A few days passed since the undead incident. The news spread faster than ever and in just this short period of time, the whole world became aware of the threatening undead army that almost dominated the whole continent except for South Africa, which is still standing thanks to its base. There are also a few strong Heroes that originated from there so the undead probably won't be able to seize it any time soon, especially not after the IHO dispatched a few national Heroes to defend the capital.

Lolitta still hasn't figured out the mechanism behind that small chip and Delia was still secluding herself and trying to comprehend the Holy Arts.

The days passed peacefully without any unwanted problems popping up out of nowhere. On the fourth day since Rey began torturing the captive, Arthur finally ordered him to kill the sadistic bastard once and for all. He felt no joy after spending a few days watching him suffer and cry in agony.

As for the two captives that were trapped in the dark and cold cave, he hasn't touched them and only deprived them of food. In a few more days, they'll surely start starving for real and even hallucinating. Heck! It wouldn't be surprising if they tried to eat each other after three or so weeks.

Today was the day Arthur brought back Miya to the Underworld. He already promised her and it isn't that hard to open a tunnel as Lolitta helped him find the exact coordinates of his destination.

The only odd thing that occurred these past few days was his inability to contact his copy, he couldn't even enter the ARK. No matter how many times he tried, he heard no response or felt no reaction.

The matter became stranger when he entered his consciousness and was flabbergasted to see a thick dark fog that blocked the view and countless small and big chains that intertwined and rubbed against each other.

Although it was his consciousness, he couldn't find where his soul was and ended up going in circles so he gave up for now. He inspected his body over and over again but he found no problems and the System didn't warn him about any curses or debuffs.

"Are you ready?"

Lucy spoke to Miya, who changed her outfit and readied herself to go back home at last. It's been five long years, it may be a short time for those Gods who lived centuries but the girl was just a teenager so the period was considerably longer than it should be since she was thrown into a completely foreign environment.

"Yes!"

Originating from the Lightning Fox clan which is part of the alliance ruling the center of the Underworld, Miya was considered a genius and was most likely going to be the head of the clan when she reaches a certain age. Alas, after the event that happened five years ago, many treated her as a dead person since she never returned and the perpetrators were never caught.

What was supposed to be a Grand Banquet to relax and see the young ones spar turned into a catastrophic fight between gods. That day was marked in the history of the Underworld and the event was named the 'Bloody Banquet'.

One of the three leaders of the Alliance, red-haired Meyzu was killed. More than fifty percent of the Royal Cobra clan was annihilated and only the Lightning Fox clan suffered the least damage and only lost a young talent.

If Arthur were to show up right now, it's for certain that they'll attack him on sight as he considered their archenemy along with Lucy.

The Underworld is said to be at a far off corner of the Cloud Sea Universe but upon a closer look, it's actually in the boundary between two Universes.

The trip took longer than usual and it even made all of them a bit dizzy since the distance is way bigger than the one Arthur is used to.

Arthur, Lucy, and Miya appeared on barren land with nothing but grey earth as far as the eye could see. This place was the same one Arthur and Lucy appeared on when they came to the Underworld for the first time.

Honestly, Arthur wasn't too worried about having to fight any of the leaders of the Underworld if they were to provoke him first. He had the confidence to defeat them and if Lucy joins the battle, it'll literally be a one-sided beatdown.

"Y-you don't have to guide me all the way home. This is more than enough."

Miya spoke hesitantly to Lucy as she sneaked peeks to Arthur, who was staring South with an absent-minded gaze.

Unfortunately, Lucy rejected her and retorted

"That won't do. No one can guarantee your safety if you were to travel alone, especially in the Underworld where there's experts left and right. I know you're strong but it isn't enough to bring you back in one piece. Moreover, we need to apologize to your Grandmother for what happened five years ago, we didn't intend to cause such a big mess."

Lucy sincerely conveyed her thoughts to Miya, who had no choice but to shyly nod her head. She lived with Lucy for five years and their relationship deepened, they can even be considered close friends, though the teenage girl considers Lucy more like a big sister.

She knew that with these two accompanying her, no one is capable of stopping them.

As to not alert Miya, Arthur used the [Telepathy] Skill and said

'Lucy, you can sense it too, right?'

Lucy glanced at Miya then nodded her head, she even had goosebumps and was feeling very uneasy as the terrifying aura coming from the South was just too domineering.

*********************

South of the Underworld, where there's nothing but a dark forest and a gloomy valley that is inhabited by nothing except for deadly monsters that are able to tear Gods into pieces.

If you delved very deep into this dangerous valley, you'll reach a vast and peaceful garden than no monster dares to enter. This garden was beautiful and wasn't affected by the suffocating aura enveloping both the dark forest and the valley.

Unfortunately, there was something that decreased the beauty of this garden by half. It had a mind-numbingly large body, it was so big that horrifying to the point of making both Gods and Sovereigns shake in fear.

This creature, with a mulberry-colored skin and jet black claws and fangs, was silently resting its head on its front limbs and seemingly sleeping until its body shook by itself all of a sudden.

The creature let out a deep grown and raised its humongous head to stare at the distance. Its ruby eyes were able to see beyond anything as there was nothing in its world it couldn't see.

Just like the other party sensed its presence, the creature also recognized the new guests. It wasn't overly interested at first but when 'they' locked their senses on it, it finally let out a slight reaction.

This beast was none other than one of the three remaining mythical beasts, the Void Behemoth.

There was a man meditating next to the Void Behemoth, when the latter raised its head and growled, the middle-aged man raised his head and frowned then softly said

"Did they start fighting again?"

For a while, he heard no response, that is, a small portal appeared before the two of them. This transparent portal displayed three figures standing in the middle of nowhere. They were precisely Arthur, Lucy, and Miya.

The beast, which should not be able to talk, uttered a few words with difficulty

"Dangerous.... man."