Satisfy’s hell was different from the eight hells that people commonly thought of. There was the sky and the ground and day and night. Thanks to their nature, some demonkin formed a civilization. In Satisfy, it was easy to think of hell as a world ruled by demons, not humans. It was just dangerous because there was no concept of morality or laws. All sorts of unethical things occurred throughout hell except for a few safe zones. The slaughter was brutal and matched its name of hell.
“I’m nervous,” Piaro confessed honestly. “Hell… The place where the souls of those who build up sin throughout their lives fall. It is said that the souls will suffer terribly to pay the price for their sins, reflect on themselves, and cleanse themselves. There are also some souls that will become evil spirits. It might not be true with His Majesty, but those who visited hell without the blessing of the goddess of light will be possessed by an evil spirit. Can we be active in hell without the blessing of the goddess?”
It was extremely rare for a human to go to hell alive. It was safe to say there were almost none. Of course, Piaro hadn’t been to hell. Therefore, he could only blindly believe in the wrong information.
Mercedes carefully advised him, “Piaro, you have seen and heard for yourself that the gods we believed in aren’t correct.”
In order to be safe in hell, there must be the blessing of the goddess of light. In other words, the goddess of light was omnipotent everywhere in the world. Of course, the Rebecca Church was the source of these unfounded claims.
“The hell that Piaro knows is the hell described by the Rebecca Church and the Rebecca Church isn’t credible. The actual hell will be different.”
Mercedes had been a member of the Rebecca Church since the Rebecca Church had been the national religion of both the Saharan Empire and Overgeared Kingdom, but that wasn’t the case anymore. There was Zikfrector, who rebelled against the gods to protect the world, and Sariel, the archangel who was expelled for discussing the sins of the gods. She heard their stories and couldn’t trust Rebecca and the Rebecca Church.
“Um…” Grid closed Leraje’s diary that he had been reading and faced Piaro and Mercedes. “Mercedes is right. It is possible to survive in hell even without the blessing of the goddess. For example, accumulate demonic energy or get the help of the Demon Slayer… additionally, I’ve been to hell several times and have never seen an evil spirit.”
There were 30 minutes left until Yura’s scheduled arrival time. He could afford to hang out and have a conversation, but he had no intention of just talking. Rather than reading the diary, Grid started to control the God Hands directly. Grid dispersed his consciousness to improve the hunting efficiency of the God Hands while talking to Piaro and Mercedes.
The monsters started dying at a noticeably faster rate. The conversation was also progressing. This level of versatility was too easy for today’s Grid. The accumulated talent eclipsed the absence of talent.
“Still, it is hard to see the Rebecca Church’s claim as completely wrong. Hell is as wide as the West Continent and the types of demonkin are more diverse than the species there. Maybe there is a place in hell where the souls of the dead are governed. There could be evil spirits.”
In fact, some demons collected the souls of the dead as loot. To be exact, they were the souls of the dead after signing a contract with the great demons. Pagma’s soul that had been screaming in Baal’s grasp… Grid had witnessed it.
“If we see an evil spirit… won’t it be dangerous without the blessing from the goddess?” Mercedes seemed somewhat nervous at Grid’s words. Like Piaro, she was different from usual. It wasn’t bad. Hell was an extremely dangerous place. Grid had been to hell a few times but it was still an unknown place. Every zone had its own environment and characteristics so it was impossible to adapt to or predict it. It was good for these two people to have appropriate tension.
Grid turned to look at his other messengers. Nefelina was haggling with Rabbit to increase the food she would receive in exchange for going to hell and Zikfrector was sleeping in the middle of the path with a quilt. Braham was harassing Sariel, saying he needed to investigate the angel’s ability to neutralize magic.
Did it look like a group of people just about to go to hell? There was no tension at all…
“The possibility of danger is very high. It is impossible to fight against evil spirits without divine power. We happen to not have divine power.”
In the first place, the concept of divine power was vague. No religion could generate divine power apart from the Rebecca Church, Judar Church, and Dominion Church. Typically, most people thought that divine power came from a god’s divinity, but in Satisfy, divine power was no different from something exclusive to Rebecca. Considering the myth that even Judar and Dominion received light from her, divine power was a concept close to Rebecca’s personal power.
‘The reason why she is worried about the Saintess is because she is worried her things will be taken away.’
“We have to avoid encountering the evil spirits.”
“Not necessarily. It is because we have Yura. The Demon Slayer in hell is much greater than you think. So there is no need to be too worried.”
From the position of Leraje who was dreaming of rebelling, the Demon Slayer was very important. It was said that she had helped Yura a lot recently. Grid couldn’t easily guess how much Yura had grown who used the information provided by Leraje as a stepping stone. The last time they met, Grid was much stronger than her, but now the gap would’ve narrowed a lot—at least in hell.
‘She has learned the skill of absorbing demonic energy…’
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting a long time.” Some time passed. The bargain wasn’t successful, so the angry Nefelina was biting Rabbit’s collar, while Braham was excited by new knowledge and started to pluck at Sariel’s feathers. Just then, Yura finally arrived at the scene.
“It took me too long to open the hell gate due to the demonkin’s checks.”
“There is no need to apologize. I am the one who should be apologizing. I suddenly scheduled it without notice.”
Yura was somewhat flustered by the atmosphere of the scene. She thought the atmosphere would be solemn as the messengers of the god gathered ahead of the hell conquest, only to be flustered because it was more like they were in the middle of a market. She couldn’t take her eyes off Zikfrector lying down on a quilt while Grid asked her, “What do you mean by the demonkin checking the hell gate? Is that possible?”
The hell gate. It was a pathway between hell and the human world. This was one of the Demon Slayer’s unique skills. An ordinary human being had to get the help of the hell gate to go to hell.
“Demons and demonkin who can detect the emergence of the hell gate have appeared. The moment I open the hell gate, they can specify the location and track it. I wouldn’t have been able to escape from hell without Glant’s help.”
“What…?” This was a very serious problem. It was purely thanks to the hell gate that Yura could freely come and go from hell. This freedom would be suppressed the moment the hell gate was kept in check. “No, this… Doesn’t it take just seven seconds, not a few minutes, to activate the hell gate? Yet you are worried about tracking. Does that mean they have the ability to teleport?”
“That’s right. The moment the coordinates are specified, they can teleport anywhere in an instant like Braham or Sticks.”
“They are using the magic of a great magician…”
There were many types of demons and demonkin. It wasn’t strange at all if some were born with magical abilities.
Grid’s expression darkened sharply. He might’ve scolded the messengers who weren’t nervous, but he actually wasn’t worried about this trip to hell at all. It was because the members were all so impressive. Now he heard Yura’s words and there was suddenly tension.
“The coordinates will be specified the moment I open a gate in the human world. There is a high possibility the moment we cross the hell gate and enter hell.”
For reference, the hell gate could only be used by two people and the cooldown time was 30 minutes. It meant that it wasn’t possible for the eight people here to enter hell at the same time. There was the concern of being attacked once two people went to hell.
Grid worried about it before making a decision. “I will go first and reduce the number of enemies as much as possible.”
The messengers weren’t weak. Several of them were stronger than Grid, but their lives were finite. It was natural for Grid to go there first.
"Yes, who are you going to take with you?”
“Um…” Grid observed the messengers. Mercedes looked enthusiastic, while Piaro was looking forward to it. Braham scoffed like he wasn’t interested and Sariel grinned. Zikfrector was also getting up and folding the quilt.
“I…” Grid’s finger pointed to Nefelina. She had Rabbit’s hand in her small mouth and was chewing on it. “I'll go with Nefelina.”
“Iamgoing.” Nefelina said as she spat out Rabbit’s hand covered with saliva. She was conscious of the honor of a dragon. She was like a kid when alone with Grid, but…
“I have to keep an eye on you or you might cause trouble.”
“Just honestly tell me that you want to rely on the power of a great dragon.”
“Um…” She was still a hatchling. A hatchling was too great to be scolded. Grid shut his mouth as he called back Noe, Randy, the Overgeared Skeletons, and the God Hands. Of course, the God Hands floated around himself and Nefelina instead of being placed in his inventory. He wouldn’t be afraid of any surprise attacks that come flying when going through the hell gate if he had the God Hands.
“We will go first and create a safe area, so open the hell gate in the same position.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t open the hell gate at the same position. There is always an error with the dimension movement coordinates.”
“Does this mean the next gate might open in a completely different location?”
“Yes, but it will still be in the 32nd hell.”
“This isn’t easy.”
Yura told Nefelina, “First of all, Miss Nefelina, please drink this tea. It will purify a bit of the demonic energy of hell.”
“Eek. It is bitter.”
“You are young and don’t know the taste of tea….”
“Grid, you should be polite to me.”
The space was twisted and torn while Grid and Nefelina were bickering. Sinister energy appeared in the air in front of the two people. It was the hell gate. Grid put his foot on the door and spoke to his colleagues, “Be careful. We’ll meet safely later.”
“I wish you luck.”
Rabbit and the knights saluted at the same time to send off Grid. Grid and Nefelina disappeared from the scene.
***
Fire soared with an explosion that shook the ground. It was just as Yura warned. A surprise attack flew the moment he crossed the hell gate. Grid and Nefelina’s eyes shook.
“Hahaha! I finally got the Demon Slayer who is like a rat…?” The excited demonkin quickly shut his mouth. He found that the appearance of the humans who appeared was different from the target. “You aren’t the Demon Slayer. Bait?”
"What does it mean by sending bait? Does she think we will deplete our strength if she continues sending bait?”
“Humans are weak and have a small amount of magic power. The Demon Slayer is a human, so her common sense is low.”
“There is fire but no meat.”
“……?”
The demonkin who had mastered high level magic and were talking rationally cocked their heads with confusion. They noticed the nonsense mixed in with their conversation.
“Huup!” There was the sound of someone sucking air. The blazing fire was being sucked by something.
“……?!”
The moment the flames were cleared, the demonkin were shocked. It was because the humans who should’ve become ashes were fine. A child with puffed up cheeks was staring at them.
“Graaaaaa—!”The child made a strange noise and opened her mouth. A huge pillar of fire was shot. The dozens of demonkin gathered together were hit by an even hotter fire. Some demonkin disappeared without a trace.
“Meat… my meat is gone.”
Grid stared at Nefelina who was muttering to herself with a shocked expression.
