Dark Moon Knight Order Trainee Knight

The white spirit's cries were shrill and chilling.

But the Furious Rajang in his words was more chilling than his cries; the spirit was like a mentally twisted madman who only knew how to worship Sulyvahn.

The cries were like a sudden chill, as if the Warm Grass Fruit that Leon and the others had just eaten had lost its effect, and the biting cold wind was seeping into them from the outside in.

"Wait a minute, the Warm Grass Fruit has lost its effect!"

Seeing that everyone was covered in frost, Leon realized that the warming effect of the Warm Grass Fruit had disappeared. He quickly took out the fruits from his backpack and ate one for each person.

"I knew it! How could my strong mind possibly generate a bunch of flowery thoughts just because of a spirit's cry?" Malu kept panting because the Warm Grass Fruit was too spicy.

"Don't try to hide the fact that your education level is so low that you can't think of words to describe your psychological changes, okay?" Leon's words provoked the latter to frantically scratch.

The group carefully avoided the spirit. Its appearance only made them feel that Irithyll had a strong religious atmosphere and that Pontiff Sulyvahn was being worshipped in an abnormal way.

Presumably, that pope was no ordinary person, but considering the descriptions of the pope in the various items we had previously acquired, an image of Black Hand and an ambitious schemer gradually began to emerge.

Furthermore, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley is the Pope's territory, and Sulyvahn's oppressive presence gradually began to emerge.

The dimly lit alleyways were interconnected, and the sky could only be seen through the narrow gaps between the buildings, making it feel very oppressive. However, Leon felt more comfortable here.

How to describe this feeling? The scenery of Irithyll is undoubtedly magnificent and beautiful, but the intricate alleys have a more "Syrnian" feel to them. For someone like him who has been fighting since the beginning of the mutation, the dark environment is more relaxing.

Sometimes I really feel like I'm being quite pathetic.

"Bang!"

The sound of clashing swords came out of nowhere; the Zane Dungeon was naturally not going to give up on stuffing monsters into the alleys.

Narrow terrain can hinder adventurers from wielding their weapons, but it can also be used to their advantage, for example...

"Te Er, use Savage Charge!"

"Oh oh oh!"

With all his might, Te Er charged down the alley, shield in hand, leaving a trail of agonizing screams as the Transparent Man were crushed by his brute force.

"Excellent, the plan works!"

Leon and the others jogged close behind Te Er, wishing they could just keep charging all the way to the end.

But as Te Er's momentum weakened, a slender, tall figure descended from the sky and slashed a large wound into his back.

The visitor is the Pontiff Knight!

She held a shield in one hand and a curved sword in the other. Large sections of the blade looked as if they had been gnawed by insects, making them both light and deadly, yet also quite fragile.

Malu lunged at the Pontiff Knight the moment he appeared, but was easily dodged by his leap.

"This guy reacted incredibly fast!"

Just then, another Pontiff Knight jumped down from behind them. This was the consequence of their parkour being blocked; they now had to face the monsters they had provoked from behind.

Leon's usual practice is to test the waters before making a move when facing a newly emerged enemy, since he needs to be more conservative in Sain.

But there was no time for him to slowly test his moves, because when the Pontiff Knight appeared, the Fire Witch on the bridge would use them to track the adventurers' movements, and what would follow closely behind was—

"Boom!"

Several pillars of fire shot into the sky, and the Pontiff Knight launched their attacks from both the front and the back.

In this situation, the only option is to go all out; otherwise, we'll be burned alive!

The Pontiff Knight's offensive was incredibly fierce, like Carthus Warrior on double speed. Even Leon was caught off guard by the sudden encounter with such an enemy.

However, this situation changed when he seized the opportunity to swing his shield, attempting to create an attack opportunity using War Ash [Parry], but shattered the Pontiff Knight's curved sword on the second parry.

This curved sword, which had been gnawed by insects, was less hard than a normal weapon, but unexpectedly it shattered after being successfully deflected twice!

It seems quite reasonable?

Just like how the Dual Katana White Ape Sword Saint couldn't penetrate Leon's armor, there are differences between weapons.

Once the weakness of the curved sword was discovered, the counterattack began, and Te Er also found his own fighting style - blood exchange!

Don't be afraid of getting hurt. The Pontiff Knight's small frame would stagger if hit by him. He could easily charge in and kill the opponent in one combo while enduring the attack.

The Pontiff Knight fell and vanished, the Fire Witch lost her target and stopped casting spells, and the crisis was temporarily averted.

"Ouch, this time the enemy's wounds are a bit painful."

Leon clutched his bleeding arm, wondering if it was just his imagination, but it seemed that the strength of the monsters in the new areas had generally increased since the appearance of the Catacombs of Carthus (not counting the Road of Sacrifices).

That's perfect, since the adventurers' strength increases because of the campfire, the monsters should naturally keep up in strength as well.

In reality, it's the "Strength Balance" authority that's at work. Recently, this authority has been affecting loot drops. Monsters of the same type with different strengths will drop different loot, and the items located on the map will also differ.

"You can even go inside the house?"

As Leon and his companions wandered through the alleyways, they unexpectedly discovered that although the doors of the nearby houses were boarded up, they could be broken down by brute force.

There weren't many items that could form points of light. It took them longer than expected to search all the houses along the way. The most valuable items were two rings—the [Magic Square Stone Ring] and the [Fire Square Stone Ring], which could increase resistance to damage of the corresponding element.

Aside from that, there are just some Soul Chunk of varying sizes. They're not useless, but they don't offer much of a surprise.

The store mainly sells all sorts of small items, including tableware, bottles and jars, jewelry and other items with Irithyll characteristics. It has everything from daily necessities to luxury goods, and it's clear that these items are very much to the taste of nobles and collectors.

It seems that the interiors of these houses were prepared by Gong Qiying for the nobles, and the nobles will surely hire adventurers to find a way to get in.

Leaving the house and walking along the alley, Leon reached the end of the road and cautiously peeked out. He saw that the Fire Witch on the bridge had been left behind by them.

Does that mean we've crossed this street?

Leon sensed something was wrong. The bridge where the Fire Witch was located could obviously be accessed through buildings, but they hadn't found it earlier.

Considering that they only took the alley on the right, perhaps there is a way to get close to the Fire Witch in the alley on the left.

Leon made a note of this and set his sights on the end of the road, where a towering iron gate blocked the view of the massive altar and the square.

The square is not far from the cathedral in the town center.

And on the altar was something that looked like a corpse?

That's not important. What's important is that there were golden specks of light on the corpse!

Golden Legend!

Leon's breathing became heavy for a moment, but he calmed down after seeing the closed iron gate and pushed it.

[Cannot be opened from this side]

"I knew it."

Using Flight Spell might allow you to scale the iron gate, but who knows if the light spot will disappear as a result?

"So you mean we need to find another way in?"

Just as she was thinking this, Malu suddenly said, "We're hearing cries for help from the east."

East?

People ran towards the sound and saw several mutated hunting dogs barking wildly around a house, while the sound of children crying came from behind the door.

Is it an afterimage?

Leon dealt with the hounds and knocked on the door.

"Did you save me?" The child's voice trembled behind the door, clearly terrified.

"Yes, why did you get separated from the adventurer's party here?"

"Adventurer? No, I'm here to find my brother. He's Dark Moon Knight Order Trainee Knight. I've never heard of an adventurer."

It was indeed an afterimage.

Once he confirmed the other person's identity, Leon began to probe for information. Although the child was terrified, he managed to get some useful information out of him with his best efforts to calm him down.

"The Dark Moon Knight Order are an organization that fights against the rebels against the gods, and my brother is one of their apprentice knights. But he hasn't sent a letter home in a long time, so I secretly ran away to find him, but I never expected that Irithyll was already gone."

"If it weren't for a middle-aged man dressed like an onion who saved me, I would be dead by now."

Onions? Jack Baldo, I didn't expect him to be here too.

Leon naturally knew about the Onion Knight in the well at the entrance of the Cathedral of the Deep, and he even killed Patch and returned the armor to the Onion Knight.

However, the Dark Moon Knight Order sound familiar. That's right, this faction's blessing exists in the Underground Labyrinth of the Raya Lucaria Magic Academy, ranking alongside the Tomb King, the Sun, and so on.

It is said that the Dark Moon Knight Order that had sworn Dark Moon Covenant and pledged allegiance to the Dark Sun Gwyndolin, but some event occurred and they have now ceased to exist.

So perhaps the older brother of the child behind the door also...

Putting aside the question of how the child got into Irithyll, Leon knew he couldn't survive alone in this dangerous city, and tentatively asked if he needed help.

He had a feeling that this would be a series of events similar to "Warrior Pot".

"I dare not go out, and please don't break down this door. Oh, and could you find me a suit of armor from those bad guys outside? If I can wear their armor, maybe I can sneak out."

"Or is there any safe place? If so, I hope you can tell me. I can exchange information for it."

"What intelligence?"

"Do you see that big iron gate on the west side? If you can open it, that's the shortcut to the most terrifying people in the city. I know a secret path that leads around to it."

"Okay, you just wait here, we'll definitely come back to help you."

"By the way, where did the Onion Knight you mentioned go?" Malu asked, as she had a good impression of the seemingly honest Onion Knight.

Unfortunately, the child didn't know, and she could only shake her head regretfully.

The child said they wanted the outfits of the villains outside, meaning either the Fire Witch or the Pontiff Knight would do.

But this also means that Leon and his team will have to spend time farming for equipment.

Both types of enemy armor are of decent quality, so the drop rate is low, and it will probably be quite difficult to collect a complete set.

What's going on here? Did the Zane Dungeon specifically design this quest to prolong adventurers' "online time"?

Leon and his group made a special trip back to the bridge, successfully climbing onto the bridge from a side alley on the other side of the main road and killing the three Fire Witch at the stake.

Along the way, they defeated two Pontiff Knights and a bunch of Transparent Man, but all they got was a [Fire Witch Gauntlet].

Seeing this, even Malu, who was most likely to empathize with afterimages, couldn't help but say:

"Maybe we should explore the map first, and deal with equipment as we come."

That's the only way. If we just honestly fight monsters here, who knows when we'd get a full set of equipment.

Upon observation, the main road they were currently on could be considered the south side of an intersection, except that the road to the north was blocked by an iron gate, leaving only two roads to the east and west.

Standing in the middle of the iron gate, people suffered from decision paralysis. In the end, they chose to go east by throwing stones, passing by the children's house.

The Pontiff Knight, monsters that would be considered elites in other dungeons, are everywhere here. It seems that Irithyll sacrificed the quantity of monsters for their quality.

Initially, the layout of the main road on the east side was almost identical to that on the south side.

But as they went deeper, a strange feeling welled up inside them.

The roads seemed to be getting wider and wider, and the temperature was getting lower and lower. They could feel the cold even during the period when the Warm Grass Fruit was in effect.

When you see that the road has become more than twice as wide as it was originally, even a fool would realize what's going on.

As everyone knows, when you're wandering around the Zane Dungeon and suddenly find the area opens up, it's either because a ranged monster has locked onto you, or—

A biting wind howled, frost shimmered in the moonlight, and heavy footsteps and the breathing of wild beasts echoed through the air, exuding a chilling aura.

The colossal creature, now crouching, had shed its invisibility. The massive hammer in its hand emanated a chilling aura. Its form resembled both a human and a beast, but ultimately, it was Pontiff Knight transformed into a beast.

Irithyll of the Boreal Valley Dorupo

Gong Qiying's name is not misspelled.