Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  This was the first entrance and exit to and from the underworld. Everyone who wanted to get in or out would show up here. Only when someone made it through the door could they actually enter the underworld. With the exception of the deceased, gaining entrance was nearly impossible. Living beings, ghost wizards and the other bizarre saints weren’t able to go into the underworld easily.

  “Stop here, you living creature!” Haem called. “This is the territory of the dead!”


  Lynn kept walking forward. A giant steel fork pierced the ground in front of him. Lynn’s body dodged it like a phantom, and the black ripples of power that emanated from the steel fork were warded off by his cape.

  The Goat Devil Haem stared at Lynn with ruthless eyes full of greed. He could feel that Lynn wasn’t a normal saint, but this was the underworld, and Haem was its mighty guard. He didn’t need to be afraid of anyone.

  “Oh wise and powerful guard of the underworld, Haem, I ask that you might grant me entrance. I have an important task,” Lynn said while squinting his eyes.

  The Goat Devil started to guffaw, he was content with Lynn’s attitude and flattery, but then his face grew solemn.

  He opened his huge mouth and roared, “NO!”


  The forceful vibration of his voice knocked down all the souls lining up in front of the gate.

  “Of course, I bring sacrifices,” bargained Lynn.

  He removed his cape and offered it to Haem. It was a cape with supernatural power, and it was a potent tool of sorcery. Lynn’s armor had also been made by specialized equipment with powerful reinforcement and spellcasting organs. His crown was made of magic gold, and the giant eye of a rare, magical beast was inlaid at the top.

  Lynn gave everything he was wearing to Haem, after which he was only left with a pair of leather pants and a shirt. The valuables gleamed with supernatural spirit light, which immediately piqued the interest of the greedy Goat Devil.

  Although he craved them, Haem turned away from the offerings.

  “Not enough,” he said to Lynn. “I need the sword on your waist as well!”


  Lynn pulled out the sword, and the entire area surrounding the gate to the underworld was bathed in a fierce light. The once blurry bodies of the fading souls were illuminated by the warm glow of the sword.

  Haem was stunned by the gleaming light.

  “Oh! What is that?” he cried, and stumbled backward, unable to open his eyes.

  “This is the legendary Sword of the King,” declared Lynn. “I can’t give it to you now, but I’ll give it to you as a sacrifice when I leave the underworld.”


  Lynn knew the tricks and weaknesses of the soul-swallowing Goat Devil Haem. Many ghost wizards had bribed Haem to let them into the underworld and gained entrance. However, the tricky Goat Devil would only let them in, never out again. The gate to the underworld was only one way.

  Many monsters, demon warlocks, and blasphemers who couldn’t stay in the main world anymore would flee to the underworld for shelter as a last resort. Once they entered the gates however, they would never have the chance to leave. They were doomed to wander the underworld neither alive nor truly dead. Anyone who stepped into the gate was officially lost to the main world.

  Haem knew that he had the authority to let anyone into the underworld, not out, but the power and the light coming from the Sword of the King had filled his pupils completely. He roared in exhilaration as he drew a circle.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal!” he said.

  Lynn entered the underworld. Instead of making his way to the Kingdom Death along the Styx, he took a detour and ventured toward the blurry and unknown area of the deep underworld. It was a bleak place, overrun by the power and consciousnesses of the deceased. Monsters and horrifying enigmas evolved from the dead could be seen everywhere.

  Many demon warlocks, bone dragons, devils and ghost wizards were also hiding there, claiming sections of the territory as their own domains. The goddess who reigned over the Kingdom of Death resided at the center, and the land around here descended into chaos. The deep underworld was a place of anarchy where demons and ghosts roamed without any laws.

  Some of the creatures here had fled into the deep underworld, some of them were forced. Many were banished by the priests of the underworld to this lawless place. Each and every one of them had been a famously horrifying being when they were still alive in the main world.

  A dense, gray mist permeated the air, and floating ghosts could be seen everywhere. Bizarre singing voices haunted the air from every direction, and a terrifying roar could be heard from deep inside the gray fog.

  As Lynn stepped into a giant city made of bones, countless skeletons and ghosts rose up out of the sticky underworld mud. Bone dragons the color of bleached skeletons circled the city, breathing white fire.

  Level-three ghost creatures called Screaming She-Devils formed a circle, holding hands. They were singing the songs of death while tens of thousands of skeletons brandished their weapons. Death knights riding nightmares charged at Lynn with the fire of souls, and the rotten, stinking bodies of the dead continued to crawl out of the mud towards the intruder.

  With a sudden gust, the fog was dispelled, and the entire world occupied by all kinds of dead creatures came into view. There was no end in sight to the giant ghost army as they sprang up to guard the enormous City of Skeletons.

  Lynn noticed that the entire city was moving forward, and he realized in horror that the city itself was a dreadful life alchemy ghost. A group of blurry but formidable figures in black capes appeared above the wall of the City of Skeletons.

  “Who are you? How dare you trespass where we slumber!” called a monster from the ground. “Tell us your name now!”


  “Are you holding the Sword of the King in your hands?” asked a different creature.

  “Master of the Sword of the King, why are you in the underworld?” asked another.

  “It’s the Mercenary King Lynn Ahenaten! He is the king who has golden blood flowing through his body!” cried yet another monster.

  A cacophony of voices cried out to each other, trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted. Although the voices sounded chaotic, mighty forces resonated from each of them.

  Lynn Ahenaten looked to the figures standing above the City of Skeletons. Each of them was a well-known supernatural being from Maria’s World before they entered the underworld. Some of them were recorded in the history books, and after they died or sold their souls, they gained more power in this Kingdom of Death.

  If it weren’t for the underworld trapping them here, they would be a catastrophe to the main world. Lynn took a look at the surrounding army of the deceased, and he could picture what the scene would be like if they showed up in the main world.

  Lynn held up the Sword of the King and called out, “I’m here to free all of you! Raise your sharp blades and come back to the main world with me. I’ll open the gate of the underworld with the authority I have been granted with this Sword of the King!”


  The only thing those who had been living in the dark and lifeless underworld had seen for centuries was dark sky, so it was easy to understand how desperately they wanted to get back to the world of the living beings. Obviously, Lynn Ahenaten was freeing them out of kindness, but the desire to escape the underworld and return to the main continent trumped all their inhibitions.

  “Let’s fight our way out of here!” they cried. “Let’s escape from the kingdom of the dead!”


  “We must wash away our shame and let them know how upset we are!” called the warriors. “It’s time to let those living beings know our suffering and pain. We’ll let them experience the horror of this dead and dark world!”


  The giant City of Skeletons rushed toward the gate of the underworld. Before anyone could realize what was happening, Lynn Ahenaten raised the glowing Sword of the King high and brought it down, tearing the body of the Goat Devil Haem into pieces.

  “No! You freaking liar!” yelled Haem. “You will be punished! You will be punished by the Goddess of Death!”


  Although the body of Haem was no more, he couldn’t die. He was the gatekeeper of the underworld, which meant he could be defeated but never be killed. In the thick, dark fog that swirled in the sky, another body for Haem would be created, but it would take a very long time.

  Seizing this opportunity, Lynn Ahenaten had already opened the gate of the underworld. A portal to the living world appeared in front of him and the other dead creatures. Visions of the main world could be seen from the enormous door of white light.

  Blue sky, forests, lands, and oceans turned all the deceased mad with desire. The enormous City of Skeletons burst through the gate of the underworld. The army of the dead cut across the mountains and oceans, rushing toward the main world.

  The huge bone dragon raced through the sky. A cracking noise rang out wherever the dragon’s wings slashed through the air. It flew through the gate swiftly, and the demon warlocks who were controlling groups of monsters also rushed the gate. There were all kinds of creatures from the underworld, free at last from the rules that previously bound them, marching toward the kingdom of the living.

  At the other end of the gate was the Colossus Kingdom on the Swirl Continent. After opening the gate to the Swirl Continent, Lynn Ahenaten quickly disappeared from the underworld.

  At this moment, the giant shadow of the god holding the Book of Death had surrounded the gate to the underworld. Cetisius immediately locked the portal to the main world. The Book of Death reflected all the ghost creatures rushing toward the underworld gate.

  Cetisius opened the Book of Death, and the mountains of the dead who rushed toward the gate were absorbed into it. They became a line of bizarre and moving characters. Countless death priests carrying sickles formed a huge army of the dead. The monsters who rushed out were immediately crushed by the army of priests, so they were forced to go back to the deep cracks of the underworld.

  “What’s happening? Who is it? Who opened the gate to the underground world?” Cetisius asked.

  He looked to the sky as if he could see the main world outside, even though he was under the darkness. It would be a catastrophe to the main world if this many horrifying dead creatures escaped out of the underground.

  At last, he admitted, “It’s out of my control!”