Only God-Chapter 523 - 449

He kept walking without stopping for a moment; when he was thirsty, he would open his water skin in the dark, and when he was hungry, he would eat bread in the pitch black. He was no longer a shadowy soul of the Netherworld but a living being with flesh, naturally in need of water and food.

Fortunately, the Death God Nakbet had prepared enough food and water for him and told Baird that these supplies would surely last till the end.

Thus, the consumption of water and food became the criteria for Baird to judge how much longer it would take to reach the Mortal World.

When Baird grew tired, he would rest on the road. The chilly wind of the Netherworld tormented his spirit as he dozed, seeming to do everything possible to keep him in the Netherworld, but he always kept his eyes tightly shut, never relaxing for a second, even upon waking from his sleep.

He lived like a blind man.

Gradually, having walked for an untold number of days, loneliness began to wander in Baird’s heart; it was the greatest enemy of this hero.

In order to alleviate the loneliness, Baird started to reminisce about the nine trials that, despite their brevity, were worth longing for; he entertained himself with these memories, and when he remembered the sorrowful farewells, tears would flow from his closed eyes.

Baird walked upon the road between the Netherworld and the Mortal World, now seeming to belong neither to the Netherworld nor to the Mortal World.

Because he kept his eyes closed, without the aid of vision for judgment, Baird generally relied on his hearing and touch to observe his surroundings.

As he walked in this endless tunnel, the hero began to hear some tragic and sorrowful wailing.

Those sounds seemed to come from above him, from what appeared to be the ground, and only from the Punishment Wilderness would come such dismal noises.

Baird could roughly guess how far he had traveled and felt that the Mortal World might not be far off.

Thinking of this, Baird felt his fighting spirit surge. He quickened his pace and continued on the path.

Those sorrowful souls suffering in the Punishment Wilderness could never imagine that below them, a flesh-and-blood person was forging ahead.

On his journey, Baird did not delay; he did not wish to. He was eager to return to the Mortal World, and as for how he would reunite with his beloved after returning, he already had a rough plan – and it was not a matter of concern.

On the contrary, it was the world of the living that should be concerned, for those living above ground should prepare to welcome back a hero risen from the dead.

Days passed, and the voices from the Punishment Wilderness gradually faded. Baird heard the faint murmuring from the surface of the ground and realized he had reached the Peaceful Plain. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

At the same time, as Baird counted his food and water with his hands, he found that his pack had lightened by about half along the way, meaning he had already traveled nearly half the distance, and it wouldn’t be long before he could return to the Mortal World.

All this time, Baird tightly gripped the sword that the Death God had prepared for him, and despite the darkness beneath his eyelids, excitement swelled in his heart.

After realizing how far he had come, Baird’s chest filled with passion. He grew more and more animated, occasionally breaking into song to express his emotions and relieve the boredom and solitude of the road.

As he neared the end of his journey, Baird began to miss his beloved more and more. He remembered her face, her glance, her smile, and the days he had devoted everything to love – those were beautiful days indeed.

Realizing that the Mortal World was just ahead, Baird became increasingly impatient and anxious; no matter how cold the Netherworld’s chilly wind was, it couldn’t soothe his mind.

He counted his water and food every day and listened to the sounds coming from the surface of the ground.

Finally, after an indeterminate number of days, Baird noticed that his water and food were almost depleted, and he began to hear, from the ground above, the Judges pronouncing sentences upon souls.

This meant he was about to reach the edge of the Netherworld!

With this thought, the fire of anticipation burned fiercely within Baird. He could hardly wait to breathe the air of the Mortal World, to bathe in the sunlight of the earth. His tightly shut eyes started to relax, ready to welcome the first glimmer of light after being reborn from death.

As Baird continued his advance, even the voices of the Judges gradually faded away, and the water and food in his pack were nearly exhausted; the weight of the pack was now focused on the sword within.

He was no longer far from the Mortal World.

Baird realized this, and as he traveled, even the chilly wind of the Netherworld subsided.

In one day, two days, or maybe three or four days, he would leave the Netherworld and return to the Mortal World.

Three or four days later, Baird slowly detected, from beneath his closed eyelids, a vague and white blurry image.

The hero’s hands trembled with tension, and his shoulder pack was exceedingly light.

He was nearing the Mortal World, having traversed all the tribulations of the Netherworld.

A flesh-and-blood hero was about to return to the Mortal World,

Where countless Poets spread numerous tales about him, yet he only wished to return to the side of his beloved.

The white blurriness before Baird’s eyes deepened. He took many steps forward, unable to wait any longer.

The warmth of the Mortal World seemed to be right before him.

Suddenly, Baird could not help himself and uncontrollably opened his eyes.

Before him, was a spacious and bright wilderness of the Mortal World.

And beneath his feet,

remained the gray and barren world of the dead.

Baird froze, a cold and ghostly wind skimmed over his body, piercing from his eyes into his soul.

It was the wind of the Netherworld, shattering all his previous anticipations, his endured tribulations, and his last hope!

He was just one step away from stepping out of the Netherworld.

The Hero even hadn’t had the chance to touch the sunlight of the Mortal World, when an invisible wall erected before him, barring him from leaving the eternal night.

In such a capricious twist of fate, he had forgotten the prohibitions of the Netherworld, the warnings from the Death God.

No matter how long the Hero walked with his eyes closed, it only took opening them once, just once, for all his efforts to be in vain, disintegrated to ashes.

Baird stood rigid, his blood seemingly frozen, running backward in his veins.

He couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes, his wide-eyed gaze filled with horror.

The beautiful Mortal World lay before his very eyes, yet his feet were still within the borders of the Netherworld.

He had not left the Netherworld!

And just one step, one more step forward, was all that was needed for him to leave the Netherworld, to return to the Mortal World.

Baird’s complexion quickly turned pale, his limbs began to weaken, and he slowly collapsed to the ground. Under the massive shock, his mind went blank, empty of all thoughts.

He just sat there, unknowing of how long it had been.

"What in the world..."

His trembling voice lingered in his throat.

Then, a gloomy and eerie wind swooped in from behind...

Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in front of Baird.

The Nameless Judge.

He looked at Baird, with eyes full of mockery.

"Baird, you should turn back now, return to the midst of the Netherworld, to the company of the dead you know so well."

This voice abruptly awakened Baird from his stupor, and he stared straight at the Nameless Judge before him, who was cloaked in black, exactly as Baird had seen him before, but no longer as silent as he used to be.

The Judge slowly lifted his mask, revealing a familiar face.

"Slaier?!"

Baird exclaimed in astonishment.

It was none other than Slaier, the God of Lies and Trickery.

Baird would not forget this Divine, who in the past made him wager with Dragon God Endora, only to meet such a pitiful end.

And now, Slaier had appeared once more.

"Just as I said before,

no matter what you undergo, whatever the final outcome might be, you must never touch the Taboo.

Baird, you will never be able to leave the Netherworld now."

The mocking words fell like the most cruel and icy verdict.

A moment of lapse had led Baird to break the Taboo.

And what awaited him was either a hopeless fate or...

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