Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

Xiao Yan's body was also fading away. She didn't even have an elemental bottle anymore. Her entire body was tattered from the constant impacts, but her current joy could not be concealed by her disheveled state.

"Congratulations! Perfect timing! To celebrate this hard-won victory, let me take you to a nice place to have some fun."

"...A good place?"

Xiaoyan's vision was becoming blurry, and the crimson color had seeped into her vision again, so she couldn't see where Zhi was lying at all.

"I've already accumulated 10 deaths, and next I'll be going to my intermittent world. I don't know if you'll come with me under the Ash Pact, but whatever, if we do, I'll treat you to a big meal."

The sound drifted over faintly, and my weary mind, carrying a sliver of hope, slowly fell silent.

Flames surged up.

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 A 5,000-word long chapter. I wonder if this battle with the Ice Dog was exciting enough. Fellow readers, feel free to leave your comments below! (>_)

The essence of making money by intermittently traveling to other worlds is double-crossing.

While Xiaoyan and Zhi were heading to the Intermittent World, several figures gathered at a fireless sacrificial site, one of whom they knew very well.

"The news has been confirmed. One of those madmen fed himself to Eldridge on a certain timeline. He has now broken free of the divine realm and slid into the abyss."

The first person to speak was tall and burly, dressed as a clergyman, but his cloak-like priest's attire didn't seem to belong to this world. He pushed up his round-framed glasses, grinned, and spoke in an excited, deep voice about the information he had obtained.

“No wonder, I’ve seen ashes resembling local inhabitants arrive at our sacrificial site before.”

This time it was Granny Wolf who spoke. She was still the same as before, leaning lazily against the steps.

"Crunch...chew...Grandma's cookies are as delicious as ever...crunch~"

This was a chubby fellow, also wearing a set of round armor, and his pink, round face, which was not human-shaped, was also shaped like an onion head. He seemed completely oblivious to the atmosphere around him, and was only concerned with chewing on the biscuits made from wheat.

"The warrior knight in the Great Archives is very abnormal. Elder Crystal has resealed him."

A simple and ethereal voice flowed from the lips of a delicate young girl. She stared intently at the crystal ball in her hand, its soft light reflecting off her long hair, which, along with her ancient mage robes, fluttered in the air.

"It seems that new demons have emerged in Smoky Lake, and lava has gradually spread to the Tomb of Carthus."

His calm voice, square face, tattered leather jacket wrapped with a long scarf, thick red hair extending from his chin to the top of his head, each hair standing upright, and the canine teeth showing on his lips, all contributed to the fierce aura emanating from his burly body.

"Tch... You called me back for this reason? You're making a mountain out of a molehill. There's no fine wine here, and the few women you have are so boring. It's amazing you can still stay here. I say, there's no reason to do so much for those newcomers. Just let them fend for themselves."

The last man had long, dark red hair, half of his face was covered by a white mask, and he was dressed in an elegant aristocratic robe. However, he was lying on the steps without any regard for his image, leaning against the coffin he was leaning against, smoking a cigarette, and complaining listlessly.

“What I just said was merely to inform you that since even the God Eaters have a way to leave the divine realm that confines them, it means that we also have a way to safely reach the other side of the abyss. I've been keeping an eye on this restless fellow for two reasons: firstly, because he blasphemed the gods, and secondly, because I couldn't find my old nemesis for the time being. Now that he has shown me a way, I don't need to stay in Anordron any longer. I've summoned you here simply to inform you of this decision.”

"This reason is even more ridiculous than the previous one. It seems that coming back was a mistake."

The man leaning against the coffin finally realized what was happening. He rubbed his temples, his head aching, and pulled the coffin up on his back, heading towards the empty bonfire in the center of the sacrificial site.

"I think this information is quite important. Otherwise, if you happen to be wandering around and see something strange in your world, don't blame me for not letting you know beforehand."

"Hmph, so what if Eldridge comes over? I've killed him so many times already, a few more times won't matter."

He walked to the campfire, set himself ablaze, and poured the flames into the fireless campfire before slowly disappearing.

"Heh, so be it then. I had no intention of having any contact with you heretics. I was just informing you of my previous promise. Now that's the case, I'll go and do what I haven't finished."

The burly priest said one last thing, then, with a fanatical expression, made the sign of the cross on his chest and walked toward the campfire as well.

"Click, is it over? Then I should go back too. It wouldn't be good if someone stole the sun while I was away. Grandma, I'll take these cookies with me~"

The round, chubby creature also left, and the three remaining in the Firelink Shrine remained silent for a long time under the glow of the crystal ball.

"Reinherz, what do you say?"

Finally, Holo broke the silence, looking at the burly man with red hair and a red beard, seemingly trying to find someone slightly more reliable among these unreliable teammates.

This lion-like man stood upright, his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly lost in quiet contemplation.

"Chew...chew...swallow..."

"I was wondering, how do you bake your cookies, Grandma? If you have time, could you teach me?"

*Smack!* Holo slapped herself on the forehead.

"Are we all really that bad? Isn't there anyone reliable among us?"

“Mother-in-law, you’ve included yourself in the insult.”

The girl, who had been quietly staring at the crystal ball, suddenly interjected.

"Huh? You didn't misjudge me. You want me to be a babysitter for newbies? Forget it. It's just that everything set up in the Lordran realm has been broken. It's not like anyone will die."

"How to make cookies..."

"The key is wheat, but only I have this kind of wheat, so you can forget about it."

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The Oath of Ashes was indeed magical, as if it truly connected their worlds, allowing them to travel together to places that the other could only reach during brief intervals.

As night fell, the dazzling lights and the vibrant colors of the modern city dazzled their eyes.

"Yo-ho~ Welcome to my intermittent world. Although we haven't explored it in great depth, it's generally similar to our original world. Let's rest here tonight~"

Ignoring Zhi's inexplicable excitement, Xiaoyan looked up at the familiar-looking large screen and checked the date on it.

"Another different date. It seems this really is a new world for me. It really doesn't feel real."

"What are you thinking about? Hurry up, let's go get some money first, then we'll go have a big meal!"

Zhi grabbed Xiaoyan's hand and rushed towards the city in the night.

An hour later.

In a small, little-known criminal organization, Zhi was fiddling with a well-hidden safe.

"Like this, like this, and like this again, okay, it's open... Let me see how much money is hidden in this little gangster's hideout, hehe... Oh, not much, not even as much as the protection money for my whole street back then."

She was wearing a loose black kimono that she had just found in the inner room, with the sash tied casually at the waist and her chest exposed, revealing her breast wrap. She had a very roguish air about her, which suited the environment quite well.

Xiaoyan actually found a clean school uniform here, so it seems that they also do some business here.

While she was busy weaving, she changed out of her worn-out clothes and was now searching for the weapons of the men in black suits who had been knocked unconscious by the two of them.

It's no wonder that Ori was born into a yakuza family; not only did she locate the hideout in a short time, but she also used her fluent yakuza slang to have Homura disguise herself as a fallen girl and infiltrate the area under the pretense of discussing business. From there, things became much easier. These yakuza members, who were considered quite capable fighters among ordinary people, were all easily taken down by Homura, who had been annoyed and patient with Ori's plan for a long time. In a few moves, Ori also received a sword hilt blow to the stomach.

After searching everyone, they only found two P220 pistols. There were quite a few daggers, bayonets, batons, brass knuckles, and the like, but Xiao Yan didn't care about these cold weapons at all.

He disassembled the pistol, confirmed that all parts were in good condition and that it was well-maintained, then reassembled it and stuffed it into his shield along with several magazines.

Looking at the empty storage space inside the shield, she suddenly felt nostalgic for the weapons she had collected before. If her time-stopping ability hadn't stopped working, she would have loved to visit the Self-Defense Forces of this world.

For now, she can only make do. Actually, she is more skilled in gunfighting than cold weapons, and she is eager to return to the World of Fire and try out these long-lost weapons.

"But bullets are a problem. Should we encourage Zhi to go and check out a few more underworld strongholds?"

"I've got this sorted out, Homura, let's get ready to retreat—wait, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just looking for some handy weapons."

Zhi stuffed all the money she found into a wallet and thoughtfully locked away the ledgers and materials related to organized crime from the safe. When she arrived at Xiaoyan's place, she saw neatly stacked cold weapons and two empty gun holsters. She was instantly horrified, suddenly remembering that a certain girl had recently revealed that she was a military enthusiast. Looking at it now, it was indeed true.

Hmm, looks like I'll have to be prepared to eat gun butts when I'm just lounging around from now on.

Thinking this, Zhi led Xiaoyan to the place where they were going to have a big meal.

"It's just a regular conveyor belt sushi..."

"Hmm, I've been to this place before, the food was pretty good. And when it comes to Japanese cuisine, isn't it all about sushi? —Hey buddy over there, there are two customers here."

Ash originally had a very low profile in the Intermittent World, but Weaving's whirlwind style managed to attract the attention of the entire store.

"Coming, coming, please have a seat here. Would you like something to drink? ... Oh, isn't this the lady from last time?"

The shop assistant who came over to greet us was a guy with light black hair and a spiky hairstyle. He looked like a high school student, but for some reason, his fairly handsome face had a gloomy look on it.

"Yes, yes, I really appreciate it if this guy would pay for my free meal last time. This time I brought my friend along."

"Hey, explain yourself clearly. Doesn't this sound like we're here to dine and dash?"

Seeing the guy's face darken instantly, Xiao Yan, with dead fish eyes, gave Zhi a chop to the neck.

"Haha, sorry, sorry, bro, I brought money with me this time... Here, this is for the meal last time, thank you very much."

"It's alright, it's good that you remember... They're all whole bills, just a moment, I'll give you your change right away."

Knowing that the girl in front of him wasn't planning to dine and dash again, the young man breathed a sigh of relief, took the money Zhi handed him, and then took out his wallet from his pocket.

He accidentally dropped a coin from his pocket onto the ground, and instinctively bent down to pick it up.

"Flower Goddess, come and take these things."

"Oh? Okay, I'll be right there..."

Boom! ——

The shop owner suddenly called his name, and in his haste to look up, he bumped into the table.

"...It hurts so much..."

That wasn't the end of it. Just as he was crouching on the ground, holding his head, the teacup he had just brought up for Zhi and Xiaoyan was about to tip over towards his head due to the impact.

In that instant, Zhi instinctively caught the teacup.

"Dude, you're still so unlucky!"

"Haha, thank you, thank you. Otherwise, I would have gotten tea poured all over my head again."

"It's okay, you can give me the change later. You should deal with the boss first."

At Zhi's prompting, he quickly bowed and hurriedly ran towards his boss.

"What a strange guy."

Xiaoyan munched on her sushi as she watched the boy leave, finally offering a comment.

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Xiaoyan's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information about the world itself:

Intermittent World (Supplement): Ash that has been confirmed to have entered into an Ash Pact can be taken to the intermittent world of the contracting party.

PS: Yunxi: The worldview of 744486102 has been drastically altered. From now on, it won't be the Dark Souls formula anymore... probably?