The Underworld Gate Opens
"Um..."
"?"
As Do-ha turned his back, Austin carefully called out to him.
"Wh-what if... what I told you turns out to be wrong..."
Austin stammered, staring at the ground.
Being spared was a relief, but what if his information was off?
As he'd said earlier, everything he'd shared was only inference drawn from the myths he'd studied. If it was right, fine. But it might not be.
"If you're wrong, you die."
"..."
"I'm kidding. What did I say earlier?"
"Pardon?"
"I said it was an interesting story."
Truthfully, the things the cultists had spilled over the past thirty minutes were neither interesting nor useful. What the order wanted, who the Pope was so devoted to—all of it was worthless. He'd originally planned to kill them all.
"What you told me was pretty interesting. That's why I'm letting you live. Even if the details turn out wrong, I won't come looking to kill you, so relax."
"Ah... th-thank you."
"Remember what I said. Don't get mixed up with the cult again."
"Yes!"
Austin nodded, and Do-ha tossed aside the sword he'd been holding. He'd only picked it up off the ground to begin with.
"That idiot Canteas... has he even finished reading the Book of the Dead..."
Do-ha muttered as he walked forward. Canteas had been holed up at home for days now, buried in the Book of the Dead.
"Um..."
"Ah, what now?!"
Austin called out again, and Do-ha finally snapped. He should have just killed him. Why had he bothered sparing the guy? Why did he keep grabbing at him?
"Y-you haven't... finished reading the Book of the Dead, have you?"
"How would I know? I'm not the one reading it."
"..."
At Do-ha's words, Austin's mouth fell slightly open—the face of a man thoroughly rattled.
"What happens if someone finishes reading the Book of the Dead?"
"Yes."
"What happens."
"To prove whether one is qualified to learn the magic of the gods, one must pass through a trial gate."
"..."
Do-ha's brow furrowed. Pass through a gate...? Don't tell me...
"When the Book of the Dead is fully read, a door to the Underworld opens."
At that exact moment—
Brrring.
Do-ha's phone rang. He answered.
"Do— Do-ha! Canteas's house is—!"
Selenia's frantic voice poured through the speaker.
Whoosh!
"Do-ha!"
The moment Do-ha appeared via teleport, Selenia came running. He'd already notified the Association before arriving, so everything was on record.
Kwaaaaaah.
"What in the world..."
Back home, Do-ha stared at Canteas's house and his jaw dropped. Canteas's building stood right next to his own—and right now, a massive portal had punched a gaping hole straight through the floor.
"I heard a huge crash and came out, and that portal was already there."
"Where's Canteas?"
"I don't know. I can't sense his presence at all, so he was probably swept into that portal..."
"..."
Do-ha's brow tightened. That portal was almost certainly the door to the Underworld—exactly as Austin had said at the end.
"The Underworld Gate has opened."
"Th-then... can we just leave it?"
"No. It has to be closed."
Do-ha shook his head. Right before he'd teleported home, Austin had left him with one last warning.
If the door to the Underworld has opened, you must close it no matter what. Otherwise, the beings of the Underworld will come pouring out. The problem is that Underworld creatures are stronger than ordinary monsters—if things go wrong, you'll have a living hell on your hands.
Of course, Selenia was here, along with Metatron and Baal. His grandfather was SSS-Rank as well, so he wasn't particularly worried about defense. The real problem was that there was no telling what might come through the portal. If Anubis himself stepped out, it would be a disaster. Now that Do-ha had reached the Life-or-Death Realm, he could handle Anubis well enough—but in the process, the house and everything around it would be obliterated.
Canteas can get out on his own anyway.
Once the trial ended, success or failure, he would return to where he'd been. Rescuing Canteas was secondary. Closing that Underworld Gate came first.
"I'll be right back. Keep an eye on the surroundings just in case."
"You'll be right back??"
Selenia's eyes went wide. Was he seriously planning to go into that portal? He'd called it the Underworld Gate—didn't that mean he was heading into the Underworld itself?
Do-ha gave a short laugh and stroked her cheek.
"Forgot that the most useless worry in the world is worrying about me?"
Even back in Belhart, she had always fretted over him.
"I'll close the portal from the inside. Clean up around here for me."
"...You have to come back."
She bit her lip and took his hand. Anywhere else, she could understand. Heaven? Hell? Seon-gye? She wouldn't worry no matter where he went. But the Underworld—that terrified her. She had already tasted the loss of him once. The thought of him going there was almost more than she could bear.
"I'll be back."
Crack.
Whoosh!
Gripping her hand tightly for a moment, Do-ha unfurled Noeryeongsinbo and dove straight into the Underworld Gate.
Gulping.
Tzzzzzz.
A thoroughly unpleasant sensation.
Passing through the Underworld Gate, Do-ha frowned. It felt, somehow, like sinking into mud thick with maggots.
Kyaaaak!
Kuek!
They're crawling up all excited just because the entrance opened.
Falling downward, Do-ha snorted at the monsters surging up from the Underworld. Had they missed the scent of the living world that badly? The portal had barely been open, and already thousands were climbing.
Not happening.
Hellfire
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Do-ha unleashed Hellfire with one hand, and dark-crimson flames swallowed the climbing monsters whole. With the other hand, he poured power into the Underworld Gate itself.
Kwadudududuk!
Close.
Kugugugugu!
As he poured out his power and added telekinesis on top of it, the Underworld Gate began to shut. Forcing it closed made everything around him shake violently.
And then—
Kugugugugugu!
Kwadduk.
Under Do-ha's force, the Underworld Gate slammed shut, and the fragrant scent of living earth that had been drifting in vanished completely.
Shuuuuu.
"Shall we take a little trip through the Underworld?"
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Eighth Step: Bi-roe-gong
Crack.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Falling into the Underworld, Do-ha forged several Bi-roe-gong orbs. With the gate forced shut, the monsters that had been climbing flew into a rage. They'd thought they were finally free to reach the living world—and now that the door was closed, they turned on Do-ha to kill him.
"Anyone watching would think crossing into the living world was their birthright."
Bang!
Kwarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Crackle-crackle-crack!
The Bi-roe-gong orbs detonated, and dozens of lightning bolts streaked out in every direction. At the same time—
Crack!
Riding those spreading bolts, Do-ha unfurled Noeryeongsinbo as well, becoming a single streak of light as he shot forward.
Shuuuuuk!
Thud!
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
"Ugh, disgusting."
Landing on solid ground, Do-ha brushed off the monster remains raining down from above. Curious about the falling debris, he looked up—but there was no hole, only an empty sky.
"I figured it'd be bleak, but it's surprisingly not bad."
It looked like a sunset sky—exactly that moment when the sun is going down. There were no clouds, giving it a hollow feel, but the colors themselves weren't desolate.
"No Canteas."
Do-ha scanned the area and tilted his head. He'd entered only minutes after the Underworld Gate opened, yet he couldn't sense Canteas's presence at all.
"Did the trial drop him somewhere else?"
In the end, Do-ha started walking. Standing still here wouldn't change anything.
Ssshhh.
Splash.
"There's an ocean?"
After traveling for a while, Do-ha spotted a body of water and cocked his head. An ocean in the Underworld, out of nowhere?
"Ah—don't tell me this is the Nile River."
Just as the Underworld ruled by King Yama had the Sanzu River, Egyptian myth had its own counterpart—the Nile. Not the Nile of the living world, but the Underworld Nile.
"The water's filthy."
Do-ha frowned at the river. Strange foam drifted on the surface, and nothing was visible beneath.
"Can I just cross it?"
There was nothing of note around him. That meant he would have to cross the river to reach the true Underworld.
"No telling what's in the water, so instead of walking on it, I should fly—hm?"
As he began to draw up his power, Do-ha spotted something approaching from afar. Its movements were slow, yet its speed was fast.
"A ferryman."
On a golden sailboat, someone in a fedora with an absurdly wide brim was slowly working the oar. He'd heard the Sanzu River had a ferryman too—and the same figure existed here.
"Same system, huh?"
Why did every Underworld have a ferryman? Some kind of Underworld identity branding?
Shaaah.
Thud.
The sailboat drew up in front of Do-ha, shoving a little earth aside as it beached itself. The ferryman looked him in the eye.
Hollow eyes.
The ferryman's gaze was empty—like the eyes of something already dead.
After a few seconds of locked stares, the ferryman held out a hand.
"To cross the river, pay the fare."
A dry voice scraped out of the hollow-eyed ferryman, cracked and parched like drought-split earth.
"A fare, huh..."
Do-ha nodded and pulled bills from his pocket. He usually only used cards, but he'd withdrawn cash a few days ago when he needed it.
Thud.
"Here. A hundred thousand won."
"..."
The ferryman stared fixedly at the hundred thousand won sitting in his palm.
Then he tossed it back.
"Pay the fare."
"What, this isn't it?"
The ferryman had studied the money, then returned it as if it were wrong.
"This is all the money I have."
"Without the fare, you cannot cross."
"I'm not even a dead soul. I'm alive."
"Is there no fare?"
"Ugh... what is this, a robot?"
As the ferryman repeated the same lines, Do-ha sighed. He was stuck on a loop like a programmed machine—no conversation, and he wouldn't take cash either.
In the end, Do-ha hopped onto the sailboat. The fact that a boat existed at all suggested this was the only way across the Nile. The river that looked like an ocean stretched to a horizon with no end in sight. Trying to fly would mean endless open water.
"Put the money on my tab."
"Pay the fare."
"Hmm... killing the ferryman is probably a bad idea, right?"
Do-ha shrugged and reached for the ferryman's oar. He would have liked to deal with the ferryman and just take the sailboat, but he had no interest in breaking the Underworld's system for no reason.
Grab.
"You take a break. I'll row."
"...You cross the line."
The moment Do-ha took the oar, the ferryman—who had only been repeating the same words—reacted differently.
Grip.
Whoosh!
"?!"
The ferryman spun the oar and attacked at tremendous speed; Do-ha ducked and barely avoided it. In that instant—
Shaaaaaaaaah!
The ferryman's strike split hundreds of meters of the Nile in a single blow.
"The crime of touching the ferryman's oar. You will be punished here."
Thud.
Tzzzzzz.
As the ferryman reset his grip on the oar, a suffocating aura poured from him.
"Damn it. Shouldn't have touched it."