Chương 157: Chapter 153

The basement had stairs leading down into the depths. And it looked almost like a corridor down to tartarus. Only a single doorway remained ahead at the bottom, with wires leaking out the side, keeping it from being completely closed up.

"Behold, the divine throne from which all of humanity's fate is decided." Zin said, then tightened his tie, took a deep breath, and walked down. The bottom doorway was slowly opened inwards with a creak, revealing the first bits of Play's familiar sanctuary. It seemed this time around the NEET had decided darkness would be her ally. A dim glow of screenlight blue on furniture shapes was the only real details Wade could make out. And there was a hissing sound that was very much not the doorway.

"Knock knock, your holiness. Pest control." Zin said, opening the rest of the doorway as Wade made his way next to him, peering into the gloom. The Archdemon had a grin that stretched way too far over his face to be natural.

"Wait-wait! Stop! I never agreed to walk outside! Going to Azdrial was the deal, there wasn't any mention of pulling me off this couch!" The voice floated beyond the NEET cave.

"You can pop into Azdrial anywhere when night comes! We don't need to go anywhere else, my domain works just as well!"

"No can do Play." Wade said."I've got a list of things I need to travel with, including Leon and you. You're coming back with us, probably to a warehouse or some place with enough space for me to gather everything and everyone."

"NATURAL LIGHT IS A PSYOP BY BIG SUNSCREEN AND I WILL NOT BE CONNED INTO PARTICIPATING!" The Archdemon stared back.

"Yeah, that's about what I expected."

"No, no, she's got a bit of a point here." Wade said, thinking.

"Sunscreen's an unnecessary expense when you can just stay indoors and do things during the night. Vitamin D supplements can easily handle the body requirements. She's oddly responsible on that one." Zin rubbed his eye with exasperation.

"Some days, I sometimes begin to believe I'm the one that's going insane around here. And then I hear things like this, and I'm happily reminded that no, I'm definitely the only sane one here."

"It doesn't matter if she's got a point on that or not, we're still pulling her out of here." Wade shrugged then peered further into the gloom, searching for the source of the voice among the dim blue. Ahead in the abyss, Wade could start making out details. She was there on the couch, wrapped in a blanket cocoon with only her face and hands visible, holding a controller. Junk of all kinds formed a defensive perimeter around the couch's base.

And of course, her pink glittery phone rested right next to her, within easy shitposting range.

"Come out with your hands in the air Play, don't make this harder than it has to be."

"We have no need for your jests here, mortal! Very well, I will be gracious and allow you this one time an exception for your allies to come here into my domain. We do not need to go to any warehouse or anywhere outside this room." The lady doth protested.

"No need to thank me. My domain is vast and welcoming." She stared at him from her fortress, surrounded by landmines of half eaten chip bags, empty energy cans, inexplicable cheese powder, and finally a moat of spilled and dried up something that looked sticky.

"Floors are Zinny problems." Play huffed, noticing where Wade was staring at.

"The Russian and your other demons won't care, it'll be fine." Zin's eye twitched as he kept a pained expression.

"Just for the record champ, I cleaned this biohazard site this morning before I went to fetch you. So this lovely little snapshot of fun? That's a few hours of work for her. A few. Hours. Now imagine what happens when she gets more than half a day unsupervised." Wade slowly turned to stare at Play, in judgement.

"Fine! Fine," Play squawked from her couch.

"I will be gracious this one time and allow him some rest from his duties. Butler, you may clean this all up an hour before the mortals arrive in my domain instead of the usual immediate." Wade nodded to himself, and crushed the tiny spec of guilt that had been slowly growing deep inside for all the times he'd bullied this NEET. Nope, she deserved every bit of torment he could inflict. He was almost about to ask her another question when something caught his eye.

It skittered in the dark, then paused, perfectly peaceful.

"Oh, that's Kevin." Play said, noticing where the two of them were staring.

"He's one of my worshipers."

"That's a cockroach." Wade said.

"That's one cockroach." Zin sighed.

"Who knows how many others are in here. And do remember, this room is sealed off leading into the void, there isn't any walls for these things to crawl in from besides the doorway. I have this personal theory she summons them directly to complete her basement lair. Divinities, what-can-you-do." Kevin twitched his antenna, and skittered to feast on the few drops left inside a discarded top ramen cup. Play looked obscenely proud of herself.

"Getting her outside is going to be fun." Wade said. Zin tapped his chest, where a small phone extruded slightly.

"Way ahead of you, kiddo. Started recording before we stepped out of the car, made sure I had full battery. Shall we start?" She paled. Which was impressive considering her usual skin tone was vampire-coded.

"Wait-wait-wait! We don't technically need me to come with you at all anymore! Your quest just said you needed to find the means of travel, not that you had to actually travel!"

"I'd rather have the option in case we need it, than not have the option at all." Wade said, "And secondly, you'll count as a crewmember. Which means, at the very least we got Leon, you and me and only need two more. You're coming with me this round. It's the optimal move." Wade took a step through the doorway and something felt instantly different. As if he were stepping through more than a threshold. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He was still underground, in one of the few houses of this neighborhood to be built with one. And yet, he felt as all that existed beyond these walls was stars, space, and the doorway behind him leading up to the light of the stairs. Play's Storefront - Divine Realm Sanctuary Zone"Woah, you weren't kidding at all about the separated realm." He turned to Zin walking behind, closing the door however far the wires allowed.

"Why do you think I'm doing arts and crafts with tied up extension cords here, Mr. Wade?" One very expensive shoe tapped on said wires a few times, pointing them out.

"If I had my way, this rats nest would be carefully tied inside the walls, you know, where cables belong. This doorway being the only ticket here has been one massive pain in my neck." The NEET was frantically tapping away at her controllers. Wade could swear she was starting to sweat with nerves. Every now and then, her eyes would dart over to Wade. He looked down at her couch. And to the minefield. Along with the sticky residue and cheese dust. Which oddly surrounded her couch…

looking more like a protective barrier. He then equally noticed the Archdemon was lurking as far away from the mess as he could get.

"Sorry kiddo, she's got me hard countered here."

"… She made some kind of divine ward with Cheetos dust?" Wade asked.

"Something like that." Zin hissed back.

"A goddess like myself does not hide behind wards mortal. How insolent of you to suggest such a thing." Wade looked back.

"How's she repelling you if it's not a magic ward?" The Archdemon pointed two hands down at his shoes, pants and everything.

"Do you think I touch or handle anything in this room with my good dress suits and pants? Mr. Wade, I have a whole other set I wear down here when I'm actually here to clean. It's currently being disinfected from this morning, stopped by the dry cleaner on the way to your gas station. I know the guy there by name at this point. Lovely fellow, great discount rates for repeat customers." So she did make a ward against him, only without using any magic.

It explained why Play's sole attention had been on him this whole time. He was the threat here. Zin couldn't get within grabbing range. And she probably planned out how to keep him from grabbing her anyhow even if he was in range. Wade took a deep breath. It smelled like old ramen, which might have repulsed anyone else, but to him that was the smell of home and the end of a work shift. He felt oddly more relaxed even. She might have hard countered Zin, but she had no power over Wade.

Speaking of, business first, pleasure later.

"All right, Play, before we start all of this, can you open up the storefront from here?" She waved a hand. The storefront appeared before him. Fully prepared to buy anything he wanted. It had worked. Wade had thought for a moment it wouldn't, but for once he had been too pessimistic.

"Oh my god, this means quests on Earth can basically be cashed in instantly now." And speaking of quests, he did have one that handed him a coin. One of Medy's alchemy quests. He looked over the options he'd unlocked on the storefront. Quest System upgrade [Greater Lootboxes] - 1 Coin Wade pressed the button. System upgrade [Greater Lootboxes] purchased! Storefront coins: 0 Wade thought over the main goals for the coming round. There were two gold lootboxes to go for first.

One for killing the Nathir asshole, and the second for having solo-killed the giant chameleon. That and getting the mithril lootbox that'll hold his third boon for the round. After that was the quests. The very first quest to handle was the Bellkeeper one. Fleeting Quest: The new Bellkeeper - Restore all functions to the Arcane Diving Bell. It handed down a copper lootbox among the rewards.

Which Wade had once erroneously thought wasn't much until a simple mimic-enhanced copper lootbox had turned his meme boon into something that could actually be abused. That quest was basically near done, he just needed to bring supplies. But the crewmembers...

"Does Eri count as a crewmember for the bellkeeper quest?" Play shrugged in her cocoon.

"If the System is counting souls as the metric, he should. If it's counting bodies, he might. If it's counting Players, you're screwed." Safest thing to do would be to bring in other people from the outside in. If he could somehow get Illy and Selena here with him, that add up to five exactly with Play, Leon and himself counted. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the first two here.

And everyone else he could bring into the round with him were running the risk of getting stuck there if he died to some bullshit midround. Jason and Ann were out then. No way he'd risk either of them. And Zin made it clear he didn't want to volunteer anyone he knew into the meatgrinder. Nor would it be fine to drag random paid shmuck out here on Earth into all this. Conclusion: There wasn't any real way to get that quest done while being able to look himself in the mirror the next day.

He had to bet on Eri counting as a crewmember, and so his next task was to raise the dead miners and get them into the bell.

"Necromancy it is." Medy had explained some basics, he'd need to learn on the job for the rest. He started pacing on the only clean parts of the floor, while Zin remained in the corner, keeping his expensive shoes as far away from the NEET defense barrier as he could. He had a minimap feature, he could experiment with everything that could be done on that and use it to track where the miners went. If Eri counted as a crewmember, then the minion Leon or Wade brought up would count for the fifth.

Five crewmembers for the bell, quest complete. And with a small army, they could probably tackle the enemies in the Arcane realm. He checked his quests for what he could get done. Alchemy Reagents (Part 3) - Defeat an enemy level fourty or higher using the Vial of Inevitable Destruction to deal the killing blow. One coin for that one. And right nearby, the other quest that would dovetail well. Augmented Hunter: For the next five challenge gauntlets, gain +1 random stat increase on full completion of each gauntlet.

Charges remaining: 1 He just needed to hunt one big game critter out here, and he'd get some goodies. He could throw minions at the enemy, and shoot from safety with Skyviper. And then watch the explosions from a distance. He followed down the list to the next quest. Bad Traveling - Return to Hell following the standard paths through the spirit realm. Rewards: Five Storefront Coins. Silver Lootbox. Negligible Leveling Experience. Storefront Progression Option. Could it be done?

With a free ride from Play up and over the realms, it should technically be possible. Just dangerous. Since Play wasn't going to help him with fighting in any way.

"What's our chances of you bringing me to the spirit realm, then back into hell at the right spot?" Wade asked.

"Bring a lot of salt, holy water, religious icons last I heard. Should probably ask your friends for a list. You'll have to lug all the loot you get though~" As in all the mana crystals he was planning on getting. And he had planned a full mining operation for this round. He could call up Illy and get Selena to fill him in on how to travel. Once he had everything he aimed for, he could start the last leg of the journey and travel back to Hell where Illy was. Tough decision.

If he tried traveling through the spirit realm to make it back to Illy and Selena, that'd be a hard travel with an industrial drum of mana crystals he was planning on bringing. He'd leave his options open and make the decision on site. If it was too dangerous to travel into the spirit realm with the loot he'd gotten, then he'd have to just scratch this quest up as unsuccessful. But better that his long term goals got completed. And ultimately, there was a single quest he had to complete above all other options.

Fleeting Quest: ##ERROR_ñûll_pöîntér_ëxçëptî0x3F3F3F - Earn another Player Selection Reward of any rank. Rewards:??? The potions would increase his odds of making it through this current round and possibly hand him some more help for the next round if there were any leftover.

"All right, we're done." He nodded.

"Zin. Prepare to capture and extract the NEET."

"Wait, I'm not done yet! I can't pause an online game!" She screeched back, exploding out of her cocoon of blankets, scooting all the way to the edge of the couch.

"Kevin! Kevin, simp for me!" The cockroach somehow seemed to understand, and zipped to the forefront of the landmine piles, at attention, prepared to protect his goddess using his own body if need be. Zin looked at the cockroach. Then down at his two thousand dollar immaculately polished shoes. A white gloved hand slapped down on Wade's shoulder.

"All right kiddo, would you look at that, scoreboard says you're up! Go give her hell, you little scamp, I'm right here rooting for you." She could escape out of anything, turn into mist when she wanted, float around in the air, and yet he'd been able to grab and throttle her before. And flick her forehead. And here she was scooting to the edge of the couch away from them both, when she could just float anywhere she pleased. This was a game to her. And the rules were theater.

And he could tell she wasn't going to come quietly using mundane attempts at dislodging her.