Roundtable Hold

"I am going to the Roundtable Hold."

Upon hearing Melina's words, You Fei replied almost immediately.

Compared to the somewhat enigmatic name, he was more concerned with the latter part of the sentence.

A place where heroes gather!

You Fei remembered that when she was a child, her father told her a story called "Knight King and the Twelve Dwarves". In the story, the Knight King would always have the dwarfs sit around a big round table when he held meetings. From that time on, she always bought round tables.

Now that she could witness the so-called Roundtable Hold where heroes gathered in the Zane Dungeon, how could she possibly hesitate!

Without much thought, she immediately said so.

"Then, just once, let me touch you."

Melina reached out her hand to the adventurer once again.

"Thank you for your help!"

You Fei shook it with a radiant expression.

What followed was the familiar feeling of dizziness.

This time, the dizziness lasted exceptionally long, as if symbolizing that the Roundtable Hold was extremely far away from them.

Suddenly, the dizziness caused by the teleportation disappeared.

The sounds that reached my ears were no longer the raging storm of Stormveil Castle, nor the Swamp, sticky Ghrū of Caelid; there was only tranquility.

An old-fashioned scent filled the air, the crackling of the burning fireplace provided warmth and comfort as the heat of the flames was transferred and felt through the air.

It felt as if my whole body was enveloped in a feeling of "peace of mind," which made me relax involuntarily.

This feeling is quite familiar, just like the Firelink Shrine!

But unlike the Firelink Shrine, which resonated with a sense of loneliness, You Fei knew this was the Roundtable Hold, a place where heroes gathered. Here, she might see more afterimages, so she didn't feel lonely.

She suddenly opened her eyes!

Then he didn't open his eyes for a moment.

"Huh?"

She paused for a moment, then tried to open her eyes, but still couldn't manage it.

What's going on?

Before she could continue to be surprised, even with her eyes closed, the dark world suddenly lit up, and a completely new world appeared before her.

The enormous blessing, far exceeding anything seen before, almost filled the eye, its fleeting golden light revealing a brilliance unlike anything seen around a campfire, which might seem overly extravagant to some.

The golden "mist" hovered directly above the round table, with fine, hair-like veins of light hanging down from its hazy surface. Spark-like fragments constantly drifted down from its edges, extinguishing upon touching the ground. These fragments intertwined with several weapons bearing the marks of time in the center of the table, as if telling a story of an unknown past.

Even the hall with the round table exudes a historical charm, as if an outrageously old monster might suddenly appear at any moment.

If the Firelink Shrine felt to You Fei as a place of brief respite for heroes weary of the task of linking the fire, after a long and arduous battle...

So this Roundtable Hold made her feel that it was the headquarters where heroes gathered, where everyone rested, but more importantly, where they exchanged information, practiced with each other, and made plans.

It's probably similar to Valhalla?

Just as You Fei was observing the details with an appreciative attitude, a series of illusory figures suddenly appeared here.

The appearance of those phantoms was undoubtedly human, and they were heroic Warrior, fully armed and full of vigor. Even though the phantoms were blurry and their faces were not clearly visible, their general shapes alone were enough to inspire a sense of solemnity.

Countless humanoid phantoms appeared before You Fei, each representing a historical figure who had visited this place.

They moved in and out of the Roundtable Hold, interacting frequently. Sometimes they joined hands because they shared the same goal, sometimes they fought because they disagreed, sometimes they simply rested there, or...

In that brief moment, what unfolded before You Fei seemed to be the entire history of the Roundtable Hold, a profound sense of history that overwhelmed her and made her feel breathless.

She had never seen such a scene before. Her mouth stretched into a wide grin from surprise. She felt as if every phantom in the room had its own legendary story, and the fates of these legendary figures were converging at the round table.

Her imagination was very rich, and a sense of grandeur that she couldn't describe welled up in her chest.

I have a strong urge to share this scene with others!

But the Zane Dungeon naturally anticipated that someone might have such thoughts, so this scene was not allowed to be recorded!

The scene that adventurers see when they first fall off the cliff can be recorded and shown to the outside world, but that's like a promotional video, deliberately released by the dungeon to attract new players.

The Roundtable Hold and the subsequent meticulously crafted, eye-catching footage are the segments that are "not to be recorded".

Want to see? Come in!

Hundreds and thousands of phantoms gradually disappeared, leaving only a few lonely figures. Their appearances gradually solidified, and the perspective gradually zoomed in on each one, accompanied by a change in the background.

You Fei suddenly realized that she actually knew some of the people there.

Crucible Knight sat behind a desk piled high with books, his eyes gleaming with wisdom beneath the shadow of his helmet.

The Dung Eater were imprisoned in a dark, sunless cage, their hoarse voices chanting curses.

Luo Jieer sat on the terrace, his legs draped in cloth, his head drooping limply, seemingly in a deep sleep.

But besides these three, there were also strangers whom You Fei did not know.

A man with a face full of cowardice knelt before the woman's corpse. Behind him, illusory flames appeared, and a twisted serpent took shape in the flames. However, the flames suddenly disappeared, and many large jars suddenly appeared there.

The Warrior, clad in Twin Set Armor, held aloft the Golden Order, its golden, sacred blade gleaming as if a loyal defender of the ancient law.

The clergy, wearing shackles and blindfolds, trudged along, seemingly following in someone's footsteps.

In a room within the Roundtable Hold, a beautiful woman draped in black veil lay quietly on the bed, seemingly in a state of blissful tranquility.

And at the very end, the doors of the Roundtable Hold suddenly flung open. Before anyone could react, they saw, through the crack in the door, standing two...

You Fei suddenly opened her eyes, and the scene ended there.

"."

She blinked blankly.

What did I just see?

I think I just saw something really strange, just as strange as what I saw in Yharnam.

Behind the suddenly opened door appeared two upright fingers.

No, they are deformed hands with only two fingers each, standing upright like antennas!

That's weird.

The appearance of this strange thing immediately dispelled the emotions she had been stirred up by the various heroic phantoms.

You Fei looked around and found herself sitting at the round table in the Roundtable Hold she had seen before. The chair was quite comfortable, but it felt a bit fragile, as if it would break at the slightest touch.

The Erdtree Sanctuary floated quietly, the warm fireplace was burning, and everything was the same as when she hadn't opened her eyes.

The only difference is

Nobody's here!

There wasn't a single person there!

She quickly stood up and looked first at the room where the Two Fingers had appeared. The door was tightly closed and looked like it couldn't be opened.

I went over and tried pushing it, and yes, it really wouldn't open. It's a classic trick from the Zane Dungeon.

"Is that thing still in here?" You Fei had a hint of worry in her voice. The thought of that thing still existing in the Roundtable Hold made her uneasy.

However, when she tried to use her mind to probe what was behind the door, another barrier appeared that she could not penetrate, preventing her from seeing what was inside.

"Tsk."

You Fei pursed her lips, decided to give up on this place, and turned her attention elsewhere.

Everywhere she looked, the doors were tightly shut. She thought of Crucible Knight, who was clearly sitting in the Erdtree Sanctuary. Could it be that he was also behind these closed doors?

But if I can't open it, how can I find the answer, damn it!

She returned to the round table where the Erdtree Sanctuary was located, and this time she discovered that the Erdtree Sanctuary had an additional function: she could leave the dungeon through it.

"So this is the way out."

Before the discovery of the Erdtree Sanctuary, people could only leave the dungeon when it closed or by simply dying. Eventually, as many people died, people were able to leave.

"Aren't the activation conditions a bit too high?"

You Fei remembered that Melina would only appear and talk to her and send her to the Roundtable Hold after defeating the Ominous Demon. What about the adventurers who couldn't defeat the Ominous Demon? They couldn't leave the dungeon early either. Every day they were like going to work and waiting for the dungeon to close.

The scene was too painful for her to imagine.

"Where have all the people gone?"

You Fei was looking for Fan En and the others who had been teleported away earlier, but found no trace of them. So she went to the terrace and subconsciously looked around.

She remembered that in the video she had just seen, Luo Jieer was sitting here asleep, but now there was no one there.

Below the terrace is a rather spacious hall, which we'll call the first floor for now, while the round table is on the second floor.

The door next to the lobby was still open.

As everyone knows, adventurers are drawn to points of light and open doors, so she grabbed the railing of the terrace, stepped over the railing, and jumped down.

However, just as her body was suspended in mid-air, the sound of hammering came from next door, along with Fan En's voice.

"Thank you for helping us forge it, Mr. Hewg."

"Hey, Fan En, what are you doing!"

You Fei shouted as soon as she landed.

Several footsteps approached from afar, and the three people who had left earlier appeared on the edge of the terrace. They were none other than Van Eysa and Tepi.

"Where are you hiding?" You Fei asked, speechless.

But Fan En and the others' expressions immediately darkened, and they shouted at her:

"Oh no! Get up here quickly, there's danger there!"

"Ah?"

Danger?

You Fei looked around; there were no enemies, not even a single living creature.

But since Fan En said there was danger, she decided to go up first and then headed towards the steps leading up through the doorway below the terrace.

As soon as she reached that area, a light mist suddenly rose up and blocked You Fei's path.

"No way!"

Now she believed what Fan En said about the danger; how could even Fog Gate have appeared?!

In a daze, You Fei thought of the graveyard full of skeletons beneath the Firelink Shrine, a dangerous place that appeared out of an otherwise safe place.

Is the same old routine going to be used again in Roundtable Hold?

[The world has been invaded by the "Frenzied Tongue" Alberich!!!]