Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

Darkness, endless darkness.

I don't know why, but I was walking alone in the darkness, I couldn't see my destination and I didn't know how to stop.

There was just a gray butterfly that seemed to be flapping its wings in front of my eyes, and I subconsciously followed it.

There seemed to be a few gusts of wind passing by my side, causing the ends of my hair to blow across my cheeks.

Then, a scream was faintly heard from the front.

I subconsciously quickened my pace and ran over.

I saw a blond man kneeling down, with a dark wound on his naked back like a centipede that had drilled into his heart.

And around the man were assassins who blended into the night, silent and motionless, like ghosts.

They turned their heads, and suddenly, alarms started to sound in my heart!

This group of demons has locked onto the next target!

——Could it be me?

I turned around in a hurry and tried to escape.

But behind him, there was already a larger figure blocking his way.

The roots of the branches are like thorns, forming an eternal prison.

Flies and insects buzzed around like a black mist, excitedly biting at the rotten pieces of meat.

Just like the fallen blond man, the figure knelt on the ground like a sinner, his feet folded into a fish tail, and his face turned into that of a fishman, ugly and dull.

That is——the dead prince Godwin!

The moment I recognized the other person, I heard countless screams and howls of pain, heart-wrenching.

Ghosts came towards me from all directions like a tide.

I was so frightened that I trembled all over and woke up involuntarily.

"Wow, you scared me. Why did you wake up suddenly?" A man's voice came from behind me. When I turned around, I saw Roger smiling awkwardly and retracting his hand.

Behind him, the "Dead Sleeping Girl" Fia also spoke to me: "Master Ling, you look very tired. Do you want to go to my room and rest for a while?"

"Huh? No, thanks." I shook my head.

After letting Roderica befriend the blacksmith Xiu Gu, I actually fell asleep on the round table.

——However, the dream just now was the "Night of Black Knife Conspiracy"?

According to legend, Prince Godwin was assassinated in the royal city by a group of invisible black knife assassins. Now he has completely turned into a pile of rotten meat, just like the face under the city of Stonewell, which can only spread death without any order and produce dead people.

"You can even fall asleep while sitting. It seems that you are still working as hard as ever these days, Zero." Roger joked to me again, "You are really a role model for us faders."

I didn't bother to answer him, so I asked, "When did you come back from Stoneville?"

"Just now, since the banquet lasted until very late, Edson provided us with a room to rest for the night." Roger looked at the inner room of the round table, the open door of the Two-Finger Council Room, and asked in a low voice, "Zero, have you met Lord Two-Finger? What did he say to you?"

"Nothing, just encouraging me to continue to restore the Golden Rule. I accidentally mentioned Queen Marica, and Master Two-Fingers got angry and kicked me out."

Hearing what I said, Roger couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Pfft~ Really? What did you mention about the Queen?"

"I just wanted to ask why the Queen wanted to smash the Elden Ring and disrupt the existing order of the border..." I turned my head and looked at Roger solemnly, "Brother Jie, you call yourself a scholar..."

"I'm just a traveling scholar. What do you mean by calling yourself that?"

"...Don't interrupt." I continued to ask, "Why do you think Queen Malika smashed the ring?"

After hearing my question, Roger, who was always playful, became serious and fell into thought: "... Based on my current speculation, the queen... may be related to the death of Prince Godwin."

"Sure enough, you also think that the night of the Black Knife conspiracy was the root of everything?" I nodded in understanding. "But, don't you think it's strange? Queen Marica has always been loved for maintaining eternity and seeking more blessings for people, but she would destroy the already stable order for the sake of one of her children, causing the world to fall into chaos?"

"······I understand what you mean. This is indeed very strange."

At this time, Feiya also interrupted our topic: "Could it be that Her Majesty the Queen thinks that the death order at the border needs to be modified?"

"Hmm?" Roger and I couldn't help but look at this girl who almost represented death.

Feiya also continued, "After all, it is difficult for people who are blessed at the border to truly die. Even if they return to the tree, their souls return to the golden tree and then reincarnate... It sounds like they just change into an unusable body and continue to live. This world that seems to have no death is like an infinitely long road that will eventually hit something and be broken."

"······And that thing is the death of Prince Godwin!" Roger seemed to suddenly realize.

And it sounds like Feiya's theory does make sense.

From the perspective of the law of conservation of energy, the energy of the entire world is constant. A person needs a lot of energy to survive, and death can return energy.

Queen Marika created a world where both people and all things can grow forever, but this will also cause the energy returned by death to continue to decrease. As a result, the energy distributed to each person is actually also decreasing.

Godwin's death and the dead born from it were like a stone thrown into the already thin glass. The balance was completely broken.

······She realized that the world was entering a period of slow death, so she destroyed the original order?

My brain was so active that I suddenly felt as if a door was opening before me, and dazzling golden light was leaking out from it.

But the next second, the door was closed tightly again.

——So, what kind of world does the Queen want?

——We the Faded are simply restoring the laws, so won’t the results be the same?

——Therefore, the most crucial thing is to correct the death at the border... But now, there are so many forms of death, destined death, corruption death, insane death, and even immortality.

I always feel like I'm stuck in a loop again. When I want to continue thinking, my head just feels dizzy!

Die, die, die, die...

"Ah, there's another stinky guy!" I suddenly remembered something and slammed the table.

Roger and Fia were so scared that they trembled all over.

"Oh, sorry, I scared you." Without waiting for their response, I ran directly to the side passage on the left side of the round table hall and rushed into Baizhi's study. Just then, the old guy came back, so I walked forward aggressively.

"You bastard Sir, did you send Enxia to assassinate me?" I slapped the table and there was a creaking sound.

As smart as Baizhi, he naturally understood that there was no point in pretending to be confused, but he did not admit it: "Enxia actually attacked you? Alas... He is really hopeless. As his master, I apologize to you... I have warned him many times that as a member of the Round Table, there is no need to act hastily, but he is still stubborn. Now he has been defeated by you and his life has been taken. I can only say that it is his own fault."

"..."

——It was cut so quickly that I didn’t have time to say anything.

——Well, to be honest, I mentioned Enxia just as a cover, using it as a bargaining chip.

"It's no use just saying sorry. Otherwise, what are the police for?"

"Police?" Baizhi once again showed a puzzled look.

——Uh, a lot of bullshit, another punch on the cotton.

I quickly changed the way I put it: "... That's the rule. You told me in person that we can't fight at the Round Table, but you can't even manage your subordinates. How can we trust you in the future?! Right!"

I turned around and saw Roger eating watermelon with Feiya at the door. When I asked him suddenly, he nodded repeatedly: "That's right."

"...Hmm." Baizhi sighed clearly from his helmet, and said helplessly, "Well, as an apology, how about I tell you the location of another talisman that leads to the Holy Academy?"

"What do I need this for?"

“······on you·····” Baizhi was quite surprised, but before he finished speaking, he should have understood the meaning of my smile.

"Let's change one. Your intelligence network is wide enough, so I would like to ask you to help me find someone."

"Who?"

"He is a member of the Blood Fingers, named Nelius, with a pale bald head and the trident symbol of the Blood Dynasty painted on his face." I paused, "Also, his eyes are suffering from epilepsy, so they should be like two balls of fire, burning fiercely."

"I understand. If I have any information about him, I will tell you." In this situation, Baizhi had no choice but to agree.

"Oh, there's another person, a person who looks like me but also suffers from epilepsy." I continued to make requests without any hesitation, "They are both incurable. No matter who wants to become king, epilepsy will be our common enemy... I hope that, at least on this point, we can cooperate well, sir."