But the more she forced herself not to think about something, the more her mind kept drifting that way. In the end she had to forcibly divert her attention to the current war instead.

She didn't know when it started, but their progress in the war had almost come to a halt. Every battle was like gods one time, ghosts the next; the positions they'd just taken back weren't theirs for more than a few days before being snatched away again.

It was like they were stuck in some loop of "the victor grows arrogant, the arrogant must lose, the loser must win, the winner must grow arrogant..." Not just the Return to Forest Church's army— even the rebel army on the other side was like this.

If the two sides weren't genuinely hacking at each other on the battlefield in a fight to the death, she would have thought the two armies had started putting on a show. Since when is war this much of a joke?

Unless all the commanding officers on both sides were idiots, the only explanation she could find was that she was being toyed with by some invisible force, causing the war to go badly.

"Will I live to see the end of this war? How much longer is this going to drag on..."

Muttering to herself, she picked up a portion of relief food and handed it to the civilian in front of her.

"May the God bless you."

The civilian stared at the relief food and uttered a devout prayer.

This was a prayer with no specific target, simply aimed at the word "God."

The Faith that leaked out of his body along with those words drifted in the air like it couldn't find its home. In places invisible to the human eye, Faith like this with nowhere to go had already gathered in the sky into a thick cloud layer that no one could see. The more this Faith piled up, the more likely it was that one day it would press all the way down to the ground.

Until night gradually fell, and the stars in the sky began to sprinkle all kinds of light upon the world.

The Faith that had accumulated for a whole day completely vanished in that instant.

No one knew by what it had been taken away.

————————————

A week after the Monster attack incident, all clues regarding the Demon Clan's traces had been marked as useless; there was no way to find the whereabouts of the Mole Demon Race anymore.

And yet the Fran Guard, who had spent these days dedicated to chasing the Demon Clan, still hadn't left.

Because they had found something here that interested them even more.

"Hello, I'm the guide introduced by big bro Fingerley, just call me Tusi."

Tusi rubbed the beard on his cheeks and greeted Dal and the elite Fran Guard before him, then received a synchronized nod in response so neat it was scary.

"We'll be counting on you today." Dal reached out to shake his hand. "Please lead us to the Little Longde Ruins."

"No problem, leave it to me. No one in all of Hepa Town understands the Little Longde Ruins better than I do."

Tusi thumped his chest in guarantee, then led everyone into the Teleportation Gate.

One of the reasons Dal and the others chose to stay in Hepa Town was naturally the Little Longde Ruins.

How could an area where a map actually called [Abyss] appeared not catch their interest?

Before borrowing Tusi the guide from the rebel army, Dal had already gone through all the Abyss-related new areas that had shown up in Sain Dungeon in Scameroon.

Including the Little Longde Ruins and the Soul-sucking Ghost Painting World; of course he also knew the past of the Dark Great Snake Kas and the Four Kings of Little Longdu. Once they learned even Artorias had appeared in the Soul-sucking Ghost–themed Painting World, they'd felt this was a place they absolutely had to visit.

All of them had already equipped Wolf Rings, and each person even carried three spares. They'd practically cleaned out every Wolf Ring currently for sale on the surface of Bed City to achieve this.

Their goal this time was only the Little Longde Ruins. They had planned to head straight there the moment they came in.

However....

"Was this guy always here in the Fire Transmission Ceremony?"

"I–I don't know..."

A few minutes later, in an utterly ordinary corner room of the Fire Transmission Ceremony.

Tusi stared at the "giant snake" in front of him that had somehow suddenly drilled up from underground so that only its huge head stuck out of the ground, his expression plainly spelling out "WTF."

Dal, standing beside him, stroked his chin, showing interest in the giant snake in front of them.

As everyone knew, there were plenty of ruins inside the Fire Transmission Ceremony, dividing the entire site into many open-air "rooms." The room they were currently in should have been empty.

So why was there suddenly a giant snake here whose appearance was so ugly it broke the scale?!

"Hoo hoo hoo...."

The giant snake kept its eyes closed and its head lowered, snoring away. Each breath it exhaled carried a rank stench, making people really not want to get close.

Tusi certainly didn't want to get close to this guy, because this giant snake in front of him looked almost exactly the same as the Dark Great Snake Kas who had once appeared in the Soul-sucking Ghost–themed Painting World!

What the hell? Has the Abyss Force already reached its hand into the Fire Transmission Ceremony?

"No, this isn't that Dark Great Snake."

Dal suddenly made a judgment. Don't ask how he knew—just treat it as tacit understanding from the Wolf Blood.

As soon as he said the words "Dark Great Snake," the snake, which had been immersed in sleep, suddenly opened its eyes.

It lifted its head, its serpent pupils sweeping across the group before finally fixing on Tusi.

"W–Why are you looking at me?" A question mark practically popped up over Tusi's head.

The giant snake opened its mouth full of human-like teeth. A voice similar to Kas's yet somehow more amiable reached them along with its bad breath.

"Oh.... so the Undead Man who rang the Awakening Bell was you."

Rang the Awakening Bell?

Tusi looked at Dal and the Fran Guard and suddenly realized that among everyone present, he really was the only one who had gone and rung both the bells in Undead Town and Sick Village from start to finish.

The giant snake looked at him and continued:

"I am the World Snake, Flament, the seeker of kings, and a friend of King Gwyn."

"Undead Brave Warrior who rang the Awakening Bell, since you chose to come before me, I must tell you the mission borne by Undead Men. Are you ready to hear it?"

Flament's voice grew solemn. Even with such a comical appearance, you could still feel the seriousness in it.

What kind of development is this? Isn't this moving a little too fast?

Tusi was a bit slow to catch up, but his adventurer's instincts kicked in, and he switched to a serious face in one second, standing at attention like a Hero about to save the world.

"I'm ready. Say it."

Dal beside him almost wanted to give him a thumbs-up. The last time he'd seen someone swap expressions and slip into roleplay this naturally was Luluwo. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

And he happened to be very interested in what this Flament was about to say as well. He hadn't expected this trip to come with a bonus reward.

"Undead Brave Warrior, your mission... is to inherit King Gwyn and become his successor."

The line almost made Tusi spit out a mouthful of water.

He stared at Flament in shock, coughing as he pointed at himself.

Inherit Gwyn? Me?

So I was actually that awesome?

Flament showed no reaction to his display and went on:

"You must inherit that king, make the fire burn once more, use the flame's light to drive away the darkness and erase the symbol of the Undead Men."

As soon as those words came out, Tusi's expression suddenly calmed down.

So in the end it's still about Fire Transmission. I thought you were going to make me king.

"To accomplish this mission, you must first go to the Royal Capital Anor Londo and obtain the Royal Artifact. Only by obtaining the Royal Artifact does it mean you truly possess the qualifications to inherit Gwyn."

With that, Flament simply stared at Tusi, as if he'd finished saying everything he needed to say.

Tusi blinked, then scratched his head, not sure what he was supposed to say now. In the end he looked toward Dal for help and weakly asked:

"S–So where are we going next?"

Feels like I just got handed a mission with some serious Legendary flavor.