Gawain had initially hoped to teleport back directly via a Site of Grace, but he soon discovered that the seal on the Land of Shadow was utterly absurd. It was completely severed from the outside world. Consequently, he had no choice but to return to the Gravesite Plain and exit through the same path he had entered.
Because of the withered arm Miquella had left behind, the passage between that location and the Lands Between remained open. Gawain's understanding of spatial manipulation was still too rudimentary; otherwise, he might have been able to pierce through the veil Marika had draped over the land herself.
However, just because his personal knowledge was lacking didn't mean the majestic power of the First Flame was incapable. With that thought in mind, he took the first step back toward the bridge opposite Castle Ensis and manifested a bonfire on the spot.
With the Lordvessel in his possession, he could teleport across different space-times in the world of Dark Souls without any stress, let alone through a simple veil like this.
After creating a bonfire that only he could perceive, he turned his gaze toward the direction of Belurat. He noticed two familiar figures appearing to be in a hurry. As they drew closer, he confirmed they were indeed Ansbach and Moore.
Based on the wealth of information he had received from Ansbach previously, Gawain had a fairly good impression of the man. As for Moore, who seemed rather withdrawn—that "simple-minded" look of his suggested he wasn't a bad person either.
It was just that the scent of Scarlet Rot on Moore was far too strong, making it feel as though he were inextricably linked to the Kindred of Rot. Gawain, however, couldn't be bothered with such details for the moment; after all, the man had come from the Haligtree.
"Sir Ansbach, we meet again. Where might you two be headed?"
Gawain mounted Torrent and took the initiative to approach them with a greeting.
"Comrade... long time no see... I am glad. The forager brood sent word... Leda found a path... to rendezvous."
Moore clutched his large pot, stumbling through the words before Ansbach stepped in to clarify.
"Moore's forager companions sent word. It seems a bit treacherous, but Leda has indeed found a path that bypasses Castle Ensis to reach Scadu Altus. We are heading to the designated location to regroup."
Ansbach stroked his beard, his golden eyes beneath his hood observing Gawain with a subtle, flickering curiosity.
"We were originally meant to set out last night. However, something major seemed to occur in the region known as the Abyssal Woods. For safety's sake, we waited a night before moving again. Do you happen to know what happened there?"
"The Abyssal Woods? It was nothing much. I encountered a rather troublesome foe down there and caused a bit of a stir. You don't need to worry about it anymore."
"I suspected as much..."
Ansbach wasn't particularly surprised. After all, he had witnessed the phenomena above Belurat earlier, so he already had a baseline expectation for Gawain's strength. He was merely curious about what kind of enemy in the Abyssal Woods could have warranted such an uproar.
One thing that truly surprised him, however, was that although he and Gawain had only been apart for a few days, the suppression of the Shadow surrounding the man had diminished significantly—it was as if he had somehow acquired a massive amount of Scadutree Fragments.
But Ansbach didn't pry. Even as nominal comrades, everyone had their secrets.
"Enough of that. Are you back here to reunite with Leda and the others? I can lead you to the hidden path to bypass Castle Ensis. Though Miquella is a child of Queen Marika, the attitude of those Crusaders toward us remains... uncertain."
"About that... you don't need to worry. I've reached an agreement with Messmer. He will allow you to enter the Shadow Keep—provided, of course, that you don't interfere with the Crusade's operations. This should mean you'll face no further obstacles in Scadu Altus."
"You've reached an agreement with... the Impaler?"
Ansbach froze, accidentally plucking a few hairs from his beard in his shock. Was this progress not a bit too fast? But looking into Gawain's eyes, he could tell the man wasn't lying.
"Didn't you notice? I just came from the direction of Castle Ensis to find you. Rest easy; Messmer isn't as impossible to talk to as he seems."
To be honest, Gawain placed a high value on Ansbach's encyclopedic knowledge and his talent for gathering and analyzing intelligence. Perhaps he really would be able to obtain crucial information from the man later. With Messmer overseeing things, the Land of Shadow shouldn't fall into chaos anytime soon.
"I know not how you persuaded him, but if it is true, it is indeed good news for the journey ahead. Does Leda know of this yet?"
"I doubt it. I'm heading back to the Lands Between for a bit and only ran into you by chance near Belurat. You won't need to take the long way around anymore; just pass directly through Castle Ensis. Just try not to get into any conflicts with the Crusaders. If you do, my agreement with Messmer is null and void."
"You are returning to the Lands Between? It seems you have other urgent matters to attend to. There is no need to worry about such trivialities; I doubt even Freyja would make such a rudimentary mistake."
Gawain thought of that battle-maniac woman and curled his lip.
"Hard to say."
"I suppose that is fair..."
Ansbach fell silent for a moment. He chose to believe that Leda would keep a close eye on Freyja to ensure she didn't pick a fight with the Crusade in the Land of Shadow.
"In that case, Moore and I shall proceed to Scadu Altus. Upon your return, if I have any new intelligence, I shall share it with you."
After parting ways with the duo, Gawain teleported back to the Site of Grace in the Gravesite Plain closest to the exit. Just as he was thinking of heading back into the cave, a certain aura made him stop in his tracks.
Perhaps because he had just been in contact with Ansbach, he sensed a thick aura of cursed blood nearby. Before leaving, he decided it was best to take a look.
He charged his strength and soared into the sky. Floating in mid-air, he first saw a building resembling a Church of Marika situated above the cave he had entered from. However, the source of the aura wasn't there. Turning his gaze in another direction, a dilapidated ruin came into view.
There, a group of massive, strangely shaped creatures had gathered to perform some sort of ritual. Judging by the vast patches of dark, crimson red covering the ruins, this place was clearly under the influence of the Mother of Truth.
As he drew closer to observe the creatures' appearances, he didn't want to be mean, but these things looked far more hideous than demi-humans or misbegotten.
Their massive bodies were topped with tiny, shriveled heads. Their facial features were all twisted together, complemented by giant buck teeth. It wasn't just that they were ugly; they didn't even have the comedic charm of the Albinaurics.
Furthermore, their power was exactly as he had sensed—linked to the cursed blood of the Formless Mother. While he didn't know if they had any connection to the Mohgwyn Dynasty, they didn't look like the type he could reason with. He might as well just wipe them out.
Gawain dived toward the ruined town at high speed, quickly arriving directly above the site. The mutated monsters below soon noticed the stranger in the sky. They brandished their oddly shaped clubs, but obviously, they were just posturing since they couldn't hope to hit him.
Gawain observed the creatures silently. He suddenly noticed that the clubs they were waving seemed to be the withered arms of their own kin. He frowned. As expected of followers of the Mother of Truth—insane as ever.
Clearly, Ansbach was the outlier among outliers, likely due to Miquella's enchantment.
Suddenly, one of the Bloodfiends raised a spear. As the two-pronged spear thrust into the air, a power Gawain knew all too well saturated the sky. A chill ran down his spine instinctively; Melina was still in the Abyssal Woods, and no one was around to mix a Flask of Wondrous Physick for him.
The spear pierced into the void, and vast amounts of bloodflame immediately rained down, exploding continuously. Enveloped by the storm, Gawain drifted higher. As he watched the Bloodfiend unleash its blood ritual, his gaze relaxed slightly.
The intensity of this bloodflame was pathetic—not even a patch on Mohg. It wasn't a problem for him. However, at that moment, he felt a powerful presence emanating from the spear.
After the Bloodfiend on the ground unleashed the ritual, it suddenly realized it had lost control of the sacred spear. Just as it scrambled in a panic to pick it up, a staggering volume of cursed blood surged violently out of the spatial rift the spear had pierced.
Only then did the Bloodfiends realize that their deity, the Mother of Truth, had answered their prayers and bestowed upon them a massive blessing of cursed blood.
The Bloodfiends howled in delight, jumping for joy before throwing themselves to the ground in prostration, worshiping the esteemed Formless Mother.
"Well, well. It seems you're quite the vengeful one. But right now, you don't have a vessel like Mohg to host your descent."
Gawain let out a contemptuous laugh. He had only intended to scout the situation, but he hadn't expected the Mother of Truth to lose her temper the moment she sensed his aura—even going so far as to empower them with a blood ritual. It seemed that after he had teamed up with the Sun to give her a thrall-beating previously, they had truly started a feud.
He condensed a Sunlight Spear in his hand and hurled it straight at the newly formed rift.
The power of the Bloodfiends' sacred spear was too weak. Even their collective ritual couldn't hold a candle to the Mohgwyn Sacred Spear in Mohg's hand.
The Sunlight Spear, carrying the scorching blessing of the Sun, pierced through the rift and struck the Outer God residing among the stars beyond.
Even from his high altitude, Gawain could hear the Outer God's voice—pained and irritated. Clearly, the attack had jogged some very unpleasant memories.
However, there was a trace of pleasure and excitement mixed within that voice. All he could say was that the "M-tier" Outer Gods were certainly unique. He had no intention of continuing the fight; he wasn't about to let her enjoy herself.
The violent explosion from the Sunlight Spear didn't just strike the Mother of Truth's true body behind the rift; it also blasted apart the gathered pack of Bloodfiends. The massive quantities of cursed blood were sprayed everywhere, only to be completely evaporated by the extreme heat.
Gawain surrounded himself with storm-called lightning and landed, instantly charring the struggling Bloodfiends around him. This way, no vessel would remain for the Mother of Truth to use for her descent.
He stood up and surveyed the area. There were no other living creatures in these ruins, only bones scattered everywhere. In certain spots, pools of cursed blood had gathered, with eerie red flowers blooming along the edges.
These flowers had thick petals and looked particularly seductive, having drunk their fill of blood. They appeared to be a species similar to Bloodroses, growing only where cursed blood had spread.
Walking around, he saw skeletons in the ruins that didn't have a shred of flesh left on them. Although only bones remained, he could tell from the Omen horns scattered on the ground who they had been in life—Hornsent.
The architectural style of this ruined town was identical to that of the Hornsent, and the number of skeletons proved this was once a major Hornsent settlement.
But now, there wasn't a single Hornsent left—not even of the shadow-phantom variety. Had they all been eaten? Did these strange creatures have a grudge against the Hornsent too?
After thinking it over, he concluded that these tortured Bloodfiends were likely similar to Mohg. Through some twist of fate, they had summoned the Mother of Truth and then slaughtered the Hornsent living here while Messmer's Crusade was busy purging Belurat. They had used the Hornsent as sacrifices to please her in exchange for the power they had just displayed.
Gawain wandered through the town, searching for any valuable loot. After a while, he found a single talisman in a small room.
It was called the "Outer God Heirloom." It depicted a Hornsent ancestor's corpse with several Hornsent kneeling below it. The talisman lay on the ground beside a Hornsent skeleton, tossed aside as if it were garbage.
It looked like something crafted by the Hornsent, a record of an important legend, but in the eyes of the Bloodfiends, it was just a rock.
Looking at the Hornsent corpse, he suddenly wondered if this Hornsent had actually completed the summoning of the Mother of Truth right before death, only for the Bloodfiends to be more pleasing to her—resulting in a catastrophic backfire.
He picked up the talisman and felt the power within. Like other talismans in the "Heirloom" series, it boosted a specific attribute. This one boosted Arcane.
Arcane was the attribute that determined a person's connection to external powers. Only with sufficient Arcane could one sense the existence of Outer Gods. This was actually quite useful for Gawain. Previously, in his drive to maximize his combat power, he hadn't put much effort into increasing Arcane—an attribute that didn't strictly belong to his original power system.
But his enemies were only going to get stronger. He likely needed to communicate more with the Sun, which had chosen him as its avatar. Using this power was better than worrying about the enemy being too weak to fight.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash
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