Along with the falling key came a withered corpse.
Is this the guard?
It doesn't look like one.
Riveria raised her head, looking somewhat dazed. Then, she saw a fully armed knight wearing a helmet peering down at her from the skylight above the cell. He glanced at her briefly before quickly disappearing.
The smell of rot, the sound of rats, and an unspeakable, oppressive stickiness filled the surroundings.
Dead silence pervaded everything.
That foul stench made the High Elf Princess, who was born with a love for nature, furrow her brows and cover her nose involuntarily.
What is this situation?
Her memories had come to a sudden halt. Riveria slowly stood up from the ground. It took quite a while before she remembered that she had just entered Isagi's dream. She had originally intended to bring everyone to the floating continent to see if there were any new changes after the boy leveled up.
So...
"Is this the new change?"
She muttered to herself.
For a brief moment, Riveria even wondered if she had been transported to some strange place.
"It's way too realistic—"
In her trance, if she hadn't clearly remembered coming into the boy's dream, Riveria would have certainly believed this was some new world.
She fished the key out from under the withered corpse before her and opened the cell door.
A corrupt, foul stench assaulted her face.
On her person, aside from her old cloth robe, there was only a small, broken sword—nay, this thing couldn't even be called a weapon. It was purely a hilt with a very, very small broken blade, roughly half the length of a finger.
It would be impossible to even kill a chicken with this thing, right?
Riveria twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking that not even the starting weapon was normal. Fortunately, she was a Mage.
After walking out of the cell.
Very quickly.
In the narrow, gloomy dungeon, she saw a "Monster" lying between the cell and the wall.
The opponent was a humanoid dry corpse. Its entire body was covered in moss-like, reddish-brown skin. It was extremely bizarre and incomparably withered, looking like some twisted fellow suffering from a strange disease.
They lay there, motionless.
In the distance, at the end of the corridor, several dry corpses were slowly walking toward her.
Their speed was also very slow, and their movements were stiff. They looked like guys that could be finished off with the broken sword in her hand.
But Riveria remained very cautious.
In Isagi's "World," let alone these slow-moving dry corpses, even an ordinary, common Goblin was not a simple fellow!
So—
"—Harbinger of the end, the white snow. Facing the twilight, blow the violent wind..."
"The sky filled with drifting snow, three severe winters—My name is Alf."
"[Win Fimbulvetr]!"
Ice and snow swept through, instantly turning the entire prison into a world of pure white. The foul stench, the sticky filth, and those dry corpses were all buried together.
The world became much more "clean" because of this.
Riveria breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was fortunate she could use her Magic. In that case, there was nothing to worry about.
"Huu~"
Treading on the frost and snow beneath her feet, the Elf woman quickly walked through the oppressive corridor. Arriving at the end, she saw an iron ladder that allowed her to climb up.
Was she underground just now?
More or less, some gray morning light finally penetrated the interior.
The mottled, old ancient architecture looked like it was already crumbling. Riveria continued forward and soon arrived in front of a large gate.
Her heart skipped a beat.
In the courtyard before the gate, there was a bonfire.
Although it didn't look like the Grace Points or Land Temples that Isagi usually used for resurrection, it looked very similar to—
She had already become somewhat sensitive.
Thus, after pushing open the door, although she didn't see any "Fog Gate," Riveria was still very careful. She didn't just walk in carelessly but observed first.
Then, sure enough!
Right above, standing at what looked like a gap in the ceiling, was an incomparably obese Monster holding a great hammer.
Riveria had no doubt that if she had just walked in, this guy would have crashed down from the sky to give her an immediate surprise attack!
"!"
Too insidious!
Luckily, she was witty! Thinking this, Riveria smiled faintly and began to release her Magic once again.
"—Soon, the flame will be released. The creeping war, the unavoidable destruction..."
"—Burn everything, Sword of Surtr—My name is Alf."
"[Rea Laevateinn]."
Flames descending from the heavens directly pierced through this damaged courtyard, turning the already dilapidated building into scorched rubble.
Riveria did not let her guard down.
The instant she released the Magic, the enemy's name had already surfaced in her heart.
[Asylum Demon].
Since it was a BOSS with a proper name, she could only continue to increase her intensity.
She didn't even walk inside the door. Riveria just stood there carefully, watching the messy courtyard before her eyes and the Demon roaring as it fell from the sky, and began to release her Magic again—
—
Walking out of the abandoned Undead Asylum that had been scorched black by raging fire.
After defeating that massive Demon, Riveria didn't foolishly leave directly. Instead, she discovered a side door nearby and subsequently explored this building for a while.
As a result.
She quickly found some weapons, equipment, magic scrolls, and the Knight who had saved her—he said a bunch of words that were completely incomprehensible.
Something about Undead, Ancient Kingdoms, Missions... what was all that?!
Then, he gave her something called an "Estus Flask," which seemed similar to the potions Isagi often drank to heal and recover from wounds.
Regardless, she kept it for now.
Even after walking out of the scorched Undead Asylum, the woman still explored the surroundings for quite a while. She even discovered a massive bird's nest, from which a voice she couldn't understand at all was transmitting words.
Until.
When she arrived at the edge of the cliff, an incomparably huge Eagle suddenly appeared and grabbed her!
Immediately following that, her vision went black again, and the world spun.
When she woke up again, she found that she had arrived at a place called "Firelink Shrine."
The surroundings were completely like ruins in a mountain forest. Weeds, trees, and old, incomplete stone pillars. Aside from that, there were also—
"Reporting to Captain! Found a small path over there that leads out!!"
"Why is this guy always sighing?"
"Wah! There's someone giving out money here!!"
"Can I hit him?"
"Should be okay, right?"
"There are Monsters outside! They are all those dry corpses from just now, and they can use weapons and bows and arrows!!"
Noisy and rowdy.
The entire Firelink Shrine was filled with the voices of young girls everywhere.
Riveria's skull began to ache. At a glance, she saw Tiona running around wildly near the bonfire, as well as Ais, Ryuu, and the others.
Lefiya, Heith, and even Cecil were there.
She was even considered slow!
Was it because she had wandered around randomly in that Undead Asylum for a period of time before?
No, no, no, that wasn't the problem now.
The problem now was—
What is this situation? Could it be that starting from here, everyone is going to adventure together in this dream of Isagi's?!
And meanwhile.
Isagi had actually fallen completely asleep.
When coming out of the Dungeon, although he didn't know why Ais and Riveria had suddenly appeared, seeing the figures of the golden-haired young girl and the Elf woman naturally put him at ease.
The result was.
Before even returning to the City, he had already lazily fallen asleep on Ais's back.
Accompanied by the faint scent of milk coming from the young girl's hair, and a sweet fragrance that seemed like irises, Isagi actually didn't enter the [Dark Hall] immediately. Instead, he felt that he was having a strange dream.
In the dream.
He became an adventurer who accepted a commission to head to the Dungeon.
At the same time, accompanying him was a petite young girl who always followed behind him, wearing a long robe and concealing her face under a hood.
She always followed behind him. Following all the time. Walking and walking, walking past snowy mountain wastelands, walking past castles and meadows, walking past deep mountain villages where fresh flowers bloomed, walking past magnificent royal cities that had long since fallen into ruin.
She seemed to never speak, nor did she ever express any opinions.
She was just quiet.
Following behind him, resting together in abandoned churches, facing powerful enemies together, rushing about everywhere together, watching a hopeless world gradually march toward death.
"Who are you?"
Isagi finally realized the other party's existence, so he asked the question curiously toward her.
She was truly too mysterious.
No one knew what she looked like, nor did anyone know what her voice sounded like when she spoke. The young girl simply existed, truly and tangibly making him able to feel her existence.
Isagi still wanted to say something, however, his mouth was covered by the other party.
She reached out her hand.
Cool fingertips touched his lips. That feeling was familiar yet strange. It wasn't until her fingers glided across the side of his cheek, slowly moving downward, and finally, very firmly held his hand.
Only then did Isagi realize again what a familiar tactile sensation this was.
She, it seemed, had truly and tangibly been by his side all along, never leaving.
In the blink of an eye, the world began to become real.
Isagi discovered that the so-called "Adventure" began to become even more familiar. Those frames of images, every single enemy faced, every single ability used—they were all incomparably familiar. It was as if he had experienced them before. No, he had definitely experienced them.
At this moment, it was just a reenactment.
And by his side, the young girl watched with incomparable seriousness.
She continued to hold his hand, reluctantly, greedily "absorbing" everything he could bring to her—whether it was anything he could see, or anything he heard, including the tactile sensation with him at this moment.
She wanted everything.
Isagi felt it, because the young girl also had nothing.
At the end of the darkness where nothing existed, at the pitch-black terminus that no one knew of, the young girl "had" nothing. Therefore, she simultaneously desired "everything."
And at this moment, what he was bringing to her was exactly what was missing before—"Everything about the World."
____
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