Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

Information regarding the battle:

Fireball: A combat item that explodes. As we can see, there are many other items that can be used in combat.

Information regarding special enemies:

Unidentified black substance, human pus: This is the second time I've seen this thing. It seems to be a parasite that suddenly emerges from other enemies. Based on my experience in this battle, this substance seems to be weak to fire; flames can effectively suppress its movement.

Xiaoyan's message: Fireproof lady, I appreciate your help, but please don't scribble on the information next time you're organizing it.

Fire Keeper's reply: Yes, Lord Ash~

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 The update schedule and frequency for the future have been pinned to the top of the book review. You can check it out.

Here's the first update, an hour ahead of schedule. The second update will probably be early too, congratulations! ≡ω≡

Chapter Twelve: Parkour is an essential skill in this world.

Only after the dust settled did Xiao Yan have time to examine the guy who had disturbed the human's pus.

She was startled when she looked. It was a person wearing the exact same armor as Teresa, except this person was wearing a helmet. However, when Xiaoyan first saw it, Teresa was just a phantom, so the armor's details weren't clear. But the person in front of her was truly there, allowing her to see the full extent of this exquisite armor.

"You are?"

Given the unfriendly history of the world's native inhabitants, although she was very curious, she did not approach rashly, but instead used language as a way to test the waters.

"Oh...nice to meet you...hello."

The clear, husky voice that Xiaoyan had overheard during the battle came over again. This person took a step back, seemingly wary of Xiaoyan, and the words that came out of her mouth were stuttering, as if she was trying her best to imitate someone.

“I am Anri of Astra… the ashes without fire, and perhaps you are too.”

She seemed to realize that her imitation was too deliberate, so she gave up imitating other people's tone and instead began to read the above passage in a way that gave Xiaoyan a greater sense of déjà vu and without any intonation.

"Sorry for saying something unnecessary. You must be Ash, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

After she stopped imitating other people's tone of voice, her speech became much smoother, but it always felt like she was simply reciting those words and phrases to keep the conversation going.

Have we met before?

Xiao Yan took a few steps closer to her.

“I don’t think so. I am also an Ash who has just embarked on a journey to find the Lord of Cinder, and this is my first time in Lothric.”

"Wait, when you introduced yourself, you mentioned you were from Astra?"

As Xiaoyan approached, she seemed to panic, and the helmet on her face turned slightly away. Xiaoyan, who had been staring at her, keenly sensed that the gaze that had been fixed on her had shifted.

“That’s right, I’m from Astra.”

"Is it possible to travel directly from Astra to Lothric?"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I mean, is it possible to get to Lothric using normal means of transportation, like a horse-drawn carriage or something?"

"That's a strange question. Everyone knows the reputation of the Astra Knights. Even though Lothric is in a spatially distorted place, many Astra Knights have entered here. But Astra is not included in this distorted space. It will take a lot of effort to get in. At least a carriage won't be able to do it."

As she spoke, she became more and more fluent, and the frequent use of obscure and difficult words in her speech revealed her identity as a local resident.

So, is that strange sense of familiarity really just caused by her armor?

Xiaoyan remained silent for a while, then gave up on the idea of ​​pursuing the matter to the end. After all, her primary goal now was to get through the Lothric High Walls and obtain a powerful soul.

She doesn't have the time to explore the truth of this world yet, but if there are other beautiful sights along the way, she wouldn't mind taking a look.

"Excuse me, but what I really want to know is, where in this area are there powerful life forms?"

Seeing that Xiaoyan had no intention of asking any further questions, Anri breathed a sigh of relief. Then, before Xiaoyan could question her actions any further, she immediately answered the question.

"Well, speaking of powerful beings, Lothric is currently under attack by the Knights of the Boreal Valley, so you'll probably encounter those powerful knights quite easily."

"Won't they specify where they'll appear?"

"The most likely place to appear is probably the gates of Lothric."

"Can you take me there?"

"Well... I'm currently looking for a prison key, which could take you to the next campfire, but you'll have to explore the rest of the way on your own."

"...No problem, this has already helped me a lot."

"Then, please follow me for now."

Having reached a consensus, the two stopped talking. Anri first rummaged around at the wandering spirit that Xiaoyan had cut in two for a while, seemingly picking up something, before setting off and leading Xiaoyan toward the tower she had come from.

"Actually, there should have been an elevator on the city wall that could have taken you directly to the vicinity of the city gate, but it was locked and couldn't be opened from the outside."

As they passed a set of steps leading down from the city wall, Anri casually offered an explanation before returning to the first campfire.

"So you haven't lit a campfire yet... no wonder."

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, but as ashes, it's best to light campfires in each area as soon as possible."

As she said this, she stepped aside so that Xiao Yan could light the campfire.

"Won't you sit down for a bit?"

"I wasn't injured, so I don't need to."

"Okay, let's go this way."

There turned out that there was a staircase leading down to the platform next to the campfire, which Xiao Yan hadn't noticed when she first arrived.

However, she didn't rush down, but instead searched for something near the campfire.

"Strange, I didn't see any messages or anything, and I didn't see Zhi either."

Could it be that the girl who made the promise to "meet at the next campfire" has become impatient due to Homura's overly slow progress and has broken her promise?

"what happened?"

Anri noticed that Xiaoyan hadn't followed, so she turned back to check on her, feeling a bit surprised.

"It's nothing, let's go."

————————————————————————————————————————

Just as Anri introduced at the beginning, the city was indeed under attack. The ruins everywhere, the piles of guard corpses, and the flying dragon that crashed through the city wall and died, all spoke of the brutality of the war.

The people were terrified, some kneeling beside withered trees on street corners, others prostrating themselves beneath the dragon's corpse. The prostrate spirits prayed to the dragon, while those gathered around the withered trees prayed to the sky. Xiao Yan noticed that many of the withered trees seemed to have been transformed from spirits who had climbed towards the sky; even after their deaths, the branches sprouting from their bodies stretched out as far as they could, yearning for something in the sky.

"These wandering spirits are not just a product of the war."

Anri explained casually.

They dealt with the soldiers nearby, who seemed to be afraid of something. They huddled in the crowd with their heads in their hands, but unlike ordinary wandering ghosts, they didn't pray to the sky or dragons. Only when a guy carrying a lantern, who looked like a night watchman, gave a shrill warning did they stumble to their feet.

The number of soldiers was large, and they were indistinguishable from the crowd. If the watchmen were to shout, they would be immediately surrounded and attacked by a large number of soldiers.

But Anri seemed to know the road very well, and she always managed to take them down before they could even make a sound.

After Anri once again seemed to have a premonition, slicing down a thief from behind a pile of barrels, Xiaoyan couldn't help but admire the guy.

"It's nothing. As I said before, this space is distorted, seemingly frozen in this war. Every time they return to the campfire or die, even if they are resurrected, their location will not change. Even if you come here yourself, you will figure out the tricks of this place after dying a few times."

This was Anri's calm reply after Xiaoyan couldn't help but ask.

It seems that behind these seemingly ordinary words lies a history of bloodshed and tears that cannot be detailed.

With Anri, who knew the terrain very well, there, Xiaoyan and the others moved quickly and soon passed another tower and reached the next section of the city wall.

But Anri stopped after arriving here.

"what happened?"

Xiao Yan couldn't help but ask, while carefully guarding against the spearmen carrying large wooden shields who were slowly moving towards them on the narrow city wall.

This was the first time Xiaoyan had seen an enemy holding a shield. She was wondering if these guys would deflect the attack and if she could just slash at them. Anri, who had started moving again, directly held his sword with both hands, assumed a combat stance, and pried open his shield with a downward thrust.

Next came the execution that Homura was familiar with. This tragic spearman, before he could even demonstrate his attack methods to Homura, was stabbed through the heart.

However, Anri, who had swiftly dealt with the man, did not let her guard down. She immediately drew her sword and rolled backward.

A rocket grazed past her armor.

"The next part is quite difficult."

Ignoring the crossbowman who was firing a stray arrow, Anri raised her shield and, while defending against the continuous crossbow bolts, explained the upcoming operation to Xiaoyan.

"Do you see it there?"

Anri gestured with his shield to the top of the high wall—where a huge dragon was perched.

"Once we get close to the edge tower of the city wall, whether we go up or down, we'll alert the dragon. And once it's alerted, this huge creature will breathe fire at us. So—"

After confirming that Xiaoyan had seen the dragon, Anri bent down and made a running motion.

"We have to get there before it gets alerted!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Anri didn't give Xiaoyan any time to react and ran straight towards the soldiers crowded on the low wall.

"What the hell!"

There was no time to say anything more. Xiao Yan ignited purple flames on her body and chased after Anri, who was already approaching the crossbowmen.

Clearly, Anri was well-versed in the routines here. She deftly dodged the crossbowmen who were crouching and aiming, rolled to avoid a longsword that was leaping down, raised her shield to block another crossbowman's sneak attack, kicked away a spearman who was holding a shield, and then, when facing the last soldier, she delivered a leaping slash, bringing this series of gorgeous parkour moves to a stylish end.

But Xiaoyan wasn't so carefree. Even with the added magic, her enhanced speed and strength couldn't support her raising her shield and charging straight at them. So she was left with only one option: roll, roll, roll.

Miraculously, she managed to roll her way out of the encirclement of four burly men.

"This guy definitely did it on purpose."

This is the roar in Xiaoyan's heart when she saw Anri leisurely killing the last crossbowman during a brief moment of rolling.

"If you don't hurry up and come over, the dragon is going to breathe fire!"

It was still that cold, hoarse voice, still that monotone tone, but for the first time, Xiao Yan loathed that familiar voice.

The dragon's head had already emerged from the tower, sparks escaping from between its sharp teeth. Little Flame gritted her teeth and poured all her magic into the hourglass of her shield.

A purple figure flashed by, enveloped in flames.

Instantly accelerating her own time, Little Flame burst out of the breath and lay disheveled on the stone steps leading to the side tower, enduring the dizziness of depleted magic power while glaring angrily at Anri.