Although the Dancing Lion ahead appeared lifeless, it couldn't deceive an Unkindled like Gawain, who could see through the state of a soul at a glance. The two Hornsent hidden beneath the lion's shroud were undoubtedly still alive.
He looked back at Melina. She nodded slightly and retreated to a relatively safe distance.
"Be careful. I can sense that something is wrong with those two Hornsent."
Just as he moved to take a closer look at this legendary Divine Beast, the sky above suddenly shifted. Gale-force winds howled around them, and a raspy, fanatical voice echoed through the air:
"O Horned Beast, O Divine Beast—"
"Dwell within the children of the tower, within the bodies of the brave, and dance for us..."
"Dance with splendor, dance with beauty, and purify all!"
"Purify the misfortune, the villains, the enemies of the tower..."
"Purify that brood, the children of the harlot..."
As the voice faded, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, which had been lying motionless on the ground, slowly raised its body. The lion-like head turned toward the intruders. Following a thunderous roar, a violent storm erupted in the plaza.
Gawain stared at the two pairs of feet visible beneath the lion's body, remembering the two loincloth-clad figures he had sensed earlier. It was those two Hornsent who held the body of the lion aloft. He didn't even know how to begin critiquing this bizarre aesthetic; even with his senses already weathered by the twisted sights of this world, this was hard to swallow.
The Divine Beast Dancing Lion slowly rose, its pupils glowing within the lion mask as it glared at the intruders. After another roar, the air turned into a raging tempest.
"Is this some kind of art form I'm too uncultured to understand? These spirit-channelers get more abstract by the second. They're really doing a live lion dance performance? Don't tell me this is actually what a 'Divine Beast' looks like."
Though he mocked it, he didn't lower his guard. He took his stance, ready to meet the enemy. A boss capable of directly altering the weather was rare; in a game, this would surely be a "Remembrance" level encounter.
The three of them stood in a standoff with the massive Divine Beast, neither side making the first move as they tested each other.
Gawain took the opportunity to observe the two Hornsent inside the lion. They were even taller than the Horned Warriors he had encountered before, and the overgrown Omen horns on their heads seemed to have fused with the lion mask itself.
His vision pierced through the surface of the mask to see the souls of the two Hornsent within. Their movements were stiff, lacking any sense of self-awareness, as if they were merely parts of the lion—as if the giant lion head was the true entity. The two puppets used their bodies as vessels to maintain the lion's movements and the power of the channeled spirit.
Gawain frowned, feeling a sense of disgust at this method of spirit-channeling. He had assumed that even if the result wasn't a one-sided blessing like the relationship between Mohg and the Formless Mother, it would at least be like the Horned Warriors. Instead, it seemed the highest-ranking "brave" warriors were simply possessed and erased by this so-called Divine Beast.
The Dancing Lion was the first to lose patience. Its fabric-and-fur body, driven by the spirit-channeling, moved with the grace and ferocity of a true predator.
The two warriors below danced the beast forward in an eerie, frantic rhythm. They transitioned from a slow crawl to a wild sprint, eventually lunging once the distance was closed.
Leda and Freyja, positioned on the flanks, sidestepped to pull away, avoiding being sent flying by the massive creature's charge.
Seeing his two companions planning to strike from the sides, Gawain didn't dodge. He intended to tank the frontal assault to create an opening for them. In the Land of Shadow, only the intensity of his power was suppressed, not his physical defense. He could handle a collision of this magnitude.
He braced himself with his greatsword. The moment his defensive buffs—Ironjar Aromatic and Golden Vow—were active, the lion's gaping maw was already at his face.
He timed it perfectly, thrusting his blade into the Dancing Lion's mouth. His hands were wrapped in storms to provide counter-thrust as he gripped the upper and lower jaws tightly. The stone coating his body began to crack and flake away, but after being pushed back a few meters, he finally ground the beast to a halt.
Although the Divine Beast sensed the two enemies about to strike from the sides, its head was pinned so firmly it couldn't break free. It was locked in a stalemate.
Leda swung her sword and unleashed her Skill. A ring of golden blades manifested around the Dancing Lion's seemingly fragile waist; she intended to sever the connection between the two warriors.
Freyja circled to the rear. She aimed for the warrior hidden within the tail end of the shroud, certain that her angle was so precise that she would take one of them out unless they abandoned the dance.
However, reality did not go as they expected. Though the head was pinned, the warrior at the rear performed an utterly nonsensical maneuver, leaping into the air and causing the lion's body to whip violently.
This sudden movement interrupted Leda's unfinished Skill. Then, as the rear warrior descended, a powerful back-kick sent Freyja flying.
Freyja tumbled across the ground, rolling several times before slamming into a wall. The blow was heavy; she spat out blood, momentarily unable to stand.
Leda quickly pulled back, dodging a frantic tail-swipe. The Dancing Lion, supposedly controlled by two men, had now taken on the form of a singular, seamless organism. Normally, a hollow midsection would have no pivot point for such a move, but spirit-channeling had always been supernatural and sinister.
Gawain stopped holding back. These two hadn't scoured the Scorched Ruins for Scadutree Fragments like he had, and their strength was simply too low for this fight.
"You two, stay back. Don't push yourselves. I'll handle this thing."
Leda had no choice but to retreat further. Knowing she couldn't deal with the Divine Beast in her current state, she hurried to Freyja's side to check her injuries.
Freyja had taken a hard hit, but she wasn't in mortal danger. Under Leda's emergency care, she soon regained her mobility. She leaned on her greatsword and watched Gawain, speaking weakly.
"Does he intend to fight that beast alone? Truly a warrior worthy of fighting alongside the General to the very end."
Leda nodded silently, her eyes flickering with unreadable thoughts.
"It seems so. We can only trust him now. Otherwise, this exploration ends here. I didn't expect a Divine Beast to have survived Messmer's crusade in this place."
Seeing the others were clear, Gawain finally unleashed his strength.
His hands gripped the Dancing Lion's jaw like iron clamps. A brilliant light suddenly erupted from his chest—the strongest Wrath of Gold he could currently muster. It hit the beast with unstoppable concussive force.
BOOM!
The muffled explosion was deafening. The Divine Beast was sent reeling, its world spinning as it lost its balance.
Gawain seized the fleeting opening. He gripped his greatsword and yanked it out of the lion's mouth. The blade vibrated violently in his hands as he manipulated gravity, causing the sword's weight to skyrocket in preparation for the follow-up.
Then, without hesitation, he gathered a raging storm around the blade. The air spiraled into a sharp, whirling barrier. Gawain dropped into a low crouch and lunged upward like a bolt of lightning!
The thrust was as fast as an arrow and immensely powerful. In the blink of an eye, the tip of the sword buried itself deep into the Dancing Lion's massive frame, piercing the thick hide with ease.
The attack didn't stop there. The sheer momentum flipped the Dancing Lion's enormous body into the air, completely exposing its defenseless underbelly.
Gawain performed the execution sequence flawlessly. He had intended to use this chance to sever the horns of the two warriors hidden inside; based on his experience with Horned Warriors, breaking the horns would break the spirit-channeling ritual.
But the Dancing Lion didn't crash to the ground as expected. Instead, it hovered eerily in the air and began to spin frantically, causing Gawain's follow-up strike to miss.
He pulled back to dodge a spray of flying debris. As he steadied himself, he noticed the atmosphere change. The sky, already dim from the Shadow, was now completely consumed by black clouds. Violent storms and crackling lightning descended upon the plaza.
Leda's expression grew grim as she watched from the sidelines. Such a wide-scale divine manifestation was incredibly difficult to deal with.
"Don't worry, Leda," Melina said softly. "Can't you tell? His interest has only just been piqued."
"Miss Melina, you mean...?"
Melina reached out to feel the intensifying wind, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"You'll see in a moment."
"Hey, Lion... do you have any idea who I am?"
Gawain saw that the storm concentration in the air was now roughly equal to that of Stormveil Castle. He stopped hiding his amusement.
He sheathed his greatsword and drew another weapon. Facing the storm that swept across the entire arena, he simply raised a hand. The violent winds the Dancing Lion had just conjured seemed to hit a "pause" button, before obediently swirling toward him.
"Your storm is useful, but now it's mine."
The blade of the Storm Ruler in Gawain's hand vibrated from the sheer volume of wind it was absorbing. He converted the beast's summoned storm entirely into his own power.
This was his way of exploiting a "bug" in the Land of Shadow. If the world wouldn't allow an outsider like him to use too much power, he would simply steal it from the local Divine Beast.
"First, the storm. Let's see what else there is... oh right, frost and lightning."
With a thought, frost spread from beneath his feet, covering the entire stage. Thanks to the low temperature created by the Dancing Lion, he could easily manipulate the chill in the air.
He combined the ice magic of the Zamorians, the cold dark moon of Ranni, and the lightning generated from his own miracles. Three powers merged into one.
Under his precise control, the surrounding tornadoes mixed with ice crystals to form a massive, blue-tinted blade of energy. In addition to the storm and frost, it carried the magical properties of glintstone.
The massive wave of energy pierced the dark clouds above and slashed down at the Dancing Lion with unparalleled momentum.
Realizing it couldn't tank the hit, the hovering Dancing Lion summoned more storms to shroud its body, rolling through the air to dodge while breathing out gusts to try and weaken the incoming strike.
Unfortunately for the beast, this energy wave was self-homing. The more the beast tried to use wind to stop it, the more the wave fed on that energy. As the blade tracked the dodging lion, the already crumbling stage disintegrated under the pressure of the warring gales.
The Dancing Lion finally failed to escape. The strike caught it mid-waist, nearly severing it in two before slamming it into the wall and burying it under a pile of rubble.
Gawain lowered the Storm Ruler as it began to recharge. He walked forward to see if the beast was truly dead. With a flick of a Skill, he cleared the rubble to reveal the scene.
The once-grand Divine Beast was now broken in two, but it was still alive. The tattered beast mask wore an expression of pure rage. The two warriors inside were battered, their limbs mangled by the falling stone, but they clung to life.
"Not dead yet? It seems I really do have to break those horns. Let me put you out of your misery. Next time you want to manipulate storms in front of me, make sure they're at least ten times bigger than the ones in Stormveil."
Just as Gawain prepared for the finishing blow, a violent burst of lightning erupted from the Dancing Lion, the force of it pushing him back several meters.
"Oh, you can manipulate lightning too? Now that's interesting. Let's see how far you can go."
As if in response, the two warriors within the lion's belly twisted together in a grotesque fashion, their horns growing even thicker.
This was no longer the warriors praying to channel a spirit; this was the summoned Divine Beast itself being enraged. The tattered body of the lion was forcibly stitched back together by a mysterious power, and the ethereal form of a true beast began to manifest in the air.
The warriors, now spiraled together and unable to provide physical support, were replaced by four illusory, powerful bestial limbs. It seemed the Divine Beast was going all out; this state couldn't be maintained for long.
It lunged back into the air, breathing freezing frost while its body, hidden in the storm clouds, gathered immense lightning.
It had learned its lesson. It no longer aimed for area-of-effect damage, but concentrated all its power into a single point. It funneled every ounce of its divine strength into a final, desperate strike to crush the enemy.
"Sigh. Another one who wants to have a beam-clash while standing on the left. Fine, I'll indulge you."
Gawain pulled out the Sword of Night and Flame. Channeling the maximum power he could burst forth in the Land of Shadow—aided by the Storm Ruler which gathered the stolen winds—he focused everything into one attack.
A torrent of glintstone and flame, laced with the power of the storm, collided head-on with the Divine Beast's desperate lightning. The contact created a cataclysmic explosion. The black clouds covering the sky were wiped away instantly, revealing the omnipresent veil above.
Leda shielded her eyes with her cloak. When she finally looked up, she stared blankly at the scene. The Dancing Lion's body had been reduced to fragments by the explosion. Two unrecognizable corpses lay on the ground, with only the residual horns proving their former status as "brave" warriors.
Gawain stood in the center of the stage, holding the relatively intact head of the lion mask. He could sense a peculiar, intriguing aura coming from within it.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (339 chapter - Ongoing)
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