Her hair pooled like spilled ink, skin pale as fresh snowfall—at least she was pleasant to look at. She pinched her chin between thumb and forefinger, studying her reflection. "Next time, maybe I'll just model one after myself."
Throne's boots sank soundlessly into the worn carpet. He crossed to the adjacent room in three strides, shut the door behind him, and leaned back against it. His head tipped toward the ceiling. "That thick-skulled, tactless excuse for a teacher." He punched the empty air.
Anyone else, he'd have assumed sabotage. But this was Sellen. He swallowed the frustration like bitter medicine—she meant well. She just didn't understand. "'A bit serious'? What the hell was that? And why did I—" He shook his head hard, scattering the thought like ash.
No. Oaths sworn to the Erdtree weren't broken over stray impulses. "I'd rather let Radagon carve me to ribbons. Leap from the Erdtree's highest branch. Anything but betray my master." He wrenched the window open. Cold night air slapped his face, sharp as a blade. These distractions were seasoning, nothing more. Not worth his focus.
Time bled onward. The footsteps of calamity grew louder. He'd chosen his path—no room for wavering. "Where are you hiding, Tibia Mariner?" Throne's gaze cut through the mist. Ever since noticing his mutated Dragon Heritage reacted to traces of death, he'd pursued every lead. Even dead ends had to be confirmed.
Summonwater Village at night was a tomb. No boats. No lights. Just as he reached to shutter the window, the voice slithered into his ear. "Come." His fingers froze on the casement. Barely audible—could've been the wind. "Come. Embrace death."
Clearer now. The words oozed from the mist itself, coating the walls, the floor, his skin. A horror story come to life. The door groaned open. Throne spun, muscles coiled—then relaxed. Sellen stood there, utterly unruffled. "Did you hear it, disciple?"
"Clearly." No point denying it. They weren't ordinary people. Hallucinations didn't plague them. The voice droned on, underscored by the mournful wail of unseen horns.
The mist writhed. Will-o'-wisps flickered in the distance. A scene ripped from a campfire tale. Throne's lips curled. Restless spirits? Vengeful wraiths? He'd faced Shura. Endured the Shichimen Warrior's hellfire. This was child's play. "Stay put. I'll scout below."
No argument. Sorceresses had their strengths, but brawling with ghosts wasn't one. Starlight movement wouldn't save her from what lurked in that fog.
Leveraging himself off the windowsill, his fingertips digging into the mortar cracks, Throne dropped three stories in seconds. He landed in a crouch, ears straining. "Come. Embrace death." The voice looped, directionless, omnipresent. His hand found the hilt of his sword. "Enough games. If you've got a health bar, show it."
Throne spat on the ground and thought quietly for a moment. He remembered the boatman's words. "If it wants me to embrace death, it must provide guidance. Am I being too calm?" He closed his eyes, letting his body respond to the call. In a trance, Throne felt himself take a step. Like a sleepwalker, his instincts were leading him toward death.
When he squinted his eyes open, he realized he had already walked more than ten meters. Leaving the inn and stepping onto the wooden bridge, he saw his fellow travelers again—the very merchants who had greeted him during the day. They were outsiders too, unable to suppress their curiosity, and had come out to investigate, only to be ensnared instantly.
Like walking corpses, heading toward the sound of the call? Throne felt as if he had been caught in some strange illusion. He seemed awake, but not entirely. He couldn't be bothered to overthink it and blended into the crowd, moving forward. The 'companions' grew in number. Gradually, more than a dozen unfortunate souls were on the path together.
They walked across the deserted wooden bridge, stepped past the dock filled with small boats, and gradually headed toward the edge of the village. Just then, Throne saw a purple orb of light appear in the mist. It was a boat, a spectral ship without substance. A cloaked figure sat on the boat, holding a long horn in his hand. When the horn sounded, the crowd moved toward it. Splash.
The sound of falling into water came. The walkway had reached its end, and the merchant at the very front plunged into the water without hesitation. Throne was second. He saw the end drawing closer and cast a quiet glance at the small boat. "Ten meters left? I can give it a try." He stepped forward with his left foot toward the water's surface.
At the very moment he was about to fall in—
star-frost! He drew the snow-white blade from his ring. At the moment the horn sound paused, the blade touched the water's surface, freezing it into a block of ice. He stepped onto it and leaped forward. The explosive power launched him several meters, and the descending blade released a wave of magical sword energy. Glintstone Arc!
Almost instantaneous, the water surface was ripped open by the magic, striking the boat squarely. There was no spray of flesh and blood, nor any scream. Only that brilliant purple light dimmed for a moment, and then the sound of the horn blew abruptly. Splash— A white skeletal arm reached out from the water, grabbing Throne's ankle as he lunged forward.
But the latter sank his body, drove his long blade into the water, and directly skewered a skeleton. Its head had been pierced, yet it still reached for Throne's throat. Not only that, more skeletal arms reached up from under the water, grabbing at Throne from all directions. "Summoning minions?" The swordsman had anticipated this.
The moment he fell into the lake, a white vapor swirled around his right foot. Storm Stomp! Boom— The exploding water tore the skeletons to shreds, splashing up several meters of spray. Taking advantage of the recoil, Throne pierced through the water curtain, heading straight for the Tibia Mariner ahead.
Arriving like an arrow, his long blade raised high, airflow swirling around the edge, he struck down fiercely from several meters away. Storm Blade! The sword fell, the lake parted. The sharp storm left a five-meter-long trail on the lake surface, but the ship had vanished without a trace. "Teleportation?" Throne looked up and saw the purple light appear further away.
It ignored the rolling waves, hovering steadily on the lake, devoid of emotion, like a machine executing a program. The boat jumped far away, and the swordsman fell toward the lake surface. Fortunately, star-frost had already frozen a meter-wide ice cap. He bobbed up and down with the waves, counting silently in his heart. One, two, three...
By the time he counted to ten seconds, the purple light had dissipated into the mist. If not for the bone fragments floating around, everything that had just happened would have seemed like a hallucination. "So, it can escape?" Throne frowned slightly. This Tibia Mariner wasn't strong, but it was extremely strange. Dealing with such bizarre enemies required intelligence.
Exclamations came from behind. The group of people who had almost become drowned ghosts had woken up and were scrambling to pull the fallen merchant out of the water, not noticing the swordsman standing on the lake ten meters away. Throne sheathed his blade, feeling no regret. According to the boatman, it didn't matter who hunted the Tibia Mariner; it would appear mechanically every night.
If it didn't work once, he could just try a few more times. In any case, the Count had already been slaughtered by him. However, he still spat into the lake, looking in the direction where the Tibia Mariner had disappeared, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Tsk, the water being too deep is also a problem."
...Limgrave, by Agheel Lake.
A dozen figures stood in the foul-smelling lake, silently watching the bloody corpse before them. Agheel's corpse had begun to rot, emitting a nauseating stench, yet the group remained silent, staring only at the dragon's head. "Someone killed the flying dragon. Word from Brant Castle is that the dragon slayer is a Banished Knight, who subsequently killed five nobles, including Count Brant."
Monk said calmly. The hunter was thoughtful and shook his head slightly. "This Banished Knight is an impostor. The current Banished Knights are either in Stormveil or in the Haligtree Army. None of them would be idle enough to go dragon slaying. Besides, look, the craftsmanship in collecting materials is quite professional." "Perhaps it was done by someone sent by the Valkyrie." "Impossible.
She would have simply flattened these disobedient nobles directly, and only a sorcerer could collect materials." The hunter remained stubborn. They hadn't gathered any information from the Haligtree Army; that disciplined army wouldn't utter a word without orders. "Fine, then what does that have to do with your target?" Mohg said, somewhat helplessly.
Slaying the dragon was a good thing for Leyndell; the corpse of that Ancient Dragon still remained within the city. "I said before, he is very powerful." A shook his head again. Seeing his slender companion return, he asked, "S, any clues?" This girl, covered by a cloak, looked like a scout. She had just gone to explore the ruins and had already made a discovery.
"I've checked the traces left behind. There should be two people. There are carriage wheel tracks on the dirt road by the lake; they definitely headed north." "They slaughtered the dragon, then went to kill Count Brant. To dare to take action against a heavily guarded castle, they truly have extraordinary strength."
The hunter frowned, his thick eyebrows almost covering his eyes, and reached out his hand: "Map." S quickly pulled out a map from her pouch. The hunter's finger traced along the Agheel Lake, turned at the Saintsbridge, followed the Limgrave main road eastward, and finally stopped at a certain spot. "I know his target." "Where?" "Summonwater Village. There is also a troublesome existence there."
A revealed a smile as heavy as rock and said to the warrior beside him, "Lord Monk, have you contacted Lord Oleg?" "I have. You plan to start a war in Summonwater Village?" Monk was stunned and frowned. "That is a major commercial town. If there are too many casualties, the Count will not allow..."
He stopped halfway through his sentence, only then remembering that Count Brant had already been nailed to his chair. "Hunting death and maintaining the fundamentalism of the golden order is higher than any interest."
The hunter put away the map, stepped onto the shore from the foul-smelling lake water, mounted his horse, and shouted while holding the reins—
"And as children of the golden order, they have an obligation to sacrifice everything for the integrity of the law."
Dawn appeared once again in Summonwater Village. The tea shop owner opened the door and set out the sign. The painter began to depict the Erdtree in the morning light. Small boats glided between the houses, and the boatman began to tell his old, tired stories again. It seemed that apart from a few merchants who had fled in terror, nothing had happened, and nothing had changed.
Summonwater Village remained that major commercial town and tourist destination. Perhaps only the spread of the dementia disease could completely destroy the civilization here. Throne lay lazily in a lounge chair, basking in the sun, occasionally taking a sip of the Pacher milk tea beside him. Opening his eyes, he could see the Erdtree towering in the distance.
It should have been a leisurely day, but his brow furrowed involuntarily. "It feels so strange. I keep feeling like something is about to happen." This feeling came without basis, but similar feelings had saved his life several times back in Ashina. It wasn't some incredible skill, but rather, after being hunted so many times, one naturally becomes sharp.
It was like natural evolution; animals without such abilities had long since become corpses. "Is there something I didn't think of?" He carefully reviewed everything but didn't find any issues. Ulcerated Tree Spirit? Malenia couldn't even leave Stormveil to deal with me. Black Knife Assassin? I haven't been exposed. It couldn't be Godrick, could it?
To guard against him, I specifically used the Banished Knight persona. Throne's expression gradually twisted. He even thought of the dementia disease. Come to think of it, this thing really might affect judgment. After all, this body also contained the blessing of the Erdtree, which had always been like an unexploded time bomb. "I must find a way to remove it."
According to the literature, this is impossible, unless the Erdtree reclaims the blessing. But no matter how it's polished, returning to the tree is death. He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be discovered if he entered the Erdtree's reincarnation system. Besides, even if he could revive with his memories intact, that damn blessing would still be there. "So, should I die once?"
Upon death, the blessing would dissipate; this was evident in Those Who Live in Death. Of course, Throne had no interest in becoming a skeleton soldier or a living corpse, but he had his own trump cards. "The power of death must be continuously developed. If my hypothesis is proven, then reincarnation in the present world can be established, becoming some special existence.
The only thing left is how to die in a way that is more meaningful." There are risks. After all, it is not the original Dragon Heritage power, and he had no experience. Losing memories, losing power, or turning into some other strange thing were all possibilities. "But you forced me to do this." Throne looked at the Erdtree, his expression gradually becoming manic.
Since he would ultimately not be compatible with The Lands Between, he had to take this risk. He couldn't even be a slacker; even if he stood still, the dementia disease would eventually catch up to him. And if he continued to grow stronger, he would eventually be discovered by the forces of the Erdtree. How can a giant hide among dwarves?
Since it had long been decided that it was a life-or-death struggle, let's see who is crazier! "Did you fail last night?" A lazy voice came. After staying up for two days, Sellen's nocturnal schedule was finally forced to change. "Yes, but it doesn't matter. It won't be able to escape tonight; I have obtained the intelligence." Throne was still frowning.
Killing the Tibia Mariner was simple, but achieving his own goal was difficult. His sullen appearance was observed by Sellen. After careful study last night, her emotional intelligence had improved just a tiny bit.