Underworld Goddess' Descent

Veil nodded and held Solara's hands.

"Even you, an Administrator, do not know all the details here?" Veil inquired.

"Yes, I have never discovered a lead towards the tier above A nor the entities that informed me of my attained level." Solara explained.

"I understand, then should we try and meet the other Administrators? That way, we could see if a change would occur, since only the Administrators have met those entities." Veil proposed.

"That would work, however, among the five other Administrators in the whole Zekerion, I only met one." Solara said in a slightly regretful tone.

"Do not worry, you have me now, we would be able to discover them faster by using my name. You see, the eyes on me are wary because of my sudden rise in Tiers, I could pretty much get their attention." Veil smirked.

"Hmm, I see where you are going with this. Sure, let's start moving then."

The two then split and set out to nearby cities to negotiate with various city lords regarding the Administrators above them.

Solara is in one way familiar with the map of the Zekerion, with 6 different lands divided into each Administrator, they only have to search for the other lands.

[…]

After a solid month of not seeing each other, Veil has successfully made contact with two Administrators namely Rayburn and Claire.

Rayburn wields a bow and he does not monopolize his controlled lands while Claire is adept in magic and makes use of magic essences to craft different kinds of weapons.

They are not hostile against Veil as they also want clues.

Meanwhile, on Solara's side, she was able to gather two more Administrators known as Lar'baan and Hal.

Lar'baan is an Orc hybrid who has a giant greatsword and an army of Orcish Adventurers; they were never hostile against humans and other races.

Lastly, Hal who has similarly unified his land and turn into a huge city, Hal does not go to fights anymore as he focuses on engineering now.

After gathering at Solara's territory, they have now a total of five Administrators gathering.

When these Administrators were first informed of their attainment of that title or privilege, they were actually given a fragment of a big crystal.

Now that they gathered it when five of them are present, they all passed the fragments onto Veil.

Veil nodded when she received the fragments, she then analyzed and combined the fitting fragments.

All five smoothly fit into each other; however, as the fragments take form of a gem the size of a 10-meter gate, they noticed that they are still missing a fragment in the middle of the massive gem.

They all fell silent and clueless because this is the first time that they gathered ever since they became Administrators.

But now that they tried combining their fragments, nothing happened besides making up a gate with a missing piece.

When Hal is preparing to leave via a carriage invented by his engineers, they all felt cold backs as if death is looming over them.

["You all gathered here today to finally challenge me???"] An unknown voice speaking in divine language could be heard from the gate.

Everyone turned towards the gate with a missing fragment, soon after; a massive storm appeared from the sky, a thunder then hit the center of the gate.

After a short moment, the thunder transformed into a dark-green flame that lit up the gate.

Rumbleee!

The entire ground is shaking from the gate, after growing in size, a loud roar suddenly pierced everyone's ears.

Roaaaaaaarrrrrrrr! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Loud thundering footsteps are growing louder and closer from within the gate.

Only the five Administrators and Veil remained standing, the other Adventurers accompanying the Administrators all lost consciousness from the roar alone.

Plop!

Lar'baan grew wary as he immediately pulled the greatsword from his back; he walked up front to receive the approaching creature.

Among the ones standing, he is definitely the sturdiest so he must act as a tanker.

Seeing Lar'baan prepare, everyone followed suit and made a disciplined positioning.

Rayburn and Claire supports from the back with traps and ranged attacks, Lar'baan acts as the main tank with the support of sub tank Hal, lastly, Veil and Solara serves as the main damage dealers.

Badump! Badump! Badump badump!

All of their hearts pounded loudly, this is definitely one of the most frightening enemy they would face.

Boom!

The walls disintegrated as the humanoid monster finally walked out from the gate.

He then scanned his surroundings without batting an eye on the Adventurers in front of him, as if they are nothing but ants.

"!!!"

Veil showed the greatest shock among the six present, because she is familiar with the identity of the humanoid monster.

It is the lord of the Gaia, Varun taking a new form!

Solara immediately sensed the change in Veil's killing intent; she is radiating an intense oppression.

"What are you doing here, how are you alive?!" Veil asked in a freezing tone.

Varun just sneered before sniffing the atmospheric mana, it seemed like he is extremely famished as he inhaled air.

Just when Veil is about to speak, another entity followed the monster Varun.

["I asked you people a question if this was a challenge, but this is how you respond?"] The masked entity spoke in divine language.

The masked entity then removed its mask and revealed its true identity.

"!!!???"

Everybody gulped down their saliva; they recognized the entity before them: she is the God of the Underworld, known by the name Xaveene!

She was recorded in many books to be the Goddess of the Underworld, she rules over every single Underworld in the entire universe.

Not a single soul expected her arrival in Zekerion since Gods are long known to avoid interfering.

However, now, Xaveene is declaring these Adventurers that they are challenging her.

The looming aura of death envelops Xaveene, mist in the form of skulls danced around her as if the souls of the dead are caressing her.

Meanwhile, Solara is the first to speak and break the momentary silence.

"Overlord Xaveene, what is the meaning of this? We do not have the intention to fight you." Solara calmly explained.

["Hahh, is that so? No one among you tried to read the encrypted message within the fragments my shadows gave you?"]

That is how it was, ever since the beginning, they were being tested if they have the ability to rule the Underworld and reach the apex tier.

However, seeing that no one read the hidden message from the fragments, these Adventurers are facing her without any idea what they were doing.

"…" No one could open their mouths to explain.

["Hmm, it seems to be that none of you are worthy of reaching the highest state in the Underworld!"]

["Now, at least entertain me before I send all of you into oblivion!"] Xaveene declared as she cut the chains wrapped around Varun.

Break! Cling!

Varun in his monster form swiftly charged towards his nearest target: Lar'baan.

Skill: Revenger Maul!

Baring his fangs, Varun send a massive bite to the Orc.

Boom!

Lar'baan responded with his greatsword and casted various skill combinations to repel the beast.

Skill: Orcish Liberation!

Skill: Blood of War!

Skill: Triple Cut!

Lar'baan's frame grew even larger as his muscles ballooned up, he then sent three simultaneous attacks against Varun's mouth.

Crumble!

The ground formed various web-like cracks beneath Lar'baan after colliding with the massive teeth of Varun.

Hal then took this opportunity to send another bombard of locking skills on the beast's body.

Skill: Flame Drill!

Skill: Flame Charge!

Causing small cuts followed by burning sensation, Hal's attacks dealt negligible damage.

Solidifying Varun's focus upon the two tanks, Veil and Solara then began their own attacks.

Mana Expansion: Shadow Envoy's Descent!

Second Divine Technique: Phantasmal Laceration!

Mana Expansion: Sun God's Waltz!

Skill: Lightsong's Emergence!

Simultaneously expanding their domains, the colliding force of the arrays greatly decreased Varun's speed, while they each hit Varun's tendons.

Splatter!

Blood sprayed from Varun's vital points as he suffers massive injuries, but it did not stop there.

Rayburn finished charging his bow as he let go of the string.

Shooo!

Skill: Judgement Quiver!

A massive arrow of light dropped from the sky and penetrated deeply on Varun's back.

Stab! Splash!

Even more blood gushed from Varun's body as the arrow of light slowly dissipated and left only the wound.

Lastly, Claire lightly tapped the butt of her staff on the ground as she chanted her ultimate skills.

Triple Speed Casting!

Skill: Frosthaven!

Skill: Icicle Thrust!

Skill: Glacier's Wrath!

A storm of frost descended upon the panting Varun as he slowly turned into an ice statue.

Lar'baan, recovering after crashing on a nearby tree, charged towards Varun to destroy his frozen body.

Skill: Blaze Titan!

A massive cleave hit the ice statue as it slowly crumbled.

Crack! Splash!

Varun's blood spread everywhere as the statue crumbles.

Pant pant pant pant.

Everyone felt the sudden exhaustion from the heat of the battle; fortunately, they finished Varun with minimal damage.

["Great great! Now, I can begin my one-sided torture and turn you into my pets as replacement for him!"] Xaveene's aura pulsated and overruled the domains of both Veil and Solara.

Mana Expansion: Underworld's Dominion!

Due to the massive divine oppression, the six could only kneel down helplessly; they could barely stop their legs from turning into slime.

Colors of their faces started draining down as they turn pale from the constant bombardment of Xaveene's aura.

This is only a God's domain, yet the effects are already devastating.

Feeling satisfied, Xaveene is grinning widely, without much fight, she already turned the battle into her side, and it was barely even a battle.

However, when she was about to cast the chains onto her victims, she noticed only five are kneeling, one was missing.

Swing!

She felt a slight sting behind her; she then turned around and saw Veil being the one who slashed her.

Although she did not receive any damage at all, it greatly annoyed her; a fly stuck in a mud could still fly.

"Please, let go of my friends! I was the one who brought them into here without knowing anything about your challenge!" Veil declared in desperation.

["Hnggg???"] Xaveene showed a confused look, she then added ["Do you think you are in a place to negotiate for their lives?"]

"I was able to move under your field and even landed an attack behind you, did I not gain some form of attention from you?" Veil slightly smiled.

["Very well! Good! Are you then willing to forego of your life in exchange for theirs?"] Xaveene flashed an evil grin.

"Mhm, sure. Mark your words." Veil nodded without hesitation.

"Noooo Veil!" Solara barely stood up as she summoned the Lightsong.

"…" Veil could only frown; she has fully decided to sacrifice herself.

Xaveene then snapped her fingers as the five, except Veil, could only prone on the ground, only their heads can be barely turned.

Xaveene then entered back the gate followed by Veil; Solara watched their departing backs with extreme frustration and self-hatred.

The other four could only shed tears because they were even weaker.

Shurururuk.

The gate slightly vibrated as the ground trembles, the bright sky returned and the massive gate slowly faded out of existence.

Only after a handful minutes or so did the divine oppression dissipated.

Solara remained motionless while the other Administrators informed her in tending to their allies; they then travelled back to their respective homes.

Thud thud thud. Crack!

Solara kept punching the ground until her hand bleeds, just when she made a friend after thousands of years, she disappears before her eyes.

"…"