The destruction of the Underworld after the demon hunters' rampage was even more shocking.
It was originally a desolate and broken place. The sky of the Everlasting Night had shrouded the entire world for thousands of years. The dark, cracked earth flowed with poisonous water and magma, and the undead roamed everywhere. Any life would be cut off here. After the demon hunters ambushed and killed Hades, the place was left with countless scars of war. The already cracked earth was torn and curled by powerful magic energy, forming numerous undulating bulges. In between those ripples was a terrifying rift valley. It was a rift that had penetrated the entire Underworld. Anyone who jumped from it would fall directly into the edge of the dimension and be torn apart and annihilated by this artificial dimension. Most of the undead wandering in the Underworld were killed by the demon hunters, and broken bones and flesh could be seen everywhere in the wilderness. The sentry posts and guard towers that were used to monitor this dimension were also destroyed. Debris and walls could be seen everywhere. The demon hunters' sacred flames had melted these supposedly indestructible buildings, causing them to crumble to the ground like melted butter.
Hao Ren and his companions walked on the completely destroyed and gradually unstable land of the Underworld. Hasse relied on his memory to guide the way forward. They had to bypass some cracks that suddenly appeared on the ground because the foundation of the world was collapsing, and the entire land was in a state of disintegration and falling. Hessiana had also tried to fly in the sky, but it turned out to be more dangerous. The Furnace of Souls in Tartarus had shut down, which had led to the escape of the human souls collected by Hades. These souls, which had not yet burned out but had lost their sanity, floated in the air and formed a very powerful energy mass. Approaching them would not only easily trigger a chain of explosions but also be polluted by the negative emotions of these souls. Compared to the sky occupied by the undead, the cracked earth was a safer way.
After moving forward for a while, a dry riverbed appeared in front of them.
Hao Ren stood on the edge of the riverbed and looked into the distance. Across the darkness, he saw the land gradually extending upward across the riverbed.
Hao Ren looked away and noticed that the river had dried up not long ago, and there were still stinking poisonous mud on the riverbank. The reason for the river drying up was obvious: there were a lot of cracks in the middle of the riverbed, and these cracks almost covered the entire bottom of the river. The water was leaking from there, all the way through the Underworld and dissipated in the chaotic boundary of the different dimension.
Because of the existence of those cracks, Hao Ren and his team had to walk along the riverbank, looking for a continuous, safe route to the other side. Fortunately, they were not too late. The collapse of this space was still in the early stage. They soon found a suitable "river crossing" point and found a strange boat stranded on the riverbank.
It was a ferry made of fishing nets and the bones of unknown creatures. There were fist-sized holes everywhere on the hull, and even at the bottom of the boat, there were countless cracks and damage visible to the naked eye. It was hard to imagine how this thing could float on the water. On the bow of the boat, there was an ugly three-meter-tall giant in a tattered black robe lying dead. The skin on the giant's face was peeling off, and he looked hideous. In his right hand was a fierce weapon that looked like an oar but the end was inlaid with countless spikes. In his left hand was a broken lantern. A silver sword that was still slowly burning with a sacred flame was stabbed in his chest. The giant was firmly nailed to his own boat.
The ferryman of the Underworld, Charon.
"So this is Charon …" Hessiana quietly looked at the ferryman who was nailed to death for a while. Suddenly, a sarcastic smile appeared on her face. She took out two coins and placed them on Charon's eyes. "Looks like there will be a time for you to die."
It was as though this slight tremor had destroyed the balance of the ship that Charon was riding on. With a light cracking sound, the entire ship that was made of bones and fishing nets shattered into pieces. After the cabin was destroyed, countless gold coins poured out from the inside. They flowed down the dry riverbed like a flood, forming a golden trail. In this' road 'that was paved with gold coins, one could see eerie white bones mixed in. They were also part of Charon's collection. Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Charon's corpse had also fallen onto the riverbank. His rotting body had been smashed into pieces, and countless gold coins flowed out from his cracked skin.
This "magnificent scene" stunned Hao Ren and Lily, but Hasse, who was next to them, was expressionless. Oh, he had facial paralysis.
However, Hessiana did not have any superfluous reaction when she saw this scene.
"Charon, I know him." Hessiana shrugged. "Although he was already dead when I was young, I have experienced the Mythological Era. These barbaric and twisted 'gods' … Haha, they are all the same."
Hasse shook his head and stepped down the riverbank. "Let's go. This is a good road."
How many years had these gold and silver coins been accumulated? Perhaps the oldest of them could even be traced back to the origin of the ancient Greek civilization. From the day when the "gods" on Mount Olympus formulated the rules of life, death, and funeral, the human beings of the Mediterranean had used these coins as a part of the tomb with fear and awe, offering them to the master of the underworld to seek peace of the soul after death. Charon may have only taken a small part of it, but this small part was still enough to fill his ship of the dead and his entire skin.
After the destruction of the Underworld, the money that these mortals had paid for the road had finally paved a path for them.
Crossing the dried up Styx (River of Pain), Hao Ren saw the withered Elysium (also known as Elysium). This vast garden was a "blessed land" in the underworld where the righteous and innocent could enjoy happiness after death. But Hasse told the truth about this place.
"It's true that this garden used to be lush, and it's beautiful just by looking at its appearance. However, it's definitely not a blessed land. After the failure of the Underworld, the Olympians did not want to let this otherworldly dimension, which had consumed a lot of resources, go to waste, so they transplanted some magic plants that were not suitable to grow in the normal environment. Most of these magic plants were related to necromancy and shadowy power. They needed to grow normally in places with strong death and dark power, so the underworld became an excellent nursery for them. Persephone was the gardener who took care of this garden of horrors. She captured the human souls that entered the underworld but were not suitable to be used as fuel and let them wander in the garden. But in fact, she used them as nourishment for the magic plants. The Deathknell Flower and the Carrion Flower had a strong hallucinogenic anesthetic effect on the soul, so the souls did not feel pain at all. They were absorbed by the nursery unknowingly, and until the moment their souls disappeared, they felt that they were enjoying themselves in a paradise. This is the truth of this' blessed land. '"
"Although I already knew what the Mythological Era was all about …" Hao Ren looked at the completely withered Elysium. The vast plant area had also been swept by the war-level spells of the demon hunters. All the gardens were scorched, leaving only smoking bushes and scorched ground. Among these ruined botanical gardens, human skeletons could be seen everywhere. Many of these skeletons were buried under the nursery as fertilizer, but the blast of the battlefield had uprooted them. "After seeing it with my own eyes, it still feels … dark."
Lily wrinkled her nose. "Were there no good people in the Mythological Era?"
"Of course, there were. There were in Ra's solar ship, in the palace of Asgard, on Mount Olympus, and even Zeus himself seemed to have proposed several policies to treat human beings kindly. But so what?" Hessiana crossed her arms. "After all, humans are just being kept in captivity. Although I am not human myself, to be honest, I really can't stand the Mythological Era. This social structure that relies on one race to completely enslave and exploit another race is not a healthy form of existence from the very beginning."
Hao Ren could not agree more.
The area that they had passed through was only the periphery of the Underworld. The real inner layer of the Underworld was the land where Hao Ren and his team were now standing. It was composed of two parts, one was Elysium, and the other was the famous Tartarus. The dried up Styx was actually the moat that flowed between Tartarus and Elysium. It could be regarded as the dividing line of this kingdom of the dead. Inside the dividing line was the real territory of Hades, and outside was the wasteland that the Olympian gods had completely abandoned.
For many years, Hades had focused most of his energy on the inner layer of the Underworld, and the wasteland on the other side of the Styx was left to the mutant monsters, letting them wander freely there.
Therefore, in the land of Tartarus, the remaining power of Hades was still exerting its influence.
Elysium was adjacent to Tartarus. Coming out of the withered garden, one could see the layers of scorched earth of Tartarus covered with mud and volcanic ash. There was only one fortress standing on this scorched earth. The fortress rose in the darkness with three layers of pure copper walls. It looked so majestic and heavy that any human army in this era would feel a sense of despair.
In the center of the fortress was Hao Ren's goal.
It was a constantly rotating and reassembling tower that looked like it was pieced together with countless metal parts. Its bottom was connected to the Temple of the Underworld, and the top was connected to the Temple of Hades on Mount Olympus.
However, it was not easy to go to the brass fortress at the highest point of Tartarus because the power of Hades had not completely dissipated. The land outside the fortress was full of wandering undead.
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