Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Frail Eléa

Zhao Tianhe piloted his small flying vessel, descending into the Inferno Shadow Cavern.

Originally known simply as the Shadow Cavern, the place had acquired its new name after the appearance of fire-aligned monsters—an official designation adopted casually by the authorities. A literal translation of its full name would be the Cavern of Flame and Shadow.

On his first day venturing alone, Zhao Tianhe decided to clear this D-rank dungeon before moving on to the D+ level Depleted Fire Marsh. He wanted to summon the relatively weaker Ereshkigal to observe her capabilities, and he had also set his experience distribution to split evenly between Ereshkigal’s class system and Artoria’s talent system.

Ereshkigal manifested before him, clad in a black dress and sheer stockings, golden high heels on her feet, and a beautifully crafted metal lance in her hand.

The lance’s design differed from her third ascension in the game, resembling more a double-headed knight’s spear. Ereshkigal herself had mentioned that the appearance of the Fever Shrine Meslamtaea could be shaped to her liking; perhaps this iteration was inspired by Artoria’s suggestions.

She released her grip, letting the lance float at her side. Examining her own hands, she clenched them twice, testing her strength.

“Ah, this body feels so weak…” Ereshkigal remarked with a wry smile. “I’ve never fought in such a feeble state before…”

Indeed, the goddess Ereshkigal, ruler of the underworld, was something of a recluse in myth—she didn’t even attend the gods’ banquets in person, sending proxies to bring food back for her instead. Yet as long as she remained beneath the earth, within her domain, she was invincible, commanding all the powers and spirits of the underworld—one of the highest deities, capable of wrestling with creation gods themselves.

Despite her attributes, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Ereshkigal
Race: Deity / Heroic Spirit
Base Attributes (Affection bonus: +6 to all stats)
Strength: 26
Agility: 16
Constitution: 21
Spirit: 21
[Other base attributes omitted]

Class System: Locked (0/5000)
Talent System: Locked (0/5000)

Innate Passive Skills
Fever Shrine Meslamtaea Lv. Max (Sealed):
One of the ultimate divine armaments, a unique Noble Phantasm for this form, nearly indestructible by any means. Its blocks can effectively neutralize most spell attacks.
Ereshkigal can freely control Meslamtaea by will; its attack speed and force default to her base Strength. By infusing mana, her next strike deals soul and heat damage equal to (Spirit + mana spent).

Death Immunity Lv. Max:
Even without her underworld goddess authority, she retains absolute resistance to all instant death spells and items (immune to all debuffs, even those of equal rank).

Ancient Soul Lv. Max:
The primeval soul governing death’s laws, its essence cannot be weakened or erased. All spirit/soul attacks against her are forcibly reduced by 50%, illusions and curses by 70%, and there is a chance to fully resist them—this priority is absolute.

Truth be told, Artoria at the same stage was never as strong as Ereshkigal. The most baffling part was why her Strength was so high—even higher than Artoria’s current base stat!

“Strength, of course,” Ereshkigal said proudly, hands on hips. “As the goddess of the earth and underworld, even if my divine body is greatly diminished, it cannot be fragile. Only a robust body can contain a robust soul! Isn’t that just common sense?!”

“...Indeed,” Zhao Tianhe nodded, a scene flashing through his mind of Ereshkigal punching his head off in a fit of jealousy. Was he perhaps developing in the wrong direction? Should he be focusing on becoming tougher instead?

“Let’s get going! I’m not sure what I’m capable of right now, but there’s no sense wasting time!” Ereshkigal strode enthusiastically into the Inferno Shadow Cavern. Over the past month, she’d learned about dungeons from Zhao Tianhe’s descriptions and video clips.

Ereshkigal had also given Zhao Tianhe a phone; now, both he and Pixie each had one. Thankfully, Ereshkigal wasn’t obsessed with playing FGO—she only played casually at Artoria’s suggestion. The phone was mainly for convenient communication.

The first floor of the Inferno Shadow Cavern was much as before, save for the addition of a few fire-aligned slimes.

With his superhuman senses, Zhao Tianhe could clear the first floor alone with ease, but today’s focus was on observing Ereshkigal’s performance.

Her display, however, left Zhao Tianhe questioning reality itself.

“It’s quite simple—just like in the videos, really not much of a challenge,” Ereshkigal said with a smile, strolling as if on a leisurely walk.

She was referring to Zhao Tianhe’s usual eleven-person team, but in truth, her efficiency matched that of an entire squad.

The metal lance circled her, and none of the floor’s monsters could even approach within ten meters of her. As for the cave dwellers’ thrown attacks, most were blocked outright by the lance; those that slipped through were casually swatted aside by Ereshkigal. Their full-powered stone hammers were, to her, no more threatening than mosquitoes or flies.

“Four minutes, twenty-seven seconds... Even faster than a full team…” Zhao Tianhe glanced at the timer on his phone, his eye twitching.

He had always known Ereshkigal would be strong, but he hadn’t expected her to be this overwhelmingly powerful!

Not even an elite cave dweller warrior could halt her advance for a moment. She didn’t even use mana to finish it—she simply charged in, impaling the monster and severing its weapon, arm, and head in one strike.

The force of the Fever Shrine Meslamtaea could stack with her own strength. With perfect timing, she could even double her power!

This technique was almost on par with Artoria’s Mana Burst, yet for Ereshkigal, it was merely a “normal attack.”

Still, there were flaws. First, Ereshkigal’s agility was lacking, so her timing wasn’t perfect—the last strike only had about forty points of force. Second, to maximize this technique, person and weapon had to move in perfect unison without deviation; against a highly intelligent monster, the tactic might be seen through instantly.

As a super-perceptive individual, Zhao Tianhe instantly saw through the flaws of this “non-skill” technique, even if he couldn’t execute it himself.

But he wasn’t worried. Agility would increase with affection level, and after changing classes she’d have equipment slots to make up for it. Besides, Ereshkigal wasn’t his main force—if a boss showed up, he’d still rely on Artoria.