Elden Ring, building a legion of ashes

Chapter 139 What demigod? Just my new ashes.

Having lost his limbs and dragon head, Grik now resembled a sick lion with its teeth pulled, helplessly and frantically wielding his golden giant axe.

However, the dragon head that was brutally shattered by the broom star caused immense damage, causing his aura to rapidly weaken.

In addition, there was the reckless overexertion of physical strength to unleash the dragon flames, and the large amount of mental energy consumed in order to summon the vengeful spirit of the ominous infant.

At this point, Grek was at his last gasp.

If it weren't for the large rune within his body continuously providing a meager supply of support, he probably would have collapsed long ago.

"Who exactly unleashed that broom-like attack just now?"

Xia Tong watched the Radiant Stone magic descend from the sky like a falling star, and had a general guess in her mind, but she dared not be completely sure.

Seeing that Grek's situation was hopeless, the dozens of Faded Ones around him, who had been observing or even shrinking back, suddenly became like hungry wolves that had smelled blood.

The fear in their eyes vanished, replaced by extreme greed and fanaticism.

"Kill him!! The Great Rune is mine!!"

In the crowd, someone shouted something, their voice filled with madness.

Seeing this, Xia Tong's eyes turned cold, and she did not choose to compete with these lunatics for credit.

He calmly used his mental connection to quickly evacuate the ashes of Ruthel, Oreg, and Ingwell to the outer perimeter, while he himself rode Torret to create distance.

Seeing Xia Tong do this, Neferi Lou, who had been responding from the side, instantly understood Xia Tong's meaning and decisively put away her double axes and retreated.

As for Kenneth Hyde, who was far away, he was keeping a close eye on Xia Tong's movements.

He immediately waved the military flag and issued the order.

Subsequently, the remaining thirty-odd black-robed soldiers and the demi-human legion all switched from offense to defense, no longer attacking Grek, but instead forming a circle around Grek and those who had charged forward.

"He's dying! Now's the time! Kill him!!"

The shouts of battle were deafening.

Under Xia Tong's cold observation, these dozens of faded individuals raised various straight swords, hammers, or spears.

Like a pack of rotting wild dogs that have caught the scent of food, they pounced on the seemingly dying Greke.

Everyone wants to be the hero who ends the demigods.

When the longsword in the hand of the foremost faded one was only a foot away from Grek.

The latter's originally cloudy and unfocused pupils suddenly contracted into needle-like shapes.

A terrifying pressure unique to demigods erupted forth.

"Kneel down!! You lowly, faded beings!!"

An angry roar exploded like thunder.

With the last strength of his demigod body, Grek swung his right hand, wielding the incredibly heavy golden axe.

A simple, unexpected storm.

"boom--!!"

Centered on Grek, a golden storm vortex suddenly erupted.

The two faded individuals at the very front didn't have time to react.

"Snap!"

A sharp, teeth-grinding crack.

Under the churning storm created by the golden giant axe, their longswords shattered instantly, and their arms and sternums were smashed to pieces by the giant axe in a split second.

That was pure, overwhelming power.

Instantly, the upper bodies of the two faded individuals flew out, scattering a pool of crimson blood in the air, without even uttering a scream.

The five or six faded figures behind him were terrified and tried to retreat, but it was too late.

Greck's counterattack, driven to the brink of desperation, was more ferocious than anyone could have imagined.

His remaining, still twitching extended arms were still wildly brandishing various weapons.

Just as a swordsman wielding two swords was about to retreat, a severed, splinted arm grabbed his throat and choked him.

Before he could struggle, Greck's axe swung around and slammed the heavy back of the axe down on his head.

"Bang!"

The man's head exploded like a rotten watermelon, and his whole body went limp and turned into a puddle of mud.

The killing continues.

The dozen or so men who had initially charged forward with great momentum were instantly reduced to seven or eight mangled corpses lying at Grek's feet.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Grek was panting heavily, his body covered in blood.

The golden axe in his hand slammed heavily onto the ground, supporting his swaying body. He then surveyed the surrounding Faded Ones, who were terrified and dared not approach any longer, and a sneer of utter contempt spread across his lips: "I am the master of Stoneville City—the King of Gold!!"

"You lowly ants, how dare you even dream of staining yourselves with my blood?"

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

Seeing that those greedy scoundrels had been terrified and dared not advance easily again.

Xia Tong gave a signal with her eyes, and then, carrying her own ashes, they rushed forward again.

Several more rounds of intense entanglement ensued.

"Boom!"

Grek's enormous body finally gave way.

He turned the giant golden axe upside down and placed it on the ground, then knelt down on one knee, each breath sounding like pulling a broken bellows.

Those bloodshot eyes stared intently at Xia Tong, filled with anger and resentment, but even more so with a sense of powerlessness at the end of a hero's road.

He never imagined that such a small-time fading artist could drive him to this point.

"I still don't know your name—the Faded One."

Greg stared intently at Xia Tong and asked in a hoarse voice.

Xia Tong looked at Grek without arrogance, but calmly met his eyes.

My name is Xia Tong.

"And you, little girl?"

Greck then looked at Neferi Lou, who had dark skin and wore animal skin armor.

Looking at this man who was clinging to life like a sick lion, Neferi snorted coldly.

She wanted to curse him outright, since Greik's limb-splitting schemes had infuriated her so much that she wished she could kill him.

But she still retained a sense of honor as a soldier.

At this moment, a demigod lowered his proud head and asked for his name in the last moments of his life.

She couldn't help but feel a pang of pity.

"My name is Neferi Lou."

"Remember this name. This is the man who ended your limb-splitting atrocities. You are not worthy to be the master of Stoneville City."

With that, Neferi picked up the eagle-patterned battle axe and swung it fiercely.

"Sizzle"

A wisp of lightning crackled across the axe blade, producing a crisp sound in the air.

"Hahahaha———— Hahahaha————"

Greck suddenly burst into wild laughter.

Perhaps there was no way out, perhaps they had resigned themselves to their fate, or perhaps they were amused by Neferpitou's words.

At that moment, he seemed to have unloaded a long-held burden. The mad king who would stop at nothing for power seemed to have disappeared, leaving only the helplessness of being the last descendant of the Golden Clan.

"Come on, Xia Tong—cut off my head."

As he spoke, Grek lowered his head.

In a hazy state, Grek remembered that he hadn't bowed his head for a very, very long time.

The last time—it seems—was when I bowed down and begged for mercy from the Valkyrie Malenia, right?

Among those who have faded away, there are still those who are eager to make a move.

After all, who wouldn't want the honor of personally beheading the demigod Grik?

This will surely be sung for thousands of years in the border region.

A small, wielding, faded figure could not resist the temptation and leaped into the air.

He then viciously chopped at Greke's head, his eyes filled with greed.

He had been sneaking around on the inner side of the battle circle, and now, with this sneak attack, his speed was extremely fast.

However, someone was faster than him.

The headless knight Ruthel appeared instantly beside the faded one.

Its flaming spear, wreathed in black and gold flames, suddenly thrust out.

"Pfft!"

With a soft thud, the spear mercilessly pierced his chest and abdomen.

Then, Ruthel swung her spear sharply to the right.

The attacker who had ambushed him was thrown away like a dead dog, landing heavily on the ground, his fate unknown.

"These ashes of yours—you must have been an extremely powerful person in life."

Greck looked at Ruthel's figure, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

"Even as a spirit, he still possesses such formidable combat power."

He looked at Xia Tong again, his eyes gradually becoming calm.

"Hurry up and get started!"

"Greek shouted."

Then, he struggled to straighten his neck, which had become somewhat hunched from the intense fighting.

At the end of his life, this cowardly demigod, who had spent his entire life stealing the power of others through limb extensions, seemed to have finally regained a sliver of dignity belonging to the Golden Clan.

"Let me—return to the roots of the golden tree—"

Xia Tong no longer hesitated.

He took the heavy lion-shaped greatsword from Toret's horse and walked forward in silence.

The Lion Greatsword is extremely heavy, with a blade as wide as a door panel, exuding a sense of ancient solidity.

After being enhanced by Xiu Gu, the blade gleamed with an even more chilling light than before.

Xia Tong took a deep breath and squatted down slightly to gather strength.

Then, he and his heavy greatsword soared into the air, tracing a perfect arc in the sky.

Xia Tong forcefully twisted her waist and abdomen in mid-air, wielding the heavy Lion Greatsword, completing a full spin before slashing downwards with ferocity.

Combat Technique - Lion Slash!

"Buzz—!!"

The Lion Greatsword emitted a deep, rumbling sound as it tore through the air, heading straight for Grek's exposed neck.

"Snap!"

The moment the blade touched Grek's neck, it produced a dull thud like a heavy hammer smashing a rotten melon.

The greatsword, still brimming with power, slammed heavily onto the ground, carrying the severed demigod's head.

"boom!"

The hard stone brick plaza cracked instantly, exploding into a spiderweb-like pattern of fissures.

Dust billowed up, and everyone's eyes were focused on Xia Tong.

As Grek's hideous head rolled to the ground, his deformed body, which resembled a mountain of flesh, finally collapsed with a crash.

Even so, some of the numerous, splinted limbs on it were still trembling.

Then, Grek's head, still gaping open, spoke haltingly, "I am—the Golden King—"

"One day—I will—return—to—that golden homeland—"

Then, the light in his eyes went out completely, and he fell silent.

Immediately afterwards, a massive amount of runes transformed into countless dazzling streams of light, surging wildly from Grek's body.

Most of it flowed into Xia Tong's body, while the rest automatically diverted and merged into the bodies of powerful faders such as Neferi and Necaros, who had contributed more.

Xia Tong immediately opened her arms to welcome this immense energy.

Soon, an unimaginable feeling of fullness filled my body.

Xia Tong roughly sensed it and found that there were a total of more than 86,000 Runes!

Adding in the other parts that didn't enter his body, the total amount Grek lost this time was probably a huge sum of hundreds of thousands of runes.

As the runes dissipated, something even more dazzling and sacred slowly emerged above Grek's corpse.

That was a divine halo formed by several intricate golden light trails—Greek's Great Rune.

It presents an ancient and solemn circle, with a vertical line extending from the bottom like an anchor.

Even now, hovering silently above Grik's corpse, it still exudes a divine aura that makes one want to bow down and worship.

Its existence itself represents the supreme authority of a demigod.

Seeing the restless Faded Ones around her, Ruthel slammed the Eclipse Shield heavily onto the ground.

"Thump!"

Then he swung the spear horizontally in front of him.

Immediately, the group of faded individuals who had tried to step forward in front of her all took several steps back, their faces filled with fear.

As for Oreg, as he wielded his twin swords, several storms spread outwards, instantly clearing a vast, empty vacuum zone.

Having witnessed Ruth and Oreg's ruthless methods, and with Ingwell's gleaming halberd slamming down heavily...

Those treacherous individuals around him, having lost all hope, finally gave up and dared not approach him again.

"Xia Tong, go ahead, that's yours."

Neferi stared at Xia Tong, her eyes full of encouragement.

Not all faders are filled with a mad desire for Grek's Great Rune.

There were also some people who seemed to know that this thing would bring endless trouble, and they had no covetousness for the Great Rune in their eyes.

Some of the faded ones even come to Stoneville City simply to join in the fun, or like Necaros, just to have a good, exhilarating battle.

Xia Tong slowly moved forward and took a deep breath.

He reached out his hand, trembling.

The moment my fingertips touched the sacred light pattern, a sharp pain, as if it could burn my soul, shot up my arm and into my mind.

"Ugh 39"

Xia Tong immediately arched her back in pain, cold sweat pouring down her forehead.

But he did not back down. Instead, he grabbed the floating rune and squeezed it tightly in his palm.

"Buzz—!!"

A burst of golden light instantly entered Xia Tong's body.

At this moment, the Great Rune was deeply imprinted into Xia Tong's body until his death.

Countless years have passed, and one of the Great Runes in the border region has finally changed hands once again.

And its new owner this time is Xia Tong, the one who has faded.

On top of the tall tower.

Seeing that the battle was over, a glint of light flashed in Gotok's cloudy eyes, and his gaze became firm.

"It seems—the world has truly changed."

Then, he touched his pocket, took out two stone sword keys that he had prepared beforehand, and turned to walk into the depths of Stoneville City.

The ruins of Yizhan Street, including the basement.

"Lord Serian!"

Burke was so excited that he danced around, looking at Serenity with eyes full of admiration.

"That attack you just made was absolutely amazing! I wish I could use magic that could destroy the world like that!"

"What's that move called? It's like a comet, both beautiful and powerful!"

"What a pity, the light screen only showed the dragon head exploding, and then nothing else—"

Burke scratched his head with a hint of regret.

"I wonder if Lady Xia Tong managed to defeat that Greck! You said he was a demigod!"

"If Lady Xia Tong can defeat Grek—wouldn't that make her even more powerful than a demigod?"

As Seren listened to the incessant chatter of the demi-human Burke, Teacher Seren let out a soft sigh, seemingly feeling somewhat exhausted.

"That's just the weakest demigod recognized by everyone—it doesn't mean anything."

Her tone was flat, but tinged with weariness.

"You can go out now, I need to get some rest."

"Yes, Lord Seren."

Burke nodded obediently, then tiptoed away.

Royal City of Rodel

At this moment, "Ominous King" Mongot stood before the throne of Elden at the foot of the Golden Tree.

His hunched yet enormous body was hidden beneath his tattered robes, his hand tightly gripping the Mongot cursed sword concealed within his cane.

Suddenly, the air in the entire royal city seemed to freeze for a moment.

A subtle yet unsettling ripple traveled through the massive root system of the golden tree.

Then, Montgomery keenly sensed it.

The Great Rune belonging to Grek, which was originally guarding the direction of Stoneville City, began to move, and the originally weak but stable fluctuations of law completely disappeared.

Or rather, it was forcibly taken over by some external force.

Mongot slowly walked up the steps, then stretched out his hands and gently touched the trunk of the golden tree.

I could faintly sense the pulse of the law.

After confirming the fact that the Great Rune of Grik had changed hands, he fell into a deathly silence.

Several breaths passed.

An extremely suppressed roar exploded around the empty Elden Throne.

"waste----!!!"

Montgomery swung his cane sharply.

"Snap!"

The seemingly withered wooden cane's outer shell instantly shattered, revealing the cursed blood blade inside, radiating rainbow-colored light.

He slashed his sword fiercely at the stone pillar beside him.

The solid stone pillars of the royal city were instantly and neatly cut off like tofu, collapsing with a crash.

Montgomery's anger did not stem solely from Greck's death.

Even though Grek is related to his Montgomery by blood and shares similar golden blood with him.

However, in Montgomery's view, Grek, that coward who only used limb extensions to cover up his weakness, was not worthy of being called a member of the Golden Family.

What angered him was that this dignity belonging to a demigod had been trampled on by outsiders.

This is a challenge to the Golden Law.

He then turned his head towards a direction deep in the shadows and shouted, "Investigate!!"

"Find out who seized the Great Rune!"

"Report this to me immediately once you find out!"

Then, a low, resounding response came from the shadows and then slowly disappeared.

A round table in the hall.

Wang Haienxia silently emerged from the shadows and approached the man behind the desk, reporting, "My lord, Stoneville City has fallen."

"Greek is dead..."

Upon hearing this, Sir Gideon's quill fell to the table with a "thud".

Ink splattered on the parchment, spreading into a dark blot.

But he seemed not to see it, and froze in place.

Half an hour passed.

He slowly leaned back in his chair, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger.

"understood."

"You may leave."

When Xia Tong obtained Grek's Great Rune, he was surprised to find...

Grek's enormous corpse began to disintegrate, turning into countless points of light.

A large amount of dazzling blue dust was released from his corpse.

These specks of light did not scatter and disappear; instead, they converged upwards, forming a blue torrent that shot straight into the sky—

International.

Just then, a ripple appeared around Xia Tong.

Melina's figure slowly appeared.

Beneath the hood, Melina opened her single eye.

Her expression was more serious than ever before.

"Xia Tong, hurry up and do it."

Melina's voice was cold and urgent.

"That's Greck's will. Don't let him return to the Golden Tree."

"If you want to go further on the road to becoming a king, Greck's mindset will be of great help to you."

"Take out your summoning bell! Hurry up!"

Melina urged.

Upon hearing this, Xia Tong did not hesitate at all and immediately took off the Soul-Summoning Bell given to her by Lani from her waist.

Melina then continued, "Concentrate! Imagine capturing that torrent!"

Then, Melina's illusory hand gently rested on the back of Xia Tong's hand, guiding his power.

The latter immediately did as instructed, channeling his spiritual energy into the bell.

"bite"

A soft, melodious bell rang out.

The blue torrent of souls that had been rushing straight toward the sky suddenly seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall and stopped in mid-air.

Subsequently, through the sensing of the Soul Summoning Bell, Xia Tong clearly felt that Grek's spirit was struggling and roaring desperately.

The summoning bell in his hand was incredibly hot, as if he were holding a red-hot branding iron.

Clearly, Grek's soul is now frantically resisting being imprisoned.

"Tell him that you will take him to the royal city. Only by following you can he return to his long-desired golden homeland."

Melina whispered instructions.

Xia Tong raised an eyebrow, thinking to herself: Is this how it's done?

Without hesitation, he spoke in a low voice to the summoning bell in his hand, "Come in, Grik!"

"I'll take you back to Rodel!!"

It seems that Xia Tong's words really worked.

The blue torrent that had been struggling violently suddenly stopped resisting.

Then, it transformed into a submissive stream of light and whistled into the Soul-Summoning Bell in Xia Tong's hand.

"Buzz"