hand over the silver-haired woman, and at least I can give your souls a chance to rest in peace."

"Just one last step!"

"Those who blaspheme the sacrifice, your soul will be cursed!"

"Stop him!"

The man in black robes shouted angrily, but Hall saw that the high priest remained unmoved.

Hall sneered, "I've already given you a chance. Now even Ereshkigal can't blame me. You can all disappear along with your souls."

Hall opened his magic eyes wide, his pupils condensing into vertical lines and radiating a dazzling light, as his independent magic circuits drew more than half of the magic power from his body.

In an instant, all the figures reflected in the demonic eyes froze, their bodies turning to ashes.

However, Hall stared intently at the scene. The Demon Eye had indeed destroyed the black-robed men's physical bodies, but their souls were protected by a mysterious force.

What happened? The answer was already there when the question arose.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" The high priest laughed wildly, "It's a success! Uruk City investigator, you've helped me!"

The power of authority.

The power of Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, originates from that ancient tomb.

Moreover, this power does not belong to the Ereshkigal whom Hall knows, but to the true god in mythology who has not been possessed or summoned.

Jealous of beauty and mocking ugliness, she would stop at nothing to prevent what she desired from falling into the hands of others, even at the cost of murder—a dark goddess who died alongside corruption.

The high priest, now in spirit form, cried out fervently, "The time has come! We will enter the eternal slumber of our souls! We will be reborn! We will coexist with the underworld!"

"They actually want to offer themselves as a sacrifice..."

"Kill that man."

“That’s right, so many sacrifices wouldn’t have been necessary, and it was he who killed us, depriving us of our choice.”

“Kill him, then go to Uruk City on Earth and absorb the souls of all the citizens of Uruk City to offer to the Goddess.”

The vortex of souls gradually disappeared, all the souls were swallowed by the ancient tomb, a heavy aura overflowed, and everything fell silent, as if something terrible was brewing.

Hall smelled a familiar scent, the same aura he had sensed from the first Hassan.

Suddenly, Hall's Demon Eye glanced around and frowned, saying, "Now that you've shown up, aren't you going to help me?"

The presence of Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, meant that such a commotion couldn't possibly go unnoticed.

The girl's clear voice rang out: "Hmph, why should I help you? I don't have the right to do so. Besides, if you die, I can just reap your soul."

“At least tell me what that ancient tomb is,” Hall said, pointing to the tomb.

"That thing is an ancient device used to create Garura spirits a long time ago. It buries the first dead and also imprisons the souls of gods and altars. In short, it existed before the Underworld was built. It's similar to the Holy Grail of the Underworld, but I can't explain what it is exactly."

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know either. This is an abandoned sacrificial site, and I haven't used it myself for a long time."

How to do?

Using the True Aether Collapse Technique?

Hall was certain of the powerful effect of the True Aether Collapse Technique in the Age of Gods; even if Ereshkigal were hit by it, he would not be able to escape unscathed.

However, Olga Marie was not seen here. Considering the words of the black-robed man's spirit, it was obvious that Olga Marie was inside that ancient tomb.

Ereshkigal did not reveal his body, but sighed softly, "Hall, now you understand, right? I want to kill humans not because I can't see the good in them, but because I've seen too much evil in them. The eternal sleep of the soul may not be a bad thing for humans. In the underworld, there will never be any conflict, never any harm to others, and they will exist forever. This is the soul's destiny."

"They are your priests, aren't they?"

"What they pursue is something that ordinary humans cannot understand. To humans, they are evil, and of course, so am I."

Boom!Boom!

The ancient tomb reacted, its heavy sound striking Hall's soul, causing a wave of dizziness.