Elden Ring: With God Chapter 329: The Lands Between Bank, Lake of Rot Branch

A vast, scarlet ocean materialized before Bai Shi’s eyes.

The Lake of Rot boiled violently, its thick, pus-like fluid a shade of crimson so deep it was almost black.

In the very center of the lake, a colossal scarlet tree seed to pierce through the world, its canopy supporting the ceiling of this entire subterranean space.

A scarlet mist perated the air, while pink fungi carpeted the cavern walls, tainting even the high do of the ceiling with the stench of pestilence.

And yet, this environnt was far from lifeless.

Quite the opposite, in fact. An ecosystem unique to the Scarlet Rot flourished here with defiant vigor.

Rot butterflies danced on fluttering wings through the scarlet mist, while the Kindred of Rot and Basilisks road freely through the tainted waters.

Mushroom people waded through the shallows, periodically kneeling to worship the great tree at the lake’s heart.

As Bai Shi stood observing the scene before him, sothing felt wrong.

He instantly ignited the embers of his power, letting flas erupt over his body.

Sothing had been invading his lungs.

Bai Shi imdiately understood. With every breath he took, the thick miasma of rot had seeped into his body, leaving no corner untouched.

Fortunately, the fierce flas burning from within incinerated the fungal filants, and the unsettling sensation vanished at once.

Fire was the most direct counter to the Scarlet Rot.

A look of astonishnt and uncertainty crossed Bai Shi’s face.

Was this to be expected of the place where the God of Rot itself was sealed?

The concentration of Scarlet Rot here was on a completely different level from the Swamp of Aeonia in Caelid.

After all, the rot in Caelid was rely the aftereffect of Malenia unleashing her power, a region caught in the blast wave.

But the Scarlet Rot here... it was likely equivalent to what General Radahn had faced head-on.

Just a glance at the color told him that the center of the lake could surely compete with the corruption from Malenia’s point-blank bloom.

The very edges of the lake might not be quite as terrifying, but they were certainly far more potent than the Swamp of Aeonia.

Not daring to be careless, Bai Shi maintained the burning embers around him.

Crouching down, he reached out and dipped his hand into the corrupt waters.

The lake’s fluid seed to possess a life of its own, trying to climb up his hand.

But the mont it sensed the fire, the rot-water recoiled, quickly distancing itself from him.

This wasn't truly water; it was more like a massive swarm of life, a kind of red tide.

Seeing this, Bai Shi’s mind began to churn.

He had always harbored doubts about the seal on the God of Scarlet Rot.

Though supposedly sealed, the entity could still transmit its foundational power through the void directly to Malenia.

And Malenia was no ordinary person whose body could be easily possessed.

She was a pure demigod of the Golden Order, born of Marika and Radagon’s “self-union.”

Moreover, the god had done it right under their noses, within the Golden Dynasty of Leyndell.

If this was what being “sealed” looked like, then the god was far too free.

In Bai Shi's mind, a seal ant being utterly crushed and completely isolated from the outside world.

Any leakage of power that could affect the exterior ant the seal was weakening.

But the thod used by the blind swordsman seed rather unusual.

With the aid of the Fae, it appeared to be a seal on a conceptual level.

Stagnation leads to sedintation, and sedintation invites corruption. But flowing water never goes foul.

Because of this, the upper and lower reaches of the Ainsel River were perfectly fine; only this middle section was firmly held in the grip of rot.

While Bai Shi could appreciate the ingenuity of a technique that could constrain a god of such terrifying and inestimable power...

He still felt it was an incredibly high-risk approach.

It was almost as if the rot had been deliberately given an area to roam free.

Right now, the God of Rot might simply be unable to leave the lake.

It wasn’t necessarily completely sealed, unable to use its power at all.

This was extrely dangerous. He needed to be extra careful.

Still, to be sealed by a re mortal was rather embarrassing for a god.

For now, Bai Shi would tentatively assu that under the blessing of the Fae, the blind swordsman’s power could reach the level of kings and gods.

Although he hadn't reached that level yet himself, Bai Shi was just a hair's breadth away.

He was not arrogant or conceited, but he knew he was not inferior to anyone.

Without such confidence, how could one ever be a king?

If the blind swordsman could seal the God of Rot, then even if Bai Shi were to face it now, he wouldn't necessarily be at a great disadvantage.

Besides, there were disparities among gods. Not every one of them was as powerful as the Elden Beast or the false Greater Will.

Therefore, if there was sothing to be gained, Bai Shi wouldn’t mind facing the God of Rot.

He, too, wanted to see the true power of the gods for himself.

Bai Shi stood up and subconsciously flicked his hand, even though it was clean of any rot.

With the embers burning, the lake’s corrupting power could no longer erode him.

After confirming that the current level of rot was not enough to affect him, Bai Shi relaxed slightly.

He looked out over the enormous Lake of Rot and sighed.

So this is our Elden Ring’s Lake of Rot!

A young man's first cyber-bathtub. Do your other gas have a tub like this?

Inspired by Hidetaka Miyazaki's own bathtub, he hopes all players can enjoy the simple pleasure of a good soak. The story behind it is heartwarming enough to give you third-degree burns.

Standing on the shore, Bai Shi gazed upon the boundless Lake of Rot with a strange feeling.

The terrain within the lake was different from what he rembered.

In his mory, the Lake of Rot was quite empty, with only a few types of creatures roaming about.

While there were five chanisms to raise subrged buildings and platforms from the lakebed, the total area was still quite small.

But the Lake of Rot before him now was a completely different picture.

The vast swathes of buildings were entirely unfamiliar.

The architectural style of the complexes here clearly resembled that of the ancient Uld and Uhl dynasties, with structures of all sizes scattered throughout the lake.

The smaller ones were ruined settlents, dilapidated and now occupied by creatures like Basilisks.

The larger buildings were so massive that their full forms were obscured, looming indistinctly in the red mist.

Several enormous staircases, lit by braziers, rose from the Lake of Rot, leading toward magnificent yet hazy structures.

Although the Kindred of Rot possessed a collective intelligence, they had never seed to display any talent or ability for construction.

From the looks of it, this must be the site of an ancient dynasty.

Besides the nurous buildings filling the space, the lake itself was also incredibly lively now.

The density of creatures living here was extrely high, to the point where randomly tossing a teorite would crush a whole swath of Basilisks and Kindred of Rot.

It wasn't just teeming with Kindred of Rot, living and swimming freely here.

A group of a species Bai Shi was very familiar with had also taken root, their population flourishing.

They wore malford, horned ornants on their heads, with large mushrooms sprouting from their crowns and between their antlers.

Beneath their skin, bone and flesh were exposed, all covered by a thick layer of mycelium.

This was a group of Ancestral Followers, infected by the rot.

Bai Shi observed these corrupted Ancestral Followers with a bit of novelty. Corrupted Ancestral Followers did exist in version 1.0, but they were essentially cut content.

Still, for them to appear here, while surprising, seed to make perfect sense.

After all, the Ancestral Followers were the descendants of the ancient dynasties; this had once been their ho.

Furthermore, the Ancestral Followers followed the doctrines of nature, shunning tal and civilization, and valuing the cycle of life and death.

And corruption was indeed a law of cycles, where life and death reached a state of abundance through constant decay and rebirth.

——

Bai Shi shook his head.

Although the terrain had changed significantly, the most important location, the Grand Cloister, should still be here.

He just didn’t know where it was now.

In any case, the first step was to find a path.

Bai Shi took his first step to explore the Lake of Rot.

And was imdiately surrounded by a swarm of Basilisks that surged out of the water.

With their huge, dead eyes, the Basilisks launched a surprise attack from the lake.

The Basilisks were incredibly agitated by the unexpected intruder.

They sucked in a huge breath of air, their bellies swelling high, and then violently spewed it forth.

The horde of Basilisks attacked in unison, and a cloud of yellowish-black, death-blight mist instantly enveloped Bai Shi.

Bai Shi looked at these little darlings, his expression turning ice-cold as he waved a hand.

A fierce gale erupted, scattering the death-filled mist and shredding the Basilisks to pieces.

As FromSoftware’s mascots and recurring guests in their gas, the Basilisks were exceptionally “charming.”

Though they would hide in corners waiting to ambush you, and always in groups, their bizarre appearance actually beca quite endearing after a while.

This was the ultimate proof of how that old trickster Miyazaki had violated the aesthetic sense of his players (tragic).

At the very least, Bai Shi, having seen them violate his character multiple tis in the ga, couldn't bring himself to like them.

Especially not when seeing them in the flesh.

Though one wave of Basilisks had been eliminated, they were not the only foe Bai Shi had to face.

The commotion caused by the Basilisks had attracted the attention of the other creatures in the Lake of Rot.

Like a chain reaction, the waters of the Scarlet Rot began to “boil.”

Scarlet waves crashed against the shore, one after another, as the red tide surged toward Bai Shi.

The Kindred of Rot erged from the lake in droves.

They floated in the water, raising their arms high as dense streams of pest threads shot from their specialized organs, locking onto Bai Shi like homing missiles.

anwhile, on the distant ruins, the corrupted Ancestral Followers were also prepared.

Even though the rot’s infection had transford them into an entirely different form of life, their forr skills had not been forgotten.

They nocked scarlet, fluorescent arrows imbued with corrupted souls onto their bows.

The next mont, these slender arrows flew toward him from the very edge of his vision.

They might not be the familiar Ancestral Followers, but their "sniper rifles" were just as terrifying.

A storm swirled around Bai Shi, blocking all the projectiles that dared to challenge him.

Crimson dragon lightning descended, transforming the corrupted lake into an electric prison.

All nearby Kindred of Rot were turned to ash under the destructive thunder.

The dense pile of corpses sank into the scarlet lake and were instantly broken down into basic nutrients, once again fueling the spread of rot.

Looking at the teeming masses of corrupt creatures in the lake, Bai Shi began to smile.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the concentrated rot, but the life force of the Basilisks and Kindred of Rot had been enhanced, and the runes they dropped were quite plentiful.

The essence of runes was life force, directly related to its strength.

Therefore, no matter the life form, even the star-born Astel would yield runes upon death.

It seed these creatures had been influenced by their proximity to the God of Rot’s power.

Moreover, the biological density here was absurd. It could only be an ecosystem sustained by the power of the God of Rot.

That leaking power nourished these corrupt creatures, allowing them to endlessly propagate in this state of incomplete abundance.

So how many corrupt creatures were there here?

Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Or more?

It was impossible to estimate.

All Bai Shi knew was that he was about to unleash a massacre.

Having witnessed the power of the false Greater Will, Bai Shi was in desperate need of runes.

And such a large number of enemies was perfect for soul farming.

Fengling Yueying, activate!

5x Rune Acquisition Rate (Remaining Ti: 60 minutes).

Red mist drifted from the shore out over the lake, its presence giving the storm a physical form.

The gale intensified, blowing back not only the red mist but the lake water itself.

Driving away the surrounding Scarlet Rot, Bai Shi felt an inexplicable sense of exhilaration.

A purple wave of gravity spread from his feet, rapidly expanding across the entire Lake of Rot, combining with the storm to lock onto the dense biological signatures within.

"In these sixty minutes, I will slaughter every last one of you."

Gravity seized the tides of the Lake of Rot. The corrupt creatures within suddenly found the water they swam in had beco incredibly viscous.

The storm echoed throughout the subterranean cavern, and dark clouds began to form overhead.

In the next mont, a tornado sprang up from the ground, raging across the surface of the lake.

The Kindred of Rot caught in the vortex were torn to shreds, piece by piece, in mid-air.

Crimson dragon lightning surged within the dark clouds, and a tempest of thunder and wind swept through the Lake of Rot.

The entire lake was completely covered by Bai Shi’s relentless bombardnt. Every mont, countless corrupt creatures were annihilated, transford into runes.

Bai Shi chugged several Flasks of Cerulean Tears in a row, restoring his focus, which had been nearly depleted by such a large-scale assault.

The Lake of Rot was astonishingly large. Covering it completely with his attacks was a difficult feat that required considerable effort even for the current Bai Shi.

Feeling the steady stream of runes pouring into his body, Bai Shi was deeply satisfied.

These corrupt creatures propagated through the power leaked by the God of Rot, and now Bai Shi was, in a sense, siphoning that power from the god itself.

At this point, only beings on the level of gods could satisfy his need for further upgrades.

However, it wasn't long before the master of the Lake of Rot was disturbed by Bai Shi's actions.

Two colossal beings burst from the lake, smashing through the lightning and storm to appear before him.

One of the giants was a creature Bai Shi was quite familiar with: a Dragonkin Soldier.

However, this one had been thoroughly corrupted.

Its entire body was covered in mycelium, and its tattered wings had been made whole by rot butterflies, which now served as its pinions.

As for the other colossal creature, it was a grotesque monster with the head of a corrupted Ancestor Spirit and the emaciated body of a beast.

In its hand, it clutched a thick tree branch covered in rot buds, holding it as if it were a scepter of supre authority.

These two powerful creatures had long since beco vessels for the rot.

Bai Shi looked at the two behemoths before him and smiled.

This was getting a little more interesting.

With a sharp flick of his right wrist, the Sword of Night and Fla appeared before him, blazing with fire and tracing a searing arc of light.

Radiating an irresistible authority and killing intent, Bai Shi’s eyes burned with fervor as he strode, step by step, toward the two imnse vessels of rot.