Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Patch lay on the steps, cursing loudly at the ashes behind him.

When he turned around, he found that Ash's hand was already gripping the lever of the elevator.

“Wait, isn’t there some misunderstanding? This is our first meeting, isn’t it? I am a knight of Catarina, you can always trust me…”

Patch, wearing the Onion Knight armor, was still trying to explain himself, but all he saw was Ash shaking his head and pulling down the lever.

Patch's screams were the most horrific Ash had ever heard, even worse than that one of the world's most infamous songs, Lost River. (Don't search for it, don't listen to it, it's a waste of your ears, your brain, and your worldview.)

Once Patch's voice stopped, presumably Patch had realized that the giant slaves below had been eliminated, Ash pulled the lever again, raising the elevator stairs.

Patches, now back in his usual hard leather armor, crouched on the elevator in a Patches crouch and slowly appeared in front of Ash.

"My name is Patch, the indomitable Patch. It seems you're also an Ember of the Noflame. What brings you here?"

"Stop pretending. Give me the Onion Knight's armor, or you can go and return it to him."

Ash stared at him with eyes that seemed to see right through Patch, making Patch feel a chill run down his spine.

"...Uh, oh, right...I remember now. Oh dear, I'm so sorry, rather than saying it was me, well, it was the armor that did it. As you can see, I've already taken it off and am reflecting on my actions. And thankfully, you're safe and sound. So let's not count it. Yes, it doesn't count, it doesn't count, it's all the curse's fault..."

Ash shook his head, seemingly unsurprised by Patch's state. He drew his Lothric Knight Sword and Shield, assuming an attack stance against Patch.

"Yes, that's right. Even if I didn't do it, I still want to show my appreciation. It's just a small token of my appreciation, please accept it..."

Seeing that Ash was about to attack, Patch finally backed down, reluctantly pulling out a rusty gold coin from his pocket and handing it to Ash as an apology.

However, after accepting the gift, Ash shook his head and said, "This is not enough!"

Patch jumped up, thinking Ash was being greedy. He took out his Swallowwing Spear and shield, hiding behind the shield and only showing a small part of his bald head and eyes.

"I only tricked Onion's armor! I'll just give it back to him! I didn't even manage to trick you! And I got a fright from you! How is that not enough!"

"The rotating mechanism in the catacombs, you plunged me into the abyss! The cliff in the giant's tomb, you tricked me with the seven-colored stone. Then you changed your name to Pete, using a long and drawn-out setup to lure me into helping you defeat your rival, Clayton. And then you actually tricked me with an exploding box, while you stood by and laughed gleefully!"

Ash recounted all the evil deeds Patch had committed, leaving Patch somewhat bewildered.

Staring at the ashes before him, Patch tried to recall which unlucky soul had been tricked by him, but he had tricked too many people to remember.

Finally, Patch carefully put down the Swallow Wing Spear, used his shield to protect himself, took out the Onion Knight's armor from his backpack, and placed it on the ground in front of him.

"Take it. As an apology for what happened before, I won't take the money. You can leave now..."

After putting down his armor, Patch carefully retreated, shield in hand, until he reached the edge of the elevator. Whenever Ash attempted to attack, he would run up the elevator and use it to escape.

However, Ash put away his sword and shield, took the armor from the ground, and left behind a bottle of his treasured elemental soup.

"Patch, have a taste. This is one of the few flavors that the undead can taste..."

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In summary, excluding this extra chapter, I updated a total of 170706 words in April. I took a day off, which means I updated an average of 5886 words per day.

This word count is acceptable for me.

Also, thank you to the following gentlemen for their generous donations: Mu Zhiyunbai, Crazy81, Book Friend 20170106201110610, I'm Really Long, KuoluoJOJO, Mo Yue, Qidian Reading iOS, Mr. Mai, Book Friend 20191118141949449, jgamth.aj, and Book Friend 20190523160857850.

As of 21:55 PM, I had received 72 monthly votes from readers. I apologize, there were simply too many votes for me to type them all out (monthly vote voters can only be seen on mobile phones, so it's really too difficult to type everyone's names /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~). But I thank every single reader who voted. Thank you!

Thank you all for reading through my writing, and thank you for your helpful suggestions. Of course, as I've said before, Dark Souls is a niche genre, and the American comic book background makes some people want to instruct me on how to write a book. Some even resort to insults in my comments section, which is completely unnecessary.

I just want to write a story. If I really wanted to make some money, I could publish at least five anti-piracy chapters a month during my night shift breaks—posting them at 3 AM and then reverting them after get off work. Wouldn't that make my subscriptions skyrocket?

There's really no need for that. If you like it, subscribe to a couple of chapters and see. If you like it, give it a thumbs up; if you don't, that's fine too. You can subscribe again when the story you want to read comes out. That's all fine.

But I just don't understand why some people watch it on pirated websites and then come to criticize me? (Max looks confused)

No need, really no need. It's just a novel; don't get so worked up. Getting angry is bad for your health.

Oh, and my typos too. Thanks to everyone who pointed them out, thank you. But sometimes I'm really busy, so busy I can't keep up. I've tried my best to correct them, but I really don't have time to fix everything. Please bear with me.

Thank you all for coming! Thank you again!

## Chapter 203: The Source of the Matter

Constantine instigated a riot in the entire prison with just two cigarette butts.

The prisoner canteen now requires riot police to calm things down, and the same riot has broken out in the prisoner procession leading to the canteen.

Prior to this, Alexei had already left both places and arrived at his prison residence.

To maintain the limited privacy, there were no cameras inside the residence. Alexei whispered to the person next to him on the shoulder, "Natasha, is this okay? You can grow bigger now. I never imagined you could freely change size like that ant!"

However, Alexei did not experience what he had imagined. Instead, he felt a touch on his shoulder from behind.

"Uh... Natasha?"

"Get ready, Alexei."

"What do we need to prepare? How do we get out of here?"

Suddenly, a portal appeared beneath Alexei's feet, and he fell right into it. Natasha and Constantine, who were invisible, also jumped in.

Alexei fell from the sky from where Natasha had been observing the prison, landing hard on his backside.

As he rubbed his buttocks, Alexei noticed two splashes of snowflakes in front of him.

"I thought you had shrunk, but I never expected you to be invisible!"

Dispersing their invisibility, Natasha and Constantine appeared before Alexei.

Looking at Natasha, Alexei was gratified and moved, and prepared to hug her, but Natasha pinched his nose and pushed him away.

Alexei, rejected, pulled at his collar and smelled his own body, but he felt nothing.

It was only then that Alexei noticed Constantine behind Natasha.

"Oh, you brought your boyfriend? Are you married? Shall I lead you down the flower carpet?"

Alexei's erroneous perceptions and overthinking led him into a state of self-pity, and his heart-wrenching cries caused the snow on the mountaintop to tremble.

Natasha glanced furtively at Constantine behind her and realized that he didn't seem to care about Alexei's words.

"Stop joking. I'm here to talk to you about something. You have to tell me where the Red House is now."

The businesslike tone displeased Alexei, who was initially touched.

Alexei asked Constantine, "Has she been acting strangely lately, being so aggressive? Does she have those few days every month when she's in a bad mood?"

Seeing this, Natasha snapped her fingers in front of Alexei to draw his attention.

“I don’t menstruate, you idiot. I don’t even have a uterus or ovaries. The Red House dug out all my reproductive organs.”

Without looking at Alexei, Natasha stared at the distant mountaintop and spoke these words expressionlessly.

Alexei took a few steps back, then stepped forward again. He tried to embrace Natasha, but in the end he only grasped her arms and said, "All I want to say is that your return means a lot to me..."

"Alright, tell me where the Red House is now, and we'll be even!"

"Even if we're even, we're family!"

"Yes, three years of a fake family, and then Yelena and I were sent to the Red Room!"

Hearing this, Alexei stopped arguing and said softly, "I thought Melina would take care of you..."

"Wait, Melina? Isn't she dead?"

When Melina was mentioned, Alexei immediately perked up and said, "I'm a soldier, she's a fox. It won't be that easy to kill her. She's worked for Drekov longer than I have..."

"Uh, didn't I mention it? She's working near St. Petersburg now. You should go see her, and take me with you. By the way, what about your plane? Is it stealth also?"

Natasha ignored Alexei, who was searching for stealth aircraft in the snow, and turned to Constantine's side.

"Outside of St. Petersburg, is that alright?"

Without a reply, Constantine simply reached out and a portal appeared in front of Natasha.

"Oh my god, you're a mage! The one they talk about on TV! I should have realized it sooner..."

Upon seeing the portal, Alexei excitedly peered out from both sides, repeatedly trying to cross it and then jump back to feel the temperature difference between the two sides.

Just as Alexei was about to reach out and touch the sparks of the portal, a snowball was thrown at him and hit the portal before he could reach it.

Another snowball hit Alexei on the head, and Natasha pointed at the snowball that had been cut in half and said, "If you want to be in two, go ahead and touch it!"

With his hands behind his back, Alexei said cautiously, "Just try it, just try it."

On the road to the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Natasha walked ahead alone, fuming, followed by Constantine and Alexei, who were smoking.

Alexei quietly whispered to Constantine, "How long have you been together? How's life? Natasha has been like this since she was little..."

Before he could finish speaking, a bullet whizzed between Alexei and Constantine's heads.

Alexei raised his hands and said to Natasha helplessly, "I was just asking?"

However, Alexei saw Natasha, who had already taken cover under the roadbed, carefully observing the direction from which the bullets were flying.

"Enemy attack? Enemy attack!"

Alexei, realizing what was happening, immediately picked up a huge boulder from the roadside and used it to block Constantine and him.

However, Constantine emerged from behind the rock, went to Natasha, and reached out to help her up.

"Don't worry, it was just a test. She has already put away her weapon."

Having realized that she must be referring to Melina, Natasha also stepped out from under the cover.

"Hey, wait for me! You shouldn't have left me here alone!"

When everyone arrived at their destination, Melina's residence, a farmhouse courtyard enclosed by an iron fence.

Melina was holding a TAC-50 rifle, waiting for the group to arrive.

The look in Alexei and Melina's eyes when they looked at each other was one of longing and yearning.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Melina didn't react to Alexei's words and just walked home on her own.

Alexei followed Melina's footsteps and said to Natasha, "Come on, let's go home."

Upon entering the house, Melina laid down her weapon and said, "Welcome to my humble abode. Please make yourself at home."

However, Natasha remained completely businesslike, walking into the kitchen and observing the situation outside through the window.

"Is there a trap? Is there anything we need to know?"