Chapter 86 - EPISODE 86 – RETURNEES (4)
Chapter 86 - EPISODE 86 – RETURNEES (4)
Hell Gate.
Something that directly connected hell and this world.
That was why there was no need for a separate summoning ceremony.
Sacrifices were not necessary as the demons were able to descend on this world through their own power.
“No way.”
Cordelia unconsciously said.
Jude agreed.
It was too early.
The Hell Gate had only appeared in the latter half of?Legend of Heroes 2.
Fortunately, the Hell Gate was still not in its complete form.
It was currently just a crack, so there was a limit to both the quality and quantity of demons that could cross over.
However, it would be catastrophic if left unattended.
The moment the Hell Gate reached its complete form, it would become possible for even the overlords of hell to descend to this world.
‘So that was why.’
He fully understood it now.
The reason why Lena died in Raptor Canyon.
It was because of the Hell Gate.
Lena must have sacrificed her life to close the Hell Gate.
It was a dilemma.
If they neglected the Hell Gate, a catastrophe would be unavoidable.
But to close the Hell Gate, it required the sacrifice of someone like Lena.
‘No, let’s not jump into conclusions. That isn’t the only conclusion.’
He had not yet fully grasped the situation.
He only knew that Lena had sacrificed herself to close the Hell Gate, but he didn’t know how she closed it or how she used up her power at that time.
So it was still too early to give up.
Perhaps there was something else.
“Woof-woof!”
It was then.
Bellagio suddenly began to bark, and Jude and Cordelia, who were distracted by the Hell Gate, came to their senses.
“Woof-woof! Woof!”
“Lena! It knows where Lena is! Let’s go after her!”
They should meet Lena first. They should meet, get some information, and find a way to solve this situation.
Cordelia’s words were right. Jude lifted up Kaplan who was suffering from the energy of hell, and then glanced at Cordelia.
“Luke! Guide us!”
“Woof-woof!”
At Cordelia’s command, Bellagio began running fast.
They all ran forward.
It was like they were racing towards the Hell Gate.
And Jude saw.
The closer they got to the Hell Gate, the more that they could clearly see.
There were demons from hell.
Between the purple aura of hell and the green aura that resembled poison, they could see the silhouettes of countless monsters.
Some of the demons seemed quite powerful.
‘Less than a hundred.’
It was the number of demons that had already passed through the gate.
He wondered if they could fight against that number of monsters even if they had closed the gate.
“Woof-woof!”
“Jude!”
Bellagio called their attention again.
Cordelia’s call brought Jude to his senses and into the reality in front of them.
“Lena.”
Jude could feel her now.
At a place just two hundred meters away from the Hell Gate located in the middle of the city.
Lena was in a five-story building that looked like a tower. He could feel her power.
And the other side too.
“Kya?”
At the time of Cordelia’s small scream, Jude felt his vision darken.
It was just a short moment, but he lost his body’s freedom and struggled in the air before he saw the light again.
“Oww!”
That was Cordelia. She had fallen from the air and landed on her butt, while Jude safely landed thanks to his special body constitution (Cheonmujiche) and put Kaplan down before he looked at his front.
A person stood there as he had expected.
“Haven’t I told you to run away?”
It was a blonde woman with a gray hood covering the top of her head.
She had used polite language, but her words had a mixture of anger and a little irritation. No, it was more of nervousness.
“Now you know. This place is dangerous. Run away and avoid the monsters. I can’t afford to take care of you!”
It was a firm tone, as if she would not allow any objections.
But Jude didn’t heed her words.
Rather, he had to change her mind.
And Jude knew what to say.
“Landius’ disciple, Jude Bayer, greets you.”
It was a short statement, but it was enough to shake Lena’s mind.
She quickly spoke at the words of Jude.
“Can you prove it? No, even if you’re Landius’ real disciple…”
“May the muscles always be with you!”
It was Cordelia.
As she jumped up from her spot and shouted, Bellagio and Kaplan suddenly blinked their eyes at the words that seemed like nonsense, and even Jude was embarrassed.
But not for Lena.
Although it was hard to see her face because of her hood, she evidently became dazed but soon nodded her head.
“Landius’ acquaintance…moreover, a close acquaintance.”
Because Landius was the only one who made such an odd greeting.
In addition, Landius wished for the protection of muscles only to his really close acquaintances, which was something Jude and Cordelia didn’t know.
“Yes! Jude is Landius’ disciple!”
When Cordelia spoke again, Jude came to his senses and followed up to her words.
“Master taught me the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors. As I said before, I am Jude Bayer. This is my fiancée, Cordelia Chase.”
Lena reacted once again to Jude’s words.
Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.
After the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom, Landius declared that he would devote his life in mastering the transcendental being’s martial art.
It wasn’t just Lena who was surprised.
Kaplan managed to keep with the current conversation and expressed his shock at something completely different from Lena.
“Bayer and Chase! You two were children from the 12 northern families!”
Among the 12 families in the northern part of the S?len Kingdom, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Bayer and Chase families were particularly well-known.
“No, wait. So you’re saying that you are children from the 12 northern families, and at the same time, you are researchers at the capital’s academy and also members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, and that you’re the current disciple of Iron Man Landius?!”
“Yes, roughly.”
They weren’t researchers at the capital’s academy.
But Cordelia had become accustomed to ‘I didn’t lie’ kind of words that she had learned from Jude.
In any case, what Kaplan said didn’t matter right now.
Jude stepped closer to Lena and said.
“We must close the Hell Gate. It’s still in the early stages, or to be exact, it is close to the end of the first stage and the start of the second stage, so if it continues to grow, it would be a catastrophe. When it reaches the fourth stage and a Demon Prince descends, the tragedy of Paragon will be repeated in the wild lands.”
Lena already knew about that fact, but Jude had to mention it.
It was to convey to Lena that their group was not ignorant about the Hell Gate too.
“I’m Landius’ disciple. I’ve inherited the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors though I’ve only been able to open up to the third door. As for Cordelia, she inherited the power of the witch, or more known as the ‘Witch of the West Forest.’ Whether it’s something small or big, we will help.”
Lena reacted again to his barrage of words.
Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and the Witch of the West Forest, which was the nickname of the witch who confronted the overlord of hell in the past, was enough to stir her heart.
“But…but it’s really dangerous.”
“Of course. It is dangerous. But Master Lena closing the Hell Gate would also be in danger. So please allow us to help. Isn’t there a saying that two heads are better than one?”
At his sincere words, Lena covered her face with both hands and soon nodded.
“Okay, let’s do it together. I think you already know…I am Lena Ainsburg.”
“I’m Jude.”
“I’m Cordelia!”
Cordelia quickly followed up after watching Jude convince the anxious Lena.
“Jude and Cordelia. The one over there…”
“I-I’m Indiana Kaplan. I’m a professor at the institutional academy of Argon Empire.”
Kaplan stammered a little, but after he introduced himself, Lena nodded and then told Jude and Cordelia again.
“I think you’ve already figured out the situation to some extent, so I’ll tell you quickly. As Jude said, the Hell Gate is at the second half of the first stage. If we leave it like this, it will enter into the second stage, and then higher-class monsters will appear. Named demons will also be able to descend. So we have to close the Hell Gate before that happens.”
There were two ways to close the Hell Gate., and one of them was the ‘Heavenly Seal,’ a heavenly spell that the sun god taught when it descended in this world.
“Are you going to use the Heavenly Seal?”
Lena was surprised at Jude’s question but immediately nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. But I wasn’t strong enough to use the Heavenly Seal, so I was working on a plan.”
“You’re…not strong enough?”
Cordelia asked as her eyes blinked.
She would react like that because it was the Holy Angel Lena, and not anyone else, who was standing before her.
Having acquired the power of an angel through Ancestral Regression, she was no longer human.
She was the strongest of the five heroes if one was to only talk about the amount of mana.
So it didn’t make sense for Lena to not have enough power to properly use the Heavenly Seal.
‘There’s something.’
Although the Heavenly Seal was a spell that required an enormous amount of mana, it did not require enough power to the point that it would take Lena’s life.
But Lena sealed the Hell Gate and died from exhausting her power.
Why?
What is the missing link between the two?
And one more.
How did Lena know about it and came here?
As Jude himself and Lena had said several times now, the Hell Gate was around the second half of the first stage.
At this stage, the power of hell did not leak out of Endymion.
Even the Fairy Queen, whose territory was currently at the outskirts of Endymion, did not know about the existence of the Hell Gate.
But how did Lena know about it?
By chance?
When Lena came to Endymion, the Hell Gate was already opened?
It wasn’t an impossible situation.
But other questions arose here.
Who opened the Hell Gate?
Why was the Hell Gate opened?
These questions were listed in Jude’s mind.
Lena’s death.
Lena’s condition of being unable to properly use the Heavenly Seal.
Lena finding out that the Hell Gate was opened in Endymion faster than anyone else.
Instead of asking someone for help, she handled the situation alone.
‘The Hell Gate. The reason why the Hell Gate opened.’
During the time when Lena hesitated to immediately answer Cordelia’s question, Jude made a deduction.
One answer came out.
“Lena, it was you.”
It was consistent and reasonable with his earlier and later words.
Cordelia and Kaplan couldn’t understand what he meant.
But not for Lena.
She hunched her shoulders and clenched her teeth. Her face was not visible because it was covered by her hood, but he could imagine her distressed face.
“Jude?”
When Cordelia called him, Jude closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He came to an answer that could explain the entire current situation.
He said as he looked at Lena and not Cordelia.
“Lena, you opened the Hell Gate.”
It was not the Devil’s Eye.
They were not involved in this situation at all.
It was the Holy Angel Lena who opened the Hell Gate.
Cordelia was stunned at Jude’s words, and Lena nodded her head. She said as she took off the hood she was wearing on her head.
“You are right, Jude. I….opened the Hell Gate.”