Elden Lord of Cinders

[City of Pus, Stormveil]

[World Status: Complete Chaos]

[Special Area: City of Human Pus]

[City of Pus: Dark attribute sorceries, incantations, and Ashes of War consume less Focus Points and deal increased damage]

Is this... a dungeon?

After a brief moment of thought, Lloyd suddenly understood.

Oh, that explains it. No wonder Godrick was so weak—he was waiting here all along.

But this dungeon...

Lloyd scanned his surroundings and, after a careful inspection, confirmed it was indeed Stormveil Castle. Only now, the lighting was much dimmer, the sky overhead filled with oppressive black clouds. A faint black mist drifted through the castle, with flickers of red deep within, like the gaze of a hunter locked onto its prey.

A powered-up Stormveil, huh.

With that thought, Lloyd drew his Bloodhound's Fang and jumped down the familiar path, running into the usual Bladed Talon Bird. But this time, its eyes glowed red, its health was much higher, and its aggression had ramped up significantly. It had even gained a new move—launching the blade on its talon from range before it boomeranged back.

Even though his reflexes were sharp, it was still his first encounter with the new version, and he couldn't fully dodge the strike. The blade grazed him, knocking off a chunk of his health.

Not bad. Doesn't hurt.

Moving on, he spotted a Site of Grace. He lit it and sat down, but his missing health didn't regenerate at all. He touched it again, and a prompt appeared:

[Order is broken. Recovery unavailable.]

Ah, seriously...

Confirming that he couldn't heal through the Site of Grace, Lloyd took out a Flask of Crimson Tears and took a small sip. Watching his health bar refill completely, he exhaled slightly in relief.

Good—so sitting doesn't restore HP, but everything else still works.

With that in mind, Lloyd got back up and continued down the path. Before long, he encountered a group of familiar exile soldiers. A few quick slashes dispatched them, and he pressed on—until he spotted a strange exile soldier up ahead.

He just stood there, unarmed. When he noticed Lloyd, he started walking toward him slowly. And as he got close—

Bang!

The upper half of the exile soldier's body exploded, and a torrent of dark, writhing human pus burst forth. It morphed into a giant serpent-like creature and came crashing down toward Lloyd.

Boom—

After dodging the strike, Lloyd stared at the familiar, swaying monster in front of him. His expression shifted slightly.

Is that... the Pus of Man?

To confirm his suspicion, Lloyd pulled a Fire Grease from his inventory and enchanted his Bloodhound's Fang with flames. Though it was a Somber weapon and couldn't be modified with Ashes of War or affinities, its pure physical stats allowed external enchantments—one of the reasons he favored it.

After coating the blade, Lloyd rolled once more, dodged another strike from the Pus of Man, and countered with a backhand slash.

Bang!

The instant the flame touched the Pus of Man, it was like dropping a spark into gasoline. It ignited in a flash, engulfing the creature in fire and drawing out a pained, shrieking wail.

Lloyd took the opportunity to deliver two more strikes, then finished it off with an Ash of War, clearing its health bar. A white glowing spot was left behind on the ground.

Pick it up.

[Obtained "Humanity Remnant"]

[Humanity Remnant]

[Can be used to strengthen dark sorceries and incantations]

[Can also be used to change the affinity of a casting medium, increasing the power of dark arts]

[That curse from the past still lurks in the deepest part of every soul]

[But is it really a curse?]

[Perhaps, from the very beginning]

[Our birth was sin itself]

Huh? You can upgrade magic in this one too?

After inspecting the fragment, Lloyd raised an eyebrow and continued forward.

Since he had already fought through Stormveil once before, he was fairly familiar with the layout. It wasn't so bad that he'd get lost. But while he knew the terrain, he wasn't as familiar with the monsters anymore.

Aside from the Bladed Talon Birds that had apparently learned Draven's Whirling Death, and the exile soldier who had transformed into the Pus of Man, he kept running into all sorts of strange things.

There were "Oolacile Residents" who, though their models hadn't changed, now had an active self-destruct skill that dealt pure dark damage in a wide area.

Then came the crossbowmen—still holding crossbows, but with thin, spider-like limbs of human pus extending from their fronts. The corrosion had rendered their hand crossbows unusable, but the pus appendages in front of them launched volleys that not only covered more area but also inflicted poison buildup.

And then there were the heavy hitters—the Banished Knights. Already formidable among elite enemies, these now had glowing red eyes and charged with terrifying speed, unleashing storm kicks that dealt 360-degree damage with no blind spots.

Now enhanced by the Pus of Man, they executed extended combo strings in sync with the pus, and where they once lacked ranged attacks, they now had a move where the pus stretched out from their backs to bite at enemies. Lloyd couldn't help but mutter that they really should've given him a Golden Fog Gate for this.

But the real killer wasn't just how strong the enemies were.

After a long stretch of exploring, he finally found another Site of Grace. But when he touched it, the same message popped up again: [Order is broken, cannot heal]. It left Lloyd feeling numb.

Sure, he knew there were "Soulborne gods" out there who could breeze through an area without taking a single hit—some even cleared entire games that way. But whether it's a game or not, those gods all got there through relentless practice. They suffered plenty during their first runs too.

Now, while the terrain hadn't changed much, the monster buffs, the altered setups, and the newly added mechanics were something else entirely—pus lumps hanging from ceilings that dropped when you got near, or shallow pits filled with poison pools that built up toxic meters just by stepping in.

None of it had killed him outright, but every bit had chipped away at him. By now, half his Crimson Tears were gone.

He hadn't even explored a quarter of the map, and his flask was already half empty. Worse, the deeper he went, the stronger and more numerous the enemies became...

Was this even meant to be playable?

At this point, Lloyd seriously considered throwing caution aside. He thought about switching to his main build, grabbing a staff, and nuking everything.

But strangely, just as he was about to do it, a feeling rose in his chest.

This place was too fragile. It couldn't handle his true "power." If he dared to switch builds, this place just might crash itself out of spite.

But just as Lloyd was wondering what to do next, a golden light began to shine in the darkness.

[Preliminary order established. Summoning restrictions unlocked. Current summonable allies: 0/1. Site of Grace recovery count increased. Current recovery per site: 0/1]

[Summon spirit "Melina"?]

Lloyd's eyes lit up.

"So that's how it works."

He touched the golden sigil, and as the golden light shimmered, Melina's figure slowly emerged from the shadows. Once fully formed, she opened her eyes and took in the scene around her.

"...Where am I?"

Melina looked slightly confused.

"I don't know either," Lloyd replied with a shake of his head, then picked up the Bloodhound's Fang. "But either way, we're fighting our way out."

Fight their way out?

Melina glanced around, her gaze pausing on the monsters infected with the Pus of Man. Then she tightened her grip on the dagger in her hand.

She'd never seen these kinds of monsters in the Lands Between, but she didn't need prior experience. Anyone with a shred of normalcy would feel the insanity and horror radiating from their grotesque, writhing forms.

This was a curse from the past—one born of the soul—and it needed to be destroyed.

But when did such monsters appear in the Lands Between? And more importantly, where exactly was this place?

Despite the questions churning in her mind, Melina didn't ask them. Before she had answered Lloyd's call and arrived here, she'd already been told: now was not the time to "wake him up."

And even if he didn't awaken on his own, as long as she stayed by his side, she would eventually uncover some answers.

So without saying anything more, Melina took out her Blade of Calling, gave a quick assessment of their surroundings, and quietly followed behind Lloyd.

With Melina joining him, Lloyd's pace and momentum surged ahead instantly.

How to put it—sure, Melina's damage had been a bit embarrassing when she fought Super Old Margit, but her support capabilities were maxed out. Golden Vow, Blessing of the Erdtree, and even her personally-grown Erdtree—all boosted damage, defense, and provided passive healing. That was already powerful during boss fights, but for map-clearing, it was even more of a game-changer.

And it wasn't just support—once inside this place, Melina's damage had shot up significantly.

Her Holy damage had always felt underwhelming before because the outer world was under the dominion of the Golden Order. Everyone—from mobs to bosses—were Goldenfolk with high Holy resistance. But here? Forget about the Golden Order—this place was drowning in the Pus of Man. The enemies who weren't yet corrupted were manageable, but the heavily corrupted ones had negative Holy resistance.

Melina could deal over a hundred damage with a casual swing. One use of her Ash of War, "Golden Blade," mixing holy and fire, could explode for over five hundred in a single strike.

With healing, high output, and the agility and awareness of a real person instead of the rigid AI behavior from in-game summons, she moved fluidly and responded sharply in battle. Though she lacked the means and resources for a head-on brawl—limited FP and specific resistances—her performance as a support unit was easily top-tier.

Thanks to Melina's help, Lloyd advanced a huge distance with barely any effort. When he activated yet another Site of Grace, the system notification appeared once more: [Order further established. Summoning restrictions unlocked]. A new golden sigil began to glow.

But this time, the name that appeared left Lloyd scratching his head.

[Summon spirit "Trina"?]

Trina? Who?

The name sounded vaguely familiar, like something he'd heard before, but no specific memory came to mind. He couldn't recall ever meeting someone by that name.

Then again, it didn't matter. Souls games were full of strange allies—some wouldn't even help you unless you killed them first.

Compared to that, a mysterious golden sigil felt pretty normal.

He reached out and touched it. A soft swirl of violet mist gathered, and the form of a girl in purple slowly took shape. Her eyes opened gently.

"Mr. Lloyd, I..."

Trina's words suddenly trailed off.

Because as her eyes adjusted, she saw not only Lloyd—but the figure standing beside him.

When she recognized the woman's face, sensed what she was... and saw the dagger in her hand, Trina instinctively stepped back and spoke without thinking.

"...Sister?"