That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

“That’s right. I made a demand of him: if he wanted me to continue serving as the city god of Uruk, he had to offer a portion of his treasure.”

"anything else?"

Ishtar glanced at Hall: "Besides offerings, attitude is also important for humans to gain the goddess's protection, so I proposed that you, as the guardian of Uruk, should respectfully beg me for it."

"Guardian of Uruk?" Hall was surprised, wondering when he had become the Guardian of Uruk.

"I heard this from others. You're quite popular in Uruk. The priestesses, the priests, the soldiers, and the common people all speak highly of you."

"Fine, then why should I beg you?"

Ishtar declared with an air of superiority, "That golden Pikachu rejected me for the same reason. I am a goddess! The high and mighty mistress of heaven! Can't you have any more self-awareness? He also said that you and Uruk have nothing to do with each other anymore. I guess something must have happened between you two."

Hall almost burst out laughing. It wasn't that she was wrong; Ishtar was a true goddess, and what she said was common sense in this era.

The problem is that Hall maintains a modern human worldview, which creates a great sense of alienation, and he finds Ishtar's arguments laughable.

Hall replied vaguely, "Since King Gilgamesh said so, then it's pretty much true. In the end, you still chose to agree to stay in Uruk as King Gilgamesh requested?"

“I wanted to refuse, but he offered too much. Besides, you’re in Uruk. As your contracted Servant, how could I abandon my Master?” Ishtar argued, blushing.

Ultimately, it all comes down to greed.

Hall probably knew Gilgamesh's intentions. He didn't need Ishtar to intervene in the conflict between the Three Goddesses Alliance and humans. He left Ishtar in Uruk to deal with the Primal Demon Tiamat who would inevitably appear later. Moreover, he coveted the Heavenly Bull that Ishtar possessed.

In fact, during the battle between Hohr and Ishtar within their Realm of Limits, Hohr had already banished the Bull of Heaven to the Sea of ​​Origin of Life.

"..."

Ishtar floated to Hall's side, lightly tapping the tip of his nose with her slender, jade-like finger, and said angrily, "You should be more self-aware and try to please me, your goddess of victory!"

Where does this useless goddess get her confidence from?!

Hall couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.

Noticing Hall's subtle gaze, Ishtar approached him with her hands on her hips, her face dark but her smile bright: "Do you have any objections to what I said?"

Hall shrugged: "Not at all, my goddess of victory."

Hall's monotone reading lacked any sincerity, but the way he addressed her pleased Ishtar, who automatically ignored Hall's attitude: "That's good. Are you going to Kusa City tonight to find the other me? Now that you have me, you should focus more on me. The important matter you mentioned is also related to the other me?"

Hall nodded and said, "To fulfill the bet between her and me."

"Trying to pull the being who is the master of the underworld into the human camp—is that interesting or just wishful thinking? But given my other, procrastinating personality, it's certainly possible. So what are you doing?"

"Design a world to complete the trial for humanity."

"Wow~ What is this? It sounds really interesting! I've decided, I want to participate too!"

"..."

"What? Your eyes are full of distrust. Don't exclude me. Even if I can't do anything, it's good to see."

The two walked and talked, and Ishtar floated beside Hall and listened to the entire Dark Souls game plan, showing considerable interest.

"I see. So that's where your confidence in winning your bet against the other me comes from."

Hall shook his head: "No, that's not it."

"what?"

Ereshkigal and Ishtar have similar personalities; the former is spoiled yet arrogant, while the latter is arrogant yet spoiled, but they are fundamentally different.

To put it bluntly, Ishtar is a pervert from the Age of Gods, with everything centered around herself. She's so unhappy that she wants to destroy Uruk with the Bull of Heaven. However, her personality has improved somewhat due to Rin Tohsaka's influence.

Ereshkigal, a goddess who appeared alongside the underworld, has a gloomy personality. No matter how deeply she inherited Rin Tohsaka's girlish sentiments, she never deviated from her duties as the goddess of the underworld, whether she wanted to destroy humanity or later chose to stand on the side of humanity.

Hall's stance is on the side of Tiamat, the mother goddess of creation, which means he is destined to break with Ereshkigal.

This is the source of Hall's confidence that he would win the bet; it was a predetermined outcome from the very beginning.

When humanity faces a true crisis of extinction, Hall is certain that Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, will not stand idly by.

Sorry.

The next update will be late at night.

I've been eating so much gossip about Fighting: Double Up these past few days, I'm about to burst.

Chapter 424 A Touch of Arrogance

The underworld, the final resting place of souls, a world of only peace and death.

There is neither life nor is the existence of life required here.

However, drastic changes have occurred recently. The terrain has shifted, and the remains of human structures or even cities have appeared, making this world, which has nothing, even more eerie and strange.

At this moment, in the deepest and highest part of the underworld.

Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, sat on a rock, lost in thought.

"It should be here by now..."

"Could something have happened on the way?!"

"No way, that's him, Hall, the magician who leaves no room for error."

"Calm down. Me too, and there's another me. It's just a little later than usual. Nothing will happen. There's nothing to worry about."

Ereshkigal placed his right hand on his chest, took a deep breath, and gazed into the distance. All he could see was a lifeless, gray-black underworld, like a desert shrouded in night. The sky was deep and dark, and the land of the underworld consisted only of soil and rocks. There was nothing else that could be called a living thing, not even a weed.

Such scenery inevitably evokes memories of another world.

Ereshkigal reminisced to herself, recalling the Holy Grail War she experienced in another world, the time when she first became interested in humanity.

Because of the possession summoning, and because she was based on a homunculus, her personality was slightly more introverted at that time. She helped Holl because Holl was also a homunculus, which also included her anger at the Master who summoned her.

"I remember the first time I became interested in him was because he knew my identity but didn't feel any fear." Ereshkigal smiled slightly. It was just a simple encounter, and such a simple memory was profound and warm in the heart of this goddess of the underworld.

Life in the underworld is dull and monotonous, spending thousands or tens of thousands of years watching an unchanging, barren land.

As the ruler of the underworld, she is both the master and the imprisoned within it. Almost no soul is without fear of her, especially humans. No matter how calm they appear on the surface, their souls will undergo subtle changes as soon as they feel fear.

At that time, Hall's appearance was like a ray of sunlight shining into the underworld.

Moreover, Hall's lack of fear towards her was not due to ignorance, but rather to his knowledge of her identity and his desire to understand her thoughts more deeply.

That was enough to touch her heart.

Then she was given flowers, received praise from others for the first time, and had a confidant for the first time. The combination of these two joys brought even more happiness.

When Hall passed the test of the seven gates of the underworld, he completely won Ereshkigal's heart, and she regarded Hall as a friend from the bottom of her heart.

In the heart of this goddess of the underworld, the weight of the word "friend" is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

At the end of the Holy Grail War, Ereshkigal, knowing he had no chance of winning, now granted Ho's wish, not wanting Ho to feel guilty and take the initiative to attack.

Just as she had predicted, she had an even more wonderful encounter next time.

When Ereshkigal retrieved this memory, he was so excited that his heart almost melted.

Snapped!

Ereshkigal slapped his cheek hard and muttered to himself, "No, now is not the time to daydream, I have a lot of work to do."

She came to a gun cage stuck in the rock wall, opened the cage, took out the imprisoned soul, and inscribed a contract on it to exile it.

The ghostly blue flames of the soul drifted away, heading towards Kusa City, the entrance to the underworld, where it would become a wandering spirit.

"It's incredible that a job I used to find boring can be so interesting."

"Speaking of which, Hall already said that the transformation of Kusa City is basically complete, and the next step is the Underworld."

"I can't wait!"

Ereshkigal's slightly flushed face was full of anticipation, and her smile was simple and lovely.

It wasn't just about creating the world of Dark Souls itself, nor was it about giving humanity a trial. What made Ereshkigal happiest was that for a long time afterward, she could meet Hall in the Underworld, see him directly, talk to him, and even...

"Idiot, what am I thinking!"

The goddess of the underworld blushed as she recalled the shameful memories.

She still vividly remembers what happened that night.

It wasn't that she was unwilling, it was just too sudden. In fact, she had fantasized about similar scenes more than once.

Simply holding the idea that "this kind of thing should be done in a more beautiful place, in a more wonderful atmosphere."

Ereshkigal twirled her golden hair with her fingers, her smile pure and beautiful: "It's not bad now either."

After a moment of random thoughts, Ereshkigal continued selecting high-quality souls, especially the souls of some warriors.

She used to collect soldiers' souls from the North Wall for a while, and now they come in handy.

Souls are asked to sign a contract to become undead, under the pretext of "even if they become undead, they should still do their part for humanity." Afterward, their memories are erased and they are placed into the Dark Souls game, where they are tested on their humanity and helped to improve the world.

No soul has yet been able to pass through the unfinished world of Dark Souls, and even the very few that do manage to reach Gundyr, the judge of souls, are doomed.

In Ereshkigal's eyes, Hall's design for the Dark Souls world was too harsh on humanity, offering not a glimmer of hope.

Even if one has the spirit of dedication, it doesn't necessarily mean one has the corresponding strength, and having the corresponding strength doesn't necessarily mean one has the spirit of dedication.

The only human she could think of who might pass through was the Hero King Gilgamesh, but he wasn't a pure human either; he was the Wedge of Heaven, a hybrid of human and god.

This is almost a game you can win.

Ereshkigal was determined to obtain Hall's soul, hoping that by utilizing the power hidden within it, he could maintain the underworld after the burning of humanity, making it an independent world.

On the one hand, she thought this way; on the other hand, if Hall had a reason to persuade her, Ereshkigal thought it wasn't impossible to let Hall go.

"Will it really go that smoothly? Hall's idea was to create this dark world of souls to test humanity."

Ereshkigal harbored a hidden worry.

!

"He's here!"

Ereshkigal's face lit up with joy, and he immediately stood up. Through the connection with the power of the goddess of the underworld, he sensed that Hall had entered the area of ​​Kusa City, the entrance to the underworld.

Her expression changed rapidly, a mixture of surprise and anger: "There's another person."

"This aura of a spirit origin is another version of me."

"Ishtar".