NFBE Chapter 3: The road is very slippery.
Chapter 3: The road is very slippery.
"No more movement. Give up. It's probably just that immortal person suddenly opening his own grave and making a commotion again. Why hold onto even a sliver of hope in this world destined for extinction? Heh~ Heh heh heh."
A man's voice suddenly rang out in the silent fire-lighting ritual site, and his last laugh sounded more like a desperate wail than laughter.
Faced with these extremely negative words, the person sitting at the bottom of the stairs remained completely unresponsive, like a delicate, oversized doll.
On the enormous throne, a small figure responded softly.
"Alright, Wood, that's enough."
"So what do you want to say, Your Majesty, Lord of Cinder? Lord of Cinder? Heh, heh heh heh~"
"...I, a dwarf, am bathed in the glory of the First Flame."
"Glory? How pathetic, ha ha ha!"
The short figure on the throne simply sighed and said nothing more.
Everything fell silent. Apart from the blacksmith's incessant hammering, everyone could only hear their own faint breathing, but still no one spoke.
One day, two days, three days.
Until a mummified corpse fell before an unlit campfire, a soul that had forgotten its way home and was completely lost, it was the firekeeper's duty to bury them.
The figure sitting at the bottom of the stairs stood up and slowly walked over, dragging the zombie's leg with one hand as they walked out.
As for why it doesn't recognize people—a living corpse that would get slapped twice even by a mouse could be dragged along… that's the Fire Keeper's little secret.
A few minutes after the Fire Keeper left, when the footsteps were completely gone and the sounds of the undead being dragged along and scratching the floor could no longer be heard, the small figure on the throne muttered to himself.
"Wood, what you said angered the fire-preserving girl. Why don't you go out and lay low for a while?"
Disheartened Bro twitched the corner of his mouth, swallowed hard, and retorted rather weakly.
"I'm angry... I'm angry, but I... I didn't... make things up, yes, I didn't make things up."
On the other side, the fire-starter dragged the living corpse out of the fire-lighting sacrificial site. There were many empty coffins around the sacrificial site, but the fire-starter planned to go and take a look at the drifting graveyard.
Dragging the struggling undead, he walked unhurriedly across the almost weathered stone path, and with one hand pushed open the door sealing Gundyr, the Ashen Judge.
The steel gate, only ten centimeters thick and several meters high, was no problem for the fire-fighting woman.
But look at Gundyr, kneeling in the center, with the Spiral Sword still stuck in his chest.
The Fire Keeper sighed softly. It seemed Wood was right; the undead had probably lifted the lid of its coffin and was causing a ruckus in the cemetery.
However, the Fire Keeper still planned to take a look, since she was already there, and she didn't want the Ash Elemental Bottle she had prepared for the Ashes to be picked up by other undead.
However, when the Fire Keeper arrived and saw the campfire burning between the cliffs, she was immediately startled. Had the Ash awakened? But why?
He simply threw the living corpse in his hand down the cliff that seemed to have no bottom, ignored the screams, and hurriedly walked deeper into the cliff with questions in his mind.
When she arrived at the knight's corpse containing the gray elemental bottle, the knight had been looted down to his loincloth. However, without professional guidance, the back-binding breastplate, which could not be worn by a single person, was left lying on the spot.
The arsonist roughly understood what was going on, thinking of the three undead she had killed one by one with a punch, the weak ashes.
But weakness was not an obstacle for the ashes, for she came.
Having figured things out, the Fire Keeper regained her dignified demeanor and slowly walked back.
If Ash is weak, then we'll arrange for powerful teammates.
Li Wei, who had been lying in the coffin for an unknown amount of time, was counting sheep. He had just counted 1,780,222 when he heard a thumping sound outside, the sound of someone carrying out a demolition.
He moved aside his own coffin lid and curiously peeked out, only to see a burly man wielding a giant sword that weighed about 100-200 pounds, casually chopping at the coffin as if swinging straw, looking like he was venting his frustration.
Seemingly noticing Li Wei's gaze, the other person turned around and stared at Li Wei.
This guy looks familiar. He's wearing the Undead Legion uniform, but the greatsword accessory has been replaced with a shield, and he's wearing a chainmail helmet—the standard Grim Reaper look.
Li Wei hesitated for a moment, then decided to first express goodwill.
Hey buddy, have you eaten yet?
As soon as I finished speaking, I wanted to slap myself. Did I think I was in China, where people would ask each other if we had eaten?
Unexpectedly, the other party replied.
"I haven't eaten. Do you have anything to eat?"
........
Although the undead and ashes are edible, they don't need to eat, and besides the undead, there's nothing else to eat around them, not even a single rat. But at least they managed to have a conversation.
The two squatted by the campfire on the path beside the cliff. As usual, the disheartened guy was disheartened. Earlier on the way, Wood had helped Levi put on the knight's breastplate that had been left behind, but seeing that Levi was having difficulty moving around, he pulled it off again.
Then he squatted in front of the campfire, questioning his existence, and muttered dejectedly.
"You're just a commoner who doesn't know anything and is so weak that you're not even at the level of a normal person. So why did you turn to ashes?"
Placing the hope of passing on the flame on ordinary people, haha, as expected, this rotten world is beyond saving.
"It's for your own good, so let's just sit here, chat, and wait for the world to fall into darkness."
Disheartened Brother gave up, but Li Wei still wanted to latch onto a powerful figure. He didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place until the end of the world. He needed to at least unlock the map on the outskirts of the royal city and find some pots and pans to make ends meet.
It's best to kill your way to the Undead settlement village, find some seeds or ready-made crops, and then leave it to rot.
As for passing on the fire, whoever wants it, at least Li Wei has no interest in burning himself as firewood.
"Brother Wood, don't give up! Even though I don't know anything, I can learn, right? How about you teach me how to use a sword?"
Without even looking up, Brother Disheartened said dejectedly.
"Even if I teach you how to use a sword, so what? With your physical abilities, do you think you can pass the Ash Judge's trial and get that spiral sword? Even if I... damn it!"
While Disheartened Brother was speaking, mentioning the Spiral Sword, Li Wei suddenly pulled the Spiral Sword off the campfire in front of him.
If you stand in front of him without saying anything, after all, if you're not special, why would he bet on you and help you?
Seeing the dumbfounded and disheartened Brother, Li Wei smiled shyly.
"We already have the Spiral Sword, so why do we need to go through some trial?"
Have you seen the new ship version of Ashes? Why skip class if you have to go looking for thrills?
Given Gundyr's height (measured in meters), his ridiculously thick armor, and his heavy weapon, a halberd longer than a person, it's practically guaranteed he'll be cut in two. And whether the toothpick in his hand can even penetrate his defenses is questionable. Does this think it's a game with forced damage and a health bar?
Looking at the campfire that had stopped burning, Brother Huixin regained some energy.
"Is it special? Perhaps the Fire Keeper will be pleased. Well then, let's go to the Firelink Shrine and light the bonfire inside first."
On the road.
"Brother Wood, I've been meaning to ask, why is your eye swollen?"
"Brother Li Wei, you should know that there is no light in the sacrificial site, and the road is very slippery. It is normal to slip and fall or bump into a pillar."