Chapter 104: Any Later and I'd Have Given Birth
The small purple fire dragon had returned.
It landed on Illyana's shoulder, and the two communicated telepathically.
Normally, adult extraordinary dragons could speak human language; otherwise, they could only communicate via telepathy or with those who possessed natural affinity.
"You're saying the Lizard Demons in the territory saw Allen?"
"Rawr…"
The little fire dragon puffed out smoke, confirming it.
Upon learning he had headed toward the border, Illyana's expression changed drastically.
"That guy's dead?" Ellie asked coldly.
She had a poor impression of Allen—on the very first day, he'd sat on her lap. Just thinking about it made her furious.
"Don't say that. Allen's still our classmate," Yukio said unhappily.
"If he weren't being a lunatic, we wouldn't have had to come all the way to Hell to find him," Ellie grumbled.
"Enough, both of you."
Illyana explained, "Allen's headed toward the border. That leads to the Underworld."
"The Underworld!?"
After a brief explanation, they finally understood the distinction between Hell and the Underworld.
It was perfectly normal to be ignorant about it—after all, who among the living bothers to learn about such things?
"There's one problem."
Illyana spoke with gravity, "In Hell, I can continuously draw magic from my territory. But once we enter the Underworld, that supply cuts off. I won't be able to teleport freely. Worse yet, Hell and the Underworld are currently at war."
"So… are we still going to rescue him?" Yukio asked hesitantly.
Things had gone off the rails and were now spiraling into chaos.
She couldn't help but marvel at Allen's boldness—he actually left Hell and walked straight toward the Underworld. Among humans, he was truly one of a kind.
"We have to rescue him."
Illyana took both of their hands and immediately cast a teleportation spell.
In an instant, they arrived at the edge of Hell.
Coincidentally, a demon army was cleaning up the battlefield.
The sudden appearance of the three women instantly drew many greedy stares from the demons.
Of course, it wasn't lust—they saw them as food.
Human flesh was a delicacy in the eyes of demons. One bite could earn bragging rights for a lifetime.
Demons were rare in the human world; the reverse was equally true—humans were rare in Hell.
In a flash, Illyana's eyes turned azure blue, scales covered her right arm, and a glowing Soulsword condensed in her hand.
The aura of a Hell Lord spread across the battlefield.
In Hell, she could unleash her full power. In the human world, due to dimensional differences, she couldn't draw on her territory's strength.
The demons who had been eyeing them hungrily immediately returned to their work, pretending not to see a thing.
A Hell Lord? Our apologies, we didn't recognize you!
"Honored Lord, how may I be of service? Yarse is at your command."
A fallen angel descended from the sky. With golden hair, black wings, and strikingly handsome features—he was, indeed, Heaven-made quality.
Hell was a competitive place, and the inclusion of fallen angels had only worsened the internal strife.
Yarse wanted to cozy up to the new lord and land himself a position.
During the Fall, many angels had been swept into the war. After falling to Hell, they split into factions. Some refused to serve the Archangels and ended up as wanderers.
"Have you seen a human recently? One who… doesn't quite seem normal?" Illyana asked bluntly.
She had no interest in playing politics or expanding her territory—so she made her cold disinterest very clear.
"I saw him not long ago. He's already entered the Underworld. He was taken by the Goddess of Death, Hela," Yarse answered truthfully.
"Thanks."
With that, Illyana took the other two and headed for the Underworld.
"Lord! Do you need a general? If not, maybe just a commander? I can compromise!" Yarse called out hopefully.
"Not hiring for now."
Illyana replied coolly.
…
In Hela's palace.
Allen was waddling around with a massive belly, supporting it with both hands like he was about to give birth.
"I wish your old teammates could see you like this," Hela teased gleefully.
She hadn't been this happy in ages.
The last time might've been during her stint with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Back in Asgard, everyone looked at her with reverence—never a friend in sight, no one to talk to.
Allen looked like a bitter housewife. "You're laughing? You did this to me. Got anything to help me pee?"
Plop!
A gooey, glistening droplet landed on Allen's head.
He looked up to see a massive gray-brown wolf staring down at him.
The giant wolf grinned with its tongue out, exhaling hot breaths.
"Why is this mutt breathing all over me!?"
Allen dodged another falling glob of saliva.
Hela gave a subtle signal. "Sit."
The wolf obediently sat down, tilting its head curiously.
"Wait… is that the giant wolf Fenrir!?"
Allen had figured it out.
"Didn't expect you to know Fenrir," Hela said, gently stroking the wolf's soft fur. "He was my childhood companion. Odin ordered me to kill him, but I couldn't. So Odin chained him up. When I escaped Asgard, I freed him too."
"The author's really trying to portray Odin as a tyrant," Allen mused.
The Odin people knew from the movies was a kind and wise king who doted on Thor—but that portrayal never quite landed.
There were too many inconsistencies.
For example, ordering Hela to conquer the Nine Realms, only to seal her away after using her?
It didn't fit the character of a benevolent father. Shouldn't he have taught her about righteousness from the start? And if he noticed violent tendencies, why give her powers over death and war? Total contradiction.
If he could go all out to raise Loki—a child of his enemy—why couldn't he treat Hela the same? It didn't make sense.
Only one explanation made sense—Hela was someone else's kid.
Allen slapped his thigh. "Mystery solved! Odin got cuckolded and lost his mind."
"What are you on about?" Hela rolled her eyes. "My mother, Angrboða, was a Jötunn slave Odin took when he invaded Jotunheim. The way he treated me was due to his hatred for my Jötunn blood. Asgardians view Jötunns as evil brutes unworthy of divinity."
"Gross. The one-eyed creep bangs a Jötunn girl and then has the nerve to call her filthy." Allen curled his lip, then asked, "How tall are Jötunn giants?"
"About four meters on average."
"Woooow… now that's wild."
Allen's imagination went off the rails. Odin was basically human-sized, and yet he'd gone after a four-meter giantess. Now that's some bold play.
"Sis, can you hook me up with a giantess? I wanna see what it's like to pass through a tunnel."
He clung to Hela's hand, whining shamelessly, "Mooommy~ please~"
Hela's eye twitched. Her scalp tingled.
She must've been out of her mind to let this nutcase call her mom.
Now just hearing it made her skin crawl.
"Pleeease, mommy~ my dearest mommy~"
Allen puckered up, pouting adorably.
Hela clenched her fist in disgust, releasing death energy that suspended him in mid-air. "Call me mom one more time and I'll turn you into a zombie."
"Auntie?"
"No."
"Granny?"
"No."
"Mother of green forgiveness?"
"…"
"Don't squeeze! You'll kill the baby!"
Hela barely applied pressure, and Allen felt like his stomach was going to pop.
Just then, a skeletal soldier in armor arrived to report: "Your Majesty, three living humans have entered the territory. They're here for your prisoner."
To the undead, Allen was just one of Hela's captives.
"Green goddess of forgiveness, my wives are here! Bet you're sweating now!" Allen gloated.
"They might be here to bring you back," Hela mused.
"As if! I'm not going back. You think I'm a yo-yo? In and out on command?" Allen huffed.
Hela ordered the soldier to bring them in. She couldn't take another minute with this lunatic—her brain was melting from the nonsense.
Before long, Illyana and the other two entered the palace.
They hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. On the way, they had mentally prepared for a hard fight.
The moment they stepped into the palace and saw Allen cradling his belly, looking pitiful…
"Allen, what happened to you!?" Yukio gasped.
He looked completely deformed.
Allen whined, "Any later and I'd have given birth!"
Ha—
The three girls gawked, jaws on the floor. A man giving birth!?
"He just drank too much water," Hela waved dismissively. "Take him and go. He's driving me insane."
"I'm not leaving! I'm having a baby!"
Allen hid behind Hela, peeking sneakily at the three girls.
Hela grabbed him and hauled him forward, warning them, "Next time, don't throw him into Hell. Something will happen."
Of course, she didn't mean Allen would be in danger—she was worried he'd disrupt Hell, forcing the demons to retaliate against the human world.
"I'm not leaving! Mommy save me! Your good son's about to be dragged away by three wicked witches!"
Illyana and Ellie grabbed him from either side, dragging him toward the exit.
Hela vanished with a teleportation spell.
"Wait! I gotta pee!"
The sudden urge caught everyone off guard. Allen frantically searched for a spot.
He scanned the room—and locked eyes on Fenrir.
The innocent giant wolf tilted his head, unsure what the human was about to do.
Then Allen walked behind him…
A long, steady trickling sound followed—for five full minutes. Allen finally zipped up, satisfied.
Fenrir turned to look at the soaking spot behind him, whimpered softly, and locked eyes with the culprit.
"What're you staring at, dumb mutt?"
Allen marched back toward the palace.
The three girls finally understood what it meant to be hated by both man and beast.
Not only did he pee on the wolf—he insulted it too.
Fenrir whimpered and went to find Hela for comfort.
"ALLEN!!!"
Soon after, Hela's furious roar echoed through the palace—
But it was too late. They had already teleported back to the academy.