That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

"What is she doing here?!"

Ereshkigal raised an eyebrow. She already harbored jealousy and hostility towards Ishtar, who was adored by the whole world. If it were the original goddess of the underworld, she would kill Ishtar every time she came to the underworld, or at least skin her alive.

Chapter 425 Abyss

Hall and Ishtar physically descended from the Gates of the Underworld into the Underworld, where they found themselves in a world of black rocks and desert, with the shadows of mountains stretching to the ends of the earth, a vast expanse.

This is truly another world.

Huh?

Hall discovered that the underworld contained things he had never seen before, at least not when he came here a few days ago.

A simple stone gate stands in the middle of the road. It is not large and can only allow two people to pass through. The surface of the rock is carved with simple animal drawings and primitive writing that predates cuneiform.

Before Hall could speak, Ishtar exclaimed in surprise, "The Seven Gates of the Underworld!"

This is the true test that the underworld gives to the living.

Those who fall into the underworld or whose souls wish to return to the earth must pass through the seven gates of the underworld.

When Ishtar fell into the underworld to cause trouble for Ereshkigal, she suffered quite a bit. Upon seeing the existence of the Seven Gates of the Underworld, she immediately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.

Her evasive gaze held fear, and she asked with a mournful face, "Hall, didn't you say hello to the other me? Why is the Gate of the Underworld here?"

"You're asking me? Who should I ask? I didn't see this thing yesterday."

"So it was prepared for me!?"

Hall said irritably, "Don't you have any self-awareness at all?"

Ishtar, her face contorted with misery, cried out, "Does she still hate me that much...?"

Ereshkigal's stern voice rang out: "Answer me!"

"Answer me!"

"The world possesses billions in wealth, and only one person is qualified to safeguard it: either the capricious Ishtar or the great and just goddess of the underworld, Ishtar. Who should this person be?"

Here we go again.

Hall replied frankly, "Naturally, it is Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld."

Ishtar asked in astonishment, "Huh? It wasn't me!"

nonsense!

Hall rolled his eyes at Ishtar.

Ishtar said dejectedly, "Okay, I can take that as you saying it to pass the test, right? That must be it."

Hall shook his head: "Ishtar, your golden rule is always negative. Even from an objective point of view, the wealth entrusted to you will mysteriously disappear before long."

Ishtar, her sore spot touched, was on the verge of tears: "I didn't want this to happen either, that's why I put two lucky cats in front of my temple to improve my fortune! It should have worked!"

Weird.

"Let's go."

Continuing onward, they inevitably encountered the remaining six stone gates. The answers to the questions all involved choosing between Ishtar and Ereshkigal, with the words intentionally belittling Ishtar and the sourness of jealousy almost overflowing.

In short, just blindly choose Ereshkigal.

Unlike in the game, Hall possesses the power to evade questions from the Seven Gates of the Underworld, and each time he passes through the Seven Gates of the Underworld, he does not strip Ishtar of her divinity.

Hall roughly guessed that Ereshkigal wanted to give Ishtar a hard time, but because he was mindful of his presence and didn't want to go too far, he didn't attack Ishtar.

In just over ten minutes, they completed the trials of the Seven Gates of the Underworld and arrived at the highest point of the Underworld. The atmospheric temperature plummeted, becoming even more unbearable than when they first entered the Underworld, a chill that penetrated deep into their souls.

“It’s finally over. Was that guy like this before? He seemed even worse.” Ishtar stretched. During the time when Hall didn’t accept the mission to investigate Kusa City, she was often possessed, but she was always unconscious and had no idea what Ereshkigal had done.

In fact, Ishtar never actually saw Ereshkigal of this era.

You're not much better off either.

Hall silently recited to himself.

Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, stood at the end of the road waiting for Hor and Ishtar. She wore a black, fitted short dress, looking dignified and beautiful, but her pretty face was not so pleasant, filled with resentment and dissatisfaction.

Ereshkigal's gaze first fell on Hall, then shifted to Ishtar, and her first words were sharp and confrontational: "What are you doing here? Haven't you learned your lesson from last time? Or do you want me to take back that treasure I returned to you last time?"

Ishtar, equally annoyed by the questions and answers from the Seven Gates of the Underworld, floated up to Ereshkigal, put her hands on her hips, and looked down at him, saying, "I only came to see you because I was worried you'd be bored in a place like this, but what kind of attitude is this!"

You're going to suffer.

Hall's lips twitched. As expected of the useless goddess Ishtar, she maintained a superior attitude towards the goddess of the underworld, who was also a god and had an absolute advantage in the underworld. Her actions were tantamount to charity.

In her view, goodwill was nothing more than adding fuel to the fire.

The goddess of Venus, Ishtar, and the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, are like light and shadow—inseparable yet destined to be unable to understand each other.

As expected, after Ishtar said those words, the goddess of the underworld looked even worse and almost couldn't contain her anger. After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she forced a smile at Hall: "Hall, let's ignore this terrible goddess and continue with yesterday's work."

Before Ishtar could speak, Hall stepped forward and nodded in agreement: "Ereshkigal, today I need you to create the Lower World, and I entrust the creation of the Guardian of the Graveyard King, Nit."

"Hey~"

After being interrupted by Hall, Ishtar calmed down and immediately felt deflated. She understood her situation and knew that if she continued to provoke the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, she would suffer.

Ereshkigal didn't make things difficult for Ishtar after that, and calmly agreed when Ishtar wanted to get involved.

Rather than harboring resentment towards Ishtar, Ereshkigal would prefer to create the world of Dark Souls, serving as one of the three pillars of the goddess to test humanity and fulfill the wager.

but······

"Why should I need your permission to create this city?!"

"This is the underworld, the world I rule!"

"So what? Since I participated in the creation of this world, our relationship is equal."

"Your taste is terrible."

The two goddesses continued to bicker.

······

Hall designed the underworld to be three layers: upper, middle, and lower. The lower layer is the world of the dead, filled with all sorts of strange and powerful undead, and ruled by the Tomb King, Nit.

The middle level is a dark world, filled with poisonous pools and deadly traps, with treacherous terrain, and ruled by a poisonous dragon.

Incidentally, the material used to create the Poison Dragon was a phantom beast artificially created by Hall, retaining its consciousness and altering its form.

The upper level is a human ruin, where the spirits of countless former human warriors roam, and the ruler is the Dark Knight.

The ruler of each world is no less powerful than Gundyr, the Judge of Souls. Only by defeating the rulers of the three worlds and obtaining the corresponding medium items can one unlock the power of the underworld and liberate all the dead.

Souls-like map design.

In addition, Ishtar, who wanted to get involved, was assigned to build the Sun City and use her power as the goddess of Venus to create a series of monsters.

Hall's favorite design was the tower bridge.

The path from one tower to another is a narrow one, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. On the other side of the tower, Hall plans to deploy two archer knights created from the power of the Venus goddess Ishtar to prevent anyone from crossing the single bridge.

Below the single bridge lies a bottomless abyss, essentially a realm of imaginary numbers; once you fall, there is only death.

According to the calculations of Hall's Eye of Spirit, Matthew's shield is insufficient to withstand the high-intensity shooting of the Archer Knight, and he will inevitably be knocked back or sent flying.

The work to build the sun took a week.

"Finally finished!"

In the sky above the underworld, Ishtar sat atop the heavenly bow Maana, overlooking the magnificent city below with a satisfied smile.

A sliver of the setting sun hung in the sky, its crimson rays stretching the shadows of the buildings, making them seem to be divided into two worlds. Even bathed in the sunset, one could only feel the deathly atmosphere, as the shadows of the buildings seemed to be swallowing up the entire city.

With Hall's help, Ishtar created a world using her powers, a city in eternal twilight.

As Ishtar descended from the sky to the side of Hor and Ereshkigal, she heard the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, complain, "What a lowbrow thing to do! Creating a sun in the underworld, and this city is empty and deserted. Was it really necessary to make it like this?"

The Sun City is completely different in style from other city ruins; it is unique simply because it has a sun.

The buildings in the underworld are mostly ruins of human cities, dilapidated and run-down, while every part of the Sun City is bright and beautiful.

Ishtar scoffed, "This is my city, of course it has to be magnificent and beautiful."

Ereshkigal sarcastically remarked, "You can't see a single person here, not even the undead like it."

"I don't need undead, I can create my own inhabitants."

While the two goddesses were bickering, Hall activated a magic array to prepare for a spatial jump, heading to the deepest part of the underworld.

“Hey, where are you going?” Ishtar called out.

Hall waved his hand: "My own work."

After speaking, Hall's body turned into light and disappeared, leaving only the two goddesses staring at each other in the Sun City.

Compared to when Hall was present, both of them had lost much of their edge.

Ishtar crossed her arms and sighed softly, "If you like him so much, why don't you just admit defeat and sign a contract with him?"

Ereshkigal shook her head sadly: "If only it could be like that. I am the goddess of the underworld, I have my own duties, and I cannot be as free as you. You probably can't understand that."

"What?"

Seeing Ereshkigal's dejected look, Ishtar quickly came to her and rubbed her little face: "Managing the Underworld is certainly your responsibility, but it's good to relax once in a while."

"Don't worry about it."

"How could I possibly leave you alone? You are my sister, and also another version of me."

······

The final work was one of the fundamental purposes for Hall to create the world of Dark Souls.

深渊

At the edge of the underworld lies the pitch-black imaginary space, a realm beyond the reach of even the powers of the underworld goddess Ereshkigal.

Now, there are two people standing at the end of the underworld.

Hall and... a fragment of Tiamat, the mother goddess of creation, wore a fitted dress, her translucent blue hair cascading down like a waterfall, beautiful yet sorrowful.

Hall said expressionlessly, "Tiamat, you are the spirit of Tiamat that I summoned. As a human, with a human foundation and human characteristics, you are the benevolent side of Tiamat. Only by killing you can the power of the god Tiamat be fully unleashed."