Lu Mingfei, become the King of Elden!

Chapter 104 Want to Join Us? Melina (Begging for first-day subscriptions!!!)
"Tsk."

Lu Mingfei understood:
"So these two guys have chosen to be sober robbers."

He then slung the greatsword over his shoulder with a clang, shook his head, and said nothing more.

"I almost forgot about the important matter!"

He struggled to pull out a crumpled clump of something from his pocket that looked like pickled vegetables.

That was a map.

This parchment may have once been respectable, but now it is covered with unidentified stains, the edges are curled up so much that they cannot be straightened, there are holes in some places, and several ink stains are blurred together and difficult to identify.

Clearly, it had suffered far more brutal ravages than these Kaidan mercenaries.

Lu Mingfei shoved it into Melina's hand with a "snap".

"Sister Melina, big sister! Didn't you say you'd guide me? Quickly take a look at this thing and show me the way! I've been wandering around this ghostly forest for three whole days, clutching this tattered piece of paper!"

His tone rose steadily, carrying a touch of aria-like lament.

Melina looked down at the map in her hand, which looked as if it had been pulled out of a pickle jar. She glanced at it with her amber eyes, then looked up at her travel companion.

There was a moment of silence in the air.

Her slender fingertips lightly rubbed the suspicious, damp marks on the paper, then gently brushed over Subaru Natsuki's lines, wavy lines, and triangles that resembled children's simple drawings, before stopping at a spot that looked as if it had been repeatedly trampled by Toret's hooves.

“I can read a map,” she said calmly. “If this is the case, are you looking for this place?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Mingfei leaned closer to examine the spot Melina was pointing to, then looked up at the Storm Hills before him, which were battered by the fierce winds, crisscrossed with ravines, and seemed to stretch on forever.

Beneath the mask, he slowly uttered a long, drawn-out sound, a mixture of despair and bewilderment:

"ah--???"

Lu Mingfei suddenly turned his head, his visor almost poking Melina's hood:

"So...so this means the place I spent three whole days braving the sandstorm is actually the opposite of where I'm supposed to go??"

Melina's gaze fell calmly on him, without saying a word.

"Are you sure?"

Melina looked at the ill-fated "map," tilted her head, nodded, and then shook her head.

?

Lu Mingfei's heavy silver armor remained motionless despite the howling wind, but the golden pupils behind his mask revealed deep confusion.

"What do you mean?"

However, Melina offered no explanation; she simply repeated herself in her calm, unwavering voice:
"If this is a map."

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath of the sand-laden wind, trying to calm his emotions, which were on the verge of exploding.

He haphazardly stuffed the map back into his chest. In any case, he had been looking at this abstract sketch repeatedly for the past three days and three nights, and had almost memorized its contents.

bass!
The Storm Greatsword was sheathed again, and Lu Mingfei muttered to himself:

"Alright, alright, my Lady Melina, since things have come to this, we have no choice but to try anything!" *Screech!*
Accompanied by a long whistle, the steady and reliable spirit horse Toret reappeared.

Lu Mingfei mounted his horse, turned to look at Melina standing beside him, and asked:
"Are you going 'back' or coming with me?"
-
The howling of Storm Hill was finally left behind.

Torret's nimble hooves left shallow marks on the slippery, muddy ground. Lu Mingfei dismounted, the heavy armor making a metallic scraping sound.

It took him half a day to finally get out of that forest. Regardless of whether he was going in the right direction or not, at least he made it out!

Lu Mingfei scanned the jagged rocks and the pool teeming with strange creatures ahead, examining it repeatedly. Although this place didn't look like the "Sage's Bridge" at all, if it was a bridge, there must be a river. A river is water, and as long as he followed this waterway, he wouldn't have to worry about not finding the Sage's Bridge!
Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei felt a surge of excitement.

He left Torret on the drier, harder ground while he waded closer to the edge of the pool, intending to observe it first.

Yes, the water is shallow enough to walk in.

He casually chopped down a large dragonfly that was sneaking up on him, then mounted his horse and rode along the pool until he soon saw the river.

However, something unexpected happened.

"Ok?"

Lu Mingfei squeezed the horse's belly, but Torret still didn't move forward.

He bent down and patted his good friend on the head:

"What's wrong, Old Tuo?"

However, Torret simply stood silently in place, unmoved by Lu Mingfei's "kind words of persuasion".

Helpless, he could only recall Torret and walk forward alone.

Lu Mingfei trudged along the slippery edge of the riverbed, the air thick with the stench of rotting algae.

The riverbanks are very high, and the jagged rocks block out the already faint sunlight, casting heavy shadows and making the river surface appear even darker and more indistinct.

wow-

Without warning, a series of rapid splashing sounds came from the middle of the river, as if someone was running at high speed in the middle of the river!
Lu Mingfei's pupils contracted sharply, and all the muscles in his body tensed up involuntarily. Just as his hand hooked the hilt of the Storm Greatsword behind him, the water less than ten meters in front of him suddenly exploded!

A figure burst forth from the waves like an arrow released from a bow! The greatsword was only half-drawn from its sheath when the person stepped onto the water's surface, splashing up huge sprays, and with an explosive force that defied common sense, instantly closed the distance between the two to within the range of a blade!

"grass!"

In the nick of time, he had no time to parry with his Storm Greatsword, so he could only do a side dive, rolling in the murky water to awkwardly avoid the red-glowing blade tip.

Lu Mingfei scrambled out of the murky, icy river, his heavy plate armor splashing through the water. He spat out a mouthful of muddy water, and his golden eyes instantly blazed with furious flames as he fixed his gaze on the uninvited guest who had nearly strung him up.

Dressed in a black robe embroidered with intricate and ornate dark gold patterns, the weight and silhouette of his body were streamlined to the extreme, as if he were born for slaughter. The visually striking and luxurious shawl on his shoulders was outlined with twisted and ancient totems in intense gold thread, which still flowed with an unsettling dark light in the dim light of the day.

This outfit... Lu Mingfei recognized it to the core!

You bastard! Are you cosplaying my old friend Kaneki Ken?! No, no, it seems more likely that Kaneki is cosplaying someone else.

Regardless, the sight of the menacing red dagger in his hand further solidified Lu Mingfei's belief in the newcomer's identity.

From that forbidden dynasty hidden in shadows and blood, the infamous, fanatical followers who revel in hunting the faded—Bloodfinger! The minions of the Mother of Truth!
　Ten Watches

　　
　
(End of this chapter)