Elden Ring: With God Chapter 161: Grave Robbers? Mountain Movers!

Under the starlight, Bai Shi ventured deeper into the tomb.

This ti, he planned to ticulously loot the entire catacomb.

The last catacomb he'd visited was the Fringefolk Hero's Grave.

Since that was, in a sense, a place dedicated to his own kind, Bai Shi hadn't been particularly thorough in his looting.

But in this catacomb, Bai Shi would not be holding back.

Looting tombs was an essential part of any Tarnished's life.

This ti, he wouldn't miss a single item he could recall from this place.

Unfortunately, Bai Shi rembered that this catacomb didn't really hold any great treasures.

He only rembered it so vividly because it housed two bosses and was deeply tied to the story.

Inside the catacomb, countless skeletons were scattered about, strewn haphazardly on the ground.

As Bai Shi walked, bones crunched under his feet.

Back when Erdtree Burial was still a functioning system in the Lands Between, its people needed only to enter a catacomb to begin their return to the Erdtree.

That was why corpses were strewn everywhere; they had simply laid themselves down in the catacombs to await their return.

Within the catacombs, Erdtree roots wound their way through the walls and floors, serving as conduits for this return.

As for things like coffins and sarcophagi, those were luxuries only the most prominent figures could afford.

However, ever since the system of rebirth was corrupted by the Prince of Death, the catacombs had long been abandoned.

Now, the crypt was shrouded in cobwebs, and only a scarce few white candles still flickered here and there.

Stepping over withered bones and piles of extinguished candles, Bai Shi descended the stairs step by step into the darkness below.

Suddenly, the sound of clattering bones ca from ahead.

Bai Shi looked over. Under the starlight, the scene was clearly visible.

In a pile of remains, scattered bones were continuously assembling around a central sternum. The sword and roundshield tightly gripped in its hands were dragged along with them.

Soon, a complete skeleton was reassembled, taking on a humanoid form before slowly rising to its feet.

This was clearly one of Those Who Live in Death—the most common kind of skeleton.

This undead skeleton seed a bit dazed after getting up. It reached out with its shield-bearing left hand to touch its bald skull.

Then, as if realizing it was now among the dead, it raised its sword and shield and charged at Bai Shi.

Bai Shi hadn't brought his Dragonslayer's Swordspear with him into the catacombs.

The swordspear was simply too large. Even when shrunk to its smallest size, it was too unwieldy to swing in the tomb's confined spaces.

But the current Bai Shi was quite versatile and no longer needed to rely so heavily on the weapon.

Bai Shi clasped his hands to his chest, and the Dragon Communion Seal on his hand glowed with a red light.

A mont later, a brilliant golden light shone before him.

Bai Shi held his hands out to his sides, his body forming a cross as the triangular sigil of the Golden Order Principia materialized in front of him.

In an instant, a golden arc appeared at his feet. From it, countless fine, intersecting golden lines shot out across the ground, racing towards the approaching undead.

The golden lines crisscrossed, forming a neat grid on the floor.

As this grid rapidly spread beneath the undead, the power of the sacred law continuously washed over the skeleton.

The undead took two more steps before its bones fell apart, collapsing back into a disjointed pile.

Bai Shi walked over for a closer look.

He found that the deathly aura animating it had been completely dissipated, leaving behind nothing but ordinary, withered bones.

The sacred law was truly effective against Those Who Live in Death.

Having tested the power of the Litany of Proper Death, Bai Shi continued deeper into the catacomb.

Torches fixed to the walls began to appear on both sides of the corridor.

But these torches emitted not ordinary flas, but a cold, white fire.

It was the Ghostfla used by the Deathbirds.

This corridor had no branching paths, nothing to explore, and no corpses to loot, so Bai Shi moved quickly.

At the end of the passage, a heavy tal door appeared before him.

The outside of the door had an arched fra carved from stone, flanked by statues of skeletons in robes holding staffs.

Beyond this door was the chamber of the tomb's guardian.

In the Lands Between, many catacombs shared this structure, with the guardian's chamber located right at the entrance.

Bai Shi walked up to the heavy tal door and examined it for a mont.

A giant Erdtree was carved onto its surface.

But unlike typical Erdtree carvings, the lush canopy took up only a small portion of the door's area. The majority of the engraving was dedicated to the massive root system beneath the tree.

This was likely because the catacombs served the function of returning souls to the Erdtree, so the relief work specifically emphasized the roots.

In the ga, opening this kind of boss room was usually a hassle. You had to wander around the catacomb to find the lever for the door's chanism.

While pulling the lever, you would often be ambushed by several enemies lying in wait.

But things didn't need to be so complicated now.

Bai Shi took two steps back, bent his knees slightly to gather power, and a storm began to swirl around him.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and unleashed a powerful kick on the door.

The tal door was locked shut by a heavy chanism. The blow didn't open it, only leaving a deep dent.

Although the door itself was not broken, the surrounding stone wall couldn't withstand such a strike.

Cracks began to spiderweb across the stone doorfra. It soon gave way, its connection to the tal door severing.

"Boom—"

The heavy tal door was kicked clean from its fra, crashing to the ground with a trendous noise.

The door itself was heavy and secured by a strong lock, making it difficult to open by normal ans. The fra holding it, however, was only stone.

Stepping over the fallen door, Bai Shi slowly walked into the guardian boss's room.

As he continued down the stairs, many fine Erdtree roots appeared on both sides, growing more nurous the deeper he went.

A wide, open space gradually ca into view.

It was a vast cavern, supported by four thick stone pillars, with many Ghostfla torches burning brightly on the walls.

At the far end of the chamber was a massive, thick Erdtree root.

Countless skeletal remains were fused tightly with the root, their forms indistinguishable from it, having already returned to the tree.

Skeletons of Those Who Live in Death rose from the ground and charged at Bai Shi.

Bai Shi ignored them, instead glancing around with a puzzled expression.

The boss in this catacomb was supposed to be a Cetery Shade, but he couldn't see it anywhere. Could it be that there were only these skeletons here?

Behind Bai Shi, a dark, ethereal figure slowly materialized, making no sound and emitting no aura.

This figure was the Cetery Shade Bai Shi had been looking for.

The Cetery Shade's head was clasped by a strange creature.

The creature had a crab-like body but with two fuzzy, moth-like antennae.

Its ten legs were unnaturally long and thin, plunged deep into the humanoid's head below, controlling its every move. The humanoid's emaciated body was pierced with strange holes, the space where its heart should be was empty, yet it seed completely unaffected.

It watched Bai Shi's back with two hollow eyes that glowed with a faint white light.

Without a sound, it raised the Mantis Blade in its hand. The weapon's blade extended, and it swung down fiercely.

Although Bai Shi hadn't noticed it materializing behind him, the sound of the blade slicing through the air was distinct.

The Cetery Shade's strike was incredibly fast, yet Bai Shi dodged it with a quick step forward.

He ignored the arrows fired by the skeletons; such attacks couldn't even break through his defenses.

After dodging, he imdiately spun around, his staff materializing a Carian Slicer that he swept horizontally through the Cetery Shade's body.

The shade's body was cleanly cut in two.

But as the slicer passed through it, the two halves of its body lded back together like mud.

Its form barely halfway reconnected, the Cetery Shade swung its twin Mantis Blades again, attacking wildly.

Seeing that slashing was ineffective, Bai Shi leaped back to avoid the onslaught while raising his right hand, the Dragon Communion Seal glowing red.

A ferocious, savage aura instantly filled the tomb. A spectral dragon's claw materialized and slamd down on the shade.

The blow flattened the Cetery Shade, annihilating most of its body into ethereal black smoke.

However, as the dragon claw vanished, the Cetery Shade's form was gradually restored by the swirling black smoke.

Bai Shi watched the constantly regenerating Cetery Shade with curiosity.

Even with his current power, that single strike should have dealt far more than enough damage to kill it. How was it still alive?

Even if so creatures couldn't die unless struck in a weak point, they shouldn't be able to recover from damage exceeding their total health.

Bai Shi quickly identified the Cetery Shade's weak point.

It was the crab-and-spider-like creature on its head.

If he rembered correctly, this creature was a parasite that latched onto ordinary corpses.

Its abilities—the teleportation and the shadow body that existed between reality and illusion—likely all ca from this parasite.

If he destroyed it, the Cetery Shade should die for good.

While the Cetery Shade was still regenerating, Bai Shi aid his staff at its head.

Magic gathered in the staff and then erupted violently.

"Eat this, glintstone machine gun!"

Glintstone pebbles shot out from the staff in rapid succession, forming a dense stream of projectiles, just like a machine gun.

This was the sorcery known as Crystal Barrage, a simplified spell that the academy sorcerers learned from the Crystalians.

It suppressed an opponent with an extrely high rate of fire, giving them no room to breathe.

This was one of the sorceries that Sellen had specifically recomnded he learn and had personally coached him on.

Sure enough, the parasite sensed the danger of being targeted. It imdiately had its host dissolve into black mist, teleporting to another corner of the tomb.

This confird that its true body was indeed afraid of being hit.

Otherwise, with its constantly regenerating host, it would have had no need to flee.

From the mont it appeared until now, the Cetery Shade had only attacked once, during its initial ambush.

The rest of the ti, it had been completely suppressed by a combination of sorcery and incantations, with no chance to strike back.

Taking advantage of the mont it teleported, Bai Shi spread his hands and cast the sacred law again, clearing out the other undead in the room.

His staff then unleashed a rapid succession of Swift Glintstone Shards and Ambush Shards.

And after those two spells ca the true killing blow: Night Cot.

A direct hit would surely obliterate the shade's upper body along with the parasite.

The distant Cetery Shade seed to possess so degree of intelligence.

It knew it had no chance of winning if it was continuously attacked from afar.

Realizing that Bai Shi was highly skilled in ranged combat, it teleported repeatedly, dodging the glintstone shards while closing the distance.

This ti, it didn't extend the second half of its blades, instead swinging them rapidly.

But this was just a feint; its true killing move was the parasite itself.

The parasite pulled its legs out of the host's head and lunged at Bai Shi's own.

If it managed to latch on, he would likely beco its next host.

But Bai Shi wouldn't give it the chance.

The Dragon Communion Seal on the back of his right hand lit up again. Black Fla enveloped his fist as he threw a heavy punch at the parasite.

Like a ripe waterlon bursting, the Cetery Shade's head and the parasite on top of it were smashed to pieces.

The Cetery Shade wasn't completely dead yet; its Mantis Blades continued to hack wildly at Bai Shi's body.

But they barely broke through his dragon scales, leaving only a few wounds that would heal almost instantly.

The Black Fla continued to burn the parasite, incinerating it completely.

With the death of the parasite, the mist enveloping the Cetery Shade's body dissipated, and its remains lted into a true puddle of sli.

The Cetery Shade wasn't strong; after all, it was just a parasite controlling an ordinary corpse.

But it wasn't weak, either. Though fragile, it possessed so very strange abilities.

An unprepared, weaker hero might well have fallen here.

Overall, though, it couldn't compare to a true hero. Only its damage and special abilities were on that level.

Even without his swordspear, Bai Shi could have defeated it with just his storm powers, or even his bare hands.

However, Bai Shi hadn't fought with incantations and sorceries very often, so he had used this fight as a bit of practice.

Bai Shi picked up a Mantis Blade from the ground and gave it a few swings. It had a good feel to it.

The blade was incredibly sharp, and the small text in his vision inford him that it was reinforced to

7, which was quite impressive.

His own swordspear was only reinforced to

12.

For a curved sword, the Mantis Blade was relatively heavy, even more so than a standard straight sword.

However, its excellent design compensated for the weight. When swung, it easily cut through the air, effectively converting its mass into damage.

While swinging, one could use magic to trigger a chanism, causing the other half of the folded blade to spring out, creating a shape like a praying mantis's claw.

The suddenly extending blade could be used for surprise attacks, which was how the weapon got its na.

Bai Shi picked up both Mantis Blades, hung them at his waist, and took them with him.

They would be perfect for the fight against the Black Knife Assassin later.

The Cetery Shade was weak, so Bai Shi could treat the fight playfully, practicing his sorceries and incantations.

But the strength of the Black Knife Assassin he would face later was another matter entirely.

Regardless of the circumstances of the Night of the Black Knives, or how many of them there were...

The Black Knife Assassins had assassinated the once-mightiest of demigods, Godwyn the Golden, within the Royal Capital of Leyndell.

And Bai Shi had no desire to carelessly touch a Black Knife infused with the power of Destined Death.