Chapter 685 - Nine Circles of Hell

Eisen stood in front of the gate that he needed to walk through in order to reach the mortal realm again. He looked at Ari with a soft smile on his face, "It was pretty nice to talk to you again." The old man said, and the Supreme Goddess just held her hands behind her back and smiled back, showing a tiny bit of the sort of personality she had when Eisen first met her.

"Likewise, Eisen." She said. The two of them had spoken about everything that needed to be spoken about by now, so all that the old man had left to do now was to really leave. He turned around, and slowly stepped into the wall of light.

He was blinded for a moment shortly after, but it didn't take long until the bright light disappeared again. Eisen opened his eyes, and before he knew it, he was falling down toward the gate of Hell. It was already open for him, ready to accept him into the underworld.

At first, Eisen had planned on heading back to Prototype to store the items that he made in the Heavens, but now that he thought about it, this might be the best chance he could get to reach hell. After all, the title did say that Eisen had to 'Fall to Hell' after 'Ascending to Heaven'. If that requirement was more literal than he assumed it to be, he might be wasting his one true chance to finish this quest.

And so, the old man dove past the guardian that was floating beside the gaping hole that led to the underworld. He dropped into the dark abyss, and the world around him started to heat up and change. It was as if he was being steamed alive all of a sudden. And the next moment, it felt like he was in the Arctic, and his skin was cracking up due to the freezing cold.

But Eisen just continued as his body passed through numerous different environments that should all have been able to kill him within a rather short time, if he had just spent a bit longer in any of them. Soon, however, Eisen was able to see the ground approach underneath him. It was coming closer, and closer, and closer, until suddenly, Eisen hit the ground with a loud crash.

Although he didn't really feel any pain in this situation, it still felt quite uncomfortable to drop for so long at such a speed and then suddenly rapidly stop out of nowhere.

Eisen slowly stood up and stretched a bit to get rid of the stiffness in his body after the drop. He looked above him, and the priorly seemingly infinite tunnel had just disappeared without a trace.

"Now, now, it has been rather long since we've had a living Visitor. And that it would be one of such prominence, that makes it even more curious." A voice pointed out. Eisen immediately realized what that voice came from, since it had a similar feeling to the voice of a being that he had met before already.

When Eisen turned around and saw the figure, he realized that he was most likely correct with his assumption. It was a pale-skin androgynous figure with two black horns on their forehead, slightly twisting into a spiral.

They had two black bat-like wings on their back as well as a thin tail waving back and forth behind them. This being was dressed well in a dark red suit that looked like it was simply stained in a large amount of blood at first. Compared to Ambriel, who at first gave off a slightly calming vibe to Eisen, despite the way that he felt about them later on, this one made Eisen immediately feel agitated.

"...You're my Guide this time around, huh?" Eisen asked with a deep glare, and the Devil in front of him slowly started to grin, showing their sharp teeth and forked tongue to him in the process, "You're a smart one. What a surprise, for such a dirty man as yourself." They said, and Eisen glared back at them.

"Hah... Another one like you? Do you despise mortals as well?" The old man asked, and the figure slightly shrugged with an expression that made it seem rather obvious, "Of course I do. But don't worry, I despise everything and anything. I don't even have a lord, y'know? So there's no need to worry about me bullying your puny mortals you're so worried about. If I did that to everyone I hated, I'd need an infinity to do it."

Eisen looked back at them with a deep glare, before he slowly relaxed. Somehow, he hated that sort of mindset a lot less than Ambriel's. They probably assumed themselves to be better than anyone else, though, so they might still be pretty annoying to deal with at the end of the day.

"Alright, then can you explain to me how this is gonna go? Where do I have to go to be acknowledged by the Gods of the Underworld?" The old man asked, and the Devil in front of him quickly snapped their fingers before a notification appeared in front of Eisen.

[New Quest - Acknowledgement of Hell's Gods]

[Description] You have entered hell and are trying to be acknowledged by the gods. You encountered, the Guide-Devil Satel, who will lead you through the Nine Circles of Hell for the challenges that you are to face.

[Conditions] Be acknowledged by the Gods of the Nine Circles of Hell(0/9)

[Reward] Title

[Penalty] None

"Hm, that's pretty surprising. I thought there'd be some sort of penalty if I mess up here in hell, at least." Eisen pointed out, and the Devil, Satel, clicked their tongue in response, "Usually there is one. If you fail one of the tasks, you will die here and your soul will be one that has to suffer here in the Hells for the rest of time, but since you're immortal and your soul can't be reaped by us, that's another deal." The Devil pointed out, and Eisen let out a deep sigh. He was glad that this was the case. He didn't particularly want to spend any longer than he had to here. It felt rather uncomfortable to him already.

"Well, anyway... Erm... Satel. Can you tell me a bit about the nine circles of hell?" The old man inquired, and in an annoyed manner, Satel crossed their arms and explained, "Sure. The Nine Circles. Limbo, L.u.s.t, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. In every Circle, you'll have to solve a different task prepared by the God that watches over it. I bet it's gonna be a fun time, in this shithole filled with monsters and those condemned by the gods."

Eisen looked back at Satel with a slight glare, trying to understand what they meant. To an extent, he understood 'Monsters'. He was aware that monsters with a proper ego were sometimes allowed to go to the heavens, but also only rather rarely. Most other monsters, those without an ego and the most vicious ones, would head here to the hells. But Eisen hadn't heard anything about this part of 'those condemned by the Gods'.

"Can you explain what you meant by that last part?" Eisen asked, and Satel raised their bushy brows surprised, "Oh? You don't know~? Hell is the home of monsters, and a prison to people. Those that did not fit the realm of any 'true' god or those that did something to piss those uptight bastards up were sent down here." Satel explained to Eisen, "Oh, and of course, Devil-Worshippers are here as well. They're a pretty fun bunch, not gonna lie. They know how to party, at least. You can find them in Limbo, where we'll be heading first. Dunno what your task's gonna be, but I'll be spending my time partying. So don't bother me then, aight?" Satel told Eisen, who slowly nodded his head.

It wasn't like he really cared all that much anyway. It might even become a little easier if he managed to move around without Satel with him the whole time, although he didn't really know. And then, the old man suddenly noticed something that actually seemed to have been there the whole time, the large gate behind Satel.

But somehow, it had evaded his perception the whole time. Well, it didn't really matter all that much to Eisen. He slowly approached the gate together with Satel and swiftly stepped through it. Soon, he saw the area that was now around him. He was in the center of a large castle, and in front of him, seven more large gateways were scattered across the different part of the castle.

He already had a rough idea of what all these gates led to. Judging from the names of the nine circles, they were based off of Dante's Inferno somehow. And if that was the case, these seven gates were representative of the Seven Virtues. However... if this place was made for Devil-Worshippers, then it most likely wasn't so that the virtues would be honored beyond those gates, but rather that they were disgraced beyond comparison.

And soon, he saw a notification in front of him that seemed to confirm that.

[New Quest – Sins of Limbo]

[Description] In order to be acknowledged by the Gods of Hell, you have started to make your way through the nine circles of hell. On your first stop, you have reached Limbo. Your task in this realm is to divulge in the sins represented by each of the seven golden gates.

[Conditions] Divulge in the Seven Sins (0/7)

[Rewards] Limbo's Acknowledgement

[Penalty] None

Eisen slowly waved the notification to the side and rubbed the bridge of his nose a bit annoyed. He should have expected something like this. After all, this side of his Demonic Title's requirements were something that was created through the Path of Yin, the representation of everything negative. He shouldn't expect to get through here without doing things like this.

"Well... Which Sin should I face first, what do you think?" Eisen asked, and Satel smiled as they spoke about this realm, "I'd obviously save sloth for when you need to rest. Wrath and L.u.s.t are things you should do after resting, since you need energy for those, but I'd say do Gluttony right before sloth. The rest can be done whenever, in my opinion."

Eisen listened to the Devil's suggestion, and then looked at one of the gates closer toward him. The first one that he saw was the gate that seemed to be representative of Pride. Since that seemed like a good one to get out of the way quickly, Eisen slowly stepped toward the first golden gate.