Death Rite Bird

A foul wind hit them in the face, and things felt very wrong. Even the strong, well-bred warhorses beneath them pawed uneasily at the ground and snorted.

Blaidd? dismounted first. Even the battle-hardened White Wolf War-Witch could not help feeling tense, and he drew a deep breath.

Zhao Si and the other two dismounted one after another, all readying their weapons.

Helena was not much of a fighter. She held her Finger Sacred Seal, ready to buff her teammates.

She knew a few incantations from both the Two Fingers and Erdtree traditions. Restoring stamina or healing a wound was usually no trouble for her.

Helena had healed all of Zhao Si's wounds. Enveloped in a healing incantation, he had felt warmth spread throughout his body. His wounds closed visibly, and his depleted stamina returned. He could feel the pulse of life replenishing his vitality.

Within minutes, he was full of energy again. No wonder medicine in this world seemed so ineffective. With incantations this convenient, what did anyone need doctors for?

If you fell ill or got hurt, you could go to a church and find a witch. One incantation would fix you right up-far more useful than a doctor!

Besides, incantations were absurdly dependent on belief. Enough faith, and they worked. At least sorcery used glintstone as a medium and was developed by observing and studying the stars. Incantations only needed a Sacred Seal.

Hadn't Rennala, the Full Moon Queen, become a hero only after encountering the full moon?

Incantations made no sense whatsoever. You just had to believe. Whether you believed in the Two Fingers, the Erdtree, or the Golden Order, faith alone was enough.

Zhao Si held his Estoc and parrying dagger. After three breaths, the oppressive air suddenly froze, and the wind fell silent.

Even the sound of rain striking the leaves disappeared.

"Caw, caw, caw!"

Another burst of eerie birdsong rang out, and a strange creature flew from the woods.

What sort of monstrosity was this?

It resembled a vulture, yet its spread wings looked like a crow's. It had four limbs like a human, a long neck, and a scrawny body. Part of its huge, vulture-like head was missing.

One glance was enough to tell that this was no ordinary creature. It was probably something infused with "magic."

It also carried a hooked rod as a weapon. Though rather than a weapon, it looked more like a tool.

Cawing, the monstrous bird charged at Zhao Si and the others.

Blaidd? took the lead, intercepting the bird and locking himself in combat with it.

The monstrous creature was called a Death Rite Bird, or Deathbird for short. It appeared unpredictably at night, wandering about for reasons unknown.

Could it be...?

A possibility occurred to Zhao Si: a large number of corpses had attracted the Deathbird.

The Deathbird swept its hooked rod across, forcing Blaidd? back. He had never encountered such a troublesome opponent.

The Deathbird was painfully thin, yet its body was huge and elongated. Its joints had an enormous range of motion, and the hooked rod in its hand was a vicious weapon.

With one outstretched arm, the added reach of its hooked rod made sweeping three or four people off their feet no trouble at all.

Alberich had not stood idle either, repeatedly casting Ice Magic, though it seemed to have little effect. "It doesn't seem susceptible to frost."

"It's made of frost itself!"

While Blaidd? and Alberich held the Deathbird's attention, Zhao Si darted to its flank and drove his Estoc precisely into its waist.

Its sugarcane-like spine was so hard that the impact left Zhao Si's hand numb.

The Deathbird howled in pain. The tip of its hooked rod "ignited," raising a flame shrouded in icy blue-ghostflame.

This was a cold flame that accompanied death, bone-chilling to living creatures. It was said that before the Erdtree arrived, the dead were cleansed in ghostflame.

Deathbirds were the keepers of ghostflame.

It stirred up a mass of ghostflame with its hooked rod and hurled it at Zhao Si. Without a second thought, he dove between the Deathbird's legs. A violent ghostflame explosion erupted behind him.

Cold ghostflame splashed over him, and only then did he realize: wasn't the flame that had suppressed and destroyed the Frenzied Flame ghostflame?

Ghostflame far more powerful than the Deathbird's was enough to neutralize the Frenzied Flame.

I've never heard of anything like that!

Zhao Si rolled to extinguish the ghostflame, then thrust his Estoc straight into the Deathbird's crotch.

There was nothing between the Deathbird's legs but skin and bone, yet its cry of pain proved the damage was real.

The Deathbird ignited its ghostflame again. This time, it pulled vengeful spirits from the flames and scattered them in every direction.

Thinking fast, Zhao Si sprang off the ground and clamped himself around its long neck from behind.

The parrying dagger pierced the Deathbird's neck, acting like a handle to steady Zhao Si and keep the raging creature from flinging him off.

The vengeful spirits would not fly toward the Deathbird itself.

Hearing their wails, Helena immediately cast Litany of Proper Law.

As she recited the prayer, golden rings appeared around her, brimming with holy power that opposed the spirits' cold death. They protected Alberich and Blaidd? while melting the vengeful spirits away.

Alberich seized her chance and wounded herself to cast Briars of Sin.

As blood spurted from her body, thorns erupted around her three times in succession, winding around the Deathbird and briefly restraining it.

In that single short second, Blaidd? rushed in like the wind.

Spinning Slash!

His keen twinblade whirled with a fierce gust, carving into the restrained Deathbird.

Even Blaidd? could feel how hard the Deathbird's bones were. It seemed that killing it meant contending with those tough bones.

An emissary that accompanied death was bound to differ from ordinary creatures.

Zhao Si seized the opening too. He pulled out his parrying dagger and drove it hard into the broken part of the Deathbird's head.

The sensation was strange. It did not feel like muscle fibers, bones, or organs. It felt like stabbing rotten, withered wood. When he withdrew the dagger, his hand was covered in crumbling debris.

The Deathbird continued struggling. It even spread its wings and kindled ghostflame, "burning" away the blood thorns as it let out a shrill, mournful cry.

Gritting his teeth, Zhao Si stabbed into the opening again and again, utterly disregarding the ghostflame burning over his body.

At last, the Deathbird could endure no more. It collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Its enormous body turned to drifting ash, leaving only a hand axe on the ground.

The hand axe had a crescent blade with a Deathbird forming its socket. Called the Sacrificial Axe, it was a ritual implement from the Deathbirds' era.

Zhao Si put out the ghostflame on his body and picked up the Sacrificial Axe, panting heavily. He smiled and was about to say something when a sudden pain struck his head, and he passed out.

While unconscious, Zhao Si saw a strange vision.

It

was a temple beneath a starry sky. Deathbirds knelt on either side of it, their heads bowed in worship of something.

On the temple's stone throne sat a woman in a long white dress.

Zhao Si stared hard. He could see the woman's pale skin, but he could not make out her face.

The only thing he could see clearly was a single eye—a Gloam-Eyed Queen's eye.

Neatly attired Godskin emissaries and Godskin Nobles emerged from the temple, signaling that a new hunt was about to begin.

A Godskin Noble held aloft the torch-like Godslayer's Greatsword, black flames blazing within it.

Those black flames, tinged with red and imbued with true destined death, shone upon the Godskin Apostle's pale godskin coat, making it look even more sinister.

"Bring my destined death back to me."

The queen whispered in Zhao Si's ear, yet her words made him feel as though he had plunged into a freezing pool a hundred miles deep. He nearly froze to death.