I, Superman, the Supreme Commander

"Ah...wait a minute."

The tip of Zhang Hong's sword stopped one centimeter away from the opponent's head.

It was a hideous deformed being, still vaguely in human shape, but its flesh and blood had become like dead wood, and was covered with black feathers.

But strangely he begged for mercy.

Zhang Hong retracted the sword, "You still have your sanity."

"Of course... Sorry to scare you, outsider. You are from the outside world, right?"

This deformed being who still retained his human sanity spoke.

One could sense that he was full of curiosity about Zhang Hong, the outsider.

Zhang Hong nodded, and seeing that he was able to communicate, he began to inquire about the news.

"Do you know Miss? A crazy old man asked me to help her."

"Ah, then you must have met Gale, the slave knight who followed the young lady... So that's how it is, you are the legendary fire bearer, the fireless ash... I am so honored to meet someone like you in my lifetime..."

"Yes. This is Elidel, a cold and gentle painting world, a safe haven for forbidden people like me... If you want to find the young lady, then go to the cathedral. The nuns and priests should know where she is..."

"But be careful of those tree demons, wandering spirits, and white wolves. They are very hostile to outsiders..."

After saying this, the deformed man who called himself the Forbidden One retreated into his dark corner and continued to hide in the cave.

Zhang Hong followed the instructions of the taboo man and headed towards the snow-capped mountains.

The terrain here is similar to that of the outside world, with mountains and cliffs, and bottomless abysses all around. The difference is that there is wind and snow here, unlike the gloomy and dry outside.

It's a bit like the Cold Valley.

By the way, according to Yurshika’s explanation, the reason why the Frost Valley turned into an icy and snowy weather was because the painting world hidden in Anor Londo was destroyed, and a large amount of cold air leaked out of the painting world.

From this perspective, the world of painting is truly an incredible "artifact".

Zhang Hong speculated that it was most likely made from a piece of space debris cut from the outside world.

Moving along the snow-covered valley, there were withered trees everywhere. Some of the tree trunks took on human shapes, and you could even vaguely see human faces.

This should be the tree demon that the taboo people mentioned.

There are similar tree-like humans in Lothric, but they are slightly different from the dryads here. I don't know if there is any connection between the two.

Originally, Zhang Hong thought that the tree-turned humans were the evil masterpiece of Salivan, but after hearing from Youlsika that Salivan was the offspring of a tree demon, it was obviously not what Zhang Hong thought.

The deformation of tree transformation has existed in the Dark Souls world for a long time.

Transformation into a tree, into an animal, into a crow, into a dragon, into human pus, into abyssal deformity... Zhang Hong always felt that these "diseases" that tormented humans in the Dark Souls world were somehow connected.

This world has a strong Cthulhu style.

Could it be that it was created by the black-robed tentacle monster named Nyarlathotep?

Zhang Hong started to think, and then explored carefully into the depths of Ailedel.

Soon he was attacked by monsters, a pack of white-haired wolves.

It looks no different from a normal wolf and has no deformation, but its body size is much larger than that of an ordinary wolf.

In the world of Dark Souls, wolves are not common.

Zhang Hong has only seen one wolf in the Fran Fortress, and it looks quite similar to the wolf here. Could it be that the wolf also ran away from here?

The wolves did not cause any trouble to Zhang Hong and he killed them easily.

After killing five Fire Kings and clearing out almost all the hidden BOSSes in the outside world, Zhang Hong can now be regarded as a full-level boss in this world.

A few wolves posed no threat to him.

Soon, Zhang Hong encountered new enemies.

There were tree spirits that could fireballs, wandering spirits dressed as Fran knights, and some elite knights wearing deer horn helmets that Zhang Hong had never encountered outside.

These elite knights also bear the insignia of the Frankish soldiers.

But Zhang Hong had never heard Hawkwood say that there was such a knight order in France.

I don’t know why these Fran soldiers came to the painting world.

Since these soldiers had become wandering souls unable to communicate, Zhang Hong had no choice but to kill them.

"Ouch!"

Walking out of the valley and coming to an open space, a particularly loud wolf howl was heard.

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by the sound of running that shook the ground, a huge black shadow rushed down from the cliff and landed in front of Zhang Hong.

Roar!

With bared teeth and fierce eyes, the giant wolf the size of a truck appeared and pounced towards Zhang Hong fiercely.

Sword energy cuts!

Zhang Hong was well prepared and he raised his hand and slashed with sword energy.

Knock back the jumping giant wolf in mid-air.

The sharp sword energy immediately cut a huge bloody wound on the giant wolf, so deep that the bone was visible.

The giant wolf howled in pain, looked at Zhang Hong fearfully, then turned around and ran away with its tail between its legs.

With two or three leaps he disappeared below the cliff.

There was no chance for Zhang Hong to finish off the opponent.

"Sly beast..."

Zhang Hong hopes it will learn its lesson and stop bothering him, otherwise he won't mind eating roasted wolf meat.

Encountered all kinds of enemies again.

There were fly men who turned into flies, crow men with bird heads and human bodies, giant crabs covered with ice crystals, and giant beetles with stone shells... After some chopping and killing, Zhang Hong walked out of the woods, and a wide cliff appeared in front of him.

Across the cliff is a cathedral lit by candlelight, and a forty-to-fifty-meter-long suspension bridge connects the two sides of the cliff.

Zhang Hong observed for a while and made sure there was no danger and the suspension bridge was solid before he walked onto it.

After crossing the bridge safely, Zhang Hong looked up at the church. It was a typical Irithyll style and should be a relic of the Sun Dynasty.

This should be the painting world where Yurshika lived back then.

But for some reason it was not destroyed by Sullivan and escaped.

The church door was closed, and a fully armored human knight was leaning against the door.

"How strange, an outsider actually appeared in Elidell... Stranger, you are the fireless ash, right?"

When he saw Zhang Hong, the knight spoke first, with a look of surprise.

"I am... How did you recognize me? I am the Fire Bearer? Do you think there are the words "Fireless Ashes" hanging above my head?"

Zhang Hong couldn't help but complain.

"Oh, a Yu Hui who can tell jokes is even rarer... Are you here to look for Sister Fred? Go in, she's inside. But remember to be respectful, she's a lady worthy of respect. By the way, my name is Weihele."

"Thank you."

Zhang Hong nodded as a greeting.

Pushing open the door and walking into the church, you will see a spacious hall hung with candles, covered with carpets, and with religious sculptures on the walls. You can see to the end at a glance.

In the center of the innermost part, there is a statue of a goddess, and the altar is filled with candles, but for some reason the face of the statue is destroyed.

There are many oil paintings placed around the altar, each depicting a woman in white with a noble posture, who should be the statue herself.

And on the wooden chair next to the statue, there sat quietly a tall woman in a long robe, dressed like a nun. Her skin was whiter than snow, her face was beautiful, and her facial features were full of heroic spirit. However, she gave people a feeling of being as gloomy as an old woman.

"Ah, rare visitor."

The nun looked up at Zhang Hong and said, "Welcome to the paintings of Aleidel. I am Fred, who lives with the priests and the taboos."

"You are obviously not a forbidden person... Lord Fireless Ashes, I don't know why you broke into the painting world, but you don't belong here... Go back, you still have your own mission. Although the campfire over there is weak, it should be able to guide you back."

Sister Fred had a gentle tone and a good attitude, but there was a sense of dismissal in her words.