Chapter 204: Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing

Bai Shi saw Blaidd leaning against a wall in the corner.

Blaidd had taken off his cape, wearing only his form-fitting black armor.

His once fluffy, smooth fur was soaked and matted against his body, making him look a whole size smaller visually.

Even his normally handsome wolf head now looked utterly comical.

His long snout made his head look like a bicycle seat.

He was drenched from head to toe, dripping water onto the floor, the very picture of a drowned dog.

Next to Blaidd lay a giant 'popsicle'.

A closer look at the hilt revealed it to be Blaidd's weapon, the Royal Greatsword.

The Royal Greatsword was imbued with cold magic, constantly emitting a frosty air, which must have been even more unbearable for the clearly waterlogged Blaidd.

Blaidd had spotted Bai Shi the moment he jumped in and spoke with some embarrassment:

"Oh... Lord Bai Shi, you're here too."

Bai Shi nodded and walked over to Blaidd's side.

While releasing the power of the sun, Bai Shi asked Blaidd:

"What happened?"

"Did you fall into the water just now?"

Blaidd lifted his head, his gaze darting away awkwardly.

"Er— yes."

"A moment ago I wasn't careful... got ambushed... lost my footing, and was knocked down here."

Bai Shi suppressed a laugh and helped dry Blaidd off.

He noticed that the sunlight seemed to be slightly suppressed here, but it wasn't a major issue.

"Knocked down? Your opponent must have been strong."

Blaidd reached up and scratched the tip of his nose.

"Indeed, they weren't weak. They looked a bit like that Astel we encountered before."

"But it seemed a little different. It was on all fours, like a beast."

"But its head was definitely identical to the Astel I saw before, I wouldn't mistake that."

Bai Shi nodded and explained to Blaidd:

"That was likely a juvenile form of the Astels. After growing, they eventually take on the form you saw on the dunes."

"Speaking of which, you got here just a few days after leaving Redmane Castle. That was quite fast."

Blaidd couldn't use the teleporation of the Graces like the Tarnished, so he had run the entire way. To arrive in just a few short days, his legs were truly powerful.

"I'm rather confident in my leg strength."

"But it was also thanks to finding a shortcut, otherwise I wouldn't have been this quick."

Blaidd began to recount his journey after leaving Redmane Castle.

As a shadow beast, his stamina was quite good.

At the time, Blaidd had been running almost nonstop, but when he reached a cliff's edge, he realized he seemed to have gone the wrong way again.

However, from that cliff's edge, Blaidd could see Limgrave below.

Though he had a poor sense of direction, Blaidd easily recognized the Mistwood, a place where he had spent a long time and moved about frequently.

Changing course now was less ideal than trying to make his way from here.

He saw that the cliff didn't seem particularly steep, figured it was probably doable, and so he really did climb all the way down the cliff face.

After descending from that cliff, Blaidd found himself near the Mistwood, and from there he easily reached the meteor crater.

After finally descending from the anti-gravity area there into the Eternal City, Blaidd once again lost his bearings amidst the vast city ruins.

In the end, he also chose to head toward the faint lights.

However, unlike Bai Shi, who chose to explore the lower levels of the building complex, Blaidd leaped directly between buildings, running across the rooftops.

While passing over one of the rooftops, a Fallingstar Beast that had appeared out of nowhere ambushed him, ramming into him.

The impact sent him flying straight off the top of that building.

Recalling the scene, Blaidd still felt a lingering fear.

He had thought he was done for at that moment.

After all, he didn't know there was water below. If it had been an abyss, he might have been crippled by the fall.

In the water, the Astel that had knocked him down didn't pursue him.

Blaidd saw some more Astels hanging upside-down from the edges of nearby buildings, so he simply decided not to go ashore and swam in his original direction.

Although this method allowed him to successfully avoid battles along the way and arrive safely at his destination...

The Royal Greatsword he used, which relentlessly emitted cold magic, made him rather miserable.

He was already afraid of the cold, and the icy water combined with the Royal Greatsword on his back made him incredibly uncomfortable. He had only just started to recover after getting back on land.

After hearing the full story of Blaidd's journey here, Bai Shi also felt a bit exasperated.

What was the deal with Blaidd's tendency to get lost?

Well, no matter. Though mishaps always seemed to happen, he at least managed to reach his destination in the end.

"So that's what happened..."

"In any case, since we've met here, let's proceed together."

Blaidd nodded.

He had no reason to insist on acting alone. As long as he could quickly find the Fingerslayer Blade Ranni was looking for, the process didn't matter.

——

Bai Shi and Blaidd looked down from their current position.

The interior of this building was also in a state of disrepair. The floors were extensively damaged, allowing them to easily see the situation on other levels from above.

On one of the floors, there was a very bright white flame.

Bai Shi observed carefully and discovered that the source of the light was a torch, held by a grotesque creature.

Presumably, they were the soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion who had been left behind here.

In any case, heading downward was certainly the right direction.

Once Blaidd had put his cloak back on and slung the Royal Greatsword over his back, the two of them leaped down from the building, moving from one level to the next.

Soon, they arrived on the floor with the white Ghostflame.

There, Bai Shi also saw the soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion holding the Ghostflame torches.

As the slave army of the Stormhawk King, the Fallen Hawks Legion had been sent to explore the underground 'Eternal City' and were subsequently trapped here forever.

Only now, it was hard to say they still resembled soldiers.

Their clothes were long gone. They were naked, holding various weapons and Ghostflame torches as they roamed the area.

The soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion had deathly pale skin, slender and withered limbs, and gaunt faces.

Toward their extremities, their skin grew thinner and thinner.

On their hands and feet, there was no skin at all, the muscle and sinew exposed directly to the air, a field of crimson.

And their eyes were completely vacant, having lost all trace of consciousness. To be honest, Bai Shi felt their current image was somewhat reminiscent of the lesser minions converted by vampires in certain movies and television shows.

However, the soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion were clearly not a vampire's minions, but rather the former slave army of the last Stormhawk King, normal creatures of the Lands Between.

And now, in the 'Eternal City,' they had been eroded by some unknown power and mutated into this form.

Underground, they had lost their food, lost their fire.

Ultimately, they chose to burn the bones of their companions, igniting the cold Ghostflame.

Bai Shi tried to communicate with them using the storm.

The storm soldiers of Stormveil had also lost their minds, but the storm could still let them know he was one of their own.

But the soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion showed no reaction.

It's unknown whether it was because they had completely forgotten, or because of a hatred born from being left here to die, but they instead brandished their weapons and charged at Bai Shi and Blaidd.

Soldiers further away threw their Ghostflames, which arced toward the two.

It was clear they had lost all ability to communicate, their minds completely worn away.

Bai Shi summoned a storm, helping them find release.

After dealing with all the wandering Fallen Hawks Legion soldiers, Bai Shi did not press forward immediately, but instead began to observe this level.

The Fallen Hawks were only distributed starting from here; there was no trace of their activity in the building above.

It was possible they had entered from another place, arriving directly here upon entry.

In other words, there might be another, more convenient path that would allow a large number of people to enter the 'Eternal City' from there.

Bai Shi surveyed the vicinity and used the wind to explore the surroundings, finally discovering a place buried under collapsed rubble.

It was buried under rubble and building debris, but a faint wind flowed through the cracks. Behind it was a passage.

Bai Shi drew his Sword of Night and Flame, aimed at the rubble, and unleashed a torrent of comets.

The immense magical power instantly blasted through all the rubble and building debris.

The cavern was reopened, and sure enough, behind it was a rock tunnel.

For now, Bai Shi was in a hurry to get to the Night's Sacred Ground, so he didn't explore this passage, only giving it a quick glance.

This building was embedded in the rock, unlike the buildings in the other residential areas. The passage behind it was also carved out of the rock.

In that case, above them was probably one of Limgrave's mountains.

The Fallen Hawks Legion likely came down from here before.

However, it seemed another collapse occurred after they entered, sealing this path completely.

Though he didn't know when they came down to explore, since no one came to rescue them, Stormveil was probably already at war with Godfrey's army by then.

These soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion had no way to escape, and were eventually turned into monsters here.

Bai Shi memorized this location, intending to explore upward later.

This way, people could be sent in from here in the future to carry out work like archaeology and excavation.

Bai Shi and Blaidd continued forward, descending a staircase from this floor into a large hall.

The decoration of this hall was more magnificent than the previous residential areas, and it was also very well-preserved, with almost no damage.

Passing through this hall, a wide courtyard appeared before the two of them.

Before they could appreciate the intact, magnificent architecture, soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion rushed out from all corners of the courtyard.

Bai Shi and Blaidd each took on a portion, easily dispatching all of them.

After all the mutated soldiers of the Fallen Hawks Legion had been eliminated, Bai Shi walked to the gazebo in the very center of the courtyard.

There lay a corpse, clutching a faintly glowing object in its hand.

Bai Shi remembered that there was a Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing here. Could this be it?

Bai Shi took the glowing object from the corpse's hand.

It was a small ball with a rough surface and irregular patterns, covered by some kind of power.

From its appearance, it was undoubtedly a Bell Bearing.

Bai Shi tried to infuse magic into it, and the Bell Bearing quickly reacted.

After a moment, the Bell Bearing suddenly cracked open.

Bai Shi was stunned for a moment, then a considerable number of Ghost Gloveworts fell from the Bell Bearing onto the ground.

These Ghost Gloveworts were of various sizes, but most of the flower buds were very small, indicating a low grade.

The most numerous were Ghost Glovewort (1) through (3), with more than twenty flowers.

There were a few higher-grade ones, a dozen or so (4)s and (5)s, and only one each of (6) and (7).

A total of over forty Ghost Gloveworts; this was everything contained within this Bell Bearing.

Then, the Bell Bearing turned to ash in Bai Shi's hand and vanished forever.

Bai Shi had no choice but to put all these Gloveworts into his storage disk.

It seemed the Bell Bearings in reality were quite different from those in the game.

It appeared to be a type of disposable storage item that used a special method to preserve items within it.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be used for unlimited purchases like in the game.

But on second thought, Bai Shi came to terms with it. After all, that would be equivalent to creating things from nothing.

After putting away the Gloveworts, Bai Shi continued to wander around the courtyard.

Soon, in the building to the right, Bai Shi found the corpse of a Mimic Tear.

Unlike the silver tears he had defeated before, this tear's liquid corpse had a silver core inside.

Bai Shi picked it up. The core was shaped like an embryo, with several tube-like tentacles attached to it.

This was a Larval Tear, the key item that could complete the sorcery of 'rebirth'.

Bai Shi placed the Larval Tear into his storage disk as well, then found a set of ashes in another spot.

These were the ashes of the Greatshield Soldiers, capable of summoning several spirit warriors from the Fallen Hawks Legion wielding Inverted Hawk Towershields.

The role of these Greatshield Soldiers in the legion was to form the frontline defense, coordinating with their comrades in battle.

They would actively draw aggro, tying down the enemy.

Under the sturdy defense of their greatshields, the other soldiers could attack with confidence.

In addition, these Greatshield Soldiers would also throw Ghostflame from behind their shields, carrying out simple group tactics.

In the game, these Greatshield Soldiers were quite powerful, a top-tier Spirit Ash for tanking.

They provided an immense sense of security, especially for fragile mages.

Faith users could also apply various buffs to the Greatshield Soldiers and then easily defeat various bosses.

After carefully stowing the ashes, there was nothing else worth collecting in this courtyard.

Bai Shi had also forced open the locked room on the left, which was inaccessible in the game, and found nothing inside.

Bai Shi and Blaidd passed through the main gate and proceeded down a narrow flight of stairs.