Chapter 56: The Netherworld's Curses

Many days took by inside the mysterious alleyways until finally... a path that lacked mist opened itself before them.

They had moved across the muddy corridors, awaiting the moment a path towards the Mahogany Tree would open, but according to Sasha, it doesn't open straight away as the encounter with the tree is a double-edged sword... it would put you in danger but also allow you to leave faster if you were brave.

"It's time..."

"..."

Vera gripped her knife tightly, hyperventilating even, overflowing with nervousness but also thrilled because she's going to try and save them now.

Her stubbornness and determination disallowed her to comprehend the hardships that lay in front or the difficulty of the task at hand.

This is the moment she had been 'preparing' herself for...

'If you go past this hurdle successfully, I'll tell you my conditions to be my host...' The knife seemed to finally be willing to speak, it didn't have any gender defined by its voice, rather... it sounded like nothing less of a demon, a terrifying voice.

'You have been silent for the longest while now, I thought you had gone mute.' At this stage she still wondered what exactly this thing is, it's clearly a blade but... it can talk and influence her to some stage, maybe due to the myriad thoughts going through her head, she wouldn't be able to give this matter a proper consideration until Fayette and Valentine were again within her embrace.

'...' The Rose Eagle Thorn didn't answer, it seemed to wait for the result of this mad voyage they were about to undertake.

...

"Give me some of those bombs you have prepared, if push comes to shove I'll throw them too..." Sasha extended her hand as Vera prepared the things.

"We have some of this liquid called Sollux that the geezer sold me... we're coating the weapons with it and lightning it up... some bottles with it and also bombs... we have to use them wisely." Vera took some of them out of her backpack and she then actually gave the backpack to Sasha...

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"It's going to be in the way, it would be troublesome if the entire backpack exploded." 

"... got it." Sasha sighed, aware of the woman's intentions, still, she's not about to stop her... as ridiculous as it sounds, as a sinner, Vera has the advantage that her life wouldn't be at risk as long as her crystal was safe... if her crystal got destroyed, however... that's another story.

'You got in trouble so quickly after just arriving...'

...

"Let's go! the moment you see it, run to the back and keep the cannon fodders away from me, I'll do the rest!" Vera couldn't resist the impulse to just charge in and start throwing this liquid like crazy, lighting up the entire corridor and burning the bastard to ashes.

"I'll be able to assist you... fire is not efficient against demons, Vera..." 

"Hmn."

**

**

The wails of despair and torrents of people didn't make themselves wait as torrents of bloody humans ran from the hungry mahogany vines and roots.

Vera gaped as she struggled to remain in one place amidst the chaos and place her brown eyes on the creature!

There it was!

*BOOM!*

*BOOM!*

Its slow yet frightening steps shook the entire corridor as its roots dug deep inside the corridor that seemed to become infinite the more chaos ensued.

No moons shone upon these damned souls, no light... only darkness and damnation, but amidst the chaotic crowd, there were two individuals with a clear objective, not feeling any fear at all.

Vera and Sasha appeared amidst a crowd of people that ran and made it nigh-impossible to engage.

The humans were so frantically running that they didn't notice a purple-skinned demoness in between the crowd of pigs ready for butchery.

"Dammit, it's too crowded here!" Vera had to elbow a bastard that seemed to be getting rather 'touchy', making him fall right on top of a waiting vine.

"It seems today's batch has already arrived! we can't attack now, let's wait for a little more!" Sasha yelled and pulled Vera away as she kicked whatever vine tried to entangle around her legs, beneath... there were so many people that she couldn't even see the vines.

"Bastard! stop touching my breasts!" Sasha yelled as she felt someone actually fondling her boobs!

"Sorry! it was me! I don't have grip!"

"..."

**

**

"We have two options... we can meet the creature head-on... or we can try to burn one of the corridors that's already closed... but I don't know if it would be wise to do that." Sasha began as the two of them sat against one of the walls, hugging their knees.

"Indeed, if we go along the corridor, in the next intersection there will be some 'closed' paths... I didn't think about it, why wouldn't it be wise?" Vera imagined the scenarios in her head, if they didn't have to fight the creature, that would have been a better option.

You are reading story Assassination Through the Netherworld at novel35.com

"This Mahogany Tree is not as simple as you believe it to be... that's a creature that's alive... it's not a common tree, I advise we first faceoff against one of them to see how we fare." Sasha played with her knife as she explained the situation, Vera is still a human, after all, she doesn't understand the gimmicks of the netherworld.

Vera thinks that's just a 'tree'... nothing farther from the truth... that's a creature with the form of a tree.

"For a demon, you're a rather clever one..."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying..."

"Hmph! don't underestimate demons... we're not as 'intelligent' as humans... but what we don't have in 'intelligence' we have three times in wickedness and shrewdness..."

"Why do you help me this much, Sasha? Also, you have become rather talkative... before you were quieter." Vera doesn't understand... every single demon they have met since they came here is a wicked bastard that's up to their own agenda... but she happened to meet Sasha who is clearly different, or at least... that's the image she has gotten from the latter after months of 'cohabitation'.

"You'd be surprised at how much people change when they want a good fuck, we demons are no different~" The demoness smirked and joked, but Vera didn't laugh at the 'joke' her face is stern.

"I'm serious..."

"..." Eventually, Sasha just sighed.

"I have my own objective in coming here, Vera... don't ask further... it's not against your desires or will cause you any harm." The demoness scratched her hair in annoyance and didn't speak further.

"..." Vera decided to not inquire further.

"What exactly is this creature?"

"I can't tell you with accuracy, but going by experience... it's likely just a mahogany tree... his roots spread through this infinite corridor... through the netherworld, you will find myriad places like this... they were created to torture the sinners and keep them stagnant... this is just another one..."

"Is there a way to stop it or kill it?" Vera thought that killing the creature would be enough... the creature is already quite difficult in itself, right?

"No... this tree has existed since the beginning of the netherworld itself... it's so big that its roots spread through the myriad corridors, they're all a part of it... it's a curse. Killing one of the creatures is equivalent to killing just one of its roots... nothing else. We can only try to burn it and go from there."

Sasha didn't mind Vera's curiosity... demons don't usually reveal this much information, but they're in this together and the more information Vera has, the more efficient their endeavour will be.

The two of them stood up and walked through the corridor towards the next interception where they saw two paths were covered by vines and another one that lacked mist... what awaited on the other side was self-evident.

"What did you mean today's batch?" When they reached their objective before they considered what action they would take, Vera had yet another question to make, she recalled this comment coming from Sasha back then.

"You should have noticed, compared to your home, the netherworld is an 'atemporal' place." The purple-skinned demoness began.

"Have you been to the Earth before?" The Russian beauty asked with intrigue, are there truly demons on the Earth?

"... No, but I have heard of it... only the strongest demons can go to the Earth, the Earls, Duchesses and the King..." 

"Carry on what you were saying, about the 'atemporal' thingy..." The beauty's curiosity got triggered, and now that she has a demoness whose information she can 'trust' more so... she'd give all this information to Valentine and Fayette once she saved them.

"Present, past and future are illusions created by you humans, a convenient rule indeed, but that doesn't apply here... you should have noticed, we were here for months, but in the city... only a week took place."

"Why is that? how is that even possible?" Indeed, such a thing happened, but it went over her head back then 

"Don't try to understand the creator's designs... there is only a single rule in this place, Vera... remember this." Sasha's expression seemed to turn stern amidst her explanation, unrealistically so given her personality.

"...?" Vera's ears perked up.

"The only rule here is... that a soul won't ever coincide two times at the same 'moment'... other than that, the netherworld itself decides how 'time' will be composed given its own designs..."

"..."

"Millions of sinners arrive in the netherworld every week, thousands every day... from all over the creation, regardless of past, present and future, perhaps even dimension... we're not clear and we don't care... as long as they have souls we can devour. The place they arrive is decided by a single individual, it could be either the same way you all arrived or it could be straight inside this Mahogany Tree's branches, they're sent by a single individual..."

"Who?"

"The Archon, Azrael..." When mentioning that name a certain glint could be seen moving through Sasha's eyes, one that Vera didn't notice.

"Archon?" Vera doesn't know who this 'Azrael' is, but she noticed a certain detail in Sasha's words that called for her attention, still, she said nothing... not now.

"..." Sasha seemed to be in a world of her own, not answering.

"How do you know all this Sasha?" She asked next, trying to see if the demoness would finally come out of her own thoughts.

"It's something that demons know after living long enough, once you too have roamed through the corners of this hell enough, you will know things that others aren't bound to know."

"So what should we do now, do tell? we're testing against one of the trees first?" This idea of hers seemed to be the most logical one.

"That we should... let's keep going until the number of humans decreases, giving us enough room to act... dozens of thousands are roaming this endless maze... I hope you understand that finding the place where they are... is extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible... there are millions of corridors..."

"I don't care... I'll... keep going until I can no more, Sasha... that's my decision..." 

"You're a headstrong one, but I like it..."

"Let's head back straight away, I don't want to waste time."

You can find story with these keywords: Assassination Through the Netherworld, Read Assassination Through the Netherworld, Assassination Through the Netherworld novel, Assassination Through the Netherworld book, Assassination Through the Netherworld story, Assassination Through the Netherworld full, Assassination Through the Netherworld Latest Chapter