Crimson Jellyfish

On Stormhill, the gale howled, sending waves of cold through him.

Xia Tong looked back.

Roderika's little ramshackle house looked fragile in the frigid wind, as though it might fall apart at any moment.

Jingle, jingle.

He shook the Spirit Calling Bell, and two Fanged Imps materialized.

Xia Tong pointed at several dead trees beside the distant hill and gave the order.

He stepped forward and began chopping as well. Before long, the trees had been felled.

Then he roughly processed them into several simple wooden boards.

With the Tarnished's powerful physique, making such things took little effort.

Without nails, Xia Tong had no choice but to use tough vines as rope, tying the boards over the damaged areas.

For gaps that could not be sealed, Xia Tong stuffed them tightly with dry grass.

The roof was handled more simply and crudely: he laid large boards over it, then bound them securely with vines.

He worked from morning until evening, and after an entire day, everything was finally finished.

Perhaps because of her earlier traumatic experience, Roderika's emotions had become somewhat numb.

She simply sat inside the house with her arms around her knees, watching blankly as Xia Tong worked noisily both inside and outside.

"I've taken care of the nearby wolf packs, the wandering nobles, and the Kaiden Sellswords who slash at anyone they see. The house has been repaired too, so rest well here."

Xia Tong wiped away his sweat and turned to leave.

But the next second, he realized someone had tugged on the hem of his clothes from behind.

Roderika began to cry, trembling, her voice as thin as a thread.

"Sir... please tell me your name. I still don't know it."

"My name is Xia Tong."

After Xia Tong left.

Roderika looked at the little wooden house Xia Tong had rebuilt, and a trace of long-forgotten joy unexpectedly arose in her deadened heart.

She walked softly around the room, then suddenly noticed that something had appeared on the table.

It was a gray cloth bag.

She carefully picked it up. It still retained a lingering warmth.

She opened it.

"Is this... dried meat?"

Roderika gently picked up a grayish-brown strip of dried meat and slowly chewed it in her mouth.

A faint saltiness spread across her tongue, followed by a rich aroma of meat.

"Xia Tong..."

Though the wind still howled outside, warmth had already begun to fill the little house.

On a mountain road near Stormhill, Xia Tong beamed at Melina and pulled something from his pocket.

"Look at this."

Xia Tong held out his hand. Resting in his palm was a golden seed, like a glowing crystalized golden petal, radiating a warm light.

He had discovered it while chopping trees. It had been in a patch of woodland not far from the ruined house; perhaps some unseen guidance had led Xia Tong to find it.

This was Xia Tong's first time seeing a Golden Seed. It had appeared at the roots of a translucent sapling that shone with golden light.

Like a Site of Grace, this Minor Erdtree could only be seen by those it acknowledged.

"That is a Golden Seed. You can use it to increase the number of times you can use your Flask of Crimson Tears," Melina said slowly.

"How do I use it?"

"Simply place the Golden Seed into the phantom image of the Flask of Crimson Tears."

Xia Tong did as she said and dropped the Golden Seed into the Crimson Tear Flask.

The crimson liquid in the flask rose a little higher, and a flash of golden radiance vanished in an instant.

Its number of uses had clearly increased. Xia Tong could now take one more life-saving drink from the flask.

Suddenly, Xia Tong thought of something else.

He blew a whistle and summoned Torrent, then lightly kicked off the ground and leaped onto his back.

"Hyah!"

Riding Torrent, Xia Tong headed toward the edge of the western forest.

The scenery along the way was bleak beyond measure. The winds of Stormhill were cold and biting, and Xia Tong could not help wrapping his clothes tighter around himself.

"It should be this way. I can't be wrong."

After passing through a sparse coniferous forest, the view before him suddenly opened up.

But what lay ahead was a graveyard that sent chills down his spine.

Countless faint, almost transparent jellyfish drifted around the gravestones.

These should be Spirit Jellyfish.

"They're the same as the Spirit Jellyfish Roderika gave me, but this isn't what I'm looking for."

These white jellyfish were gentle by nature and had no desire to attack Xia Tong.

Xia Tong slowly rode past them, trying not to disturb their peace.

Xia Tong knew a little about these Spirit Jellyfish. They were actually formed from children who had died young.

Suddenly, a red figure appeared before Xia Tong.

Ahead was a group of entirely crimson jellyfish!

They were no longer transparent. Their insides seemed to be filled with boiling blood.

The surrounding air was instantly flooded with a frenzied, hateful emotion.

"One, two, three, four..."

Xia Tong counted roughly. There were dozens of them, densely packed together.

And the Spirit Ashes Xia Tong was searching for lay beside a gravestone tightly surrounded by four or five Crimson Jellyfish.

"There are even Skeletal Militiamen."

Through the gaps between the jellyfish, Xia Tong saw skeletons near several gravestones, their bodies draped in scattered scraps of red cloth.

Those Who Live in Death were incredibly troublesome. Even after being smashed apart, they could reassemble themselves. They had to be struck down repeatedly to be killed for good.

And with dozens of Crimson Jellyfish attacking him at once, Xia Tong could already tell that he would have no chance to finish them off.

He hid behind a huge gravestone, picked up a stone fragment nearby, and viciously hurled it at the nearest Crimson Jellyfish.

Then he immediately ducked back behind the gravestone.

The struck Crimson Jellyfish instantly flailed its tentacles and turned toward him.

Its previously languid floating body tightened in an instant, its color changing from dark red to deep crimson as countless tentacles lashed wildly like whips.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!!

The jellyfish was practically exploding with rage.

If ordinary white jellyfish had died young for ordinary reasons, then this Crimson Jellyfish had died young because resentment had driven it toward violence.

They were manic by nature.

This enraged Crimson Jellyfish immediately stirred up the others nearby.

The Crimson Jellyfish writhed madly, spraying red venom in every direction like a torrential downpour.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

Any stones struck by the venom immediately began to sizzle and smoke, giving off the sound of corrosion.

"How the hell is this any different from concentrated sulfuric acid?"

Still shaken, Xia Tong did not dare make any rash moves. Instead, he retreated farther away and hid beside a gravestone at the edge of the area.

He assessed his fighting strength.

The only combat power he could bring out now consisted of three Stray Wolves, two Fanged Imps, and himself.

There was no way he could confront dozens of Crimson Jellyfish head-on.

Not to mention the unkillable skeletal soldiers stirring up trouble.

After an unknown amount of time, Xia Tong finally saw the agitated Crimson Jellyfish gradually calm down.

In the night, beside a conspicuous gravestone, a mass of condensed semisolid soul matter floated quietly.

This should be the Spirit Ashes of the Godrick Soldiers.

His current Spirit Ashes army was still very weak, and it did not even have a single frontline fighter capable of taking damage.

The three Stray Wolves and two Fanged Imps were better suited for mobility and harassment.

They were quite skilled at ambushes. If they swarmed an enemy and attacked continuously, they could stagger the target until it could not fight back.

But when someone truly needed to hold the line, Xia Tong could only charge in himself with his own body.

As for the Spirit Jellyfish Roderika had given him, it was actually very fragile and could only serve as a small ranged turret and venom sprayer.

"At night, these frenzied Crimson Jellyfish and Those Who Live in Death are extremely active. If you must act, tomorrow morning would be a good opportunity."

"At dawn, they are at their weakest point of the day."

Melina's voice sounded at just the right moment.

She had no physical body of her own, so she could not offer Xia Tong any direct help in battle.

But she remained by his side, offering him advice and doing what a witch ought to do.

Melina's voice was so gentle and warm that it soothed Xia Tong's agitation.

Xia Tong made his decision at once, mounted Torrent, and rode away into the distance.

He returned to the ruined house on Stormhill.

Xia Tong pushed open the repaired wooden door.

He said to Roderika somewhat awkwardly,

"Um... if it's all right, could I stay here for the night?"

"Of course!"

Light seemed to flash through Roderika's once-dull eyes.