Hey there, everyone! It's been quite a while! Hope you all had a Happy Holiday and are doing well.

My apologies for taking so long to get this chapter out, even though I even said it may take as long in the previous chapter's AN. There's a few reasons for why this ended up being the case.

Firstly, got myself for Christmas a beat-'em-up game called Dusk Diver 2 and I surprisingly ended up kind of obsessed with blitzing my way through the whole thing, side quests and all. I got the first one quite some time ago, around the very beginning of this year or maybe even some time last year if I remember right, and quite liked it. As a result, when I found out there was a sequel, I just couldn't help myself and was subsequently blown away by how much more improved it was compared to the first one, which was already a perfectly decent game. While DD2 won't be winning any awards any time soon, it was still plenty fun for me to just blow off steam and the action in general was enjoyable. And of course, it got me thinking up some fanfic ideas as well, ha ha.

Secondly, well, had quite the brainfart when it came to thinking up exactly how to proceed with this chapter. Had a plan for it in the beginning but then once I even thought of sitting down to write it, I basically suffered a mental 404 error and forgot everything, which was a frustrating experience to deal with. I'm sure you all have gone through something similar, heh!

And thirdly… as it is now entering 2023, I really did finally decide to try getting off my ass for good in trying to improve my life. Much easier said than done, to put it mildly, but now more than ever it's just gotta to be done and as such, my time to write fanfics may very likely be impacted depending on how things go from here on out. I still fully intend to write fics for as long as I'm able to, but time is now more of a precious resource to me than ever before. Hope you guys understand and to those of you going through the same thing, I pray that things go well for you.

Now, enough of my little emotional spiel – chapter talking time.

Like mentioned above, trying to recollect my thoughts on how to proceed with this chapter was a rough process, but I managed well enough to recall how I wanted to start it. It also helps that my ideas for later on in the story do require some set up (understandably) in order to get to them, which further helped me reorient my thoughts. That said, my apologies if this chapter feels just a bit awkward in some respects. In any case, for here on out, this is when things will start to pick up now that the Tarnished and Ranni will be making better progress in reuniting and getting into the thick of it along the way.

Oh and to those of you wondering why the Dark Moon isn't getting in on all the action, that too will be explained in this chapter. Hope said explanation will clear things up for you!

Now onto the chapter!

P.S. As usual, please consider buying any of my books! Links available on my profile, just remove the spaces. Fading Darkness, Rising Light and the Infinite Genesis trilogy can be found for purchase on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and more!

P.P.S Happy New Year!

Chapter 9

Several hours go by since his departure from the town alongside Heavy Warrior and his merry party… and the Tarnished was having quite a hard time getting into the swing of things.

Not too long ago, his instincts had flared up like a well-functioning alarm, alerting him to the vague but nonetheless dire fact that something was going horribly wrong somewhere.

That was just about the only thing the veteran warrior understood and just about the only other thing he could discern from the sheer suddenness of this was that it undoubtedly had to do with the gods of his world.

While his extrasensory perception was far weaker than Ranni's, his experiences with all manner of things had still granted him a certain level of insight into that which couldn't be detected conventionally. It helped that thanks to his battles with the likes of the demigods had helped sort of attune him to the general sensation of the gods, such as the Dark Moon itself and even the likes of the Formless Mother that Mohg had so fervently worshipped via his blood magic.

It was thanks to this that he could now vaguely sense that the great beings of his world were now encroaching upon this one. Needless to say, the Tarnished was far from enthused by such a thought.

Sadly, he knew little beyond that simple fact. He's no idea if all the gods were metaphorically trying to batter their way into this world to spread their influence or of what sort of progress they may have made in such a venture. For all he knew, life as the denizens of this world knew it may very well experience a drastic change and for the worse in the next few minutes.

And it hadn't helped to see the young girl that was a part of Heavy Warrior's party to essentially have a noticeable panic attack earlier.

It'd certainly taken them all by surprise, to say the least, forcing them to cease in their traveling until they were able to calm Druid Girl, who'd promptly passed out after coming out of the panic attack. Following that, Heavy Warrior had chosen to relieve Scout boy of the heavy pack in exchange for having the boy carry his fellow greenhorn on his back.

Ever since then, they all had ended up traveling in the same direction in relative silence and a tense once at that too.

The Tarnished hummed quietly to himself as he pondered the situation further.

If all the gods were now trying to invade this world, then what of the Dark Moon, which Ranni served as a vassal of?

As the consort of Ranni, he bore a connection to it as well and thus held a certain degree of divinity much like how lord Godfrey had obtained when he'd become the Elden Lord, though his status was obviously lesser than that of his beloved given her role in all this as its vassal, much like how Marika had served as the vassal of the Greater Will.

Through this connection, he could still sense the Dark Moon… but it was oh so faint and far away, insomuch as a concept like distance could apply to entirely different worlds.

If the Tarnished had to take a guess, it would seem that the Dark Moon had been rendered inactive – placed in a type of stasis back in the Lands Between, in the very heart of the Erdtree. Given that Ranni had still been in the process of summoning it forth in full to begin her Age of Stars when the other gods had interfered, the Tarnished supposed that perhaps the interrupted process is what was causing the Dark Moon to be so… so inert, for lack of a better way to put it.

He grimaced in silence at such a postulation. Assuming his hypothesis was correct, then it was all the more reason to reunite with Ranni and rouse it from its impromptu slumber. With any luck, doing so would not only help them find a way home, but also perhaps bar the other gods from influencing this world. As much as he may love the thrill of challenges and tribulations, that didn't mean he would just stand idly by and allow the gods to make of this world what had become of the Lands Between.

That said…

"You intend to make camp for the night?" he asked of the party he traveled with.

"…Yeah, gonna have to," replied Heavy Warrior with a fittingly heavy sigh. "I know I said where we're going wasn't that far, but…"

"Such things are all quite relative, aren't they?" the Tarnished finished in a tone of mild amusement, his mood improving slightly.

Heavy Warrior grunted in acknowledgement. "Would've been a hell of a lot closer, but…" He trailed off and glanced at Druid Girl, who was still unconscious as Scout Boy carried her dutifully and carefully. "Well, not like everything ever goes to plan. Anyways, why the question? You thinkin' of sticking with us?"

"For the time being, if it's alright with you," the Tarnished replied. "Whatever happened with your dear greenhorn… for such a thing to happen like that, it clearly can't be anything good. Best to stick together, even if only for a little while longer to make sure nothing else occurs."

Heavy Warrior mulled it over, but it was Female Knight who then spoke up. "How very kind of you," she uttered in a rather clipped tone. She was hiding it very well, but not even a warrior as experienced as her was able to shrug off the sheer oddity of this situation so easily. Whether or not this could be attributed to her somewhat naïve mindset or not was something the Tarnished had no way of truly knowing. "Well, I don't see much of a problem with you sticking around a while longer. But I can't see what good that would really do if we can't just attack the source of the problem."

Mm, on that, the Tarnished could certainly agree. Alas, it was pointless to dwell on what-ifs like that, especially what had to be the greatest what-if of all – attacking a genuine god. Marika and by extension Radagon may have been a god unto themselves thanks to their unique status and the Elden Beast had certainly been a force unlike any other that he's personally encountered… but in the end, when compared to the likes of the Greater Will itself and others like it, they were little more than motes of light trying to outshine a massive star.

No, it was much better to focus on what could be done now. In this particular case, it would be simply setting camp for the approaching night and tend to the young girl as needed until she either woke up or dawn approached.

And it was on that note that, as much as he'd love to hurry towards Ranni, he couldn't just go rushing off into the unknown.

If the likes of the Frenzied Flame or the Formless Mother or any of the other higher powers were indeed establishing a foothold in this world, then it was imperative to root out and stamp out said footholds to prevent their influence from spreading. The Tarnished knew not if the gods would lose interest in this world if and when he and Ranni managed to return to the Lands Between, but that wasn't a chance he felt comfortable taking.

Thus he would need to do what he could to ensure the other gods remained at bay whilst continuing to make his way towards Ranni. It would be a very delicate balance to maintain, being thorough in both his search and destroy quest and approach to his beloved, but it was necessary to do so until he could be assured otherwise.

…Perhaps the deal he'd established with the adventurer's guild earlier today may prove more useful than he had originally thought – if anything truly out of the ordinary in this land were to occur, they'd likely hear of it first and he could obtain said information from them to plot out a new route accordingly.

"Well, it never does hurt to have some backup," Heavy Warrior finally said, rousing the Tarnished from his thoughts. "Alright, we'll take you up on your offer for now. But right now, I'd like to get a little further ahead before setting camp for the night." He then looked to Scout Boy. "Think you can carry her a little longer, kid?"

"Y-Yes! Leave it to me!" spoke Scout Boy loudly and in as determined a tone as he could muster despite clearly being winded from having to carry that heavy pack earlier. Despite said fatigue, however, he managed to dig deep and find some well of hidden strength in himself, his pace quickening as a result.

A mere moment later, Scout Boy was practically trailing ahead of the whole party, which caused Female Knight to call out. "Hey! I appreciate your grit but slow down a bit! Don't you remember that you shouldn't be breaking formation that easily?!"

"R-Right, sorry!" Scout Boy cried out, the wind taken out of his sails with that rather harsh comment. He slowed down, allowing the rest of them to catch up…

…And not really a moment too soon.

A low growl was heard from somewhere afar, far enough ahead that one could be forgiven for mistaking it for a harsh wind blowing suddenly. But the three adults of the group – Heavy Warrior, Female Knight, and of course the Tarnished himself – knew better and promptly got ready.

Heavy Warrior's hand shot up to the hilt of his greatsword while Female Knight, whose hand had already been resting on the hilt of her own blade, drew said blade and held it lightly to her side for the time being, her shield at the ready as well.

As for the Tarnished, he opted not to draw his blade yet, not even bothering to grip the hilt of his Uchigatana. However, his entire body remained upright and loose, ready to grip and unsheathe his preferred weapon in a literal instant should it be necessary. Experience had long since helped him hone his movements to perfection, thus he didn't need to always be ready with weapon in hand to fight.

The group continued their travel down the path a little more, the adults forming a triangle formation with Scout Boy and Druid Girl in the middle of it due to them being the most defenseless of the bunch right now.

For several moments more, it seemed like perhaps it really had been nothing-.

-Until the howls of clearly abnormal wolves echoed through the air and from nearby.

That was when snarling teeth and strong legs kicking off the grass finally become apparent… and was subsequently the signal of the battle beginning in earnest.


Heavy Warrior grunted as he swung his greatsword at the incoming direwolf. It didn't so much as react to the danger even as his attack connected and cut right through it in mid-charge, blood and viscera getting all over the blade in the process.

The former mercenary didn't get the chance to find any relief in cutting it down, however, as another one howled and came in low, clearly intent on biting deep into his calf. Thankfully, he'd recently gotten some better grieves that sure proved useful right now, for the direwolf was able to get his ankle in its mouth even as he'd tried to pull away. Nonetheless, even though it hadn't been able to bite through the armor, a bite from this thing was still pretty painful and he gritted his teeth in response before violently shaking it off.

Once free, he used the flat side of his greatsword to swat the direwolf aside and directly into the attack path of Female Knight, who brought her large shield down with great force and effectively pierced the direwolf's body with it. Though the shield was far from sharp, its perfectly craft form in addition to its weight allowed Female Knight's strength to shine through here.

"Damn things just keep coming!" she cried out in growing frustration.

"Yeah, we can see that!" Heavy Knight retorted as he moved back into his former position, just in time to see another direwolf beginning to circle around their immediate area in an almost rabid manner.

Just what the hell is going on here? This was the sole question running through Heavy Warrior's mind as he took the risk of moving forward in order to bait the direwolf. Said creature took the bait almost instantly, its burst of speed so sudden and great that he had no chance of dodging or attacking it in time. Instead, he simply shifted his greatsword so that the direwolf slammed directly into it and then spun, using its own momentum to throw it into a thick tree nearby. The damned thing slammed against it hard enough to crack the tree and likely its own spine too.

But even then…

"Oh come on!" Heavy Warrior murmured as he watched the direwolf nonetheless try to crawl towards him despite evidently no longer being able to move its body all that well anymore. Thankfully, it was still just close enough for him to bring down his blade without having to move away much from his current spot and so he was able to split its head wide open without issue.

Something was seriously damned wrong.

Direwolves, while classified as monsters in the vein as ogres, goblins, and all other sorts of nasty little shits out there, still tended to function similar to actual wolves – pack hunters who, while more than willing to attack others if need be, ultimately tended to keep to themselves. Just about the only key differences between direwolves and wolves were that the former were noticeably larger, almost twice a normal wolf's size on average, with more wild and disheveled looks to them, larger and sharper fangs and greater aggression in battle.

However, greater aggression or not, it was still worth mentioning again that they were basically just larger and tougher wolves.

And yet here and now, he and his party and their mystery companion were being actively attacked en masse by what had to be the largest pack of direwolves he's ever seen or heard of. More than that, they were assaulting the adventurers with outright suicidal abandon – constantly on the offensive, absolutely no attempt at all to dodge their attacks, none of the typical ploys that wolves normally employ when on the hunt.

Case in point, by far the largest direwolf to date so far came charging out into the open from somewhere further down the path and went right for the armored man that had been traveling with the adventurers – the one they'd spotted with Goblin Slayer.

Normally, even Heavy Warrior who usually tended to not mingle with others outside of his party and a select few others, would call out a warning but this time he didn't.

He didn't need to, after all; it'd just be a waste of breath and energy that he could better spend on other things.

Despite wielding one of those eastern looking blades which seemed rather unsuited to taking on such large creatures, the armored man wielded it with such skill and strength that Heavy Warrior wasn't sure which of them would win if their blades were to ever clash – and he wielded one of the biggest greatswords out there!

The large direwolf closed in just as the man effortlessly dispatched another one that had tried to target Scout Boy and Dwarf Girl, both of whom were still in the center of their formation. The monster howled as it opened its mouth and threw itself into the air at the man – only for the man, whose side had seemingly been exposed to the beast, to suddenly turn around with great speed and swing his blade towards the direwolf.

The eastern sword, swung at a mostly horizontal angle, caught the direwolf along the left side of its mouth in addition to left front leg. Blood practically exploded forth onto the armored warrior as if the blade was hungry for it and Heavy Warrior watched out of his periphery as the direwolf's mouth ended up opening much more than it should have been capable of, a result of its mouth being sliced open like that. Its left front leg went sailing off to the side just before it could even get close to anyone. Then the armored warrior reached out with his right arm, grabbed the direwolf, spun, and chucked it away whereupon it ended up colliding with another direwolf that he'd somehow sensed coming despite all the chaos around them.

Heavy Warrior let out a 'hmph!' of effort as he punted a direwolf that was more on the smaller aside away before then swinging his sword at an upwards angle, opening up its stomach and spilling its contents in midair.

He had to admit, whoever this foreigner is, the man had some serious skills to his name. He vaguely reminded Heavy Warrior of some of the guys he'd once known in his mercenary days, the ones who'd been all about the fight and had honed their skills to a zenith.

If nothing else, it was kind of comforting to know that he and his party had such a reliable ally for the time being.

Still, reliable or not, these direwolves never seemed to end.

"We're not gonna be able to hold our ground for too much longer if this keeps up!" he finally said just as there was the slightest lull in the battle, though he could clearly hear the next wave of direwolves already coming. No doubt, they were attracted here thanks to all the blood they can now smell. "We need to mov-!"

"No," spoke the armored man suddenly as he flicked his blade to rid it of all the blood that's gotten on it. "I'd say this should be the last wave coming our way – specifically from our right flank. So long as we hold our ground and coordinate, we should be able to finish this in just a moment or two."

Heavy Warrior looked at the man queerly, actually a bit taken aback by his confidence in such an insight. That feeling of being around a true veteran of the battlefield was now stronger than ever… and the man surprisingly didn't feel all that bothered by it despite essentially being commanded so suddenly by the guy.

Female Knight must have felt the same because she didn't argue the point either.

"Tch, you better be right, or else we're using you as a decoy to make our getaway, you bastard!"

Though she also made it clear that she wasn't all that happy with the situation nonetheless. Again, Heavy Warrior couldn't blame her.

Their mystery companion chuckled. "Noted. Now… ready yourselves. Just one final push."

They'd been attacked by direwolves for the past ten minutes or so, yet the beasts' relentless assault had made those ten minutes feel like a whole hour or so. Heavy Warrior was pretty damn winded to say the least as was the rest of his party. Even so, he took a deep breath and held up his greatsword in preparation of the final wave.

No sooner than when he'd done so did the final wave come.

Two direwolves came charging out of the bushes with ravenous growls and bit at the air in their rage. Female Knight, who was the closest to them, was thus the immediate target of their wrath and readied her shield. However and thankfully, she only had to push back against one of the direwolves, for the armored man had closed the distance slightly in order to stab one of them directly through its exposed side with his eastern blade, which he then twisted and swung upwards, slicing open its side with such violent force that the beast probably died before he'd even fully completed the swing.

By the time the body even fell to the ground, Female Knight had used her large shield to force the other direwolf down and use the shield's weight to pin it just long enough to stab her blade through its left eye all the way through. The monster let out one final sound and twitched violently as its life ebbed away quickly.

"Just four more left! Here they come!" bellowed the armor man.

Said four came in unison, two of them coming into view by way of leaping into the air-.

-And leaving themselves open to Heavy Warrior.

"Duck!" he commanded as he charged in to meet the direwolves head on. He then swung his blade, its sheer size allowing him to fully cut in half the two beasts who would have otherwise been untouchable by his companions. Gore spew through the air and got all over him, even getting all over his face despite having tried to prevent such a thing.

That was when the remaining four direwolves entered the fray, Heavy Warrior able to hear them as he desperately tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes, backing up as he did so as to avoid leaving him fully exposed to the beasts.

Just as he did so, he heard the other warrior run forward with heavy steps and seemingly slam right into one of the direwolves, its howl abruptly cut off in the process. By now, he was able to see again for the most part and his assumption had been right, for the armored man had performed a shoulder slam into the nearest direwolf. Immediately thereafter, he swung his blade upwards to cut the beast in two and then used the momentum of his attack to turn and deliver a downwards swing that cut the head and front legs off the other direwolf that had tried to get past him.

As for the final two direwolves, one of them was being pinned down by Female Knight in a manner very similar to the previous one she'd fought while the final direwolf headed right for Scout Boy, whose young face was clearly full of fear. Poor kid tried to scramble away but could only do so much considering how worn out he was from carrying that pack earlier and then the still unconscious Druid Girl.

But just as it looked as if the final direwolf would finally be able to truly claim a kill, the armored warrior reached out and grabbed it by its hind right leg. The direwolf's charge was halted and fell short of Scout Boy by inches before it was then thrown to the ground hard. Before it could even try to get back up, Heavy Warrior cut its head off with one swing of his greatsword while the armored man held it in place with just the one hand.

As the head of the direwolf was messily separated from its body, a silence now enveloped the area.

They all waited a solid few seconds, the silence only broken when Scout Boy, huffing and puffing from the adrenaline, asked a simple question.

"Is it over?"

"Mm. It's over," spoke the armored man.

…Roughly twenty or so minutes go by as the group began the task of gathering all the bodies of the slain direwolves. While certainly tired, they couldn't just leave the corpses strewn about everywhere, not when the smell and eventual decomposition would only attract others to this area and make it a whole hell of a lot harder for others to safely pass through here.

Heavy Warrior was as big a believer as any when it came to the roll of the dice being a real bitch to people, but not even he was callous enough to just make things that much worse for others.

Thankfully, once they'd gathered all the bodies together and had used some water to wash away the blood and viscera as much as possible, they'd been spared the long and rough task of actually disposing of the bodies by the armored man.

Much to Heavy Warrior's and his party's surprise, the man had pulled out some kind of… well, it looked like some kind of pendant and then the next thing any of them knew, the guy lobbed a ball of intense looking black flames that proceeded to roast the pile of direwolf corpses to a fine crisp, leaving nothing after just a few minutes.

"Where the hell was that like half an hour ago?!" Female Knight had yelled when that had happened.

The man, despite having a helm that fully obscured his face, clearly had to be smiling sheepishly. "Not like there was really that much time to pull it out in between all the attacks. Plus, I'd rather not risk you lot getting caught up in any such attacks."

After that brief exchange, they'd continued on their way for perhaps another half hour or so before finally calling it a night, the moons now literally out and so far above all their heads.

Once they'd gotten all set up for the night, Scout Boy had pretty much fallen onto his ass after gently setting Druid Girl down, who still seemed like she'd be out for the rest of the night. Whatever had happened to her had evidently taken a lot more out of her than any of them could have expected.

A small fire was going as the group cooked some food for themselves, Heavy Warrior in charge of such a task while Female Knight was in the process of disarming herself for the time being, though she kept some pieces of armor on in case of a sudden attack.

"What a crazy day…" Scout Boy mumbled from where he now lied.

Female Knight scoffed as she sat upon a nearby log they had procured for seats. "That's putting it mildly." Her somewhat harsh tone now turned thoughtful, even worried. "…Never seen any direwolf act like that."

Heavy Warrior grimaced. That comment was putting it mildly. "Seems to me like something had spooked them hard. Only way to explain that kind of mindset they had."

It'd been kind of hard to notice at first, but as he'd continued to fight earlier, he'd started to get a good and up close look into those direwolves' eyes – they hadn't been acting on some kind of insane hunger, no… he'd seen nothing but sheer rage in those eyes, the kind of rage born of absolute desperation. And in his experience, that kind of desperation doesn't come up unless something seriously bad happens.

"Indeed," spoke their new companion… just as he suddenly procured a damn piece of crab meat from… somewhere. It was clearly fresh and pipping hot too! The man took a bite out of it and chewed it before swallowing. He then continued on as if nothing was out of the ordinary despite Heavy Warrior and Female Knight now looking at him in surprise and mild jealousy – that crab smelled amazing.

"…In my homeland, I've seen similar cases with creatures," the man began. "This felt all too similar to those times. Assuming other creatures throughout the region are in a similar state, I'd advise caution on your part – as of now, expect any and all creatures aside from us to be hostile until proven otherwise and act accordingly."

"…Right," muttered Heavy Warrior, shoving aside his jealousy to take in the man's words. "Similar cases, though, eh?"

…Was there a chance that this guy may actually know the cause behind this weirdness? Because the fact that Druid Girl had freaked the hell out and was still knocked out from whatever had caused that episode of panic followed then by this direwolf attack… Heavy Warrior never considered himself the paranoid type or anything, but this crap had to be connected somehow.

And if this guy was basically saying that he's seen something similar, then he might as well get some more info from him.

"Alright… then if you're right about that, any particular signs we should be keeping an eye or ear out for?" Heavy Warrior leaned forward as he asked, his eagerness somewhat showing through.

"Sadly, there is not much I can say in response to that question other than to be very aware of any unusual behavior on the part of others – unnatural levels of aggression from the wildlife, mollified behavior in situations that such a thing would be uncommon in… things of that nature." The man then trailed off in order to take another bite of that delicious smelling crab meat. He seemed to ponder something. "…Hmm, but perhaps your young charge should be able to better detect things like this once she awakens and acclimates to the new circumstances."

Heavy Warrior was unbothered by the relative lack of information, if for no other reason than the fact that the guy was seemingly pretty forthcoming with them. Plus, it helped that his words basically confirmed what he'd been suspecting for a few minutes now anyway.

It may not sound like much to go on, but it was still far better than nothing as long as the man's words were accurate.

By this point, the food Heavy Warrior had been cooking was just about done and he started to pull said food out of the fire and fork it on over to Female Knight and Scout Boy after placing them in fire resistant clothes. Much like the armored warrior's crab meat, the provisions they carried on themselves during their travels were easily prepped foods that didn't need cutlery or plates, for the obvious reason of it being too cumbersome to try lugging around unnecessary items like that.

"I guess we better turn in for the night after this then, huh?" Female Knight muttered as she blew on her food to cool it slightly. "Going to assume we'll want a very early start tomorrow to make up the time."

Heavy Warrior grunted in affirmation of her assumption. Normally, it wouldn't have taken them this long to cover the ground they'd wanted, but the situation at hand had obviously had a significant effect on things. Normally, they would've been able to get a little extra traveling done during the early portions of night, but now with confirmation that just about all the wildlife and possibly other nearby creatures were affected by whatever the hell was going on, the party leader wasn't about to risk his own life and that of his party members' lives by possibly having to fight their way through an extremely aggressive night attack.

Still, as usual, it'd be best to stay especially on guard even now-.

"I'll take first watch," their armored companion stated.

The sheer suddenness of those words in addition to the firm tone used actually threw Heavy Warrior for a slight loop just as he'd been about to bite into his meal. "You sure?"

The man nodded. "I am. Besides, I've some things of my own to do. Taking first watch would aid me in this."

"…Alright. I'll take second watch then." Heavy Warrior then looked to Female Knight. "You'll take third watch. Right before dawn hits, we'll get ready to leave and book it the hell outta here."

Female Knight shrugged, fine with the order. However, she levelled a gaze at their enigmatic ally. "Don't know what your deal is in all this, big guy… but I will hand you this – you know how to pull your weight." She had just a slight smirk on her face as she spoke.

Heavy Warrior rolled his eyes. There she goes again, her pompousness returning a bit. And she wonders why she lost the favor of the Supreme God…

The man chuckled quietly. "My thanks for the compliment, milady."

Just like that, the tense mood eased up a bit and as time went on, the party leader was able to allow himself a hidden smirk as well.

The whole situation may stink to high heaven of weirdness, but at the end of it all, he and his allies were still adventurers. It was practically their life calling to be dealing with the unknown like this.

After all, they wouldn't be adventurers otherwise.


Time went on. They all finished their meals and soon the party turned in for the night, or at least Scout Boy did. As for Heavy Warrior and Female Knight, they merely were sleeping lightly until their time came to stand guard.

As for the Tarnished, he now sat by himself in the dead of night in deep thought. However, thinking was hardly the only thing he was doing.

He had his forever useful crafting kit out and though the fire had long since been put out, he could still see easily enough to sift through his materials to prepare the simple process of crafting some items.

By his side lied a small variety of flowers and moss from the wet areas hidden throughout the area, under rocks or in other spots that had been out of the sunlight. He'd gathered them earlier immediately following the end of his meal and now came the time to try and see if the materials of this world could potentially substitute for materials native to his own.

First, he began by trying to craft a simple bolus, specifically a Preserving Bolus. The flowers he'd obtained had bore a look and composition similar to the Sacramental Buds that were normally needed for the recipe.

Through his kit, he used the items gathered to craft three such boluses, each one made just a bite differently from the other.

The first bolus was made with the moss found in this world in place of the moss from his world.

The second bolus was made with the flowers he'd found substituting for the Sacramental Bud.

Finally the third bolus was made with both the moss and flowers of this world as opposed to their base ingredients.

It took but a moment to do this – and the results were immediately obvious.

A true Preserving Bolus was a light pink in color, but these boluses were almost borderline white in comparison, the pinkness either dull to the point it could be mistaken as white from a distance or flat out white in the case of the third bolus.

The Tarnished grimaced silently, already sensing what this meant. Nonetheless, he pressed on with the little experiment, if only to confirm or deny his suspicions.

The thing about boluses in general is that in addition to having immediate effect, they simply 'felt' like they would in fact work. While saying they were packed with some mystical power would perhaps be a touch inaccurate, the simple fact of the matter is that one could literally feel the boluses at work even if they were perfectly healthy to start with.

The first two boluses had some measure of an effect, the Tarnished noted as he ingested them over the course of several minutes, taking time between in each one to just sit there and sort through whatever effect ran through his body. By no means would it be the cure all item that a true bolus would have, but he could tell that it would still be able to heavily neutralize whatever ailment it is meant to cure, enough for the user to hopefully reach proper help. However, the effect was far from immediate like a true Preserving Bolus; it'd taken a solid minute or two before he could vaguely feel it kick in. Hardly that long a wait, but when one is dying of the Scarlet Rot or some other ailment, time was always of the essence. A minute or two could easily mean the difference between life or death, after all.

Then he tried the third bolus and felt absolutely no effect at all, just as he'd suspected from the outset.

This time, he folded his arms across his chest and sighed very quietly.

While this was hardly a surprise or a huge loss to him, it nevertheless meant that he was a bit more limited on options than he was normally used to. While plenty confident in the resistance he's built up to… well, just about everything back in his home world, that didn't mean he was about to go and march through whatever poison or other ailment this world could throw at him without a care.

He still had plenty of boluses left in his inventory, but with the possibility of having to sell some of them for more coin in the future in addition to any other situations that could pop up, he could very well run through his items in short order.

Especially if such terrifying forces like the Frenzied Flame or Scarlet Rot themselves had managed to enter this world. Such a thought almost made him shudder, the Tarnished only able to imagine all too well how ravaged this world could become if things went the way that the Lands Between had.

In any case, as usual, all he could do was prepare as best as he could. In this particular situation, that meant making sure what did or didn't work with the materials of this world.

Throughout the rest of his watch duty, he spent that time crafting and testing out the other boluses, having gathered plenty of substitute items from nearby to use for the recipes.

The results had ended up being more or less consistent. Replace one material with one from this world resulted in a bolus with reduced effectiveness while using two substitutes rendered the result unusable. A true pity, but at least it was better to find out now than later when he may need it.

In the end, he could only hum as he started to clean up, putting away his materials in addition to the substitute ones. If nothing else, the reduced effectiveness items may still have a use of some sort later down the line, so it'd be best to hold onto them.

"Quite the light sleeper, I see," the Tarnished suddenly commented just as he'd put away his crafting kit.

Heavy Warrior had already gotten up and had begun to approach him. The younger warrior moved with admirable grace despite his muscular frame and armor, but even in spite of his silent approach, the Tarnished sensed him coming easily enough. He'd long since gotten used to how swiftly and quietly the enemies of his world could move when they wanted to. Compared to that, this barely counted as child's play.

"Got eyes on the back of your head, I see," Heavy Warrior grumbled as he hefted his greatsword with one hand.

"Mm. A necessary skill as I'm sure you know."

"Ha, ain't that the truth." Heavy Warrior plopped down as quietly as he could from across the Tarnished. "…I didn't bother bringing this up earlier, but I gotta ask: just how familiar are you with this?"

'This' in question being the situation, obviously.

"…Quite familiar, I'm afraid to say," the Tarnished admitted. "Though whether or not this situation bears the same source… that is something I'm not sure I can confirm just yet. I can only pray it is something else entirely."

But deep in his heart, the veteran warrior knew it was the gods at work in this situation.

That got a grunt out of Heavy Warrior. "Pretty sure my lady friend had a similar suspicion… kind of surprised she kept quiet on that, but I guess even she knows when to hold back at times." He stabbed the greatsword into the ground. "Well, normally, this would probably be the part where I try grilling you for all that you've got, but I get the feeling that wouldn't get either of us anywhere. So with that in mind, just let me ask you one final thing about this shit situation."

"By all means."

Heavy Warrior's gaze was as intense as could be when he spoke again. "Was the previous case ever really resolved?"

"It was," the Tarnished answered. "But only after a long and very bloody period of time in my homeland's long history… it was an era unto itself, I'm afraid to say."

The Tarnished watched as his reply simultaneously put Heavy Warrior at ease and made him tense up, a veritable paradox yet here he was watching such a paradox happen anyway.

"That said, there were plenty of other factors in play that perpetuated what had happened," the Tarnished added. "Such doesn't appear to be the case here so far… but I've not been in these lands long enough to state whether or not that is fact."

"I… I see." Heavy Warrior was visibly holding back an appropriately heavy sigh. "…Thanks for being honest, I guess. Now go get some rest. We may eventually be going our separate ways, but until then we're stuck in this together."

The Tarnished nodded and proceeded to get up, bidding the much younger warrior good night. Though he merely walked on over to a nearby tree and chose to rest against it for a while, it was still something.

As the Tarnished closed his eyes and all but commanded sleep to come for him, he nonetheless felt his body tense up.

This past day was nothing more than a prelude of what was to come. He would need to be ready for the main act as soon as possible.


The Flame… it spread without a sign of slowing down.

Ever since the surviving nomads had been shown madness, it hadn't taken long at all for them to stumble or rush off into the distance. It'd taken even less time for them to eventually come across passer by in some form or another.

Said people had been caught completely off guard by the pulsating and ominous yellow glows that served as eyes for the nomads and that had proven a fatal mistake. Only a hit or two from the maddened nomads had been all it had taken for these people to be inflicted with madness, corrupted by the Flame of Frenzy…

…And now the group had managed to travel further into the land, whereupon they'd eventually come across a village. Then another village.

Each one had been caught completely off guard due to it being in the dead of night at the time and they all had paid the horrible price for it.

Though quite a number of people had outright died in the attack, many had survived and these proved to be the unfortunate ones, their eyes having burned out and the blood almost looking like glowing wax as the madness took hold of them.

Now like a horde of undead – perhaps in some ways, they could even be considered such – they all moved in unison, spreading out across the land in search of more.

In the Lands Between, the Frenzied Flame had been fairly contained by the actions of both Omen brothers, Morgott and Mohg, but here in this world, there existed no such restraints on it. The Flame hungered for more and those touched by its madness sought to carry out its all-encompassing, all-destructive will as swiftly as possible.

The Four Cornered World would soon be on the cusp of burning if this kept up… and so far, there seemed to be nothing that could stop it.


Phew, can't believe I made it just in time for the New Year! But I sure am glad I did.

Hope this chapter psyches you all up for what's to come. Like said in the beginning AN, this will be when things really start to spice up and become more action packed and dire as things begin going to shit.

That said, it's not like the Four Cornered World is going to outright become the Lands Between 2.0 or anything, at least not right off the bat for obvious reasons. Things will certainly be more chaotic and even hellish, but I do intend to try and keep things relatively hopeful like in the GS novels, just not to the same extent if nothing else.

Oh, and expect to start seeing more different PoVs as well from here on out! Hope you all will look forward to who I will be showing the perspectives of!

Again, Happy New Year, everyone! Stay safe out there!