Elden Ring, building a legion of ashes

Chapter 72 The Hound Knight Darylwell

"I want to go down too."

"Are you going down too?"

The half-wolf Blaze looked at the "skinny" human with surprise.

"Dariwell is very fast and his movements are unpredictable. If he goes berserk and attacks you, I might not be able to save you in time."

Even so, are you still going down now?

"certainly!"

Xia Tong's gaze remained firm.

Just kidding, how can I increase Wolf Brother's favorability if I don't go down there?

"Okay, then stand next to me and don't run around."

Blazer nodded and stopped trying to dissuade him.

Xia Tong obediently did as she was told and stood next to the tall half-wolf Blaze.

Then, an eerie silence fell over the air.

This silence lasted for a full five minutes.

A cold wind blew by, swirling up a few withered leaves.

Xia Tong finally couldn't hold back any longer.

He turned and asked:

"Lord Blazer... what are we waiting for?"

A surprisingly human-like embarrassment appeared on Blazer's majestic wolf face.

He said somewhat embarrassedly:

"This...uh...this sealed prison, I don't know how to open it."

"?"

Xia Tong froze instantly.

No, buddy?

If you don't know how to open it, then why were you standing here so solemnly and menacingly just now?

Xia Tong felt like her whole body was going numb.

"Judging from the staff you're carrying, you must use magic, right?"

Blazer pointed behind Xia Tong and said matter-of-factly:

"These kinds of mechanisms usually require magical guidance, so you should know how to activate them."

"...I'll give it a try."

Xia Tong was also a bit stumped; he had never dealt with this kind of thing before.

Fortunately, after studying orthodox magic with Teacher Seren for a week, I have a certain understanding of the basics of magic flow and sealing.

He took a deep breath and walked to the center of the altar, which was surrounded by a circle of eerie stone worms.

The purple ball of light was slowly rotating beneath my feet, emitting a low-frequency hum that made my eardrums bulge.

There seemed to be some kind of powerful gravitational field pulling Xia Tong downwards.

Xia Tong squatted down, closed her eyes, and felt the flow of magic.

Then, a pure blue pyroxene light slowly appeared at his fingertips and gently inserted into the central node of the purple halo below.

"Buzz—!"

The moment the two magical forces came into contact was like a drop of cold water falling into boiling oil.

The previously calm purple aura suddenly contracted violently, followed by a terrifying suction force.

The next second, a feeling of weightlessness instantly overwhelmed me.

The stone slabs beneath our feet seemed to vanish into thin air, and the world turned upside down.

The purple light was like a giant maw, instantly swallowing him and Blaze behind him.

Centered on this point, the entire real space was forcibly stripped away and plunged into the interior space of the sealed prison.

"Thump!"

I felt a solid sensation under my feet again.

When her vision cleared, Xia Tong found herself still standing on that circular altar.

But the surrounding scenery had completely changed.

The moon and stars overhead vanished, replaced by a chaotic, seemingly frozen, gray void.

"Sizzle—sizzle—"

A blinding purple crack suddenly tore open in front of them.

"Gela...Gela..."

Accompanied by the sound of armor scraping against the ground, a figure slowly emerged from the crack.

He resembled a beast in armor, crawling on the ground.

His streamlined hound armor and signature sharp, beak-shaped helmet clearly indicated his identity.

The Hound Rider – Darrell.

"Dariwell..."

Blazer's voice was as cold as iron.

"I never imagined that a knight as glorious as you would fall into the trap of a sealed prison as a ghost..."

"Since you've betrayed Lady Lani, then disappear from this world!"

Upon seeing Daryl, Blaze the half-wolf's pent-up anger erupted instantly.

His chest heaved violently as he slowly drew the heavy royal greatsword from behind him.

Darrell, however, hissed softly, offering no words of defense.

His back was deeply hunched, and his center of gravity was extremely low, like a hunting dog poised to pounce.

He held the huge curved sword, Hound Fang, in his right hand, hiding it behind his back, ready to launch a sudden attack at any moment.

"Die!"

Blazer roared, shattering the ground as he charged toward Darrell like a chariot.

Then, the figure of the hound rider Daryl suddenly blurred.

He turned into a wisp of white smoke and vanished from the spot in an instant.

When he reappeared, he had already appeared behind Blaze like a ghost!

He leaped high into the air, his hound's fangs whistling through the air as he slashed straight at the back of Blaze's neck.

But Blazer seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.

Without even looking, the royal greatsword in his hand, propelled by its immense momentum, spun slightly and precisely blocked behind him.

He knew Daryl, his former partner, all too well!

"Clang!!"

A crisp sound.

Instead of confronting it head-on, the hound Longtooth grazed along the broad blade of the royal greatsword, sending up a trail of dazzling sparks.

Then, Darylwell used the momentum to turn into white smoke again and slide away backward.

What agile movements!

But Blazer is no pushover either.

When Daryl reappeared, Blaze stomped the ground and charged straight at him.

In short-distance sprints, Blaise's explosive speed is almost like teleportation.

"boom!"

Another sickening metallic crackling sound followed.

Blazer's royal greatsword swept across the battlefield like a battering ram, carrying an icy blue chill.

Darrell managed to parry the attack with his long, slender hound-tooth scimitar.

However, the disparity in strength between the two sides was simply too great.

The immense impact sent him flying like a rag doll, rolling several times on the ground before regaining his balance.

"Is that all? Darrell!"

"You're still the same as before, you haven't improved at all!"

Blaze, wielding the royal greatsword in one hand, approached step by step, exuding a chilling killing intent.

Several more rounds of intense fighting ensued!

Darrell was gradually overwhelmed and unable to fight back.

Blaze is not only a warrior who protects Lani, the "Princess of the Moon," but also the "shadow" sent by Double to monitor Lani.

Within Lani's small team, his skills are definitely among the best.

Sudden.

Driven to the brink of despair, Daryl's gaze passed over Blaze and landed on Xia Tong, the seemingly frail human mage who had been watching the battle from behind.

"Buzz!"

The next moment, Daryl vanished like a wisp of smoke.

When it reappeared, it had already crossed a distance of tens of meters and appeared in front of Xia Tong!

Combat Technique - Hound Stance!

"Despicable traitor!"

Seeing this, Blaze roared and, of course, drew his sword and turned to save them!

But it's too far away!

A grayish-white afterimage drew a strange zigzag line in the air.

Darrell's hound, with its long fangs and a stench of blood, slashed toward Xia Tong's throat!