Stormveil Castle, the top of the Rampart Tower.
"It should be fine to hide here, right?" Darryl asked Blaidd, who was leading the way, after killing an Exile Soldier that had followed them.
Blaidd looked around but didn't speak. Seeing this, Darryl helplessly put away his Nagakiba, taking Blaidd's silence as a default agreement.
Because they hadn't worked together for so long, Darryl had forgotten that Blaidd was actually terrible with directions. At this moment, Blaidd didn't actually know if this place was safe or not.
He had just followed the path and ended up here; he didn't even have a map to refer to, though he wouldn't be able to read one anyway.
"This place should be safe," Rogier said, making his presence known. "Stormveil Castle captures the Tarnished. I've hidden here from pursuit before. Besides, it's quite high up; even if the ground collapses, it shouldn't affect this area."
Hearing Rogier say this, Darryl sneered, "Collapse? You've got quite the imagination. Even if Godrick and Xia Yu are really strong, it's impossible for them to directly blow up the entire underground, right, Blaidd?"
"..."
Seeing that Blaidd didn't agree with him, Darryl turned his head in shock to look at Blaidd, saying in surprise, "You don't actually think they could..."
Boom! Boom—! Boom——!
Before Darryl could finish his sentence, wave after wave of violent explosions suddenly erupted from underground. In the blink of an eye, the ground of the entire Stormveil Castle split open with fissures that seemed to lead to the abyss.
From within those fissures, blinding energy light burst out like lightning, instantly bypassing layers of confinement to reach the surface.
Those towering and sturdy buildings within the castle were instantly covered in fine cracks, and the defensive magic specifically inscribed on the buildings exploded directly after a brief flicker.
"Run! Stormveil Castle is collapsing!"
"Lord Godrick, where are you? Please, come save us!"
"My leg!!!"
Cries of agony rang throughout Stormveil Castle. The ground's subsidence caused buildings to begin toppling, and the residents and soldiers stationed in the castle fled in all directions.
But everywhere was collapsing or sinking; except for the castle walls, which were sturdier than ordinary buildings, there was almost no safe place.
At the top of the Rampart Tower, the trio of Blaidd watched the disaster-stricken Stormveil Castle in silence. Those fleeing in all directions would be crushed flat by collapsing buildings if they weren't quick enough to dodge, or they would fall into the pitch-black abyss of the fissures.
"How tragic..." Rogier sighed powerlessly as he watched the people suffering in the castle.
He wanted to do something, but he was helpless and could only watch from the sidelines.
"I didn't expect they would actually blow up the underground..." Darryl looked blankly at the castle where a huge hole had collapsed. "You were right all along, Blaidd."
Blaidd didn't reply, but his dazed eyes also revealed his lack of composure. Could such a powerful person really be recruited by them?
In other words, would the other party truly become Ranni's aid rather than an obstacle?
After all, the other party's goal was to become the Elden Lord, while Ranni's goal was to keep the Law far from this land and let all life exist according to its own will.
When the Law is lost, the title of Elden Lord will also lose its meaning. Are they... destined to end up on opposite sides?
Blaidd didn't dare to think further. After spending time together, he had already acknowledged this Tarnished named Xia Yu. He really couldn't imagine the two of them ending up as enemies.
No, for Ranni's sake, even if it were a friend he acknowledged, he would not hesitate. He only hoped that day would never come.
The collapse continued, and everything was crumbling; it seemed as if this was the end of Stormveil, and no one could escape.
Rumble——!
Just seconds after the collapse slowed down, the fissures suddenly lit up with an extremely blinding light. In the next moment, a thunderous explosion erupted from deep underground, echoing between heaven and earth.
After a bout of earth-shaking tremors, the center of Stormveil Castle completely disappeared, leaving behind only a pitch-black, dark pit. The pit was like a giant abyssal mouth waiting to devour people, completely swallowing all the light that shone down.
Large patches of black-gold thorns crawled out from the edge of the pit, like cold, venomous snakes looking for prey. They spread extremely fast, covering the surrounding ground and broken houses in just a short moment.
These thorns were identical to the ones on the castle walls, but clearly, these newly appeared thorns were much more threatening.
However, before the thorns could completely envelop all of Stormveil, the spreading thorns suddenly began to wither. In just a few seconds, all the thorns turned into a pile of ash; even the thorns that had long covered the castle walls turned to ash as well.
The underground tremors stopped, and the thorns had all withered. Seeing that everything seemed to be over, Blaidd and the others nodded to each other, jumped down from the top of the Rampart Tower, and walked toward the pitch-black pit... Stormveil Castle, underground.
At this moment, everything here had been reduced to ruins. The walls that had originally been reinforced had long since disappeared during the great battle. The entire pit went hundreds of meters deep and had expanded nearly a thousand meters in circumference.
Everything had completely changed. In the very center of the pit stood a figure. The figure's upper body was bare, and his lower body wasn't bare thanks to the power of censorship; instead, a tattered piece of cloth hung there.
Currently, the figure was holding a glass bottle and pouring something into his mouth. As the golden liquid inside the bottle disappeared, the wounds on the figure's body began to heal rapidly.
"Pah, I didn't expect a single battle would require me to drink two healing potions. Tsk, how embarrassing."
Xia Yu finished the Healing Spell Potion in one gulp. Due to the sudden surge in vitality, even his black hair was tinged with a hint of gold.
"But with this shard of the elden ring, I probably won't need to drink potions anymore."
While muttering to himself, Xia Yu casually tossed away the glass bottle and took the floating great rune from the body of Godrick, who was now as dry as dead wood.
At this time, Godrick was deathly pale all over. Not only had he lost his limbs, but his entire body was like dried, sun-bleached dead wood. Only the Aristocrat Headband on his head still highlighted his identity.
Seemingly sensing Xia Yu's action of taking the great rune, Godrick's withered head suddenly moved its lips: "Did I... lose?"
"You're still conscious?" Hearing Godrick's murmur, Xia Yu put away the great rune and crouched down. "You lost, but I acknowledge your will and power. You are worthy of your title as the Lord of All That is Golden."
"To be acknowledged by you, I really am..."
The soft murmur finally turned into a faint sigh. Then, Godrick completely lost all signs of life, and a golden light emerged from his body, sinking into Xia Yu's.
Xia Yu raised an eyebrow, reached into his body, and pulled out that golden light. Once it reached the outside, the golden light instantly took the form of Godrick when he was still the Grafted.
"The Remembrance of the Grafted?"
Xia Yu looked at this golden figure and pondered silently. Remembrances in the Elden Ring World were like the twisted souls in the Dark Souls World; both could be used to exchange for a boss's weapon or skills.
That meant even if the two weren't the same, they were certainly very similar.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu tried to use his Soul-Searching Secret Technique to probe Godrick's Remembrance. In the next moment, dense soul memories instantly flashed before his eyes.
The weak man named Godrick had no highlight moments since birth. Even though his father was Godwyn and his grandfather was Godfrey, he himself was a powerless weakling. This powerlessness accompanied him until he fled the royal capital and underwent the horrific Grafting.
But in the final moments of his life, he changed his usual weakness. He didn't beg for mercy; instead, he launched a final charge toward that terrifying figure, finally losing his life with regrets.
After watching Godrick's entire life, Xia Yu didn't want to comment on it. Even if he was the one who killed Godrick, the path to the throne of the Elden Lord was built upon corpses. This path would be accompanied by a massive amount of sacrifice and death regardless.
Of course, he certainly wouldn't be the one to die. If anyone was going to die, it would be others; he would be the one laughing at the end.
"As I thought, a Remembrance is a soul, just a soul mixed with the erdtree's site of grace."
Xia Yu tossed Godrick's Remembrance with one hand, talking to himself. Through the probe just now, he had already learned the true nature of a Remembrance. A so-called Remembrance was a mixture of a large amount of rune energy and a soul body.
One could either crush the Remembrance to directly obtain a large amount of rune energy or obtain the power of the Master of the Remembrance through the soul within it.
How should he put it? It wasn't outside of his expectations.
But as for the power of the Master of the Remembrance... Xia Yu recalled what Godrick's Remembrance could be exchanged for in the game.
Hmm... the axe of godrick. The axe of godrick was right here. Although the battle just now had nicked its blade, it could still be used if repaired.
Hmm... the Grafted Dragon fist. In this battle, Godrick didn't use the Grafted Dragon at all. Could he still get the Grafted Dragon fist from this? Probably not. Besides, a mere Grafted Dragon fist—if he wanted one, he could forge it himself; there was no need to exchange it through a Remembrance.
Xia Yu thought about it carefully and found this Remembrance to be a bit of a 'tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard' situation. He looked down on the things he could exchange for, and he felt it would be a waste to crush it for rune energy.
Could he have the Ashen One help him smelt it into a weapon? But this soul was mixed with a large amount of rune energy; could it still be smelted smoothly... After thinking silently for a moment, Xia Yu decided to put it away first. Since he couldn't use it now anyway, he'd just leave it there; who knows, it might be useful one day.
Thinking of this, Xia Yu absorbed Godrick's Remembrance into his body, then pulled out Godrick's great rune and began to observe it closely.
Under his perception, this great rune—that is, the shard of the elden ring—was almost exactly as he had guessed. This shard of the elden ring was filled with a massive amount of Life Authority.
It was precisely the Life Authority of the shard of the elden ring that allowed Godrick to perform Grafting with various races, and even transform into a muscular form when fighting him later.
However, at this moment, the shard of the elden ring in his hand showed no reaction at all, as if it were throwing a tantrum because it had changed masters.
Xia Yu frowned and silently sensed the shard of the elden ring. In the next moment, he figured out the reason.
"The Divine Tower!"
That's right, a shard of the elden ring can only change masters at a Divine Tower. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to use the shard of the elden ring. At least for now, he had no way to use the shard of the elden ring by bypassing the Divine Tower.
"Tsk, I forgot about that part." Xia Yu irritably stored the shard of the elden ring into his body. "Looks like I'll have to take a trip to the Divine Tower of Limgrave."}],