Elden Ring, building a legion of ashes

Chapter 28 Holy Grail Drops

Xia Tong did not panic, but instead lowered her legs slightly.

He carefully sensed the brass shield in his hand, adopted an unusual defensive stance, and slightly shifted his body weight to the side.

In an instant, the surface of the brass shield was covered with a thick layer of silver-gray light, as if the material of the shield itself had been strengthened several times over.

Combat skill - Iron Wall Shield Defense.

"Bang!"

A dull, loud bang.

Xia Tong suddenly felt as if she had been hit head-on by a speeding dump truck!

The immense impact traveled through his body via the shield, causing him to stumble back three steps before he could barely regain his balance.

Even though he had tilted the shield to deflect the force, he still felt his internal organs churning violently, and a sweet taste rose in his throat.

Just as Xia Tong was about to retreat, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her left ankle!

"Holy shit!"

Xia Tong looked down and saw a cunning, fiery rat biting his left ankle, its sharp teeth deeply embedded in his flesh!

As the saying goes, the ten fingers are connected to the heart, and the feet are connected to the heart too!

Xia Tong immediately swung his sword down in a backhand strike!

A flash of cold light, and the hideous rat's head was cleanly chopped off, the foul-smelling black blood instantly staining the grass at their feet.

But being bitten is more than just a superficial wound.

Xia Tong felt as if yellow sparks were crackling in her mind, and she inexplicably became irritable and anxious, wanting to destroy everything in front of her.

Based on her gaming experience from her previous life, Xia Tong knew that this was because the "madness value" in her body was accumulating.

Once it accumulates to a critical point, the madness originating from the depths of the soul will be more terrifying than physical harm.

On the other side, the giant fiery rat shook its dizzy head, its eyes gleaming even more fiercely, and roared as it charged towards Xia Tong again.

This time, instead of charging, it opened its foul-smelling maw full of fangs and began to bite wildly.

Faced with this dense biting attack, the brass shield, activated with Iron Wall Shield, demonstrated absolute defensive power.

It was like a wall of sighs, and no matter how frantically the giant rats gnawed at it, they could not break through that layer of flowing silver light.

No matter where it tries to bite, Xia Tong's shield, as if it foresaw it, will block it firmly.

But this is only temporary.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw three or four more mad fire rats flanking him from the side, waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack.

Being attacked from both sides caused Xia Tong's movements to become somewhat chaotic.

There's just too much rats!

In his previous life, when he was beating the old man's ring, he was beaten to death by rats countless times.

Now, being there in person, the memories of his dead began to attack him again.

However, at this critical moment!

"Whoosh!"

A crossbow bolt whistled through the air and pierced the head of a fiery rat that was about to launch a sneak attack.

The immense kinetic energy pinned it firmly to the ground, its limbs twitching and unable to move.

It was that Grek soldier wielding the light crossbow!

Xia Tong attracted almost 80% of the hatred and firepower, while the battle on the Bone Ash side was already nearing its end.

The reinforcements who had been freed up arrived.

The Grek soldiers, who were originally carrying large shields, charged forward with heavy steps, raising their kite-shaped shields and slamming them hard into the side of the giant fire rat!

"Thump!"

The giant rat staggered from the powerful blow, its body tilting as it took two steps back.

flaw!

Faced with such a large monster, the fanged imps revealed their cruel side.

They screech and pounce on the giant rat's back, their forked hand axes flashing in and out like chops of meat.

Accompanied by their chilling, shrill laughter, and splattering blood, they are veritable demons.

Seeing that the giant rat was under control, Xia Tong took a deep breath and slowly raised the King's Army straight sword in his hand.

He was already extremely skilled with this sword.

Hold the sword with one hand, the tip of the sword held horizontally.

Combat Technique - Preparatory Stance.

The power in his entire body seemed to be twisted into a rope, converging at the tip of the sword.

Xia Tong took a sudden step forward with his right foot, causing the ground to tremble slightly!

An unstoppable, heavy stab pierced the heart of the giant, fiery rat!

"Pfft!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was clearly audible.

At the entrance of the Chapel of Karl, it seemed that five or six more mad fire rats had heard their leader's screams and were frantically rushing back to provide support.

But they can't get through.

Kurala floated silently at the gap, her translucent pink body now an insurmountable barrier.

Her tentacles, like supple yet powerful whips, lashed fiercely at the rats that tried to rush in, accompanied by a whistling sound.

Every now and then, with a "whoosh," a large clump of purplish-red acidic venom would be sprayed out.

With each drop of venom, three or four mad fire rats would fall to the ground, writhing in agony, their flesh rotting away.

Taking advantage of the lull, Xia Tong seized the opportunity, pulled out the Red Dewdrop Holy Grail from her waist, tilted her head back, and took a swig.

The warm liquid flowed down my throat.

To be honest, he hadn't taken any medicine during a battle in a long time.

But this time, the burning pain in my left ankle was truly outrageous.

As the medicine entered my stomach, a warm current instantly flowed through my body, and the soreness all over my body and the wound on my left foot healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The anxiety in my mind also subsided.

The movements no longer distorted, and power surged back into the limbs.

At this moment, the lone wolves had also completely dealt with the minions, and they swarmed forward, biting the giant fire rat's limbs and pinning it to the ground.

With the ashes holding him back, Xia Tong simply discarded the cumbersome brass shield and switched to wielding the sword with both hands.

He then delivered several more vicious blows to the giant rat that was still struggling in its death throes.

"squeak--!!!"

With a final, piercing, and unwilling scream, the enormous monster crashed to the ground and lay still.

Golden glints rose up.

A golden rune emerged from its corpse, coalescing in mid-air into an exquisite golden rune before falling to the ground.

Golden Rune [3].

At the same time, several streams of orange-red energy surged from the corpses of the dead fire rats around them.

As if drawn by some force, they automatically flowed into the red dewdrop chalice bottle at Xia Tong's waist.

Xia Tong picked up the bottle and shook it, and was surprised to find that the portion she had just drunk had miraculously been replenished.

"The essence of the Holy Grail is condensed life energy, or some kind of spiritual energy."

Melina's figure slowly appeared beside them, and she explained as she watched this scene:

"When you end enough lives in a short period of time, the energy density of life in the space will increase dramatically."

"These free energies resonate with the chalice and are then recondensed into dewdrops."

Looking at the rat carcasses scattered all over the ground, Xia Tong couldn't help but chuckle.

He certainly remembered the "kill monsters to get bottles" mechanic in the game.

But after almost a month in this world, this was the first time he had experienced it firsthand.

Previously, either I hadn't killed enough monsters to reach the threshold, or I hadn't lost much health and didn't need to use potions.

Now that the entire rat colony has been cleared out at once, this hidden mechanism has finally been triggered.

Xia Tong sensed her body and found that the twenty or thirty rats had provided nearly 1000 runes.

"Xia Tong, do you know why you're called 'The Faded Ones'?"

Melina looked at the shimmering golden rune in Xia Tong's hand [3] and suddenly asked.

Before Xia Tong could answer, she continued speaking to herself:

"The so-called fading does not refer to the skin, nor to the spirit or will."

"It refers to the disappearance of the golden light in the eyes."

"During the heyday of the Golden Tree Dynasty, humans who were blessed by the supreme will had their pupils gleaming with brilliant golden light."

"Golden runes are essentially a solidified blessing."

Melina pointed to the rune:

"As the grade of the golden rune increases, the patterns on its surface become clearer and more like human pupils."

"If you ever have the chance to see the legendary 'King's Rune', you'll find that looking at it is like looking directly into the eyes of a god."

As Xia Tong caressed the warm golden rune in her hand [3], a strange meaning flashed in her eyes.

You should know that when he played games in his previous life, he had collected several King's Runes in his inventory.

Not only are there King's Runes, but there are also countless Hero Runes and Rare Runes.

Who do you look down on?

Xia Tong was secretly pleased with herself!

Gathering my thoughts, I cleaned up the remaining few scattered fire rats.

Xia Tong finally breathed a sigh of relief; the battle was finally over.

Apart from his own injury, the other ashes were mostly unharmed. Only one of the lone wolves was bitten, but it was not serious.

Xia Tong slowly walked towards the depths of the church.

There stands a broken statue of Queen Marika.

The statue's outstretched, broken arms seem to embrace this shattered world, filled with compassion and silence.

At the foot of the stone statue, a reassuring warmth emanated, completely out of place with the brutal and bloody atmosphere of the battle that had just taken place.

Xia Tong lowered her head and looked at the stone basin at the feet of the statue.

In the murky water, a golden-red liquid crystal the size of a fingernail floated quietly.

It is crystal clear, like a drop of blood and tears shed by a deity.

"This must be the Holy Grail Dew."