Elden Ring, building a legion of ashes

Chapter 40 Cleaning Up

After a satisfying meal, Xia Tong sat by the campfire and began to review the upcoming itinerary.

Originally, according to his plan, after obtaining the Holy Grail Dewdrop from the pilgrimage church, he should have driven straight down from the top of the mountain.

Follow the main road back to Moen City, activate the blessing point in front of the city wall, and then head straight to Moen City to quell the riot.

After all, the road was wide and open, and with Torret's current horsepower, he was confident that he could reach the city of Moen within a day.

But after the fierce battle with the Demi-human Queen, Xia Tong's somewhat inflated ego calmed down considerably.

To be fair, the combat strength of the demi-human queen's true form is not actually that high.

What makes her truly formidable is her despair-inducing influence—she has so many followers that you can't possibly kill them all.

I still feel lingering fear when I think about it now.

At the last moment, if the remaining demi-humans hadn't been terrified and fled in panic because of the death of their queen, and if the night had completely fallen and the demi-humans had gone into a frenzy, Xia Tong's life would have truly been lost there.

In the past, Xia Tong was the one who ganged up on others; now he was the one being ganged up on.

It really didn't taste good!

"We need someone to carry the line," Xia Tong thought to herself.

He stood up, walked to the entrance of the pilgrimage church, and looked over the hills towards the dark field under the moonlight. He had already decided on his next destination—the Mausoleum Fields catacombs.

If you can successfully defeat the boss "Shadow of the Graveyard" guarding the place, you can obtain the legendary ashes - "Headless Horseman" Ruthel.

Back in his previous life, when he was playing with the Old Man Ring, this was an incredibly powerful legendary item that could practically accompany him until the very late game.

Most importantly, she is incredibly resilient and has an exceptional ability to survive.

If she had been there when fighting the Demi-human Queen, she could have shared some of the firepower and drawn the Queen's attention, and Xia Tong would never have won so miserably, almost losing her life.

Furthermore, considering the numerous traps and dangers within the underground cemetery, it was impossible to allow the frail Irena to venture into the treacherous territory with him.

Therefore, the best arrangement is for Irena and Melina to stay at the pilgrimage church, while I go to the Mausoleum Fields catacombs alone.

Under the protection of the church, beside its warm blessings, there should be no danger.

However, just to be on the safe side, before leaving, he still wanted to thoroughly clean up any petty thieves lurking around the church.

……

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Xia Tong got up early and began her area cleanup plan.

The first thing to do is to clean up the cemetery next to the church.

The cemetery is not far from the church; it's just a few minutes' walk along the path.

The cemetery was unusually quiet in the early morning, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the messy weeds.

As they walked, a sudden change occurred.

Suddenly, without warning, a tall figure sprang out from behind the nearby tombstone.

It was a resurrected skeleton warrior.

It had huge horns on its head and wielded two rusty but sharp long-handled curved swords, slashing towards Xia Tong with a whistling sound.

Xia Tong reacted quickly, raising the Sinner's Shield in her hand to lightly block.

"clang!"

In the instant he blocked the attack, he raised his leg and kicked the skeleton hard in the ribs.

The skeleton warrior staggered backward.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Tong followed up with a heavy slash.

With a "crack," the skeleton warrior fell apart, shattering into a pile of white bones.

But this is not the end.

"These dead ones are really troublesome."

Xia Tong looked at the pile of broken bones on the ground and felt a wave of nausea from the bottom of her heart.

For among the scattered bones and rusty armor, a strange phenomenon occurred.

Clusters of pale, shimmering light, like slender snakes, suddenly shone brightly from the pile of bones.

In that dim light, a distorted and illusory spirit seemed to faintly emerge.

These glimmers of light resembled living mycelium or greedy threads, desperately pulling at the broken bones on the ground.

They tried to piece the scattered parts back together so that the skeleton warrior could stand up again.

As a veteran player of Souls-like games, Xia Tong naturally knew the ins and outs of it.

This needs to be finished off.

Xia Tong once again wielded the heavy Monarch Army Greatsword and slashed fiercely at the writhing glimmer of light on the ground!

As the sword flashed, the illusory spirit struggling in the pale light seemed to let out a mournful and hollow cry.

The pale glimmer of light finally vanished completely, losing its power to revive.

The shattered bones and broken armor that were still pulsating on the ground finally fell silent and became truly lifeless.

At 59 points, the runes flowed into Xia Tong's body.

"Ring ring—"

Xia Tong rang the soul-summoning bell.

Three lone wolves and two sharp-toothed imps emerged at the call. After a night's rest, they had fully recovered and were full of energy.

With this group of ashes in hand, Xia Tong began to carefully inspect the entire cemetery.

He conducted a thorough search, leaving no stone unturned as to any potential lurking undead.

After an hour of thorough sweeping, and the killing of seven or eight more skeleton warriors, the entire graveyard was turned upside down, confirming that no more Deadborn could crawl out.

Then, Xia Tong casually killed off the wandering nobles and noble magicians in the vicinity.

For Xia Tong now, dealing with these fodder soldiers is as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

Not a single one was left.

After doing all this, Xia Tong turned her gaze to the distant sky.

There were a few annoying giant bats circling around.

Xia Tong raised her hand and summoned the Grek soldiers armed with crossbows.

At the same time, the keen-eyed bats seemed to have also spotted the intruders on the ground, and swooped down at them with shrieks.

"Well done!"

Xia Tong waved her hand, signaling the lone wolves and fanged imps in melee combat not to make any rash moves, lest they be kited.

He and the Grek soldiers both raised their light crossbows, aimed at the sky, and prepared to fire.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

As the giant bats swooped down in front of them, several arrows shot out.

However, these giant bats are far more agile than those dull-witted winged hybrids.

This salvo only hit two targets.

Moreover, it did not cause any fatal damage; the arrows only pierced their leathery wings.

However, those fleshy wings were extremely resilient, and even if they were pierced by sharp arrows, leaving several holes, it did not significantly affect their flight posture.

They continued to circle overhead, arrogantly barking.

The piercing sonic attack made Xia Tong's eardrums ache.

Suddenly, it was as if these beasts had conspired beforehand.

Four or five giant bats simultaneously folded their wings and landed together, their enormous claws swooping down with a foul stench.

This is the moment we've been waiting for!

Xia Tong suddenly took out the Demi-human Queen's Staff, and the huge purplish-red gemstone at the top of the staff began to slowly light up, gathering magical power.

Just as these giant bats were only half a meter away from Xia Tong, almost touching his face...

"Crystallization scattering!"

With a loud "sizzle" sound!

Dozens of icy blue radiance magic burst forth, like shotgun blasts exploding at close range.

The sharp magical crystals pierced through the bodies and wing membranes of these giant bats in an instant.

At this distance, they have no way to avoid it.

In an instant, most of the bats were knocked to the ground, struggling in agony.

The fanged imps and three lone wolves, who had been poised to attack, swarmed forward and began tearing at the fallen enemy.

The last fish that managed to escape flapped its wings and tried to fly away, but it was shot down on the spot by Xia Tong and the Grek soldiers who were quick to react.

After walking around the area again, I found that the area around the pilgrimage church was completely cleared and there were no potential threats.

Xia Tong then put away her weapon with satisfaction and hurried back to the church.

After this sweep, he gained another seven or eight hundred runes.

Including previous savings, the total runes have approached the 4,500 mark.