Chapter 66: The Past and Artorias.

Now, I found myself in a small structure that resembled the underside of a tree with root walls and floor. It was quite narrow and would be very uncomfortable if I had claustrophobia. Unfortunately for the world I no longer have common fears.

They have been murdered out of me.

I got up and started walking down the tunnel of roots that lead to a fog wall. Cracking my neck I emptied my mind, it had been so long since I got an opportunity to relieve some stress like this. Since it guards the way to the royal woods it must be at least decently strong.

/At least enough to last until I went off some frustration/

I relaxed my posture, my nails and fangs emerging. My eyes shone a sickly purple as I stepped through the fog gate. Entering a circular arena-like opening with the ground being a very wide puddle. Unfortunately, the water soaked through my boots, making it rather annoying.

In the middle "arena" stood a white manticore-like monster with a scorpion tail, bird wings, goat horns, and the body of a lion. The moment it saw me enter its domain it entered fight mode and started flying up, and if my memory has decided to be kind and serve me well then he will try to spam lightning from above.

/Now that wouldn't be fun, would it?/

My eyes shone a hollow purple light and my grin turned playful and sadistic as I raised my hand. Calculations ran through my head at lightning speed thanks to my intelligence as I cast the spell using umbra as a catalyst within less than 3 seconds.

"/Greater Fall/"

Instead of the normal variety which was made to just disable flight by increasing the gravity 2x to fuck up their aerodynamics. This move was made to absolutely obliterate any flying creature, probably weaker grounded creatures too. Although it cost roughly about the same amount of mana to cast an armageddon blade that could probably obliterate the enemy far more easily.

Suddenly, the gravity affecting the guardian got multiplied by over several dozen times. Sending it crashing down with extreme speed, breaking the sound barrier as its terminal velocity was multiplied several dozen times. Creating an earthquake as it hit the ground like a railgun.

Barely, it was barely clinging onto its miserable life, bones peeked out of its body like a pin cushion. Yet miraculously it still managed to cling onto whatever life it had left, the fight hadn't yet faded from its eyes. Not for now anyway.

/That's all? Well color me bored, it seemed like the big beast forgot to invest in resistance. Maybe this will teach it to invest more into its stats in hell./

Shrugging I walked over to the beast while it glared at me as best as it could /how scary/. I stood behind it as I used yet another application of umbra that I had evolved from iron skin.

'{Blackening}'

My right leg along with the armor on said leg turned pitch black as black energy appeared like spots on it, spreading until it fully covered him. Supremely enhancing my resistance stat. Using Deadman's style I stomped down on the wounded animal's neck, putting it out of its misery.

Its bone and flesh gave out underneath my boot as it released disgusting wet crunching sounds that sounded like a beautiful melody to me.

[VICTORY ACHIEVED]

Disregarding the victory message I stepped over the corpse while sending it to my inventory. After that, I left the area and reached a... uncomfortably pleasant garden. After lighting the bonfire in the middle I rested to recover my exhausted focus and made my way through the royal woods. I met a schizophrenic(?) mushroom that decided to drop some unwarranted exposition but they weren't really important. The only reason I didn't kill it was because it wasn't annoying enough for me to kill it nor strong enough to benefit me in any way as I killed it.

Disregarding that strange encounter I reached the actual royal garden and well. The enemies here, if they could even be called that were more disappointing than figuring out that there really was nothing under the well.

Some disfigured farmer hollows, or gardeners I didn't care enough to remember them. Some disgruntled foliage from darkroot garden and some brutes wielding stone axes. Only the last one could pose even the slightest of threat to me, and that's without my armor.

There were only a few highlights that I could be bothered to remember. One of them was Kalameet briefly greeting me and the other was when I saw a large drop. Normally I really enjoy throwing myself down those but this one felt different. The horrifying aura of melancholy and longing was looming over the hole. But that wouldn't deter me normally.

It was far away but I felt it. The threatening aura of power. I couldn't gauge from this distance but I could tell that I wasn't supposed to go there just yet.

So I resumed my exploration, mainly aiming for the colosseum as I remember Artorias being there, and my itch still needs some scratching. So I made my way down to the colosseum and along the way I met someone.

The bloodborne cosplayer, aka. The "Marvelous" Chester.

Dressed like he is Joker who got isekaid to Yharmam who then got isekaid again into lordran, then once more into Oolacile. Weird but somewhat cool fashion aside, I really did not like this guy's vibes. I don't remember him but I just don't like him.

"Hm...Oh, let me guess...Snatched by a shadowy limb, and dragged off to the past?"

Putting a hand on my chin, I activated soul sight while looking thoughtful, little did he know I was just deciding his fate there. And, yup, his soul looked as trustworthy as someone who calls himself marvelous would. /Besides, I like his clothes./

"Vibe check."

"Wha-"

Before he could properly respond to my statement, my hand shot out and grasped his mask. Lifting him up by the head with my monstrous strength amplified by transformation and mad hollow combat. He tried to kick me but his attempts were thwarted by the pitch-black armor that appeared on my person. I squeezed HARD and used one of my sub-skills I never tried to use.

{Life Drain}

I am perfectly capable of using life drain. Even better than the 4 stooges in fact as I possessed far more control over my darksoul than they did.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! Oh, please...have mercy... why are you doing this!?"

"I don't like your vibes." /And I really want your clothes./

His useless resistance got weaker and weaker as I literally sucked the humanity out of the man.

No homo.

After a bit of sucking(no homo) the entirety of his humanity was exhausted. Scattering his body to dust, to never return again. If you take someone's dark soul then they can't revive, normally it would be incredibly difficult to absorb someone's actual humanity and not the one gathered by them but I am far from normal.

My life drain is far stronger than the four skill issues after all.

After looting his clothes I switched fully to my armor before standing in front of the fog gate.

/This is going to be fun!/

No, he deserves at least some respect.

Clearing my mind I stepped through the colosseum to be greeted by a... weird fungus-headed hollow with elongated arms. Did Artorias really look like that!? Huh, I guess appearances CAN be deceiving.

*Crash!*

The mushroom man was quickly crushed by who I assume is the ACTUAL Artorias. Who was dressed in black armor with blue cloth, he stood over 3 meters tall wielding a giant greatsword that was nearly his height. And had the unmistakable aura of abyss around himself. Before my observation could continue the corpse of the hollow was flung at me.

{Blackening}

Covering my hands and feet in darkness I dashed forward toward Artorias who did the same.

*Schwing!*

He swuıng his sword diagonally, I reacted by ducking under his swing, but even in his corrupted and maddened state, Artorias was far more experienced than me as he shifted his stance to deliver me a kick.

*Bang!*

But what he had in skill I also had in instinct as I sidestepped his kick and launched a powerful straight toward his unguarded midriff using deadman style and soul release. Sending Artorias flying back as the black and white aura enveloped me, making me stronger and putting me on a timer.

He quickly recovered and did a somersault midair, bringing his sword down on me. I stepped back, disregarding the shockwave that traveled through my body, and hit Artorias with a hook, two lightning-speed jabs, and an uppercut in less than half a second.

Even through my speed barrage of attacks he tried to retaliate by trying to kick me but I jumped above the kick and delivered a spinning kick to his head, sending him back. I nimbly landed on my feet while Artorias staggered.

He tried to gather abyssal energy like I wasn't even there /the fucking gall/. As he was charging up I did a somersault into the air and dropped a spinning guillotine kick, forcing him to defend himself, breaking the buff. His arms nearly caved from my powerful kick but he managed to resist.

We kept going at it(NO HOMO), exchanging moves one after another. I had to temporarily drop soul release a few times to not die from the strain. Energy isn't really a problem for me considering the fact that I have learned how to absorb energy from my surroundings. Although not as efficient as hundreds of humanings doing it for you, it still makes it so that you arent useless after an hour after resting at a bonfire.

But...

'This is just depressing.'

This just wasn't a fight. Artorias was just far too gone. I am strong enough to defeat Ornstein without using Armageddon Blade at this point. And this Artorias is weaker than Ornstein, but still, fighting the shadow of a former great hero is just... demoralizing.

None of his attacks hit me, they are predictable, his muscle memory is still there but a former shadow of him can't kill me. Perhaps if he were at his peak he would have killed me a few dozen times, but alas.

I dodged his attack and covered my hand in a bubble of force and struck his head, rattling his brains around. And at the same time, I shocked the abyss inside him using my own. Knocking him out.

'This just doesn't feel like a victory.'

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