Dark Souls III World, High Wall of Lothric.
"Got some good stuff."
Ashen Xia Yu's figure solidified from the void; he had returned to his own Dark Souls III World.
In his hand, he held the P250 Pistol he had found in the Soul Knight World. Unlike pistols in the real world, this gun could convert mana into mana bullets.
Equivalent to a magic weapon, it would definitely be more powerful than ordinary gunpowder weapons in the Soul World.
"Just in time to test the power of this pistol."
Scanning his surroundings, Xia Yu immediately found a good target.
A Pus of Man Tree, a foul entity created when the Pus of Man infects a Hollow and the two combine. Its lower body turns into slender tree roots, while its upper body is a mess of branches slowly growing from within.
When a Pus of Man Tree grows to a certain extent, it transforms into a creature called a 'Pilgrim Butterfly.' Although they don't attack proactively, they aren't exactly benevolent either.
These foul things cannot be knocked down in the game, but now that the game has become reality, they can be killed at any time.
Casually pointing the muzzle at those Pus of Man Trees, Xia Yu pulled the trigger. With a bang, a sky-blue mana bullet shot out instantly, shattering the Pus of Man Tree into pieces.
Viscous black liquid splashed everywhere. After the liquid hit the ground, it actually burrowed into tiny cracks like a living thing.
Xia Yu didn't bother with the living black sludge. This world was just like that; he could completely wipe out the Pus of Man Tree in front of him, but he couldn't eliminate the source, the Abyss—at least not yet.
As long as the Abyss does not disappear, the Pus of Man will continue to emerge incessantly.
"The power is decent. Looks like I have a good ranged weapon."
Xia Yu shook the pistol in his hand and walked directly toward the wall below. Now he didn't have to fear the Dog Lord of Cinder; if the Dog Lord of Cinder didn't know what was good for him, he'd just take him down with one shot.
Below the wall knelt a group of mindless Hollows. Their only movement was bowing toward Lothric Castle, praying that the Twin Princes of Lothric would go to link the fire and sustain this world.
But the Twin Princes were firm fire-extinguishers, only willing to wait in the castle for the final flame to die out.
They knew that linking the fire only allowed the world to linger on its last breath, so they resolutely chose to extinguish the fire, letting the world cycle again and enter the next era.
Lothric, the kingdom of linking fire, yet its last descendants were firm fire-extinguishers. It was hard to say if it was a tragedy or a form of relief.
Bang! Bang!
Mana bullets shattered the scrawny Starved Hounds. Xia Yu showed no mercy to the attacking Dog Lords of Cinder. After dealing with the greataxe Hollows and Starved Hounds, he continued down the stairs on the side.
In the game, there was an elevator shortcut here, but you had to take a long detour to open it. In reality, he'd be an idiot to take the long way for a shortcut.
To hell with 'cannot be opened from this side'; he shattered the lock with a single sword strike and kicked the door open.
Soon, Xia Yu took the crude elevator to the lower level of the wall. Since he was going to fight the watchdog, he didn't linger. The Hollows along the way all had their heads blown apart by a few of his shots.
They were weak beings with little offensive power, only swinging daggers by instinct. They lived on because of the Undead Curse, eventually turning into mindless Hollows.
Clang— Clang—
Before long, Xia Yu arrived below the wall on the stairs of the Lothric Castle gate. To the right of the stairs was a courtyard, where a Winged Knight was patrolling.
Winged Knights were different from Lothric Knights. In Lothric, the kingdom of linking fire, faith in the flame was above all else, and any other faith was heresy.
However, with the Twin Princes refusing to link the fire, the hearts of the people began to waver. It was then that the angelic faith appeared.
Gertrude, the 'Heavenly Daughter,' brought the angelic faith. Those who questioned the flame turned to believe in angels instead.
Among them, the knights who believed in angels were the Winged Knights. They betrayed the faith of the flame and were heretics among knights.
"Fatty..."
Looking at the patrolling Winged Knight, Xia Yu thought for a moment and took out a lightning spell potion. This was the perfect time to test the power of clash of clans spells in this world.
While the Winged Knight hadn't noticed him, Xia Yu used telekinesis to control the lightning spell potion, making it fly high and then free-fall into the very center of the courtyard. The next moment—
CRACK-BOOM!
An extreme lightning storm shot out instantly. The scattered lightning destroyed everything in front of it, and the Winged Knight in his heavy silver-white armor was the first to suffer.
Because of his bloated, massive size and his conductive armor, there was almost nowhere for him to hide from the exploding lightning.
Hiding behind a wall, Xia Yu listened to the exploding thunder in the courtyard and silently prayed for the Winged Knight—praying that an intact corpse would remain and that he wouldn't be melted directly by the lightning.
A moment later, the last trace of lightning dissipated. Xia Yu waited a few more seconds before stepping into the courtyard.
The courtyard was now scorched black, with marks left by the lightning everywhere. The statue in the center had turned into a pile of charred dust, and molten iron flowed around it.
That was the armor left behind by the original Lothric Knights after death, finally turned into glowing red molten iron under the lightning.
As for the Winged Knight who had been patrolling, he had also merged into the molten iron on the ground.
"This lightning spell is really strong."
Xia Yu nodded secretly at the carnage in the courtyard. This was just one potion. If he threw a dozen at once, tsk tsk, even a Lord of Cinder might have to give in.
Well, that was a bit wishful thinking. A Lord of Cinder is a Lord of Cinder, after all. Even a Lord of Cinder who is just burnt cinders couldn't be dealt with just by spell potions.
Xia Yu withdrew his gaze and turned to fire a shot. The commotion just now had drawn the Lothric Knights patrolling the main road of the castle gate.
A Lothric Knight swung his greatshield, and the mana bullet was deflected. Then, the two attracted Lothric Knights hissed and charged. Although they hadn't yet turned into mindless Hollows, their mental state was clearly compromised.
"They don't come with good intentions."
Without realizing that he was the intruder, Xia Yu fired consecutive mana bullets, but they were all blocked by the Lothric Knights' shields. In the next moment, Xia Yu flicked his pistol and drew the Lothric Knight Sword tucked at his waist.
Clang—!
Straight Sword met Straight Sword. In a one-against-two fight, Xia Yu didn't fall behind at all, using various sword techniques with ease. Soon, his sharp blade slashed across the neck of one Lothric Knight, bringing out a spray of blood.
Dark red blood splashed everywhere, and Xia Yu dodged easily. The other Lothric Knight pressed forward, but with a bang, a mana bullet hit his ankle from behind him.
Taking this opportunity, Xia Yu thrust his sword. The blade plunged into the opponent's neck, and as he pulled it out, the blood took away the Lothric Knight's last breath.
"Heh, you don't understand the despicableness of an Outrider."
After mocking the dead Lothric Knight, the pistol controlled by telekinesis returned to his hand. The gun could temporarily store six mana bullets, but no more; after all, it was just a pistol.
Subsequently, Xia Yu walked down the stairs of the castle gate road. The so-called watchdog would definitely be at the main gate.
The Hollows along the way basically couldn't escape the fate of being headshotted. In no time, he arrived at the gloomy and empty castle gate hall.
As the outsider entered, a biting chill spread through the hall, and a faint pressure made the air gradually heavy.
In the next moment, a mass of cold black mist suddenly appeared out of thin air at the castle gate. A vortex like a portal appeared in the center of the black mist, and the sudden chill spread and expanded as if it were going to freeze space itself.
Clink... Clink...
The sound of armor rubbing together echoed as a massive figure slowly crawled out of the black mist. Hideous armor encrusted with frost completely covered the intruder's bloated body. Its deformed limbs could no longer stand, and it could only crawl on all fours like a beast.
Vordt of the Boreal Valley, also known as the watchdog of the Boreal Valley.
Looking at Vordt's massive beastly body, veins popped on Xia Yu's forehead, and his face twisted as he said, "You mad dog!"
Calling him a mad dog upon their first meeting—The Way of Ashen, Grand Serialization!