Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

A pure killing intent gripped her, and a chill ran down her spine and into her brain. Ignoring the crossbow bolt in her shoulder, she suddenly rolled over, dodging the longsword, but the bolt that had been pressed against her pierced her entire shoulder.

She quickly got to her feet, pulled out the crossbow bolt, and amidst the gushing blood, gripped the cue stick with both hands and struck the gravedigger on the head with all her might.

The cue stick snapped and broke, along with blood mixed with white fluid that flew out.

The gravedigger's head was smashed open, and with the enormous impact, he was sent flying backward, his powerless arm letting the longsword slide down his side.

Before the longsword even hit the ground, it was caught by another pair of delicate hands.

"Haaaaaah—!"

Homura Akemi roared and charged into the arms of the gravedigger who had caught up with her, her sword piercing his chest in the impact.

Without pausing, he immediately drew his longsword from his chest and, with the force of both hands, slashed at the last gravedigger, who had already raised his broken sword and was cleaving it down.

The broken sword, held by the severed arm, flew out and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud as the head hit the ground.

It's not over yet!

She dodged another crossbow bolt with a roll, rushed forward, and pierced the heart of the gravedigger holding the crossbow.

"Hahaha—Ooh—Hahaha—"

She braced her longsword against the ground to keep from falling, her face splattered with blood, causing fear and nausea to rise in her throat.

How long had it been since she felt this way? She suppressed the urge to vomit as she recalled; it was probably the first time she saw Mami's head severed. Back then, the fear and disgust were almost unbearable. But this time, she was the one severing someone else's head!

She felt so awful she wanted to die.

"Xiao Yuan..."

But how could she die? She still had unfulfilled wishes. Killing someone was nothing. Even if something more desperate and painful stood in her way, she would grit her teeth and push forward.

"Come on, you murderers, let's see who will be the last one to die!"

Three new tomb guardians appeared and rushed towards her from behind the ruins.

Chapter Two: The Campfire is the Best Companion on the Journey

The battle at the Ash Graveyard came to an end. Xiaoyan dragged her injured body out of the graveyard. The last three gravekeepers were swiftly killed by Xiaoyan, who had overcome her psychological barriers. However, more than the physical pain, the mental exhaustion was what bothered her the most.

She dragged the longsword on the ground, leaving a long trail along her faltering steps. She collected the broken golf club, which served as a kind of solace in this strange world.

Upon exiting the cemetery, a cliff comes into view, its lower part shrouded in mist, obscuring the view. To the right, the cliff rises abruptly, revealing majestic city walls and ancient fortresses. Following a path jutting out from the cliff edge, one can see a temple with a tall tower perched atop a solitary cliff.

However, these magical sights did not attract Xiaoyan's attention. She just numbly moved her feet and continued walking along the only path that she could walk on.

The path gradually rises in elevation, and when she reaches the highest point, a small platform appears before her. From here, she can see the winding path leading down to an arena-like place.

She remained unresponsive to the scenery ahead; as long as there was a path, that was enough. Dragging her sword, she prepared to continue forward, only to be blocked by something in the center of the platform.

It was a longsword with a spiral blade, stuck in a pile of white ash. The part of the spiral sword near the ash glowed slightly red, as if it had been scorched by something for a long time.

She glanced at the strange object and was about to walk around it when she noticed a line of writing under her foot.

As if branded on the ground by flames, these crimson words seemed somewhat familiar to her. Before she could even ponder where the sense of déjà vu came from, the moment she saw the words clearly, she immediately understood their meaning.

"Please light the campfire; it will be a good companion on your journey."

The seemingly random sentence, despite the word "please," sounded like a command, and the way it was written made it seem as if the other person already knew she would arrive. Once her attention was drawn to the meaning she understood, she completely forgot to delve into the sudden sense of déjà vu.

Perhaps the person who left the message will know how to return to their own world.

The thought suddenly popped into her head, and her listless spirits lifted. She began to think about how to find the person who left the writing.

"Let's try it according to what's written on it for now, but how do we light it?"

After double-checking the message, she found that there was indeed no instruction on how to light a campfire. She was annoyed by this mysterious approach and realized she would have to figure it out herself.

She tried touching the hilt of the spiral sword, and orange-red flames burst forth from the blade, igniting the white ash amidst sparks.

The rising flames gave her a sense of warmth, and she unconsciously sat down, hugging her knees.

Whether it was her movement or something else that triggered the flames, the flames spread after she sat down, engulfing her entire body.

At first, she was a little wary and tried to stand up, but the flames didn't burn her. Instead, they felt warm and comfortable, like taking a bath.

Since there was no danger, she relaxed and enjoyed the warmth of the flames.

After an unknown amount of time, the flames subsided, and she was surprised to find that her injuries had disappeared, and even her clothes had returned to their original state... Well, it can't be said that they were completely healed. The wounds she had when she entered this world were still there, and she only realized it now. She hadn't felt any pain from those wounds at all. At the same time, her clothes had only returned to how they were when she entered the world.

Overall, she has recovered, but she still looks somewhat disheveled.

"After all, he crawled out of a coffin."

She made a sarcastic comment about her appearance without any expression.

Now that she had recovered, she should continue on her way, still unaware of what she had forgotten.

She continued down the path, where there were several forks, and some gravediggers lingered among them. As she approached, these men immediately charged at her with their weapons, making her acutely aware of their hostility.

Is there no one here I can talk to?

These were her thoughts after she plunged her longsword into their hearts three times in a row.

She flicked the blood off her sword to the ground. She had strayed to the left side of the fork in the road during the fight, but she had no intention of turning back. She simply continued down the path.

After rounding a stone wall, she saw the arena gate, and the crossbow held by the tomb keeper beside the gate made her shoulder inexplicably ache.

Not wanting to experience the feeling of being pierced by a crossbow bolt again, she used the shield on her left arm to block a crossbow bolt, and took advantage of the opening to rush forward and swiftly cut him down to the ground.

However, before she could vent her anger, familiar footsteps and the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind her.

"Again?!"

Even the clueless Xiao Yan wanted to swear, because these guys hiding somewhere were just too insidious.

Wanting to unleash a torrent of curses is one thing, figuring out how to dodge an attack is another.

She rolled away to avoid the longsword aimed straight at her back, and as she stood up, the longsword slashed out diagonally, disemboweling the attacker.

Looking at the entrails spilled all over the floor, she felt nauseous again. It seemed she would have to use stabbing techniques more often in the future.

She hadn't realized that in the short time she'd been in this world, she'd already started thinking about how to kill her enemies without dying too gruesome a death.

The path to the arena was cleared, but after suffering several setbacks, she became much more cautious when exploring the arena. After stepping into the arena gates, she raised her left arm, holding her own hourglass shield in front of her, and gripped her longsword in her right hand, positioning it behind her for the best possible attack.

However, her caution was superfluous in this situation.

The Ashen Tribunal is the name of this arena-like building. Although it has the layout of an arena and even has corresponding stands, the stands are filled with piles of tombstones and coffins leaning against trees, seemingly indicating that the audience here has long since turned into skeletons.

The arena offered excellent visibility. As Xiao Yan passed through the passageway, the entire area came into view. The most conspicuous figure was the burly armored man in the center of the arena—his chest had been pierced by a spiraling greatsword, and he was kneeling on one knee, supporting himself with a halberd, facing the gate directly.

She cautiously approached, but the burly creature didn't move. After observing it for a while, she realized that apart from some black tentacles wriggling on its back, it didn't seem threatening. So she simply went around it to see if there was another way.

The arena's exit was right across from the entrance. She pushed against the tightly closed door, but it didn't budge.

"Trapped here?" Xiaoyan frowned.

Or was there some kind of mechanism or trap? She searched the entire arena carefully again, but still found nothing.

The most suspicious one is the big guy right in the middle.

She waded through the water in the middle of the arena, came to the guy, and poked him with her longsword.

There was still no response.

"Should we pull the sword out of his body?"

Recalling some of the novels she had read in her teenage years, Xiaoyan decided to give this somewhat unreliable idea a try.

After all, she still had things to accomplish, so how could she just stop here?

She sheathed her longsword in her shield, gripped the spiral sword with both hands, and pulled hard.

Can it really be moved?

She felt this setting was full of wicked humor and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

The task still had to be done, so she forcefully pulled the entire sword out.

Holding the spiral sword, she immediately stepped back, because the moment the sword left her body, she keenly sensed that the armored figure in front of her had come to life.

Sure enough, after she stepped back, the guy seemed to lose his support all at once. His whole body sank, and he put his free left hand on the ground and slowly raised his head.

An intense sense of oppression pressed down on her, making her feel as if she had stepped into a battlefield filled with blood and fire.

She threw away the spiral sword, took out the longsword again, and moved her feet slightly, observing the guy warily.

"Hello...can you hear me?"

Clinging to her last remaining hope, she made one last attempt to communicate.

Her response was a fierce halberd slashing down upon her.

The power, far beyond what those weak tomb guardians could match, was imbued into this ferocious halberd. He raised the halberd high above his head with one hand, took a step forward, and then slammed it down heavily.

At the last second, Xiao Yan's side roll narrowly avoided the direct hit of the battle halberd, but the shockwave generated by the powerful impact of the slamming into the ground blew her far away.

"This power is simply unfair!"

After being blown away by the aftershocks of the attack, she quickly got up.

And the second strike from the Ash Judge came right away.

The halberd, pulled from the ground, swept across him with another step.

The attack range was vast, and Xiaoyan didn't have time to think much before she raised her sword and shield in front of her.

A tremendous impact came from the parrying weapon; she felt as if the attack had just arrived when she was slammed against the wall.

"Ah—vomit—!"

Blood gushed from her throat, and the pain of her shattered bones robbed her of the ability to move.

The burly figure had slowly approached.

Is it really over?

The judge raised his left arm, as if to grab the presumptuous little girl.

How can it be!

Purple magic ignited within him, and although the amount was small, it still removed the pain that had nearly made him faint.

She leaped desperately to her feet and, before the knight could grab her, plunged her longsword into his chest.