I Can See Health Bars in Real Life

Chapter 527 20: Night, Death, Sleep, Dreams

The answer is naturally no.In the original plot, the victory was achieved at a heavy price. Under the premise that the goddesses gave everything they had to hold the line, it was Jin Gu who transformed his own will into the Celestial Lock to bind the Creator God, the battlefield was shifted to the Netherworld for combat, and the Crowned Assassin sacrificed the Crowned Spirit Base to strike a blow, adding the Concept of Death to Tiamat…

Although it was various factors combined, as if achieving a great success, to finally secure what seemed like a miraculous victory.

However, aside from all these factors, there was another reason that could not be ignored: Tiamat lacked rationality and acted purely on instinct, and although the Mother of All mourned and hated, deep in her consciousness, she accepted everything and chose self-sealing.

——The root cause is "Mother"...

——Even in the end, there is still the desire to become the protector of humanity…

This time, hopefully, it will be the same case. Otherwise, Gu Mo also doesn't believe there is much chance for victory on his side... The cards in his hand are quite limited, at most, the Demon Sword might have the power to open the Netherworld, and if there is any issue with Ereshkigal, he would have some chance to regain the pace.

Then there's Prometheus's Stone Tablet? Although it doesn't have any particular function on its own, it's a Holy Relic that can steal Divine Power.

But considering that even transferring a mask's Magic Power is not easy, it's estimated to be even harder to be of any use when facing Tiamat, a living Mother of Creation.

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy for a moment, the air seemed to be filled with leaden weight, and things became silent on Chaldea's side as well. Even the literary girl Akai Hinako, who has the most laissez-faire mindset and finds everything acceptable, was frowning and seemed to have a headache.

After a while, Fujimaru Ritsuka cautiously broke the silence: "So next, we still need to seek the help of that unknown fourth Goddess?"

"That's right, that goddess's help is crucial to us." Gu Mo nodded in acknowledgment.

"Is there anything I can do?" The girl asked seriously, wanting to see if there was anything she could help with.

"You don't really need to do anything special; if she's interested in you, she will definitely come to find you."

Gu Mo glanced at the girl and said with certainty.

The unknown fourth goddess is named Ereshkigal, the mistress of the Netherworld, the ruler of death and the undead. Ever since her birth, she undertook the role of managing the Netherworld, unaware of the surface world and freedom, she disappeared with the Age of Gods.

In mythology, she, being the mistress of the Netherworld, and Ishtar, the mistress of Heaven, are sisters and rivals... However, in reality, Ishtar and Ereshkigal, perhaps these two gods are the same existence, or the Divinity split into two from one god.

It is precisely because they are the twin goddesses of Heaven and Earth, inside and out, that when Ishtar is summoned, Ereshkigal is inevitably linked and summoned as well.

The reason why Uruk's original High Priest died of Magic Power exhaustion is precisely due to this reason; he had no idea the goddess was a dual-faced god, and the pressure of the dual summon caused the High Priest executing the summon to die on the spot.

However, at night, Ereshkigal would borrow her sister's body to manifest outside the Netherworld. As long as she is curious enough or interested in someone, she would probably hijack Ishtar's account and come over under Ishtar's name to understand the situation—though no one could be fooled.

Thus, Fujimaru Ritsuka doesn't really have to do anything deliberately, it's likely that the goddess will appear and have a talk with her.

Yes, yes, it's probably as the plot goes... Gu Mo thinks it should unfold like this.

Of course, the girl herself hasn't thought of this point, subconsciously feeling that it might be a situation like the Forest Goddess, thinking she might get called out by name at any time, so she just needs to be mentally prepared. So, she nodded as if understanding.

This fireside chat didn't last very long—

However, Gu Mo still spoke plainly, only avoiding the topic of the Anomaly Zone due to Akai Hinako's presence.

Even so, he answered many questions and confusions of Chaldea and others, making them feel a sense of sudden realization. Although not all good news, at least they can be prepared in advance and won't be completely clueless when facing the unknown.

For instance, the Demon God King, the Divine Hall of the Crown of Time, and so on.

Since he was basically saying everything he knew, spoiling as he wished, Chaldea's perception and evaluation of him steadily increased—after all, they too have suffered from enigmatic individuals.

As night deepened, the group stood up one after another to bid farewell and leave.

Although they had to spend the night on the mountain, this valley, with only a few small cabins, was clearly not very suitable. If there was no other choice, it would be fine, but for the sake of the Gemstones, even the Ishtar Goddess generously allowed them to rest in her Divine Hall for one night.

"...What were they just talking about?"

With the air quiet once more, only those on his side sat around the campfire, and the Witch slowly lifted her eyes to look at Gu Mo, asking softly.

"Actually, I don't know either." Gu Mo shook his head.

"..."

"..."

He watched the Witch gently furrow her brows, and the Demon Hunter Girl also clearly showed a look of disbelief. After seriously thinking it over, he decided to be more honest: "Alright, what they said might really be related to me, but right now I indeed have no way to confirm it..."

"Is it unclear if you did it?"

The Witch gently raised an eyebrow. She could feel that Gu Mo was being quite honest at the moment, but what he was saying still didn't make much sense.

"Not at all, you guys think about it, this world is actually very unfamiliar to us..." Gu Mo smiled helplessly, directly pointing out the aspect they subconsciously overlooked, "Besides, I've told you before, the world line of this world is often interfered with by forces that transcend the time axis."

The Witch also thought of this point and seemed to be lost in thought.

"Yes, yes, in theory, even meeting one's future Heroic Spirit self during a normal time period isn't impossible..."

After all, strictly speaking, she was still half a Guardian Spirit, so the fox-eared girl who could be trusted knew such a thing. She nodded and stated, providing evidence for the Master's statement. Although she hadn't actually seen this herself, such notions were spread in the Heroic Spirit community.

Right, just like the classic relationship between Emiya Shirou and Red A...

Convinced he could succeed, so he spent extravagantly now, and in the future after hitting rock bottom, he wanted to kill his foolish past self...

Such a thought flashed through Gu Mo's mind. He casually pushed away the Fox Elf who was nonchalantly trying to snuggle up to him, much to Miss Tamamo no Mae's displeasure.

But her eyes twinkled, and she immediately smiled brightly, picking up the beer generously offered by Ishtar, wanting to keep pouring drinks for Gu Mo.

Is she trying to get me drunk?

The young man sighed and continued to elaborate along the previous topic: "Basically, that's it. Anyway, that might be something that happens in the future, and I can't confirm it now... and not to mention, just now Gudah recognized you, didn't she, Kikyo?"

Kikyo pondered slightly. What he said made some sense; it seemed in that girl's impression, she appeared like some sort of historical figure.

However, she had no idea what she might have done, and she knew little about what the others talked about like "Mino Country" or "Heian Era." If it were all related to the same thing, then since she didn't know, naturally, this person in front of her wouldn't know either.

Gu Mo also had a puzzled expression.

What exactly is going on? Is it that different worlds' Akasha records are merging under some unknown rule power, or is it merely changes within the current world line where history was altered into something he had once experienced—

And will once more experience the story of Nioh in the future?

......

As time passed.

It was deep into the night, serene and still.

Miss Tamamo no Mae snuck back into the kitchen, determined to secretly practice her cooking skills. She was resolved that her decision couldn't be changed by anyone—she wanted to practice cooking in secret and amaze everyone... but most importantly, to amaze the Master!

Humph, as the saying goes, to capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach... it's decided, Little Tamamo will strive for the ideal of radiant cuisine; it's bound to be a success!

Once mastering the art of radiant cuisine to the level of Master, she'd seek out chances to further hone her skills at Red Yama's culinary class—surely this would enhance her prowess, becoming a formidable ace in making her a capable and virtuous wife!

Envisioning the future and fueled by such motivation, the fox elf girl aspiring to be a good wife clenched her fists and threw herself back into diligent practice.

However, what she didn't know was that far away, in a pavilion, Gu Mo was still sitting there, having not gone out to hunt monsters that evening.

Through his efforts over this period, along with a visit to the Feathered Serpent God today, he finally accumulated enough progress in his Life Level, moving from the long-stagnant LV14 to LV15, earning one point available for allocation, albeit not yet assigned.

But it was enough for now; as long as the Professional Level increased by another level, he could unlock the advancement belonging to an Immortal just as he wished.

Quietly sitting in the pavilion, setting down the scripture in his hand, Gu Mo looked at the kitchen cabin with its door gently shut to hide the inside light, and slightly shook his head. Sitting in the dark as he was, Miss Tamamo no Mae failed to notice his presence despite her frequent glances around.

The "Night Wanderer" Authority, while not the ruler of the night, granted considerable advantages derived from the night.

The darkness was the Night Wanderer's best ally, replenishing energy akin to an inexhaustible source, along with an aura concealment skill seemingly of A+ rank, among the most basic of authority effects, he could also greatly enhance perception through darkness to uncover hidden secrets.

Not confined to the material world alone, but also spanning spiritual domains—

Death, sleep, dreams... just as night often associates with these domains, the authority of the Night Wanderer too was not limited to the material world's night.

Gu Mo was quite aware of this.

Since just upon acquiring the Night Wanderer authority, during his experiments... he entered Tiamat's dream and detected the existence of the Netherworld beneath the divine age underground.