Green Monster Epic

Chapter 358: Gates of Hell

In the deep and tranquil expanse of the endless starry sky, countless stars twinkled.

It is said that the divine realms of the gods are hidden among these stars, or perhaps certain adjacent celestial bodies within the constellations form clusters, making them undetectable to mortals.

Gods are powerful and eternally existent, but they are not invincible. Even within their own divine realms, they may encounter attacks from opposing deities, divine aberrations, or even demon lords—entities of equal stature.

Therefore, various divine systems cooperate in connected starfields, supporting each other and even constructing pantheons for daily communication and interaction.

Of course, some deities are solitary or inherently cautious, distrusting other gods. They can also hide among the stars, carefully concealing the coordinates of their divine realms.

At this moment, in the endless starry sky against the black backdrop, a celestial body, blending into the darkness without emitting any light or flame, is slowly approaching a star system composed of a dozen stars in the distance. When this celestial body reaches a certain distance from the star system, its pitch-black surface, which absorbs all light, suddenly bursts forth with intense, pure-white light, pulsating rhythmically.

As if having detected the suddenly illuminated celestial body, the dozen or so brilliantly shining stars also echoed each other, their light waxing and waning in response.

One star, in particular, stood out, not only because it was perfectly situated at the center of the constellation but also because its light was the brightest. The green hue, representing life and nature, made it resemble a dazzling green gem, exceptionally radiant.

The green starlight transformed, continuously altering its shape as the solitary celestial body approached. Only when the celestial body neared the constellation did the true form of the green star reveal itself: a massive oak tree, its roots and branches extending and thriving in the starry sky.

The oak tree seemed to have existed in this starfield since time immemorial. Its roots stretched outwards, plunging into the void and drawing upon the endless energy within. Within the layers upon layers of its canopy, each layer seemed to contain a world, faintly revealing scenes of nature.

A point of light, shimmering from the oak tree's trunk, trailed a long tail of light as it flew directly towards the approaching celestial body.

It was a treant, bearing sparse foliage and a thick trunk, with the upper half of the trunk displaying the face of an ancient old man. Branches wrapped around to form its limbs, and a verdant emerald pupil in its brow radiated wisdom and tranquility.

"Welcome, child of nature."

The Father of the Oak, the core deity of the Temple of Nature, revealed his true form in this void to welcome the arrival of a new ally.

"Thank you for your helping hand, Lord Sylvanus."

A green-haired human woman with a charming expression, a face that shifted as naturally as the spring breeze, her private parts covered by garments woven from vibrant flower petals and green vines, and a floral crown adorning her head, slowly revealed her true form. She bowed slightly to the Father of the Oak, none other than Talu, the Goddess of Spring, who had originally concealed her divine realm among the stars.

Talu's body flickered in and out of existence, as if she might disappear at any moment. This was because her faithful, the foundation of her existence, were gradually dying, causing her to weaken with every ounce of faith energy she expended, until her divine flame, deprived of fuel and nourishment, was extinguished, plunging her into slumber.

The constant decrease in the number of believers in the Spring Country also caused a sharp decline in the power of faith, the source of the deity's strength, greatly diminishing Talu's power. She was even forced to curtail the divine power used to conceal her divine realm. Now, if her divine realm were still hidden among the stars, and an opposing deity discovered its location, taking advantage of her weakened state to invade and attack, Talu's danger would greatly increase. The consequences of her divine realm being breached and destroyed would be no less severe than the fall of a deity.

Therefore, for the sake of her divine realm's safety and her own, Talu brought her divine realm from the void where she had concealed herself and migrated towards the void of the Temple of Nature. At the very least, the Goddess of Spring and the Temple of Nature were allies, making them more trustworthy to Talu than other deities.

"You and I are both part of nature. This invasion of demons is a disaster for the Feyman World. If your faithful hadn't persevered until now, the Feyman World would have suffered even greater losses."

"If we're talking about gratitude, we should be expressing our thanks to you."

Among the stars, figures slowly revealed themselves, smiling kindly as they bowed to Talu, each figure representing a deity's true form, allies gathered together to uphold the belief in the balance of nature.

"Your divine realm can stay in this starfield. With all of us here, we won't allow those who covet you to pose any threat to you."

"The wilderness tribes have already begun their counterattack. Once the demons on the Centaur Plains have been wiped out, we will lead the allied forces south to help you rebuild the Spring Country. By then, you can redevelop your believers and establish your church."

"Thank you again, Your Highness."

Faced with Sylvanus's friendly and calm statement, Talu couldn't help but express her gratitude once more. Deities are never emotionless beings; they also possess their own desires and pursuits and will naturally feel grateful to those who help them from the bottom of their hearts.

"Welcome to the fold, Avatar of Spring…"

Only scholars who constantly observed celestial phenomena would notice that a relatively dim new star had suddenly appeared in the constellation belt representing nature in the night sky. Aside from them, few would pay attention to the changes in any particular star among the countless stars.

Above Mingxi City, as the solar eclipse enveloped the land, plunging it into darkness during the height of the sun, a cloud of ink-black smoke rose from the palace, quickly sweeping across the sky, soon occupying the space of over a hundred miles.

On the ground, the originally peaceful Spring Country's encampment had 36 magic arrays, newly built in the past six months, autonomously activated without anyone controlling them, emitting a strange and mysterious red light that echoed the unknown black smoke in the sky. Beams of light shot into the sky, forming a giant magical web.

"Roar!!!"

"Ah, so hungry, I'm so hungry!!!"

"It's all your fault… It's all your fault… Give me back my child's life…"

Within the web, under the radiation of the dark-red light, the eyes of the humans turned strange. Some stared blankly at the empty air before them, then slowly took off their clothes, committing indecent acts in public while moaning. Some had bloodshot eyes, frantically waving their weapons, slashing at any figure that appeared before them, eventually letting out ferocious cries as if the figure before them were their mortal enemy. Others grabbed dirt, branches, tables, chairs, and even excrement from the ground, constantly gnawing and chewing, like starving ghosts…

"Big brother, what's wrong with you? Wake up!!"

"I'm Jayn, big brother, stop it!!"

Of course, there were still some humans who remained conscious. They wielded their weapons to fend off the suddenly frenzied companions around them while trying to awaken their wills. The sudden change initially caused great losses. Hundreds of thousands of human civilians and soldiers suffered over 50,000 casualties in a short period. The more deaths and injuries there were, the deeper the red light emitted by the thirty-six magic arrays became. Then, many of the humans with clear eyes gradually became dazed, their expressions turning manic.

If someone could peel back the black clouds at this moment and look down upon the pattern formed by the 36 magic arrays, they would undoubtedly recognize the design of a six-pointed star array at a glance. Unfortunately, the legendary powerhouses of the Spring Country, who were originally capable of soaring into the sky, were nowhere to be seen. Occasionally, high-level mages would fly across the sky, but they could only wander aimlessly within this hundred-mile radius of isolated space, struggling mindlessly while fending off attacks from the ground.

The Spring Temple, blessed by divine grace, was probably the only relatively safe place at this time. The vessel prepared for the descent of the Spring Goddess's will had long been damaged and rendered unusable more than two years ago. Currently, the strongest individuals in the temple were High Priest Yayer, a demigod, and Hannes, the commander of the Temple Knight Order. Originally, the church had three legendary powerhouses, but all of them had exchanged blows with opposing demon powerhouses in the past five years of fighting and died on the battlefield.

The temple itself was a magic array, and with the blessing of the Spring Goddess's divine grace, a sturdy defense had been erected since the royal city suddenly sealed the temple with a magic lock two days ago, firmly protecting the three hundred members within the temple.

The sacred, emerald-green light dispelled the surrounding black clouds and blocked the eerie, dark-red light outside the shield.

The scepter in High Priest Yayer's hand was a vine with several delicate flowers blooming on it. The fact that such a burly man held it in his arms made him appear somewhat effeminate. To his left, Hannes, the commander of the Temple Knight Order, stared intently at the stained glass window. Although his eyes could not clearly see the scene outside the temple, his legendary-level keen spiritual power could sense the surging magic power emanating from outside the temple's magic array.

"It seems that His Majesty, our King, has made a deal with the devils of Hell, intending to use the entire royal city as a sacrifice to open the Gates of Hell!"

As the Spring Goddess's envoy on earth, Yayer could directly communicate with the Spring Goddess and listen to the goddess's instructions. If one were to ask what plans the goddess had after the Demon Tide, High Priest Yayer was probably the most knowledgeable about the inside story.

Yayer was not without precautions against the William royal family in the royal palace. As someone who knew the inside story, Yayer had never left the temple, even during the most intense and dangerous times of the war, largely to monitor the royal palace. If Yayer discovered that the king in the royal palace was giving up resistance or had any contact with demons, he would use his demigod status to directly expel the royal family from this last refuge for the people of the Spring Country.

However, things were unpredictable. Yayer focused more of his energy on monitoring the demons, which gave those demon followers, who were most skilled in conspiracy and trickery, the opportunity to contact the royal family.

By the time Yayer realized something was wrong, the royal family had already taken the lead in activating the magic lock, which had been painstakingly built over thousands of years. The powerful magic barrier directly trapped the two powerhouses in the temple. Even with his powerful demigod strength, Yayer had no way to open this barrier in a short period of time; the fastest he could do it would be in half a month.

The barrier not only restricted Yayer and the others' movements, but also severed his connection with the Spring Goddess, preventing him from informing the goddess in the divine kingdom of the situation and preventing him from obtaining the goddess's help.

"Prepare for battle. It seems that this barrier will open on its own before long!"

Yayer's will was firm. As the goddess's most devout believer, he was never afraid of death.

"However, Hannes, you have an even more important task. Select a group of seeds from among the children behind us and send them to the secret passage in the underground. After the magic lock closes, they will be able to escape from Mingxi City."

"Our deaths are not a pity, but the goddess's faith must not be cut off. In the future, the goddess will still need them to assist in rebuilding my Spring Church."

Yayer was well aware that with the William royal family's betrayal, the goddess's status and authority would also suffer a major blow. More seriously, she might even fall into a deep sleep due to the loss of faith, and divine demise was not impossible.

The three hundred or so church members who were still in the temple were the last sparks of the Spring Church. If they all perished in the temple, then the Spring Church would lose the power to continue, and there would be no opportunity to re-absorb believers for the goddess.

"Understood! I will go and do it now!"

Hannes had a face full of thick stubble, which made him look bold and generous, but in reality, he was very meticulous. When the black clouds and dark red light pillars appeared outside the temple, he already knew that things were developing in an unstoppable and dangerous direction. Even without Yayer's arrangement, he was prepared to select an elite team of clergy and send them to the underground passage.

In the royal palace, the Gates of Hell were completely opened. Squads of neatly arranged devils, wearing various bright equipment, walked out of the gate in an orderly fashion. They did not linger in this garden, but directly charged towards the outside of the royal palace.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

A rhythmic tremor came from the ground. A pair of thick hands suddenly stretched out from the white bone gate that was more than ten meters high. Before even seeing the complete figure, William, the king of a mere mortal, could not withstand the powerful pressure of the owner of the large hands. Just as his legs were about to give way and he was about to fall to the ground, Wales flashed behind him and easily supported him.

The bone-constructed door frame trembled constantly, and a lot of bone fragments rustled and fell. Cracks began to appear on the main body of the gate, as if it could not withstand the backlash force brought by the owner of the large hands crossing the void.

In mid-air, the thirty-six dark-red light pillars seemed to have noticed the changes in the central position and showered down even more intense light. At the same time, the magic arrays of the light pillars, including the blood beads and souls that had flown over from some unknown place above and were originally slowly melting in the light, now separated a part and directly drew out blood lines from the air, connecting and outlining each other, creating a complete six-pointed star out of thin air, and finally converging in front of the White Bone Gate, merging into it.

The increasingly large cracks on the door frame had now gained new power, and finally regained stability. Although it could not be restored to its original state, the destruction and new life had reached a balance, enough to allow the owner of the large hands inside the door frame to slowly walk out of the gate.

A pair of complete arms appeared… a shoulder squeezed out… a big foot stepped out of the gate…

Every time the figure inside the gate squeezed further into the Feyman world, the black clouds in the sky seemed to have a life of their own, rolling and surging even more violently, as if cheering for its master. It was not until two magic hours had passed that only the head of the demon remained to cross the passage of the Gates of Hell.

The demon, who had crossed most of his body, had orange-red skin and a body like a giant. The Gates of Hell, which were more than ten meters high, were shorter than him. In his large hands, which were holding the door frame to exert force, he also held a long whip. The long, jagged barbs on the whip would make anyone believe that when it was whipped on the body, it would directly tear the person to pieces.

At the last moment, as the other party's huge beast head stretched out from the Gates of Hell, the large head with several long horns roared and roared up to the sky, proclaiming his arrival.

"Roar!!!!!"

The black clouds in the sky rolled and surged, like the sea in a typhoon, setting off dozens of feet of cloud waves.

"Fear, lambs of the Feyman world!"