After taking such a heavy blow, the twisted, eyeball-covered monster convulsed and slowly collapsed to the ground.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Bai Shi sheathed the immaculate Sword of Night and Fla.
Did it really think he couldn't touch it just because it was hiding in another dinsion?
As long as it still had a projection in the physical world, it was only separated by a thin dinsional layer.
The slight space-ti distortion effect inherent to a god-slaying weapon was more than enough to tear through such a barrier.
The monster’s body gradually lted, turning into black ooze that rged with the damp swamp at the bottom of the valley.
Freed from the confines of its body, the head, covered in the eyes of Frenzied Fla, began to disintegrate.
The eyeballs scattered in every direction like grapes pulled from their stems, slowly dissolving and spreading the power of the Frenzied Fla into the surroundings.
Amidst them, one eyeball was particularly conspicuous as it swelled from within.
This giant orb was the main part of the Frenzied Fla creature's head.
All the other eyes, large and small, had been attached to this massive globe by stalks.
Bai Shi walked toward the largest eyeball.
As he strode forward, the eyes scattered on the ground burst under his feet, crushed into a viscous liquid.
Unafraid of the Frenzied Fla’s gaze, Bai Shi drew near and observed it closely.
Although the eyeball still carried the influence of the Frenzied Fla, with the host dead, the effect was now negligible.
The frenzied whispers and visions gradually weakened, but they never completely disappeared.
Bai Shi noticed a scorched fingerprint on the swollen eyeball, a brand seared upon it that would never fade.
This fingerprint... was proof of having received the Three Fingers' embrace.
Bai Shi’s brow furrowed.
The creature here had been in direct contact with the Three Fingers.
No wonder it possessed abilities so terrifying to ordinary beings.
If traces of the Three Fingers were present, could this Lord of Frenzied Fla at the valley’s bottom have been personally ignited by the one beneath the Royal Capital?
A strange thought occurred to Bai Shi.
If that were the case, certain things beca even more puzzling.
In the ga, there was soone who embraced the Three Fingers but ultimately failed.
The once-champion—Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable.
He believed that by accepting the Frenzied Fla, he could use it to burn the Erdtree and save his maiden.
But because he was wearing armor when he received the fla, his flesh was seared, and in the end, he could not beco the Lord of Frenzied Fla.
Since a Lord of Frenzied Fla had already been born, why would the Three Fingers touch the armored Vyke?
The Three Fingers, trapped within their seal, were desperate for the Frenzied Fla’s power to escape.
Logically, they should have clung to Vyke like a lifeline, doing everything in their power to ensure he properly received the fla. They shouldn't have made such a rudintary mistake.
The Three Fingers could have simply paused and waited for Vyke to understand the requirent before acting.
The Frenzied Fla could possess corpses, and Shabriri had nothing better to do than wander the Lands Between spreading its gospel. It would have been effortless for the Three Fingers to convey this information to Vyke.
Moreover, lore related to Vyke ntioned that he may have been incited, proving they had communicated.
For whatever reason, the Three Fingers touched the armored Vyke, leading to ultimate failure.
It completely defied common sense and logic.
Or could it be that, like the Two Fingers, there were multiple Three Fingers?
The mont the thought appeared, Bai Shi dismissed it.
If that were true, the seal beneath the capital would be aningless.
But the fact was, after the Three Fingers were sealed, the spread of the Frenzied Fla was indeed suppressed. That alone was enough to prove their singularity.
Bai Shi sighed, unable to reach a conclusion.
Anything related to the Frenzied Fla was truly mad. No matter the creature, their choices were always unpredictable, their thoughts impossible to fathom.
—
After dealing with the strange Frenzied Fla creature, the others in Bai Shi’s group ca closer to inspect the remains.
Seeing the Frenzied Fla eyeballs scattered everywhere, constantly spreading their corrupting power, lina frowned.
“Is there a way to eliminate the Frenzied Fla’s influence?”
“If we leave this residual power unattended, I’m afraid more creatures will be affected later.”
Hearing lina’s question, Lilianna flapped her wings and raised her head proudly.
“Of course!”
“This is why I brought Irena. I thought of this long ago.”
“Now, witness the power of Irena!”
Pushed forward by Lilianna, Irena stepped up, looking a little unsure of herself.
This was the first ti she would truly use the power she had obtained.
Irena took a deep breath, focusing on the eyeballs on the ground as she prepared to use the power of the fey.
However, as Irena stared intently at the scattered eyeballs, a strange impulse stirred in her heart.
For so reason, the horrifying eyeballs began to look like large, ripe, succulent grapes.
She gulped, then snapped back to her senses and lightly covered her mouth in disgust.
Why would she have such a thought when she knew perfectly well they were eyeballs...?
Lilianna’s voice urged her on, “Irena, hurry, hurry!”
“Just do it like I taught you.”
Irena clutched the collar of her dress, steadying herself.
Perhaps... the Frenzied Fla had briefly affected her mind, leading to such a strange thought.
As she suspected, one had to be extrely cautious when facing the Frenzied Fla.
Irena stood before the eyes of Frenzied Fla and held out her hands, palms up.
She cupped them as if holding sothing.
Spiritual energy manifested from her body, gradually gathering in her palms.
Amidst a ripple of shimring light, a soft, ethereal glow flowed down from Irena's hands.
The stream of light washed over the Frenzied Fla eyeballs, large and small, enveloping them completely.
Then, the Frenzied Fla within them actually began to die out, leaving behind nothing but colorless, rotten orbs.
Bai Shi’s eyes gradually widened.
It was the first ti he had ever seen light that seed to shimr like the surface of water.
Bai Shi pointed at the glow on the ground and asked Lilianna and Irena, “What is this power?”
Lilianna puffed out her chest and said proudly, “The power to truly contend with the Outer Gods isn’t so intuitive force you can just inherit through a bloodline.”
“The fey can perceive concepts, so naturally, we use concepts to deal with the Outer Gods.”
“The first wind, the first water, the first snow...”
“All of these carry special aning and concepts.”
“And this power cos from the primordial water.”
Bai Shi glanced over, slightly surprised.
“Water again?”
Irena nodded, explaining for Lilianna, “Yes, but according to Lilianna, this is lake-light.”
“The flawless light reflected from the surface of a mirror-still lake. That is why it can quell the maddening Frenzied Fla.”
As if dissatisfied with Irena’s brief summary, Lilianna added, “Once water truly manifests, it becos subject to outside influence.”
“Even if you brought the actual primordial water here, it would be instantly defeated and corrupted the mont it faced an Outer God.”
“It's impossible to rely on that kind of power to seal the Outer Gods. But the lake-light, which is an excerpt—a reflection from flawless water—is a pure concept. It cannot be altered.”
“The sa applies to flowing water. It seals through the concept attached to it, not by literally summoning a current to wash away corruption.”
lina was deep in thought, marveling at the wisdom of the fey. She couldn't help but ask, “Then what is the difference between the lake-light, which targets the Frenzied Fla, and flowing water?”
Irena didn’t know the difference either and looked at Lilianna with so confusion.
This question hadn't co up in her lessons.
Lilianna crossed her little arms and explained, “The sa thing can have different concepts, like rot and abundance.”
“From the primordial water, we fey found two similar yet distinct concepts.”
“The surging power of waves and the tranquility of a mirror lake—both are powers of water.”
“The concept of flowing water can perfectly suppress rot, curbing its boundless expansion.”
“But when facing the agitated madness of the Frenzied Fla, lake-light is far more useful.”
“Faint traces of Frenzied Fla like these can be directly extinguished by lake-light.”
“Of course, for an enemy on the level of the Lord of Frenzied Fla, Irena would have to use other thods to seal it.”
After Lilianna finished, Irena seed to rember sothing and said softly to Bai Shi, “Ah, during the battle just now, it seems you were directly exposed to the Frenzied Fla.”
“Let
dispel its influence for you.”
Bai Shi nodded, not refusing.
Although his increased power ca with a natural resistance to madness, enough to withstand minor exposure to the Frenzied Fla, why endure it himself when he had a support on hand?
Irena extended a hand, and a stream of light washed over Bai Shi’s body.
Instantly, Bai Shi felt refreshed, his mind clearer and more tranquil than ever before.
The faint remnants of the Frenzied Fla were completely purged, and any other lingering effects that had accumulated over ti were cleansed away.
Having asked all his questions, Bai Shi’s curiosity was thoroughly satisfied.
He now had a direct understanding of the fey's inherited power.
No wonder Lilianna had insisted on bringing Irena.
Although she lacked combat strength for now, she was a top-tier support.
Furthermore, her power was essential for sealing the Lord of Frenzied Fla.
—
After clearing away all the Frenzied Fla eyeballs, Bai Shi and the others continued on their way.
Before long, they made an unexpected discovery in the tall grass.
Passing a particular patch, Bai Shi’s gaze fell upon a skeletal hand, battered and broken, sticking out from the vegetation.
It was still tightly clutching sothing.
‘Discarded Diary Page.’
Instantly, the undead trait of being drawn to shiny objects was triggered.
Bai Shi walked over and picked up the faded diary page from the skeletal hand.
It was a single page, torn out and discarded, with shaky handwriting on it.
Corroded by ti, the diary page was also stained with filth, obscuring parts of the text. He could barely make out a few fragnted sentences.
‘I have touched □, just □□.’
‘His □ staff pier□d m□ □□, I □□□ knock it aside.’
‘Ju□t li□e tha□, □□ touched the Untouchable Elder.’
Though fragnted, he could still glean the key information.
That monstrous thing was called the Untouchable Elder, and the author of this diary had once touched it by knocking aside its attack.
Bai Shi didn’t think the body on the ground was the diary’s author.
Judging by the direction it had fallen, it had likely fled from sowhere up ahead.
It seed this person had found the diary page there as well, but ultimately failed to escape.
Bai Shi stood up and continued forward.
At the edge of his vision, another Untouchable Elder was wandering restlessly.
Without hesitation, Bai Shi walked straight toward it, imdiately drawing its aggro.
To test the chanics of the Untouchable Elders, Bai Shi did not use the Sword of Night and Fla this ti.
The mont the Untouchable Elder attacked, Bai Shi sidestepped, brushing past its staff.
His own hand was faster than the creature’s weapon, reaching for its body.
The mont he touched the sticky, disgusting flesh, Bai Shi had his answer.
It seed to be a phasing-type ability; the creature could only be attacked when it was in the middle of its own attack.
Bai Shi seized the Untouchable Elder’s emaciated torso, and it was instantly unable to return to its phased state to evade his attack.
The Untouchable Elder let out a sharp shriek as the eyeballs on its head swelled, emitting a strange light.
Imdiately, Bai Shi could feel his madness ter rising rapidly.
Chaotic whispers and insane images flooded his mind, assaulting his psyche.
But Bai Shi wasn’t worried in the slightest. An image of shimring water appeared before his eyes, washing away the frenzied visions.
Irena had already cast a protective blessing on everyone present.
As long as the spiritual power she had bestowed upon them was not depleted, they could continue to resist the Frenzied Fla.
Enduring the frenzied assault, Bai Shi’s other hand shot out and grabbed the Untouchable Elder.
His powerful hands, like talons, easily pierced the creature’s body. With a single motion, he tore it in two.
As its body was ripped apart, the bright eyes of Frenzied Fla dimd and lost their vitality.
Irena hurried forward, unleashing her fey power to cleanse the remnants of the Frenzied Fla.
Just as the group prepared to move on, Bai Shi noticed sothing on the ground where the Elder had vanished.
It was a talisman shaped like a ripe grape, crafted to resemble the joyful face of the Untouchable Elder.
‘Elder’s Exultation’.
Seeing the familiar naming convention, Bai Shi guessed the talisman’s effect.
It was clearly like the other "Exultation" talismans, increasing one’s attack power when soone nearby suffered a status effect.
And since it dropped from a Frenzied Fla creature, the trigger condition was surely madness.
Bai Shi silently picked it up and put it away.
Although it was useless for now, talismans of this type were quite effective and a staple for buff-stacking builds.
Moreover, the condition was broad—he only needed to witness soone nearby succumbing to a status effect.
While using Frenzied Fla weapons would also accumulate madness, who said Bai Shi had to use them himself?
After all, Ashmi was completely immune to status effects.
Bai Shi could simply have Ashmi poke enemies with a status-inflicting weapon to stack buffs for him.
It was a sha he hadn’t obtained the Kindred of Rot’s Exultation yet. Otherwise, the Aeperia in Ashmi's hands would be the perfect tool for stacking rot.
Bai Shi stood atop a large boulder and peered ahead.
In the mist, the Frenzied Fla eyes of the Untouchable Elders shone as brightly as beacons, brazenly revealing their presence.
And at the end of the mist, Bai Shi could faintly make out a manor in the distance.
The blurry, black silhouette of a mansion stood quietly at the limit of his vision, faintly glowing with an insane yellow light.
It seed they were almost there. He wondered if he would find the answers he sought ahead.
Gazing at the silhouette of the manor, Bai Shi mused silently.
Reviews
All reviews (0)