Simmering Shells

7 extra Chappies in P@treon.

***

[Debuff Gained: Touch of Destined Death: Diluted it may be, Destined Death has touched your soul and body. Drains HP at (5 HP/s) until your soul and body find true death.]

(Vigor: 30 -> 25 (Debuff))

The room was silent now, save for the crackling of residual energy and the faint dripping of blood from the blade still lodged in his abdomen. He hadn't expected to survive—it was a good fight, and going out with a blast wasn't something he was against. But now that he wasn't in the great beyond, he'd fight to stay alive.

Godrick coughed up blood as he pulled out the curved dagger from his abdomen and let it clatter to the ground, streaked with blood.

[Observe]

[Black Knife: Dagger once belonging to Mirin, one of the assassins who murdered Godwyn the Golden on the Night of the Black Knives. A ritual performed on the oddly misshapen blade imbued it with the power of the stolen Rune of Death.]

His hands trembled as he felt his soul being ripped apart while his body was getting eaten from within, his HP slowly but steadily ticking towards doom. The [Blessed Dew Talisman] did surprisingly well against the debuff, but even that could only marginally weaken it.

[Heal]

A flash of gold returned some colour to his cheeks, but that merely delayed the inevitable. A few seconds later, he was dying all the same. He would have been guaranteed death if [Order Meditation] wasn't passive, but it seemed there was no way to remove the debuff.

It was Destined Death. How could you fight death if you were now destined to die?

His eyes flickered to his status screen.

(EXP 8790/10,000)

'I need a level-up,' he decided, grabbing the Sentry Torch and the Black Knife, his large hands fitting quite uncomfortably over the handle.

He stumbled out of the hidden room, straightened himself, and cast [Heal] again. Playing the balancing act between his HP and FP was a challenge and a half, but he bore with it. He made his way out to the grey stone corridor and looked at the ladder leading into the darkness.

He could hear sounds of steel and battle from its depths, and a small smile escaped his mouth. He knew exactly how he could grab that level-up.

***

I regret saying that.

Earnan, Gilika, and the battered forces looked at the massive crab before them. It was bigger, stronger, and had a shell that seemed nearly impenetrable. As they prepared to face down the massive crab, the tension in the air was palpable. Earnan's grip on his longsword tightened while Gilika and the Demi-Human Chiefs positioned themselves, their weapons gleaming with the golden light of Shared Order.

Its beady eyes stared at them with an emotion beyond their comprehension, but they knew one thing for certain. They had woken it up, and it was not happy.

The air grew still for a moment, the only sound being the faint rustling of armour and the slow, deliberate movements of the crab's claws as it readied to strike. Earnan could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, his mind calculating the best approach to take down this formidable foe. Just as he was about to give the order to attack, something unexpected happened.

The crab shuddered violently, its massive body convulsing. It let out a pained hiss, its claws snapping and swiping at an invisible enemy. Earnan's eyes widened in confusion, struggling to comprehend what had just occurred.

The creature's shell, once a dull, earthen brown, began to blacken and crack as if consumed by an unnatural fire. It let out a ghastly sound, a noise of pain and dread, unlike anything they had heard before. Its flesh began to liquefy, dripping down its exoskeleton as its legs malfunctioned, causing it to stagger drunkenly.

"What...?" Gilika muttered in disbelief as she watched the crab tap dance to its death. 

Before any of them could react, they saw it—a dagger, small and unassuming but radiating ominous, reddish-black flames, buried deep into the crab's back. It screamed of death and fear, and everyone who stared at it felt as though they had drenched themselves in ice-cold water.

They were looking at death itself.

Earnan's eyes followed the dagger to the hand that held it, and there stood Godrick the Golden, towering over the massive crab as if it were nothing more than a mere pest. His countenance was pale and weak from the wound on his abdomen, but his aurous eyes carried the same fervor as before.

"My Lord! You are injured!" Earnan said, looking at the wound in fear, and the troops behind him bristled. No one could beat Destined Death. No matter how diluted or fragmented, death was death. It was only a matter of when.

With a final, shuddering breath, the crab collapsed, its once-mighty body reduced to a lifeless husk. Destined Death had severed whatever connection it had to life, preventing any chance of resurrection. It was over as quickly as it had begun.

"Be not afraid," Godrick spoke, looking at his wound matter-of-factly. "This shall be gone soon."

Earnan's plea died in his throat as the wound vanished with a familiar flash of dark gold. Colour returned to his Lord's figure while any indication of Destined Death vanished.

"Come, our work is not yet done," Godrick said nonchalantly as he jumped down from the crab shell and tucked the dagger into his belt, as though he hadn't just upturned the laws of the world. "Deathroot awaits us."

***

[Ancient Crab Killed. +3000 EXP]

(EXP 1970/11,000 -> Gained 1 stat point and 1 skill point)

[Debuff removed: Touch of Destined Death]

(Vigor: 25 -> 30

Dexterity: 19.6 -> 21.6)

[Order Meditation (Passive) Level 10 -> 11: Use a visualization of the Elden Ring to greatly increase your FP regeneration (+5.5 -> 7 FP/s). Every level increases Mind and Intelligence by 0.5. Mind +0.5. Intelligence +0.5.]

(Mind: 22 -> 23

Intelligence: 20.2 -> 21.2)

Stat increases and level-ups were addictive. The feeling of vigor and power rushing through his limbs, growing stronger and stronger every time the numbers went up, was incredible.

He felt lighter, quicker, but nowhere near the Black Knife Assassin he'd fought. He loved strength—preferred to dump all stats into it if he had the chance—but speed was just as deadly, although less fun.

"Do you want us to take care of it, my Lord?" Gilika asked from the side as they stood before the large, metal door that led to the boss room.

"No, I will go. It won't be long," Godrick shook his head as he descended the grey stairs.

The atmosphere was dark and gloomy, but the gigantic hall with walls dimly lit with Ghostflame was far worse. The air was thick with the scent of decay, mingling with the dampness from the bones and rotted flesh on the floor, while the area was covered in a network of gnarled Greattree roots that twisted and wound their way through the stone-like veins.

In some corners, skeletal remains slumped against the walls, frozen in their final moments of agony. At the back was a great mass of twisted roots and bodies, tainted by pestilence and adorned with faded, blasphemous symbols of the Death Prince.

The moment he stepped in, the skeletal remains twitched, standing up with jerky movements, while a smoky black figure with mantis blades stepped out into the centre. It was tall, thin, and quite seriously disproportionate. It seemed to be made out of pure darkness, save for its glowing, light-bulb-esque eyes.

(Character Sheet

Cemetery Shade

Age: Five years and three months old

HP: 50

FP: ???

Strength: 21

Dexterity: 24

Endurance: 9

Vigor: 5

Mind: ??

Intelligence: ---

Faith: 17

Skills:

[Teleport (Passive): As fast as light may move, as far as light may reach, darkness is, was, and will already be there. Vanish into darkness, appearing where you please.]

[Spit Trap (Active): Produce a bubble of green sticky fluid and hurl it at enemies to hold them in place])

But what was most disturbing was the large crab-like insect which it wore like a crown. Its many thin legs dug into the Shade's head, controlling and puppeteering it.

[Observe]

(Character Sheet

Kindred of Death: ???)

All four Skeletons had their stats in the 15s, while the Cemetery Shade unnaturally creaked its head to the left, unlatching one Mantis Blade with a gesture.

'Boring,'

 Godrick thought as he raised his hand. This was not going to be the challenge he wished it to be and would merely be a waste of time.

The chamber was big enough, and his FP pool was large enough.

[Lansseax's Glaive]

A blinding flash of red-gold cleaved through the pillars, torches, and everything in between, baptizing the chamber of death with Ancient Dragon Lightning.

[Skeleton *4 Killed. +600 EXP]

[Cemetery Shade Killed. +2000 EXP]

[Kindred of Death Killed. +500 EXP]

A thunderous boom echoed through the hall as the disintegrated pillars collapsed into piles of dust while the Greattree roots were slightly bruised. Godrick stood at the entrance with a charred, limp arm, staring at the destruction he had wrought.

'Just a few more stat points in Mind, and Lansseax's Glaive will truly be mine,' he sighed as he walked to the very end of the chamber, where a twisted, dark root-like structure lay among a pile of dust that was probably the chest. The root itself was gnarled and contorted, with a blackened and rotting appearance.

[Observe]

[Deathroot: A source that gives rise to Those Who Live in Death. The beast clergyman, found at Bestial Sanctum in the distant east, collects and devours these roots. On the night of the dire plot, the stolen Rune of Death enabled the first death of a demigod. Later, the Rune of Death spread across the Lands Between through the underground roots of the Greattree, sprouting in the form of Deathroot.]

He reached down and pulled it free. Almost immediately, the chamber shuddered, and the symbols of the Death Prince dimmed and began to wither. As he held it in his hand, the texture of Deathroot seemed almost skeletal, as if it were once alive but had since withered into something unnatural.

'The Rune of Death hasn't yet suffused deep enough into the Lands Between for it to be impossible to purge,' he realized. 'Interesting.'

Just then, the Golden Seed in his pocket began to tremble.

***

Fun Fact: If you swallow a Golden Seed, an Erdtree will not grow inside you despite what your friends say. It's just to scare you. What does happen though, is that you will get your ass whooped by an Erdtree Avatar.