"Have you heard? Sein Dungeon released a new Vision! It's in Farron Keep!"
"No way, seriously? Let's hurry and check it out!"
"I'm going too!"
"Me too—wait, I can't beat the Undead Legion. Does that mean I can't watch it?"
"My condolences."
The moment news of Sein Dungeon's new cinematic spread, Bedford City exploded into an uproar.
The clearest proof was that even adventurers currently on vacation rushed into the dungeon just to see it. Everyone was curious about what new revelations this Vision would bring.
But once people arrived at the location of the new cinematic, they discovered something cruel:
If you couldn't defeat Phase One of the Abyss Watchers, then you couldn't unlock the bonfire inside Farron Keep.
And without the bonfire, you couldn't watch the cinematic.
Instant despair.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before someone discovered that defeating the first phase of the Abyss Watchers wasn't actually necessary.
As long as you could survive against them for a certain amount of time, or reduce their vitality to around half — though adventurers couldn't see health bars, so this mostly relied on guesswork — then the next time you entered Farron Keep, a bonfire would appear, and the Abyss Watchers would no longer descend from their thrones to attack you.
Doing this wouldn't reward you with anything related to the Abyss Watchers themselves, but it would unlock the bonfire and grant access to the new area beneath Farron Keep.
As adventurers flooded toward Sein Dungeon, inside the Adventurers' Guild, Sid was discussing matters with Darrick and a group of elite adventurers.
"The Firstborn of the Sun, the Princess of Sunlight, the Dark Sun, the Undead Legion, Yhorm, Aldrich…"
One familiar or unfamiliar name after another surfaced during the discussion.
Sid tapped his fingers against the wooden table, brows tightly furrowed in thought while the others whispered among themselves.
Everyone gathered here had already watched the new bonfire cinematic.
It had been a long time since Sein released a new Vision, and everyone was excited.
For example, Luluwo could barely remain seated.
"Guildmaster, Guildmaster, do you still have anything else to say? If not, I need to go already! The new area is waiting for me!"
Recently, many newly formed groups had begun competing with her team, so she was currently overflowing with motivation. There was no way she was handing over the market to someone else.
Leon and his party were equally eager for action. Recently, they had spent nearly all their time in Liurnia of the Lakes, but something about it always felt slightly lacking.
Maybe because the map was too large, diluting the tightly packed "Sein-style" traps from earlier regions. Overall, the difficulty had decreased somewhat, leaving these "old players," who had joined during the dungeon's earliest days, feeling unsatisfied.
And now, a brand-new map had appeared beneath Farron Keep — a region deeply beloved by adventurers.
No one could resist being interested.
Stella and her party were present as well. In her own words:
"I'm sick of this damned life of handing out flyers for my aunt every single day!"
The drop rate for Thops painting fragments was incredibly low. No matter how hard she tried spreading the faith, there wasn't much more she could do, so she decided to change things up by exploring somewhere new.
"There's nothing else." Sid finally shook his head, a smile appearing on his face.
"Sein has transformed once again. It feels just like a few months ago."
Yeah.
That familiar, nostalgic feeling was finally returning.
"This time, there's no way to send huge groups in together. We'll have to return to the old small-and-elite exploration style. The guild will fully support all of you. If you need supplies, come claim them anytime."
"Long live the Guildmaster~!"
Luluwo waved her arm dramatically. She was exceptionally good at reading the atmosphere, and right now she was giving maximum emotional value.
As everyone left the guild, Luluwo deliberately ran over to Leon's group to "provoke" them.
"I'm not losing this time!"
But no matter how you looked at her expression, it didn't feel like a challenge at all. It looked more like children stubbornly making bets against each other.
Leon revealed his trademark warm and gentle smile, giving a thumbs-up as he replied:
"Alright. I won't lose either."
Luluwo froze for a moment, then curled her lips and muttered quietly while turning away:
"At least throw out some trash talk or something. There's no intense rivalry atmosphere anymore."
"Hm?" Leon didn't hear her clearly.
"Nothing. I didn't say anything."
Luluwo waved her hand and turned toward her companions — Belto, Mira, and the others.
"Bring a few of the better-performing interns. We're heading out now!"
A short while later, the ten-member Skyrim Team grandly charged into Sein Dungeon.
Besides the original veteran five-member core, several new faces had joined this time.
Their title was: interns.
As the strategy market continued expanding, Skyrim's original five-person structure was no longer enough. And aside from Luluwo, the others' combat abilities had completely fallen behind Leon's party.
So Luluwo had started considering recruitment.
However, Skyrim's reputation was enormous. The moment recruitment news spread, applicants flooded in from everywhere.
Thus, she created the "intern" system.
She assigned all kinds of small tasks to evaluate the applicants' qualities, and only those with the highest overall evaluations could officially join the team.
The interns following them now were already the top-rated candidates and were basically guaranteed future membership.
"Captain, aren't we going yet?"
Belto stood near the underground passage and turned around to ask.
"Wait a second. I need to offer some tributes to the Abyss Watchers first."
Luluwo placed a colorful assortment of offerings beneath the Thrones of Cinder, instinctively pressing her palms together in prayer while repeatedly muttering:
"Bless me, bless me…"
If whatever lay underground truly was what the Abyss Watchers had been guarding, then praying to them had to work.
Might as well try it.
Several interns copied her actions, pressing their hands together and praying as well.
The scene became strangely bizarre.
The Abyss Watchers seated upon the thrones shifted slightly, looking as though they were barely restraining themselves from climbing down and beating this group of clowns senseless.
After finishing all her preparations, Luluwo clapped her hands with satisfaction and shouted energetically:
"Let's go!"
Ever since arriving in Sein, she had completely abandoned her former gloomy personality and transformed into a sunshine-type extrovert.
Cold air continuously flowed from the tunnel.
The deeper they descended, the colder it became.
But this wasn't ordinary coldness — it was the kind that seeped into your bones, as though countless malicious eyes were staring at you from the darkness.
The Skyrim Team walked through the tunnel, feeling that the path was strangely long.
No matter how far they walked, there was still no end in sight.
Nor were there any monsters or traps.
This was the unique loading time of seamless map transitions.
In reality, they were currently being transported toward Eagle Dungeon.
Occasionally, sticky black substances could be seen clinging to the walls of the passage.
These were identical to the material attached to the Abyss Watchers.
That realization immediately made everyone tense.
No one knew how long they had walked before light finally appeared ahead within the darkness.
It was the eerie pale glow common to tombs.
Still better than total darkness.
As they stepped out of the passage, the scenery suddenly opened up.
What appeared before them was yet another environment deserving of only one description:
Massive.
An enormous open tomb chamber.
Three bridges stretched before them.
Between each bridge lay a bottomless abyss.
Falling meant certain death.
Only by crossing these three paths could one truly enter the depths of the catacombs.
A strange sound effect echoed out.
Then lines of text appeared before everyone's eyes.
[The Catacombs of Carthus]
But this time, besides the name of the area, additional text appeared as well.
[This is a story from long, long ago. During an age of countless kingdoms, the war nation known as Carthus launched conquest after conquest under the rule of its ambitious King, Wolnir.]
[The people of Carthus were fierce warriors. Every aspect of their nation existed for war, and whenever they selected their next target for invasion, the flames of Carthus would soon spread there.]
[At last, Wolnir defeated all rival nations, bringing Carthus to unprecedented glory. He himself gained a new title—]
[High Lord Wolnir]
[However, prosperity did not last. In pursuing the arts of slaughter, Carthus came into contact with a forbidden power known as the Abyss. This drew the attention of the Abyss Watchers, and under the Undead Legion's campaign of extermination, mighty Carthus collapsed almost instantly.]
[The ambitions of conquerors never fade. They merely find a new place to burn.]
[Within the Catacombs of Carthus, arrogant ambition still burns fiercely.]
"Whoa, this time there's background lore too?"
Luluwo opened her Hunter's Handbook.
Sure enough, the entire passage had already been recorded word for word, and a brand-new section labeled Carthus had appeared.
Every time they entered a new region, the Hunter's Handbook gained a new section.
What puzzled people was that despite the increasing amount of content, the book's thickness never changed.
"So the Abyss Watchers at their peak possessed the power to annihilate entire nations…"
Belto couldn't help but sigh.
The introduction had just painted Carthus as an overwhelmingly powerful kingdom of war — only for it to be crushed almost instantly by the Abyss Watchers.
Everyone gained a new understanding of both the strength of the Lords of Cinder and the Abyss Watchers' resolve to eradicate the Abyss.
And when the text mentioned "the conqueror's ambition"…
Could that mean the Abyss Watchers never fully killed him?
Was Wolnir still lingering somewhere within these catacombs?
"Hiss…"
Belto inhaled sharply.
A terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
Could the final boss of this area actually be High Lord Wolnir himself?
Can we even win?
"Stop scaring yourself."
Luluwo smacked him on the head.
"Just keep moving forward."
"Y-Yeah…"
Sometimes Belto truly envied Luluwo's optimism.
Based on everyone's understanding of Sein Dungeon's personality, there was absolutely no way these three bridges didn't contain some kind of horrifying gimmick.
From this point onward, they needed to maintain one hundred thousand percent vigilance.
One moment of carelessness meant death.
That was the fundamental truth of Sein Dungeon.
The Skyrim Team quickly fell into formation.
A warrior intern carrying a massive shield led the way.
Ais chanted enhancement magic.
Luluwo oversaw the entire group.
At this point, even if a giant iron ball suddenly rolled toward them, they were confident they could stop it.
The group cautiously stepped onto the middle bridge.
At the same moment, Carthus delivered its first welcoming ceremony.
Clack clack clack—
The road trembled.
But no monsters or traps appeared from any direction.
Could it be another invisible giant iron ball!?
"Below us!"
Mira shouted.
Everyone looked downward.
Countless white skeletons clung to the bridge.
An endless tide of densely packed skeletal warriors crawled upward like demons emerging from hell, surging toward the party.
It was a terrifying spectacle formed entirely from mountains of white bones!