Shattered Arc

Here's ya bonus chapter ya scallywags. You guys demolished the goal so I'm keeping the next one at 800. Bet ye can't do it!

PS: I'll only be able to post 3 chapters next week as I'm travelling, but if you hit 800 powerstones, I can pump out another!

***

His soldiers looked troubled the next day. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to lore dump them when he needed them to be in their best shape, but he'd gotten carried away. Well, it didn't matter either way, as he only needed Earnan for now, and he had a feeling that the Knight Commander would serve him even if he decided to burn down the Erdtree.

(Character Sheet:

 Godrick the Golden (Level 2)

 Age: Twenty-three and three months old

 EXP: 300/200 (+)

 HP: 100 (Healthy)

 FP: 51 -> 61

 Strength: 8.5

 Dexterity: 5.8

 Endurance: 10.7

 Vigor: 10

 Mind: 5.6 -> 6.1

 Intelligence: 5.6 -> 6.1

 Faith: 14 -> 15

Skills:

[Order Meditation (Active) Level 1 -> 2: Use a visualization of the Elden Ring to greatly increase your FP regeneration (+1 -> 1.5 FP/s). Later levels can turn this skill passive. Every level increases Mind and Intelligence by 0.5. Mind +0.5. Intelligence +0.5.]

As their group slowly made their way toward a cliff face in the distance, he attempted to read the spellbook once more, but to no avail. While he could understand the study of the Golden Order well enough, the computational power needed to manipulate and form the murals was still beyond him, despite his recent increase in Intelligence. He shrugged and stowed the book away, deciding to rest his eyes before his big moment. If there was anything he had in spades, it was time.

A good few hours passed by before they finally came across the landmark that he informed them of. A collection of stone sarcophagi that were slightly worn. The road continued up a hill whose peak was continuously bombarded by golden lightning, a phenomenon owing to the furgleblooms that grew there.

A few feet beyond the sarcophagi was a cliff face, beyond which lay the fog-filled forest of legend. It was a vast, almost unending stretch of dark orange, with white fog skittering across and entwining the gigantic trees. The Minor Erdtree that was supposed to be in its centre was also missing, implying that it hadn't grown to its previous stature.

"Do we disembark here, my Lord?" Earnan asked, to which Godrick nodded.

He jumped off the cart and addressed his men, who snapped to attention.

"Earnan and I shall descend into the fog-filled forest and meet you all at the Forest-spanning Greatbridge. Is that clear?" he announced, to which he received slow nods of affirmation, a far cry from yesterday's energy. "I know my tale yesterday has shaken you all, but for Marika's sake, grow a pair!"

The soldiers shook - it was the first time they'd heard their Lord swear. Godrick's eyes blazed with passion as he spoke to his men.

"Did I not know of the lies of Order? Do I not know of the history of the Lands-Between? Tales of betrayal, seduction, and terror?" he roared. "But do I bend my knee, shiver, quake, and piss myself?! No. I plan to grab the Lands-Between by the balls!"

Godrick pointed at himself.

"I am now but a man with ambition outstripping my ken, but once I scale the cliff, I shall become something more. So, I ask you if I have your loyalty, for I asked for the loyalty of men, not eunuchs!"

His soldiers clenched their jaws. Godrick had first attacked their pride before questioning their loyalty. The two things that they held most dear. Had their Lord not defied their expectations again and again? Even gaining the blessing of the Ancient Dragons? If there was anyone who could shake up the Lands-Between, it was him.

"To Glory and Eternal Dominion!" they saluted, their heads bowed in shame, yet with renewed determination.

"To Glory and Eternal Dominion," Godrick saluted them back, proud of his performance before pointing at a soldier named Forthus, the closest one to Earnan's stats. "You'll lead the rest of the men to our rendezvous. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my Lord!" the man bowed, his eyes betraying his happiness at his Lord remembering his name.

"Alright, let's go," Godrick looked at Earnan, who gave him a deep bow.

***

Descending the cliff was much harder than he'd thought, but it had just enough life-threatening danger for him to enjoy it, unlike the Lion Guardian that he'd pelted with sleep pots. Fighting it head-on would've been suicide anyway.

"Follow my exact movements, Sire. We can't afford you falling after that scintillating speech of yours," Earnan chuckled as he carefully made his way down, with Godrick's tent strapped to his back - a testament to his prodigious strength.

"I must already be dead and in hell, if you're making jokes," Godrick smirked, carefully lowering himself bit by bit, fixing his sweaty hands into cracks in the cliff.

It took close to an hour to finally have solid earth beneath their feet, but Godrick barely felt winded owing to his prodigious Endurance that outstripped even Earnan's. Unfortunately, his Strength and Dexterity lagged.

"Where to now, my Lord?" Earnan whispered as Godrick took in his surroundings.

Tall, dark orange trees in a fog-filled landscape with a scattering of flowers on the gold-orange grass. Light from the Erdtree could barely pierce the canopy, making it hard to see farther than a few feet, making the slow, coughing-esk laughter that echoed in the distance all the more haunting. Terrifyingly beautiful.

"Follow the cliffside to our right," he whispered back, a small tendril of fear wheedling into his heart. But just as he began to move toward the tunnel, Earnan's large hand clasped over his own, his eyes warning him to stay put.

Godrick frowned before realizing that the sounds of laughter were getting louder. He pressed himself back to the cliffside along with Earnan as they watched a tall, hunched-over figure walk by a few feet before them.

Shrivelled black legs gave rise to a large torso blanketed with green cloth, which held a long wooden stick with equally shrivelled hands. But those were the least terrifying parts of the creature, as instead of a head, it sported a gaping maw filled with black worms that drooped down. Occasional coughs that could be mistaken for laughter escaped the aforementioned cavity as it lumbered away into the distance.

[Observe]

(Character Sheet

 Wormface

 Age: Five years and nine months old

 HP: 150

 FP: ---

 Strength: 4

 Dexterity: 6

 Endurance: 5

 Vigor: 15

 Mind: ---

 Intelligence: ---

 Faith: ??

 Skills:

[Borne From Death (Passive): Risen from the power of the Dead Demigod who yet lives. Gives the ability to use DeathBlight but leads to a weak body. Immortal, yet vulnerable. Perhaps, one day you shall be freed from your pitiful existence.])

Earnan and Godrick exchanged a look of mutual understanding. They could not stay here for long. Thus began their slow, yet tense, journey through the forest, keeping close to the cliff face. Every little sound made them jump, but fortunately, they did not encounter another Wormface. After a gruelling half-hour, they spotted small patches of pink flowers, which led them to a large, well-lit tunnel carved into the cliffside.

"I'll need to depend on you here. The immediate room to our right holds what I'm looking for," Godrick whispered to Earnan as they entered the tunnel, taking the tent from his Commander which allowed him to freely use his sword. "If my information is right, it holds an avian marionette soldier and a hunched-over miner."

"May I ask how you have such detailed information?" Earnan raised an eyebrow as the ceiling hollowed out and they entered a wooden platform with an odd contraption and a lever. There was a long drop just ahead of them from which sounds of drills, grunts, and stone echoed.

"You may not," Godrick smirked, pulling the lever which made a wooden platform creakily make its way up to them. "I may be completely wrong too, so prepare yourself for anything, but if it is the avian marionette, it'll try to jump attack you the instant it spots you."

"Noted, Sire," Earnan nodded as the dusty platform with a pressure plate in its center fully raised itself.

They walked up to the lift and stood on the pressure plate, which shakily brought them down to the mine. He couldn't make sense of how that contraption worked, but at the same time, he couldn't make sense of how he transmigrated into a video game, so he let it be.

The mine was, to crudely put it, eerily beautiful, with glintstone protruding out of the cave walls, baptizing the surroundings with its pale blue light. He could even see a few miners in the distance, using glintstone sorceries to mine said glintstone, prolonged exposure making their skin bluish-grey and stone-like. It had even begun to grow on their bodies, showing that it was no simple material.

Wooden platforms and crates littered the cave, so old and weary that it seemed fused into the very walls, and indeed, just as Godrick mentioned, to his immediate right was a doorless room that led into darkness.

"Ready?" Godrick asked as Earnan drew his long blade and adjusted his helmet.

"Always," the commander nodded before approaching the room, only to have a knee-high mechanical marionette with wings jump him with two blades.

[Observe]

[Avionette Soldier: Sixty years and four months old. Marionette soldiers with avian features that were created to serve a sorcerer. Equipped with long-hafted scythes and swords, they also attack from the skies by lobbing firepots. Can sometimes malfunction when damaged.]

Any other soldier would've been easily decapitated, but with one swipe of his sword, he parried the mechanical construct and with the second, sliced it in half before it could even hit the ground.

'Just how high is Earnan's Sword Mastery?' Godrick wondered as he watched the Avionette Soldier's light flicker out. His skill's level was still wreathed in question marks, with only his Greataxe Mastery visible.

"It's only one miner," Earnan said, trying to make himself heard over the sounds of drilling. "Should I take care of him?"

"Yeah," Godrick nodded, making his way into the dark room as Earnan ran his blade through the old miner, his stone skin and emaciated body making it a mercy. He took in the crystal cave before finding what he came for, a large chest that sat in the corner.

"Earnan, stand guard. Kill anything that tries to come in here," Godrick ordered as he set the tent down and flipped the chest open.

"At once," Earnan nodded, cleaning his blade and standing near the opening, watching his liege take out a golden arc from the depths of the chest. It seemed otherworldly, like the runes that currently floated in his soul.

Meanwhile, Godrick examined the golden shard that hovered over his palm, his heart beginning to beat harder.

[Observe]

[Rune Arc: A shard of the shattered Elden Ring. Activates an equipped Great Rune upon use. Even if no Great Rune is equipped, it will slightly increase maximum HP upon use. The lower arc of the Elden Ring is held to be the basin in which its blessings pool. Perhaps this shard originates from that very arc.]

His hand closed around it, and it shattered.

***