Ending Maker Chapter 86
Ending Maker Chapter 86
Chapter 28 — The Returned #4
A Hell Gate.
A direct passage between Hell and the surface.
Because of that, no separate summoning work was needed.
Without the bother of using sacrifices, the demons could descend to the surface by their own power.
"No."
Cordelia blurted it out without realizing it.
Yuder agreed.
It was far too early.
Even in Hero Legend 2, the Hell Gate only appeared in the very late game.
The one saving grace was that the Hell Gate had not yet taken complete form.
In its current state, which was nothing more than a rift, there were limits to both the quality and quantity of demons that could cross over.
But if it was left alone like this, it would be a catastrophe.
Once the Hell Gate was established in its perfect form, even the Infernal Lords of Hell would become capable of descending to the surface.
'So that was it.'
Now he fully understood.
The reason Lena had exhausted her strength and died at Bladebeak Canyon.
It was because of the Hell Gate.
Lena had clearly given her life to close the Hell Gate.
It was a dilemma.
If the Hell Gate was left alone, catastrophe was unavoidable.
But to close the Hell Gate, the sacrifice of an existence on Lena's level was required.
'No, let's not jump to conclusions. We must not jump to conclusions.'
They had not yet fully grasped the situation.
They only knew that Lena had given her life to close the Hell Gate. They did not know how she had closed it or how she had expended her strength in the process.
So it was still too early to give up.
Perhaps there was some other way.
"Woof woof!"
It was right at that moment.
The Bellagio suddenly began barking, and Yuder and Cordelia, whose attention had been consumed by the Hell Gate, snapped back to their senses.
"Woof woof! Woof!"
"Lena! You know where Lena is! Let's follow it!"
First, let's meet Lena. Let's meet her, get information, and find a way to resolve this situation.
Cordelia was right. Yuder hoisted up Kaplan, who was suffering from the demonic energy of Hell, then signaled to Cordelia with his eyes.
"Luke! Guide us!"
"Woof woof!"
The Bellagio, having received Cordelia's command, began running like a shot.
The direction it headed was straight ahead.
It was as if it was sprinting straight toward the Hell Gate.
And Yuder saw it.
The closer they got to the Hell Gate, the more clearly he could see.
The monsters of Hell.
Between the violet demonic energy of Hell and the green that evoked poison, the silhouettes of countless monsters were visible.
Among them were some demons that looked quite powerful.
'At least a hundred, conservatively.'
That was the number of monsters that had already passed through the gate.
Even if they somehow managed to close the gate, it was questionable whether they could deal with that many monsters.
"Woof woof!"
"Yuder!"
The Bellagio drew their attention again.
Cordelia pulled Yuder's mind back to the reality before his eyes.
"Lena."
Yuder could feel it now too.
A place barely two hundred meters away from the Hell Gate located at the center of the city.
Lena was inside a five-story building shaped like a tower. He could feel her presence.
And Lena could sense them as well.
"Eep?"
The moment Cordelia let out a small shriek, Yuder felt his vision darken.
For an instant, he lost control of his body, flailed in midair, and then saw light again.
"Ow!"
It was Cordelia. Having dropped out of the air, she landed hard on her backside. Yuder, who had broken his fall and landed safely as befitted one with the Heavenly Martial Body, set Kaplan down and looked ahead.
The expected person was standing there.
"Did I not tell you to flee?"
A blonde woman with a gray robe pulled down to the top of her head.
Her speech was polite, but it carried anger and irritation—no, something closer to anxiety.
"Now you must understand as well. This place is dangerous. Avoid the monsters and flee. I don't have the leeway to look after you!"
Her tone was resolute, as if she would permit no objection.
But Yuder could not follow her words.
Rather, he had to change her mind.
And Yuder knew what he had to say.
"Yuder Bayel, disciple of Landius, greets you."
It was a short statement, but it was enough to shake Lena's heart.
She hesitated for a moment at Yuder's words, then spoke in a rapid tone.
"Can you prove it? No, even if you really are Landius's disciple..."
"May the muscles always be with you!"
It was Cordelia.
As she sprang to her feet and shouted, the Bellagio and Kaplan blinked as if wondering what kind of nonsense she had suddenly spouted, and even Yuder was taken aback.
But not Lena.
Despite her face being hard to see because of the robe, she visibly went blank, then nodded.
"You are an acquaintance of Landius... a close acquaintance at that."
Because Landius was the only one who made such a bizarre greeting.
Moreover, though Yuder and Cordelia did not know it, Landius only bestowed the blessing of muscles upon truly close acquaintances.
"That's right! Yuder is Landius's disciple!"
When Cordelia spoke again, Yuder snapped back to his senses and chimed in.
"I am receiving the Nine Heavens Nine Gates from my master. As I said just before, I am Yuder Bayel. This is my fiancée, Cordelia Chase."
Lena reacted once more to Yuder's words.
The Nine Heavens Nine Gates.
The Immortal's divine art, to which Landius had declared he would devote his life after the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.
Lena was not the only one surprised.
Kaplan, who had barely been following the conversation, was shocked by an entirely different part of it.
"Bayel and Chase! You were the young scions of the Twelve Northern Houses!"
Among the Twelve Northern Houses, which could be said without exaggeration to rule the north of the Saelun Kingdom, the Count Bayel Household and Count Chase Household were especially well-known names.
"No, wait. Then you're saying you're scions of the Twelve Northern Houses, and at the same time researchers of the Royal Capital Academy, direct disciples of the Iron Man Landius, and members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross?!"
"Yes, almost."
Because they weren't researchers of the Royal Capital Academy.
Somewhere along the way, Cordelia had grown used to the 'technically, I didn't lie' way of speaking she had learned from Yuder.
In any case, what mattered now was not Kaplan.
Yuder took a step toward Lena and spoke.
"We must close the Hell Gate. It's still in the early stages—precisely, it's close to the end of stage 1 and the beginning of stage 2—but if it keeps growing like this, it will be a catastrophe. If it reaches stage 4 and even a Demon Prince descends, the tragedy of Paragon will repeat itself in the Wild Lands."
It was a fact Lena already knew, but Yuder deliberately mentioned it.
It was to let Lena know that they were by no means ignorant about the Hell Gate.
"I am Landius's disciple. I have only opened through the third gate so far, but I am the successor of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates, and Cordelia has inherited the power of the Witch of the Western Forest. Whether our help is great or small, we will be of use."
Lena reacted again to the words that poured out like rapid fire.
The Nine Heavens Nine Gates and the Witch of the Western Forest—the alias of the witch who had once opposed the Infernal Lords of Hell was enough to move her heart.
"But... but it's truly dangerous."
"Of course. It is dangerous. But being in danger before the Hell Gate is the same for you, Lady Lena. So please allow us to help. There is a saying that even a sheet of paper is lighter when lifted together."
At the sincere words, Lena covered her face with both hands, then nodded.
"I understand. Let's do it together. As you seem to already know... I am Lena Einsberg."
"I'm Yuder."
"I'm Cordelia!"
Cordelia, who had been watching Yuder persuade Lena anxiously, immediately chimed in.
"Yuder and Cordelia. And that person over there is..."
"I-I am Indiana Kaplan. A professor at the Imperial Academy of the Argon Empire."
Kaplan stuttered a little, but after he introduced himself, Lena nodded and then spoke to Yuder and Cordelia again.
"Since you seem to have already grasped the situation to some extent, I'll speak quickly. As Yuder said, the Hell Gate is currently in the very late stage of stage 1. If left alone, it will enter stage 2, and then monsters of higher species will appear. Demons with epithets will also become capable of descending. So we must close the Hell Gate before that."
There were two ways to close a Hell Gate, and the more common of them was the "Heavenly Seal," a spell of the Celestial Realm that Solari, the Sun God, had transmitted to the surface.
"Are you planning to deploy the Heavenly Seal?"
At Yuder's question, Lena was momentarily surprised, then immediately nodded.
"Yes, that's right. But I lack the strength to use the Heavenly Seal, so I was in the middle of devising a plan."
"You... lack the strength?"
Cordelia asked, blinking.
And no wonder—the person standing before them was none other than the Holy Angel Lena.
Through Ancestral Regression, she had obtained the power of an angel, and she was no longer human.
If one spoke only of the sheer quantity of mana, she was the strongest even among the Five Heroes.
It made no sense that someone as powerful as Lena lacked the strength to properly deploy the Heavenly Seal.
'There's something.'
The Heavenly Seal did require enormous mana, but not so much power that it should cost Lena her life.
Yet Lena had sealed the Hell Gate and then met her death after exhausting her strength.
Why?
What was the missing link between the two?
And one more thing.
'How had Lena known to come here?'
As Yuder himself and Lena had said several times, the Hell Gate was currently in the late part of stage 1.
At this level, the demonic energy of Hell did not leak outside Endymion.
Just as even the Fairy Queen, who shared territory with the outskirts of Endymion, had not known of the Hell Gate's existence.
So how had Lena known and come here?
'By coincidence?'
Had the Hell Gate simply happened to open just as Lena arrived in Endymion?
It was not an impossible story.
But here another question arose.
Who had opened the Hell Gate?
Why had the Hell Gate opened?
Questions piled up in his mind.
Lena's death.
Lena's condition, which left her unable to properly use even the Heavenly Seal.
Lena, who had detected the Hell Gate that opened in Endymion faster than anyone.
Her, facing the situation alone instead of asking someone for help.
'The Hell Gate. The reason the Hell Gate opened.'
While Lena hesitated instead of answering Cordelia immediately, Yuder reasoned it out.
He drew out a single answer.
"It was you, Lena."
A statement stripped of all context.
Words that Cordelia and Kaplan could not possibly understand.
But not Lena.
She clenched her teeth and hunched her shoulders. Her face was hidden by the robe, but he could imagine her anguished expression.
"Yuder?"
At Cordelia's call, Yuder closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
He voiced the one answer that could explain the entire situation.
He looked not at Cordelia but at Lena and spoke.
"Lena, you opened the Hell Gate."
It was not the Devil's Eye.
They had not intervened in this incident in the slightest.
The one who had opened the Hell Gate was the Holy Angel Lena.
At Yuder's words, Cordelia's face went blank. Lena nodded, then took off the robe she had pulled low over her head and spoke.
"You're right, Yuder. I... opened the Hell Gate."