Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

As I watched two thick black thorns entangled towards me and the exhausted Lance Shanks, two golden rays of light suddenly shot out from behind and turned into two spears that pierced through us.

"Zero, take Lance Shanks out first!" Mongette's voice sounded behind him.

I also quickly carried Gu Long on my back, turned around and ran towards the entrance of the audience place of death.

"Fer..." Lance Shanks was still moaning.

But our current situation is not optimistic, because the ancient dragon's breath at the dead prince triggered the defense mechanism of the dead roots, making all the black thorns here come alive, twisting and whipping at us.

Not only that, but the flying metamorphosis butterflies suddenly gathered together, turning into a gray gust of wind that swept towards Lance Shanks and me.

——I have a bad feeling.

I quickly raised the Night Starfire and the combat skill - Molten Hurricane Dance.

In an instant, the flames and storms formed a barrier, temporarily separating the thorns and the butterflies.

But the next second, the soles of my feet loosened, like a poisonous snake aiming at its prey from the shallow grass. Black thorns suddenly emerged from the ground and grabbed Lance Shanks' tail.

"Damn it!" The opponent was very strong, and even if I used all my strength, I couldn't tear it apart.

It seemed that Lance Shanks was about to be dragged away by the black thorns.

But a golden light appeared in the sky, and then, Crucible Knight Siluia, with a golden vortex, suddenly smashed into the thorns wrapped around Lance Shanks's tail, tearing them apart: "Go!"

"Well, flame, make a way for us!" Turning around, I used the Fiery Storm Slash. The swirling flames were like a roaring dragon, tearing a path through the field of black thorns.

But these things are like dead things, endless. Once one cluster is cut, the next cluster will grow immediately at a speed visible to the naked eye.

I estimate that in just a few seconds, we will be surrounded by these black thorns again.

It’s endless!

At this moment, a large part of the sky lit up with golden light like stars. It turned out to be one sword of Damocles of light after another. As Munggot waved his hand and pointed downwards, all the swords turned into rain of light and sprinkled down, cutting and piercing a large area of ​​black thorns, suppressing them to the point that they could not grow for a while.

Naturally, I would not miss this great opportunity. I quickly used the hound pace and escaped from this death audience place with Lance Shanks as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the roots of the trees outside did not oppose us. When we reached the blessed point outside the door, the black thorns stopped growing and entangled us.

Upon seeing this, Monggot also put away his Rain of Light Swords and quickly leaped out from the arched roots.

"Phew~ That was close! I've never heard that this damn place has a self-protection mechanism! Hiss——" After I relaxed, I suddenly felt a tingling pain on the back of my neck. I reached out and touched it, and it turned out to be a metamorphosis butterfly that was sucking my blood like a mosquito.

There were several butterflies biting Lance Shanks' back, so I quickly helped to brush them away.

And Siluria also explained: "The Golden Sacred Tree also has self-awareness to a certain extent. My Lord was already seriously injured, and he relied entirely on the power of the Golden Tree's furnace to recover. The ancient dragon's breath further threatened my Lord, so naturally..."

"No, it's Furl," Lance Shanks interrupted.

Watching her slowly sit up, I hurriedly asked, "Lance Shanks, are you okay?"

"······Fulta, he didn't want to leave there with me, so he got angry and ran away." Lance Shanks said with a lonely look, like a mother who is helpless with her rebellious child.

I was quite surprised.

——In other words, the attack just now was secretly carried out by the "Dead Dragon" Fulshanks?

——But some of the attacks were clearly intended to drag Lance Shanks into death as well.

"Zero." At this moment, Mungert suddenly asked, "Where is the dead sleeping girl?"

"Fia?!" I was surprised to realize that Fia was not with us.

——Originally, I thought she would stay at the door...

Subconsciously, he looked towards the audience place of death. There, the black thorns were still like poisonous snakes with their bodies raised, ready to attack at any time.

——No way?!

"Fia!" I shouted loudly towards the audience place.

But there was absolutely no response.

"Those thorns will bring death. Your companion may have already..." Siluria sighed and said, "Hey!"

——I know it without you telling me, bastard.

But even so, I can't leave Fia in there. I have to find her, even if she's just a corpse.

"Fia!" The night starfire ignited a raging fire again, and I rushed into the audience place.

However, strangely, those thorns did not actively attack me. As I moved forward, the black thorns actually retreated and dispersed.

——Could it be that these thorns are really aimed at Lance Shanks?

However, Mongget followed me into this land of death. The next second, black thorns jumped out from in front of his heels, blocking his way.

——Strange, it seems that only I am allowed to come in?

There was no time to think carefully, I shouted to Mongget: "Teacher Mongget, leave this to me, you go take care of Lance Shanks first."

Since these black thorns were not targeting me, I remained cautious and walked boldly inside, looking for Fia.

The thorn bushes on this black land were now obedient like servants welcoming guests. No matter which direction I went, they would make way for me.

In a short while, I had cleared the thorny ground.

Before my eyes, a cloud of gray butterflies fluttered their wings and fluttered in the air.

It seems as if there is a guiding force in the dark.

I saw that the "Dead Sleeping Girl" Feiya, who had been sitting under the dead prince Godwin since some time ago, stretched out her hand and took a metamorphosis butterfly with her fingers: "It turns out to be you, Master Ling, my hero."

"Feiya." I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and walked up to her quickly, "Are you okay?"

She shook her head slightly, and continued, "Master Ling, I heard the king's whispers... You also contain the incredible power of [Death]."

- Oh, is it the other half of the centipede curse of death that was obtained from Lani?

I seemed to understand why Blackthorn let me go and kept Mongert and the others out.

I stretched out my hand, recalling Lani's burnt body in my mind. A ball of gray-white spiritual fire appeared in my palm and finally burned into the shape of the death curse mark.

The metamorphosis butterfly in Fia's hand also flew up, and then burned with an equally fierce gray-white flame, gradually turning into the other half of the death curse.

Just like the north and south poles of a magnet, the two death curse marks were attracted to each other, and finally merged into one, turning into a centipede ring connected from head to tail - is this the embryo of the Death Repair Rune?

Feiya opened her arms towards the centipede circle.

All of a sudden, the many metamorphosing butterflies flying around began to burn again, and the gray flames turned into pale ghosts, flying towards the center of the circle.

The black thorns all over the ground turned into thick black haze and were sucked into the circle.

Finally, Feiya embraced the centipede ring into her arms and into her body: "...Oh, I heard you, I heard your calls and your prayers...We will also be able to embrace our new king."

She raised her eyes, a tear streaked across Fia's gentle face: "... Thank you, thank you, my, no, our hero... Can you let me hug you tightly for just a moment, Master Ling?"

As she spoke, Fia opened her arms to me once again, just like when we first met, always smiling gently and with a hint of melancholy.