After gravely wounding the twisted creature, the abomination with countless eyes covering its head convulsed before slowly collapsing to the ground.
Lucian casually flicked his wrist, flourishing the Sword of Night and Flame before sheathing it. The blade remained as spotless as ever.
Did it really think hiding in another dimension was enough to escape him?
As long as it still projected itself into the physical world, then it was only separated by a thin layer of extradimensional space. Against something like that, the sword's innate ability to distort space, a remnant of its god-slaying nature, was more than enough to tear through the barrier.
The monster's body gradually melted into the earth, dissolving into black sludge that merged seamlessly with the swampy mire at the bottom of the valley.
Freed from the restraints of its flesh, the grotesque head covered in Frenzied Flame eyes also began to crumble apart.
Eyeballs scattered across the ground like grapes stripped from their vine, slowly dissolving and spreading the power of the Frenzied Flame in every direction.
Among them, however, one swollen eye stood out.
It was the enormous central eye that had formed the core of the creature's head.
Every other eye, large and small alike, had been connected to it by fleshy stalks.
Lucian walked toward the massive eye.
Each step crushed the scattered eyeballs beneath his feet, bursting them open into sticky pulp.
Completely unfazed by the maddening gaze of the Frenzied Flame, he approached and examined it closely.
Although traces of the Frenzied Flame still lingered within the eye, its host was dead, and its effects had weakened to almost nothing.
The whispers of madness and the faint hallucinations gradually faded, though they never disappeared entirely.
Then Lucian noticed something.
Burned into the swollen eye was a single charred fingerprint, branded so deeply that it would never fade.
That mark...
It was proof that the creature had personally received the embrace of the Three Fingers.
Lucian frowned.
So something in this valley had come into direct contact with the Three Fingers.
No wonder it possessed such terrifying abilities that surpassed ordinary Frenzied Flame creatures.
If the mark truly came from the Three Fingers, then...
Had the Lord of Frenzied Flame sealed within this valley also been personally ignited by the Three Fingers beneath Leyndell?
The thought only made things more confusing.
After all, there had once been someone in the game who had accepted the embrace of the Three Fingers... and still failed.
The once-promising Lord candidate, the Roundtable Knight Vyke.
Believing that inheriting the Frenzied Flame would allow him to burn the Erdtree and save his maiden, he accepted its embrace.
But because he wore his armor while receiving the Frenzied Flame, the fire scorched him alive through the metal. In the end, he failed to become the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
If a Lord of Frenzied Flame had already existed before, then why would the Three Fingers touch Vyke while he was still wearing armor?
The Three Fingers, trapped beneath the Royal Capital, desperately wanted the Frenzied Flame to escape its prison.
Logically, it should have treated Vyke like a lifeline, making absolutely certain he inherited the Frenzied Flame successfully. There was no reason to make such an elementary mistake.
The Three Fingers could simply have waited until Vyke understood what was required before embracing him.
The Frenzied Flame could possess corpses, and Shabriri wandered the Lands Between spreading its influence whenever possible. Passing such a simple message to Vyke should have been effortless.
Moreover, item descriptions even implied that Vyke had been guided or tempted, proving that communication between them had taken place.
Yet regardless of the circumstances, the Three Fingers still embraced Vyke while he wore his armor, ensuring his failure.
It simply made no sense.
Unless...
There was more than one Three Fingers, just as there were multiple Two Fingers?
The idea surfaced for only a moment before Lucian dismissed it himself.
If that were true, then sealing away the Three Fingers beneath Leyndell would have been meaningless.
Yet the fact remained that after the Three Fingers were imprisoned beneath the capital, the spread of the Frenzied Flame was indeed greatly suppressed.
That alone proved there could only be one.
Lucian sighed.
He couldn't reach a satisfying conclusion.
Anything related to the Frenzied Flame was maddening by nature. Every creature touched by it behaved in irrational ways, making their motives impossible to predict.
—
Once the strange Frenzied Flame creature had been dealt with, the others finally caught up and examined its corpse.
Looking at the countless Frenzied Flame eyes scattered across the ground, still leaking traces of maddening power, Melina frowned.
"Is there any way to remove the influence of the Frenzied Flame?"
"If we leave these remnants alone, more creatures will eventually be corrupted."
Before Lucian could answer, Lilliana proudly puffed out her chest, her wings fluttering.
"Of course there is!"
"That's exactly why I insisted on bringing Irina. I thought of this from the very beginning."
"Now watch what her power can do!"
She eagerly nudged Irina forward.
Irina looked rather uncertain.
Although she had inherited the Fairy's power, this would be the first time she had ever truly used it.
Taking a deep breath, she focused on the eyeballs littering the ground and prepared to invoke the Fairy's gift.
Yet the moment she stared at them carefully, a strange sensation stirred within her heart.
For some inexplicable reason, those horrifying eyes suddenly looked less like eyeballs...
...and more like ripe, plump, soft grapes.
She swallowed unconsciously.
A second later, she snapped back to reality and quickly covered her mouth in disgust.
Why...
Why would she think something like that when she knew perfectly well they were eyes?
Lilliana urged her from beside her.
"Irina, hurry! Hurry!"
"Just do it exactly the way I taught you."
Gripping the collar of her clothes, Irina steadied herself.
Perhaps...
Perhaps the Frenzied Flame had just affected her mind for a brief moment, causing such a bizarre thought.
As expected, anything related to the Frenzied Flame had to be treated with the utmost caution.
Standing before the cluster of eyes, Irina slowly extended both hands.
Her palms faced upward, cupped gently together as though cradling something invisible.
Spiritual energy flowed from her body, gathering between her hands.
Ripples of shimmering light gradually condensed into a gentle, translucent radiance that streamed from her palms.
The flowing light washed over the scattered Frenzied Flame eyes, enveloping every one of them.
Then, before everyone's eyes, the Frenzied Flame within them slowly extinguished, leaving behind nothing more than dull, rotten eyeballs.
Lucian's eyes widened.
For the first time in his life, he saw light that seemed to possess the quality of rippling water.
Pointing at the shimmering radiance on the ground, he asked Lilliana and Irina,
"What kind of power is this?"
Lilliana straightened proudly.
"It is the power that can truly stand against the Outer Gods. It's not the kind of direct strength that can simply be inherited through a legacy."
"Fairies can perceive concepts."
"And naturally, we use concepts themselves to oppose the Outer Gods."
"The First Wind."
"The First Water."
"The First Snow..."
"Each of them carries a unique meaning, a primordial concept."
"And the power Irina is using..."
"...comes from the Primordial Water."
Lucian glanced at her in surprise.
"Water again?"
Irina nodded, elaborating on Liliana's explanation.
"Yes. Though according to Liliana, this is specifically lakelight."
"It is the flawless radiance reflected upon the calm, mirror-like surface of a tranquil lake. Because of that, it has the power to soothe and suppress the maddening Frenzied Flame."
Liliana seemed dissatisfied with how brief Irina's explanation had been and eagerly continued herself.
"Once water actually exists, it can be influenced by the outside world."
"Even if you somehow brought forth the true Primordial Water itself, the instant it confronted an Outer God, it would be corrupted or shattered."
"Trying to seal an Outer God with actual water is impossible."
"But the lakelight reflected upon flawless water is different."
"It is a pure concept, one that cannot be altered."
"The Flowing Water works on the same principle. It doesn't literally summon water to wash away Scarlet Rot. It seals it through the concept attached to flowing water."
Melina fell into thought, silently admiring the wisdom of the Fairies before asking another question.
"Then what distinguishes Lakelight from Flowing Water when dealing with the Frenzied Flame?"
Irina looked just as puzzled, turning helplessly toward Lilliana.
'She never taught me this part...'
Crossing her tiny arms, Liliana patiently explained.
"Even the same thing can embody different concepts. Just like Rot and Abundance."
"Within the Primordial Water, we Fairies discovered two concepts that are similar, yet completely different."
"The surging of waves."
"And the stillness of a mirror-like lake."
"Both are powers of water."
"The concept of Flowing Water perfectly suppresses Scarlet Rot, restraining its endless spread."
"But when facing the restless madness of the Frenzied Flame..."
"...Lakelight is far more effective."
"Against weak traces of Frenzied Flame like these, Lakelight can extinguish them directly."
"Of course, an enemy on the level of the Lord of Frenzied Flame is another matter. To seal someone like that, Irina will have to use a different method."
After Liliana finished speaking, Irina suddenly remembered something and turned to Lucian.
"Ah... during the battle earlier, you came into direct contact with the Frenzied Flame."
"Let me cleanse its influence."
Lucian nodded without refusing.
Ever since growing stronger, his own mental resilience was enough to resist minor traces of the Frenzied Flame.
Still, when you had a dedicated support by your side, there was no reason to endure it yourself.
Irina extended a hand.
A stream of shimmering light washed over Lucian's body.
Instantly, he felt refreshed.
His mind became calmer and clearer than ever before.
The lingering traces of the Frenzied Flame vanished completely, while even the countless subtle burdens that had accumulated over time seemed to be washed away.
Having finally gotten answers to all of his questions, Lucian's curiosity was completely satisfied.
He now had a much clearer understanding of the Fairy inheritance.
No wonder Liliana had insisted on bringing Irina.
She might not possess much combat strength yet...
...but as a support, she was absolutely top-tier.
And sealing the Lord of Frenzied Flame apparently required this very power.
—
After cleansing all of the Frenzied Flame eyes, the group continued deeper into the valley.
Before long, they made an unexpected discovery hidden within a patch of tall grass.
As they passed by, Lucian immediately spotted a weathered skeletal hand protruding from the vegetation.
Something was still clutched tightly in its bony fingers.
[Torn Diary Page]
The irresistible attraction all Tarnished felt toward glowing loot instantly took effect.
Walking over, Lucian gently pried the worn page from the skeleton's grasp.
It was a torn diary page, covered in shaky handwriting.
Countless years had damaged it, while stains and decay obscured much of the text. Only scattered fragments remained legible.
"I touched □... but only once □□."
"When he thrust his □ staff in my face□... I □□ brushed it aside."
"It was then □... I finally □ touched him. The aging untouchable.."
Though incomplete, the crucial information was still there.
The grotesque creature was called the Aging Untouchable.
And whoever had written the journal had once managed to touch it by knocking aside its attack.
Lucian didn't believe the skeleton before him belonged to the journal's owner.
Judging from the way the corpse lay, it appeared to have fled from somewhere farther ahead.
The page had likely been recovered from another body before its finder ultimately failed to escape as well.
Standing up, Lucian continued onward.
Soon, another Aging Untouchable appeared in the distance, wandering silently through the mist.
Without hesitation, Lucian walked straight toward it, deliberately drawing its attention.
This time, he had no intention of using the Sword of Night and Flame.
He wanted to verify exactly how these creatures worked.
The instant the Aging Untouchable attacked, Lucian sidestepped, narrowly avoiding its staff.
His own hand moved even faster than the weapon.
It shot forward and grabbed hold of the creature's body.
The moment his fingers touched its disgusting, slimy flesh, he immediately understood.
'Just as I thought.'
'It's a phasing ability.'
'It can only be struck while it's attacking.'
With the Aging Untouchable seized by its gaunt torso, it could no longer return to its intangible state.
The creature let out a piercing shriek.
The countless eyes atop its head bulged outward, glowing with eerie yellow light.
Immediately, Lucian felt his Madness meter rising at an astonishing rate.
Chaotic whispers echoed in his ears while horrific visions assaulted his mind.
Yet he remained perfectly calm.
Before his eyes, gentle ripples of lakelight spread across his consciousness, washing away every trace of madness.
Earlier, Irina had already placed her blessing upon everyone.
As long as the spiritual power she infused into them remained, it would continuously resist the Frenzied Flame.
Enduring the assault, Lucian brought up his other hand as well.
Now gripping the Aging Untouchable with both hands, his fingers dug into its frail body like iron claws.
With a violent pull...
He tore the creature cleanly in half.
Its bright Frenzied Flame eyes immediately dimmed, all life leaving them.
Irina hurried forward and once again used the Fairy's power to cleanse away the remaining Frenzied Flame.
Just as everyone prepared to continue onward, Lucian noticed something lying where the old monster had disappeared.
It resembled an overripe grape.
A talisman modeled after the joyous expression of the Aging Untouchable.
[Aged One's Exultation.]
Seeing the familiar naming convention, Lucian immediately guessed what it did.
Like the other Exultation talismans, this one undoubtedly increased the wearer's attack power whenever someone nearby was afflicted with a status effect.
Since it had dropped from a Frenzied Flame Aging Untouchable, its activation condition was obviously Madness.
Without another word, Lucian picked it up and stored it away.
He had no immediate use for it.
Still, Exultation talismans were all excellent pieces of equipment, staples for buff-stacking setups.
Besides, the activation condition was extremely generous.
It merely required someone nearby to suffer the status effect.
Who said Lucian had to inflict Madness on himself?
After all, Asimi was completely immune to status ailments.
He could simply hand Asimi a weapon that built up status effects and have her poke enemies, or even allies when appropriate, to stack buffs for him instead.
It was a pity he hadn't obtained Kindred of Rot's Exultation yet.
Otherwise, with Euporia in Asimi's hands, stacking Scarlet Rot would have been even easier.
Climbing atop a massive boulder, Lucian looked into the distance.
Within the thick fog, the glowing eyes of countless Aging Untouchable shone like lanterns from the far shore, openly announcing their presence.
Beyond the mist, at the very edge of his vision, he could just make out a great manor.
Its dark silhouette loomed quietly against the horizon, faint yellow light of the Frenzied Flame leaking from within.
'Looks like we're almost there.'
'I wonder... will I finally find the answers waiting ahead?'
Staring at the shadowy estate, Lucian silently pondered.