Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

With the help of Hertok and Roger, they finally succeeded in defeating Stonewell's hidden boss, the Rotten Tree Spirit.

However, the biggest hidden danger has not disappeared.

——The face of the dead prince. This is the real reason why the Blackthorn Death Curse appeared in Stoneville.

——But unfortunately, I don’t have a solution to that face.

After all, in the game, that face is considered part of the environment. Hitting it with a weapon will only cause bleeding, and there is no interaction at all.

The only interactive thing was the pool of blood in front of the giant face - that was Roger's blood. In the game, he found the face of the dead prince alone, and then accidentally touched the Blackthorn Death Curse, which completely destroyed his feet, and then led Roger to death step by step.

······Speaking of which, where are others?

I quickly looked around, and Hertok pointed to the bottom of the pit with understanding: "Roger has gone down, Zero."

"Tsk, that bastard scholar, is he so impatient?" Hertok and I quickly took Edson and jumped down, passed through the tree pit full of corpses, and walked through the stone gate.

Roger was standing in front of the huge face, safe and sound. He was shaking with excitement and his speech became unclear: "This, this, is this the face of the first dead demigod - the Prince of Death, Godwin? To my surprise, to my surprise, he looks like this."

Even Edson was shocked. "But, why is that gentleman's face in Stonewell's underground?! Besides, how do you know it's Lord Godwin? He looks completely different from what I remember! ... Then, that gentleman was so wise and handsome, how could he become like this now?"

Indeed, old Edson might have seen Godwin while he was still alive. After all, the prince was unparalleled, wise and intelligent, and everyone said he was the best successor to the Golden Dynasty.

But in the "Night of the Black Knife Conspiracy", Godwin became a victim and was assassinated.

——His soul was taken away, but his body still had vitality, just like an irrecoverable vegetable in the 21st century.

This is a strange death outside the Golden Rule and an unacceptable way of death.

The goddess Marika buried her beloved son under the golden tree, but the law always wanted to heal and revive him. In the end, it made Godwin's remains become like a mermaid, with a human body, a fish head and a fish tail, neither human nor ghost.

Moreover, misfortune had not even spared the prince.

His erroneous death was like adding a bug to a complete program, which resulted in the subsequent generation of more erroneous parameters - the dead born, the rotten tree spirits, these unauthorized deaths appeared at the border, disrupting the original order.

I briefly explained to Edson and Roger, "The furnace fire in the golden tree turned Prince Godwin into this in order to revive him... However, this is probably not Godwin's complete face, but just a small sore on his face."

"Sore flesh?" Roger looked puzzled.

And near the dead prince's face, I found a nearly petrified remains.

Unlike the other corpses here, there were almost no black thorns on his body, but in the palm of his hand, there was a piece of black, hardened human face flesh - the abscess of the dead prince.

“So, that’s how it is. Did the monster follow Greg and escape to Stonewell?” Hurtok vaguely realized the truth. “The prince was buried at the root of the golden tree, and this rotten tree spirit was also born from the foot of the tree... With the outbreak of the defense war of the royal city, or the destruction of the Eternal City, this creature was disturbed and fled... Greg, as the offspring of Godwin, naturally attracted this creature, so it quietly followed Greg and took root in Stonewell.”

I added, “When it was born, it probably had a part of Godwin’s face on it. Because the Golden Law did not judge Godwin as truly dead, the furnace power in the tree spirit continued to nourish this face, causing it to grow and mutate until it became what it is today.”

Listening to our conversation, Edson and Roger both widened their eyes at the same time, with disbelief written all over their faces.

——However, this is indeed the best inference that fits the current situation.

"Well, in that case, as long as we get rid of this face, we should be able to solve the problem of the Blackthorn Death Curse." Edson looked at me.

I nodded. "But the biggest problem now is, how to deal with this face? At least, I don't have a good solution... Can I just bury it on the spot?"

Hertok shook his head. "The power of the golden tree spreads across the border. Burying this face will make it easier for it to come into contact with the power of the furnace and continue to grow wildly. The consequences may be even more serious... Zero, I remember you can use the prayer of fire, right?"

"Well, what happened?"

"The red flames are the fire that seals the northern forbidden area. They are a force that contains destruction."

Hertok's words woke me up: "You mean, I should use this fire to burn this face?"

“This is the best option I can think of.”

As soon as Hertok finished speaking, suddenly, a figure swayed slightly in my peripheral vision and knelt down.

It's Roger!

We looked back and saw him holding his ankle and coughing violently. Right next to him, there was a small cut on the giant face, and black and yellow smoke came out of it, about to cover Roger.

——This is the cursed smoke!

I quickly pulled Roger away and couldn't help but yell, "What are you doing?"

“Sorry, Zero.” Roger choked on a few wisps of black air. “I, I was just too curious. I wanted to see what the dead prince’s face was made of… But it was simply a mass of rotten flesh. Just a light touch punctured a hole, and this kind of smog that made me feel stuffy and uncomfortable came out of it… Ahem, you just said to burn this face with fire, but I’m afraid that with the addition of Stonewell’s hurricane, the whole city will be filled with this smog.”

······

——This, this is totally wrong. We just rescued Stonewell, but now everyone in the city has to die with her?

——The Blackthorn Death Curse is more difficult to deal with than I thought.

but······

"What's wrong with your foot?" I looked at Roger in confusion. He hadn't stood up yet and was rubbing his ankle as if he had sprained his joint.

Roger smiled bitterly: "No, nothing, it's just that the wound was a little painful when I inhaled the smoke just now."

--Wound?!

I quickly pulled his feet apart and saw that there was indeed a small wound on Roger's foot.

"When I was running over here just now, I might have accidentally stepped on those thorns and got pricked..."

I interrupted his defense: "You still have the Dew Drop Holy Grail, right? Drink it now."

"Hey, it's just a small injury, it shouldn't be that serious."

"Anyway, the Holy Grail bottle will be restored after touching the blessing, so hurry up!" I almost forced Roger to take out the Dew Drop Holy Grail bottle. After he drank it, I saw that the injury on his leg got better, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"By the way, here's one for you." He handed the dead prince's abscess in his hand to the other party.

Roger's face was full of disgust: "This..."

"Haven't you always wanted to investigate the dead prince? Don't you want his things anymore?" I grinned. Of course, the most important reason was that this abscess could increase resistance to the death curse, that is, resistance to the black and yellow smoke just now.

Roger accepted it with some reluctance: "Okay, thank you very much."

"I have an idea." At this time, Hurtok thought of another idea, "I believe everyone knows that the Deathborn is related to the Death Prince Godwin. Those guys are most afraid of holy moves... Perhaps, we can gather guys who are proficient in related prayers and combat skills, and try to see if we can disperse this smoke, and then have Zero burn it."

Edson also went a step further and suggested: "If there are any residues left at the end, you can ask the pot warriors to help clean it up. If you seal the remains of the dead prince in their bodies, they should not be exposed to the furnace fire."

"Let's do this. Before that, we have to seal off this area." I concluded. "Edison, try to gather enough people within seven days to purify this area. After that, we will completely deal with this face of the dead prince."

Edson bowed in agreement.

"During this period, I have to go out with Hurtok first." I turned my head and asked Roger, "What about you, Roger?"

"I'm planning on going back to the Hall of the Round Table. I know two guys there who might be able to help."

It refers to Mr. Colin and "Hunting Death" D.

Well, I am too embarrassed to see Mr. Kelin for a while, and he can also "throw himself into the fire" and pray, so he can help a lot;

As for D, if it's related to the Deadborn, he should agree quickly.

However, Roger is going to the Round Table Hall... Oh, that's great, I should go find Roderica too.