Whoosh—
The moment they emerged, several crossbow bolts streaked toward them. Fortunately, both brothers had lightning-fast reflexes; they dodged the incoming projectiles with a synchronized leap. Once they regained their footing, they saw their assailants: a group of Leyndell soldier spirits, spectral and translucent white.
So, these are spirits? Mohg mused, squinting at the ghostly soldiers.
The spirits seemed to recognize them. Upon realizing the intruders were Omens, they lowered their weapons. Mohg could even detect a flicker of confusion on their spectral faces.
"Can you speak?" Mohg asked, stepping up to the nearest soldier.
The spirit stared at him blankly for a long moment before slowly shaking its head. Mohg rubbed his chin, coming to a quick conclusion: while these spirits retained a fragment of consciousness, they weren't "whole." They likely possessed only basic friend-or-foe recognition and a rudimentary capacity for communication.
More spirits began to manifest around them, all of them Leyndell soldiers. However, seeing that the newcomers were fellow Omens, they simply sat back down on the floor, their initial hostility evaporating. Mohg, meanwhile, was glancing around restlessly. If his memory served him right, there should be a Spirit-call Snail nearby.
To be honest, he was actually a little curious about what a Spirit-call Snail tasted like... After all, the creature had a very unique appearance: a snake-like head paired with a snail's body and shell. Since they didn't seem like scavengers that ate filth, Mohg figured they might actually be quite savory. Though he certainly couldn't eat this particular one, it didn't stop him from being curious.
"I remember it was right around here..."
Mohg walked up to a wall beside the stairs and, without hesitation, walked straight into the solid stone.
"Hey, that's a wa—huh?!"
Morgott's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He rushed over to the wall Mohg had just vanished into, inspecting it closely. It looked exactly like every other wall in the place. Morgott began to seriously doubt himself. Is my perception really that bad?
Inside the hidden chamber, Mohg immediately locked eyes with a ghostly Leyndell soldier. The soldier looked visibly bewildered; he raised his dagger, then slowly lowered it, clearly torn on whether he was supposed to attack an Omen. Sensing no immediate danger, Mohg proceeded to walk through yet another wall.
Morgott, having finally figured out the trick, stumbled in after him. Seeing a second Omen appear out of nowhere, the ghost soldier's head practically sprouted question marks. What is going on today? Is there an Omen convention in the catacombs?
While the ghost was suffering a mental breakdown, Morgott was equally lost. Where did my brother go?!
Deep within the innermost hidden room, Mohg was having a staring contest with the Spirit-call Snail. The snail's thoughts were in utter disarray. In its experience, Omens weren't supposed to be smart enough to find its hiding spot. Furthermore... the way this Omen was looking at it felt... wrong. It felt profoundly unsafe.
Seeing a spark of human-like intelligence in the snail's eyes, Mohg reached out and patted its head.
"Ahem. Don't look at me like that. I'm not going to hurt you. It's my first time in a catacomb, so I'm just a bit curious."
The Spirit-call Snail looked at him suspiciously, but since it sensed no actual malice from Mohg, it relaxed slightly. Besides, if he really wanted to do something, it couldn't fight back anyway. It was merely an anchor used to guide souls back to the physical realm; it had zero combat capability of its own.
After observing the snail for a while longer, Mohg finally stepped back out, nearly colliding with Morgott.
"Damn! What are you doing here?"
Morgott, who had been agonizing over which wall to walk through next, breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing Mohg's question, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"What do you think?"
"Right, right. Anyway, let's keep moving. It's just a Spirit-call Snail back there, nothing special."
"A Spirit-call Snail?" Morgott frowned, searching his memory. It took a moment before he recalled a description of such creatures from one of the ancient texts he had read.
"This tomb shouldn't pose any threat to us," Mohg said as he stepped out from the illusory wall.
The illusory walls here were different from the ones in Mohg's memory—they didn't shatter when touched. They could pass through them freely without breaking the hidden effect. It seemed they offered little resistance, at least to them.
"Mm. It seems that because there are other Omens within this tomb, the guardians don't view us as enemies."
The two climbed the stairs and soon reached the main entrance and the prominent lever.
"This is likely the true entrance and exit of the catacombs. The path we took... was a bit of a sequence break."
"In that case, these spirits are probably stationed here to prevent anyone from opening the gate from the inside. We shouldn't touch it. Best to avoid any unnecessary trouble," Morgott suggested.
Mohg had no objection to that. He wasn't malicious enough to want to stir up trouble for the tomb's guardians.
"If the upper levels are guarded by snails and spirits... what lies below?"
"Who knows? But I think we can make use of this place."
"What do you mean?" Morgott asked, confused.
"The combat power here is quite substantial, isn't it? We could lead a few spirits down to help us clear out those Giant Crayfish outside. After all... those 'shrimp' shouldn't be able to fit in here. We can just stand behind the opening and have the spirits snipe them with crossbows until they're dead."
"Wait... what????"
Morgott stared at Mohg with a look of utter bewilderment, his expression clearly saying: You can actually play it like that??
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Elden Ring: As the Consort, I Reject Miquella (211 Chapters – Ongoing)
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