Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

She picked up the fire pot and tossed it in her hand.

"—When you fight down there, you'll see what it means for an explosion to be art. Alright, we've got the necessary items, let me explain the tactics."

Xiaoyan was pulled by Zhi to the attic where the soldiers who threw firebombs were hiding, where the entire room was clearly visible.

Inside the room, three soldiers and a skeletal dog were pacing around, one on the left, one on the right, and two in the middle. According to Zhi, these three soldiers were all elite, with bodies much stronger than ordinary soldiers, able to withstand more attacks, and two of them were carrying heavy axes, so that being grazed by them would result in death or serious injury. Most importantly, the dog mixed in among them always came to cause trouble at the most crucial moments.

"The room below is filled with barrels that can be ignited by flames, and that's the key to my tactic. My idea is that the two of us, one on the left and one on the right, will lure them to the very center of the room, right where that pile of gunpowder barrels is. Once that's done, I'll use this fire pot to detonate the barrels, and then, when they're reduced to a sliver of health, we'll quickly finish them off."

"Understood. So how do we allocate the space on the left and right sides?"

"I'll rush out to the right first, use my abilities to take care of that annoying dog, and then lure the heavy axe soldiers on the right. You can lure the halberd soldiers on the left. But wait until the dog and the heavy axe soldiers in the middle are gathered together before rushing out."

So the two of them returned to the entrance of the room and waited for their chance.

At this moment, Xiaoyan, who was holding her breath and waiting, noticed a lot of bloodstains at the entrance. Underneath one of the pools of blood, there seemed to be a message, which they had initially overlooked because it was covered by blood.

Xiaoyan was a little confused, but just like before, she immediately understood the message after seeing it.

"Next, the inducement was very effective."

She was stunned for a moment, and was about to call Zhi over to take a look when she turned around and saw Zhi rushing out.

"Now! Proceed according to plan!"

Her voice came as she jumped down the stairs.

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Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information regarding the battle:

Message: This is useful information left by a kind person. When entering an unfamiliar place, if you see any messages, be sure to check them! Be sure to check them!

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 Second update delivered. By the way, two chapters, three thousand words each, could we squeeze out a thousand words from each chapter and make it three updates?

Chapter Seventeen: Five lowly soldiers, equal to a Lothric Knight

"Now! Proceed according to plan!"

Zhi had already darted out when the skeletal dog approached the bottom of the stairs. She stepped off the stairs and, using the momentum from falling from a height, stabbed it with her knife. Her ability activated, and the splattering blood set the stage for this waltz on the axe and halberd.

The arrow is on the string, and it must be released.

Xiao Yan could only put the message out of her mind for the time being, her body ignited with purple flames, and she rushed towards the left side of the room.

The heavy axe soldier in the middle of the room watched helplessly as Zhi descended from the sky, and the tragic skeletal dog died without even a howl. He instinctively raised his heavy axe and smashed a large crater in the brick floor the instant Zhi charged at him.

Zhi darted away from him, and before the wandering soul could even process what was happening, another purple figure appeared in his field of vision and ran off in another direction.

He froze, his stiff spine straining to look left and right, pulled by decaying muscles, unable to decide which way to go.

Xiao Yan had no time to pay attention to the soldier's dilemma. She rushed to the left as planned, and when she startled the halberd soldier, she was about to turn back to the center of the room.

However, an ominous bark came from the basement on the left. She shuddered and instinctively rolled away, avoiding the skeletal dog that suddenly jumped out of the basement.

"You've tricked me again!"

Without a second thought, she used her rolling technique again to escape from the sharp teeth of the halberd.

The last axe soldier on the right was also alerted by Zhi. Without saying a word, he delivered a powerful jumping slash. Zhi had just heard Xiao Yan's resentful roar when he slipped and almost got hit.

She dodged the heavy axe in a sorry state, then turned back and ran towards the designated meeting point.

"I completely forgot there was a dog there!"

She innocently yelled at Xiaoyan, who was rushing towards her.

The curves they traced across the entire room were about to converge at the very center of the room.

The heavy axe soldier in the middle felt he had found an opportunity. The point where the two men met was right in front of him. If he attacked in that direction, one of the two annoying ashes who had tricked him would eventually run into his own heavy axe.

He was thrilled with his cleverness and raised the heavy axe high.

The two running figures noticed a problem: the other person was rapidly approaching. If they didn't turn around soon, they would be given a warm hug.

"You go left, I'll go right, get out of the way!"

"Are you an idiot? At a time like this, everyone get out of the way in the same direction!"

Your stance determines what you say. Although this isn't quite the right word here, when two people are facing each other, his right is your left, and your right is his left. So, should we both move to the left, or should you move to your left and I move to my right? This is a very serious question.

They no longer had time to think about the problem in detail. At this moment, the only thing that would determine whether their cooperation would go wrong was their mutual understanding.

The music was still playing, and the dancers, stepping to their feet, were still showing off their figures.

boom!--

The heavy axe struck, but this time it could only stir up a pile of rubble.

In the final, crucial moment, the two men facing each other both chose to step to their right.

The two curves, about to intersect, coincidentally rushed off in opposite directions the instant they collided.

The stage, amidst these interlacing dance steps, cuts out a neat cross centered on the wooden barrel.

"Now! Behold the art of my explosion!"

The thrilling waltz has gathered all the performers; the flames are about to rise, and the final movement of the dance is about to begin.

The heavy axe soldier was still wondering how his prey, which he had captured so easily, had flown away again. Before his decaying brain could process the facts, the fire pot he had thrown had already hit the exploding barrel. In an instant, the swift impact, carrying raging flames, threw him far away.

"Yo-ho~ Time to reap the rewards, let's finish them off together!"

At the perfectly aligned center of the cross, dazzling sparks burst forth; the final dance will be performed by everyone.

The soldiers waved their hands, displaying their figures in the air; the hounds were engulfed in flames, their convulsing limbs stomping wildly on the ground; the two main characters re-entered the scene, brandishing their bloody knives.

The waltz has come to a close.

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After the excitement subsided, the room finally quieted down.

The scattered wood chips were still burning with faint flames. Zhi kicked aside the tables and chairs blocking her way and came to a stove.

"Ta-da~ Here comes something good."

She rummaged around in the stove and pulled out a strange, orange-yellow fragment.

"This is the good stuff I was talking about, an elemental fragment. Give it to the craftsman uncle, and it will increase the number of times you can use the elemental bottle. How about that, pretty good, right?"

"Ah, that's really good, but Zhi, could you explain to me what the tactics in that message meant?"

As she casually handed the elemental fragments to Zhi like a treasure, Xiao Yan grabbed her arm and dragged her back to where she had first discovered the message.

"Ah...what message? Hmm? 'Next, the baiting is very effective'..."

Xiao Yan wiped the bloodstains on the ground a couple of times, revealing a message underneath. After Zhi understood the message, her smug smile immediately turned into a fawning grin.

"Um, Xiaoyan... could you let me explain?"

"Questions and answers are useless!"

The sword hilt slammed down again, causing Zhi to writhe beside the message, clutching her stomach.

I wonder if Orihime should be thankful that after she was able to appear in Homura's world in physical form, Homura no longer swung her longsword at her, but instead used the hilt of the sword to continue exercising her right to vent her anger.

"At least before I wouldn't get cut by a sword, but now it's real damage!" QAQ

"Hmph, I've already shown mercy. After all, someone overlooked a dog in the basement."

"I really thank you, Lord Flame, for showing mercy. It's so great that you didn't inflict damage that would require me to drink an elemental potion to recover!" QAQ

"Yeah, yeah, with teammates dealing damage, the fun of the battle has increased a lot."

"Teammate damage is meant to increase the difficulty, not the fun!"

A once sunny and cheerful girl has gradually drifted further and further down the path of being a sarcastic and witty person.

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"Alright, open this iron gate. From now on, we can use the elevator here to quickly get from the first campfire on the Lothric High Wall to the vicinity of the city gate."

After the battle, the two relaxed with their usual jokes and then embarked on their journey again.

Led by Zhi, Xiaoyan jumped down from the balcony of the room where she got the Elemental Bottle. She casually used a falling slash to take down a soldier waiting below to ambush her. They carefully avoided the winged knights patrolling the square full of corpses, and fought their way through, opening up a shortcut to the first campfire.

By the way, I remember Xiaoyan mentioned before that with her current skill level, she could easily take on five Gravekeepers of that strength by herself. However, today, she witnessed firsthand how, when five grunts suddenly appeared from the sky, they could overwhelm any careless Ash with sheer numbers.

It was a garden, and she miraculously discovered some bloodstains there, the same bloodstains she had seen outside the room where the elemental fragments were located. This time, Zhi showed her the residual information of these bloodstains. A blood-red phantom of a short-haired girl in a uniform stood up from the bloodstains. She held a spear and shield and rushed into the garden, seemingly fighting someone. In the end, she was forced into a corner and died helplessly.

"Hmm, this ghostly figure looks familiar... Oh well, I'll just have to be careful whenever I see blood in the future."

Then, Zhi, defying the law, put on a terrifying show for Xiao Yan.

In the garden, there was initially only one soldier with a shield and a longsword. However, just as Zhi dealt with this soldier, five wandering spirits dressed as commoners suddenly jumped out from a corner of the garden. Unfortunately, just as Zhi was about to unleash a wide-range Iaijutsu, two of them raised their swords and began to wildly swing them, dodging Zhi's attack. From then on, Zhi could only roll around under the onslaught of the five sharp swords.

This story teaches us that the Flynns, without shields, are only making things more difficult for themselves. In this situation, having a handy shield would make things much easier.

Although Zhi didn't have a shield at this moment, she had teammates.

"This is outrageous! Xiao Yan, come help!"

Xiao Yan, who had been standing at the entrance from the start and hadn't attracted any hatred, easily took down the five people one by one from behind.

She assessed that these five guys were basically one-hit kills, but when the five of them appeared together, they were practically displaying the strength of half a Lothric Knight.

Oh, for some people, they might be even more difficult to deal with than the Knights of Lothric—she glanced at the weaver and added to herself.

Having passed through here and opened a shortcut, the exploration of the Lothric High Walls can be said to have come to an end. Next, ignoring the enemies along the way, they can run all the way to the location of the Knights of Conquest. However, on Zhi's suggestion, they plan to go back to Firelink Shrine first to help Xiaoyan strengthen her Elemental Flamesket and also to see the Fire Keeper to see if she can help Xiaoyan complete a Completion.

"Huh? You're asking me what 'Integrity' means... Please, didn't your Fire Keeper tell you the purpose of her existence?"

"When I first came to the sacrificial site, a lot happened, and I was rushing here to find a powerful soul, so I completely forgot to have a proper talk with her."

"So you're saying that even if you complete the Trial of Ashes and get that one chance at completion, it's useless?"

"I think so."

"It's a good thing we made a vow, otherwise you would have died countless times if you had come alone. I can't even believe it."

Zhi slapped her forehead, saying with a hint of helplessness.

"No, no, no, I think even with your level of strength, you would die many times before you could clear the game if you didn't know the strategy."