Chapter 85

"I don't know what kind of magic tree you are, but I'll definitely plant you when I get home."

Dio said this to the magical branch while holding it above his head.

The rest of the journey was easy. He finally reached the end of the main line with the branch, where all the other lines met.

Dio thought that when he reached the end, he would see the souls reacting somehow, but they all stood in front of a white wooden dock that only had one boat at the end.

No longer caring about them, Dio stepped onto the dock and started walking along it while looking at the Styx River by his side.

The dock is only about ten meters long, and at the end of it is a trireme, an ancient Greek vessel over twenty meters long.

A big black wooden boat without oars was all that was shown.

The ship only had one nearly torn gray cloth sail, and it looked like the whole thing was broken, old, and worn.

There is a figure behind it carrying a long oar with a very dim lantern hanging from the end.

Dio couldn't see anything of the figure; a hooded black cloak covered his whole body, and like the boat, it was all worn out.

"Charon, I seek passage across the river."

Dio said to him with the most confident voice; the guy gave him the creeps.

The underworld ferryman turned his face toward him while the hood still covered his face, but Dio could see his eyes glowing like fire.

Then, he raises a gray, nearly skinless skeletal hand to him with his palm up.

Dio opened the pocket of his backpack and placed the magic branch in it, then searched for the passage.

Charon is one of the most well-known figures in mythology, so it makes sense that Dio came prepared in case he encountered him.

"Here!"

Dio said to him and threw two silver drachmas at him, which magically disappeared in the air and reappeared on his hand.

Charon then puts the coins into his clothes and grips the oar with both hands. Dio took it as a sign to board, so he jumped onto the ship.

Fortunately, the old, weathered wood doesn't give way under my weight.

Seeing that Dio was on board, Charon moved his oar, and the ship drifted away from the dock.

It started to move more slowly with another stroke of the oar.

When they were a few meters away from the shore, other oars magically appeared from the boat's sides, and they started rowing.

Dio walked carefully across the boat to the center.

The center of the triremes is open, which is where the rowers are, so he went to the center and looked at the opening.

There, he saw many souls of all ages and genders rowing mechanically and without emotion, just like the other people he found here.

Since the ferryman wasn't a man of many words, Dio focused his attention on the river.

It's awful.

The color of almost everything in this place was black.

But Dio didn't care about its surroundings; it gave him a lot of energy in a way he had never felt before.

The familiarity of his ability to summon its invulnerability was thrown out the window.

Dio wasn't summoning true invulnerability; it was something more weakened. That was definitely not its only purpose.

Dio kept looking at the water in the river below him while trying to see deep in it.

"Trumm!"

Dio didn't know for how long it was, but he thought he was in a trance, and he only woke up when the trireme hit the dock at his destination.

Dio stops looking at the water and looks at the surroundings.

There is a wall on the horizon, but not a simple one; it extends across the entire line of the horizon while separating anything on this side from what's inside.

That wall doesn't look like it was built; it is something more natural since it's made of black rock that isn't smooth or even, with no points or patterns.

On top of the rock, there are tower-like structures, but there are no people in them or any movement.

From this distance, Dio can't judge the size of the underworld gates, but he guesses that the entire rock where the gates were built is the size of a mountain.

Dio jumped out of the boat and stepped on the grass.

Dio looked back and saw that the ferryman was already moving away from the small dock.

Since he is a man of few words, Dio didn't say goodbye either and continued walking with his backpack with clear directions to the gates.

The ground Dio is standing on now is much more "fertile" than it was before. There are more healthy trees, and some of them have fruits on them.

Dio kicked a stone and then realized it was made of gold. He put another gold rock in his backpack. It was funny enough for the underworld.

The only thing that bothers him is the lack of "life."

Dio knows very well that ghosts are not the only beings in this world, but he believes many of them must be on the other side of the gate.

And speaking of it, Dio is finally only a few kilometers away, and now he can get some image of the inside of the gate, but he can't see much; there is a mass in front of it blocking his view, a mountain or something.

Speaking of which, Dio is now only a few kilometers away.

He can glimpse what's inside the gate, but not much because something is blocking his view.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A scream made Dio drop his backpack and cover his ears with his hands.

Dio had never heard a scream like that; it was like a howl of a wolf mixed with that of a bat, and they came from above, so that's where he looked.

On top of the wall, which he thought was empty a moment ago.

There are three flying black shadows diving at high speed in the formation of a triangle.

Their destination is clear; it's him.

So, Dio lowered his super hearing and drew his shield and weapon.

That's all he had time to do before they stood in front of him several meters off the ground.

Dio looked closely at them now; there were three women or things with a woman's body.

The three of them were all dressed in dirty dresses that covered their bodies, but it was their bodies that caught his attention.

They all have long hair, long wings, and big, thin claws that look like blades. Their faces were not beautiful; all three were thin with wrinkled skin like mummies.

Their eyes were yellow, and their lips were red with a few sharp teeth.

"Who are you?"

Dio asked, and he put his shield in front of his body.

There was no talk; they simply dove toward him.

They all attacked together.

The first had its claws stopped by his shield. Its body twisted to the right as Dio turned, and he was ready to strike with his sword.

The second attacked, aiming for Dio's heart. He managed to defend himself with the sword when her claws hit his blade.

The third circled around and tried to hit the side of his body. Dio jumped backward to avoid the three.

However, they moved extremely quickly and reached him almost when his feet touched the ground.

This time, Dio dropped his guard and advanced. He kicked one in the stomach to send her away.

The second tried to bite his shoulder from behind.

Dio dove, used the shadow movement to appear behind her, and attacked while aiming for her shoulder.

Dio's sword was stopped by the third, who defended her friend by holding his sword with bare hands.

They bleed, which is good news.

It can also be killed if it bleeds.

Dio lost one of them, and her claws hit him on the left side.

Dio uses the shadow movement again, this time moving as far away as possible and not making the same mistake as before.

Dio looked down to see the damage.

At the level of his belly button, four stripes from top to bottom of the same width and size pierced his armor and cut his skin.

Dio had never tried before to test how resistant his armor was since he didn't have the luxury of being able to repair it if something went wrong.

Since Dio also did everything to avoid piercing wounds, it was never tested in battle either.

There are four claw marks of the same size and width from top to bottom, sliced through his skin, and pierced into his armor at the level of his belly button.

Dio had never tried before to test how resistant his armor was since he couldn't repair it if something went wrong.

Furthermore, it was never tested in combat because he took every precaution to prevent piercing wounds.

However, Dio was pleased with the result.

With the size of the claws of the woman who cut him, she could probably tear half of his stomach if he weren't wearing this armor.

He will only need to find someone who can fix it in the future.

But this is not the time for that.

...

https://www.patreon.com/Abyssuit

If you want to support me, you can find up to 25 advance chapters at my patreon 

👇DROP SOME STONES👇