Brothers Before the Checkpoint

Looking at the woman named Melina in front of her, You Fei couldn't help but think of a few people.

The Doll from the Hunter's Dream, and the Fang Huo Nv seen in the Painting World "Hawkwood".

I feel that these people have a certain inexplicable shared quality, but I can't quite put my finger on it or find the right words.

Melina's appearance isn't the kind that immediately makes a strong visual impact, but it's more pleasing to the eye over time, like a companion who's always by your side on your daily journey, seemingly never to leave.

That's right, partner. That's the word that comes to mind when people see her.

"What are the conditions?" You Fei asked instinctively.

"Do you know the Finger Maiden? They are the ones who serve Two Fingers and help and guide the Tarnished, but you don't have a witch by your side now."

Melina spoke quietly:

"I can take their place and transform the runes into your power, so I hope you can help me take me to the foot of the Erdtree."

Oh, I see. The upgrade was waiting here.

In the Limgrave region, killing living beings no longer yields souls but runes. You Fei doesn't know the difference between the two, but their effects within the dungeon are the same: buy things and level up.

She had checked her strength when she first Zane Dungeon, and it was determined that she was over level 90. After fighting with Jia Paer for so many days, she has now reached level 99, just a hair's breadth away from reaching the three-digit level.

To be judged to be over level 90 based solely on her own abilities is already an extraordinary feat, and she is very proud of herself!

That said, no one would refuse Melina's conditions, right? That's what she was thinking. Considering the current situation and the Memory of the Elden Lord, the likely course of events is:

The Elden Lord, who lost his Finger Maiden, encountered Melina, and the two became travel companions, a classic opening to a heroic legend.

You Fei found it novel; the feeling of exploring the dungeon while searching for clues and filling in the blanks with her own imagination was quite interesting to her.

"I agree to your terms."

Melina's voice was no longer as flat as before; her tone seemed to rise slightly. It seems that even the most wooden person can have emotional changes.

"Then, when you wish to transform runes into power, call upon me at the Blessing Hall."

Just as she was about to get up, she suddenly took out something else, and upon closer inspection, it was the Spirit Steed Whistle.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. I'm giving you this ring. It can summon the spirit of a steed named Torrent. Use it whenever you need to."

Just as suddenly as she arrived, Melina vanished again, turning into scattered streaks of light that slowly disappeared from You Fei's sight.

You Fei looked in the direction where the other person had disappeared, and suddenly, in a affected tone, she read aloud as she had done when narrating for Fan En:

"So, before the heavily guarded pass, our Elden Lord encountered his travel companion. What kind of adventure awaits him next? What sparks will fly between him and this mysterious companion? Let's—"

"What are you talking about?" Fan En's voice came from behind.

You Fei's cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish, and she said angrily, "Didn't anyone teach you not to interrupt others? I was just expressing my feelings."

"It looks awkward," Yi Sha muttered, then asked, "So, did you get the ring?"

"We got it. Wait, didn't you see Melina?" You Fei suddenly realized something was wrong.

"We only saw you talking to thin air the whole time," Fan En speculated. "It seems that some scenes can only be seen by the person involved."

To verify this conjecture, he also touched the blessing, and sure enough, when he was talking to Melina in his own field of vision, others saw him as if he were talking to thin air.

No one understood what was going on, and in the end, no one could figure it out.

There was no special intention behind it; it was just something a producer did to prevent what was supposed to be a serious scene from appearing too bizarre. For example, if a group of people took turns touching the campfire, Melina, who had originally left, would repeatedly appear and recite her lines.

If we take our thinking a little further and consider hell, what if, when trees are burned in the future, small pieces of wood appear to be repeatedly burning in people's eyes?

Therefore, it is better for only the parties involved to see certain situations.

"But in the end, if we want to get to the foot of the Erdtree," You Fei glanced at the huge Erdtree, "We still have to get past this obstacle. It's a good opportunity to test Torrent's speed."

She picked up the Spirit Steed Whistle, ready to use it, but Yi Sha quickly stopped her, saying, "Wait a minute, I suggest you take a look at the instructions first."

"Introduce?"

[Spirit Steed Whistle]

[A golden ring that emits a soft glow can be used as a whistle to summon the spirit Torrent for riding.]

[This is a copy from the memories of the Elden Lord; its power is not as great as the original, and the Spirit Horse's activity time is limited after it is summoned.]

[Can be infused with runic power to prolong the time the Spirit Horse is in existence]

"This thing costs money?"

You Fei's brows furrowed immediately, as if she were uncomfortable discovering that there was a chance of failure in enhancing equipment, which could lead to the destruction of the equipment.

She looked at it carefully and found that the Spirit Horse's initial appearance time was ten minutes, but after ten minutes, the next time she wanted to summon it was an insane two hours later!

Then, you can immediately clear the interval and summon the spirit horse for 500 runes. If you want to summon the spirit horse again after it is killed, it will also cost 500 runes.

You're so greedy, aren't you!

Spending 1,000 runes can increase the maximum time a spirit horse can spend in the mortal realm. She had just saved up a little over 1,000 runes along the way, and immediately poured them into the runes.

A dazzling light flashed, and Torrent's time in the real world changed from ten minutes to...

A full fifteen minutes!!!

The next upgrade will cost two thousand.

Upon closer inspection, the runes required to clear the time interval had also increased in price by one hundred.

"."

You Fei hesitated for a long time before deciding whether or not to call the Zane Dungeon a profiteer.

Oh well, it's free since Melina gave it to me, it's like it was given away by the Zane Dungeon. Even if it's only for a short time, it doesn't matter, since I got it for free.

As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to do his bidding," and after receiving free items, any person with a conscience would be unable to slander Sion, at least not now.

"If we go back to the Church of Elleh now, we can meet Sister Rina." Yi Sha glanced at the moon that was already hanging in the sky.

It's amazing that, besides Lake Liurnia, Limgrave also experiences day-night cycles, and it seems to be linked to the day-night cycle in the outside world.

"We can go back and get that anytime. We don't lack necromancer-like methods like the Spirit Calling Bell."

You Fei looked ahead at the checkpoint and said:

"I want to get to Stormveil Castle as soon as possible and witness the power of a so-called demigod!"

In the outside world, demigods are a term used to describe beings even stronger than legendaries. As far as people know, there are no demigods on the surface.

Just how powerful is that Godrick?

She was very curious!

Before long, the three of them appeared at the camp where the Godrick Soldier were located and rushed in from the flank where there were relatively few soldiers.

I had previously fought a few scattered Godrick Soldier in the forest. The soldiers were well-trained and quite strong, but their strength was only so-so. There were about fifty soldiers in the camp, as well as a knight wielding a long spear and Greatshield.

Advance from the flank, eliminate some of the soldiers first, then Yuffie will fight the Knight Grek and defeat him before turning back to clear out the remaining soldiers with Van Isa.

A perfect plan!

Their intrusion immediately threw the camp into chaos, but not all soldiers were aware of the disturbance at first, which is why messengers were necessary.

But just as the messenger picked up the horn to blow it and summon the entire army, Saw Cleaver flew out of nowhere and smashed his head open.

"Well done, Fan En!"

You Fei quickly dealt with the soldiers around her and immediately rushed towards Godrick Knight, while Fan En dashed over to pick up the Saw Cleaver and, together with Yi Sha, dealt with the soldiers who surrounded them.

The plan is progressing smoothly, but the only problem is:

"Woof woof!"

A hunting dog quickly snatched the horn that the messenger had dropped and handed it to another soldier, who immediately blew the horn, the sound echoing throughout the entire camp.

Damn it, we should have finished them off by crushing the horn!

A greater commotion arose, Fan En gasped. The pressure on them had increased significantly, but there were still over thirty soldiers remaining. The problem shouldn't be too much—

Suddenly, the tents in the military camp were flung open, and a large number of fully armed soldiers poured out, surrounding Fan En and his men in the blink of an eye.

Even You Fei was stunned.

The number of Godrick Soldier running out of the various tents seemed to have exceeded three digits!

"How do you manage to fit so many people in your tent?!" she couldn't help but exclaim.

And when they checked just now, the tent was clearly empty!

So your horn is a magical artifact that can summon a bunch of people just by blowing it?

In the blink of an eye Fan En and Yi Sha were engulfed by the massive crowd. Even if they had a machine gun, they wouldn't be able to break through. Even the Sword Saint would have to be overwhelmed by the sea of people before he could launch a counterattack.

The two gave up their first blood in Limgrave.

"Tsk, what kind of monsters and demons live in the dungeon."

You Fei pouted unhappily. Things were indeed not as simple as she had thought. She pushed away the Godrick Knight and fled into the dense forest. After searching for a while, the soldiers stopped looking and returned to their posts.

Afterwards, the three disheveled individuals began to review the incident before the blessing ceremony, and finally unanimously concluded:

"Smash that damned horn to pieces!"

The second time, the three of them first killed the messenger and crushed the horn. Just when they thought things could proceed as planned,

Suddenly, the surviving soldiers and hounds started shouting at the top of their lungs. Their shouts seemed to have a similar effect to those of a horn, and a bunch of soldiers rushed out of the tent, though thankfully fewer in number than those summoned by the horn.

"Start over!"

The third time, the three chose to sneak in, quietly snapping the soldiers' necks, intending to carry out an unseen massacre.

Then the keen-nosed hunting dogs caught their scent, and their barking immediately attracted a large number of soldiers.

"Let's try again!"

The fourth time, the three learned their lesson, because they suddenly realized they had no reason to fight the soldiers to the death; why not just go straight through the pass?

The number of soldiers in the checkpoint has decreased, but large crossbows are piled up, and if you get hit by one, you'll get a big hole in your body.

Fortunately, this thing should have difficulty hitting their high mobility, so even if they force their way in, it shouldn't be a big problem.

"Boom boom boom!"

Several deafening thuds extinguished the people's excitement, and they looked around.

Six fully armed little giants— Troll —descended from the sky, three in front and three behind. Their simultaneous roars turned the three unsuspecting people into ping-pong balls.

One Troll is worth a whole bunch of Godrick Soldier; six Troll.

Even the good-tempered Fan En couldn't take it anymore. Instead of getting up from the ground immediately, he raised his middle finger tremblingly towards the sky, showing his final stubbornness to Sain.

The fifth time.

"I can't take it anymore."

With a dark expression, You Fei summoned Torrent, swiftly mounted his horse, and charged towards the checkpoint!

Honestly pushing through levels is a dead end! Only brute force is the way to go, otherwise Torrent is just for show!

"Hey, don't get excited!" Yi Sha tried to dissuade her, but suddenly saw Fan En beside her also summoning Torrent and rushing towards the checkpoint.

"Brother!? Why are you like this too!"

Yi Sha looked left and right, and finally had no choice but to ride after them.

It turns out that horseback riding is great, and you can ride horses all the time.

Torrent is indeed a spirit horse; its movement speed here is faster than a human's footsteps, and its explosive power surpasses that of You Fei.

After paying the price of being shot down by crossbow bolts and blocked by Troll several times, the three figured out the distribution of soldiers at the checkpoint and finally managed to break through!

This is the correct way to use Torrent!

Standing still and looking back at the checkpoint that had tormented them countless times, a feeling welled up inside them that they couldn't help but express:

"Damn, that's awesome!"

All the frustration that had been building up had turned into a feeling of accomplishment, and now all people wanted to do was howl to the heavens. They finally understood why the Farron Guard liked to howl like wolves after they got into a fight.

"That must be Stormveil Castle over there." With the help of a simple Eagle Eye spell, You Fei saw the magnificent castle standing in the distance, as well as the soldiers deployed along the way.

Although I initially went through the level with the goal of reaching Stormveil Castle, once I got there, I wanted to explore the vast map beyond the level.

She had discovered that Limgrave seemed ridiculously large, almost comparable in size to Lake Liurnia.

Why don't we explore other areas first and treat Godrick as the grand finale?

Just as this thought crossed her mind, a magnificent bell suddenly rang out from afar, signaling that the underground city was one hour away from closing.

"No way, how could it be closed?" You Fei clearly remembered that not long ago, Saine had removed the time limit.

There was no other way then. It would be better to go to Stoneville before the dungeon closed. She immediately cast 600 runes on her spirit horse to refresh the present time and rushed over with Van Isa.

When the bell rang, signaling that there was still half an hour left before the dungeon closed, they rushed into Stormveil Castle, the city where the demigod Godrick resided.

To be precise, they have only broken through the outermost city wall; there is still a long tunnel to travel through before they can truly enter the city.

The spirit horse suddenly disappeared when it entered the tunnel and could not be summoned no matter what it tried; there seemed to be some kind of restriction here.

"Look, what's that?"

Having successfully broken through the city walls, Fan En was still somewhat excited because he had transformed into a wild horseman for a while. However, after seeing a certain thing, his mood quickly changed from excitement to numbness.

People looked in the direction he pointed and saw at the end of the tunnel the doorway that should have led them into the Stormveil Castle.

Now covered by a thin mist, it has become something people don't want to see.

Fog Gate!