Looking at the upright-looking sorcerer in front of him, Xia Yu couldn't help but sigh in his heart, 'What a coincidence.' Although he had known Rogier would come here, he didn't expect their two groups to meet by chance.
But it was good that they met; he could save Rogier along the way.
In the game, Rogier was one of the protagonist's few friends, and he would even give a +8 reinforced Rapier that came with the Glinstone Pebble skill.
However, later on, Rogier would become paralyzed due to the Cursed Death curse and eventually die a miserable death.
Rogier could have avoided this death, but out of sympathy for Fia, the Deathbed Companion of the Table of Grace, and for the Those Who Live in Death born from error, he chose to help them, ultimately leading to his own demise.
Speaking of Fia, the Deathbed Companion, when Xia Yu first played the game, he thought she was another potential wife, but who would have thought she had so many champions?
Just walking around, he could encounter a whole bunch of Fia's champions.
As the story progressed, his feelings towards Fia became increasingly complex. The 'hugging maiden' he initially knew revealed her deep thoughts only after he understood her entire story.
Everything she did was to ensure the legitimate existence of Those Who Live in Death; thus, she would use everything she could.
In the end, she slept with the corpse of the Prince of Death, giving birth to the Mending Rune of the Death Prince. This Rune was a new law that could be added when repairing the shattered elden ring, adding a new rule to the elden ring.
Originally, the Age of the Duskborn ending seemed like a relatively good ending to Xia Yu, because his understanding of it was that everyone in The Lands Between would face death equally, even demigods, and the Those Who Live in Death, born from error, would also find their eternal sleep, turning The Lands Between into a normal world.
But who would have thought that the true meaning of the Age of the Duskborn ending was actually to legitimize the existence of Those Who Live in Death?
This was too absurd. In his perception, Those Who Live in Death were inherently an error, a series of chaos caused by an erroneous death. The Age of the Duskborn ending actually legitimized this error, which seemed utterly unreasonable no matter how he looked at it.
He ranked this ending as the third worst ending. The first was the Lord of frenzied flame ending, the second was the frenzied flame ending, and the third was this Age of the Duskborn ending.
Instead of correcting an error, they legitimized it. He simply couldn't understand it.
Therefore, after arriving at the Table of Grace, he never sought out Fia, the Deathbed Companion. Instead, he had a great chat with D, for good brother D had taught him Holy-attribute incantations.
Now that he encountered Rogier, who had just begun to explore death, he might be able to change his view of accepting Those Who Live in Death and save him.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu withdrew his rapidly changing thoughts and looked back at the sorcerer in front of him.
"Hello, Rogier, my name is Xia Yu. You can just call me by my name."
Hearing Xia Yu's self-introduction, Rogier smiled slightly: "Alright then, Xia Yu. Hmm... and these two are?"
"Blaidd."
"Darryl."
Blaidd and Darryl, as former comrades, both introduced themselves with extreme coolness.
Xia Yu shrugged helplessly at Rogier: "Don't mind them. They don't mean any harm; they're just not used to talking to strangers."
"Hehe." Rogier chuckled softly, a gentle smile in his eyes, "I understand. So, can you tell me why you are here?"
"Hmm..."
Xia Yu didn't answer Rogier's question immediately. Instead, he placed his hand on the Putrid Tree Spirit. As flames ignited, in just a few seconds, the Putrid Tree Spirit turned into a pile of ash.
With the obstruction to his view gone, Xia Yu then extended his thumb and pointed to the end of the passage.
"I came for that. They are just accompanying me along the way."
Rogier looked in the direction Xia Yu pointed and immediately understood that their goal was the same as his: the face-skin of the Prince of Death buried there.
"Hmm... my goal also happens to be there. Shall we go together?" Rogier inquired.
"Of course."
Xia Yu nodded and took the lead, walking forward. Seeing this, Blaidd and Darryl immediately followed. Rogier, who was a little behind, also hurried to catch up.
Due to the previous battle, the ground was already in ruins, and with the large hole drilled by the Putrid Tree Spirit, this passage was extremely difficult to traverse.
However, only Rogier found it truly difficult, as he was merely a frail sorcerer and lacked their agile movements.
Soon, Rogier fell several paces behind. By the time he left the ruined passage, the other three had already entered the room deep within the passage.
"Sorry, I'm not used to walking on steep paths."
When Rogier arrived in the deep room, he happened to see the three standing still at the entrance. He apologized as he walked forward.
But before he got close, the scene inside the deep room had already entered his eyes.
It was an indescribable, alien-like mass of flies buzzing around, looking quite sanity-draining, like layers of octopus-like face-skin. Upon closer inspection, the layers of face-skin were still wriggling, as if they were still alive.
"What exactly is this twisted, blasphemous alien face-skin?" Darryl asked, shocked, looking at the face-skin stored in the deep room.
Rogier had some understanding of this question and was about to explain, but Xia Yu spoke first.
"This is the First Prince of the Golden Lineage, the noble Godwyn the Golden."
After speaking, Xia Yu looked at the face-skin and couldn't help but shake his head. This looked even more sanity-draining than in the game. Indeed, one must face everything directly to experience the most genuine feelings.
"Godwyn the Golden Prince!" Darryl exclaimed, drawing out his words. "Wasn't he the first demigod to die? Why did he turn into this?"
"Because his soul died, but his body did not. The erroneous way he died transformed his body into its current state."
Listening to Xia Yu's explanation, Blaidd couldn't help but glance sideways, then thought of Ranni, who was also a demigod of death. But Ranni's body died, not her soul.
The thought of Ranni potentially turning into this due to an erroneous death sent a shiver down Blaidd's spine. He decided he must tell Ranni about Godwyn's tragic state when they returned.
"Alright, alright. Since my target has been found, let's wait a bit. We can leave once I'm done."
"Hmm? Xia Yu, do you also need Prince Godwyn's Deathblight?" Rogier asked, hearing that Xia Yu's goal was also the Prince of Death's face-skin.
"More or less."
Xia Yu pondered for a moment. To forge the Cursed Death Slash, concentrated Deathblight power was definitely essential. What had the strongest Deathblight power? It had to be the Prince of Death's Deathblight! He could also make a Prince of Death's Cyst talisman. This talisman existed in the game, and as a collector, he definitely needed one.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu said no more. He reached into the pouch hanging from his lower back and pulled out a huge hammer. The flames would come from the Pyromancy Flame.
Now, it's work time!