"Stand By Me!!" The armor on Stende's shoulders grabbed Issei Hyoudou, and he charged forward relentlessly.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With every distance Stende charged, a sonic boom erupted behind Issei Hyoudou. The terror of this move lay in firmly grasping the opponent and forming an invisible wall of Cosmos behind them, dealing damage through high-speed dashes and intense impacts from the rear.
After several sonic booms, the red armor of Issei Hyoudou's Balance Breaker shattered piece by piece. His back was a bloody mess of red, and his consciousness began to blur.
Finally, Stende stopped. Before him was a pit burning with hellfire. Stende looked as if he intended to throw Issei Hyoudou into it. He stared at Issei and said:
"Red Dragon Emperor, below lies the highest temperature of hellfire. Let these flames purify the sins upon your body."
At that moment, a tiny spark from the surging hellfire below flew onto Issei Hyoudou's hand. That mere spark caused him excruciating pain, and even Ddraig's dragon soul within him felt the agony.
"Issei! This is bad!!" Azazel watched Issei Hyoudou's current state and cursed inwardly. He then pulled a piece of paper drawn with a magic circle from his robes.
Azazel quickly tore the paper, and a human-sized magic circle manifested. Several figures ran out from the magic circle.
"Issei Hyoudou!!" One of the figures, seeing Issei Hyoudou's wretched state, immediately rushed forward, swinging his weapon to repel Stende and force him to release Issei, saving him.
"Cao Cao, you've come..." Issei Hyoudou opened his eyes and spoke weakly as he looked at the person who saved him.
Cao Cao, a descendant of Emperor Wu of Wei from the Three Kingdoms period of China, leader of the Hero Faction, and a vanguard of the Heavenly Emperor. He possessed the strongest Longinus, 'True Longinus,' and was a super technical-type fighter.
Cao Cao draped Issei Hyoudou's arm over his shoulder and said to him, "I received Azazel's summons and came here to help after seeing you were in danger. It's not just me; other members of the Hero Faction have arrived as well."
As Cao Cao finished speaking, the other arriving members of the Hero Faction gathered beside them.
"Where is this place?"
"I heard we were coming to deal with Hades. Why isn't this the Underworld? It looks like somewhere else entirely."
"..."
The members of the Hero Faction looked at their surroundings and the red-and-black starry sky of the Underworld, discussing it amongst themselves.
With his arm draped over Cao Cao's shoulder, Issei Hyoudou said to him, "Cao Cao, this is the Underworld. It's just its true form."
"What did you say!!" Issei Hyoudou's words caused Cao Cao to cry out in shock. He had been to the Underworld before, and it was a pitch-black world filled with the aura of death. How could it have such a brilliant starry sky?
However, it was normal for them not to know. The Hero Faction had not participated in the mission to subjugate Imperial Beast 666; they were only responsible for guarding and preventing Imperial Beast 666 from attacking nations in the Human World.
Therefore, they knew nothing of Hades and the Specters.
"Cao Cao... everyone..." Siegfried, inside the grave, reached out a hand with difficulty toward Cao Cao and the Hero Faction.
"Siegfried!"
"You're actually okay!!"
Heracles and Jeanne showed joyful smiles upon seeing their comrade whom they thought was dead. Heracles reached out to pull Siegfried out, but he hadn't expected the flames to almost ruin his arm.
Siegfried shed tears and said to his companions, "It's no use. This is hellfire. This Burning Hell is specifically meant to punish these lost exorcists and priests. The living cannot touch it."
"Burning Hell?" Cao Cao asked in confusion.
Monkey King stepped forward to explain, "The Underworld is now divided into eight hells, three valleys, ten trenches, and the Four Circles. We are currently in the Fifth Hell."
"Then who was that big guy Cao Cao just repelled?" Jeanne raised a new question.
Issei Hyoudou replied, "That guy is Stende of the Celestial Ugly Star, Deadly Beetle. He is one of Hades' warriors, a member of the Specters."
"Specters? I didn't expect Hades to have such a trump card. I thought he only had Grim Reapers," Heracles said with a serious expression.
Stende walked over and looked at the Hero Faction and the others, saying, "Hero Faction, people like you who raise the banner of rebellion against the gods should fall into the Eighth Hell."
Having said that, Stende charged toward the Hero Faction.
Heracles met the charging Stende. The two giants, equal in size, locked palms and began a contest of strength. The shockwaves generated by their power directly affected the surroundings.
Cao Cao raised the True Longinus in his hand and said warily, "Celestial Ugly Star? That sounds like one of the Heavenly Spirits or Earthly Fiends. Then there should be a total of one hundred and eight."
Monkey King walked over and nodded, saying, "That's right. The Specters are named after the thirty-six Heavenly Spirits and seventy-two Earthly Fiends. In particular, the Heavenly Spirit Specters are extremely powerful. Since we started from the First Prison, not a single Heavenly Spirit Specter has been defeated."
"Then I shall be the first person to defeat a Heavenly Spirit Specter!!" Heracles shouted. He then threw a heavy punch at Stende, while simultaneously activating his Sacred Gear, 'Giant's Trick.' The punch hit Stende's underworld armor, instantly resulting in an explosion and smoke.
"I did it!!" Heracles said in pleasant surprise.
But at that moment, Monkey King shouted, "Heracles, Specters are not that easily defeated!"
When the smoke cleared, Stende stood in place completely unharmed, and his underworld armor showed no damage at all. Stende sneered at this and said:
"Hahaha~~!! An attack like that can't even scratch my underworld armor. Stand By Me!!"
Stende once again used the move that had defeated Issei Hyoudou, charging forward while dragging Heracles along.
"Heracles' fist was actually useless! That's a fist that can even injure a dragon!!" Jeanne cried out in shock at the sight.
Issei Hyoudou felt sad and helpless at the situation. "This is the strength of the Specters. Because they are too powerful, our companions could only stay behind to cover our retreat. It's because of them that we were able to reach the Fifth Hell."
Hearing Issei Hyoudou's words, Cao Cao finally noticed the number of people was clearly wrong. No matter how one looked at it, this few people were not enough to attack the Underworld. It seemed that many companions had stayed behind to cover them so they could reach this place.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble—!!!
At that moment, a pillar of fire rose from the ground into the sky. The color of the flames was identical to hellfire.
"Roar roar roar roar roar—!!" A dragon's roar dispersed the pillar of fire. An incredibly massive dragon appeared, with a dark serpentine body and somewhat damaged purple wings. A ruby like a snake's eye was embedded in its forehead, and its belly burned with hellfire.
[Serpent-Eye Flame Dragon] (Level: 8 / Race: Dragon / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500)
"Why is there a dragon in the Underworld? And its strength is at least at the Heavenly Dragon level," Cao Cao said, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he gripped the True Longinus and pointed its tip at the Serpent-Eye Flame Dragon.
Monkey King also gripped his Golden Cudgel and came to Cao Cao's side to explain, "Every hell in the Underworld has a Guardian Dragon responsible for its protection and management. It seems this fellow is the Guardian Dragon here."
Hearing Monkey King say this, Cao Cao couldn't help but swallow hard.
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