A/N: Well… took me long enough. Let's not waste time and get to it. I apologize let myself go during my pseudo vacation during the middle of the year. BUT, I'm back now with more force, and will start working more diligently on these fics, I won't let the starting of schedule keep happening.

So… let's go then.

Beta: Genatools

Chapter 13: A Foot in that Cesspool.

The five of them opened the door to Blighttown and descended down the large ladders and scaffolding. Slowly going down one at a time so as to not get in each other's way, and to not cause accidents or mistakes for that matter. Even so, all of them had to suffer the smell, in and of itself surprising them as to how bad it got the further they went down. The Depths were disgusting… but even the entrance of Blighttown seemed to radiate a persistent rancid aroma.

"Uugh… This place has truly let itself go I would say. Nowhere have I ever smelled something this foul." Siegmeyer said as he carefully tested the planks ahead of him with his foot. Grand part of the scaffolding not looking exactly stable.

"We'll have to get used to it. We are still only at the entrance." Beatrice said, her nose scrunched up as the smell hit her. "We… should adapt eventually." She said, doing her best to not breathe through her nose.

"Be careful, and watch where you are stepping. I can hardly see ahead." Oscar said as he led the way. Soon however he was able to see something, something running straight at him.

"What in the-" Oscar raised his shield as a large and fat creature with a large club rushed towards them. It looked humanoid, but none of them could really call it human, or even a Hollow for that matter. Monster seemed more appropriate.

"Beware! Do not let it knock you off!" Solaire called out as it got closer. Oscar tentatively began to circle the creature in the small space he had. It lunged at him with a club swing, but missed as Oscar moved past it and thrust his sword on its back. Solaire rushed in as well, thrusting his sword on its stomach. Both knights wrenched their swords out and pushed the creature towards the edge, Eskar being the one to push it off with a flying tornado kick, the creature breaking other scaffolding as it plummeted down the hole.

"Wha-... What was that?" Oscar asked the others.

"A local. A resident of this place. The plague and disease have turned them… and now that they are Hollow… they have turned into repugnant mindless monsters." Beatrice explained.

"By the gods." Siegmeyer lamented as he looked down the hole, feeling pity for the residents of Blighttown.

"There's gonna be more," Eskar said, his assumption confirmed as strange sounds came from the path ahead.

"I would recommend not touching them if not necessary," Beatrice warned them. All of them stared and nodded at each other as they continued forward through the dark cave, immediately becoming alert as they saw more figures moving through the darkness.

"There's more of them now." Siegmeyer hefted his Zweihander with both hands as he and the others readied themselves.

The first thing they saw were two more infested large beings rushed out of the darkness while dragging their clubs behind them. As one of them approached to attack Oscar, it was blasted with a fire orb and a soul arrow from Beatrice, the second one rushing past its fellow and going for a large horizontal swing. Oscar parried the attack with his shield and moved past the creature, signaling Siegmeyer to attack it while he, Solaire, and Eskar rushed to meet more creatures that began to come out of the darkness. Siegmeyer used all his strength to thrust his sword into the creature, impaling it, lifting it into the air, and pile-driving it into the ground in one swift motion.

In the meantime, the trio that ran up ahead met their enemies. They were certainly more humanoid, but deformed all the same into what seemed to be humans, only with elongated and monstrous features. The first few growled and roared as they rushed towards them and tried to grab them, Solaire and Oscar sidestepping out of the way while Eskar did a swift back step. Eskar attacked first with a combination of gut punches to one of them, a spinning hook kick, and then switching targets with a powerful roundhouse, a Meia Lua kick, and a point-blank great soul arrow. Solaire and Oscar took care of some of them as well. Solaire tackling one with his shield and thrusting his sword forward before dodging out of the way, avoiding a pounce from another of the creatures. They came at them with broken swords and spears, but they were just feral, charging in with no real technique or strategy. They were cut down as Oscar pushed one back with his shield, and then spun to the side towards another with a horizontal swing, a shield bash, a kick to the knee, and a downwards strike. He killed it and finished the second one with an upwards slash, covered on his side by Eskar. The Absolver intercepted one of the creatures before it could attack Oscar and broke its elbow, proceeding to kill it as he unfolded Rysrin's with a drawing strike while applying magic weapon to the sword, all in one fluid motion.

Eskar continued and killed a second one with a horizontal cut, a powerful knee to the stomach, and a rising spinning slash, ending another monster and then killing a third with a spinning back kick that knocked it off the scaffolding. As the creature fell to its death, Solaire killed another with a low strike to the creature's leg, followed by a thrust that pinned it to the ground. He blocked a spare that tried to strike at his neck and then drove his sword through another monster, their numbers thinning and just a few remaining. Five more creatures came, some of them climbing the scaffolding and surrounding them, but they were immediately struck down as Siegmeyer and Beatrice caught up with them. Beatrice immediately killed two with the combination of a soul mass and a great soul arrow, while Siegmeyer charged in with a strong diagonal cut.

"Hya!" He cried as he chopped a creature in tow from shoulder to hip. Solaire soon killed another creature with a lightning spear, just before it could try and pounce on Oscar and Eskar. But then he felt something hit him, something small and noxious.

"What… what would be…" Solaire felt toxins run through his body, thankfully it was not having a lethal effect yet, but he felt unbalanced and sick. Yet he was still alert enough to see who had hit him, a thin humanoid with a blowgun… one that was already blowing another noxious dart at him.

"T-There!" Solaire called out as he blocked the dart and then dropped to a knee due to the toxins, it wasn't killing him yet, but it had him stunned. But just before another dart could hit him, Eskar jumped in front of him with a sword slash that cut the dart in mid-air. He and Beatrice pinpointed the attacker and then used two great soul arrows to kill it.

"M-my thanks… I can still fight!" Solaire told them, and went on to prove it as he powered through the rest of the toxins and killed another monster with a jumping attack, cracking its skull open. Beatrice and Eskar were close behind him, Beatrice covering his left by firing a close-range great soul arrow at one monster's head and then knocking off the scaffolding with a heavy horizontal strike of her catalyst. Eskar himself covered Solaire's right and killed another creature with two one-handed slices, a combustion to the chest, and an illusion twist kick to the top of its head.

Solaire assisted Siegmeyer and together they killed another one of the large club monsters, Solaire going up behind the monster and piercing the back of its knee, while Siegmeyer beheaded the creature with one giant swing, letting the body dissolve into souls. Oscar was the last one to get another kill as he blocked the frenzied attack of one of the smaller creatures, answered with a diagonal slash, pushed the monster back with a push kick, and finally killed it with a shield punch to the head and an upward slash that cut through trough it's chin, mouth, and skull.

"Huff… that… seemed to be the last of them." Oscar did a double-take just to be sure. "Is everyone okay?" He then asked.

"I say I'm fine, they could not get the better of me!" Siegmeyer cheered.

"We are doing well," Beatrice said for herself and Eskar, the one in question nodding as she spoke. "Solaire though…"

"I am fine. The toxins are not gonna kill me… they didn't get to that point." Solaire said as he took deep breaths, he seemed to be doing okay but regardless, Eskar went ahead and unfolded some blooming moss clumps he could use.

"Thank you very much Sir Eskar." Solaire thanked him.

"Nedankinde." (You are welcome) Eskar said as he let Solaire take a pair of the clumps.

"We should keep moving… more could come at any minute," Oscar said.

"But we should take it slowly, it's too dark to properly scout ahead… at least, I'm not able to see pretty far," Siegmeyer said.

"We might have a solution for that," Beatrice said as she got out the skull lantern they had found on the catacombs.

"Oh… that is certainly fortunate!" Siegmeyer was impressed, even more so when Beatrice gave him the lantern. He graciously took it and aimed at the darkness. For now, it seemed that they had indeed taken care of most of them.

"Sir SIegmeer is right though, ghouls and monsters might not be the only aberrations in this place," Beatrice warned.

"Right… we should stick together then," Oscar said as he led the way forward.

The five of them continued not too far ahead, going through the bridges and making their way to what seemed to be the foot of the walls of Lordran. Structures of stone seemed to form the supports of the wall, and those structures were where Blighttown was built, at the base of its rock. Shanty towns didn't have the structures Blighttown had, it was different… if barely able to hold itself together, and without even taking into account the waste and filth that ended at the bottom of the walls.

They found a Bonfire fairly close to the entrance, if only past a couple more Infested Ghouls that insisted on using body parts as weapons. The Bonfire itself seemed to offer some respite, as it even seemed to keep some of the ill atmosphere away.

"How is that this place exists?… Why would someone live here?" Eskar wondered as he looked out into the distance, gazing into the large walls, the swamp, and Blighttown itself. He could understand living in ruins, swamps, or unconventional paces, or even next to perilous locations. But there was nothing in Blighttown that seemed to justify it. Perhaps there was none, as it was implied that the unfortunate ended up down in Blighttown… yet it seemed better to try one's luck anywhere else.

"It is a consequence of the sewage. All filth must go somewhere, and that ends up being the foot between the walls of Lordran. But there's more… Even if this place was bad, it was manageable until a plague surfaced that contaminated everything." Beatrice explained. "As to why it exists… It was a mining community once, and the Depths were once the most repugnant place by comparison. But over time, the waste found its way here. Some of the poorest of the poor were pushed or driven here when they had nowhere else to turn, whether by the gangs that controlled the lower Burgh… and the Depths. Or even by sheer desperation, perhaps looking for work."

"... Why would they stay? I've seen battlefields and wastelands far more hospitable than this place," Oscar interjected.

"... It wasn't always like this. Like I said it all was manageable before the plague arrived, it was unnatural and seemingly unending. Even if someone was cured, the environment became so polluted that they could become sick again the next day. This place was also where some of the first titanite was ever mined, it is as old as the walls and as Anor Londo probably. It must have once been not much more than a plagued town at the foot of the wall and the natural rocks. Perhaps the swamp didn't even exist." Beatrice said.

"But the waste found its way down here… From everywhere… and that's how the plague arrived?" Eskar reasoned.

"Perhaps, it's a theory. Not only filth found its way here, but people as well. People that couldn't go anywhere else. The filth must have accumulated little by little, probably ignored until it was too late. Not like the rest of the people would have batted an eye that their waste found its way down here." Beatrice sullenly eyed the swamp at the bottom. "The only sign of sure decay was right after the war with the demons."

"It is strange to think of this place as something different. Do you think there was a point where it was perhaps even green? With grass and trees?" Solaire wondered.

"Perhaps... but Eskar is right. Why would they stay?" Oscar wondered.

"Hmm… Well, perhaps they didn't have a choice. Most of us do, but many find the prospect of even risking a path forward alone terrifying, and not many are as cunning, strong, or resourceful as others. Many must have been afraid, while others had lived here their entire lives, could you ask men and women to abandon their homes and family? What people do is stick together, forming communities so that they know that they can survive… even when sometimes you should leave. It seems easier to survive if you stick close to your peers. That is something we humans and others tend to do." Siegmeyer said.

"You must remember, this place is just as the rest of the world… plagued by the curse and by its decay." Beatrice added. "It has only gotten worse in the last centuries, by then, this place would have had a population that wasn't willing to test their luck anywhere else. Some might have, but for others… this was the only safe place that would have them." She said,

"... In your time… was this place any better?" Eskar asked.

"I… I wouldn't know. It's the first time I'm here. But I know the curse and other misfortunes found their way here. And turned everything for the worse."

"... " Eskar dipped his head down and then continued to stare towards the swamp and the rest of Blighttown. "Why would the others come here…" He thought about his own people. Prospects and Absolvers would have gone far and wide if they needed to survive, and from what he had gathered so far, it sounded like they had. But some decided to remain close to Lordran. And he couldn't fathom why other prospects and Absolvers would stick around the sewers and the filth… the only thing he could guess was that they became unfortunate undesired. Like many others before them.

"Do you think that anyone still remains in this place? Doesn't seem like even a lucid Undead would want to be here. At least not one without guts… and a strong nose." Solaire asked the others.

"I would doubt it. I've been wrong before… but I doubt it." Oscar said.

"This place is nothing now but a rotting pile. Unless one was looking for adventure or danger… perhaps. But one can never know not unless we move forward." Siegmeyer said as he stepped up from the bonfire.

"I do agree we have rested enough," Oscar said, the others nodding and stepping up as well, Eskar and Beatrice hung further behind, however.

"Is there any reason for your people to come here?" Beatrice asked him.

"Not one I can think of… even the lowest Prospect would have some fighting skill, and would fight for their survival. Unless they were Fallen… ending here would not be something they would want. And yet… This place seems to be where all our leads go. And I saw that Absolver…" Eskar said.

"... The desperate are not the only ones that pass through Blighttown. Some of the undesirable here weren't good people. Easterners would pass through here as a means to enter The Lower Burgh, or to gather poisons. And some would come here to disappear." Beatrice offered an explanation.

"Disappear… if people were afraid of them, and so were they. Perhaps that is a motive to come to a place like this." Eskar thought out loud, it was one possibility at the very least.

"Watch out! It's spitting fire!" Solaire warned Siegmeyer as a Hollow rapid red dog charged him and spewed flames from its mouth.

"Hrrng." Seigmeyer blocked the attack with his shield and kept the flames at bay while a second dog joined in the fray. It was quickly dispatched as Solaire hit it with a lightning spear. The other dog that was harassing the Catarinian was stunned as it was hit by a soul arrow, leaving it open for a swing of Siegmeyer's Zweihander. The attack flinging and knocking the dog off the bridge they were standing on.

"My thanks! Hrraag!" Siegmeyer thanked Solaire and Beatrice, both of them nodding while Siegmeyer turned around and charged at the Infested Ghouls that began to approach them.

There were other ghouls and monsters as well, right beside them, Eskar and Oscar had climbed the scaffolding and had found more Infested Ghouls that were ready to ambush them. One of them was even hiding inside a pot.

Eskar broke the pot with a side kick while Oscar dealt with the second closest Ghoul. They growled and roared at them, but they were undeterred, Eskar performing a rising kick to the Pot Ghoul and then killing it with three two-handed slashes and a knee to the chin, while Oscar killed another with charging horizontal slash that cleaved into the monster, followed by a backhand swing that cut the monster's throat. Together they faced off more Ghouls, Eskar jumping over Oscar with a double flying back kick, and landing with a rising slash and a two-handed strike, killing his opponent while Oscar ran net to him and charged another Ghoul with a thrust, stabbing his blade into its chest, and killing it with a shield bash to wrench his sword out, and a downwards swing that split it's skull. Eskar crossed past Oscar and performed a triple thrust stabs to a Ghoul holding a body and killed it with a combustion, just then another Ghoul came from the side and tried to attack him, but it was surprised as Oscar performed a roundhouse kick to its head, a second one to its leg, and finally decapitated it with a downwards swing.

"That should be all," Oscar said, him and Eskar not spotting anymore Ghouls in their current wooden tower. They knew there might be more further ahead in the rest of the scaffolding, however.

"You are improving. Thanks." Eskar thanked him, his kicks had also indeed improved ever since he had taught them to him.

"Thank you, I owe that to you." Oscar nodded as they began to double back to join the others.

Beatrice, Siegmeyer, and Solaire slowly advanced forward, making sure to not leave their other two party members behind. The Ghouls were more than willing to go towards them, however. The first few suffered Siegmeyer's wrath as he chopped them in half with massive swings of his sword. Close behind him, Beatrice fired great soul arrows and three fire orbs to any Infested Ghoul that tried to run in and overwhelm them. Killing one with two great soul arrows and another with a fire orb to the head. Meanwhile, Solaire threw a lightning spear at a Ghoul that was sitting above them. Knocking it off the scaffolding and making it fall down the chasm. Siegmyer cleaved another Ghoul in two and their numbers seemed to dwindle… but just then, more dogs rushed at them.

The three of them had to separate and dodge to the side lest they be overwhelmed. Solaire reacted first and thrust his sword through the dog's mouth, killing it and then using its body, still impaled on his sword, to hit another dog. He knocked it down and wrenched his sword free of the corpse just in time to kill the other dog, doing so with a swing at its spine. Beatrice backed away and backstepped, keeping two dogs away with a soul mass, killing one with said soul mass, and then forcing the other to dodge as she shot a great soul arrow. The red dog dodged right into Siegmeyer, and was slammed into the ground as Siegmeyer hit him with another one of his brethren. Slamming both dogs to the floor, he raised his Zweihander and got ready to finish both off… but he noticed something at the edge of his vision. A humanoid.

"Huh?" Was all he could mutter before being surprised with a barrage of punches. His armor protected him, the punches glancing off, but the impact pushed him back and unbalanced him. He saw as two masked opponents struck at him without even flinching. He recovered enough and struck back with a one-handed swing. But one of his opponents parried his attack, blocking his momentum completely.

"How… y-you-" Siegmeyer was surprised, and noticing the masks again he noticed they were Masked Ones, they were of Eskar's people, but they had sickly gray skin. He couldn't say more as the Masked one did a pushed back kick that glowed a fiery orange. The kick was strong, and he felt it even through his armor as it pushed him off the platform he was on. Thankfully, he didn't fall down the chasm, but he landed on his back a couple of platforms below the others.

"Sir Siegmeyer!" Beatrice cried out and noticed the Masked ones as well, unsure of what to do she tried to emulate their language. "Uh… nincs… est ne battre!" (Uh… We… don't need fight.") She tried to reach them with a broken version of their language she had managed to learn from Eskar. But they simply acknowledged her, and faced her as if she was another enemy.

"Are those…?" Oscar and Eskar soon arrived and saw the Masked Ones. At their sight, Eskar immediately began to sprint towards them.

"Lost Prospects! Mindless! Kill them!" He shouted and called to the others. He recognized the gray and discolored skin for what it was. Those Masked Ones no longer had a feeling of the self, and only worshipped raw Essence. And with no Essence around, they seemed to be even more aggressive than before. The others recovered quickly and noticed how the Masked Ones moved. There was something disturbing to their movements, even if they seemed to move with poise and graze, they seemed to move with a lack of vitality, a lack of life. As Eskar rushed at the one that attacked Beatrice with a flying punch followed by a flying kick, they recovered from their surprise and began to fight back. But the Masked Ones weren't alone, more dogs and Ghouls joined the fray, and they were on the Lost Prospects side.

Eskar blocked a set of jabs and parried a high roundhouse, countering with a Faejing punch before hitting the Lost Prospect with a rising slash and a one-handed slice, the attacks leaving large slashes on the Prospect and breaking its posture, leaving it exposed to spinning hook kick that was enough to knock out whatever life still remained in the Prospect and kill it, its body vanishing into glowing crystals as it folded. Eskar immediately had to block another kick from the side and then backstep as a Ghoul tried to grab him. He wasn't too surprised. The mindless seemed to band with the mindless from his experience. Both with Lost Prospects and the different kinds of Hollows that seemed to ally to fight the still sane people.

Siegmeyer had trouble getting up as a Lost Prospect had jumped down to him and was now trying to pummel him with punches, on top of grappling with him and not letting the knight Catarina reach for his sword. Oscar threw a lightning spear at the Lost Prospect battling with Siegmeyer as he sprinted towards their other foes, stunning it and giving Siegmeyer a chance to punch the Prospect with his shield, and then killing him with a half-swording strike of his blade.

"Ho…" Siegmeyer took a breath of fresh air as his opponent dematerialized into fragments. His breather was cut short as he noticed another Prospect seemed eager to jump and attack him. But before it could, it was instead kicked down towards him. Eskar had kicked the Prospect in the back, sending it plummeting towards Siegmeyer, who caught and impaled the Prospect on his blade as he still remained with his back against the ground. As the enemy vanished from his blade, he steadily got up and noticed that Eskar and the others were fighting a multitude of enemies. He moved to find a way to get back up… and was surprised by another Lost Prospect and a Ghoul.

The Ghoul charged first and forced Siegmyer back as it tried to grab him. Leading him right into a rackety bridge that seemed to be formed of planks and beams roped together.

"Oh, dear…" Siegmeyer struggled to balance himself on the bridge as it began to shift and move as he, the Ghoul, and Prospect, were now fighting on it. The Ghoul died easily enough as it tripped as it tried to attack Siegmeyer and the knight only had to thrust his sword at it to knock it off the bridge. The Prospect however was different. It moved dexterously and seemed light in nature even if it was mindless. As Siegmeyer tried to retain his balance, the Prospect attacked him, making him stumble backwards and almost fall while Siegmeyer couldn't do much to fight back. Just as he attacked, the Prospect backstepped swiftly and put himself out of range with perfect balance.

"Damn it." Siegmeyer was worried, his opponent had all the advantages while he was barely able to move, on even and stable ground it might have been different, but it wasn't the case. To top it off, he didn't know if the bridge would last much longer. But just as the Prospect seemed ready to attack again, it was hit on the back by a great soul arrow. Courtesy of Beatrice.

As the Prospect stumbled forward, Siegmeyer rushed at him. The Prospect attacked him with a kick, and soon found its foot impaled on the spike of Siegmeyer's shield, unable to move. Siegmeyer needed only to punch the Prospect with the guard of his sword to knock him off the bridge to its death. Siegemeyer then kept going, he ran and jumped to the scaffolding just as the bridge seemed to collapse under pressure, barely making it before it fell down.

"By the gods…" Siegmeyer let out a nervous laugh.

"Siegmeyer?!" Beatrice called for him.

"I'm fine! You worry about yourselves, I'll be with you in a minute." Siegmeyer said as he recovered his wit and began searching for a way to get back up. He was able to find a set of ramps that would suffice, only... he noticed that blocking his path would be a pair of those large monsters with clubs, both of them growling loudly once they saw him.

"... All right! Come at me then! Hyaa!" Siegmeyer charged forward as he battled his two large foes.

A couple of platforms upwards, Oscar and Solaire continued to battle Ghouls, dogs, and Prospects to the best of their capabilities. A Prospect continued to evade Oscar's attacks by jumping, ducking, and swiftly dodging to the sides. It was getting annoying for Oscar, especially when it used his failed attacks as openings and struck jabs or nimble front kicks at him. He however had other things to worry about as a dog tried to lunge from his side and a Ghoul tried to bite his face off from the other. He kicked the dog on its mouth and knocked it back and was forced to grapple with the Ghoul to protect his face, ending with him overpowering the Ghoul and knocking it back with a shield punch. He recovered some ground after landing a sword swing on the Ghoul, and a thrust to the dog, but he ate a spinning back kick from the Prospect. Tired of being victim to the Prospect, he decided to attack him… but just as the Prospect was about to dodge, Oscar faint, and redirected his attack to hit the Masked One with a powerful upwards swing, knocking the wind out of it, and leaving it open to a killing blow.

Oscar killed the Prospect with a slash to the legs and an upper slice, he then finished off the Ghoul and the dog with another set of attacks before turning to another Ghoul and blocking its attack. All the while, Solaire stood close by, fighting his own set of adversaries, and holding them back as much as he could to allow others to fight their own foes. He managed to kill a Ghoul by tripping it with a sword swing to the leg and then stabbing it through the head with a downwards thrust. He immediately however had to hold the dogs back over his shield, the dogs nicking and biting at it just as a couple more enemies came for him. Solaire however decided to use his large shield and began to push. He carried both dogs and then two Ghouls as he charged forward, and finally pushed them over the edge of the platform he was standing on, all of them falling to their doom.

Beatrice had stood back as best she could, taking potshots with her spell where she could and moving to avoid direct confrontation. She eventually however managed to bait Prospects and Ghouls to a more enclosed space by going into the scaffolding, she lined all of them up and made a soul spear that passed through all of them, effectively weakening them and leaving them to a second one that killed two Prospects, a pair of Ghouls, and one of the dogs. With their enemies thinning in numbers it seemed to be like their victor was at hand. But not before a Prospect snuck up on her and hit her on the face with a flying knee. She staggered back and took another punch, one very close to the liver. She continued to stagger back and defended herself as best she could, dodging out of the way and rolling under a spinning roundhouse just in time. She managed to fight back by hitting the Prospect with her staff and stabbing him in the gut with her dagger, but more enemies approached her. She killed a Ghoul with a fire orb and killed the Prospect with a point-blank great soul arrow. But she had to use her catalyst to block another attack as another Prospect came for her. She blocked a punch and three kicks, but was disarmed as The Prospect used a Tension Art to pull her Catalyst from her hand and make it fall behind him.

Eskar had drawn the attention of as many Prospects as he could, battling four of them at the same time on top of three Ghouls. The trick to fighting any Absolver or Prospect was adapting quickly and figuring out what moves they would use, the same went for any enemy, but even more so when they could use multiple styles with different highly technical moves. Luckily, he knew all of the moves, he had mastered the use of all of them. Another thing he had in his arsenal was being unpredictable, instead of fighting them head one he used his new tools at his disposal, he threw throwing knives, soul darts and pushed them back with flurries while dual-wielding, on top of parrying all the attacks he could with his Faejin style. He ate a couple of punches due to the number of enemies he had to face but as soon as one went down, he felt his vitality recovering.

He threw three knives to one Prospect and managed to hit it in the forearms as it protected its head, he then spun around and threw several continuous slashes between another two Prospects, right before turning to a Ghoul and killing it with a low sweeping kick and a reverse grip downwards stab. As the Prospects continued to attack him, he folded Rysrin's sword to give himself back some Tension to fill his Shard's, using it to create more soul darts in opposite directions and stagger and annoy the Prospects. He killed another Ghoul with a Plexus Elbow and a combustion spell, and then turned to one of the Prospects and parried his attack and countered with a Faejin punch to the gut, a hammer kick that lowered his head, a point-blank soul arrow, a finally a two-handed upwards swing that killed the Prospect and made it vanish into fragments.

He then however noticed that below him, Beatrice was being assaulted by another Prospect, a strong one apparently. He focused his energy and used the gravity Tension art to damage and force the Prospect to one knee. Giving an opportunity for Beatrice to slide to her catalyst and then fire a barrage of three great soul arrows, followed by her rushing at the Prospect and stabbing it in the back with her dagger. Eskar had to focus back on his own fight as he was hit by three punches, two kicks and was pushed back against the wall, he recovered quickly however, and began to parry the atta and answering with an attack of his own, pushing the Prospects back then knocking them towards the edge, once there, he scared them back with heavy two-handed swing, and blasted them over the edge with his Shockwave Tension art.

With His enemies defeated, Eskar took another look to see who needed help. He couldn't spot Siegmeyer, but he was able to see Oscar killing another Prospect and hitting a Ghoul with a lightning spear, while Solaire covered his back and blocked the continuous attacks of another Prospect, eventually flipping it over his head with his shield and making it fall on it's back. Killing it with a sword swing and shield punch. Beatrice was down below him, and she was handling herself just fine, but he noticed that her enemies were pushing her in a specific direction. Right towards a monstrosity on a wall.

"Beatrice!" Eskar called out to her as he jumped down to rush towards her. Beatrice heard him and understood his tone, she turned to try and see what he was trying to want her about, soon though she understood as she saw the Parasitic Wall Crawler. She could probably kill it, but she knew that getting close to it was a very bad idea and she was being pushed in that direction.

Eskar arrived, however, and as he did he charged and pushed four of the enemies attacking her into a lower platform. With that, she was able to take out the Prospect and Ghoul that remained close to her, one with a fire orb, the other with a quick point-blank heavy great soul arrow. She then turned back towards the lower platform and saw Eskar fighting several Prospects and two Ghouls while holding his own, but it seemed more of them were coming. She assisted him by killing two of his enemies with soul arrows while he killed another three with the openings she was giving him. Soon, however, she panicked as she saw a dart narrowly miss her neck, and immediately took cover.

"Eskar, take cover!" She shouted, Eskar was still battling three enemies, killing one of them with a combination of two spinning kicks and two one-handed slices and pushing the others back. He noticed what Beatrice was talking about as he narrowly dodged several darts while still attempting to fight his opponents. He killed one with a great soul arrow and with a horizontal gut slash of his sword, the other was hit on the back with a heavy great soul arrow from Beatrice and perished. But soon, a Ghoul tackled him and pushed him into a corner, he fought the Ghoul off and stabbed it through the mouth before knocking it back with a kick. Too many enemies were coming, however, more than a dozen, and he was already cornered in a tiny area. He then narrowly noticed a dart coming for him, catching it between his fingers before it could hit him. More darts came, and he barely had any more room to dodge.

Eskar didn't have to worry for long, however, as the Blowdart Sniper was struck by a pair of lightning spears. Solaire and Oscar had saved Eskar and were moving to assist him as they saw more enemies coming up for him, all the while Beatrice blasted the Parasitic Wall Hugger as it tried to dislodge itself from the wall and swipe at her with its claws. However, before the enemies could reach Eskar and the corner he had been pushed to, the scaffolding shook.

"Hya!" Siegmeyer yelled as he pushed one of the large monsters through one wall and pushed him off the edge, turning around quickly to gut another one. He had been fighting several of them thus far.

"Eh?..." Siegmeyer noticed that he made the entire structure shake with his stun. "Is everyone okay?"

"Újra!" Eskar shouted as he noticed that Siegmeyer was responsible.

"Uh… What?"

"Again!" Eskar shouted as the enemies got closer, he then used his Earthquake Tension art and made several supports holding the platform together snap, just before jumping to a more stable one.

"Oh… I see!" Siegmeyer nodded and brandished his sword, he located a safe spot to run to, and then swung his sword at one of the supports.

"Rrhgaaa!" Siegmyer cleaved through the support and pulverized it. Making the entire structure shake. The Ghouls and Prospects were barely able to reach close to Eskar as the floor beneath them shoo and unbalanced them, Eskar safely jumping to a platform that wasn't shaking. One Prospect tried to jump for Eskar as the structure began to collapse, but he was met with a spinning back kick to the face that pushed it back, right to the falling platform. The Ghouls growled and screeched as the platform fell, crumbling several platforms as the structure, the Ghouls, and the Prospects fell down the chasm.

"Huff…" Eskar let out a breath of fresh air as it seemed like the fight had been won.

"Is everyone okay!?" Oscar shouted to the others.

"We are… I and Eskar are fine!" Beatrice shouted as they could see the giant creature attached to the wall disappearing into souls.

"I'm doing just fine! Oh! And I have found some passageways through the walls. They have ladders and I do believe they might lead all the way down to the poisonous swamp!" Siegmeyer yelled so they could hear him.

"Maybe that's where we need to go… We can double back and get to them through that bridge over there!" Solaire pointed to a more or less stable-looking bridge that circled around a grand part of their current path.

"Right… There don't seem to be any more monsters or enemies. Be careful! We'll meet on that platform! If you find something useful, take it." Oscar pointed to a platform high above that seemed to be connected to the walls Siegmyer had mentioned.

"I'll start climbing up then!" Siegmeyer obliged. Eskar and Beatrice began to move to that platform as well. Eskar climbed parts of the scaffolding and found his way to Beatrice, who was holding a scroll in her hands.

"You are okay?" Beatrice asked him.

"I am. What have you found?" He asked as he noticed that Beatrice seemed to be holding the scroll tightly.

"... It was guarding a Pyromancy, a rare one of Carmina." Beatrice said with a hint of joy.

"... What does it do?" Eskar ased.

"I'll need a safe spot to truly know the details, but I know just from how it is written, it's a forbidden spell. Not dark, but simply dangerous, these spells are secrets, and there are no others like it." She said with a smile.

"I see… maybe something we could use." Eskar wondered.

"Perhaps." Beatrice agreed as they climbed the rest of the ladders and scaffolding together to meet with the others.

"Umm…" Beatrice suddenly spoke to him.

"Mmm?"

"These Lost Prospects… They imply your people were here." She said.

"Yeah… they were. And might still be." Eskar responded.

A/N: Well, shorter than other ones, but there's surprisingly little to do in the upper part of Blighttown that doesn't involve fighting or scavenging. More of that in the next chapter, but with that done, Blighttown part 1 is done! Once again sorry for my delay… I'll be sure this time to start working on the next chapter of the month right away.

Hope the chapter had something you could enjoy and didn't have much other than fighting and some talks. But do know, we are getting closer and closer to a breaking point… soon some things will begin to… change. I'll make sure to make the next chapter

very eventful.

Feel free to follow, favorite, and review if you so wish. And I'll see you in the next one.