44 Chapter 44: Path of the Dragon.

''*Huff* *Huff* Yeah, you better run!''

As soon as the rest of the forest hunters scattered I collapsed onto the ground. And started writhing in pain, or at least tried to as my body was too exhausted to actually move. I was only keeping myself awake through sheer willpower.

I am truly, truly lucky that those guys ran away, or else I might've died. I had truly pushed my body to the breaking point and now I was suffering for it. And I didn't even have the stamina or focus to activate dreadnought to dull the pain so I was stuck like this for the foreseeable future.

At least I should check out my rewards. The souls and humanity were already inserted into me without my explicit consent when the remaining hunters retreated. So I didn't really need to check them. Instead, I checked out the ring in my inventory.

Honestly, I was disappointed. The ring was nothing special. It increased my vision and accuracy with ranged weapons. Though I had no idea how it would do that. But I have seen rings do more absurd shit so yeah. Anyway.

After I had gained enough strength to move I dragged myself over to the nearest bonfire and rested, restoring myself back to peak physical condition.

Seriously, undead physique is absurd.

And there was something else as well.

I had gotten stronger again. Just like the gargoyle fight, my stats rose, but this time, less. All of my stats had risen by 5 this time. It feels like whenever I lose control I get stronger. I don't know how this happens and I don't like it.

It feels like relying on a crutch. That I'm so weak that I have to rely on this unknown thing. But at the same time, there is satisfaction.

This time I was slightly more lucid. So I was able to feel it. The strength I commanded. Ripping through my enemies with reckless abandon, even with an overwhelming number advantage I was able to overwhelm them instead. The rush of adrenalin overtaking my body and running it on instinct.

That feeling of power. The pride of being overwhelmingly stronger than whatever the world threw at me. The feeling of conquest over the world. Rising above a mere undead, forcing my body above its tier.

But once again I lost control of myself like an animal. I can't rely on this. The more I use this the more I feel like I am losing it. I heard what they called me among their frantic yellings and shouts.

'Monster.'

I looked at my ungloved hand, scars filled it. With a bit of focus, it changed shape into a more bestial hand with sharp claws. I had control over it, over myself, for now.

I need to get stronger. So that I won't have to rely on that. And open that door. Nodding to myself I summoned a chair to sit on and brought out a map I made myself of the locations in lordran lest I forget them. After contemplating for a long while I marked a location.

Ash Lake.

The everlasting dragon and the dragon form. It should synergize well with form shift. And give me a noticeable boost in power. And even if it proves to be useless I can always just not use it. Alright then, let's set out!

...

The Great Hollow was surprisingly easy and comfortable to traverse when you have fall control and acrobatics. Without my heavy armor, I could traverse the tree with almost feline grace, grabbing the good loot laying around. Most of which were upgrade materials which I always welcome.

Out of all that I got from that place, the {Cloranthy Ring} easily trumped all of them.

---------------------

< Cloranthy Ring >

This ancient ring, engraved with a large green flower, is of unknown origin.

Hastens the regeneration of stamina

--------------------

It enhanced my stamina recovery by a noticeable amount. Making me feel like I could run for hours and hours without needing a break. In fact, it even made me feel slightly more alive considering I haven't slept for months, wearing this thing felt like drinking coffee after staying up all night.

Other than that all fo the other loot were just upgrade materials, nothing special. And after avoiding the mushroom people and making my way fully down the giant tree I reached it.

The Ash Lake was just... breathtaking.

Archtrees reached up as high as the eye could see, their burnt roots making ash fall down lime snow as they seemingly held up the whole world above.

It felt like snow but it wasn't snow. It felt like it was outdoors yet we were at the lowest point of the world. It is so beautiful yet so haunting.

Yet as mesmerized as he was he still reached a blind spot before continuing to admire the scenery. And tried his dammed hardest to not attract attention From the apartment complex sized {Black Hydra}. Even though he wasn't scared of it, John knew that even with its size he could put up a fight. But if he died here then he would have to make his way back down the Great Hollow again.

Although he had the dragonslayer in his pocket and his enemy being half fish half dragon should take 4x times damage from the blade it still did not seem feasible. Because there is a crucial factor.

'The Black Hydra was approximately 1000x times my size, maybe even larger. It also has 9 heads, each the size of a damn room, filled with serrated teeth, and can shoot bullets of water at me from each and every head at once.'

Even if I managed could take down a few heads before getting turned past tense thanks to dragonslayer. I don't see a plausible way for me to fork out a win right now without relying on /it/. Which meant I would be avoiding the Black Hydra's attention while slowly inching forward to the arch tree containing the everlasting dragon.

My sneak skill actually leveled up while sneaking my way over to the arch tree so that was nice. As I made my way over to the arch tree containing the ''last'' dragon, some curious clams clamored their way over to my concealed self.

To which I responded by using rapport on them and siccing them toward each other while I scurried off. After that ordeal, it was a smooth sailing walk to the arch tree. And I finally entered.

''Woah.''

In front of me stood a giant dragon around the same size as the gaping dragon if a little bit smaller. It was also made out of both stone and flesh, I don't how that happened or what that means and I honestly do not care. I am far, far too tired and sleep-deprived to do so. so I just bowed my head.

''Ye.''

Immediately after I did so I received the dragon headstone from... somewhere. But I didn't plan on using it yet. I wanted to complete and max out the dragon stones before trying to subsume them. Though I am slightly curious about its description since I never bothered with the dragon stuff in the game.

------------------------

Stone imbued with the power of the dragons. Rite of apostles of the ancient dragons. Gain head of dragon. Emit dragon breath.

The dragon apostles seek transcendence of life itself, attainable by transformation into an ancient dragon. This rite is only one step, but it cannot be reversed until death.

------------------------

'The irony of an undead seeking transcendence from life isn't lost on me. I bet these apostles if they were alive or not hollow right now would be fuming at the fact that the undead have transcended life without even wanting to. Now for the actual meat of the issue.'

''Hey uhhh... if you consent to me slicing off your tail, don't say anything.''

''...''

''I am taking that as a yes.''

''...''

John quickly moved behind the dragon that was sitting in a meditative position and raised his dragonslayer.

{Deadman Style: Chop}!

*Fshhhhhh!*

''Cheers big man!''

'The big fella didn't even flinch when I took his tail for my new weapon. What a kind fella. I took out the sword and oh lawd. I can barely wield this ungodly thing. It felt like wielding a giant slab of stone on a stick rather than an actual sword. I would have to do some maintenance on this bad boy later.'

------------------------

This sword, one of the rare dragon weapons, came from the tail of the stone dragon of Ash Lake, descendant of the ancient dragons.

Its great mystical power will be unleashed when wielded with two hands.

------------------------

'I'm in love.'

But considering the fact that I needed to upgrade both this and the axe to max alongside maxing out my covenant I need about...

'...100 scales...'

'So if I remember correctly I need to murder about 2000 drakes...'

*Sigh*

''GODDAMMIT!!!''

''You couldn't have sent me somewhere like... I don't know, DxD!? What the fuck do I need to gain power man!? If I was in DxD I could at least stay in my room and meditate and tinker with cool magic abilities or at least enjoy a semi fucking normal life!!!

But _nooooo_ you just HAD to, out everywhere, send me to /Darksouls/ didn't you!? I have to do absurd shit just to be able to contend with the bastards here man! I am literally tearing my ass every fight and now you tell me that I have to murder thousands of drakes!?''

Rightfully angry about my situation I was ranting to the unmoving everlasting dragon while pretending that he was the one who sent me to the world of Lordran.

I turned around and looked at the everlasting dragon with spite. Tempted to peel him like a cucumber for his scales but decided against it. Dragon bro already gave me his tail, it would be unfair to ask for more. Sighing I took out a bottle of hard alcohol and started chugging it down like water while casting homeward.

But alas my poison resistance was too strong for the alcohol. At least I could enjoy the shit taste. But enough screwing around I had work to do. I chugged the last bit of alcohol left in the bottle and chucked it down Firelink.

.....

It has been a long, long, LONG time since I started the great search for the scales.

I had done a lot, and I mean a lot of things for scales during this time.

I had assembled a team consisting of Solaire, Gerald, Griggs, Laurentius, and Patches to take down the Hydra inhabiting the Darkroot basin. It was a brutally hard battle with some of us nearly dying in the process but we made it through in the end and defeated the Hydra. Giving me a whopping singular scale.

Afterward, we had a victory feast as I grilled the meat of the Hydra(Even all of us together couldn't even get through 1% of the meat.).

The meat tasted better than the most premium of tuna. It felt like it melted in your mouth(After I tenderized the meat of course). And the quality and the quantity of the meat I cooked pushed my cooking skill to intermediate 2. Making the grilled fish I made taste like it had been cooked by Rordan Gamsay himself in a top-tier kitchen even though I just used simple spices and stuff.

Safe to say, my friends were satisfied. Hell, even _I_ enjoyed eating it and that's a big accomplishment considering I lost most of my taste. Although it seemed like I enjoyed it far less than they did.

But it was not all sweet like that.

I had spent days and days just absentmindedly killing drakes. And dying a few times in the process since drakes aren't pushovers.

I had gathered over 2 million souls from just killing drakes. I am intimately familiar with their biology now thanks to seeing it for so long. At least I used this opportunity to level up my skills so it wasn't that bad. It was just horrible.

Along this journey, I had looted a lot of things too, like the red tearstone ring(Why does this world want me to be a berserker so badly?) which was basically the attack version of the blue tearstone ring.

But now I had made enough scales to max out my covenant. And it had only cost me most of my remaining sanity!

This better be worth it. Or I'm peeling that dragon like a damn carrot and using his hide as a rug.

{>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<{O}>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<}

If you like my work and want to support me (and receive some additional benefits like advanced chapters) then please check out my p*treon at: p*treon.com/BronzDeck. I will also be holding polls there for potential harem members and future worlds. There are currently 10 advanced chapters.

And if you want to join the next waifu polls I will host tomorrow then consider joining!

Replace the * with an a.

{>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<{O}>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<>-+-<}

Next chapter