A crimson sea stretched out before Lucian.
Thick Scarlet Rot, so concentrated it had darkened to near-black and resembled festering pus, churned violently across the lake's surface.
At the center of the lake stood a towering scarlet tree, its immense trunk seeming to pierce through heaven and earth, supporting the entire underground cavern.
Crimson mist drifted through the air. Pink-red fungal growths covered the walls, staining even the cavern ceiling with the aura of disease.
And yet, despite such a hellish environment, it was not devoid of life.
Quite the opposite.
A thriving ecosystem unique to Scarlet Rot flourished here.
Rot Butterflies danced through the scarlet haze. Kindred of Rot and Basilisks swam freely through the lake. Mushroom Folk waded through the waters, occasionally kneeling in worship toward the colossal tree at the lake's center.
Lucian stood at the shore, observing everything before him.
Suddenly, he ignited his lingering flames, causing fire to surge violently across his body.
Something was invading his lungs.
He immediately understood.
With every breath he took, the concentrated essence of Scarlet Rot was infiltrating his body through the air itself.
Fortunately, the flames burning from within instantly incinerated the invading fungal threads, and the strange sensation disappeared.
Fire was the most direct countermeasure against Scarlet Rot.
Lucian's expression grew serious.
As expected of the place where the physical form of the God of Rot was sealed.
The concentration of Scarlet Rot here was on an entirely different level from the Swamp of Aeonia in Caelid.
After all, the Scarlet Rot in Caelid was merely collateral damage, a region contaminated by the aftermath of Malenia unleashing her power.
The Scarlet Rot here, however...
This was probably comparable to the full force General Radahn had endured head-on.
The color alone made it obvious.
The center of the lake was likely comparable to standing directly before one of Malenia's Scarlet Aeonia blooms.
The shoreline might not be quite that terrifying, but it still far surpassed the Swamp of Aeonia.
Lucian dared not lower his guard and maintained the burning of his lingering flames.
Crouching down, he extended a hand into the scarlet waters.
The liquid immediately clung to his skin as though alive.
But the moment it sensed the fire, it recoiled rapidly, retreating from his hand.
This was not truly water.
It resembled some vast living organism more than a lake, a crimson tide composed of countless living entities.
Watching this reaction, Lucian fell into thought.
He had always harbored doubts about the sealing of the God of Rot.
The deity was supposedly sealed, yet it could still transmit its fundamental power directly to Malenia.
And Malenia was hardly some ordinary vessel that could be casually possessed.
She was a pure Golden demigod, the offspring born from Marika and Radagon's self-union.
Not only that, but she had grown up within Leyndell itself, under the gaze of the Golden Order.
If this counted as being sealed, then the God of Rot enjoyed an alarming amount of freedom.
In Lucian's understanding, a proper seal should completely isolate its target from the outside world.
Any leakage of power or influence beyond the seal would normally indicate that the seal was weakening.
Yet the sealing method used by the Swordsman of Flowing Water was clearly different.
With the assistance of the Fairy, it seemed to operate on a conceptual level.
Stillness leads to stagnation.
Stagnation leads to corruption.
Flowing water does not rot.
And so the principle held true.
The upper and lower reaches of the Ainsel River remained normal, while this middle section alone had been entirely claimed by Scarlet Rot.
Lucian could appreciate the elegance of the method.
After all, it had successfully restrained a deity whose true strength was nearly impossible to estimate.
But even so...
It felt dangerously permissive.
It was almost as though the seal had deliberately left the God of Rot a designated territory in which to operate.
At this point, the deity might simply be incapable of leaving the Lake of Rot.
That did not necessarily mean it was completely sealed and unable to exercise its power.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Best to remain cautious.
Still, the fact remained that this was a god that had once been sealed by a human.
That was admittedly a little embarrassing.
Lucian roughly estimated that, empowered by the Fairy's Flowing Sword, the Swordsman of Flowing Water had probably reached the level of a God and Lord.
Lucian himself had not quite arrived at that realm.
But he was only a tiny step away.
He was not arrogant.
Yet neither did he consider himself inferior to anyone.
Without such confidence, how could one aspire to become a king?
If the Swordsman of Flowing Water had been capable of sealing the God of Rot, then even if Lucian faced the deity now, he doubted he would be completely helpless.
Besides, not all gods were equal.
Not every deity was as absurdly powerful as the Sun or the false Greater Will.
So if there was sufficient benefit to be gained, Lucian would not mind meeting the God of Rot in person.
He wanted to witness the true strength of the gods for himself.
Rising to his feet, he instinctively shook his hand despite the fact that no traces of Rot remained upon it.
With the lingering flames protecting him, the lake's corruption could no longer invade his body.
Having confirmed that the Rot here was still incapable of harming him, he relaxed slightly.
Then he looked out over the immense lake and sighed.
This...
This was the Lake of Rot from Elden Ring.
The first cybernetic bathtub for a new generation.
Did any other game have a bathtub like this?
Miyazaki had supposedly drawn inspiration from his own bathtub, and sincerely hoped players would learn to appreciate the joys of bathing.
The reasons behind that hope, however, could result in third-degree burns.
Standing on the shore and gazing across the vast crimson expanse, Lucian frowned.
The terrain of the Lake of Rot looked different from what he remembered.
In the game, it had been relatively empty.
Only a handful of enemy types roamed the area.
There were five mechanisms capable of raising submerged structures and platforms from beneath the lake, but the total amount of accessible land had been quite limited.
What lay before him now was completely different.
These sprawling structures were entirely unfamiliar.
Throughout the lake stood buildings clearly displaying the architectural characteristics of the ancient dynasties of Uhl and Uld.
Ruins of every size were scattered throughout the scarlet waters.
The smaller ones had collapsed into clusters of rubble now occupied by Basilisks and other creatures.
The larger structures vanished into the crimson fog, their true scale impossible to discern.
Massive stairways illuminated by braziers emerged from the lake, ascending toward colossal buildings whose outlines could barely be seen.
The Kindred of Rot possessed collective intelligence.
But as far as Lucian knew, they had never demonstrated any aptitude for architecture.
Which meant these structures were most likely ruins left behind by the Ancient Dynasty.
And beyond the abundance of buildings, the lake itself was far more lively than he remembered.
The density of life here was astonishing.
You could throw a meteor at random and probably crush a crowd of Basilisks and Kindred of Rot.
Not only were countless Kindred of Rot living and thriving throughout the lake—
A race Lucian knew very well had also established itself here, multiplying into a vast population.
They wore grotesque horned headdresses atop their heads, with clusters of mushrooms sprouting from both the horns and their scalps.
Their bones and flesh protruded through their skin, all of it covered by thick layers of fungal growth.
These were Ancestor Followers who had been infected by Scarlet Rot.
Lucian looked at the corrupted Ancestor Followers with considerable interest.
Rot-afflicted Ancestor Followers had technically existed in the game's version 1.0 files, though they were essentially cut content by the time of release.
Seeing them here was surprising, yet somehow perfectly reasonable.
After all, the Ancestor Followers were descendants of the Ancient Dynasty.
This had originally been their homeland.
Furthermore, the Ancestor Followers followed the doctrines of nature itself, rejecting metal and civilization while revering the cycle of life and death.
And Scarlet Rot, in its own way, was indeed a law of rebirth.
Through endless cycles of decay and renewal, life eventually reached abundance.
Lucian shook his head.
The terrain might have changed significantly, but the existence of the Grand Cloister was probably unchanged.
The only question was where exactly it was now located.
Either way, he needed to find a path first.
Taking his first step into the Lake of Rot—
He was immediately surrounded by a swarm of Basilisks erupting from the lake.
Their enormous false eyes fixed upon him as they launched a sudden ambush from the scarlet waters.
The Basilisks appeared unusually excited by the arrival of an intruder.
They inhaled deeply, their bellies swelling dramatically before expelling the air all at once.
Dozens of them attacked simultaneously.
Black-yellow clouds of Death Blight instantly enveloped Lucian.
Looking at the little creatures, Lucian raised a hand with a cold expression.
A violent gale erupted.
The deathly mist was blown away instantly, and the Basilisks themselves were shredded into pieces.
As FromSoftware's beloved mascot and permanent special guest in Miyazaki's games, Basilisks were famously "popular."
They loved hiding in corners waiting to ambush unsuspecting victims.
And they always traveled in groups.
Still, their bizarre appearance somehow became strangely charming after enough exposure.
It was perhaps the greatest evidence that Miyazaki had successfully forcefully altered players' standards of beauty.
At the very least, Lucian could never bring himself to like the creatures that had repeatedly violated his game characters over the years.
Especially not after seeing them in person.
Unfortunately, eliminating one wave of Basilisks did not solve the problem.
The commotion attracted the attention of everything else living within the Lake of Rot.
Like a chain reaction, the entire lake began to boil.
Crimson waves surged toward the shoreline.
The scarlet tide rushed relentlessly toward Lucian.
Countless Kindred of Rot emerged from the lake.
Floating atop the waters, they raised their arms.
Dense strands of insect silk shot from specialized organs, locking onto Lucian like guided missiles.
At the same time, the Rot-afflicted Ancestor Followers positioned atop distant ruins prepared their attack.
Though Scarlet Rot had transformed them into an entirely different form of life, they had not forgotten the skills of their ancestors.
One by one, glowing crimson arrows infused with corrupted ancestral spirits were nocked onto bows.
The next moment, the slender projectiles crossed the limits of visual range and came screaming toward him.
They might not be the Ancestor Followers he remembered.
But their sniper capabilities remained just as terrifying.
Storm winds circled Lucian's body, effortlessly intercepting every incoming projectile.
Then crimson dragon lightning descended.
The waters of the Lake of Rot became a prison of thunder.
Nearby Kindred of Rot were instantly reduced to ash beneath the devastating storm.
Countless corpses sank into the scarlet waters.
Within moments, they decomposed into nutrients and were recycled into the endless spread of Scarlet Rot.
Looking at the densely packed corrupted creatures filling the lake, Lucian smiled.
Perhaps because of the extraordinary concentration of Scarlet Rot, both the Basilisks and the Kindred of Rot possessed far stronger life force than normal.
The Rune drops had been surprisingly generous.
Runes were, after all, manifestations of life force itself.
The amount produced depended on the strength of the life that died.
That was why even beings from the stars, such as Astels, yielded Runes upon death.
It seemed these creatures had gradually evolved under the influence of the nearby God of Rot.
And the population density here was absurd.
This could only be an ecosystem directly sustained by divine power.
The leaking strength of the God of Rot nourished these corrupted creatures, allowing them to reproduce endlessly within this imperfect form of abundance.
So how many creatures actually lived here?
Ten thousand?
A hundred thousand?
Even more?
It was impossible to estimate.
Lucian only knew one thing.
He was about to begin a massacre.
After witnessing the terrifying power of the false Greater Will, he needed Runes more than ever.
And if there were large numbers of enemies...
Then that simply meant an excellent farming spot.
[Rune Gain Multiplier Activate]
(60 minutes remaining)
A crimson mist drifted from the shoreline toward the lake.
Its presence gave visible form to the storm itself.
The winds intensified.
Not only the mist, but even the waters of the lake were pushed away from the shore.
The Scarlet Rot around him was swept aside.
For some reason, Lucian felt extraordinarily refreshed.
Purple gravitational waves spread outward from beneath his feet.
They rapidly expanded across the entire Lake of Rot, combining with the storm to lock onto every lifeform within range.
"I'll kill every last one of you within the next sixty minutes."
Gravity seized control of the lake's tides.
The corrupted creatures suddenly discovered that the waters they once swam through freely had become thick and sluggish.
The storm echoed throughout the underground cavern.
Dark clouds gathered overhead.
Then—
Tornadoes erupted from the lake floor.
The waters churned violently as the cyclones rampaged across the entire region.
Kindred of Rot caught within the storms were shredded apart in midair.
Crimson dragon lightning flashed endlessly through the clouds.
Thunder and tornadoes swept across the lake together.
The entire Lake of Rot became engulfed by Lucian's indiscriminate bombardment.
Every second, countless corrupted creatures were pulverized and converted into Runes.
Lucian drank several Cerulean Flask charges in succession, restoring the vast amounts of FP consumed by such large-scale attacks.
The Lake of Rot was enormous.
Blanketing the entire area with offensive magic was difficult even for him.
Feeling the constant stream of Runes flowing into his body, Lucian nodded in satisfaction.
These creatures had multiplied by feeding upon the power leaking from the God of Rot.
And now, in a sense, Lucian was siphoning that power away from the deity itself.
At this point, only beings on the level of gods could still satisfy his leveling requirements.
However—
It did not take long before the true master of the Lake of Rot noticed the disturbance.
Two colossal figures burst from the scarlet waters.
Smashing through thunder and storm alike, they charged directly toward Lucian.
One of them was immediately familiar.
A Dragonkin Soldier.
Except this Dragonkin Soldier had been completely consumed by Scarlet Rot.
Its entire body was covered in fungal growths.
Rot Butterflies had filled in its ruined wings, forming grotesque replacements.
The second giant was even stranger.
It possessed the skull-like head of a corrupted ancestral spirit atop the emaciated body of a beast.
In its hands it carried a massive tree branch covered in blooming rot flowers, wielding it like a symbol of supreme authority.
Both creatures had long since become vessels of Scarlet Rot.
Lucian looked at the two colossal monstrosities and smiled.
"Now this is a little more interesting."
With a sharp flick of his right hand, the Sword of Night and Flame appeared before him.
Fire ignited along its blade, casting a blazing arc of light.
Eyes burning with excitement, radiating irresistible authority and killing intent, Lucian advanced step by step toward the two towering vessels of corruption.
—
[A/N:]
Yesterday someone joked about a "knife fight at school" and got called a prophet. Today it actually happened. We were literally in class when police cars and ambulances showed up.
(trembling in fear)