Don't know if I mentioned this in the previous chapter's AN, but I got Code Vein pretty recently, about the middle of July. It was a whopping 85% off on the Playstation store, so I figured why not, now that Elden Ring had converted me to the joys of Soulborne games, ha ha. And it is on that point that I just want to say this:

Elden Ring had somewhat spoiled me a bit too much, heh!

By that I mean that a lot of little changes Fromsoft put into the game that weren't available or were otherwise different in other games had left me feeling a bit bummed out that there's no jumping at all in Code Vein. Yes, I am fully aware that Code Vein IS NOT MADE BY FROMSOFT, it's simply a matter of me noticing something that I had gotten way too used to in Elden Ring is all.

That said, Code Vein is a pretty damn fun game so far. In addition to making your ideal (or close to ideal) chuuni anime character, it is a challenging game without being outright difficult and my time playing Elden Ring has translated fairly well to this game so I haven't been getting my ass whupped too much, though whenever I get ganged up on by enough enemies, I fair poorly even with an AI partner to back me up.

And the fact that the game is set in the God Eater setting of all things… man, never did play those games but I'm fairly familiar with the lore and it's making me wonder if one day characters from both series will ever directly interact in a story together. The potential is clearly there!

If you guys haven't played it, then I do sincerely recommend it, even if it ends up only being a game that you play every now and then. It's just a solid game.

Anyways… fic time.

So as shown in the previous fic, the Tarnished and present company are heading straight for the 'heart' of the warped desert, which is what this chapter will primarily be focusing on. And even though he and Ranni are leagues more powerful than anything else in the GSverse, that doesn't mean they can just flick their wrist and curbstomp everything in a ten mile radius. They're going to have to eventually put in some work to get things done, if not now, then later on for sure.

So with that being said, on with the chapter!

Chapter 22

At some point during the trek to the swamp of rot that had emerged in the desert, Hero paused as she and her friends were suddenly flagged down by Ranni's beloved.

"Here, take these," he spoke as he motioned for the trio to gather round and open up their hands.

The instant they did so, he plopped several round orbs in each of their hands. Said orbs were soft, moist and felt odd to the touch, as if she was grasping at clumps of grass or at least something vaguely plant-like.

Hero, one of many youngsters who disliked eating their veggies more often than not, couldn't help but let out an 'ugh!' as she inspected them closer. "What are these things?"

"Boluses," the warrior replied, sounding decidedly amused by her reaction. "Specifically, ones meant to cure you of any rot you may end up afflicted with. Simply consume a single bolus and you shall be cured… but beware – it will not make you immune or even more resistant to the rot."

As his voice grew stern, Hero snapped out of her moment of petulance and nodded, getting serious. Gingerly, she placed the boluses away in a pouch on her waist.

Not even a second after making sure the boluses were secure, Hero looked back at the warrior to see he had other things at the ready for her and Sword Saint.

"Is that… grease?" Sword Saint asked this time around as she readily accepted the strange item.

"Fire Grease, to be more precise," the warrior answered. "Simply coat it along your weapons and it will gain the fire element for a short while – a moment or two. As you've noticed, fire is most effective against beings infected with the rot, so make good use of these."

"Wow…" Hero marveled at the grease as she accepted it in its small container. "You sure got a lot of little tricks, don't you?"

The Four Cornered World was filled with many wonders, of that Hero was most sure. However, it seems she had to reevaluate how well she though she knew the world because while items meant to cure people of certain afflictions or bolster their equipment existed, this was the first time she ever was presented with materials quite like this.

And for him to just hand these things over to her and Sword Saint so easily… even with the battle to come, that he could part with such items like these really said a lot about what else he may have on him.

…Come to think of it, where was he pulling all these items from? It didn't seem like he had a lot of package space on him…

"When we get closer to the swamp, prepare yourselves," he stated firmly. "In addition to the place teeming with more aggressive wildlife, swamps such as these have been known to spawn whole new creatures at random. Watch your backs."

Hero gulped. Sword Saint balled her hands into fists. Sage's grip on her staff tightened.

It really was a good thing they were about to take care of this crazy rot born of a deranged god right now because if it is allowed to continue spreading…

The Four Cornered World already had enough going on in it right now.

"Then what are we waiting around for? Let's go take it out!" Hero declared, pulling out her holy blade and pointing it up into the air.

"…For once, I'm understanding your desire to just go charging in," Sage murmured as she adjusted her glasses. "But is there anything else that could be done to add to our chances of survival? Because to be perfectly honest, the more facts you tell us about this rot and these little preparations of yours have only been making me more paranoid."

The warrior held his left hand up to where his chin supposedly was and stroked at the spot. Hero couldn't help but boggle at how he could rub his gauntlet covered hand against his fully-covered head without the equipment scrapping against each other. Just what were his armor pieces made of?

His head turned slightly in Ranni's direction and whatever thought he was meaning to convey must have evidently gotten through because the next thing Hero knew, the blue-skinned woman seemed to struggle holding back a cough.

No, not a cough – laughter.

"It should work, should it not?" The warrior asked, serious as could be.

"…I believe so. The only question now is if it shall suit their tastes," Ranni replied as un-serious as could be right now.

"W-What? What is it?" Sage asked, suddenly sounding more nervous about whatever was going on than about the surrounding rot.

As the warrior shifted his gaze from Ranni to Sage and then over to Hero and Sword Saint in short order, the leader of the trio suddenly couldn't help but share in her friend's almost comical worry.


"…"

"…"

"…"

"Not the most fashionable of, ah, headdresses young women can wear, I understand," began the Tarnished, understanding the trio's current 'plight,' but was otherwise unapologetic. "But I assure you, the effects shall be worth it quite soon."

In the face of their audible silence, he could only tell them to grin and bear with it, only in a more tactful manner rather than just bluntly telling them so.

Said trio of young women, each of them wearing a Mushroom Crown, could only look dead ahead as the five of them continued their quickening pace towards the swamp in this desert. Despite him making sure to mention it significantly increases their resistance to poison and rot in addition to boosting the power of their attacks when near those suffering from said rot – a truly ideal piece of equipment in this situation – the (understandable) ridiculousness of wearing what amounted to a huge clump of ugly mushrooms around and atop their heads was just too much for them.

A good thing he hadn't mentioned the rest of the mushroom set, he supposed. They likely would balk at having to shed off their clothes and armor and instead wear nothing but mushrooms upon their bodies. A bit of a pity that they weren't willing to increase their chances to protect against the rot as much as possible, but he understood nonetheless. Their sense of decency aside, the armor set didn't provide much in the ways of protection against attacks other than rot and against enemies with immense strength and aggressiveness, this fact could be their undoing. As things stood, the trio were already very lightly armored so there was no need at all to make them sacrifice what little defense they already had.

"Everyone, be ready," Ranni called out from his side, her serene voice now deadly serious. "We are nearing the swamp and enemies are aplenty. Sage, with me."

The Tarnished nodded in response to the information as did the others, the gravity of the situation finally allowing them to overlook their current state.

"Same formation as before," he called out as he held the Uchigatana in his left hand. "We move as one and only spread out if absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we simply fight our way forward and deal with the swamp."

A flicker of his gaze to the rest of them told the Tarnished they were as ready as they'll ever be.

And so, with a nod, he dashed on ahead.

Moments go by since their rush ahead. And in that short time frame, chaos all but ensued.

Ranni had not been overstating the presence of enemies, the entire area around the swamp all but literally swarming with spiders and scorpions and other types of arthropods that had been affected by the rot in its short time here.

As what had once been a normal centipede, now roughly as thick as his arm and many times longer, circled around in a clear attempt to bind him with its body, the Tarnished lashed out. With a light pivot, he spun and swung the Uchigatana at an angle, the swing cutting through its body at several junctures. Its own encirclement had been turned against it and as the pieces of its body fell, they writhed about before the mutated centipede died.

Nearby, a massive spider hissed and jumped at him with all its legs outstretched. The Tarnished rolled out of the way then slashed at its front two right legs, cutting them off and causing quite a bit of blood to spew out. Despite the rather light injury all things considered, the spider let out a sound akin to a howl and recoiled hard. It would seem its resistance to hemorrhaging was incredibly light, for even more blood spewed out from the severed legs and even its mouth at that moment.

Taking advantage of its recoil, the Tarnished charged in and stabbed his blade directly into its open mouth before swinging upwards. The spider's head split wide open as a result of this and it ceased moving.

Jumping on top of its fresh corpse, the warrior surveyed the current battlefield.

Ranni and Sage stayed a fair distance away, currently observing the battle for now from atop a small and rocky hill. Meanwhile, Hero served as the line separating enemies from them and the young girl was currently showing her mettle by doing a jumping spin that cut up another centipede that had tried to bite into her. Immediately after killing the centipede, Hero ceased spinning in midair and instead channeled all that built up momentum into an impressive overhead swing that cut into a heavily mutated buzzard that tried to leap at her. For its trouble, it got its head messily cut open and its body fell with a heavy thud upon the sand.

Off to his left, Sword Saint was a whirlwind in human form. Already putting one of the Fire Greases he'd given to her to good use, rather than kill every living thing that came her way, the swordswoman instead would lightly cut or nick the various arthropods around her, the resulting flames causing them all to cease in their actions in favor of shrieking about and retreating. It was only the ones that recovered first that the young woman was quick in actually cutting down, stabbing into a soft spot in a scorpion's head before then doing a flip to avoid its final attack with its pincers and dodging in the direction of another scorpion that she then cut the face off of with a spinning slice.

In the span of mere moments, altogether the three vanguards must have slain more than a dozen poor creatures mutated by the Scarlet Rot…

…And they were but a mere prelude of the incoming waves.

Whether by sheer coincidence or actual intelligent design, the swamp of rot in this desert had formed in the middle of a veritable arthropod paradise, with at least dozens more roaming the very area.

Case in point, what he could assume had once been a normal desert beetle was now easily thrice his size, its once normal wings hidden beneath its carapace having grown immensely in size, actually breaking off parts of its armor-like shell. The wings themselves, however, for all their size seemed incapable of true flight due to how misshapen they were.

Even so, it still seemed at least capable of short bursts of flight time, for it flapped its wings rapidly as it pounced forth. The heavily mutated beetle shot forth like lightning directly at him. But the Tarnished remained unflappable, choosing to meet it head on with another incantation – the Aspects of the Crucible, specifically its horn version.

His stance low as he charged ahead, the horns that spouted from his left shoulder were large enough in size and possessed such strength that they easily pierced the comparatively soft underbelly of the rot-mutated beetle and gored it. Then with nary a grunt, the Tarnished adjusted his shoulder charge so that he literally lifted the beetle up further and chucked it overhead. The poor creature sailed above and beyond and landed upside down in the sand.

Said beetle had little time to lament its newfound position for the Tarnished whirled around and jumped atop it, slamming his left fist into the wound his incantation had inflicted. Such was his strength that it practically made the beetle's underbelly explode into a shower of internal fluids and guts. Death was instantaneous.

Additionally, the little explosion had the effect of blowing back some more centipedes that had been traveling in the sand around him. Evidently, they had intended to launch a sneak attack.

The Tarnished promptly cast another incantation, making use of the Black Flame Ritual to spread a series of the titular vitality robbing flames in his immediate vicinity. The centipedes got caught in the move and summarily burned away to nothingness from its intensity, exacerbated further by their already crippling weakness to flames of any kind.

Alas, the Black Flame Ritual, despite its overall power and area of effect, only lasts but a handful of seconds. As a result, it did little to dissuade the remainder of the enemies from attacking.

Yet another mutated beetle, this one sporting especially heavy looking pincers, reared back and prepared to lunge forward at the Tarnished. However, the seasoned warrior silently swapped out his Uchigatana for his modified Knight's Greatsword, which he then swung upwards like a club after stepping forward. With the flat side of the large sword, he knocked the beetle several yards into the air and then as it spun about a dozen times, he deftly switched his blade around to deliver a beautiful vertical cut that sliced through the creature with ease, sending fluid everywhere as the beetle proved especially weak to the modified blade's ability to induce hemorrhaging.

As the beetle was split in twain, the Tarnished yet again reassessed the battle's state.

Sword Saint was now forging a path ahead through a throng of mutated scorpions. Hero, Sage, and Ranni were hanging back for now, but he could tell that the youngest among them was preparing to go forward as well to guide their magic users towards the swamp.

As the vanguard alongside Sword Saint, that meant it was only natural for him to aid in this endeavor. Seeing as Sword Saint was doing a great job in clearing the path forward, however, he should focus on the sides to make sure various arthropods don't swarm around and cut off their previous path back in case they needed to back off and regroup for some reason.

"…Very well then," the Tarnished murmured as he made a decision in a split second.

He'd wanted to avoid using it due to the possibility of questions the trio of young women would undoubtedly have about it, but now wasn't a time to be too picky. He and Ranni may be able to fight their way out of any situation this world can throw at them, but that didn't mean they should be inefficient about it.

He put away the Knight's Greatsword and summoned forth the Sacred Blade, whereupon he wasted not even a full millisecond channeling an immense deal of focus into calling upon its power. With one precise swing in the direction he'd previously been facing, he unleashed the largest wave of gold he's ever yet used, one that made the wave of gold used against the goblin horde back then look like a mere warmup attack in comparison.

The wave traveled noticeably faster and was even more spread out, the power of it such that immediate contact with it was enough to just make the remaining enemies to their east just die on the spot.

As the wave of gold rapidly traveled yards then meters then tens of meters, the Tarnished swiftly put the blade away on his back for the time being, just in case he needed to make use of it again some time soon. A side glance to the others showed that Hero had certainly took notice of his actions, for she'd momentarily frozen in place, mouth agape comically… though with an all too serious look to her eyes that made it clear she did indeed have plenty of questions now.

No matter. It can wait until later.

With a nod to her that seemed to snap the young girl out of her stupor, the Tarnished drew his Uchigatana again and jogged forth briskly, even this being enough to allow him to eventually catch up with the speedy Sword Saint. In her defense, she was still fighting her way through a gaggle of centipedes that tried to encircle her.

Reaching her quickly, the Tarnished swung his blade horizontally, severing three of the centipedes into multiple chunks. This in time caused the remaining ones to cease in their actions, hissing all the while. He grabbed the nearest one with his free hand and squeezed tight, turning the part in his grip into little more than bits of pulp. The centipede was dead before it knew it while Sword Saint finished off the remaining two with several light cuts that targeted their heads.

The two of them shared a nod before redirecting their attention dead ahead again.

All the constant movements made within the past several minutes of fighting had managed to get them approximately half a kilometer or so to their destination. Not a bad distance covered, all things considered, but given the now visible emanations that can be seen from the swamp, it went without saying that remaining distance would only be fraught with greater numbers of enemies.

In which case, all they can do is steel themselves further and press onwards.

Nonetheless, despite this obvious fact, the Tarnished now found himself somewhat… not necessarily on edge, but more alert somehow.

The Scarlet Rot… it was hiding something out here, he can just tell. But what exactly it was hiding, that was something he had no way of truly discerning at this moment. At best, he could only assume this hidden 'something' to perhaps be the final line of defense protecting this makeshift swamp of rot.

With this in mind, he sped up a bit more so that he was now ahead of Sword Saint by some odd yards. Better he bear the brunt of whatever may come as a precaution. Sword Saint can work to support him if need be.

His Uchigatana at the ready, the Tarnished ran onwards.


This particular spot of the desert, where the concentration of rot was at its absolute greatest, was not something that had happened randomly.

The Scarlet Rot, for all its ambiguity in its intelligence and motives alongside its fellow gods, had deliberately seeded this area so that any would be usurpers shall meet their end, if not to the hordes of rot-afflicted wildlife then to the being that had lied sleeping deep below the sands.

It had rested here for a long time, its waking and resting periods drastically different from most other lifeforms due to its own significant lifespan. So deep was its sleep that it hadn't even roused when the arrival of the outer gods from the Lands Between had become known to those sensitive enough to this.

As a result, it had been completely unaware of even when the concentrated rot had sunken deep into the land and had enveloped it entirely, to a vastly greater extent than any of the random buzzards and arthropods that had populated the sands above.

Its mind, once that of a relatively intelligent albeit inherently aggressive being, had been completely subsumed by the Scarlet Rot and utterly ruined beyond measure.

Now what lied beneath the sand was simply a servant of the Rot much like the critters above. Except this one was much, much stronger. Once upon a time, it had been quite weak, but deceptive shows of cunning and sheer perseverance had allowed it to make full use of its lifespan and feast upon increasingly stronger enemies and prey. Now it had attained a body and strength that far surpassed what it was originally destined to have. And now it was strong enough that, had the Hero and her friends come across it earlier on in life, it would have provided them with yet another epic tale to tell others. Now the Rot had blessed it with additional strength, still a far cry from others that had once 'enjoyed' a taste of its power and influence in another world, but even then this being was now mightier than most other creatures in the Four Cornered World could ever hope to compare to.

And now it was coming – the time for it to showcase its strength in protection of its new god's foothold in this world.

The creature stirred, then began to fully rouse.

The sand began to shift about as it slowly started to rise to the surface.

A low moan, a mixture of pure agony from its rapid mutations and rage, shook the entire land, a testament to its might.

And very soon it would be time to show this might in full.


"…!" Ranni let out a sound of genuine surprise as the entire desert seemed to shift in response to something. Not just in a physical sense either, but more in a metaphysical sense as well.

…Could it be…? Has the Scarlet Rot created something of a champion in this world for itself? Something to protect the sole area that it had been able to establish itself in?

"Dear Tarnished…" Though she mumbled these two words as she jogged alongside Sage, a light case of magical wind ensure her words carried all the way to her beloved at the forefront of their party.

Even from this distance, she could make out the way he tensed up. He was aware of it as well.

"Prepare thyselves," Ranni called out as the Tarnished slowly came to a stop. "An enemy draws near."

That she could say such words despite the small army of rot-afflicted arthropods just about to encroach on them indicated quite well how significant this new enemy must be to the trio, for they noticeably tensed up in response to her statement.

Even the various beetles, which seemed to comprise a majority of the seemingly final wave between them and the swamp, appeared to be rattled. The way they chittered and physically fretted about made obvious the mutated creatures' own worries.

But fearful or not, it wasn't enough to stop them from attacking anyways. One beetle in particular was the first to make a move, letting out a rallying shriek that appeared to call ten of the surrounding beetles to its direct side. They bunched up together so firmly that from a far enough distance, they might have looked to be a single entity.

Then the veritable ball of beetles all charged in unison, aiming to use their practically condensed weight and strength to blow through anything that would come their way.

Had it been solely up to the likes of Sword Saint or even Hero herself, such a simple tactic might have worked.

But against the Tarnished, Sage, and herself? It was merely a mildly impressive display of bravado from foolish creatures.

Sage was the one to prove this point.

Whether it was a matter of being fed up with doing nothing this whole time or something else entirely, the young woman stepped ahead of Ranni and prepared what had to be the biggest fireball that Ranni had ever seen a human or humanoid ever cast in either this world or her own.

The fireball, the same size as the huge ball of beetles, was shot forth without any spoken words other than 'move aside!' to Hero who'd sort of been in the way.

Hero leapt out of the way and together, they all watched as the fireball and the ball of beetles collided.

Needless to say, the fireball won by a considerable margin, exploding into such a burst of flames that not only were the fire-sensitive creatures vanquished instantly, but everything within a dozen or so yards was set aflame. All the other beetles that had started to move their way now shrieked and screeched as they faltered and flailed. The flames had made even them wary and the very heat was proving enough of a deterrent right now.

But it didn't last long, for mere seconds later the beetles resumed their advance.

Ranni hummed as she now took a step forward. "Very well done," she said to Sage, who was looking a bit winded now. It would seem she'd overdone it a bit with that spell. "It wouldn't do for me to simply mill about as well."

With staff in hand, Ranni called upon but one of the several fiery spells that her brother, the blasphemous Rykard, had made use of alongside his fellow blasphemers – Gelmir's Fury, which she'd once seen in use among the other magma-based sorceries Rykard had spread around.

Thanks to her mastery over sorcery in general, she was able to chose the location where the violent magma would spew from and she made sure to pick it as close to the approaching beetles as was possible. Using the spell in the very middle of their line had seemed appealing initially, but she opted to avoid doing so since they would need to travel that way soon. It wouldn't do to have to make themselves waste valuable time going around the magma.

In any case, the spell was activated and from beneath the sandy and rocky plains, magma erupted with the force of a violent god, a veritable volcano in terms of sheer power output. The mutated beetles hadn't known what had hit them as the viscous substance spewed everywhere and swept up nearly two-thirds of their forces in a moment.

As the beetles caught up in the spell were set aflame and burned and melted down, the rest screeched as they scattered with reckless abandon-.

-Right into the all but literally open arms of the Tarnished, Sword Saint and even Hero, the latter having chosen to go on ahead since Ranni and Sage were now more actively taking part.

By this point, the beetles' numbers were very few and thanks to the incredible speed and swordplay of the three combatants, they were cut down before they could cover a significant distance.

In a moment, the final wave separating them from the swamp had been disposed of. It would almost count as an anti-climax, were it not for the simple fact that while these beetles had been the final line of defense, it wasn't as if they'd been the only lifeforms left in the desert.

Even from this distance, the sounds of the other arthropods and buzzards could be heard ringing out. It would seem that whatever connection was shared between them by the Scarlet Rot was alerting them to the party's actions and now they all could vaguely be heard heading this way.

In perhaps twenty minutes or even a little less, the party of five can expect to be swarmed by even greater numbers than ever before.

But that was a concern for later, assuming something wasn't done about the mounting horde by then.

Not that Ranni nor her beloved paid the growing horde any mind beyond merely acknowledging the creatures' gathering.

Their concern was instead directed to the swamp now well within viewing distance of them all… as well as something beginning to rise up from the very center of it. Whatever it is, it must be of considerable size and strength, for the entire region seemed to shake as a mere side effect of its emergence.

And emerged it did as the five of them rapidly closed the distance.

A portion of the scarlet-tinted sky was briefly blotted out as the thing emerged from the center of the swamp of rot, sending said rot flying everywhere. Some of it almost coated Sword Saint, but she was able to back off before being fully covered with rot. Even then, some had clearly gotten on her left arm, not that anything happened thanks to the immunity boosting effect of the equipment the Tarnished had given to her and the other two young women.

But even then, Ranni noted Sword Saint flinch and almost retch despite the amount of rot on her arm being little more than a notable collection of flecks. Such was the wrongness that was the Scarlet Rot, which poisoned the very world itself.

Whatever concern she may have for the young swordswoman lasted but a split second, however, as she and the rest of the party finally took full note of the creature.

It had once upon a time been something akin to a giant humanoid creature, if the way its four limbs and general body shape were anything to go by. However, the immense amount of rot that it had been forced to bathe in had clearly changed it… and not for the better.

Ranni knew not what this being's original size must have been, but it was massive now, roughly twice the size of an Erdtree Avatar. Lumpy and coral-like growths had formed all over its body like some kind of armor, but paying closer attention allowed Ranni to see some of these strange boney protrusions had burst out from under its sickly grey skin and pointed in random directions. These growths, though relatively small in comparison to the rest of its body, were easily the length of an average human's arm, perhaps even a little bigger. It evoked an odd sense of imagery to Godrick the Graft and the way the many limbs he'd grafted onto himself had wriggled about whenever he moved.

The thing screamed in a tone that was cross between a human's and something else entirely, generating an air pressure that blew away some nearby sandy dunes. It now stepped out of the swamp of rot and when its right foot touched down again, Ranni watched as additional rot poured out from the bottom of its foot.

She grimaced at this particular sight and the grimace deepened when the same thing happened with its left foot. If left alone for long enough, it could spread the rot much farther out and create entirely new swamps of rots to possibly produce more beings like itself.

"W-What in the hell…?" Sword Saint mumbled as she beheld its size from nearby. "Ugh!"

"…!" Ranni readied her staff. It wasn't just that the creature could spread the rot by walking – it was also generating some kind of rot mist, one so thinly spread that it wasn't until now that she was able to notice the scarlet particles coming off its thick and misshapen body, one arm bigger than the other, with some fingers and toes being of differing lengths from each other. "Quickly, consume a bolus!"

The trio of women, affected as they were by the creature's – a Sand-Dweller, Ranni shall call it – rot capabilities, were still all too quick to pull out one of the boluses the Tarnished had given them and consumed them posthaste.

Whatever rot buildup they'd gained was now gone but it would only begin to build again in short order.

Put shortly, this wasn't something any of them should take even remotely lightly, not that they had been anyways.

Without a word, Ranni proceeded to fire off Roiling Magma, the ball of magma crossing the distance between them and the creature shortly before exploding right before it even made contact with the thing. However, to Ranni's surprise, the creature possessed enough intelligence even in its maddened state to shift back slightly to avoid the following explosion. It even raised the larger of its two arms to shield its vaguely animal-esque face.

Then it let out a roar before bringing that same massive arm of it down like a club. The party scattered to avoid the surprisingly fast attack, which sent sand and pieces of the coral-like structures flying off into the distance, demonstrating immense strength that Ranni would dare say easily surpassed that of the dragon that had threatened the water town. It would seem that the Scarlet Rot truly had empowered this thing with a considerable amount of power through its influence.

…Still, at best, Ranni would estimate this thing to 'merely' be on par now with Godrick, admittedly the weakest of all the demigods that had once called the Lands Between home.

Even so, weak demigod or not, the might Godrick once possessed – and thus the level of strength this creature now has – was still a cut or two above what even mighty warriors in the Four Cornered World could handle. Add in its ability to spread rot, it was akin to a walking apocalypse and therefore something that couldn't be allowed to exist any longer.

"Use thy Fire Grease!" Ranni beckoned towards Sword Saint and Hero. "Thy dear spellcaster and I shall provide support!"

No sooner than when she'd said that, she immediately made use of a Magma Shot several times in rapid succession. Despite the sheer speed of the spells, however, the creature proved fast and smart enough to avoid them. No doubt, its brief contact with the Roiling Magma sorcery had given it more than enough evidence that fire and magma in any amount was extremely harmful to it.

Thankfully, the creature chose to jump back to avoid the Magma Shots, putting Hero and Sword Saint just out of range of the rot mist around its body if the way their expressions briefly shifted were anything to go by. Not that it would matter much since they would need to go in and fight in melee. Still, any reprieve is better than nothing.

Moreover, her consort eternal hadn't been resting on his laurels this whole time.

A quick glance to him saw the Tarnished casting yet another incantation – Flame, Grant me Strength, she believed it to be called, a forbidden incantation by the fire monks. Immediately after performing it, the Tarnished reared back a hand and generated a Black Flame ball that he then threw with immense force and speed at the Sand-Dweller.

Unlike her Magma Shots, which sadly traveled at set speeds depending on how much power she poured into them, the speed of the Black Flame ball was entirely dependent on the Tarnished's throwing strength, of which he possessed a truly immense deal of. Not quite on par with his dearly admire lord Godfrey, but close enough in physical might to clash and somewhat equal him.

As such, the black and white colored flames hit their mark in the stomach of the Sand-Dweller, which practically heaved in response to the sudden pain – yet still just lucid enough to lash out with its arm just as the Tarnished had attempted to close in to fight in melee.

The Tarnished had to duck low and use the flat side of the Knight's Greatsword he now wielded to deflect the attacking limb upwards. Even then, it proved enough to briefly make him pause in his tracks and even back off when the creature attempted to kick him like a child's ball.

After dodging, the Tarnished put away his Knight's Greatsword and prepared to pull out a different weapon entirely from his mysterious spatial inventory. During this brief pause in his actions, the Sand-Dweller howled as it began to take a step forward, other arm raised to bring down in a vicious but sloppy chop-.

-Only for Ranni to intervene, once more performing Gelmir's Fury. This time, she spawn the erupting magma directly beneath its feet, scorching its bare and grotesque soles and burning off the sickening growths it had there. As it stumbled back, Ranni paid attention to where it stepped – there no longer seemed to be any more rot spewing out. A most welcome sight, but that could just as easily be due to the creature being in pain at the moment rather than as a result of her spell.

In any case, the erupting magma shot out and got all over its legs, with some huge blobs of the magma even reaching as far as the swamp of rots itself. Said swamp hissed wildly upon contact, haphazardly beginning to boil and dry up as the spell did its work.

This allowed the Tarnished more than enough time pull out another weapon – the Godslayer's Greatsword, which he then swung at the Sand-Dweller's arm as it finally lost balance from the burns it just received and fell onto its hands and knees.

One, two, three, almost four slow but powerful swings the Tarnished was able to land on the creature's forearm and upper arm before it tried to swat him away like a fly.

That was when, tired of standing around any longer, both Sword Saint and Hero chose to jump into the fray. Quite literally in the latter's case, showing off an impressive display of speed and flexibility as she spun around in midair before landing a heavy vertical cut on the Sand-Dweller's left wrist. With the holy blade wreathed in flames, the hand was severed with ease and elicited a howl of pain from the monstrous humanoid.

It howled louder still when Sword Saint stabbed it in between what it presumably had for ribs just as it had been about to stand back up, the Fire Grease doing wonders. Alas, the creature's muscles visible tensed, trapping Sword Saint's blade just long enough for it to drive an elbow into the young woman who was briefly surprised when she couldn't immediately pull her weapon out.

"No!" cried out Hero in horror, the sheer power of the hit sending Sword Sain careening through the air like a pebble. Said horror turned into anger and she threw herself at the creature, delivering three blinding fast swings with her holy blade that cut into its side before being forced to retreat when the rot mist it exuded seemed to grow thicker.

Ranni watched as Sage cast some kind of levitation spell on Sword Saint, halting the latter's impromptu flight and gently lowering her to the sandy ground. Despite the delicate landing, however, Sword Saint was obviously in bad shape from just the one strike, her fairly light armor – if it could be called that – having done little to protect her from the sheer strength of the elbow strike.

"I-It really packs a punch…" Sword Saint wheezed out, bones undoubtedly broken. "I'd even jumped back just a bit before impact too…"

"Stop talking and let me heal you!" Sage said in a low but harsh voice. "You're lucky contact with that thing didn't poison you either…!"

"Hold," Ranni said as she placed a firm hand on Sage's shoulder, the young woman having lowered herself in order to help Sword Saint sit up right. "My beloved shall tend to her. In the meantime, ready thy spells – we shall attack while our young companion keeps the creature occupied."

Throughout these brief seconds or so, Hero had been dancing around the Sand-Dweller, delivering cuts wherever she could. Unfortunately, the effects of the Fire Grease were wearing off and the massive humanoid was exhibiting surprising levels of coherent thought and dexterity now, stumbling about in order to avoid or at least mitigate the damage inflicted from Hero's attacks while also stomping around wildly in an attempt to crush her underfoot.

As for the Tarnished, he was upon them. "Allow me," he said, having clearly heard Ranni's words. "Strike whenever you're ready."

The Tarnished, with his current seal out, began to perform the Lord's Heal, a golden circle forming around him and enveloping the wounded and surprised Sword Saint.

"Wh-What in the-?" Sage's intellectual curiosity was showing through as she stared at the Tarnished's actions, but Ranni all but picked the young woman off the ground with two of her four hands, cutting off her words and thoughts.

"Young sage, now is not the time," she chided. "Prepare thy strongest fire spell – I shall ready a different spell to bring the creature down for a moment."

Her previous spells, courtesy of her brother, weren't quite cutting it due to their relatively slow speed. Something faster was therefore required.

Thus, the Lunar Princess fell back on habit.

As Sage nodded and immediately began to channel her power to fire off an area of effect spell, Ranni took aim with her staff and watched for now as Hero continued to dance around the creature.

By now, the Fire Grease had fully worn off. While the Hero's holy blade was unmistakably strong, it was now no longer doing as much harm as it had before and this showed in the way the creature seemed to put more enthusiasm into stomping around.

Not only that, but as Ranni had suspected moments ago, the ability to spread rot via its very steps must have been a conscious thing on its part, for rot resumed spilling forth from its stomps. The very battleground the Hero was fighting in was swiftly becoming untenable.

Time to fix that.

With nary a sound made, Ranni fired off Loretta's Bow, the concentration of pure magical power moving much faster than the magma spells she'd been using. It flew straight and true, striking the creature just as its back was now fully to her.

A hole got blown directly through the creature from the spell and it let out a gasp in response, for the whole had been roughly in the center of its upper back and chest, taking out whatever had once passed for lungs.

But even then, it still stood albeit uncertainly as it turned around to glare at them. Rot began to spew from its mouth, most likely to spit it their way-.

-Only for Sage to finish her preparations and promptly manifest an entire circle of intense flames directly around the creature, which had remained in one relative place long enough now to be encircled by it. It let out a weak screech and tried to futilely bat away the flames, only for its own misshapen left arm to catch fire and rapidly spread across the offending limb.

The circle of flames then closed in until the creature itself was fully on fire and managed to let out a scream somehow.

By now, the Tarnished had finished healing Sword Saint and helped her up. "Come!" he commanded, seeing the opportunity for what it was.

"Mm!" Sword Saint wasted not a second obeying and together the two charged ahead with blades in hand.

Hero, having backed off lest she be caught in the flames initially, joined in from a different angle before jumping high into the air in perfect unison with Sword Saint and the Tarnished.

Ranni then watched with actual bated breath as the three then attacked the flailing creature at the same time.

Hero's and Sword Saint's cuts with their blades went down the very sides of the creature, fully severing its arms which had burned away enough for this feat to be possible. As for the Tarnished, he'd jumped higher than both of them in order to attack last and he brought the Godslayer's Greatsword down in the heaviest blow he's delivered yet in this world, the black flames inherent to the blade combining with his great strength to split the creature vertically in two.

The Tarnished landed as the creature ceased its actions, the now two halves of its body falling away from one another until they landed upon the sandy dunes with dull thuds.

The battle was now over… but their journey here in this desert was still not quite done yet.

Off in the near distance, the other mutated wildlife can be heard ever approaching. It would seem not even the felling of the creature would deter them from this course of action. Additionally, the swamp of rot, despite being partially eroded by some of the magma from earlier, seemed to truly have a will of its own, trying to bubble up and spread out to reclaim the stretch of land it had once possessed.

Nonetheless, the end was close in sight and a quick glance around told Ranni that the morale of the trio was running higher now than it had mere minutes ago.

She just hoped said morale would last them for quite some time to come.

With nary another moment to waste, Ranni pointed towards the swamp of rot and they all advanced.

Time to put an end to this.


Was sorely tempted to finish off the swamp in full with this chapter, but decided against it – mainly because if I had done so, I would've also felt compelled to include a few extra scenes to set some stuff up. So I decided to hold off until the next chapter to do so for the sake of pacing.

And speaking of pacing and of the story, you all can expect the return of our resident goblin slaying adventurer and his friends in the next chapter as well! With the Tarnished and Ranni having had their fun in the limelight for the time being, it's time for Goblin Slayer and the others to get some time to properly shine after being caught off guard so far by all the aftereffects of the Frenzied Flame and Formless Mother doing their thing.

Hope you all will look forward to it… and hopefully I can get the next chapter out a bit sooner too – it does kind of suck having to balance writing essays with writing this fic… sigh.

Anyways, until next time, everyone. Take care!