Inside the abandoned mine tunnels leading from Liurnia of the Lakes to the Altus Plateau, Millicent sheathed her blade, the steel still glowing a dull, searing red from the heat. Slumped lifelessly before her was the final obstacle to the plateau: the Magma Wyrm that had claimed these ancient tunnels as its lair.
"Wow, is that Master Millicent's swordsmanship? No matter how many times I see it, it's just so beautiful and elegant."
Hiding behind a rock alongside Patches, Rya's eyes were sparkling with admiration. Had Millicent not been bound by her own journey, Rya would have invited her to Volcano Manor long ago. Then, Rya spared a glance of slight disdain for Patches beside her; by comparison, she felt a twinge of regret for ever sending him an invitation.
Blackguard Big Boggart lowered his heavy iron fists. This battle had been grueling for him. If not for a swordsman as powerful as Millicent and the rock-steady presence of Great Horned Tragoth, he reckoned he would have had to find some other way to return to the Altus Plateau.
Just as he was about to step forward and offer his thanks, an anomaly occurred.
Millicent fell to one knee, her face contorted in agony. She felt something inside her suddenly grow volatile, despite the suppression of the Gold Needle. The pain seemed etched into her very soul, something that could not be endured by willpower alone.
"Millicent! What's wrong?"
"Ah..." Great Horned Tragoth looked on in panic. He could shield his comrades from almost any blow on the battlefield, but healing was far from his forte.
"No... don't touch me right now!"
Millicent gritted her teeth and pushed Tragoth away, unwilling to drag her companions into her plight. After a long moment, the Scarlet Rot surging within her finally subsided. She stood up bitterly and waved a hand to her worried traveling companions, signaling she was alright.
"I don't know what just happened. It was as if the rot within me was... cheering for the awakening of some great existence, boiling over. It should be fine now. Let's keep moving."
She suspected something had happened with Malenia. As the Empyrean hosting the Law of Scarlet Rot, Malenia's every movement could affect the rot throughout the entire Lands Between. Such an abnormality had to be linked to her. It seemed they could no longer afford to travel at a leisurely pace, yet she hadn't even reached the Altus Plateau. How was she to reach the Consecrated Snowfield in time?
"Sister Millicent, your eyes..."
Rya's voice interrupted her thoughts. Millicent touched her eye in confusion, a sense of dissonance washing over her.
"What's wrong with my eyes?"
Rya leaned in, observing closely. As a member of Volcano Manor, she had been well-protected by her mother and remained ignorant of many things, but she understood who the Recusants were recruited to hunt: besides Tarnished, they hunted those of the Golden Lineage—those with golden light shimmering in their pupils.
However, looking closer, she wasn't so sure. This light was subtly different from the Grace she knew.
"Your eyes... there's a golden luster shimmering inside them!"
"Is that a scorpion, a centipede, or a butterfly?"
Gawain stared at the Goddess of Rot. It was his first time seeing so many biological elements gathered into a single entity. Or rather, it was far more than those three; the Goddess of Rot was like a miniature Crucible of life.
Those various life forms weren't fixed. Like the massive Kindred of Rot he had encountered deep in Caelid, the crimson body constantly expanded and contracted, shifting through countless forms.
"Everything depends on this now. Remember: flow is the greatest enemy of rot! Leave that big one to me; the rest of you handle the Kindred of Rot."
At Lahn's command, the Dragonkin Soldiers positioned around the lake to destroy the seals took to the air on their wings, their hands gathering unprecedented levels of Frozen Lightning. Under the intense overload of their power cores, cracks began to spiderweb across their bodies. Before losing power entirely, they used the core's final energy to unleash a terminal volley.
The massive form of the Goddess of Rot, having just been unsealed, was not yet fully restored and could not dodge the pincer attack from four directions. Countless Aeonian Butterflies swarmed together, attempting to intercept the strikes.
Before the powerful Frozen Lightning could impact, it split into numerous tree-like structures, bypassing the interference to detonate directly against the goddess's four centipede-like limbs and her wings. Though surrounding tissue quickly surged forward to repair the damage, her movements were temporarily hindered.
Gawain did not waste the opportunity. Drawing the Storm Ruler, the three Great Runes at his chest flared to full capacity. Sorcerous fire merged with a powerful storm to form an unstoppable strike, cleaving through the colossal torso.
The scale of the attack rivaled the blow that had finished Godrick. Of course, without the eternal storms of Stormveil to bolster it, the strike took a heavy toll on his stamina. He quickly downed a flask of Sacred Tears to recover.
In a place he didn't notice, the sorcerous fire that fell onto the lake continued to burn in a strange fashion until it was completely submerged by the crimson tissue.
Yet, even such a powerful attack failed to produce a decisive result. The severed upper half only slipped for a moment before countless white silk threads erupted from the wound, eerily stitching the Goddess of Rot back together.
With a heart-stopping screech from the Goddess, the Kindred of Rot gathered in the Grand Cloister behind her surged out like madmen. Influenced by their deity, these already hideous monsters grew even more frenzied, throwing themselves at the Dragonkin Soldiers standing upon the Lake of Rot.
Standing outside the seal, Asimi frowned. The number and combat prowess of those monsters were higher than she had anticipated. It seemed the Goddess breaking her seal had provided a massive boon to her followers.
"Do not worry, my Queen. The power Nokstella has stockpiled over the years will not be exhausted so easily. And with him there, nothing will go wrong."
Asimi shook her head, slowly projecting her consciousness into a Silver Tear within Nokron. "It's not this place I'm worried about. I hope everything else goes smoothly."
Gawain clenched his fists as embers began to emanate from his body. A fist wrapped in the weight of gravitational energy sent a Rotview Ulcerated Tree Spirit flying. Before it even hit the lake's surface, it was reduced to a blackened cinder by the flames. He felt as though he had finally entered his "Phase Two" state.
Since the battle in Caelid, no enemy had forced him to go truly all-out. This unkillable, disgusting punching bag was the perfect sparring partner.
The previous strike hadn't seemed to deal lasting damage, but he could see that the vibrant crimson of the Lake of Rot had dimmed slightly afterward. It had absorbed a significant amount of the lake's matter to repair itself. Just as he thought—the lake beneath his feet served as the entity's health bar.
"Come on then. Let's see how long you can last."
Massive pillars of fire erupted from beneath the Lake of Rot, only to be extinguished by the centipede limbs. This battle lacked trickery or schemes; restricted to this small lake, it was simply a matter of who would collapse first.
On the plains of Caelid, a line of Flame Chariots advanced slowly along a set route. Protecting them, soldiers efficiently cut down any Kindred of Rot that dared approach. In a sense, it was the Lands Between's version of combined arms—infantry-tank coordination.
Nepheli Loux looked at the two spectral knights following her, her eyelids twitching. She looked up at the hovering figure of the Ancient King above her head, feeling her grip on her axes grow unsteady. She asked tentatively, "Ancient King, is it really appropriate to use the great souls once known as the 'Wings of the King' to fight alongside me?"
The Ancient King looked down at Nepheli. The more it saw of this girl, the more it liked her. Compared to that new king who spent all day wandering off to who-knows-where, it far preferred dealing with her. It replied dismissively:
"I'm the one who had people dig them out of the catacombs anyway. Though they lack self-awareness now, their combat prowess is beyond doubt. Those two were incredibly fierce on the battlefield back then; they're a perfect match for you."
"I've heard of their legendary deeds, but surely they should be protecting the King."
The Ancient King grew a bit annoyed at the mention of the King, though its tone held a trace of helplessness.
"Hmph. Don't remind me—I almost forgot I even chose a Storm King. He didn't even stay behind for a battlefield this important. Who knows where he's gone? Besides, that fellow has the exact same temperament as the one I knew. He loves to personally charge into the fray and bash heads with the strongest enemy, and once he gets fired up, he forgets everything else. Do you think a man like that needs bodyguards? Hah. I think he needs a powerful rescue team to drag him back from the brink of death, more like."
Nepheli didn't know how to respond. Though she had only recently moved in, she had witnessed the entire battle for Stormveil and couldn't find a reason to argue.
Fine. At this point, she could only bite the bullet and fight under their protection. Yet, strangely, as a warrior who also wielded the wind, she felt a profound sense of synergy with these two knights.
A violent tremor from beneath the earth interrupted her thoughts. She felt something approaching from behind, even though she hadn't yet reached the heart of the battlefield. Turning instinctively into a combat stance, she saw the earth within her vision seemingly liquefying. Countless crimson fluids were converging toward the Swamp of Aeonia, leaving behind soil of a normal color.
"What is happening..."
"Not good! The Scarlet Rot tissue is actively congregating! I don't know what they're planning, but we can't let them have their way!"
The Ancient King was right. As a twisted form of life, sensing a severe threat to its existence, the Scarlet Rot across all of Caelid was being drawn together. Furthermore, the unsealing of the Goddess of Rot in the lake below had, in a sense, stimulated the spread of the Rot Law in the Lands Between. This caused the Scarlet Rot on the Caelid plains to begin boiling.
"Aim for that mass in the center! Give it everything you've got!"
Standing atop the Swamp Lookout Tower, Jerren screamed himself hoarse as he observed the battlefield. The rot tissue was forming the shape of a flower—a nightmare scenario for him. The last time he had seen this was when Malenia bloomed the Flower of Aeonia.
At his command, catapults built on the site of the former Town of Sorcery launched explosives burning with Redmane Fire. Sorcerers hurriedly unleashed various large-scale attack spells as if they had infinite mana, raining them down upon the budding flower.
"Brace for impact! Something is coming out!"
Elsa, situated in the heart of the battlefield, saw it clearly. The volley of strikes had done some damage, but it was too late.
Several massive centipede limbs crawled out from the flower. The strongest individual this swamp could gestate had been born anew, mimicking the form of the Goddess of Rot. Enveloped in a swarm of fused, powerful Kindred of Rot, it erupted from the Swamp of Aeonia. A crimson mist blanketed the already chaotic battlefield, obscuring the sun. Even the brilliance of the Erdtree turned eerie as it refracted through the rot.
Following the monster's first howl, agile white pests shot out from its body, pouncing on the Flame Chariots or slamming into the reserve units to cause chaos. This momentarily halted the main army's offensive and created an opening for the Kindred of Rot to charge.
Soon, the close-quarters melee—originally planned for the final stage—began. Much like the Redmane Army of old, this mixed force of Tarnished, Storm Knights, and Redmanes had to hold back the encroachment of Scarlet Rot with their own bodies. If they failed, everything would be for naught.
Inside the Academy of Raya Lucaria, Moongrum burst through the doors of the Grand Library. Sellen was focused intently on manipulating the Academy's seals, ensuring they functioned correctly to support the land below.
She frowned at Moongrum. The loyal Carian Knight shouldn't have been so agitated. Had something gone wrong in the Academy?
"Steady yourself, Moongrum. What has happened outside to make you lose your composure?"
"It's that damnable Lord of Blood. He somehow obtained a discarded Glintstone Key and broke in with two Bell Bearing Hunters."
Moongrum glanced at the resting Queen and clenched his fists. "The Academy has very few powerful sorcerers left. Sending the apprentices to resist is suicide."
The hateful image of Mohg flashed in Sellen's mind, and anger surged within her. Knowing the Lord of Blood's nature, the one he sent this time was likely a projection; in that case, she might have a chance.
She considered whether to personally deal with him. The seal she designed was sturdier than expected and could hold for a while without her, but if the hub temporarily placed in the Debate Parlor was destroyed, it would not be easy to restore.
Moongrum, sensing her thoughts, immediately reached out to stop her reckless plan.
"Master Sellen, I am only here to inform you so you can prepare. The Crucible Knight Kahndan has already led the Storm Knights to engage the Lord of Blood, and I will be joining them shortly. You are the only one left who can protect the Queen's peace."
"Please, stay here and wait for our good news. Trust me. Do not let any intruder enter the Grand Library."
Sellen ultimately remained. She knew that while things could go wrong elsewhere, this place was the one spot that could not fail. Furthermore, Mohg, Lord of Blood, never fought fair—much like when he kidnapped the Empyrean Miquella from the Haligtree, throwing the alliance into internal strife and immediate collapse.
It wasn't just a possibility; it was a certainty that Mohg would abandon his two subordinates and sneak into this core area alone. And only she knew how to deal with that treacherous demigod.
"Very well. The Academy's offensive magic can still be used; I will assist remotely from here. I will safeguard this place. Please... do not let the hub in the Debate Parlor be destroyed."
Moongrum nodded solemnly and rushed out of the library to reinforce the others. By the time he entered, the intruders had already passed the Church of the Cuckoo and were heading toward the classroom district.
Sellen looked outside with a grim expression. She could already smell the disgusting scent of Cursed Blood in the air. Cursing under her breath, she touched a certain part of her body, her mind made up on how to respond.
Behind her, unnoticed, Melina—curled within the Amber Egg—quietly opened her eyes, though her body remained in a spectral state.
The Rebirth Ritual had reached completion early through an unexpected method. In her right hand, a weapon shaped like a dagger was slowly taking form.
────────────────────────────────────────
Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (255 chapter - Ongoing)
Join the journey and become part of the story!
────────────────────────────────────────