"Why isn't he moving?"
"How should I know?"
Feng and Ellin exchanged glances. They had expected a fierce battle upon entering, but nothing happened.
"Let me try." After circling Gundyr, the only strange thing Feng noticed was the coiled sword stuck in Gundyr's chest.
"Gurgle..." Feng struggled to pull the spiraling iron sword from Gundyr's body, the sound it made was unsettling.
"This isn't the sound of cutting flesh." Feng's eyes narrowed. The coiled sword didn't seem to be stuck in flesh; instead, it was like it was plunged into viscous mud.
The thick black blood splattering from Gundyr's wound further corroborated Feng's idea.
"Clang!" Throwing the coiled sword to the ground, Feng immediately jumped back a step and drew his own sabre.
At the same time, the Vision on his Horsetail began to emit a faint purple glow.
"Be careful." Feng nodded towards Ellin, who was on alert in the distance, and then purple lightning began to crackle on his blade.
"Understood!" Ellin nodded heavily and moved to Gundyr's side, preparing for battle.
"Click!" With a crisp clatter of armor plates from the giant in front of them, Gundyr awoke.
He raised the halberd beside him and thrust it at Feng.
"Clang!" Feng parried with a slash, barely deflecting Gundyr's strike to the side, then swung his blade.
The lightning-infused blade left a mark on Gundyr's armor, and purple electricity permeated Gundyr's body, causing damage.
"Whoosh!" Feng suddenly felt a strong gust of wind. He looked up, surprised to see Gundyr charging towards him, crashing into him with an Iron Mountain Shoulder Bash!
Seeing this, Feng immediately bent his elbow to block, lowering his center of gravity, attempting to withstand the heavy blow.
"Bang!" However, he clearly underestimated Gundyr's strength. After a dull thud of colliding bodies, Feng was sent flying by Gundyr.
"Damn it!" Feng felt his head spin and immediately realized something was wrong.
In this state, if the guy in front of him pursued, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Hmph!" Feng activated his Vision, and dense Electro element formed a purple shield around his body—he intended to reduce the DMG he took with it.
But to his surprise, the expected pursuit didn't come. Feng rolled to absorb the impact, quickly stood up, and began to observe Gundyr's situation.
Then he saw Ellin entangled with Gundyr. It turned out that when Ellin saw Feng being knocked away by Gundyr, she immediately stepped forward to attract his attention.
Ellin had initially worried that her attacks against Gundyr would be ignored, but to her surprise, a single strike from her broadsword carved a large gash in Gundyr's heavy armor.
Ignoring her astonishment, Ellin dodged Gundyr's casual swing and engaged him in battle.
The more Ellin fought, the more surprised she became, not by Gundyr's immense strength, but by his chaotic fighting style.
His attacks, relying solely on instinct and brute force, reminded her of the Hollows in the graveyard not long ago.
Fortunately, she had fought the Hollows for a long time before, gaining experience with this beast-like fighting style.
Otherwise, with Ellin's small physique, lasting a few seconds against Gundyr would have been a miracle.
"Clang!" Gundyr delivered another heavy chop, the immense force splashing up water and shattering the stone bricks below.
Ellin narrowly dodged, a constant ringing in her ears. She was close to her limit.
But she had a companion!
"Sizzle!" Several brilliant purple lightning blades were unleashed from a distance, their power maximized in the waterlogged area!
The lightning blades exploded, and the pervasive purple lightning crackled across Gundyr's body, making him stagger.
"Roar..." Gundyr crouched on the ground, as if enduring immense pain. Inhuman roars continuously erupted from his mouth.
The heavy black iron armor on his body began to bulge, as if something was about to burst forth.
"Get back!"
"Understood!"
Seeing such a strange sight, Ellin and Feng dared not be complacent. They quickly distanced themselves, observing Gundyr's every move.
"Boom!" Not long after, Gundyr's upper body began to swell, and a black, muddy substance erupted from his collar!
At the same time, a disproportionately large beast's limb also emerged from the black mud. Unlike the amorphous black mud, the outstretched left hand was huge and withered.
Its fingers were like twisted branches, its arm as pale and wrinkled as a graveyard tree trunk, its length equal to the right hand holding the halberd!
"Roar!" The black mud finally submerged Gundyr's upper body, transforming into a Pus of Man. However, though the Pus of Man was thick, it was unexpectedly short.
Rather than a snake, it resembled a giant caterpillar with a snake's head attached. The Pus of Man, a plague that once spread across all of Lothric. It is essentially a physical manifestation of Abyssal corrosion.
Ellin and Feng met the crimson eyes of the Pus of Man, feeling their hair stand on end. There was no trace of reason in those eyes, only endless madness.
The Pus of Man clapped its large hands, using the recoil to leap into the air. It charged towards Ellin and Feng, intending to crush them into pulp.
However, although the Pus of Man came with fierce momentum, because it was attached to Gundyr's human body, many of its movements were extremely uncoordinated.
Ellin and Feng quickly scattered, dodging the massive jumping smash. But now the Pus of Man would not let the two go.
Its right hand swept across in a wide arc, the halberd blade striking Ellin, and its snake tail attacking Feng.
With a flash of lightning, Feng easily dodged the Pus of Man's hasty strike. But Ellin was not so lucky.
She was inferior to Feng, who possessed a Vision, in both speed and strength. She could only block with both hands on her sword.
Fortunately, the broadsword was tough enough; the massive halberd striking it only caused violent sparks, not breaking it.
But the residual force of the Pus of Man passed through the sword into Ellin's body, still sending her flying, and Ellin's broadsword almost slipped from her grasp.
"Cough, cough!" Ellin tasted the coppery sweetness in her mouth. Without time to think, she stood up again and confronted the Pus of Man.
Suddenly, she felt a sucking sensation from the broadsword in her hand.
[Combat Skill?] Ellin recalled the book Yu Jin had given her, which contained an introduction to Combat Skills.
Ellin released her restraint, allowing the broadsword to draw away her mental energy. Afterward, she felt her body being guided by the small straight sword in her hand.
On Ellin's left hand, intense flames ignited. She swung her left hand, and a fan of fire shot towards the Pus of Man, which was fighting Feng.
At the same time, she stepped forward, just a step behind the fan of fire. Ellin unleashed a swift horizontal sweep, extending her broadsword into the fan of fire, and the blade itself ignited with intense flames!
Flame Strike—a Combat Skill that releases a wide fan of flames forward. After activation, a heavy attack can be performed, allowing a forward lunge, a sweeping attack, and imbuing the weapon with fire.
"Ah--" A piercing scream erupted. As soon as the flames touched the black, writhing body of the Pus of Man, they quickly spread over its entire form.
But that wasn't all; Ellin's horizontal sweep followed closely. The flame-engulfed blade sliced into the Pus of Man's body, causing it to burn from the inside out.
"Good opportunity!" Feng saw the Pus of Man begin to convulse. He activated his Vision, and dense elemental power gathered on his blade, staining the pristine blade purple.
This was his improved elemental burst: more concentrated power, faster speed, and shorter charge time!
"Thousand Thunderclap!" Purple lightning ripped through the air, instantly reaching the Pus of Man.
The lightning exploded on the Pus of Man, almost cutting its entire body in half at the waist!
The leaping lightning collided with the Burning flames on the Pus of Man, continuously exploding on its already fractured body.
The Pus of Man ultimately could not withstand this level of DMG. It lost vitality, rapidly contracting back into Gundyr's body.
Finally, along with Gundyr, it turned into dust and smoke.
"Phew—that was a tough fight!" Feng wiped the sweat from his brow. If Ellin hadn't discovered the Pus of Man's weakness, their victory would probably not have been so simple.
"Indeed." Ellin nodded. During this time, she had walked through the gates of death several times.
"Hmm? It seems the sky is about to brighten." Feng said with a slight regret, watching his body gradually dissipate.
"Eh? Is it?" Ellin felt time had passed so quickly. She looked at the disappearing Feng and smiled, "Next time, together?"
"Hmm..." Feng pondered for a moment, then nodded in response, "Next time, together!"
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