Extermination Plan for the Gatefront

Night soon fell.

Xia Tong had already made up his mind.

He crept forward, using the shadows of bushes and ruins to quickly approach the lone Godrick Soldier ahead.

This was a very troublesome target.

A huge bronze horn hung from his waist.

He had to kill him instantly!

One step, two steps.

Pfft!

The Lordsworn's Straight Sword in his hand struck with precision and cruelty, plunging hard into the Godrick Soldier's back.

Then Xia Tong skillfully planted a foot on his back and yanked the sword free.

Sshhk—!

Blood immediately sprayed out, splattering Xia Tong's face.

It stank, carrying the scent of rust.

At the same time, two Fanged Imps appeared like ghosts, one before and one behind him, their forked hand axes hacking viciously into the Godrick Soldier's vulnerable flanks.

"Urgh! Urgh!"

Muddy bubbling sounds came from the soldier's throat. His hand had only just reached for the horn before he collapsed limply.

A golden Rune flowed into Xia Tong's body.

64 points.

Those Runes were not the real prize. The equipment on his body could probably sell for over a hundred Runes.

Xia Tong was in no hurry to carry it himself.

He rang the Spirit Calling Bell and summoned a Stray Wolf.

Through their mental connection, he gave it a simple command.

The huge Spirit Wolf obediently lay down, and Xia Tong tied all the armor and weapons stripped from the soldier onto its back.

He had it carry them to the cave deep in the forest, then dismissed the summon.

He repeated the process.

In just two hours, Xia Tong took advantage of the night to eliminate more than ten lone Godrick Soldiers.

At the same time, he acquired more than ten sets of worn-out armor and weapons.

In the blink of an eye, dawn arrived.

Xia Tong dragged his exhausted body back to Mistwood Cave.

"Fortunately, these Godrick Soldiers are muddle-headed and have practically no tactical coordination. If a real, fully organized Godrick Legion were stationed here, there would be no way I could successfully ambush them."

There were no living creatures left inside the cave.

Only a golden glow from a Site of Grace flickered faintly in the darkness.

Xia Tong touched the golden light.

The mountain of Godrick Soldier gear piled to his left turned into motes of light and merged into the Site of Grace.

At that moment, all those items were stored in the Site of Grace's storage space.

After resting briefly, Xia Tong rode to the Church of Elleh.

He sold the batch of equipment to Kale for more than 3,300 Runes.

Together with the Runes he had accumulated from hunting the soldiers at the Gatefront, he now had a total of 4,263 Runes.

A fortune!

"Melina."

He called to the girl and gripped her cool, soft hand.

He leveled up again!

[Character Data]

Level: 13

Runes Held: 515

Vigor: 14

Mind: 20

Endurance: 10

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 18

Faith: 2

Arcane: 10

He had added two points to Strength and two points to Vigor.

Xia Tong sensed that he still had 738 Runes left over.

"I'll rest at the Site of Grace in Mistwood Cave. Tonight, I'll keep working."

Two days passed.

Xia Tong had reached level 17.

[Character Data]

Level: 17

Runes Held: 323

Vigor: 16

Mind: 22

Endurance: 10

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 18

Faith: 2

Arcane: 10

This time, he had added two points to Vigor and two points to Mind.

After several days of cleansing, most of the Godrick Soldiers at the Gatefront had disappeared.

They had become unclothed remains. Perhaps the Erdtree would revive them at some point in the future, but that was a matter for later.

Now, only eleven enemies remained in the entire massive camp.

They included ten soldiers gathered together and one heavily armored elite— a Godrick Knight.

The reason those eleven enemies could not be dealt with was because they were packed too tightly together, making ambushes impossible.

Xia Tong had once tried summoning three wolves and two Fanged Imps, then rushing in with them in an attempt to forcefully kill them in a short time.

However, that knight wielding a huge shield and clad in heavy armor always rushed over the instant any noise was made.

Once he was pinned down by that spear, the other Godrick Soldiers would swarm in and hack him to death.

"What a headache."

Xia Tong sat on a hillside, looking at the heavily guarded Gatefront camp in the distance, feeling wave after wave of helplessness.

In truth, he could simply ignore this camp and take a detour toward the Weeping Peninsula.

But he had to take this camp.

Because inside the black carriage chest parked in the center of the camp was a weapon—the [Lordsworn's Greatsword].

This greatsword was extremely useful during early exploration. It dealt high poise damage, had solid damage output, and possessed a powerful skill.

With the Lordsworn's Greatsword and his current Strength, Xia Tong could kill an ordinary soldier with a single heavy attack, greatly improving his efficiency.

"If that elite Godrick Knight weren't there, I could still fight even if ten ordinary Godrick Soldiers came at me together!"

"But now..."

That knight was like an iron tower, blocking his path to becoming stronger.

Xia Tong sat on the hillside and looked up at the incomparably massive Erdtree in the sky.

Golden light spilled over the land of Limgrave, yet it could not shine into his anxious heart.

"Besides Spirit Ashes, you have other companions too. Have you forgotten?"

A cool voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

Melina's figure slowly materialized at his side.

"Other companions?"

Xia Tong was confused.

He took stock of what he had. He no longer had any other Spirit Ashes.

Although there was a Fringefolk Hero's Grave in the Stranded Graveyard, containing the powerful Banished Knight Oleg Spirit Ashes.

That was an endgame area. He could not possibly defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit inside at his current level.

As for the legendary Mimic Tear, it was in the distant Eternal City—Nokron.

"What are you thinking about?!"

Melina sat beside him, looking slightly annoyed.

The breeze lifted her pale red hair. As she looked at this dull-witted Tarnished before her, she felt frustrated that he could not live up to expectations.

He actually let his mind wander while talking to her!

How infuriating!

"Nothing... What companion did you say I had?"

"Torrent! Torrent!"

Melina pointed at the ring. "How could you forget Torrent?"

After saying that, Melina seemed to get angry. Her figure flashed, and she vanished.

"Torrent..."

Xia Tong froze, then suddenly slapped his forehead.

"That's right!"

"One sentence woke me from a dream!"

In the game, he had been very skilled at mounted combat. He often relied on riding in circles to kite enemies without ranged attacks to death!

And now, none of the Godrick Soldiers in the Gatefront camp had horses!

That Godrick Knight might be strong, but he was infantry too!

However, there were also two wolves in the enemy camp, and those were worth being wary of.

There had originally been six wolves in the entire Gatefront camp, but Xia Tong had killed four under cover of night. Two remained.

He had to deal with those two highly mobile dogs first.

"Then it's settled!"

A bold battle plan quickly formed in Xia Tong's mind.

He had bought several throwing knives from Kale at the Church of Elleh before. They would come in handy now.

Xia Tong had practiced with the things before. His accuracy was not perfect, but he could always hit once out of every two throws.

And they were fairly powerful too.

The next day.

The Erdtree still shone with its own resplendent brilliance.

At the Gatefront camp, the tall and imposing Godrick Knight still held a spear and a greatshield bearing a golden lion, patrolling the camp with steady steps.

His armor was so heavy that even after being battered by wind and rain, it still gleamed with a cold sheen under the sunlight.

Suddenly.

He stopped walking and turned to look toward the eastern side of the camp.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The earth trembled.

A figure riding a black horse was charging toward them at high speed!

It was Xia Tong!

However, his target was not the knight.

It was the other two lone ordinary Godrick Soldiers on the outskirts.

"Hyah!"

Xia Tong lowered himself over the horse's back and used Torrent's high-speed charge to burst into the battlefield.

He gripped the somewhat chipped Lordsworn's Straight Sword and, borrowing the horse's momentum, swung his right hand.

A vicious heavy strike!

Crack!

Squelch!

The powerful blow cleaved directly into a soldier's shoulder.

However—

With a creak!

Something unexpected happened.

This sword had chopped through too many bones over the past few days, and tiny chips had long appeared along its edge.

Now, aided by the horse's tremendous momentum, it became deeply lodged in the gap between the Godrick Soldier's collarbone and shoulder blade!

It wouldn't come out!

"Fuck!"

Xia Tong's heart sank.

The Godrick Soldier he had struck let out a miserable scream, his whole body hanging from the sword as he was dragged along by the horse.

Dragging an adult man was obviously far too heavy.

Torrent suddenly slowed, nearly coming to a standstill.

"Roar—!"

In the distance, the Godrick Knight had noticed the disturbance. He raised his spear and charged over with a roar!

"Let go!"

Xia Tong broke out in a cold sweat, desperately trying to pull out his sword or shake the man off.

Just then.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three gray figures lunged out from the flank.

They were the Stray Wolves Xia Tong had summoned!

They pounced straight onto the dragged Godrick Soldier and tore into him savagely.

Golden Runes flowed into Xia Tong's body—66 points.

The man was dead.

But the sword was still stuck in his bones!