Chapter 88: Mr. Welt's Heart Crumbled

Womp womp, 4k.

---

In the town of Yharnam, there were still a few rational humans left.

God knows what kind of mutation Yharnam had gone through. All the Townsfolk had turned into monsters. Although everyone had turned into monsters, they still couldn't change their hospitable nature, which left a lasting impression on Mr. Welt.

How should he put it? Every corner of this place was filled with malice, stuffed by Haxxor Bunny.

Every corner was an ambush, or a team of three dogs and one sniper with two Townsfolk, making Welt crawl all over as an outsider.

But even after eliminating the Cleric Beast, Welt still couldn't find the mother of the little girl in Yharnam.

The old music box, it was said, could help a husband to recall the memories of his daughters and wife whom he forgotten.

But just this thing alone made Welt think of many things.

But fortunately, he still hadn't encountered the mother of the little girl he was looking for along the way, which was a bit strange.

The map was large and quite convoluted. After dealing with the Cleric Beast on the bridge, Welt suddenly remembered that the sewers had not been fully explored.

Generally, the location of the mission should be in the same map. So Welt began to explore the sewers again.

The sewers were divided into several layers, each with many monsters. Plus, the protagonist couldn't jump, and there were many forks in the road, so it took Welt quite a while to explore.

But the difficulty, well, it wasn't actually difficult.

"So, this is the official path. The Cleric Beast blocks the path as the boss, but the sewers also provide a path to bypass that boss. Moreover, the rats on the road aren't formidable; some are just crows and bulky monsters."

After getting familiar with the controls, Welt's character returned to its familiar elegant and powerful posture.

Under the warm hospitality of the residents of Yharnam, Welt responded to everyone he encountered, leaving no grass to grow wherever he went.

"Two brick brothers, an elevator, it seems like this is a shortcut. Going around in circles and back to the place where blessings were given... No, it's lanterns. The map design is quite interesting. The subsequent maps probably have the same level of complexity. I hope the game content isn't too sparse."

Welt once again entered the hunter's dream, tidied up a bit, upgraded and repaired his weapons, and then used up all the blood echoes given by the Cleric Beast before setting off again.

"Hmm? You say to take the elevator back. Right, the elevator downstairs can't be triggered. Why did Bunny design it like this?"

Welt was a bit helpless, but he still walked back and forth in the elevator, then let it go up automatically before continuing on.

Ahead was another bridge. Obviously, a bridge connecting two cities should not have only one. However, the bridge Welt came to had no Cleric Beast guarding it, but at the end of the bridge were countless townsfolk with torches, which made Welt somewhat speechless.

"Okay, Haxxor has set us another challenge, but it seems that the sewers from earlier can still be explored further. Maybe we can pass this level through the sewers."

Welt returned to the sewers again, but at the end of the sewers, there was a huge pig!

"Oh my god, why is there such a big pig in the sewers! With this size, there's nowhere to hide from its attacks!?"

The fat pig charged, and Welt instinctively counterattacked with his gun!

One advantage of the shotgun is that its coverage is really wide, and the timing for counterattacks is more forgiving. After a successful counterattack, Welt was also pleasantly surprised and launched a fierce attack on the fat pig.

According to Welt's judgment, the length of the sewers should be about the same as the bridge above. This fat pig might be one of the hospitable residents of Yharnam sent to hug any who approached the bridge. Now that they have all turned into monsters, they still carry out the task of guarding Yharnam.

Then he climbed up the stairs to the other end of the bridge. Watching them inadvertently trigger a trap and blow themselves up, Welt couldn't help but smile.

"It seems that this is the path that regular players should take. Compared to the road with two werewolves on the bridge, followed by the brick brothers and Cleric Beast, this one is indeed much better. Let's continue to see what interesting places Yharnam has to offer."

Saying this, Welt continued forward, elegantly and effortlessly dispatching two werewolves. Ahead was a graveyard.

Upon entering this area, an animated cutscene played instantly.

A man dressed as a hunter, also wielding an axe, had chopped the bodies on the ground countless times in the graveyard.

The axe slowly lifted, flesh and blood drawing strands.

"...Beasts all over the shop…You'll be one of them...Sooner or later…"

Father Gascoigne turned around, his face covered in blood, revealing healthy and white teeth.

He exhaled slowly, bandages wrapped around his eyes, making him look like a blind man.

But even through the bandages, Welt could feel a sense of killing intent.

And a hint of madness.

"Oh no, Father Gascoigne has completely lost it. The little girl's mother is probably in big trouble."

Welt would take a brief look at the description of each item when he picked it up.

On the somewhat old music box, there were inscriptions of Father Gascoigne and his wife's names. So Welt immediately understood that this music box was probably a tool used to lower the difficulty of the game, like the shackles of Margit the Fell Omen.

The battle officially began, and Father Gascoigne, holding his hunter's equipment, charged at Welt.

"Generally speaking, humanoid enemies like this are very tricky because most of them are very agile, like Malenia and Vyke. So let's observe their logic of action first."

Saying this, Welt distanced himself.

And along with it, a barrage of bullets from Gascoigne's firearm.

"Oh! How come he's shooting too! Why does it hurt so much when they shoot!?"

Caught off guard by the shotgun, Welt was somewhat panicked.

And in this graveyard, this boss wasn't going to get stuck at any obstructions.

In other words, the pathfinding AI might be very well done, and cheesing the boss or something like that wouldn't even be a consideration.

Bronie vaguely remembered that Father Gascoigne had been stuck on trees and tombstones, so to prevent players from exploiting this, Bronie naturally put a lot of effort into the pathfinding AI.

Then Bronie saw a completely new Father Gascoigne, agile like Malenia. Although his attacks seemed a bit monotonous, for newcomers and veterans alike, there was still a lot of tuition to pay.

With an axe in one hand and a shotgun in the other, after a few rounds of back and forth, the second stage began.

In the second stage, Father Gascoigne's axe would turn into a poleaxe, with a much longer attack range than Welt's cane, making Welt's situation quite miserable.

Just as Welt was pondering the purpose of this boss battle design scene, he saw a staircase leading upward.

But when he went up, there was an open platform, without tombstones covering it, apparently making it easier to see the opponent's movements?

Welt tried to use the gun counterattack and successfully landed a visceral attack!

Then Father Gascoigne started screaming!

"There's still a third phase!?"

Watching Father Gascoigne roar, throw away his weapon, and directly transform into a werewolf, his berserk attacks immediately made Welt roll in distress.

In the midst of dodging and rolling, Welt didn't notice what was behind him and ended up accidentally falling onto another small platform below the main one.

What is this?

A glowing white spot?

Picking it up. It's a red gemstone brooch. Quickly check the description...

"It seems that Father Gascoigne personally killed his wife. Do hunters all become monsters? The root cause of Yharnam becoming like this, this is indeed a very worthy investigation. Countless tragedies have occurred in this small town. We hunters apparently bear a heavy responsibility."

Originally, Welt thought that these hunters were not a big deal, just killing some monsters and collecting some bounty.

Of course, most of the outsiders who came to Yharnam were probably terminally ill, coming here seeking blood treatment.

Now that this have happened in Yharnam, Welt also judged that it must be related to blood treatment.

But watching it inject himself in the buttocks every time he get injured, Welt also felt very subtle.

Saying this, Welt equipped the music box and used it.

Sure enough!

Even in werewolf form, Father Gascoigne, upon hearing the music from the music box, immediately fell into a confused state!

At this time, all that was needed was to charge up, stun, and then attack!

The music box can only be used three times, but Father Gascoigne in the third phase had only one-third of his health left. He couldn't even withstand one visceral attack, let alone three.

So after dying several times, Welt finally successfully defeated Father Gascoigne.

"It seems that the little girl is destined not to find her parents. Her father has become a beast, and her mother, while searching, was accidentally killed by the father because she forgot to bring the music box... Let's go, complete the mission at the little girl's house."

Now Welt is quite familiar with the map of Yharnam, so returning to the little girl's place was a breeze.

"Hello, Mister hunter. Still can't find my mum?"

Looking at the red gemstone brooch handed over, and after 'not giving this' option, Welt fell silent.

"If I were to tell the truth to the little girl, would it be too cruel?"

Countless answers floated in the chat; some wanted to see the fun, some were reluctant to give it away, and some wanted to protect the little girl.

Although both sides were strangers, everyone shared a common compassion for protecting the weak.

"Let's forget it. Not telling her now might be too cruel, but perhaps when she grows up in the future, she'll understand her parents' situation. But telling her now would still be too harsh."

"Oh, okay. I can wait. But isn't there something I can do? Maybe mum and dad are stuck out there...waiting for me to come and find them. What do you think, mister hunter?"

There was only one option: "Conceal Information," which made Welt feel a bit uneasy.

"It seems we've come too early. Perhaps we need to go to the next destination to continue the plot. After defeating Father Gascoigne, we obtained the graveyard key. We should be able to go to the next area."

Welt returned to the cemetery area and looked for where to use the key. After opening an iron gate and walking a short distance, he arrived at Oedon's Chapel.

Inside, smoke filled the air, and a strange old man in a red robe huddled in the corner. Welt almost thought the man was a monster, but seeing the interaction options, he decided to listen to what the man had to say.

" ...Hmm? Oh... you must be... a hunter. Very sorry, the incense has masked your scent."

"Good, good. I've been waiting for one of your ilk. These hunts have everyone all locked up inside. Waiting for it to end... It always does, always has, y'know. Since forever."

"But it won't end very nicely, not this time. Even some folks hiding inside are goin' bad. The screams of wimminfolk, the stench of blood, the snarls of beasts... none of em's too uncommon now. Yharnam's done fer, I tell ya."

"But if you spot anyone with their wits about 'em... Tell 'em about this here Oedon Chapel."

"They'll be safe here. The incense wards off the beasts. Spread the word... tell 'em to come on over. If you wouldn't mind... Hee hee…"

The last sentence's ghostly laughter left Welt with a bad impression.

That eerie laughter, coupled with the strange figure, indeed gave off an unsettling vibe.

Yharnam was almost finished, with only a few remaining rational people. Among those Welt had encountered, there were only three rational individuals: a terminally ill outsider, a little girl, and a slightly abrasive elderly person.

"The atmosphere of the whole game is quite heavy, and amidst the mundane monster disaster, madness pervades every corner of Yharnam. A slight misstep could lead to a breakdown in sanity. Moreover, from the notes we collected earlier, it seems that something unknown is happening here."

After exploring the inside of the chapel, Welt noticed many bottles and jars, mostly filled with incense, which permeated the entire chapel.

"Oh right, medieval doctors believed that plague was caused by foul air, and incense could prevent the spread of disease. That's why plague doctors wore masks filled with spices."

Welt provided some information and also praised Haxxor Bunny for the game's background.

"It seems Miss Bunny has done her homework thoroughly, blending the historical background with Lovecraftian themes. It's really a wonderful fusion..."

Taking another look at the strange figure, Welt continued, "There's a lantern here, so we can come back anytime. That's a good thing. If any townsfolk meet with accidents, we can always come back to hold this guy accountable. But perhaps the Iosefka Clinic is also a suitable place?"

With that, Welt attempted to go to the Iosefka Clinic, as the blood vials provided by the girl could replenish more health, and she had shown goodwill from the start, being a compassionate girl. There was a slight fondness towards her.

"Oh, well, hello....Splendid. Let me ask you a small kindness. You're soon off to hunt, I presume? Then, if you find any survivors, tell them to seek Iosefka's Clinic."

"Upon my Hippocratic oath, if they are yet human, I will look after them, perhaps even cure them."

"This sickness, these beasts, they are not to be feared. This time the night is long. I might be trapped here, but I should do something to help. I'll even offer a reward for your cooperation."

With that, Welt felt something was off.

"The hunter's duty in Yharnam is to hunt monsters, while the clinic's duty is to treat patients. She claims to be from the Iosefka Clinic, which should be her own clinic from the original perspective, yet she spoke 'Iosefka's Clinic', not 'her Clinic'. This is a bit off."

"As the saying goes, mixing truth with lies can make the lies more difficult to discern. The part about caring for them might be true, but how to care for them? That's a question worth investigating."

"And as for the so-called reward, the temptation indicates her guilt, suggesting that there might be something wrong with this Iosefka as well."

So both sides had significant issues.

It was more accurate to say that Yharnam had problems at every turn. Deaths of hunters turned into dreams pretending nothing happened, and the night always hung over Yharnam, even hunters hunting monsters could fall into madness.

Then why wouldn't others fall into madness?

Welt returned to the little girl.

"Viewers, what should I choose?"

The dilemma in front of him reminded Welt of the choice in the Elden Ring, where he had to choose between helping the Glintstone Teacher contact the truth of the Primeval Current.

On one hand, helping the teacher, and on the other hand, helping the witch hunter. While helping the teacher did fulfill her wish, it also turned her into something neither human nor monster.

Would helping the hunter be a betrayal?

The little girl, the old lady, and an outsider.

"Let's go find the old lady first, and see how it goes at Oedon's Chapel."

With that, Welt began to control the character to head in that direction.

The livestream was quite lengthy, but viewers often easily lost track of time. After all, whether one could play this game as quickly as Welt was uncertain.

Welt's gaming skills were top-notch, perhaps due to his status as a Herrscher?

...

"Sister Bronie, Bronya is very curious about which side is safer."

"In this crazy dark world, to be honest, there is no safe place."

Bronie didn't explain in detail, but Bronya also felt something was off.

"Could it be that both sides are very dangerous, and it's better to just stay at home?"

"No, even staying at home would still make one face the erosion of madness. This won't change. When in contact with the Blood, mortals are doomed to be unable to escape, the indescribable blood of the gods is not something simple for mortals to touch."

"Bronya doesn't quite understand."

"It doesn't matter if you watch the game's plot or not. It doesn't affect completion, and side quests also aren't necessary. Just some special things that might be missed."

"Sister Bronie, you're bad."

Watching Bronie explain, Bronya couldn't help but smile. Bronya immediately knew that Bronie's mischievousness was at play.

Whenever there was a regretful plot or a sad plot that made people feel uncomfortable, Bronie would always laugh. After all, that was the game Bronie created.

That expression, it was like a demon.

...

"I didn't expect that just after introducing the old lady to the chapel, she would appear inside the chapel. Although she was a bit sharp-tongued, from the perspective of the locals in Yharnam, it seems that this mutation of Yharnam was indeed influenced by outsiders."

Now Welt could rest assured and let the little girl come to the chapel. Although the strange clergyman in the chapel gave off a peculiar vibe, it seemed genuine that he was genuinely happy to help others.

Perhaps this was Yharnam's style. Despite facing such a bizarre character, the old lady showed no sign of fear.

But even if staying in the chapel, this old lady didn't seem very friendly.

The outsider refused to go to the chapel and believed his days were numbered, so he gave the protagonist a flamethrower. When the little girl heard that the chapel was safer, she eagerly rushed over.

But when Welt teleported back to the chapel, he fell silent.

"Why didn't the little girl come?"

Seeing that the old lady had come, logically, a local little girl shouldn't have trouble finding her way, right?

"So is there a possibility, I mean, just a possibility, that the little girl died on the way?"

A chat caught Welt's attention.

Then Welt fell silent.

"Going through the streets full of monsters is indeed a very difficult thing. Seeing that even the old lady could come to the chapel, I subconsciously assumed that the little girl could too. It seems I need to go back and check the way again. Perhaps the little girl is trapped somewhere."

Starting from the little girl's house, Welt set off towards Oedon's Chapel, looking around as he walked through the sewer.

...

"This is the mindset of a normal player in the eyes of a game designer. Sometimes players just can't be bothered with such things, and that's when a lot of interesting things are missed."

Bronie looked at Welt, who was willing to go back to Yharnam for a little girl, and she couldn't be happier. Initially, Bronie was worried that Welt would just ignore the little girl's storyline!

"So... is the little girl okay?"

"You'll find out soon enough!"

Bronya suddenly had a very bad feeling.

...

To pass through the sewer, they had to face the enormous, fat pig in the sewer.

Welt proceeded in silence, and after defeating the pig, he was tense when he suddenly found a white spot.

A blood vial, good, not a big problem.

And then?

A white ribbon stained with blood, described as the color of the victim's intestines, perhaps a form of mourning for the messenger.

Suddenly, Welt felt bad.

"... Haxxor, Haxxor, how could you... the little girl being eaten by monsters.... this is also the meaning of hunters hunting monsters. To prevent more innocent people from suffering, our best course of action is to hunt down all the monsters."

The darkness of the story didn't defeat Welt, but through this story, he understood the significance of being a hunter in Yharnam.

After delving into the entire Yharnam and piecing together his own understanding of Yharnam through various items and their descriptions, Welt gradually felt the sense of duty of being a hunter.

This was different from the sense of duty of becoming the Elden Lord in Elden Ring.

...

"Tragedy often presents beautiful things to others, then tears them apart and presents them to others again. Ignorance, greed, and demands on unknown deities often lead to many tragedies. The former Schicksal once wanted to use the power of Honkai to achieve immortality, but it also gave birth to historical Black Death."

Such plot once again deeply shocked Bronya.

In a way, Bronya silently closed the livestream and then looked at Bronie.

"Sister Bronie, if the little girl goes to the clinic, will she survive?"

The audience thought the same way, but seeing Bronie's brighter smile upon hearing the question, Bronya felt uneasy.

"She will live, of course, but it's just being alive in a sense. You have to know that sometimes, living is even more painful than dying. If you want to know what it is, you can try it yourself."

"Okay... okay, Bronya will try, but she'll try in New Game Plus or New Game Plus Plus."

...

Welt's livestream ended when he picked up the little girl's ribbon.

But Mr. Otto's gaming session lasted much longer.

Immortality, the power of Soulium, this is the power of Schicksal's Archbishop!

With these elements combined, Mr. Otto could enjoy himself to the fullest in his Archbishop's office!

Even though Welt had closed his livestream, Otto was still exploring Yharnam.

There were also many players online who, in order to play Bloodborne as soon as possible, adjusted their time zones like Welt and unlocked the game early.

So during the gameplay, there were still plenty of interactions to be seen.

Or the miserable deaths of other players.

Overall, it still had a familiar taste, but the game had become a bit harder, and some things appeared to be a bit more complicated.

"Speaking of which, Void Archives, my old friend, have you noticed the subtle attitude of Haxxor Bunny towards religious organizations in this game? It seems a bit subtle, doesn't it?"

"Ignorant, backward, hypocritical. Do you want me to use more aggressive words?"

"Objective, incisive, reasonable. The former Schicksal was also like this. When I saw those bird-masked men, I thought of past things."

"Hehe."

Talking about life with an AI makes Void Archives want to laugh.

"This time, there are some elements with a slightly eerie style in it, and the horror brought by logical destruction is really a novel attempt. In fact, in Elden Ring, Bunny seems to have tried to add these elements before?"

Otto was having a great time. Although he often saw his hunter being sent back to the dream by the enthusiastic and hospitable townsfolk of Yharnam, the satisfying sense of accomplishment when he killed them was still great.

While exploring the whole of Yharnam and piecing together fragments of the town's background story from the descriptions of various items, these things all became Otto's motivation to continue playing.

"My Lord Archbishop."

"Amber, what other tasks do you have?"

Putting down the controller, Amber had given up trying to make Otto stop playing games seriously. As long as it didn't affect his work too much, Miss Amber basically didn't bother Otto anymore.

Otto was very satisfied with this, and through the tug-of-war between the two, they finally reached a certain consensus.

"There are anomalies in Siberia where Honkai is gathering. After satellite observation, a Templar Honkai Beast has been born."

This time, Otto closed the game with a blank expression and directly got up to grab himself a coat.

"When there is one cockroach in the house, there must be a nest of cockroaches. Let's deal with this Honkai according to the normal process of confronting Honkai by Schicksal. This time, I'll be in charge of handling this Honkai. I wonder if K423 has awakened Sirin's consciousness..."

Watching as various pieces of information appeared on the screen like flowing water, Otto continuously evaluated this Honkai Outbreak.

Actually, with the information provided by Haxxor Bunny about the Aeons and the organizations formed by the Aeons and its followers, Otto could see only the tip of the iceberg of the technology they controlled.

Especially the Garden of Recollection under the Aeon Fuli, just knowing of its existence and relying on the dissemination of information, they could continue to travel through the boundless universe in the form of memes, unhindered by anything.

It seemed very restrictive, but it also indirectly proved the possibility of the existence of the soul to a certain extent!

Light Dust was such a thing.

Extracted from the imaginary energy of the imaginary space, the information left by the world within the imaginary tree.

And by using this information and projecting it briefly into the real world, It was basically achieving the possibility of manifesting that power through time and space.

Wasn't this the hope of perfectly resurrecting Kallen that he had in mind!

Extracting the information of the self beyond time and space from the imaginary tree and then resurrecting the soul composed of that information, that Kallen might be the most real, and perhaps the most impossible to be false Kallen in the universe that he could think of.

So with this idea in mind, k423 became less important to him.

No, maybe Honkai wasn't even important. What even was a Honkai God?

That wasn't important either.

Kallen! His Kallen!

Before welcoming Kallen back, Otto naturally planned to tidy up this world properly. After Honkai no longer invaded this world, would Kallen feel relieved when she returned?

No, that wasn't important either. What was important was Kallen's return.

Perhaps Miss Haxxor Bunny, the traveler of the Sea of Quanta, couldn't even imagine how valuable the information she provided was.

To exchange this kind of a small amount among his technology, it was simply an explosion of profit!

If the method to manipulate the imaginary tree to resurrect Kallen is really completely explored, he must properly repay Miss Bunny.

So for this reason, Otto's friendliness towards Haxxor skyrocketed in his heart.

Mainly because there was more hope for resurrecting Kallen.

But before that, he had to create a world without Honkai for Kallen!

"Let me take a good look. K423, what are you planning to do in Siberia..."