Elden Ring: Atai vows to have a perfect ending

Chapter 285 Night Watch

"Ancient Dragon" Lance Shanks, after hearing what I said, thought carefully for a moment.

"The Faded One named 'Zero', is it?" She leaned down slightly, and her huge conical head pressed towards me. Her golden eyes were like two scorching suns hanging above my head, and her mouth was full of sharp teeth. If she opened her mouth slightly, she could swallow me whole in one gulp.

I also stared back at the other person. Inexplicably, a thought suddenly arose in my heart, I wanted to touch this majestic face.

Lance Shanks shrank his head in fear like a kitten, and then immediately shouted: "Son of man, what do you want to do?"

"Ah..." I glanced at the raised hand, then awkwardly scratched the back of my head. "Sorry, such a beautiful face suddenly came close to me, and I couldn't help but want to take a closer look. I'm sorry."

"······You look quite similar to that person."

"Ok?"

"No, nothing! You don't have to worry about it!" Lance Shanks turned his head and glanced at my friends scattered around.

Perhaps out of concern for me, or perhaps out of fear of the ancient dragon's power, they all seemed to hold their breath, remaining still, and watching the conversation between me and the ancient dragon with extreme caution.

"What a nostalgic scene." Lance Sanx said something confusing again, turned around and looked at me, "I have memorized your appearance, son of man, Zero. For the sake of Ishutopia, I can spare you... If you have any news about Ful, you can go to the Thunder Hill outside Rodel City. I will wait here."

"······What if there is any news about Vic?" I asked with a smile.

As a result, I was frightened by a red thunder from Lance Shanks, which exploded at my feet.

"Don't push your luck, son of a man! As for Vic's matter, I, I, I have my own way!" After Lance Shanks said this, he immediately spread his wings and soared into the sky in the blink of an eye.

——Everyone says that tsunderes are out of business, Lance Shanks.

However, judging from her flight trajectory, she seemed to be heading towards the middle section of the ancient ruins cliff. She must be going to verify what I said.

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but my heels suddenly went weak and I fell to the ground.

"Zero." Blaze and Laya hurried over, and the others also slowly approached me.

Brother Wolf asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

Laya's eyes sparkled, and she clenched her fists excitedly and said, "Zero, that was an ancient dragon just now! It was the first time I saw a real ancient dragon. Do you even know them?"

"Haha, I can't really say we know each other." I sighed with a wry smile, and stood up with Blaze's help. "But fortunately, it's just a misunderstanding. For intelligent creatures like the ancient dragon, a good explanation can still reduce trouble... Anyway, let's go first, lest those evil omen robbers come back to cause trouble."

Everyone agreed with my suggestion.

Yuraya continued to guide us: "Everyone, follow me. I know a place where we can rest."

The place she took us to was at the foot of the Lux ruins, which is where you can find the little snake near the blessing point on the hill near the golden tree after crossing the ancient ruins cliff in the game.

-By the way, if you first climbed the Yatan Plateau via the large elevator Dickas, then Laya would be waiting for Ati nearby.

——During the second playthrough, because of the different ways of reaching the plateau, I thought Laya’s branch quest was inexplicably broken, and I searched for it for a long time. Don’t miss it.

Although there are only a few shabby houses here, for a group of us who have to sleep in the open air, it is nice to have a place to rest.

After taking care of a few of the little Asians inside, everyone sat around a nearby blessing point, made a fire and took a rest.

After all, this is the edge of the territory of the Asian minors; and, on the other side of the mountain bank, there is a ruin called Weida, which is the same as Shuihuan Village, and is completely the territory of the Dead Born; as for the foot of the mountain, it is a battlefield site, but now, it has been camped and guarded by the golden soldiers.

Therefore, someone is needed to keep watch at night when one is unfamiliar with the area in order to prevent any accidents from happening.

After encountering two dragon monsters throughout the whole day, everyone was inevitably a little exhausted.

Millicent seemed to feel a little guilty for not being able to help during the day, so she volunteered to work the first shift of the night watch.

In order to have a good sleep afterwards, I decided to stay up for the first half of the night, not to be alone with Mibao~

However, Laya said that she had plenty of energy. After all, she didn't even participate in the battle, so she would help us guard the whole night.

——······The plan failed before it even started.

The three of us sat around the campfire, and for a moment, the atmosphere was quite awkward.

No, Millicent seemed to be fanning the bonfire without a care in the world, while Laya seemed happy all the time as long as she had food to eat.

——Am I the only one who is emotionally awkward?!

"Uh, Millicent..." I was about to open my mouth and find a topic to talk about.

Millicent and Laya suddenly raised their heads and looked behind me.

——Is there anything there?

I was about to turn my head out of curiosity, but the footsteps had already stopped beside me.

"Can I sit down?" It was Diaros?!

His complexion seemed to have been bad since the fight with the lava earth dragon Makar, and it has not recovered until now.

So, we originally planned to let him have a good rest tonight. As for the other person who deserved the same treatment, it was the shameless girl Pollyanna.

I nodded: "Please... But, Diaros, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Diaros didn't say anything after sitting down next to me.

He seemed to be troubled by something, and his melancholy eyes just stared at the jumping flames.

······Isn't this even more embarrassing? What kind of silent party is this for socially anxious and autistic people?

I couldn't help but raise my head, like a fish coming out of stagnant water to take a breath.

Just as Laya had said before, when you climb up to the Yatan Plateau, the dazzling and gorgeous golden tree seems to be right in front of you. You can just stretch out your hand and break off the twigs of the tree.

But if we really reach out our hands, we will find that it is still so far away from us, as far as the horizon.

"From here, we can reach the Royal City of Rodel soon." I whispered unconsciously.

Laya nodded and immediately took over my conversation: "If I want to go to Rodel from here, I only need a whole day to reach the outer gate of the royal city. However, there are so many soldiers guarding there that I can't get in at all."

——That is to say, without any interference from external factors, I will be able to obtain Amber Starlight tomorrow.

Afterwards, if General Ratan truly wakes up and lifts the seal on the meteor, I will have to help Lani go to Nokron to obtain the Hunting Finger Knife, and then continue to the Ansel Underground River to challenge the "Dark Abandoned Child" Esti and complete Lani's side quest.

After that, will they come back here and continue Rodel's advancement?

——······Is it too late?

After all, those fire-crazed ones were one step ahead of me and set foot on this land. By the time I finished Lani's branch quest, this place might have been turned upside down.

in addition······

Speaking of the royal city of Rodel, he couldn't help but think of the agreement between him and Melina.

When we reach the foot of the golden tree, I have to tell Melina in person her mission and her destiny... But, to be honest, I'm not sure whether Melina can really accept it. After all, the only way to unlock her destiny is with the insanity fire.

And the insane fire is exactly the power that Melina cannot accept the most.

But in fact, all we have to do is tell Melina the method of sealing the crazy fire, and then we just need to take one step closer to the holy tree.

However, if the golden needle of Malenia is really taken away, what should be done with her chronic corruption?

······Try to wake up Michaela? Coincidentally, before I crossed over to the border, wasn't the DLC promotion of the old man's ring related to Michaela? Maybe, I can also find the real Michaela here and ask him to make a golden needle for me, then everything will be fine, congratulations~

Just as I was daydreaming like this, I suddenly heard Diaros's question: "Brother Ling, you...you will become the King of Elden, right?"

"Ah? Why are you asking this suddenly?" I laughed dryly. "This is also the mission that Queen Marica left for us Faded Ones, isn't it? After all, we have to repair the Elden Ring."

Diaros was silent for a moment.

Amid the slight crackling of the fire, I could even hear the sound of him swallowing his saliva.

After a long while, he seemed to have made up his mind. He turned around and asked me earnestly, "Brother Ling, can you tell me how you became so powerful? I... I really want to be a real hero like you, just like what that fellow Lenya said. Please tell me your secret, please!"

"Eh?!"

Diaros's remarks were quite unexpected to me.

But there was a faint light burning in his faded eyes, like the flame lit by the little match girl on that snowy night, swaying precariously.