Hey there, everyone! Let me just start off by saying I'm glad to see the response the last chapter got!

Like I said, I was sort of worried over how I had handled the reunion between the Tarnished and Ranni, but it seems like my concerns were unfounded.

But I'm not about to relax on that front just yet.

As I'm sure you all can imagine, this is where things start to get a little more different. Now that they've reunited, which was the primary goal for both of them, now is the time where they start trying to figure out how to combat the forces currently in the midst of entering the Four Cornered World. And then, of course, figure out a way back to the Lands Between. Top that off with the increasing emergence of the Outer Gods' influence in the Four Cornered World, and you get something that becomes increasingly more dire without (hopefully) losing the more adventurous and generally upbeat aspects that the Goblin Slayer storyline has, albeit not to the same almost aggravating extent that canon does (strictly my opinion here).

Anyways, I'm going to try and keep my rambling a bit on the shorter side from now on in these Ans unless I think it necessary, so let's just get onto the chapter, shall we?

Enjoy!

P.S. As always, please consider buying any of my books! Universal links available on my profile page, just remove the spaces. Fading Darkness, Rising Light and Infinite Genesis books 1-3 can be found on a variety of sites, such as Amazon Kindle, Apple Store, Barnes & Noble and more!

Chapter 13

After their brief yet heartfelt meeting, the Tarnished and Ranni proceeded to spend the next few hours traveling together towards the nearest town, which conveniently happened to not be all that far away, lying in the direction Ranni had come from.

The Tarnished had summoned Torrent to trot their way towards their destination whilst Ranni sat delicately in front of him atop the faithful steed. During this period of time, the two of them had remained in relative silence save for a solid half hour in which both had regaled the other with the events they'd experienced from the moment they'd awakened in this new world up until now.

With the two now caught up with one another, they'd opted to leave the real discussion they ought to be having until a little later, once they'd gotten settled in.

And so, by the time dawn approached, they finally arrived in the town Ranni had mentioned.

In comparison to the one where the Tarnished had come from, it was significantly smaller and didn't seem to have any adventurer's guild like he might have been expecting. It came across as being more of an exceptionally large and somewhat more modernized village than a full blown town in his opinion, but such a distinction mattered little – all that mattered was that they were together and could finally begin making plans for the future.

The town possessed a few inns, of which the pair chose one that was nearly right in the middle of the market area. The Tarnished and Ranni alike had obtained quite the amount of coin from their respective ventures, so paying for a room possessing a single large bed was of no issue. They had paid for at least three days and nights, more out of a sense of precaution rather than actual necessity.

Heading up to the room to confirm its condition, the pair decided to leave behind what few carryings they had that could be deemed unneeded for the time being. The Tarnished even decided, in the name of rest for the time being, to shed off all his armor and store it all away in his inventory. Donning the plain grey long sleeve shirt he'd purchased along with the simple woolen black pants and boots, he proceeded to head back downstairs with Ranni and head to the inn's mess hall.

Since it was now just barely past dawn by this point, the cooks had only barely gotten started on actually preparing meals as customers slowly trickled in, the Tarnished and Ranni among them. Although their unique constitutions meant rest and food were more on the optional side, rest and good food were things to never be shunned if possible. Now was such a time.

But until the meals they had promptly put their orders for were prepared, the couple – Elden lord and vassal, now that the Tarnished thought of it – had chosen to pick a table off to the corner to have some alone time.

"My thanks," Ranni said with a smile as he held the chair back for her.

"But of course," he replied, smiling as well as he now gently pushed her seat in once she'd gotten comfortable. After which, he'd naturally sat across from her.

As he too got situated, he couldn't help but truly look at Ranni now. Whether by the effect of fully becoming the vassal to the Dark Moon or by some other factor, the doll body Ranni's soul had been inhabiting all this time had now fully become her own – gone were the openings and gaps in her body where thread and string had been visibly pouring out from, the slight cracks on her frame having also been vanquished. Now the blue skinned body was one of flesh, her more uncanny countenance from back then now fully gone.

Such a change made the Tarnished wonder if he'd undergone any sort of metamorphosis of his own, though if so he certainly couldn't tell. Idly, he wondered if perhaps he'd one day grow as tall as lord Godfrey had done, having once been of a certainly imposing height back then only to grow even taller after he'd become Elden Lord from what he recalled.

But again, this was merely a passing thought without any real interest. What mattered now was…

"To think we'd be plagued by the gods even in this world," Ranni began, her soft tone from a moment ago gone. "And it would seem the world doesn't have the benefit of the Golden Order to act as a shield against such powers, at least not to the same degree as in the Lands Between."

"Mm, indeed." The Tarnished felt his own expression harden, his arms folding across his chest as he and Ranni now got down to business.

Those blood goblins from before confirmed that the Formless Mother was clearly trying to enter the fray here. And Ranni's own tales of her time journeying made it known that the terrifying Flame of Frenzy was likewise making a move, keen on ravaging this world to nothing just it would have done to the Lands Between if it hadn't been contained.

Moreover, during their trek to this town, Ranni had also briefly looked concerned about something, her divine senses having clearly noticed yet another thing amiss. And she'd confirmed his suspicion by saying she'd briefly felt the Scarlet Rot making an entrance elsewhere.

To put things summarily, this world was in the process of being utterly ravaged beyond recognition if things worsened.

"The Greater Will may have ruled with an iron fist through queen Marika and her lords for ages, but at the same time, its Golden Order had acted as a barrier against the other gods, yes?" the Tarnished asked in earnest, recalling what he's learned during his own travels and experiences. He may not be as learned as genuine scholars were out there, but lord Godfrey's philosophy of constant bettering one's self was something he'd taken fully to heart, to the point where he'd even tried to better himself in ways other than just honing his strength and martial skill. He will likely never truly qualify as a sorcerer or anything of the like, but the Tarnished liked to think of himself as a learned man. Whether or not such a quality of his could be attributed to his initial upbringing as a merchant by his dearly departed mother was unknown but nonetheless a pointless thing to ponder over.

"Correct. It was thanks to the Greater Will's very law that the other gods could only gain relatively minor footholds back in our world, though such a fact obviously did little to hamper how much devastation had been wrought in the end." Ranni grimaced and folded all four of hands together upon the table. "This had been especially true of the Scarlet Rot, thanks to the one who had sealed its body away below the Lake of Rot. Alas, without such a defense here, even the Scarlet Rot is able to act without requiring a medium to work through."

Ranni referred to Malenia, Blade of Miquella. One of her demigod siblings born with the Scarlet Rot's taint within her. A truly incredible swordswoman whose reputation honestly didn't do her abilities justice. The Tarnished recalled all too vividly the number of times he's been slain by her before finally managing to become strong enough and learn her moves well enough to slay her. In terms of pure swordplay, she was still his better even now and it was only thanks to honing his other skills and utilizing them that he'd been able to triumph. Just about the only advantages he'd had over her to start with was raw strength and endurance, for what little good that had done him initially.

But getting back on point, Malenia had been the one whom the Scarlet Rot had acted through in some manner, her blooming having been what had sent the once great land of Caelid spiraling down into ruination, to say nothing of the Haligtree's environment by the time he'd stumbled across it. Even after her defeat and temporary(?) death, both lands had shown no sign of healing. The Tarnished wasn't sure they'd ever be like what they once were.

However, it would seem that this world didn't have the same defenses their world did, allowing the Scarlet Rot far more freedom, just like the case was for the Formless Mother and Frenzied Flame if their current levels of influence were anything to judge by.

"Then the most obvious thing to do would be to curb whatever influence they've gained then bolster the world's defenses," the Tarnished now said. He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "…But now that I say that, would such a thing even be possible?"

Ranni's fingers proceeded to interlock and undo the process several times over as she pondered his words. "I'm of the same opinion, my dear, but there is no spell to accomplish such a thing… that is, not conventionally. There do exist some spells meant to combat outside influences, but never to something of this scale… unless…" She trailed off and lowered her head now, the hat she still wore almost touching the table now. "…Yes, it may be possible to combine and amplify the spells to form a barrier of some kind…"

"But I take it there may be complications?"

"Indeed." Ranni now raised her head so that she could look him in the eyes again. "While the two of us are most familiar now with the gods of our world, knowing more about this world is likely to be essential. Why, if I could learn more of the cosmology of this world – not simply of the stars above but of the gods here as well – I may be able to better attune such a potential combined spell to achieve better results."

Her proposal sounded like an excellent one, but the Tarnished kept from excitedly leaping at such honeyed words. He'd been taught long ago by his mother to always analyze any deal proposed to him, a trait that had honestly served him well even now as it was important to be able to read between the lines of any given situation.

Ranni had made it clear during her retelling of events that she'd obtained several books on the history of this world and more but so far her readings, admittedly few and far in between still, had provided little of true use. Whether or not that would always be the case was still heavily unknown, but if knowledge of the stars and gods in this world should prove lacking, then the possible option Ranni had thought up may not work so well or even at all.

Put simply, they would need to consider more options before they commit to any given one.

But before they could continue the discussion…

"Excuse me there!" a cheery voice called out – one of the inn's waitresses, a pretty and young woman with pale blonde locks and slim figure in a modest working outfit. Despite how early in the day it was, she was practically vibrating with energy and there was a small amount of red in her cheeks, as if embarrassed by something. "Your meals are here!"

"Ah, our thanks," the Tarnished replied with a small smile of his own as he accepted the large plate from her outstretched hand. The redness in her cheeks increased in that moment.

"Yes, our thanks indeed, lass. May ye keep up the good work," Ranni said as she too received her plate from the woman.

"Sure will! Enjoy!" she said with almost a skip in her step as she shot the Tarnished one final look before taking her leave to tend to the other customers that were still at their tables.

With their food now here, the two of them silently decided to take a break from their discussion for the time being.

Some time went by, Ranni and the Tarnished slowly but steadily eating the meals received, of which the quality was quite good. Ranni had bought a large salad of some kind in addition to a side of poultry while her consort had gotten himself a seafood type of breakfast, steamed fish cooked to perfection being diligently worked away at.

As they ate, Ranni studied her consort's appearance just as she knew he had studied hers earlier. Normally, the Tarnished always wore armor that fully covered him with the only time he'd been without a helm having been when he'd placed the ring on her finger following her brief but violent battle with the Two Fingers.

This was the first time at all that she could recall seeing him fully unarmored and she practically drank in his appearance with a somewhat clinical eye.

The Tarnished was undoubtedly tall, just shy of six and a half feet in height and with an incredibly muscular body that he had clearly attempted to model after the first Elden Lord, lord Godfrey, though her consort looked just a bit slimmer in the waistline than the legendary warrior that her brother had also so heavily looked up to. His simple clothes, meant to be on the baggy side, did little to hide such a powerful physique and Ranni was certain this was but one of the things that had drawn the waitress' eyes so heavily to the Tarnished.

The other thing that had likely so captivated the young woman just now was undoubtedly her consort's face – sharp and chiseled despite its surprising youthfulness, like a warrior prince. His pale skin, whether said paleness was due to usually wearing fully obscuring armor or due to other natural causes, contrasted nicely with the long dark brown hair that the Tarnished had actually tied back into a high ponytail of all things, a hair style that she had occasionally seen on the few warriors from the Land of Reeds that had once made their way to the Lands Between in the distant past.

But even more than that, what had drawn her attention the most – indeed, what had perhaps caused her to survey her consort's appearance so suddenly – was his vibrant blue eyes, an immense difference from the golden hue that all Tarnished possessed due to receiving the grace of gold once more. For them to be blue now… did that mean he was no longer officially a Tarnished and his eyes had reverted to their natural hue? Or perhaps the sheer vibrancy of his blue irises was due to him now being her consort and thus now something akin to a vassal to the Dark Moon?

"Is something wrong, Ranni?" the Tarnished suddenly asked, his gaze locking with hers.

The Lunar Princess, for her part, merely blinked, only the slightest bit startled by him noticing her discreet stare. Then again, he very likely wouldn't have gotten this far if he didn't possess an exceptional sense of situational awareness.

"Your eyes, my dear – they're blue," she began, deciding to just get to the point. "Is that their original color?"

The Tarnished was now the one to blink. "Are they now? Interesting… but to answer, yes, they once were, before the grace of gold naturally changed them." He was nearly done with his meal by now, being a fast but not sloppy eater, yet another sign of his surprisingly good manners. "…Given that the Greater Will is no longer in control of the Lands Between, could it be…? That its grace had fully come to an end, even for ones such as myself?"

It would seem that he too was aware of what such an otherwise simple detail could signify. And it was in fact something that should seriously be considered in light of the challenges that undoubtedly lied ahead.

Thus far, it didn't seem like either of them had faced much challenge in this world but neither of them could afford to get complacent. All too often have there been those who've perished from easily avoidable mistakes or simply from being unlucky. Not even a mighty warrior such as the Tarnished had been able to avoid death throughout his journey in the Lands Between, the grace of gold reviving him having been what had ultimately allowed him to prevail when all others had failed.

Even then, such a 'blessing' from the Greater Will was not without its failings. Those with the grace of gold could indeed revive to continue on their journey, but only so long as they still retained the strength of will to soldier on. Those who end up dying in despair, their will broken, or otherwise perfectly satisfied with however they had died… well, the grace of gold would still revive them, but such a process would take far longer. It was why the other warriors, Tarnished or not, that her consort had defeated didn't return again during the remaining duration of his journey. And now with the age of the Golden Order ended, there was likely a chance such revivals may no longer exist as well.

…In some ways, this was good – it meant that, once they return to their world, there shouldn't be a chance of any would-be usurpers rising up to end her Age of Stars before it's even properly begun. But on the other hand, the loss of said revivals would be to strip away one of the Tarnished's greatest and most constant assets up until now, again assuming the Dark Moon wasn't now taking over in that regard.

Unfortunately, such questions were ones that they likely wouldn't have answers to for quite some time.

"I'm afraid I've no answer," Ranni finally replied after considering all this. "I suppose… when the Tarnished were divested of the grace, did thee feel any difference at the time?"

"…To some degree, yes. It had been as if something had been missing, though not to the point where it felt like something essential." The Tarnished(?) folded his arms over his broad chest and pondered on his circumstances. "…It doesn't feel that way now, however."

"Then there is a chance, however slight, that the Dark Moon shall be overseeing any revivals as needed from now on. That said, I'd much prefer you not test such a thing," Ranni then said, a frown upon her face.

The Tarnished nodded. "Mm, agreed. It's not as if I much enjoy dying on the regular either way, even if it is just a natural part of life." He held her gaze, his expression stern. "Nonetheless, I will proceed with just a bit more caution from now on. After all, it wouldn't do to die for good before I can even set foot back in our world again."

For some reason, that got just the slightest bit of laughter out of Ranni. "See to it that ye do as ye say, my dear. It would be unbecoming of my consort to perish so soon and so easily in the future after proving to be such a dogged one earlier."

That got a light chuckle out of him and the two returned to their meal for the time being.

It wasn't long before both of them finished though and once they had signaled the waitress to come and collect their empty plates and used tableware, the two decided to head back to their room to continue the conversation from before.

Moments later, they were situated in said room, the Tarnished sitting his massive frame down upon the bed while Ranni had taken to standing for the time being. In her four arms, she held up the books Sage had purchased for her some time ago, before their parting.

She handed one to the Tarnished who proceeded to peruse it, flipping through the first dozen or so pages.

"Now then, to continue, our first option would be to craft a spell from other spells that already exist to bolster this world's defenses against the gods from our world," Ranni began as she opened the book in her first left hand to briefly skim some pages that she'd already read the other day or so ago. "But I have considered a possible second option – this world does have gods of their own. My thought is to establish a connection with them and see if it may be possible to have them combat the gods that would try to meddle with this world – the Four Cornered World as it seems to be known as by its denizens."

"I see. All things considered, a straightforward process," the Tarnished commented as he continued his reading. He lowered the book momentarily. "But earlier you spoke of the stars as well. Would it not be possible for you to call upon the Dark Moon itself to aid us?"

Ranni nodded. "That is another option I had considered and one I personally deem the most likely to succeed – though, obviously, I am biased in favor of such a thing." Her delicate lips twitched upwards into a smile for the briefest instance before getting serious again. "Alas, in order to realize such an option, I would first need to have a better understanding of the cosmos of this world. It is through the stars that I am able to reach out to the Dark Moon, which is most likely sitting inert back in our world for the time being due to our bond being… interfered with to some extent thanks to the 'distance' between this world and ours."

The Tarnished resumed reading the book briefly, which was a study of various magical fields. "Hmm, I remember that is why Blaidd and I headed to defeat your brother – aside from having a chance to do battle with the legendary general Radahn, of course."

Ranni nodded in confirmation.

Her brother Radahn had used his overwhelming control of gravity magic to hold back the very stars themselves, an act that had interfered with a good number of her actions back then. His defeat and death at her consort's hands had undone Radahn's hold and had finally allowed her to connect with the stars yet again. If not for that, then severing her bond with the Two Fingers and subsequently the Greater Will would've been impossible even if all else had gone as planned.

Though she was still naturally the vassal for the Dark Moon, the metaphysical distance between the Lands Between and this world meant that she couldn't call upon for support so easily, not unless some kind of medium was established. In this case, the most obvious solution would be to rely upon the stars themselves.

However, while her divine senses can certainly give her some measure of idea for the constellations and the like, without accurate knowledge of them, she cannot create a pathway for her and the Dark Moon to resume communication with.

She held back a sigh. It was a true pity that the interruption of her propagation of the Age of Stars had been halted the way it had been – it meant that the Dark Moon would have no choice but to simply remain where it was at, holding its unstable law together until something in the situation changes. But if a connection could be reestablished then things should stabilize enough for it to come here and aid her and the Tarnished as needed.

"I'm certain a star chart of some kind must exist out there," Ranni began as she set down the books upon the room's sole table. "If I could obtain such a thing, then I can properly call out to the Dark Moon. From there… well, with us here, mounting a proper defense against the other gods should be a straightforward matter. And once that is done, we can ask of the Dark Moon a way to return us home."

The Tarnished nodded firmly, clearly in agreement. "Then it seems like this may be our best option yet. But still, I think it may be best to try and proceed forth with at least one of the other options spoken of as a precaution."

Ranni hummed thoughtfully.

Spreading themselves too thin would only cause things to drag out and potentially risk failure on one or even both options in the long run… but the Tarnished raised an excellent point. If they gambled on just the one option and it failed, then they'd be stuck here even longer trying to reassess their available moves.

"Then I propose proceeding with the first one as well," the Tarnished said upon seeing something in her expression that signaled her approval of his prior statement. "While I can only imagine how difficult it would be to create a spell meant to hold back the gods themselves, I can't help but feel it would be easier and even safer to do than trying to contact and build enough of a rapport with the gods of this world to carry out the task at hand."

A fair point – from what her discussions with Sage had yielded, it seemed like the gods of this world, at least the ones known to her so far, tended to only get involved with the more devout followers of whatever faith that surrounds them. Even then, said involvement seemed to only involve granting blessings of some kind, miracles.

Such indirectness was hardly unique given the gods she was familiar with somewhat functioned along similar lines, but even then the gods of her world were still very much active in their own ways.

…

…

…On that particular note… if even the likes of Scarlet Rot are actively trying to influence this world, then what about-?

"Ranni?" the Tarnished called out in concern. It would seem she had gone completely silent for a whole minute on end, unmoving.

"Merely collecting my thoughts," she replied. While voicing her thoughts to her consort definitely appealed, there was no need to be spouting every single concern she held just yet, especially when said concerns were still completely unfounded as of now. "In any case, thy words hold much weight, my dear. Very well then, we shall proceed with that as our backup."

The Tarnished shot her a piercing look, clearly knowing something had bothered her somehow. But out of respect for her privacy, he merely kept silent and nodded in response on the matter. "Then let us see what this town has to offer. Who knows? Perhaps one of the local shops may provide us just what we need to proceed."

"Hmph, that would be quite the convenience," Ranni muttered in response to her consort's lightly joking tone.

Putting away the books, they locked up the room and took their leave for the time being as an eagerness to explore the town – both for the sake of their new plan and simply to enjoy the sights – took hold of the two.

But even so…

…Just the slightest bit of worry ate away at Ranni as she traveled by her consort's side.

If all the other gods were trying to invade this world, then would that also not apply to the Greater Will as well?

The Hero let out a good, long groan as she stretched her arms. The light sounds of her joints cracking made her then hum in satisfaction, having felt pretty stiff for a fair while now.

That said…

"Ugh! I know things are always up to us to solve, but why can't the king just let us relax for a while before leaving?!"

…Her mood, while not outright foul, was hardly good.

Following their parting from Ranni, Hero and her friends had picked up the pace significantly in order to make it back to the capital. After their arrival, they had been immediately brought before the king who, in his usual fashion, had commanded the female trio to set out and solve yet another big problem that had been brewing somewhere in the lands.

"He has been looking more on edge as of late," Sword Saint commented neutrally. However, her expression gave away her own disgruntlement on the matter.

"Bah, that guy is always looking wound up!" Hero retorted.

"We won't argue with that. Nonetheless, a job is a job," Sage chipped in from beside her. "At least this new task of his does sound pretty interesting.

Hero guessed that was one way of looking at it.

Normally, she and her friends would either go on an initially simple journey only to suddenly end up stumbling across a grander plot, have some epic battles and then walk away victorious in the end. Then there were times where they were flat out told to go and complete this epic journey or whatnot, which always made it clear to the trio what to expect for the most part.

This was the first time that Hero could recall being told something so… unusual, at least by her standards.

"What do you think is behind the cause of the villages losing contact?" Sword Saint asked of Sage, the two older (and much curvier, much to Hero's chagrin) girls being the ones who were taking the task more seriously than Hero seemingly was.

Sage frowned. "Hard to even guess without anything to go on. That his majesty and his entire council also seemed completely stumped does say a lot in a way…"

Hero's face scrunched up.

She'd sorta tuned out the king's speeches – he was always a little too longwinded and grandiose for her liking – save for the relevant details since she knew her friends, especially Sage, would bother to remember the little things.

But the gist of the whole thing did stick her… and was indeed pretty interesting all things considered.

Out on the further ends of the kingdom's land, entire villages had started to just lose any and all contact with each other and the surrounding regions. It was as if the villagers had simply stopped passing along messages and the like, which was quite the irregularity since said villages were much more at risk than most of being attacked by monsters or the forces of the chaos in general.

Given that there had been no sightings of the demon king's followers or the like at all despite the impressive intelligence network at the king's disposal, it seemed more than possible that something else was at work here, especially since there had been some messages from the closer towns of hearing unearthly wailing from great distances away, as if dozens of voices or more were calling out in unison.

Oh, and apparently there had also been strange yellow glows, just barely visible from afar from what sentry stations had been placed out that way…

…At least before they too had seemingly stopped making regular contact with the capital.

So yeah, something pretty funky was going on, Hero realized.

Didn't make her annoyance at the king's attitude go away, though. Seriously, it felt like they hadn't even been in the capital for more than a half hour before effectively being booted out to go deal with this.

"Eh, well, whatever's going on, it can't be as bad as that one time with that monster spirit thing during the festival. You know, that time where the oh so lovely Sword Maiden helped out in the astral plane or something," Hero said as she now placed her hands behind her head as they continued their walk.

Sage rolled her eyes. "You're always saying the next situation won't be as bad as a previous one and get proven wrong pretty regularly."

"Well, yeah, I guess so. But hey, we always come out alive and in one piece so why worry so much?" Hero grinned chipperly.

Sage just sighed in resignation.

"…In any case, it's already been a few days since we left the capital," Sword Saint pointed out. "So we should be reaching the designated region pretty soon."

At those words, Sage narrowed her eyes. "…Right. And it just occurred to me too, but we've been seeing less and less people out this way as we get to the marshes…"

The trio slowed down as those words sank in. Now even Hero was starting to narrow her eyes, finally getting serious.

It really has been a while since they've come across anyone.

Time goes by as they continued their trek. It had been roughly halfway through the morning by the time they'd begun their bickering but now it was just a little past noon as they ventured forth. Nothing of note happened during this time frame.

…Until…

"Hey… hey, look! I think I see some people!" Hero exclaimed, eyes squinted.

Off in the seeable distance, there did indeed appear to be a few stragglers here and there. They seemed to just be milling around, doing nothing in particular.

"…They don't seem normal," Sage said. Her hand began to tighten its grip on her staff. "…Something is wrong with them. I can feel it."

Sword Saint grimaced, a hand reaching for the hilt of her blade. "Mhm. I can feel something off too…"

Hero paused just as she was about to reply to their comments but then held her tongue. While still pretty fresh-faced, all things considered, even in her brief tenure so far as the chosen hero, she'd accumulated quite a bit of battle experience, enough to know when things might get dicey in advance.

And now even she was starting to feel something off.

But it wasn't as if they could turn around and leave.

"Heeeyyyy! You over there!" Hero called out to the people who'd merely been standing about… though now that she got a better look, she could see some more people literally on their knees and looking off elsewhere.

By now, they were just twenty or so meters away from the unknown people and said individuals finally seemed to take notice of them and look their way-.

-And exposing their lack of eyes, which had been replaced by yellow pulsing flames.

The sight of this actually made Hero and her friends freeze up on the spot, their gazes locking with that of the now obviously abnormal people.

The longer they stared, the more the Hero felt like she was being sucked right into their gazes, a weird and very unpleasant feeling beginning to dig its way into her mind…

…But she then shook off the uncomfortable sensation just as the people started to lumber towards her and her party.

"Hey now! Don't get too close!" Hero called out to the people as she drew her holy sword. From beside her, Sword Saint drew her blade as well. Sage held out her staff, ready to fire a spell if need be.

And that's exactly what she did when Hero's warning went unheeded.

A blast of pure magical energy was unleashed from Sage's staff and it struck the nearest person right in the chest. Normally, such a simple spell would've been enough to annihilate even strong monsters, even do some good damage against the likes of an ogre. But this time around, Sage had attuned its power so that it was lower, low enough to be able to put the hurt on the average person and knock them out.

Except the person she just blasted – an average looking man in his forties – simply started to get back up immediately after being knocked down. He was clearly hurt from the attack, but seemed to push past the pain without issue.

Sage grimaced. "…These people are villagers," she began. "Normally, I'd try to isolate and destroy whatever's controlling them, but this doesn't feel…" She trailed off.

Even so, her words so far were more than enough to paint the full picture to the other two.

"You mean…" Hero began. "We gotta take them down?"

Sage was, obviously, the magic expert of their little trio, well versed in all things magical no matter how obscure it may be. In the past, she's proven able to take just a glance at something and mere moments or even seconds later state with confidence how to deal with it.

And yet, here she was, now saying that whatever had clearly taken hold of these villagers – no doubt the ones from the villages that had lost contact – was not something that could be undone, at least not now.

Sure enough, Sage nodded forlornly.

"…!" Hero's grip tightened harshly.

Alas, she didn't get a chance to even begin contemplating the moral issues with this development as the several villagers now burst into a sprint. With surprising speed, they charged the trio.

The sheer suddenness of this given their previous slow and lumbering gait took Sage by surprise enough to not be able to cast a spell in time – but she didn't need to worry.

For Sword Saint stepped in with a burst of speed and let loose a downwards slash that cut down the very side of a villager just as he had been about to fully close the distance. Her blade cleanly cut open his side, from just above the collarbone and all the way down to the pelvis area, blood spewing out just a split second afterwards.

The villager grunted and stumbled, seemingly more from the sudden attack in and of itself rather than from genuine pain. Sure enough, he simply made to lunge at Sword Saint instead, but with gritted teeth, she skewered him directly through the heart and swung at an upwards angle, cutting through his right shoulder.

That certainly did the trick for the man stumbled over and evidently passed away as the yellow flames in his eyes went out, revealing eye sockets that had long since been burned and scalded away at by whatever had possessed him.

As for the other villagers, they'd been knocked back hard by Hero who had used the slight size advantage her holy sword gave her to bat them back.

For all her happy-go-lucky personality, she too had her moments of doubt and fear from time to time… and now was such a time.

She's fought and killed plenty of crazy and weird things, from that crazy monster that had existed in the astral plane to cultists worshipping the demon king to lichs and more.

But fighting once regular villagers? That was something she hadn't done before and possessed or not, that didn't suddenly mean she was going to cheerily go ahead and kill them.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a choice for her.

One of the villagers, a surprisingly stocky looking lady in her twenties, probably helped out with a lot of heavy lifting on a farm, got up with unnatural movements and swiped like an animal at Hero. Hero easily dodged to the side and used her blade to attack the legs, the flat side of her blade acting more akin to a club that took down the woman thanks to her bad balance. Then, as the possessed woman crashed to the floor, Hero hesitated for just a fraction of a second before finally steeling herself and swinging her holy sword down just as the woman started to roll over and reach out for her foot.

The woman's head split open violently, blood spilling out into the air yet none of it got on Hero as she had already moved away and cut off the arm of another villager that had tried to grab her from behind. Sword Saint then closed in and cut open said villager's back, a killing blow if only due to how deep the cut was.

By now, Sage had gotten her bearings and proceeded to launch a powerful fire ball that exploded on impact against the other three villagers that had tried to close in on her. This time around, she hadn't held back so much and her attack had effectively incinerated the three right on the spot.

Just like that, in mere seconds, the trio had already almost completely done away with the attackers.

Or so it seemed.

"…!" All three of them let out slight sounds of surprise as sounds started to ring out from all around them. The area had very tall grass thanks to being close to the marshes, where plenty of water could be located at and only now could they see said grass rustling as something from within started to make its way towards them.

Or rather, a lot of somethings – other people, each one sporting the same sickening yellow flames.

Hero flinched as did her friends. With just the small handful of villagers, some weird feeling had made itself vaguely known to them, but now with more than a dozen popping out into the open, that feeling had returned only stronger now.

And more people were starting to appear from the surrounding area. It was almost eerily akin to how the undead had a bad habit of just appearing whenever some crazy necromancer wanted to perform a mass summoning, logic be damned.

Even worse, they could now hear the sounds of barking dogs from down the road… and as the dogs came rushing in, there was no mistaking what had become of their eyes too.

"It even affects animals…?" Sage mumbled in genuine fright, clearly unnerved by whatever strange creepy thing was going on now.

"Darn it! I don't like this!" Hero cried out as one dog lunged for her, only for her to cut through it horizontally, its halves now sailing past her and blood coating her form slightly.

Her dislike came from two separate things.

Firstly and most importantly, cutting down once innocent people didn't sit right with her at all. Right now, she might be doing okay emotionally but that was only because right now, it was either the lives of her friends and herself she had to prioritize or just die.

Secondly, while the three of them were used to fighting some pretty long battles, their endurance was far from infinite – given a solid half hour or so of fighting and they'll tucker out just like anyone else. And with more and more people sporting those same scary yellow flames for eyes popping out – guess they found out what had become of the villages – then it wouldn't be long at all until they were overcome through sheer attrition.

"Rrgh! Let's make a run for it!" Hero then declared. "Past them all! Maybe if we go deep enough into the marshes, we'll see the source of all this!"

"Fine by me!" Sword Saint agreed just as she stabbed through the side of a boy that was probably no older than Hero, the older girl's face a barely concealed mask of disgust over her own actions as the attack slew the boy on the spot. "Let's move!"

Sage said nothing, merely nodding her head grimly in acknowledgement.

With a controlled burst of speed, the three of them took off deeper into the marshes, hoping to end this new and horrible madness…

…Unaware of the true source of said madness.

Spearman and his partner, Witch, traversed their way across the border of the kingdom and land outside said border – a desert. Even though their most recent quest, which had concerned the two with having to track down and slay some weird spirit beast, had taken place more on the kingdom's land rather than beyond its border, the sheer proximity to the desert still left the whole region very hot and dry. That the nights they'd spent out here in these parts had been shockingly chilly only served to make the daytime that much more unbearable.

And Spearman, perhaps in spite of his moniker as the Frontier's Strongest, had no trouble voicing his opinion on the matter.

"Ugh! Sheesh, you think it could get any hotter out here?! I'm practically cooking in my own armor!" With his signature spear held lazily over his shoulder, he tugged at his chest piece, halfway considering taking it off in order to cool down. The only reason he didn't do so is because the two of them have had some skirmishes here and there in the form of bandits and some surprisingly aggressive wildlife just the past few days. He may prioritize speed over tanking hits but he'd really rather not hassle going into battle unprotected.

"Then… take off… your… armor," Witch drawled out in her signature slow tone. However, she spoke without the normally sensuous tint to it, also nearly melting under the heat despite not having any armor to cover her voluptuous figure. Why, earlier, she'd even risked using a spell to conjure up a very light cooling mist but it had only last maybe ten minutes at most before the protection against the heat ceased.

"Ha, I'd love to, but can't! Don't wanna get taken off guard just because of a little heat!" Spearman replied.

"Then… stop complaining… please. It's very… tiring…" Witch muttered as she adjust the position of her large witch's hat atop her head, better to keep the sun out of her face. Knowing Witch the way he did, Spearman was certain she was more concerned with risking sunburn on her face than anywhere else.

The silver ranked spear user grunted. "I know, I know… but if I don't talk, it feels like I might just feel worse somehow. Man, can't wait to get back to good old civilization – can practically feel the ice-cold shower calling my name!"

His words got a light giggle out of his partner, undoubtedly out of agreement. It was enough to put a slight smile on his face, though that smile would become a full-blown grin once he gets to see Guild Girl's lovely face again.

Ah, how he missed that woman…

…But he was getting ahead of himself here.

Despite having rested up a bit after vanquishing the spirit beast, the duo hadn't had much time to regain a lot of their stamina and the environment was taxing them all the more. It would be a fair while longer, probably another hour or so, before they reach the nearest town. Until then, they had no choice but to soldier on and hope things went smoothly.

Alas, it seemed like the gods made one hell of a dice roll because in the following few moments…

"…Wait!" Witch's voice cracked out with surprising fierceness, not quite a yell but definitely louder than the norm for the woman.

Spearman, for all his laidback mannerisms, obliged. Not quite about to get into a battle stance, but he was certainly on edge now, his slim form tensing and ready to burst into action.

Shooting a look back at Witch, he actually felt his eyes widen at the most serious expression he's ever seen on her face, a near scowl forming on her mature features.

"What's up?"

Witch held up a hand, signaling him to stay quiet for the moment. Spearman watched as she looked above, apparently seeing something that he couldn't.

"…Something's… in the air… something very… very bad," she said. "Get close."

Spearman closed the gap between them in a second and as soon as he did so, she muttered a single word which activated a magical barrier of some kind. He's no spell expert, but it didn't seem like the typical one used against pure physical attacks so whatever was going on might be something different.

At that moment, whatever Witch had sensed finally seemed to make itself known as the sky above gained an ominous scarlet tint to it. What almost looked like pollen or flower petals began to rain down over the desert area they had come from not long ago, though the sheer range of… well, whatever this is, was enough to nearly reach them too.

Spearman suddenly found himself suppressing a shudder; something about what they were seeing was giving him goosebumps and not in the fun way that a sudden challenge did. Whatever this was, it was just as bad as Witch's few words had hinted at.

…The change was oh so small at first, so small that Spearman had to rub his eyes to make sure the heat hadn't gotten to him that badly. But reality really was often able to betray whatever expectations one had as portions of the land started to slowly undergo some changes.

Squinting hard, he could vaguely see something akin to… he supposed the closest approximation would be fungi and the like begin to form where there had once been none. Some of the local plantlife – cacti, from what some locals had informed him in passing a while back – started to shift and bend in weird ways, their original shape steadily losing meaning as something else now seemed to take its place.

"…We need to… leave. Now," spoke Witch tensely. "My barrier… won't last… much longer."

"H-Hold on, ain't there something you could do about this?" Spearman asked. His partner was one of the best damned magic users out there. Not to the point of being all-powerful, of course, but she knew enough spells to suit pretty much any situation. Even if she didn't have just the right spell, she still knew how to make use of what spells she did know to make the most out of pretty much any given circumstances.

For her to flat say they needed to retreat…

She patted his arm twice and very firmly. Not a trace of her usual attitude was anywhere to be found.

Spearman grimaced but nodded just once. He loved a good adventure, no matter how dangerous it may seem… or so he would have claimed moments ago. Whatever was suddenly going on now was evidently bad juju, bad enough to make his partner reconsider things completely.

Without another word spoken, the duo swiftly left. And all the while, the changes continued on in the desert as the unknown Rot seeped into the land.

Whew, hadn't realized until just this moment how long the chapter had gotten – over 9,000 words and roughly 17 pages long! Just goes to show how invested I was in this one, ha ha.

Anyways, yep, the Tarnished's appearance had been revealed! And as I believe I may have mentioned in a prior AN in the very early chapters, his appearance is just a bit different from what's possible in Elden Ring's character creation, mainly due to my own preferences and partly because Goblin Slayer, obviously being anime-esque, calls for an anime-esque looking design in my opinion.

To describe his appearance, think of the Tarnished looking like the blond guy (Helios from Silverio Trinity) in this fic's cover photo, of which should be up around the same time this chapter is being posted, if not a bit afterwards. Of course, he'll have dark brown hair as opposed to said image's blond hair. As for his physique, just check out how built Gawain looks in FGO SERAPH's official manga for an idea. On that particular note, damn Gawain do be looking like the unga bunga gorilla that the fandom jokingly calls him in that manga, heh.

Now, onto more fic relevant stuff.

As stated in the starting AN, this is where things start taking a bit of a different direction as both the Tarnished and Ranni work towards the goal of helping the Four Cornered World defend itself from the outer gods while also trying to figure out a way back to the Lands Between. Meanwhile, the influences of said outer gods will really start to be felt throughout the world as GS characters have their own encounters as the past few chapters have been setting up.

Things are certainly going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the characters, of that there will be no doubt. Future events will become a lot more dire than events so far, however, I will be trying to avoid having the story become too bleak, so please forgive me in advance for any weird cases of mood whiplash.

Anyways, I just hope you all have been enjoying the story so far and will continue to enjoy it even as I begin to take it in this new direction.

Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!