Tombsward Catacombs

What a joke!

How could Xia Tong be so heartless as to let his Spirit Ashes brothers test the blades?

He stayed close behind the Stray Wolves, keeping a safe distance.

Sure enough, the moment the Stray Wolves stepped through the fog gate, their sharp sense of smell and hearing made them howl loudly.

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They abruptly lunged and bit toward the side, triggering an ambush meant for intruders.

The corners of Xia Tong's mouth slowly curved upward. Everything is going exactly as I expected.

After efficiently disposing of the three skeleton soldiers behind the white fog gate's seal, Xia Tong finally found a scroll of parchment in a corner.

Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [9].

It recorded the crafting method for a "Rancor Pot."

Having dealt with that wave of enemies, Xia Tong led his Spirit Ashes legion deeper inside.

Ahead, he found a stone gate locked by a mechanism, with a Marika's Stake beside it.

Xia Tong did not stop and chose to keep turning right.

He followed the stone steps downward, where two skeleton soldiers suddenly appeared in the darkness.

They pulled out two battered red clay jars, lit the fuses, and viciously hurled them at Xia Tong.

Xia Tong's gaze sharpened. This thing looked a little familiar.

He immediately ordered his Spirit Ashes to fall back while swiftly raising the Shield of the Guilty to protect his face.

Crack—!

The crisp sound of pottery shattering was especially piercing in the silent catacombs.

Then came a booming whoosh as murky fuel splattered everywhere from the jars.

A mass of orange-red flames burst across the floor in an instant. Scalding heat and choking black smoke from burning grease rushed straight at Xia Tong.

"Playing with fire, are you?!"

Just as Xia Tong was about to be scorched by the flames, a soft body blocked his path.

It was Kulala the Jellyfish.

Kulala the Jellyfish's massive, moisture-filled gelatinous body perfectly blocked the assault of the flames.

You really are my little padded jacket. Xia Tong was so moved that he nearly teared up.

With the flames blocked, Xia Tong stepped forward and struck twice, knocking the skeleton soldier to the ground before finishing it off.

The remaining one was quickly taken down by the Spirit Ashes battle group as well.

Continuing downward, they arrived at a two-tiered platform.

At that moment, several hidden arrows shot out from the shadows.

They came from three skeleton soldiers wielding longbows.

Xia Tong swept his right hand forward, and three Stray Wolves lunged fiercely at the archers.

The wolves were agile, and the clumsy arrows of those skeleton soldiers could not hit them at all.

The Fanged Imps were even more brutal. Screeching as they charged forward, they quickly chopped several Skeletal Militiamen in half with their forked hand axes.

Xia Tong followed after them and finished each one off.

"Wait, what's that?"

By the firelight, Xia Tong could clearly see four or five Grave Gloveworts growing in the corner, along with one particularly conspicuous Ghost Glovewort.

The Ghost Glovewort was more beautiful than ordinary ones, its entire body emitting a cold, ghostly blue radiance.

Its stems and leaves were not emerald green either, but instead a grayish-black.

Clusters of tiny flower buds hung downward from a curved stalk.

The petals had a translucent texture, as if they would disperse into smoke at the slightest touch.

Ordinary Grave Glovorts, meanwhile, still bore pure white petals and dark green stems and leaves, with only an extremely faint, ghastly white sheen.

He carefully picked it and tucked it into his robes.

Besides that, some Whiteflesh Mushrooms grew from the damp ground.

They were all excellent ingredients for stew, so Xia Tong picked them one by one and placed them in the pack on his back.

After collecting the spoils, Xia Tong looked up and saw a demon statue facing downward.

"Normally, you'd have to take a ladder around to the top to activate this mechanism, but I don't need to do that."

Xia Tong chuckled.

He then ordered two sturdy Godrick Soldiers over and had them form a simple human ladder.

Xia Tong stepped onto the soldiers' shoulders and gave a light jump, easily reaching the raised platform.

He had just raised his eyes to survey the surroundings when a cold gust rushed at his face.

Already accustomed to such situations, Xia Tong reacted swiftly, rolling to the side and dodging the attack.

At the same time, Kulala the Jellyfish slowly floated upward and reached the raised platform as well.

Kulala's tentacles lashed out, tightly binding the ambushing Skeletal Militiaman before violently whipping it.

Before long, the entire skeleton had been whipped apart.

Two Fanged Imps were also hoisted onto the raised platform by the two Godrick Soldiers through sheer arm strength.

Xia Tong glanced at the statue on his left.

It was a tall, holy, solemn female figure, like a high-ranking nun in prayer.

A lever switch stood before the statue.

Xia Tong gripped the lever with his left hand and yanked it down hard.

With a clattering of gears, the heavy mechanism was triggered.

Naturally, Xia Tong was thoroughly familiar with all this.

However, after activating the mechanism, he did not immediately jump down. Instead, he continued exploring ahead from the raised platform.

Before long, he found another dried corpse in a hidden chamber, with a Prattling Pate placed on it.

It was the one that said, "Thank you."

Afterward, Xia Tong signaled for Kulala the Jellyfish to stay where she was while he led the Fanged Imps onward.

Just as he expected, a sound like roaring flames came from ahead.

It was a mechanism stone pillar that breathed fire.

He ordered the Stray Wolves to squeeze forward and hide in the safe space to the side.

During the gap after the flames finished spewing once more, he sprinted through the corridor and slashed the mechanism stone pillar, causing it to lower.

Behind it, he found several Grave Violets.

Once he was done, Xia Tong returned the way he came and slowly headed toward the gate he had just opened.

The stone gate stood wide open.

As Xia Tong stepped through the fog gate, he saw a shadow darker than darkness itself slowly writhing in the middle of the chamber.

It slowly rose to its feet, revealing an extremely thin, twisted black silhouette.

It seemed to be formed from thick ink or endlessly churning black smoke.

Only two beams of light shone from its face, coming from its eyes.

It slowly approached Xia Tong, and as it drew closer, Xia Tong saw it more clearly.

Insect-like antennae protruded from its head. Its body was incredibly thin and shriveled, with disproportionately long limbs, like a humanoid praying mantis standing upright.

Moreover, those two beams of light were not simply eye-shaped. They were formed from countless tiny dots that glimmered with a faint, ghastly white light, like an insect's compound eyes.

It held two incredibly thin black double-edged mantis-arm blades, the Cemetery Shade's exclusive weapons.

Xia Tong had long prepared a plan for dealing with the Cemetery Shade's attacks.

He whistled.

All the Spirit Ashes gathered around him, standing back-to-back in a tight defensive formation.

No matter which direction the attack came from, the others would be able to react quickly.

It seemed to recognize that Xia Tong was the leader.

The Cemetery Shade's mantis-arm blades let out a faint hum.

Without a single footstep, it merely flickered like black mist and instantly appeared before Xia Tong.

Its sharp mantis-arm blade slashed directly at Xia Tong's throat.

Having anticipated it, Xia Tong relied on his lightning-fast reflexes and lightly raised the shield on his left arm, blocking the swift, vicious strike.

At the same time, Kulala the Jellyfish's tentacles wound wildly toward the Cemetery Shade like vines.

But it was useless.

The Cemetery Shade seemed to have no physical body as it suddenly dissipated like smoke.

Kulala the Jellyfish grabbed nothing but air.

When it appeared again, it had already teleported behind the two Godrick Soldiers.

Swish, swish.

The two heavily armored Godrick Soldiers were immediately slashed down to one knee.

Fortunately, they had been close together to begin with.

As it swung its blade toward the second Godrick Soldier, Xia Tong's Lordsworn's Straight Sword suddenly shot forward—Thrust!

This strike was so fast that Xia Tong's sword felt as though it had stabbed into thick paste, with no solid sensation at all.

This time, the Cemetery Shade did not evade.

Instead, it slowly turned around and allowed Xia Tong's sword to pierce its smoke-like body.

Then it covered those pale compound eyes with both hands and violently sprayed a mass of glowing dark-green slime forward.

The slime abruptly spread open in midair like a poisonous spiderweb snapping wide, tightly binding Xia Tong before he could dodge.

"Damn it."

Xia Tong's heart immediately sank halfway.