There have always been idol worshippers in every era.
As a certain Aizen who stood above the heavens once said: "Admiration is the greatest distance from understanding." Fanatical admirers adorn their idols with countless halos, blending what those idols actually display with their own fantasies, elevating them into the most perfect beings imaginable. Some end up obeying them without question — as though they had been quietly, thoroughly brainwashed.
The Light Eagle Company could practically be considered a massive Eliphis fan club. Every single member regarded him as their greatest idol.
Whatever methods he had used to inspire that devotion, the mercenaries admired him with a fervor that surpassed even the most potent charm magic.
But today —
The first person to break free from that illusion had appeared.
Thoughts rose in Elsa's mind in a slow, steady tide. Among them, not limited to:
I came here to repair my weapon. That's a perfectly normal thing to do. Why should I feel guilty toward Eliphis?
It's true he took us in, and I'm grateful for that. But I've slain countless enemies for him since then — I even helped capture an entire fortress. Surely that debt has been repaid by now.
Why am I acting like a slave?
Once someone stops idolizing another person, thoughts that would never have occurred before come flooding in all at once.
She even stopped eating. A drip of golden egg yolk fell from the strip of bread she was holding and landed on the tabletop.
The others noticed something was off, but assumed she had simply been moved by the food.
The Elsa of not long ago wouldn't have thought this much even after seeing through an illusion. But her recent experiences had made her increasingly accustomed to thinking for herself and making her own choices, and those habits were becoming harder to set aside.
Through the remainder of the meal she ate slowly and quietly, savoring each bite. She had always been the quiet type at a table, so nobody found it strange.
"Ahh… I'm completely full. Tonight we can actually clean up and get some proper rest."
Tami slumped back in her chair with a deep, satisfied sigh. Good food was the only thing that could truly address exhaustion.
At first, everyone had found it a little incongruous — a gourmet zone tucked inside the otherwise punishing maps of Sein Dungeon.
Now they considered it the dungeon's one genuine act of mercy.
Without these happiness-inducing foods, a significant number of adventurers would probably have quit some time ago.
Luluwo licked the last trace of cocoa sauce from the corner of her mouth.
"Everyone get a proper night's sleep. Tomorrow — or rather, the next several days — are going to be rough."
The meaning was clear enough.
Starting tomorrow, they were going head-to-head with High Lord Wolnir.
Luluwo glanced at Elsa, who was staring blankly at an empty eggshell. She elbowed Tami quietly and communicated the rest with her eyes.
"Huh?... Oh! So, Gut, what are your plans from here? This is your first time in the Lake region, right? I can point you toward somewhere good to stay."
The question pulled Elsa out of her thoughts.
She looked around the table. What she saw in every face was simple, uncomplicated concern.
They're all genuinely good people.
"…Are you all challenging High Lord Wolnir tomorrow?"
After a brief pause, she asked slowly:
"Could you… take me with you?"
The question surprised everyone.
In terms of raw ability, Elsa was undeniably exceptional. Any team would welcome someone of her caliber without hesitation.
The issue was that her identity was — just slightly — sensitive for the Skyrim Group.
"Captain."
Belto looked toward Luluwo with a serious expression.
The others wore matching faces — the unmistakable look of we need to have a team discussion.
But Luluwo simply nodded.
"Sure. We'd be glad to have you."
"Captain!"
Ignoring Belto's alarm, Luluwo waved a hand as if to say don't worry about it, and somehow produced a scroll from seemingly nowhere.
"Personally, I have no objections. But your identity is still a little sensitive, so for everyone's peace of mind — how about a contract?"
She unrolled the magical scroll. Inscribed on it was ancient Contract Magic — the kind where violation brought divine punishment without appeal.
"It's straightforward. Until we've defeated High Lord Wolnir together, you don't pass any of this information to anyone in the Light Eagle Corps. Fair?"
After all, once the boss was down they planned to publish the strategy for everyone anyway. The whole world would know within days of that point.
"…"
Elsa nodded.
And just like that, she had temporarily joined the team.
Not long after, under Luluwo's guidance, she settled into an inn built by fellow adventurers.
Tomorrow, after collecting her repaired greatsword from Andre, they would set out for the Overlord.
Lying on the fresh bed and staring at the bare ceiling, she let her thoughts drift.
They drifted, inevitably, back to Eliphis.
This time, however, he appeared as he actually was — not the idealized image she had been carrying.
She thought about the day she had left the Light Eagle Corps, and how urgently he had wanted to challenge the Overlord. She didn't know what drove that determination. But how much defeating the Overlord meant to him had been obvious.
The Happiness Egg had subtly shifted something in the way she saw him, but Elsa's nature never bent toward suspicion or dark theories. Her days with the Light Eagle Corps had not been bad ones. Her squad had treated her with genuine warmth. Eliphis himself had taken especially good care of her.
He didn't seem like a bad person.
The Corps had started to feel like a home.
For that reason — after helping the Skyrim Group defeat the Overlord, she planned to bring the strategy back to Eliphis.
That way, she wouldn't be betraying the expedition team's trust, and she would still be contributing something to the Light Eagle Corps.
The corners of Elsa's lips curved slightly as she imagined everyone's reaction when she returned with the strategy in hand.
Holding onto that simple, innocent hope, she drifted into sleep.
Everything should have unfolded exactly as she imagined.
If only Eliphis had never entered Sein Dungeon.
If only the dungeon had never taken his worldview apart piece by piece and left the pieces on the floor.
The next morning, Elsa arrived at Andre's blacksmith shop half a day before the scheduled pickup time.
Andre had finished ahead of schedule.
When she received her greatsword — restored to the same pristine condition it had been in on the day she first received it — she threw her arms around him in a hug without thinking.
Then something unprecedented happened.
When it came time to settle the repair fee in souls —
Andre gave her a ten percent discount.
The nearby adventurers erupted immediately.
Eyes practically glowing, they surged toward Andre in a wave, each one determined to earn the same discount.
Every single one was punched away before they got close.
Only genuine gratitude warranted Andre's discounted prices. Impure motives were identified and handled accordingly.
While making her way to find Luluwo's group, Elsa spotted Melga handing out flyers on the street.
The moment Melga saw her —
"GAAH!"
She yelped and fled.
"Shall we head out?"
Standing beside the bonfire at the Settlement Before the Academy, Luluwo held a basket of boiled shrimp she'd purchased from the Hoodlum Merchant. She put one in her own mouth and handed several to Elsa for the road.
Now that the Firelink Shrine bonfire and the Catacombs of Carthus had been linked through warp travel, the Settlement Before the Academy was connected to Firelink Shrine as well — provided one had personally visited both locations, which allowed teleportation to become available.
Elsa rested her greatsword across one shoulder.
Her somewhat worn armor caught the sunlight as she nodded.
Yesterday, after eating the glowing dish, her armor had detonated in a fashion reminiscent of a certain Kamen Rider mid-transformation. As a result, she had purchased the Knight Set — the starting armor from Dark Souls — from Andre's workshop, spending every last soul that Melga's generosity had provided.
After two warps, the group arrived at the Catacombs of Carthus.
Thanks to their extensive experience and exceptional collective memory, it took almost no time to reach the bonfire guarded by the three necromancers.
Only then did Elsa realize she was the only member of the party who hadn't undergone the Kindling Rite.
Everyone else replenished their Estus Flask at the bonfire and received their spirit enhancements.
Walking the familiar path again, Elsa tightened her grip on her greatsword.
She was, she noticed, a little nervous.
But the moment she entered the cavern sealed by the Abyss and watched High Lord Wolnir's colossal body emerge slowly from the darkness once more —
Her heart went quiet.
Without her noticing, fine crimson patterns had reappeared across the blade of her greatsword.
The battle plan had been explained during the journey.
"We pieced the truth together from descriptions scattered across various weapons and equipment," Luluwo had said. "And then Leon's team found the decisive evidence."
"High Lord Wolnir became obsessed with the power of the Abyss. He wanted to ascend — to become one of the gods."
"In that pursuit, he slaughtered the clergy of every faith throughout Carthus. But he underestimated what he was dealing with."
"In the end, the Abyss turned on him. His body was transformed into a monstrous form as it began to drag him under."
"At the very last moment, he managed to hold on — using the sacred relics he had stolen from the priests he killed to prevent the Abyss from swallowing him completely."
"…Huh?"
When Elsa first heard this, she had been genuinely stunned. Her hands had trembled slightly.
According to Luluwo — the reason High Lord Wolnir only revealed his upper body was because his lower half had already been consumed by the Abyss.
The Abyss that accompanied him everywhere.
The Abyss that fought alongside him.
Was actually trying to devour him.
His crawling posture wasn't a display of overwhelming demonic dominance.
He was holding on to the ground.
Trying not to be pulled under.
Even Elsa understood how staggering that was.
The Wolnir they had believed to be invincible, utterly majestic, beyond reach —
Was actually rather pitiful.
She hadn't forgotten who had destroyed her greatsword, though.
Feel sorry for Wolnir?
Better spend that energy worrying about whether you survive long enough to matter. You could pity him all you wanted — he'd swallow you whole without a moment's hesitation regardless.
Soon after, however, she understood what Luluwo had actually been building toward.
"You mean…"
Her lips felt dry.
"…We don't have to defeat him?"
"We only have to destroy the sacred relics?"
If the relics were destroyed, the Abyss would drag Wolnir away completely.
"But — what do the sacred relics actually look like?"
Luluwo gave her a sly grin.
"Take a guess."
Back to the present.
The instant High Lord Wolnir appeared, he began pouring endless clouds of deadly miasma from his mouth.
At that moment, Luluwo did something no one expected.
She ran straight toward the front of the poisonous cloud.
Facing it head-on.
And produced a Shield.
The Shield enchanted with the ultimate heavily-modified version of Thops's Barrier.
Somehow, they had managed to obtain another one.
She raised it confidently.
The deadly miasma rolled toward her.
Nothing happened.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down her forehead.
When the cloud was nearly at her face, she cursed under her breath, stowed the shield, and threw herself sideways.
Wolnir's Death Miasma, it appeared, wasn't of sufficient magnitude to trigger the barrier's effect.
The idea itself had been sound. A successful activation would have staggered the enemy massively and opened a window that could have changed the entire fight.
But Luluwo's attempt failing wasn't a crisis.
That outcome had already been factored into Plan B.
From intelligence gathered across multiple sources, they knew one key fact: the duration of Wolnir's Death Miasma attack was conditional.
If no one stood within its range, he would stop after a single breath and switch to a different attack immediately.
If someone remained inside the area —
He would continue for several more seconds.
Those few extra seconds were exactly enough time for a greatsword user to fully charge a heavy attack.
And critically — while breathing the miasma, High Lord Wolnir planted both hands firmly against the ground.
"Mira! Gut! Now!"
At Luluwo's call, two warriors — their presence concealed since entering the boss arena beneath an invisibility spell — launched themselves into the air simultaneously.
One swung a massive hammer.
The other swung a greatsword.
Both strikes landed at the same moment.
Their target, naturally —
The three glowing bracelets on Wolnir's arms.