Extinguishing the Flames, Extinguishing the Flames
Extinguish the three flames, and the gate to Wolf's Blood will open.
As the admonition appeared, a white, illusory spirit materialized before Malu and the others.
It was a person dressed in strange armor, with a triangular pointed hat and a raven-shaped mask that completely covered his face, and a cloak that fluttered casually behind him, giving off an air of mystery.
He held the Greatsword horizontally, placed his other hand, which held the short knife, on top of it, and slowly lowered his head to make a gesture that was ambiguous yet felt solemn to the newcomer.
Could this be some kind of courtesy?
Regardless of its meaning, this opening certainly intimidated Malu and the others.
"This isn't a real person, is it?" The adventurer circled the Undead Legion's spirit form, wanting to observe it more closely, but he didn't dare to get closer.
Even though it is just a spirit, it possesses an aura that prevents people from being arrogant and even inspires awe.
It possesses an imposing presence no less than that of the Dragonslayer Armour.
"He must be a powerful swordsman," Da Er said, his eyes fixed on the Greatsword in the Undead Legion' hands, his gaze filled with desire.
"I feel he's more than just powerful," someone said.
Between the Firelink Shrine and Farron Keep lies a canyon. As you traverse the canyon, you can feel the changing colors of the sky. While it was sunny and bright with blue skies and white clouds at the Firelink Shrine, it became gloomy and dark when you reached Farron Keep.
There's a sense of temporal and spatial dislocation, as if you've suddenly jumped from a prosperous era to the apocalypse.
The scene at Farron Keep did not disappoint the adventurers.
"This scene looks so familiar."
Looking at the brown Swamp, the withered trees, and the smoke rising into the sky, Malu couldn't help but mutter:
"Isn't there basically no change at all!"
"Strictly speaking, it has changed," Luo Jieer said, pointing to the fireworks that were particularly conspicuous in the sky. "It has changed from ignition to extinguishing."
"."
"I don't want to step in the mud anymore. What about that dragon you caught? Let it out and ride it."
Luo Jieer glanced at her. "Hathaway is sleeping at home."
"Sleep? You're letting such a powerful fighter sleep at home?"
"Hathaway is my partner, not a tool for fighting," Luo Jieer rolled his eyes at Malu. "Do you think I'm Battle Mania who would throw even my partners onto the battlefield?"
Malu speechless for a moment. She felt that the way this guy thought was different from the average person.
Left with no other choice, everyone had to step into the Swamp again. Since the goal was to extinguish the flames, heading towards the source of the smoke should be no problem.
However, after taking only a few steps in the Swamp, everyone realized that something was wrong.
The Swamp had deepened, reaching above knee-deep in its deepest parts, and it was even more viscous. Every step felt like stepping into a deep pit filled with countless tentacle monsters, from which it was difficult to pull oneself out.
In this situation, encountering any enemy would be a huge problem!
Moreover
What should you do if you need to dodge?
Rolling around in this kind of terrain must be quite an experience.
When this question was raised, the Spirit Power emitted by everyone present increased by a level.
"Delu, old man," Malu said, almost pleadingly, "Can you cast a Levitation Spell for me, or do you have any magic to freeze the Swamp? It's not easy for us to move around like this."
"Tolerate,"
Delu said expressionlessly.
The Levitation Spell works by suspending the caster in mid-air, about ten centimeters above the ground, and can also be used in certain situations to reduce fall damage.
However, this spell is applied to "ground" rather than "Swamp". If you use the Levitation Spell here, you'll probably end up with a bizarre scene of everyone moving horizontally through the Swamp.
As for the frozen Swamp
Delu's facial muscles twitched. If he could freeze such a large area, why didn't he apply for the position of Royal Archmage?
"Puff--"
Just then, an adventurer suddenly coughed up blood, his face turning a deep liver color.
"He's been poisoned! Antidote!"
Seeing the man's miserable state, everyone realized that the Swamp's toxicity had increased, and it had become a silent and unintentional way to poison people!
"That's so vicious," Malu, pulling out a bottle of purple antidote and gulping down half of it. She immediately felt refreshed.
These potions were developed by the Bede Family's apothecaries based on the Purple Moss Ball produced in the Zane Dungeon. They have extremely powerful detoxifying effects, and it is said that the concentrated version can neutralize all poisons.
Unfortunately, the concentrated version is still in the experimental stage, and the products on the market are all diluted.
The group is currently trekking with the risk of poisoning, which is a double torment to both their mental and physical health.
"There are many strangely shaped wooden frames here," someone noticed, noting that some wooden frames often stood crookedly by the roadside, and some of them even had corpses tied to them.
The corpses were highly decomposed, but judging from their skeletons, they were not human.
Because those corpses were more like wild animals, or more like wolves.
Perhaps it has something to do with the "Wolf's Blood" mentioned in the advice at the entrance?
"There's a light over there," an adventurer noticed the white light under the tree and paused as he was about to pick it up.
"The Zane Dungeon is fraught with danger. Someone once told me that monsters lurk beneath the glowing spots,"
He muttered something to himself, then pulled out his spear and stabbed it several times into the Swamp below the light. Sure enough, a large mass of blood from an unknown monster floated to the surface.
"Luckily, I was cautious enough,"
He walked over smugly and picked up the light spot, but before he could even see what it was, a heavy pressure from above shoved him into the Swamp!
"Puff puff puff—"
In the blink of an eye, several slugs larger than a human fell from the tree, crushing the poor adventurer so badly he could hardly breathe. When he opened his mouth, bubbles bubbled up from it!
Just as everyone was about to rush over to save the person, the slug suddenly vomited out a large glob of viscous venom, accompanied by a nauseating stench.
"Ugh, that's disgusting,"
Malu threw her weapon from a distance and killed one of them; the rest were eliminated by everyone working together.
The adventurer who was attacked was still alive, but his body was filthy and he had an expression that showed he was living a life worse than death.
"I have a feeling these monsters were specifically sent here to annoy us."
Delu used a cleansing spell to soothe the adventurers' wounded hearts, and after this ordeal, they finally found land!
It was a hill emerging from the Swamp. Stepping onto the hard ground again, people were almost moved to tears.
Thick plumes of smoke rose from the top of the hill, the location of the first beacon tower.
"Giggle!"
A strange cry drew the adventurers' attention, and several emaciated, humanoid monsters with deformed heads and tumor-like horns rushed out.
[Ghrū]
Overall combat strength: E+ to E++
Armed with tattered shields that looked like wooden planks and equally crude spears, they launched an attack on the adventurers.
The battle was about to begin. Although the Ghrū had mastered some of the secrets of the Shield Poke, it was nothing compared to the Strategy Team that had been baptized by the Crucible Knight.
Moreover, the adventurers who teamed up with the Strategy Team were not bad in strength, just somewhat inferior in comparison.
The battle quickly came to an end, and one adventurer slowly retreated to the edge, seemingly wanting to slack off.
"With the Strategy Team here, I can rest easy this time,"
He breathed a sigh of relief, but in that instant he noticed a lurking monster rapidly approaching him.
It was a Ghrū on all fours, looking incredibly wild!
"Tsk, in the end I still have to take action," he said, raising his shield and preparing to strike with his rapier.
To deal with these irrational monsters, you just need to wait until they crash into the shield before making your move; that's his advice based on experience.
This tactic makes a lot of sense and is very useful against most monsters.
But the monsters in the Zane Dungeon have a move called—throwing!
"Aaaaaah!"
Just as everyone finished dealing with all the Ghrū, they suddenly heard a heart-wrenching scream coming from not far away. They turned around and saw...
Ghrū was perched on the adventurer's shoulders, frantically scratching at his head.
This is a highly pure form of shampoo!
This adventurer wasn't so lucky; by the time he was rescued, he was already dead, and his face was scratched and disfigured.
His body gradually turned to ashes and disappeared, a sign that he would soon be resurrected by the campfire.
"Uh, should we wait for him here?" someone asked.
"No need. I know him," Da Er said expressionlessly. "He's not strong enough to cross the Swamp and get here alone. Unless we go and get him, that would be a waste of time."
He turned and walked towards the mountaintop. "Let's go. I don't think he'll blame us."
On the mountaintop, people found the burning beacon tower.
Just as Da Er was about to extinguish the flames, Luo Jieer suddenly said, "Wait a minute, there's a sculpture on the beacon tower."
There was indeed a sculpture, and they were quite familiar with the person on it—an old man wearing a crown and with a white beard.
Gwyn, the Sunlight King.
The sculpture features an abstract depiction of Gwyn, while below it burns a raging fire, seemingly mimicking the scene of Gwyn linking the fire.
Delu carefully memorized the sculpture, intending to draw it when he got back.
"This doesn't seem to have any deeper meaning. I need to put out the fire."
Ignoring the temperature of the flames, Da Er extinguished them with his palm.
It's just a normal action, but mentioning the word "fire extinguishing" in the Zane Dungeon feels a bit strange.
The members of the Strategy Team glanced nervously at Gwyn on the sculpture, unsure of why they felt guilty.
I have this feeling that the old man up there might jump out and slap them.
Just as everyone was preparing to follow the smoke signal to find the next beacon fire, the scene before them suddenly changed.
"Ah, that's more like it,"
In the video, a tightly closed Fortress Gate shows a slight loosening, and one of the three braziers in front of the gate undergoes a change.
I updated 10,000 words today, I'm so tired.