Gatefront

Lucian quietly crept up behind the Godrick Soldier, closing in inch by inch.

When he was four or five steps away, the Godrick Soldier finally heard the faint sound.

But the instant he turned around, Lucian lunged forward, clamping a hand over his mouth before driving his sword viciously upward beneath his ribs.

The sword pierced straight through the Godrick Soldier, its tip bursting out near his collarbone. A heavy stream of blood ran down the blade, clearly indicating that Lucian had pierced his heart.

The Godrick Soldier struggled a few times before falling still. A trace of golden Runes drifted from his body and flowed into Lucian.

Lucian flicked the blood from his sword, tore a strip of cloth from the corpse, and wiped away the blood still clinging to the blade.

The blood stained the embroidery of the Erdtree and lion before Lucian casually tossed the cloth onto the ground.

"His reactions are sharper than in the game, but still worse than those of a normal human."

Lucian crouched down and carefully examined the Godrick Soldier's face.

It was a face like that of a dried corpse, blackened and shriveled.

After the Elden Ring shattered, every life blessed by the Erdtree in this world had been affected.

In the Lands Between of old, the way to die was to Return to the Erdtree at a graveyard—to be absorbed by the Erdtree's roots, then be reborn.

But now that the Elden Ring was shattered and the Golden Order could no longer function, those blessed ones could not Return to the Erdtree. In other words, they could not die.

Under the curse of immortality, they aged day by day, their flesh and souls wearing away together. Many soldiers were now nothing more than empty shells.

Their souls had grown so faint that they might not even know who they were. They merely continued to patrol and fight according to old instincts.

One day, they would become walking corpses with only their bodies alive... Perhaps they already had.

Lucian sighed. What a tragic world.

Lucian casually began searching the corpse, but there was little worth taking from an ordinary soldier like this.

This suit of armor was already mottled with grime, and Lucian had just stabbed through it. He already had a torch, and picking up more would only test his carrying capacity.

The only thing of some value was the sword the soldier had not had time to draw: a Lordsworn's Straight Sword.

It was the standard weapon of ordinary soldiers serving various lords. Its surface had darkened and its quality had deteriorated through prolonged use, but there were still traces of careful maintenance.

But after thinking it over, Lucian ultimately did not take it. He already had plenty of weapons on him.

And even though the soldier had lost his mind, he had still maintained this sword. Lucian decided to leave it here, so it could rest alongside its owner.

Lucian continued moving through the bushes. Along the way, he encountered several more soldiers, successfully ambushing two of them and picking up several Kukris.

But once, it seemed that a soldier's mind had not yet completely worn away, and he spotted Lucian in advance.

Lucian exchanged a few blows with him before easily cutting his sword into the soldier's neck.

However, the sounds of battle and the soldier's shouts drew the attention of three nearby soldiers.

The three soldiers rushed him together, attacking in alternating rhythms, intentionally or otherwise. Lucian struggled to hold them off and, in a moment of carelessness, was struck twice.

One blow landed on his shoulder armor, but the armor held firm, leaving only a slight dent.

The other strike, however, was far more dangerous. It came straight for Lucian's head.

Lucian had no shield, and his straight sword was busy blocking another attack.

He could only raise the gauntlet on his forearm to block it, but the gauntlet was split open by the strike, and the straight sword bit deeply into his flesh.

Lucian fought as he retreated, seizing an opportunity to deal with one of them first. The pressure immediately eased, and he swiftly took down the remaining two.

"Phew... phew..."

Lucian's face had gone pale. His left hand trembled without stop, and the blood loss combined with the consecutive battles had left him exhausted.

Though these soldiers had lost their minds, they fought as though they were still alive.

Lucian slowly removed the shattered gauntlet from his arm, exposing the steadily bleeding wound, then roughly wrapped it with clothing taken from a corpse.

"They're already walking corpses, yet once there are enough of them, they can still coordinate."

"Good thing the armor's quality isn't too bad. If that strike had broken through my shoulder armor, my entire left arm would have been unable to move."

The armor Lucian wore had long endured the elements, and some parts had indeed lost much of their protective strength. Otherwise, it would not have been split open so easily by an ordinary soldier.

"Heh, good thing this isn't a game. Now I can loot corpses whenever I want."

Lucian picked up a pair of gauntlets from a corpse. Godrick Soldier Gauntlets consisted of leather gloves and metal bracers wrapped in a layer of tattered cloth.

Enduring the pain, Lucian put the new bracer on his left arm. There was no telling whether more battles awaited him ahead, and fighting with exposed flesh was far too dangerous. If a sword struck an unprotected hand, it would probably sever it outright.

There was nothing else worth taking from these soldiers, so Lucian ignored them and continued onward past the corpses.

Fortunately, there were no more soldiers along the way, and Lucian passed through the dense forest without incident.

By then, the sky had begun to darken. It was the twilight just before nightfall.

Ahead lay a stretch of ruins, with several scattered tents set up among the remains of some unknown structure for resting and storing supplies.

Though they were far away, Lucian could see the many soldiers patrolling back and forth inside even without a Telescope.

To the left stood a massive pass, its stone-brick walls wedged between two mountains, leaving only one road passing beneath the gate.

The mountains on both sides were sheer rock faces, impossible to climb around.

And before Gatefront, a site of Grace shimmered softly, waiting for Lucian to touch it.

Lucian had to visit this site of Grace, because this was where Melina would first appear before the player.

He wanted to see her.

But the terrain gave Lucian a headache. Though the map was much larger, the soldiers were not deaf and blind like they were in the game. Sneaking through while crouched without being noticed was impossible.

And there were too many soldiers stationed amid the ruins before the gate. Breaking through them head-on would likely be difficult.

Then Lucian had a sudden flash of inspiration and remembered the Kukris he had picked up from the corpses earlier.

They were relatively large throwing knives, practically heavy throwing weapons, and they dealt decent damage when thrown.

But more importantly, these curved blades had a particular trait: because of their weight, they made a tremendous noise when they struck stone.

Lucian licked his lips as an idea surfaced in his mind.

Before acting on it, however, Lucian changed position and used his Telescope to inspect the situation within the pass.

"The soldiers are spread out, but one of them seems to be carrying a Ballista Bolt. It would be bad if I got sniped."

But after considering it, Lucian felt the plan was quite feasible. Even if it failed, he could still retreat safely.

So Lucian found another bush against the cliffside, hid inside it, and waited for night to fall.

The AI of the minor enemies has been strengthened. The more of their minds they retain, the stronger they are in battle. This story does not intend to rely purely on game stats. In the game, Godrick's soldiers and the soldiers of other Lordsworn have a major difference in stats, but in this story, their average levels are not absurdly far apart. However, after such a long passage of time, the other soldiers have retained more of their minds, which is why there is a gap in strength between soldiers in early-game areas and those in later-game areas. Members of the same race have roughly similar stats, with only exceptional individuals being noticeably stronger. For example, the Drakes encountered early on have similar stats, but Borealis the Freezing Fog and the one steeped in Scarlet Rot are far stronger than other Drakes.