Chapter 768: The Choice of Responsibility and Destiny, the Undead Legion of Farron

"Did you find any treasure?"

There was only a dead silence from Su Tianji's side.

The live stream chat was already exploding with a barrage of messages:

"Thank you, Elder of Entertainment, for the '666' donation."

"Thank you..."

"How did you die? And why are so many people giving you tips over there?" Nalan Mingxue and the others were utterly bewildered.

"I don't know either," Su Tianji said, completely at a loss for words. "Hurry up and come over here. This treasure chest I opened... it turned into a monster!"

"A treasure chest turned into a monster?" Nalan Mingxue took off her virtual headset and looked over, only to see that on Su Tianji's screen, the treasure chest had stood up from the ground. It was a pitch-black, lanky creature with dangling arms and a gaping mouth with a massive lolling tongue, currently wandering around the room.

"We're on our way." Nalan Mingxue followed suit, dodging the dragon's flames as she rushed inside, where the low, guttural whimpering of the monster could still be heard echoing within the room.

Going downstairs.

Suddenly, a violent howling of wind tore through the air!

Boom!

Nalan Mingxue felt as though she had been struck squarely by a meteorite, her body smashing into the incredibly hard wall bricks behind her and shattering them to pieces.

On the screen: YOU DIED...

"..." She was completely dazed.

Not to mention them, even the onlookers in the new shop were utterly dumbfounded by the sight.

"How did you die too?" Song Qingfeng, who was still outside, froze in realization.

"I got instantly killed!"

He then looked at Nalan Mingxue's screen, where her character was plastered flat against the wall: "..."

In that instant, they felt a profound sense of malice and conspiracy.

"..."

......

At this moment, Boss Fang had just beaten the boss before him into a near-death state, and then equipped a replica chest head that looked identical to the mimic monster.

A brief description flashed across the equipment:

Symbol of Avarice: The head of a creature disguised as a treasure chest. They were an ancient race of gods, exiled for the sin of greed, a brand engraved upon their entire clan.

(The original text only mentions this in Dark Souls 1; the in-game effect causes continuous health loss while increasing item discovery and soul absorption rates.)

Perhaps influenced by the fading of the First Flame and the encroaching darkness, or perhaps due to the Undead curse, they ultimately transformed into such monsters after death.

......

Dark Souls differs from other games; if you only rush through the main storyline, apart from linking the fire, you might know absolutely nothing, and you may not even understand why you are doing it in the first place.

Yet, if you collect these items, equipment, and souls, piecing together the information they provide bit by bit, you can reconstruct a complete worldview. Hidden behind them are countless heavy and dark tales that seem to originate from ancient antiquity.

Thus, upon leaving Firelink Shrine, while the character's quest might be to bring back the Lords of Cinder, for the players, it also marked the beginning of their excavation and exploration of this entire dark world.

Descending along the High Wall of Lothric, there lay a massive, derelict hall. Inside this hall, where the thick, hard ground seemed to have been smashed downward by several feet, Zong Wu, Gu Tingyun, and the others stood with solemn expressions.

A beast as massive as a small hill, clad entirely in heavy frost armor and wielding a great hammer, roared before them, spewing freezing breath that swept through the entire hall in an instant.

At this time, Boss Fang returned to Firelink Shrine and handed a soul over to the only remaining dwarf Lord of Cinder.

(The Pygmies in Dark Souls are actually humans, named as such because the other races are far taller than humanity.)

The soul burned like a flame; upon picking it up, the item description clearly read: Soul of Vordt of the Boreal Valley.

"Vordt was one of the Outrider Knights of the Boreal Valley, said to have spent his years in the constant company of the fleeting Dancer."

Soon, it was transposed into a ring with a strange, dark eye.

Pontiff's Right Eye: "A bewitched ring bestowed upon knights by Pontiff Sulyvahn. Gazing into this black eye induces a frenzied exhilaration, stirring an intense desire to fight to the death. Ultimately, the knights are degraded into beastly, berserk warriors."

"Thus, the Pontiff only grants this item to knights when they depart on distant campaigns."

......

This was roughly how it went.

If one wished to delve deeper into the exploration of this entire world... its lore and deeper information, accumulated bit by bit, were uncovered in approximately this manner.

......

When pieced together, they formed complete chapters of a grand narrative, revolving around each Lord of Cinder to tell the heavy tales of an era where myths had not yet entirely faded.

Following the progression of the game, it began from the first Lord of Cinder encountered, the Abyss Watchers of the Farron Undead Legion...

To Aldrich, Saint of the Deep and Devourer of Gods,

Then to Yhorm the Giant of the Profaned Capital,

The Twin Princes of Lothric,

And finally, the tale that belonged to the protagonist—an Unkindled one, a nameless soul with no past.

The entire faction of the Boreal Valley could be classified under the chapter of the Lord of Cinder, "Aldrich, Devourer of Gods."

At this stage, having conquered the first few bosses, the players' primary experiences naturally revolved around the "Abyss" and the "Farron Undead Legion."

In fact, starting right from Iudex Gundyr, players had already come into contact with the Abyss; that terrifying Pus of Man was precisely the result of the Abyss's corruption.

The power of the Abyss originated from the dark, and perhaps it had manifested even earlier than the First Flame.

......

At this time, Sera and several other elves were clearly progressing through their own games at an incredibly slow pace, but that did not hinder them from watching the live streams.

The entire group sat huddled together on the sofas in the leisure area. "Look at this old gentleman..."

They were clearly watching Nalan Hongwu's stream.

Nalan Hongwu had obviously already played Dark Souls 1; regardless of whether he had beaten it, he possessed a significant advantage over the others.

When players followed the great doors behind Vordt, flying past the fractured peaks that divided the high walls of Lothric, traversing the Road of Sacrifices and through the Crucifixion Woods, they would descend all the way into Farron Keep.

This place was the front line in the fight against (a certain part of) the Abyss.

Sera was currently watching the stream. Inside the Firelink Shrine on screen, the crestfallen warrior spoke with a hint of mockery and amusement, mixed perhaps with a touch of sorrow, as he recounted the lore of the Farron Undead Legion.

"They have a unique initiation ritual. If you extinguish the flames of the three altars in the keep, the great doors leading to the Wolf Blood will open. They swore an oath to the Wolf Blood to watch over the Abyss, and at the slightest sign of its spread, they would bury entire kingdoms without a second thought."

......

The original duty of the Abyss Watchers, the Farron Undead Legion, was to keep vigil over the Abyss.

When the bell tolled, they awoke from their slumber. Amidst their... confusion, they sensed the stirring of the Abyss beneath Farron Keep—High Lord Wolnir, who had fallen into the Abyss, manifested as the colossal skeleton crawling out of the dark in the cinematic. They chose their original duty, rising from their graves to return to their ancient posts.

Upon the live stream screen.

At this moment, another crowd gathered behind, including what seemed to be a few newly arrived Saint-level cultivators, all clustering together.

Sera subconsciously glanced backward. "Why are there so many people?"

Right then, Nalan Hongwu, a powerhouse who had attained the realm of Martial Emperor, controlled his character to push open the dust-laden, ancient doors.

They witnessed a vision of such devastation—corpses piled high across the ground, a terrifying army that once toppled empires at a whim, now reduced to a mere handful of men.

The towering commander gripped his greatsword, driving the blade straight through the chest of the last remaining warrior.

The body slumped heavily to the earth.

Yet another rose in its place, eyes burning with a dark and scarlet light.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you.

None could escape the fate of being consumed by the dark.

With the undying resurrected in an endless cycle, nothing remained but for the commander, his willpower clinging to life, to butcher his own men with his own hands, time and time again.

At that moment, he seemed to sense that someone had extinguished the flames of the three altars and stepped through the great gates of the wolf blood.

He turned around with deliberate slowness, thrusting the greatsword in his right hand forward while resting his left dagger upon his right arm, offering the solemn, unique salute of the undead legion.

To live, continuing to guard his duty until the abyss swallowed him whole; or to die, accepting the destiny of linking the fire—everything would be decided by this final battle.