Dick and Jason also felt a bit of a headache, but they had no other options, they could only take it one step at a time. They decided to launch a surprise attack at the right moment and knock out the Three-headed Dog, and though it was still a bit violent, their initial intention was to help the gods of Mount Olympus, so Hades would probably not mind.
Of course, the main reason was that they had a dad who was an Archangel in Heaven. Even if they faced a lawsuit that went all the way up to God, they could be assertive in their speech.
Though that was the plan, they still needed to make the necessary preparations. Most of the magical items here had been looted or destroyed, but there were still some usable ones. Under Faust's guidance, they picked a few and then, before sunset, they arrived at Samaritan Canyon.
They didn't even have to wait for sunset; as the sky darkened, a huge black gate of Hell appeared, faintly visible. The Death aura leaking out of it nearly deprived the entire canyon of any living thing.
They carefully made their way through the underbrush, following the stream upwards, until the last glimmer of twilight was devoured, and the towering black gates truly descended before their eyes.
"Are you scared?" Dick looked at Raven and asked.
Raven wasn't sure whether the Sanguine Demon could confront Hades, but she still shook her head and smiled at Dick, "I'm not scared."
Dick smiled back at her.
The newly-formed team of youth had reduced to a few inconspicuous specks before the giant Gate of the Netherworld, vanishing into the thick, Death-laden black fog. The Land of Death welcomed a few uninvited guests.
As soon as they stepped through the Gate of the Netherworld, they were stunned by what lay before them. Instead of the lifeless vast plains they had imagined, there was an endless field of wheat.
Though the sky was somewhat dim, with low-hanging clouds like a prelude to a storm, the wheat still shimmered with a golden gleam, turning the place into a sea of gold.
"How is this place…" Dick said, somewhat puzzled.
"This is the backyard of the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone is the God of Rice, wheat represents her, her favorite flower. This wheat field has existed for thousands of years, always presenting a scene of bountiful harvest," Faust explained, truly an expert in this field, able to give a reason for everything.
"It's quite unique," Jason said, clearly moved as he gazed at the wheat field, lost in thought. However, Faust quickly interrupted him and said, "Alright, kid, this isn't the time to think about that. That Big Dog will probably come looking for us soon..."
"What's this?!" Jason suddenly retracted his foot, noticing the muddy soil clinging to his shoe, which was very moist and a deep dark red color.
He squatted down, lightly rubbed a bit of soil, then sniffed it and, with a serious look in his eyes, stood up and looked into the distance.
"Blood…"
Jasen's words sent shivers down everyone's spines. Raven, holding Dick's hand tightly, couldn't see anything due to the towering wheat that obscured their view.
"Should I fly up and check?" Raven asked.
Aisha stopped her and said, "I will check in my true form. As a Parallax, my body is just a mass of energy. Even if attacked, it will not be injured."
With that, she transformed into an entity about the same height as a person, floated up, and looked into the distance.
Then she swooped down in disbelief, covering her mouth, her eyes wide as she looked at the others, pointed in one direction with One Hand, and in a lowered voice said, "There's a body over there."
"What kind of body?"
"The body of a Three-headed Dog!"
The group hastily rushed in the direction Aisha pointed, and in just a few steps saw the colossal corpse, like a mountain range—it was Cerberus, the expired Three-headed Hellhound.
Faust leaped out from Funa's hand first, jumping beside the corpse and, after two bounces, said in disbelief, "How is this possible? Who dares to kill a pet of Hades? And on his own territory??"
"Well, that's good news for us; we won't have to deal with it," Jason stepped forward to inspect the corpse.
"Logically, to kill the Three-headed Dog you need to blast all three heads, but this corpse has its heart gouged out directly. It's hard to imagine who could withstand the attack of three heads and directly extract the heart."
But soon, Jason seemed puzzled and said, "No, that's not right, that's not the blood of this Big Dog."
Aisha realized it too, "This dog's blood didn't spill that far, and the color is deeper."
Looking around, the others saw that the Three-headed Hellhound had indeed bled a lot, turning a patch of the ground black, but the blood hadn't spread further and after drying, had turned a very standard black color instead of dark red, unlike the soil they had seen before.
Aisha flew up again to look, but besides that body, she saw nothing, and the bad news was, they could no longer see the Gate of Netherworld.
This was a labyrinth. Jason turned around and stared at the gaps between the stalks of wheat. There was no way out behind them, only layer upon layer of more wheat.
"Follow the blood." Jason said again, "Follow me."
The others followed behind him, with Jason trudging through the blood-red soil, continuously pushing his way through the wheat stalks.
Suddenly, a huge figure appeared on the horizon.
They quickened their pace, with the soil underfoot becoming looser and moister, and the stench of blood wafting into their noses.
Jasen parted the last layer of wheat.
What came into view was a vast expanse of blood-red earth with a huge stake, and on top of the stake, a similarly massive female corpse—her eye sockets constantly oozing bright red blood, dying the whole land red.
Faust let out a scream.
"Persephone, Queen of the Underworld!!!!"
Everyone was shocked. Funa gripped the toad in her hand, "What are you saying?! This is the corpse of the Queen of the Underworld??"
Faust seemed to have lost his voice from the shock, but Jason began to inspect the corpse around the stake. Even though the body had been enlarged, the fatal wound was the cavity in the chest.
After a long moment, Faust finally spoke, "The Queen of the Underworld is already dead, but not a whisper of it got out. Could it be..."
He paused, then said with an urgent tone, "Quick, we must head to the River Styx. We need to reach the palace of the Lord of the Underworld as soon as possible; we can't let Circe succeed!"
At that moment, everyone felt the ground beneath them becoming softer and softer, turning into a muddy maelstrom. They were all sinking.
The fall was faster than they anticipated, and in almost no time at all, they felt themselves hitting the ground.
They appeared on the bank of a raging river. It stretched before them and didn't seem remotely as mysterious or beautiful as described in the myths—you could tell at a glance that falling into it meant certain death.
"How did you cross it last time?" Dick couldn't help but ask Faust.
"Of course, by bribing Charon, the Ferryman of the Nether River, with a single silver coin, he can guide spirits across. I gave him 20 coins, and he even gave me a bottle of Nether River Water."
"Turns out you didn't steal it?" Funa said.
"I'd be crazy to dip my hand into the Nether River!" Faust replied indignantly, "You know how many tormented souls are buried beneath? If you dare reach your hand out of the boat, they will surely drag you down!"
"Where did you get so many silver coins?" Dick squinted and asked.
"Greek people would place a silver coin in the mouth of the dead. Some unfortunate souls never make it to the Nether River in time to use it," Faust said vaguely, but the others could tell; he must have been grave-robbing, turned into a toad by Circe as some sort of divine punishment.
"So where is this Ferryman now?"
"I don't know, usually he'll come over when something reaches the riverbank..." Faust looked around, but not only the Ferryman, even the usual procession of spirits was gone.
"How will we get across now?" Dick asked, "Can you fly over the river?"
"It's best not to try," Faust shook his head, "Without the Ship of the Underworld, it's impossible to cross the Styx. The rage and fear of countless aggrieved souls will consume every spirit."
"Fear?" Aisha's eyes rolled as she walked forward a couple of steps and peered over the edge of the riverbank, almost drooling.
"We came to save the gods, it wouldn't be excessive to have a feast, right?" Aisha turned to Dick, who already knew what she was thinking, and he nodded helplessly.
Aisha dived in with a big splash.
Since the water of the Nether River was not transparent, no one knew what was happening underneath. They only heard crunching sounds; the surface of the water gradually returned to calm, and the faint wails and screams disappeared.
When Aisha climbed back up, she wiped her mouth and burped with satisfaction, looking at the tranquil river and nodding, "Effective environmental cleanup, burp!"
Faust's toad eyes widened in shock. Seeing Aisha's glistening Fangs, he shuddered and retracted his head back into Funa's hand.
Raven tested it and found she could fly, so she simply used Magic Power to carry everyone across.
Upon landing, they encountered a vast plain. According to Faust, this was the Truth Garden, also known as the Chang Chunhua Plain. Turn left for Tartarus, right for the Elysian Paradise, and straight ahead was the palace of Hades, the Lord of the Underworld.
The final destination of the Young Avengers' journey lay there.
Yet what first caught their eye was another ruin. The Judgment platform used to judge the spirits' sins was smashed by someone, and the Judgment Chief supposed to preside was nowhere to be found, leaving only a mess behind.
Faust clicked his tongue but did not elaborate further. They walked toward the distant palace.
When they reached the grand palace of Hades, they found the doors shatterred, with several deep claw marks, not likely the work of a Witch but also uncertain what kind of creature might have accompanied her.
Passing the fragments and entering, the originally solemn and majestic palace hall was destroyed beyond recognition.
The deeper they went, the more they felt that the destruction was too wild, unlikely to be the act of a Witch.
Until at last, they saw the body of Hades, the once mighty Lord of the Underworld, slumped on his throne.
He had lost his head, the imposing figure in black Armor now drained of all strength, cold and rigid.
A massive claw mark gouged his chest.
"What exactly happened here?" Dick looked at the corpse, then to Faust, "You said Circe stole the keys to the Gate of the Underworld, but this clearly isn't the work of that Witch."
Faust seemed to have thought of something, after a long silence he said, "It's not necessarily her doing, maybe she used..."
"Used what?"
"A secret of the ancient gods," Faust lowered his voice, "On my last visit to the underworld, I unintentionally learned the darkest secret of the gods—Zeus and Hera's firstborn, their eldest son, was imprisoned at the deepest part of the underworld due to a Prediction of usurpation."
"You're saying Circe released Zeus's son? And he's capable of killing Hades?!"
"Yes, he has the purest Divine King bloodline and is nearly invincible." Faust sighed deeply, "If he has indeed been released, I fear the gods of Olympus are in grave danger."