Elden Ring, but with Wind Spirit Moon Shadow

Chapter 128: Fire-Throwing Witch (7k words)
Finally, after Patch was disarmed, Bai Shi asked D to help escort him to Stoneville.

As for those faded ones, they were tricked by Patch's brand into being next to the dead born ones, and they also suffered an unexpected disaster.

Although Patch's plan to trick them failed, it was still bad luck for them to experience such an inexplicable thing.

Therefore, Bai Shi still gave them some compensation so that they could enjoy a little bit of benefits after going to Stonewell.

Whether doing business or joining the military, you can get some preferential treatment.

Of course, it’s just a little bit of preferential treatment, not the kind of super benefit that can directly change your life.

Whether they can achieve success in the end depends on their respective abilities.

As for D, he and Bai Shi had an agreement that when Bai Shi was free, he would go to the Round Table Hall to find him, and during this time, he would be in charge of sealing the dead roots.

When they meet again, D will introduce Bai Shi to the Beast Priest Gulang.

The items given by the Beast Priest on this branch quest are actually quite good and very practical for prayer.

And more importantly, the beast priest is the 'Black Sword' Malicus.

Malicus's identity is of great significance.

Malikus is Queen Marica's loyal sworn brother. He has the destined death housed in his sword, which makes all demigods fear him.

It is because of Malycus's deterrence that the demigods know what fear is and become heroes.

Meanwhile, Malikus is also a shadow beast given to Marika.

However, as Queen Marika disappeared, her adopted brother Malikus also disappeared. Even when the Shattered War was at its most intense, he did not appear.

But it makes sense. Although Malicus is Marika's sworn brother, judging from the conversation in the game, he doesn't know why Marika smashed the ring.

Malika also betrayed her shadow.

In the end, the confused man could only continue to devour dead roots to make up for his mistakes - it was because the destined death he was guarding was stolen that led to the assassination of 'Gold' Godwin.

Then, the destined death spread out from Godwin's half-dead body, sprouting along the roots of the tree at various places at the junction.

If left untreated, the border area will be eroded by death and one day will become a paradise for the dead.

Death is something that the Golden Rule does not allow.

Because the Golden Rule is established only after the inevitable death is removed.

Malycus swallowed the evil consequences caused by the theft of these destined deaths, and only he who sealed the destined death could swallow the root of death.

Bai Shi must have wanted to communicate with him in advance.

Malikus now acts as a beast priest, and others do not know his true identity as the 'Black Sword'.

But Bai Shi knows his true identity.

This means that Bai Shi might be able to learn about some past events from him through the information gap in their identities.

Although Malicus kept his mouth shut, swallowing dead roots did have some effects on him, such as intermittent symptoms of madness and not being in a particularly good mental state.

It should be possible if you have some understanding of ancient times.

Even my sworn brother Malicus was not told, Queen Malika, why did you smash the ring?

Such a small episode took only more than half an hour from beginning to end.

Bai Shi and Torret continued on their journey, moving towards their target, Galide, until late at night.

Finally, when the night was darkest and even the light of the golden tree had dimmed to the extreme, Bai Shi arrived near the burning wall of fire.

Bai Shi saw a line of fire in the night sky from afar, and knew that he had reached the border between Nimgefu and Gaileed.

Torrett slowed down his pace and walked to the wall of fire.

This wall of fire was made of stones, but the flames continued to burn on it inexplicably, even though there should be nothing that could burn them.

The flames did not burn violently, but they kept burning on the stone wall and never went out no matter what.

No matter how the scarlet corruption climbed upwards, it was always blocked from erosion by the flames burning in the stone.

Bai Shi moved his hand slightly closer, feeling the scorching heat.

It seems that just from this, one can feel the tenacity of the Red Lion soldiers.

Bai Shi stood in front of the wall of fire for a while.

"Those who still stay in Gaelid and build these walls of fire to resist the scarlet corruption are true warriors."

Melina's words rang in Bai Shi's ears.

She was also moved by the endless wall of fire.

Since leaving Stonewell, the two finally embarked on their journey in the borderland again.

Melina had been sitting sideways behind Bai Shi, leaning on his back and quietly watching the scenery along the way.

Normally Melina doesn't talk much, so as not to affect her consciousness.

But since opening up to Melina and talking all night long, the two have become quite close.

Now, whenever Melina has any thoughts, she will tell Bai Shi immediately.

If there were outsiders present, Bai Shi would not reply but would keep it in mind and talk to Melina again during the blessing. This was what they had agreed upon.

"Yeah, they're a very respectable group of people."

Bai Shi agrees with this very much.

The soldiers of the Red Lion Legion, who refused to give up their territory even after General Latan went mad, tried every possible way to protect Gallid.

They struggle day and night in the scarlet corruption that ordinary people cannot endure, and they continue to fight against it.

The scarlet corruption continues to expand with continuous cleaning, followed by another cleaning and another expansion, and the cycle continues.

In the struggle that lasted for countless years, they built an endless wall of fire, completely separating the Gaileid region from other regions, preventing other regions from following in Gaileid's footsteps.

If Bai Shi was asked to choose his favorite legionnaire from the game in his previous life, he would definitely choose a soldier from the Red Lion Legion.

There are no cowards in the Red Lion Army, and this is true.

If it weren't for the fact that the Faded Ones in the game are so annoying that they will attack anything, Bai Shi actually doesn't want to be an enemy of the soldiers of the Red Lion Legion. They deserve this respect.

Suddenly, two dogs barked in the distance.

Bai Shi looked over there and saw two skinny wild dogs corroded by scarlet corruption.

The two wild dogs had all kinds of white cysts on their bodies, and many wounds were exposed, with flies flying around in the wounds.

There was a broken corpse next to the two wild dogs. They seemed to be having a meal, but Bai Shi's arrival disturbed their good time.

As Bai Shi walked over, the two wild dogs kept backing away, making low whining sounds, as if they were ready to pounce at any time.

A normal dog would have been scared away by the pressure from the remaining flying dragon material on Bai Shi's body, but the wild dog infected with scarlet corruption was not afraid at all.

It seems that the scarlet corruption has a great impact on living things, even their habits and instincts have been completely rewritten.

"Really? You puppies are no longer cute and your behavior is so fierce. No one will like you."

General Bai Shi stretched out two fingers, made a pistol gesture, and pointed it at the two wild dogs.

As two compressed wind bullets were fired, the two wild dogs turned into two corpses in an instant.

Bai Shi easily dealt with the wild dogs and had already turned around to enter Gaileed, but because he had just been close to the two wild dogs, he smelled the blood coming from the corpse on the ground.

It turned out to be the smell of fresh blood, which was very unusual.

Under normal circumstances, no normal person would go to Gaileed, but now is the time when the battle festival is about to begin.

Regardless of how strong the people coming here are, at least they won’t be killed by just two wild dogs.

Bai Shi turned and approached the corpse.

Bai Shi remembered that near the Smokehouse Church next to this place, there would be an invasion by Anastasia, the 'Faded Devourer', also known as the 'Man-Eating Girl' in the game.

As the name suggests, Devour the Faded will of course kill the Faded and then devour the corpse.

In the worldview of the borderland, this will indeed become stronger.

Could it be her who did this?

Bai Shi walked forward and took a look at the corpse that the wild dogs were gnawing at.

This was a corpse whose entire head was smashed and exploded like a watermelon.

The shattered head fragments had been carried away by wild dogs and gnawed away somewhere unknown, and only the lower jaw was still stuck to the neck by the skin.

The corpse was wearing a beautiful robe, but now it had become dirty.

Bai Shi was very familiar with this outfit; it was the robe worn by witches.

Bai Shi was a little confused. Why was it a witch?
There is indeed a witch who appears at the battle festival, and that is Serolina.

It is possible that Serolina will appear in Gaileed, but it is unlikely that Serolina will appear in Gaileed.

Because Serolina is now running her witch shop in the white city of Stonewell, helping the Faded Ones turn blessings into power.

She is no longer obsessed with finding a fader and helping him become king.

As long as Bai Shi follows the guidance of the blessing, completes his mission and becomes the King of Elden, then Serolina doesn't care, as long as someone can become the King of Elden.

So whose body is this witch's?
No, maybe she's not a witch, she's just wearing witch clothes.

Could it be Anastasia the 'Faded Devourer'?

The attack on the Faded One failed, and he was killed instead?

But the weapon next to it was a blood-stained dagger, completely different from the huge dismemberment knife in Bai Shi's memory.

Soon Bai Shi completely overturned this idea.

Because there was a prominent Adam's apple on the remaining neck of the corpse.

Then Bai Shi gestured at the shape of the corpse and found that both the height and bone shape looked very much like that of a female.

Is she actually a little boy?
By the way, Bai Shi didn't find anything valuable from the body.

Bai Shi pondered for a while, searching for the images of each character in his mind.

Finally, Bai Shi realized that he couldn't find any character related to him in the game, so he gave up thinking.

It's just one person's death, but too many people die every day in the border area.

Bai Shi no longer cared about this inexplicable corpse. He had to find a place to rest for a while.

It's already late at night, there's no need to rush. Tomorrow should be enough time to arrive anyway.

Bai Shi took a look around and soon found the destination he wanted to go to: the ruins of a church - the Smoke Church.
-
Bai Shi dismounted and led Torrett into the church, where he unexpectedly discovered that there was already someone in the church ruins.

The man was wrapped in dirty, blood-stained cloth all over his body, even his head was wrapped up, leaving only two cloudy eyes exposed. He looked seriously injured.

But this person was also wearing a witch's robe.

Hearing the noise, the man looked towards Bai Shi.

Melina's illusory spirit stood beside Bai Shi, staring at the witch with her only remaining right eye.

When Melina saw the witch, she felt an inexplicable sadness in her heart.

The sadness came suddenly and brought with it a vague feeling of strangeness.

It's like... a foreshadowing of the future.

"Bai Shi, this person's body is covered with burns..."

Bai Shi nodded slightly, indicating to Melina that he understood.

The witch, whose body was wrapped in cloth strips, looked towards the area near Bai Shi.

As she opened her mouth, a hoarse and unpleasant voice came out, as if it was smoked by fireworks:
"Excuse me, sir over there, are you the Fader?"

Her eyesight didn't seem to be very good. She looked around the area and finally could only barely lock onto the approximate location of Bai Shi.

"Yes, I am a fader."

"Ah, great."

The witch breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked Bai Shi cautiously:

"I have been separated from the Lord Faded, whom I serve, for a long time, but I have been waiting for him."

"I wonder if you have ever seen a faded person like you before? He should be wearing silver armor."

"His name is Bernal, and he is a very great hero."

"Some time ago, I suddenly had a vague feeling that he might be nearby."

"It's a pity that I have difficulty in moving and my eyesight is not very good. Even though I went out to look for him for a long time, I couldn't find him."

Bai Shi's eyes flickered. It was actually Bernal's witch. Yes, I should have thought of this look just now.
-
Time goes back a few hours.

It was still dusk when Bai Shi rescued Alexander.

Bernal brought a 'witch' to the vicinity of the burning fire wall.

"Now, Lord Bernal, how long will it take us to reach Galid?"

This 'witch' spoke in a soft, neutral voice, and someone who didn't know her might mistake her for a woman.

But this guy is actually a real man, just disguised as the Finger Witch, luring the Fader and then killing the Devourer.

Bernard pointed to the wall of smoke and fire in front of him and said:
"After crossing this wall of fire, we will officially enter Gaileed's territory. After about another day or two of travel, we will be able to reach the vicinity of Red Lion City."

"When that time comes, just find a ruin to camp in and prepare to carry out the mission."

The little boy touched the hot stones of the burning fire wall and then sat down on them.

He looked calm, as if the thing under his butt was not a burning wall of fire, but an ordinary stone wall.

"Is this the extent of Gaileyd's Lion Fire? It seems to be much worse than the lava in our Volcano Mansion."

Bernal looked past the wall of fire and towards the land of Galid covered in scarlet corruption.

"It is rumored that the Red Lion Fire has an unclear relationship with the Giants' Fire. Also, you'd better not underestimate the Red Lion Legion."

The little girl swung her feet on the wall of fire.

"Huh? What's there to be afraid of a bunch of idiots?"

"They could have just run away, but they had to stay in this godforsaken place, waiting to rot along with their owners."

Bernal was wearing a beast helmet on his head, so his expression could not be seen.

Bernal said nothing.

After all, the so-called rebels in Volcano Mansion now are nothing more than a group of villains who blindly devour and massacre their compatriots for the sake of power.

Not to mention the code of chivalry, they are not even warriors. They are a group of guys without any honor at all.

There's nothing to say to such superficial guys.

Not to mention that this person is not his partner, and he doesn't have a partner, so there is no need to correct or explain.

Originally, the Volcano Mansion heard that Galide was about to hold a battle festival, so they planned to send a group of people to ambush and hunt some Faded Ones, and recruit them if there were anyone who could be won over.

This kind of small matter should not have been done by Bernal, who holds a special status.

But Bernal had his own selfish motives and offered to come, so he was also assigned a team.

There were originally two people in the team, but they were lured and killed by the little boy on the way.

If a companion is easier to kill than other Faded Ones, then the Betrayer will never miss this opportunity.

The two fools were fooled by the attempt to appear weak in front of the rebels who gained power by killing their compatriots.

The little boy next to Bernal is the beloved younger brother of Anastasia, the 'Faded Devourer', and has a nickname similar to her sister 'Ghost Girl', 'Ghost Boy'.

Like his sister, although he is very young, he is also an expert in deceiving and devouring.

Bernal ignored this guy and warned:

"Stay here and don't wander around, or you'll die without a burial place."

"I have something to do."

The 'ghost boy' covered his mouth and laughed, his laughter was as clear as a silver bell.

"Please, Lord Bernal, what kind of danger can there be in a place like this?"

"Maybe by the time you come back, I'll have already lured a few Faded Ones and killed and devoured them."

Bernal gave one last reminder.

"I hope you will take my advice to heart instead of just talking about it."

Go ahead, Bernard turned and left.

The 'ghost boy' sat on the fire wall, staring in the direction where Bernal was moving away, as if thinking about something.

After a while, Bernard came to the outside of the Smokehouse Church and stood far away.

Because the Smokehouse Church was quite dilapidated, Bernard could easily see what was going on inside from the outside.

Inside the church ruins, a lonely figure stood there for a long time.

After a while, the figure suddenly left the smoke-burning church and walked towards the smoke-burning wall skillfully.

Then she untied the cloth on her hands and touched the wall of fire with her hands, allowing the flames to enter her body and continue the fire in her body.

The scar that was once burned by fire and healed again was once again burned by the flames and bled profusely.

The witch, wrapped in cloth strips all over her body, fell to her knees in pain.

Bernal's unarmed left hand moved its fingers.

But soon, the witch climbed up, wrapped the cloth around her hands again, staggered back to the church, stood against the wall, and continued to wait for the man who would never come back.

Bernard stared at the broken body from a distance, lost in thought.

"Ah, why is there a witch there?"

"Does Lord Bernal want to kill her and plunder her power?"

The 'ghost boy' used the combat technique he had learned from Bernal - the assassination method - and quietly approached Bernal.

He had been observing for a while and wanted to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Bernal, but he couldn't find a place to start, so he simply gave up.

The rebels are all the same. Lord Bernard is very clear about what kind of people they are. He even suspects that Lord Bernard has already noticed his coming.

But Lord Bernal is very different. He never kills indiscriminately. He only kills those he chooses and those commissioned by the Volcano Mansion.

Therefore, it is also the target he most wants to devour.

Such a person is not suitable to stay in the Volcano Residence, so let him devour and inherit this power.

"Did you see it."

Bernal asked calmly without turning his head.

The 'ghost boy' had not yet realized the seriousness of the matter and thought that Bernal was hunting, so he continued:
"Uh-huh, you mean that witch over there?"

“I saw it.”

"So ugly."

"She must have been abandoned by her own faders because of this appearance."

"She looked so pitiful. If I were that ugly, I would have committed suicide long ago. She is so shameless that she can still live in this world."

"Lord Bernal thinks so, right? That's why he targeted her. Do you want to help her get rid of it?"

Bernal remained motionless, staring at the witch.

"I think she is very beautiful."

The 'ghost boy' was stunned for a moment, unable to believe it.

"Huh, why ..."

Halfway through his words, his pupils suddenly shrank, and then his whole body began to shake like a sieve.

He finally figured out why Lord Bernal, who was so famous even in the Volcano Residence, would take the initiative to come to a remote place like Gallid.

Maybe it has something to do with the witch mentioned above.

It seemed that he was not here for the mission of Volcano Mansion at all, let alone treating this witch as prey.

Thinking of this, he immediately turned around and ran.

It’s a pity that the person he offended was Bernal.

Without even turning his head, Bernal stuck his huge World-Devouring Scepter into the ground, then folded his arms and stopped moving.

As the World-Devouring Scepter stood on the ground, countless blood-colored auras spread rapidly from the scepter like snakes, entangling the fleeing "ghost child".

The 'ghost boy' had nowhere to escape and was pinned to his knees on the ground.

He turned his head to look in the direction of Bernal and was about to beg for mercy, but Bernal did not give him a chance.

The ghost boy turned around and saw the ferocious snake head on the Devouring Scepter that was glowing red.

The next second, the snake head on the Devouring Scepter glowed red, and his head was bitten to pieces cleanly by a snake head made of blood-colored aura.

In the last moments of his life, Bernard's voice was faintly heard:

"I stubbornly immersed myself in my beautiful dream and never accepted the fact that I could not become the spark of fire."

"No matter what we do, we can't wake her up. Maybe this is the shackle that the Golden Tree has put on the Finger Witches."

"She abandoned me and set herself on fire...I clearly didn't want her to do that."

"But who made her love me like that, and I love her the same way."

"That's why I embarked on the path of rebelling against the Golden Tree."

The life force flowed away from the corpse, and was then swept up and absorbed by the red aura, gathering on the Devouring Scepter beside Bernal.

Finally, this power was gathered on Bernal through the scepter.

This is exactly how Bernal, as a rebel in the Volcano Residence, kills his compatriots and plunders their power.

"I've already told you that if you don't listen to my advice, you'll die without a burial place."

Perhaps it's because he upholds the spirit of chivalry on a daily basis, or perhaps it's because of the pride he once had as a hero, he won't look badly at other rebels.

This eventually led them to become more and more demanding, thinking that Bernal was a good guy.

They all forgot that Bernal should be the most powerful rebel in the entire Volcano Mansion.

He is the purest and most orthodox rebel against the law.

Unlike these scum who devour their fellow men simply for power.

This group of cowardly guys turned into superficial predators, using the law of the jungle to satisfy their own desires.

"Because of the evil order that forced them to kill each other, the rebels rose up."

How loud is the slogan of the Volcano Residence.

But in fact, Lacard, the owner of the Volcano Mansion, may not think so, he just wants to gather strength.

But Bernal was a sincere person. He made this choice because he was willing to kill his compatriots and seize power in order to rebel against the Golden Tree.

Bernal never forgot the purpose of devouring his compatriots to gain power: to rebel against the Golden Tree.

It was the Golden Tree camp that caused the tragic fighting at the border area.

And he will end this fight.

Even if he has to resort to killing to achieve his goal, he will never give up.

He will bear everything.

Whether it was himself, the witch, or all the people he killed.

He doesn't need to burn witches to become the King of Elden.

He just wants the golden tree to be destroyed.

Bernal took one last look at his witch, then stepped over the wall of smoke and fire and into Gailede.

The beasts covering their ears and eyes represent the oath:

You can't hear or see, nor will you feel confused. You will only move forward along the path you have determined to take.

This was the oath he made when he put on the Beast Gathering Helmet.

Bernal's witch seemed to sense something and glanced at Bernal's leaving back.

Although the eyeballs of both eyes had been melted by the fire, he could hardly see anything and could only see blurry shadows.

But the departing figure gradually became clearer, and she was sure that it must be Lord Bernard.

"Ah, so you are still beside me, watching me."

"Please wait a little longer. I will soon become a spark."

"You will definitely come back to me by then..."

"Please become the King of Elden..."

　Bernal, ah Bernal, what a miserable quasi-king and witch. The same goes for Vic. I always feel that the writing is too girl-focused. Maybe I've watched too much MyGO recently_(:з」∠)_
　　
　
(End of this chapter)