Chapter 1187 - Meeting A Weird Old Man!
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The Greed Layer was the IV Layer of Hell where the greedy people were thrown into. The souls of the tormented in here were obviously those of very greedy fellows.
Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean are punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly (including many "clergymen, and popes and cardinals"), who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. The hoarders and spendthrifts joust, using great weights as weapons that they push with their chests.
I saw others that were being tied to gold and jewels, and made to carry it everywhere, it was so heavy they were tearing apart their flesh. But it was all soul, so they recovered back some time ago and continued doing it over and over again. It was a bit harsh in that regard but there's nothing you can do with this, that's how hell is for you.
The sea of molten gold had its own beast by itself, and many demonic monsters roamed freely there. The demons that we found were many variants of Imps, but there were grater demons with higher ranks, although nothing like Archdemons, much like gods in genesis, they're secretive and won't show up in the floor walking around like a fellow friend, I guess.
However, this time around there were a few Archdemon-Class Demonic Beasts that were dwelling in the Molten Gold Sea, amongst them there were gigantic whale-like monsters that devoured souls and then pooped them into gold. That was weird.
Alongside that, we saw dragons, the greediest beings there can be and sometime seen as the personification of them, there were many dragon monsters around, some were even being tortured by large armies of imps, such dragons might had been very greedy mortals.
Although I have yet to see god-like souls in here, it seems that Hell can only trap mortal souls, when they reach godly levels, they cannot be thrown in here, I guess.
Aside from that we saw all sorts of demonic beasts and demon species going around, it was definitely busier than limbo, and we had yet to enter the Pandemonium.
The Pandemonium was in front of us though, it was a massive city made up of… gold, yes it was purely made of gold, nobody else than Mammon could construct such a rich structure, the entire place was like El Dorado, to an extent, if not even more.
All this gold was quite shocking to my family although I could make all the gold I wanted.
What we found amusing from this place was, however, someone that greeted us and noticed our presence immediately.
It was a man, an old man with barely any clothes other than a loincloth covering his crotch. He was bald, and had a long gray bear. His eyes were dark, seemingly empty. And he emanated a strong presence, stronger than what I've seen here, he was definitely above an Archdemon level, probably the higher rankings of Archdemon. But he seemed oddly calm as he walked towards us. His size was big, almost 50 meters. So he was more like a Titan, in a sense.
"Ahh… Hahaha… Pope Satan… Pope Satan, Amen…" he laughed eerily, as he stopped coming towards us out of nowhere as we stared at him. He suddenly sat down over the floor, scratching his butt, and then looking back at us.
"You're.. not from here… Pray to Pope Satan and I will let you pass… You're strong." he said.
"What?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Pray to Satan? Whose that fellow?" asked Rimuru.
"Pope Satan… Amen…" he said again, praying to someone as he closed his eyes desperately. He looked not right on his sanity.
"Who are you, old man?" I asked.
He suddenly locked our path with his gigantic hands, putting them before us.
"No pass… Pray to Pope Satan." He said.
"Do you want to get eaten? Let me pass." I sighed.
"Eaten? Do you eat, demon? Are you Beelzebub? No, you are not… Amen…" he said again.
"Can you be clearer?" I asked.
"Outsider. You're cocky… you're very cocky to think you can come to Hell and have a trip like nothing… The Eyes of Satan are watching over you, Mammon knows about you, Kireina Chaos Dark Moon…" said the old man, suddenly shocking us all, he already knew my entire name.
"W-What? So you guys know we are here already? Well, that makes it easy. Where's Mammon?" I asked.
"Mammon almighty does not care about your lowly being's affairs. Mammon almighty only cares about himself and his richness. He wants a peaceful life of indulgence, Mammon almighty… Amen." He said.
"You really like to pray…"
"Hell is a place of punishment; purgatory is not a place where you come to take a trip leisurely. This is a place where the sinful is punished, hehehehehe… And I am here watching over them as I punish them, because I am also being punished by being here… I am a greedy man, gueehehehe…" he began to laugh.
"Masta I think this man is crazy, not even Megusan or the other Demon Gods we fought were this irrational." Said Rimuru.
"I agree! He's nuts!" said Megusan from within Nirah's tail.
"Megu-chan say he's a creep!" said Nirah.
"He's really a weirdo, but he's strong too." Said Redgaria, he looked at the man as he approached him boldly.
"Hey, I came to bargain, you're Plutus, aren't you? The Keeper of Greed." Said Redgaria.
"Wait, Plutus?!" I asked.
From what I know about him, Plutus is son of the goddess Demeter and the mythical king Iasion, though sometimes he was also said the be the son of Hades and Persephone. He is often described as a small child, who holds a cornucopia, and is held by either the goddess Eirene or Tyche.
Or so I thought, but he seems not to be present in Genesis, so this Plutus must be not related to that world…
So who is he, really?
"Hehehehehe… Necromancer… Do you pray to the Antichrist?" he asked.
"Antichrist…? In my world there is no such concept." Said Redgaria.
"Hahahaha… A world without Christ… how wonderful." He said.
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