"Run! What's wrong—why aren't you running anymore?"
After a while, watching the Death Blight runner surrounded by Spirit Ashes, its health bar reduced to a single sliver, Lloyd walked toward it step by step.
The creature trembled, drenched in sweat, staring at him as he closed in. But just as Lloyd approached within striking distance, its eyes hardened—it suddenly pulled out over a dozen Death Blight Throwing Daggers and hurled them all at once, swapping through weapon slots with rapid precision.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Lloyd blinked, almost impressed that it could still counterattack in this state. In that instant of surprise, several daggers struck his body. His face twisted in pain, and the surrounding spirits began to fade away.
But just as the enemy exhaled in relief, convinced it had finally won—
A snack pack slammed straight into its open mouth.
"Idiot. Gotcha."
Splat.
A foul, overwhelming stench consumed it, and the last sliver of its HP vanished instantly.
As its consciousness faded, the final image it saw was Lloyd's hand lowering, his finger pointing toward the ground.
The downward gesture—a sacred rite performed after battle by knights, as recorded in the Kojiki.
And as for why Lloyd wasn't dead?
[Death of Gold]
[Prayer of 'Gold' Godwyn]
[Upon use, transforms the user into a 'Living-in-Death' form, greatly increasing resistance to physical damage]
[After death, if no damage is taken for a period, resurrects on the spot and grants immunity to Death Blight]
It was meant to be used while exploring the City of Deathrot, but once Lloyd saw the Death Blight Throwing Daggers, he cast the incantation on himself—just in case. The enemy never had a chance to turn the fight.
After finishing off the Death Blight bastard and watching its body slowly fade into ash, Lloyd shook his head.
"Still missing something."
If the thing had disconnected instead of dying, that would've been a perfect victory.
[Obtained Item: 'Abyss Crafting Notes I']
[Abyss Crafting Notes I]
[Notes written by a soul of the Abyss]
[Record the fear carved deep within the soul]
[Allows crafting of the following items:]
[Death Blight Throwing Dagger]
[Rapid-Fire Crossbow Bolts]
[Dark Grease]
"Death Blight Throwing Daggers, huh?"
Lloyd raised an eyebrow as he examined the newly unlocked recipes.
After some testing, he found the daggers only worked on ordinary Tarnished templates. Not useless—the Death Blight buildup was impressive—but their practical use was limited.
The second one, though—Rapid-Fire Bolts—looked plain at first. But testing proved otherwise: while each bolt hit for less than a standard one, the burst potential was far higher. A full volley shredded enemies in moments, especially with stacking combo buffs.
With the right build, he didn't even need special skills—a single rotation was devastating.
As for the Dark Grease? Pure novelty. Though its effect appeared "dark," testing revealed that "dark" damage in the Lands Between functioned more like holy damage.
A sword that normally hit for four digits dropped to three after coating it.
One glance told him all he needed to know: cosplay material for scythe enthusiasts.
After dealing with that Death Blight coward, Lloyd noticed his companions—who had fought alongside him the entire way—were worn out despite the Abyss Talisman's protection. He didn't push them further. After a bit of training and experience gained, he sent them back.
But afterward, he didn't summon anyone else.
Partly because everyone back in the Lands Between was busy with their own tasks, and pulling them away would be disruptive.
And partly because...
"So, you like playing abstract, huh?"
Activating the Site of Grace, Lloyd lifted his gaze toward the faraway darkness and drew several weapons he had never once used before.
Truth was, Lloyd had always possessed the skill to perform hidden techniques and absurd combos. But the Lands Between had a simple, honest kind of battlefield. Until now, aside from that one low-level invasion by Messmer, he hadn't faced any truly degenerate opponents.
Even Messmer—or gods who wielded the Law itself—at least had the decency to create a proper arena before fighting fair and square.
But this time...
Boom—
A hidden-tech weapon swap into the Serpent Spear swept through an entire horde, reducing monsters to fragments.
Bang, bang, bang—
The Left Bow fired, unleashing a rapid cascade of Great Arrows that instantly deleted an elite's health bar.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Several NPC-type ambushers lurking in the shadows hadn't even stepped out before their heads were already pierced by Death Blight Throwing Daggers.
And aside from those, there were the usual absurdities—duplicate Spirit Ashes, infinite Flask refills, instant-kill swap techniques, even the cursed Death Blight Telescope...
Lloyd had never used any of that—not because he couldn't, but because the people of the Lands Between were too proper, too "honorable," for him to feel comfortable pulling such abstract nonsense.
But now, facing an opponent just as abstract as himself, he no longer needed to hold back. He didn't have to keep suppressing the Soul 5 player within him. He could finally respond in kind—with equal "chivalry."
The monsters paid the price.
In theory, the creatures of the fourth phase should have been the strongest of the entire dungeon—a massive leap in difficulty, their souls most heavily corrupted. But…
You know who we're talking about, right?
That's Lloyd.
Before him, unleashed at full power, even monsters that would terrify the world outside couldn't so much as scream before they disintegrated like snowflakes.
Every carefully designed trap was seen through instantly. The monsters meant to surround and kill him couldn't survive a single strike. Even the soul-devouring darkness itself scattered wherever he walked, fleeing as far from him as possible.
By the end, even under the adjustments of Lloyd's Law and the commands of whatever entity governed this dungeon, those nightmares—creatures whose mere appearance would haunt the dreams of ordinary men—would rather kill themselves than come within reach of him.
"...Really, you guys?"
Lloyd looked at the monsters huddled in the corners, trembling and refusing to come out, and shook his head.
With no fight left to be had, he soon reached the end of the dungeon.
Before him, another golden fog gate materialized.
What would it be this time…
Lloyd's eyes gleamed with curiosity as he stared at it.
Before, he'd fought cancel-chain maniacs, left-bow cowards, even that cursed Death Blight marathon runner. So now what—
A soul-farming black market? The CE divine glitchers? Or something even more absurd?
With that thought, Lloyd pushed open the golden fog gate.
This time, though, he did something rare—having learned his lesson from the enemy's antics, he buffed himself head to toe before entering, every enhancement active and ready.
But…
There was no one there.
No boss. No NPC. Not even a single grunt.
Standing in the vast, empty arena, Lloyd blinked. He looked around, confirmed that the place was completely barren, and his expression turned increasingly strange.
Wait a second… don't tell me this time the "enemy" is—
[BUG]
[It's a BUG. The boss got glitched out.]
A system notification appeared.
Lloyd's face stiffened.
"Well, that's… new."
This wasn't something he'd expected—and not something he could just brute-force away.
Sure, if he really wanted to, he could easily destroy the entire dungeon with a little extra power. But doing that would erase all the "books" he was here to collect, forcing a total reconstruction—a painstaking process he didn't feel like dealing with.
Still, it wasn't really a problem.
After all, while Lloyd couldn't fix it… he knew someone who could.
[Summoned Assistant: 'Elden Beast']
As the golden symbol flared, an Elden girl—larger than Lloyd by a full size—burst forth. She circled joyfully through the air before drifting down beside him, wrapping her body around his and rubbing against him, pressing her head into his chest.
This was the Petite Elden he'd received from Alice some time ago. After a period of nurturing, while she still appeared small outside, that was only because her true form had fused with Lloyd's Law—what existed beyond was just her incarnation.
Now, the one before him—tail and all nearly three times his size—was Little Ai's true body.
And even then, that was only her early stage. Her body was still rapidly growing. Yet her affection for Lloyd hadn't changed at all—if anything, she'd become even more attached to him.
"Alright, alright, easy there. I need your help with something…"
After rubbing the massive head in his arms until she purred contentedly, Lloyd explained the situation.
Lifting her head from his chest, Little Ai looked around, then released him and floated upward.
Golden rings of light appeared, and the Great Rune fragment in Lloyd's hand rose to meet them.
As the Law manifested, the entire space began to tremble. Even Caelid beyond the dungeon walls quivered faintly.
A low hum echoed.
Golden light flashed as threads of radiance cascaded downward.
When it faded, the young Elden girl descended back to Lloyd's side, her inner glow visibly dimmed and her expression weary.
Lloyd stroked her head, then extended his hand again—feeding her soul energy until she was content—before storing her back into his inventory.
After putting away both her and the Great Rune fragment, he looked up at what had appeared once the bug was repaired.
Darkness.
A writhing mass of dark humanity.
Its health bar was pitifully short. It had no means of attack. It couldn't even move.
But Lloyd didn't strike. He simply walked forward and reached out, closing his hand around the mass.
And then—
A flood of memories crashed into him like a tidal wave.
They were the memories of an Undead.
Someone who had crossed into a world he knew well—initially daunted, but through understanding and persistence, managed not only to survive but to rewrite countless fates. In that world of despair, he became like a newborn sun.
Because of his efforts, the Fire Keeper lived. The Warrior of Sunlight fulfilled his purpose. Big Hat Logan never fell into madness. Even the Witches were freed by his hand...
Everything went smoothly. Everything was beautiful. It seemed as though a bright new future lay just ahead.
And then—
Crackle... crackle.
In endless darkness, a bonfire flickered weakly.
A man in armor stood before the flames, gazing at the familiar ruins before him—motionless, like a statue that had stood there for an eternity.
Was it an attack? The work of some powerful being? A catastrophic experiment gone wrong, ending in a massive explosion...?
No.
He would have preferred that to be the truth—at least then there'd be something to blame, someone to avenge.
But there was no mighty foe. No cataclysmic accident.
Things had simply... faded.
Like a person growing old and dying, quietly and without cause.
Everything he had fought to redeem had perished—calmly, without a sound.
And to spare them from the endless torment of the Undead curse, he had personally given many of them a merciful end.
He had done nothing wrong. None of them had. They had all struggled desperately to keep their world alive.
But no matter how many attempts they made, no matter how far they reached into the forbidden, the result was always the same: death postponed, not denied.
There's a saying—"Tragedy is the destruction of beauty before your eyes."
Then his life was a tragedy. A double tragedy.
For the world itself had always been tragic. And after he turned all those tragedies into hope and beauty... he was forced to watch them crumble again.
And worse—he had to be the one to destroy them.
"Why not give up?" the serpent had once said. "Your soul is special. Even if everything perishes, you'll live on."
But later, even that serpent died.
All of them—those who claimed to seek immortality, who said they wanted to live forever.
Seath. Aldia. The serpent.
In the end, it was he—the one who most wanted to die—who watched Seath crystallize, Aldia wither into dry wood, and the serpent fall into Darkness long ago, dead beyond death.
He alone remained, standing at the edge of the world.
He had considered casting himself into the flame, but at that time, he alone possessed the power to truly kill.
And because of all he had done before, no one wished for him to burn. They bound him instead with the cruelest curse of all—
To live.
And so he lived on. To the world's end. Through the ruin of all things. Until no one remained to speak to him.
Alone—before the last dying ember.
But in the end, he broke his promise.
The only promise he ever broke.
In his final solitude, staring at the flame about to go out, he reached toward it and let it consume him.
Burning hurt—terribly—but compared to the endless loneliness, it almost felt like relief.
He didn't know then that it wasn't release at all. It was the beginning of true suffering.
"That world should've died long ago," the great serpent murmured beside him.
"By fusing your unique soul with the First Flame, you traded eternal agony for the forced continuation of the world..."
"Was it really worth it?"
"If you truly wish to die, I can help you."
He gave the serpent a cold glance.
"I didn't pull you out of the Abyss to listen to your whining. Now go. Find what I asked for."
The great serpent was no saint—rotten to its core, one might say.
But perhaps it was precisely for that reason it became Lloyd's friend—and called him king.
"Very well, if that is your command."
The serpent withdrew.
...
"Failed again, haven't you?"
When his consciousness returned to the present, a massive serpent head emerged.
"I don't know how many times you've tried since then, nor how long you tormented me—don't restore that memory. I'd rather live with a gap forever than remember that pain."
"But judging from your state now, you've restarted countless times since. Fused with the First Flame, you gained power beyond measure—sorcery, miracles, even time and space themselves bent to your will..."
"And still you failed. Still you suffer."
"Even now, that burning agony and despair still echo within your mind."
After a long silence, Lloyd raised his head and looked at it.
"So that's why you kept using that left-handed bow to mess with me?" Lloyd said, weighing the Serpent-Hunter spear in his hand.
Seeing his expression, the Serpent immediately dropped the act and surrendered.
"It wasn't me. It was the will of the Abyss. Or rather…"
The Serpent paused.
"…it was you."
It wasn't lying. Strictly speaking, the blame really did fall on Lloyd.
Simply put, the entity behind this entire dungeon was the same writhing darkness now in Lloyd's grasp—a condensed manifestation of the Abyss's collective will.
Back then, in his search for a way to prolong the world's existence, Lloyd had ventured into the Abyss several times—and caused quite a bit of trouble there.
At the time, the Abyss had still been capable of resisting him. To keep itself from being toyed with further, it began mimicking him, creating NPC-like constructs such as...
Ring Grab, Half-Leaf, and Left Bow.
Little Scythe, Marathon, and Death Blight Throwing Daggers.
Even the infamous Old Wolf Hell, with its infinite Farewell mechanic—surviving with a sliver of health and instantly reviving at full.
After enough of this, the Abyss—originally without any self-awareness—was forced into developing one. It even learned "chivalry."
And now, the trembling mass of that same Abyssal consciousness—the one that had been tormenting him throughout the journey—was sitting right there in Lloyd's palm.
Then...
There was nothing more to say.
Lloyd gave a light squeeze, and the darkness dissolved into his body.
After absorbing it, he turned toward the Serpent.
"So, what are you planning to do now?"
"I'll stay here," the Serpent replied calmly. "I don't know what's happening outside, but either way, I doubt you'll let me leave."
"Good. As long as you understand."
Though Lloyd got along with the Serpent, that was precisely why he knew just how vile its personality really was.
It wasn't that the Serpent disobeyed him—his commands kept its antics mostly in check, never crossing the line into outright offense.
The issue was that its sense of humor was shaped by Dark Souls standards.
In the Lands Between, even without factoring in the universal hatred for serpents, the moment it slithered out there, everyone would be trying to kill it on sight.
"Then stay put. I'll move on ahead."
"Take care," the Serpent said, coiling up and closing its eyes.
Lloyd continued onward. After a short walk, a familiar door appeared before him once again.
When he pushed it open, the familiar wave of distortion washed over him—and he found himself back in the Roundtable Sanctuary.
This time, however, Alice wasn't the only one busy inside. Ranni and her followers were also present, while a certain Elden Beast drifted lazily through the air.
After a brief exchange and handing over the book, Lloyd didn't linger. Everyone was occupied with their work.
He soon located the doorway to the next dungeon phase and pushed it open.
Like the White Dragon Research Institute, the second-stage dungeon beyond Caelid wasn't large—just an expanse of darkness.
But unlike the Institute, the power level here was noticeably lower—and filled with hostility.
After taking a few steps forward, a gray fog gate appeared before him.
Pushing through, a familiar sound greeted him.
A massive white wolf stood before him, a Greatsword gripped in its jaws.
But that wasn't all.
Because the name that appeared on his interface wasn't "Great Grey Wolf Sif."
It was—
[BOSS: Abyssal Chain Battle]
[Current Enemy: Great Wolf Sif]
[Current Ally: None]