"Damn it!!!"
Hades stood in the middle of the room in the palace, his eyes bloodshot, fury burning in them.
His breathing was heavy, both fists clenched tightly as he braced them against the desk, his gritted teeth constantly grinding against each other.
Irritation churned in his heart, his agitated gaze sweeping back and forth across the room.
He suddenly exhaled heavily, swung both hands, and violently swept the thick stacks of documents piled on the desk onto the floor.
Heavy thuds rang out as all kinds of documents and papers slowly drifted down from the air, scattering across the golden floor.
Even the glazed three-headed dog standing at one corner of the desk was swept onto the floor by this motion and shattered into pieces.
Tiny blue fragments lay scattered over the papers, the clear sound of breaking glass echoing throughout the entire palace.
"That damn dog thief actually dares to threaten me!"
Hades roared, his voice echoing through the center of the palace.
But only a moment later, all the blue fragments and countless scattered papers and documents on the floor disappeared without a trace.
In the blink of an eye, everything reappeared on the desk.
Just then, a lazy yawn sounded beside Hades, followed by that familiar and gentle female voice, "So what? He can threaten you."
"What can you do about it?"
Persephone sat leaning against a large, soft bed, her eyes half-closed.
Her eyelids occasionally drooped, and her brows hung slightly low, making her look somewhat sleepy.
Hearing his wife's words, Hades let out a heavy sigh.
He sat back down in the dark red chair, his whole body seeming like a deflated ball.
Just as Persephone had said, he really was helpless against that dog thief.
That guy possessed a troublesome natural ability. Once attacked, he would turn into pure magic power, making him impossible to touch.
Combined with that girl filled with the power of nature, the strength of the two working together was enough to make even a god find it unbelievable.
Hades was also extremely curious about the identity of that mysterious girl. What kind of mortal could possess such a powerful gift of nature?
But after hearing Persephone's guess, Hades suddenly understood.
Could this little girl very likely be the incarnation of nature?
That seemed like someone he probably shouldn't provoke...
But what made Hades even angrier was that dog thief.
Before this, Hades had never imagined it.
On the territory of the Underworld, someone had actually dared to threaten him.
He had said that Hades needed to have a better attitude, or else he would blow up the entire Underworld.
Was his attitude really that bad?
However, Hades had to admit that he could only suppress this anger and dissatisfaction deep in his heart.
Because he knew very clearly that Viktor's threat was not baseless.
Viktor really did have the ability to level the entire Underworld.
After all, no matter how you put it, the Underworld was only a building. Its durability naturally could not compare with that of a god like him.
As the Lord of the Underworld, Hades could see the filth and darkness deep within every soul.
When Hades judged Erica, because the soul of that dog thief was hidden inside her body.
He therefore judged the two of them at the same time.
He wanted to see exactly what kind of utterly sinful person Viktor was.
But the result afterward left him dumbfounded.
Erica had not surprised him. This human girl possessed the heart of an ordinary human, and even had a trace of kindness.
At this level, she could already be considered someone with a clear heart during judgment.
However, when Hades judged Viktor's soul, he was stunned.
Because deep within this dog thief's soul, it was as if a vast and profound darkness was hidden there, like an endless black sea of death spreading without end.
Black. Really fucking black.
In his long reign over the Underworld, he had never seen such a dark heart.
The deeper Hades went into Viktor's soul, the more he discovered that this person seemed destined from birth to suffer in hell.
Although Viktor had not committed any earth-shaking crimes, his heart was truly dark.
That profound darkness was even enough to make Hades feel incredulous.
Viktor seemed to act solely according to his own preferences, without being bound by any order.
Such a soul was simply chaotic to the extreme.
And so Hades accepted Viktor's threat.
It was not because he was afraid of Viktor, but because during the judgment, he had seen Viktor's various "achievements" when he was alive.
Blowing up mountains, blowing up seas, blowing up cities, and even bombing the capital of a human nation into ruins.
Thinking of this, Hades became somewhat worried.
His Underworld was a huge establishment, and there was no need to stubbornly fight with this dog thief just to vent his anger.
After all, someone this chaotic absolutely could not be restrained by rules and order.
If the other party really blew up the Underworld, nothing would happen to him, the Lord of the Underworld.
But the entire Underworld, including the resting souls of the dead and the undead living here.
Even the souls currently suffering in hell would be greatly affected.
By then, the entire Underworld would fall into chaos because of him.
Even so, Hades still found it difficult to swallow this insult.
His anger burned like a raging flame, but given the current situation, he could only endure it helplessly.
Because he was completely helpless against Viktor.
The 'fusion' of this dog thief and that human girl made it impossible for him to catch the other party.
Now, because Viktor had lifted his wife's curse, he even had to thank them.
What was even harder for him to accept was that he had to personally arrange a place for these enemies to stay in the Underworld.
Not only had he been threatened, he even had to find lodging for his enemies. Just thinking about it made Hades feel utterly humiliated.
He had no idea where to put his old face.
"No. I have to think of a way."
Hades placed both hands on the desk, his eyes firm as he quickly considered a solution.
His gaze unconsciously turned toward Persephone.
Persephone, who had already been somewhat sleepy and was dozing off, had long since lain down and fallen asleep.
From the look of it, she seemed to have no sense of danger toward that dog thief at all.
Thinking of this, another burst of anger suddenly rose in Hades's heart.
He narrowed his eyes as a thought flashed through his mind.
He knew that for some unknown reason, that dog thief had attached himself to that human girl.
It was precisely this strange combination that allowed Viktor to gain the support of powerful natural magic and become difficult to deal with.
Without Viktor, that human girl herself did not possess much ability, and she did not even have enough combat experience.
Likewise, if that dog thief had not attached himself to the girl, he would not be as troublesome as he was now.
"Do I need to separate the two of them?", Hades muttered to himself, stroking his chin as he fell into deep thought.
———
At the same time, in a luxurious guest room in the Underworld palace.
Erica was wearing a black windbreaker, lying on her back on a soft red velvet bed.
Feeling the softness and elasticity of the mattress, the fatigue throughout Erica's body gradually faded.
She lazily lay there while looking over the luxurious decorations around her.
This spacious guest room had a soft red carpet covering the floor, with a tall table made of pitch-black wood beside the bed.
Two dark red chairs were placed symmetrically on either side of the table, their four legs inlaid with shining gold.
In the corner of the room stood a vase made of obsidian.
Several flowers from hell, carrying faint sparks, were placed inside.
Across from the table was a grand and enormous circular window.
The long silk curtains hanging from the ceiling gave off an extraordinary and luxurious air.
On one side of the wall, there was even a fireplace built from black stone, burning with hellfire.
It brought an unusual warmth to the entire room.
Erica looked around, a relaxed and curious expression in her eyes.
Compared with human rooms, the rooms in the Underworld surprisingly did not look all that different.
This was a room that Persephone had specially arranged for Erica in the Underworld.
She had even told Erica that she could rest here without worry.
Erica found this extremely surprising. She had never expected the Underworld to have such a comfortable place.
This was clearly a place where no living humans could be found, yet it even had guest rooms.
Could they be meant for the dead to live in?
As Erica looked around, she thought about what Persephone had said.
The Queen of the Underworld had asked her to rest here for a day.
At first, Erica had refused mentally. After all, this place always gave people an eerie and frightening feeling.
Her only sense of security came from Professor Viktor, who was attached to her windbreaker.
But when she actually entered the Underworld and saw a room that was completely different from the terrifying scene she had imagined.
When she saw that it was even so similar to a human dwelling, she could not help but relax.
But she still had some doubts about it.
Why did the residence of a god of the Underworld have to be so similar to those of the human world?
Even the bed and fireplace were all there.
Could gods also get sleepy?
As Erica pondered, she could not help turning her gaze toward Vega, who was quietly lying on the table.
The crow lowered its head and kept dozing off, an extremely clear and strong sense of sleepiness coming from its body.
Looking at Vega nodding off, Erica fell silent.
Uh... all right, maybe gods really do need to sleep.
Ever since she had gotten to know the Queen of the Underworld, along with everything Professor Viktor had told her.
She had begun to feel that beings like gods were not as mysterious and special as she had imagined.
After all, Persephone had also told her that the existence of gods depended on human faith.
Erica thought about everything in her head, both eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
A deep black night sky hung overhead, and within the illusory and hazy expanse of nebulae, there were even crimson stars.
As Erica continued looking, her gaze suddenly became somewhat unfocused.
Only then did she suddenly realize that she had unknowingly already found herself in hell.
She wondered whether her father was doing all right now.
More and more worries, like a lullaby, kept flowing into Erica's mind.
Before long, without realizing it, her upper and lower eyelids began to fight each other.
She had gone through quite a lot in hell today.
Just as Erica was immersed in her sleepiness, she softly called out, "Professor..."
"Can we still go back?"
Hearing Erica's sleepy murmur from inside the windbreaker, Viktor calmly replied, "Keep doing what you believe is right."
"Leave everything else to me."
Those words reached Erica's ears, and she seemed to finally feel at ease as she closed her eyes.
It was not long before she fell straight into a dream, without even having time to take off her clothes.
Feeling that Erica had fallen asleep, Viktor quietly settled down again.
He could understand the pressure Erica was under. After all, his body was not here now, and he could only temporarily rely on Erica to exist.
That alone was enough to put tremendous pressure on Erica.
After all, Viktor also knew that Erica was only a seventeen-year-old girl.
Daring to enter the Underworld alone and even face that terrifying Lord of the Underworld directly was already worthy of praise for her courage.
He had never asked too much of Erica.
Thinking of this, Viktor also began to feel somewhat sleepy.
After possessing Erica, his consciousness would unconsciously be affected by Erica's body.
Perhaps he should rest for a while too.
Although he was only in a soul state now, the feeling of fatigue would still slowly accumulate.
Just as Viktor was thinking this, he suddenly realized an awkward problem.
'Wait a minute, if you look at it this way...'
Didn't he seem to be sleeping in the same bed as Erica?
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