Elden Ring: With God Chapter 344: Magma Wyrm: Me, Fight the Sun King? Are You Ser

Patches felt a chill run down his spine as he watched Bai Shi, who seed lost in thought.

He had a bad feeling Bai Shi was contemplating sothing dangerous...

Well, I’m quitting soon anyway, so who cares?

Just get them up there, and then I’m heading back to Volcano Manor.

While Bai Shi and Patches were each lost in their own thoughts, Great Horned Tragoth, who was resting on a large boulder, spotted the approaching group.

Recognizing the man as Bai Shi, with whom he had fought side-by-side at the Radahn Festival, Tragoth imdiately stood up.

But after getting to his feet, Tragoth wasn’t sure what he should say.

He wasn't very good with words.

Besides, what if he spoke up and Bai Shi didn’t rember him at all? Wouldn’t that be awkward?

So, the less-than-eloquent Great Horned Tragoth simply nodded at Bai Shi in greeting.

Seeing that he was as silent as ever, Bai Shi didn't initiate a conversation.

He knew the man was a quiet person, so he simply returned the nod.

Standing outside the cave, Bai Shi turned to Patches and asked:

“From the looks of it, you clearly haven’t dealt with the Magma Wyrm.”

Patches pouted, seemingly reluctant to admit the fact.

“What can I say? The thing’s got a tough hide.”

“Its body is way more solid than your average dragon.”

“Even Tragoth’s great hamr barely leaves a scratch on it.”

Hearing Patches’ words, Tragoth lowered his head slightly.

The Magma Wyrm was indeed a creature beyond his ability to handle.

If only he were a bit stronger, he might have been able to finish it off for good.

Then, this path would be completely open for the Tarnished to travel to the Altus Plateau.

Bai Shi stroked his chin and asked Patches again, intrigued:

“So how do you usually get people past it?”

“Does the Magma Wyrm fall into a deep sleep or sothing?”

Tragoth shook his head, the first to speak up and deny it.

“...Not asleep.”

Patches took over from Tragoth, continuing to explain to Bai Shi:

“That beast would never just fall into a dead sleep.”

“They say Magma Wyrms were once human heroes who hunted dragons to perform Dragon Communion.”

“However, after performing the ritual too many tis, those forr heroes gradually lost themselves to the dragons’ power.”

“Because they transford from humans, Magma Wyrms do sleep often to adapt to their drastically changed bodies.”

“But maybe because of its experience as a human, that thing is extrely vigilant and never truly sleeps soundly.”

“So trying to just sneak past its lair is out of the question.”

Hearing that Magma Wyrms were once human heroes, both Alexander and Millicent were exceptionally surprised.

Alexander couldn’t imagine that soone who had already achieved the status of a hero would choose such a path.

In his eyes, being a hero was the greatest honor, sothing that should never be forsaken.

Millicent, however, focused on sothing entirely different.

A forr dragon hunter voluntarily transforming into a non-human creature—it was sothing Millicent couldn’t comprehend.

If the rot beca uncontrollable, she too would bloom into a flower, but that was a fate she would rather die than see.

She would rather die than beco sothing that wasn't herself.

“As for how we get people past it...”

Patches chuckled, slapping his leather chest piece with a loud thwack.

“Naturally, you rely on yours truly.”

“Although the beast still has so wariness, at the end of the day, it's just an animal now.”

“With a few items, it’s easy to lure it out.”

“This cave is big enough for it to live in, so I can lose it by just running a few laps inside.”

“While I’m doing that, Tragoth has already escorted the person to the lift leading to the Altus Plateau.”

Bai Shi nodded, a little surprised.

He never thought Patches would act as bait, willingly drawing the Magma Wyrm's aggression.

This was a high-risk, low-reward venture. It didn’t seem like Patches’ style at all...

Then Bai Shi glanced at the fully armored, clearly overloaded Tragoth, and suddenly understood.

It seed the only way to earn runes from this guide service was for Patches to do the work himself.

If Tragoth were the one running, he would likely be much slower.

Besides, Patches was a certified expert in escaping, and with his life-cherishing personality, distracting the wyrm probably posed no real danger to him.

Patches licked his lips and grinned.

“Heh heh, but speaking of which...”

“With your strength, you’re not really going to make

run another lap just to distract that thing, are you?”

“So what’s your plan for that Magma Wyrm?”

Bai Shi let out a soft chuckle and walked straight toward the cave where the Magma Wyrm resided.

“Hmph, you ask despite knowing the answer.”

Seeing Bai Shi head into the cave, Millicent couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

Alexander noticed her anxiety and patted her on the shoulder.

“Haha, are you worried about Bai Shi?”

“He’s one of the strongest people in the Lands Between right now. No, you might even be able to drop the ‘one of.’”

“After all, even the great General Radahn has already fallen to him!”

Patches sidled up as well, a look of disbelief on his face.

“You’ve got to be kidding . You were brought here by him, but you don’t know how strong he is?”

“He’s stronger than a few dozen Magma Wyrms put together, that monster... ahem, that king.”

Tragoth recalled Bai Shi’s heroic figure during the festival and nodded in agreent.

Listening to the people around her, Millicent was at a loss.

How was it that... she seed to be the only one without a clear grasp of Bai Shi’s true strength?

Despite what they said, Millicent couldn't completely shake off her nervousness.

After all... Millicent had hardly ever seen Bai Shi fight.

He had only fought twice in her presence.

The first ti was when he led her through Caelid to the sage's shack.

Along the way, Bai Shi had effortlessly annihilated countless Kindred of Rot.

The second ti was with the Royal Revenant not long ago.

But the creatures he faced on both occasions weren't particularly powerful and were in no way comparable to the Magma Wyrm they spoke of.

This left her with no clear asure of Bai Shi's strength. She knew he was powerful, and that dealing with a Magma Wyrm would certainly be no problem for him, but she didn’t know *how* powerful he was.

It would be terrible if he got injured in the fight...

—

The mont Bai Shi’s foot stepped into the Magma Wyrm’s territory, a ferocious aura emanated from the cave.

Inside this forr mine, there were remains of many man-made structures.

The most eye-catching were the countless massive stone pillars supporting the cavern.

However, most of these thick pillars had long been shattered by a rampaging beast—likely the handiwork of Patches.

The surrounding rock walls trembled with the heavy footsteps of a colossal creature.

Just from the earth-shaking commotion, one could imagine the size of the behemoth within.

From behind the countless pillars, a massive head covered in haphazard scales erged first, appearing right before Bai Shi.

Practically in his face, an enormous vertical pupil, half the size of a man and glowing with a cold golden light, stared intently at him.

Facing the cold eyes brimming with fury and murderous intent, Bai Shi tilted his head.

Then, before the Magma Wyrm could make a move, Bai Shi smashed his fist into its massive eyeball.

Dragons were vastly different from ordinary creatures, and the durability of their eyes was no exception.

Bai Shi could feel a hardness completely unlike a fragile eyeball.

And yet, before him, it was no different from paper.

In an instant, Bai Shi's fist plunged into the Magma Wyrm’s eye.

The Magma Wyrm's eye twitched as it let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain, spraying lava everywhere.

It thrashed its head wildly, trying to dislodge the steel spike embedded in its eye.

Following the motion, Bai Shi withdrew his hand and landed lightly to the side.

He’d been wanting to try that for a long ti.

He had seen scenes like this in all sorts of stories, and it always made him want to give it a shot.

Bringing its eye so close during a fight was just asking for it.

Within the Magma Wyrm's grievously injured eye, structures similar to the lens and vitreous body shattered instantly, spewing out from the wound along with the eye’s contents.

It was safe to say that this eye was completely ruined.

In agonizing pain, the Magma Wyrm thrashed and rolled about, toppling a large number of architectural remains.

This finally allowed Bai Shi to get a clear look at the Magma Wyrm’s appearance.

Its heavy body could only lie prone, dragging itself along with its four limbs.

The two wings on its back looked as incongruous as chicken wings.

And the Magma Wyrm’s body was similarly covered in thick scales.

The scales of ancient dragons were elegant and hard; their heavy rock scales were synonymous with eternity.

While their descendants, the dragons, didn't inherit the rock scales, they still had hard scales covering their entire bodies.

But the Magma Wyrm’s scales were sowhat different.

They lacked that elegant immortality and didn't even cover its whole body like a dragon's.

The Magma Wyrm’s flanks were almost scaleless, covered only by thick skin.

The scales were all concentrated on its back and head, growing in a ssy, dense, overlapping jumble.

The thick scales piled up in several layers, forming irregular protrusions on the Magma Wyrm’s back.

With an appearance like this, it was truly hard to call it a dragon.

It was, through and through, just a big lizard with wings.

Only the massive scale sword in its hand still served as proof that they had once been human.

In excruciating pain, the Magma Wyrm grew even more frantic, imdiately raising its huge weapon and bringing it crashing down randomly toward Bai Shi.

Bai Shi nonchalantly dodged the artless attack, and with another casual wave of his hand, the scale sword was covered in heavy chunks of rock.

The thick rock continued to engulf the sword until even the Magma Wyrm's imnse strength began to struggle to lift it.

When the weapon that had once been an extension of its arm beca too difficult to wield, the last vestiges of reason in the Magma Wyrm’s remaining eye were devoured by madness.

Tossing aside its weapon, the Magma Wyrm, as if driven insane, lowered its body and charged at Bai Shi on all fours.

Scorching lava poured from its mouth as it stampeded toward Bai Shi.

Yet, facing the blistering lava and the charging wyrm, Bai Shi didn't even bother to move.

Seeing Bai Shi stand his ground, Millicent’s heart, which had just soared with his initial success, was now in her throat again.

From her vantage point, it was crystal clear: the Magma Wyrm looked like it could swallow Bai Shi whole in a single gulp.

But Bai Shi rely raised a hand in front of him, calmly.

In the next mont, Millicent’s eyes widened.

She watched in astonishnt as the Magma Wyrm collided with what seed to be an immovable fortress wall, its heavy body coming to an instant halt.

Then, treating the searing lava as if it were nothing, Bai Shi lifted the wyrm into the air.

A re, tiny human figure had lifted the massive Magma Wyrm!

As its charge was stopped and it was hoisted overhead, the Magma Wyrm’s feet left the ground, and its senses finally returned.

The Magma Wyrm finally realized sothing.

Bai Shi was unlike any creature it had ever faced before!

And at that mont, a certain cowardly emotion unique to humans, one it had long since abandoned, resurfaced.

Fear. Panic. The desire to flee by any ans necessary.

But it was too late.

Bai Shi tossed the Magma Wyrm, sending it crashing into a pile of shattered rock.

The Magma Wyrm flailed its limbs, desperate to right itself and escape.

But a gigantic dragon head materialized in front of Bai Shi, opened its cavernous maw lined with sharp teeth, and imdiately snapped at the Magma Wyrm’s neck.

Dragonmaw!

The abyssal jaws clamped down firmly on the Magma Wyrm’s neck.

As the maw tightened its grip, the Magma Wyrm's plate-like scales shattered and were pierced by the fangs.

Seeing the Magma Wyrm still struggling, Bai Shi controlled the dragon head to lift it by the neck and slam it back down onto the ground.

Under the tearing and slamming of the dragon head, the Magma Wyrm’s thick neck was nearly severed completely.

Even with such a grievous injury, the Magma Wyrm did not die imdiately.

After transforming into dragons, their life force was indeed excessively vigorous.

Seeing it was down to its last breath, Bai Shi manipulated gravity, taking control of the nearby rocks.

A dense flurry of stone blades erupted from the ground, impaling the Magma Wyrm’s body and ending its life.

It was one of the moves Radahn had once used against him, and now he could use it with a skill that was in no way inferior to its original master.

The heavy corpse hung suspended in the air for only a mont before its own weight caused it to be sliced into pieces by the sharp stone blades.

Millicent stared wide-eyed, watching Bai Shi in a daze.

She knew Bai Shi was strong, but she had no idea he was *this* strong.

And here she was, talking about being his blade...

Perhaps Bai Shi didn't need her at all. She had just been deluding herself.

Millicent was now a little lost.