"Lord Mohg, is there something special about this church?"
Liana watched Mohg as he stared silently toward the church for a long time, her face filled with confusion.
"No, it's nothing. I was simply curious about who exactly this church serves. After all, the faith of Eternal Queen Marika hasn't fully spread to this region yet."
Liana nodded. Indeed, the Golden Dynasty's expeditions served two purposes: to eliminate threats to the Erdtree and to propagate the faith of the Erdtree and Marika. This inevitably had a significant impact on the original beliefs of these areas.
"By the way, Liana."
"Yes, Lord Mohg?"
"Are there any among our subordinates who excel at assassination?"
"Hmm... let me think..." Liana tilted her head, pondering for a moment before quickly providing an answer. "There are, but not many. Lately, influenced by the atmosphere of our recent movements, they haven't been as focused on practicing their stealth techniques."
Mohg's lip twitched slightly. This was threatening to turn into the polar opposite of the original Mohgwyn Dynasty... Was the entire Dynasty going to end up as a bunch of brutes and simpletons?
"Tell me their names."
"Krith, Derrick, and Cole."
Mohg nodded. He began to tap into the new ability he had acquired after devouring the entity within that statue.
As his consciousness ascended, dozens of blood-red points of light flickered into existence within the pitch-black space of his mind. These were the Bloody Fingers who had received the Blessing of Blood.
Mohg moved his consciousness toward them one by one, gathering information on each individual until he found the points of light belonging to the three Liana had mentioned. He also noticed several exceptionally bright lights—Liana and Horuff were among them—and two others that were slightly dimmer but still caught his eye. After noting their names, he proceeded to issue orders to the trio.
Meanwhile, the group that had just arrived and spotted the blood mark left by Liana remained on the outskirts of Toriland Town, refraining from any reckless action. Nearby, several Bloody Fingers tasked with distracting the Toriland guards had already begun their maneuvers, though they were only causing minor disturbances for now.
The moment Mohg's consciousness touched the trio's lights, their vision suddenly went dark. When they opened their eyes again, the world was a blur, and they could only hear a faint, distorted command echoing in their ears:
"Infiltrate... Toriland... Lord..."
Buzz!
Having finished the communication, Mohg quickly withdrew from the sea of consciousness and rubbed his aching head.
"Lord Mohg, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Mohg shook his head at Liana, then cast his gaze toward Toriland Town. The orders had been given; now, he only had to wait for the results.
He hoped those three could bring him useful information regarding the local lord. With that, he could arrange a distraction to trigger a riot within the town. As for assassination... with so many troops and a town of that size, the lord's personal guard wouldn't be weak. Mohg considered an actual kill unlikely, so he hadn't even aimed for that outcome.
On the other side, the three subordinates stood looking at one another in a daze.
"That was..."
"It was definitely the Lord!" Cole said, his face a mask of fanatical certainty. "This is a mission entrusted to us by the Sovereign himself!"
"But what is the mission? The information was a bit sparse..." Krith rested his chin in his hand, sinking into thought.
"Is that even a question? Isn't it obvious?" Derrick glanced at the other two.
"And what is your 'expert' opinion?"
"Think about it. 'Infiltrate Toriland,' combined with what we do... it's clearly an order to assassinate the Lord!"
Cole's eyes lit up instantly. "That makes sense!"
"I think that's still up for debate..." Krith started.
"What is there to debate? Trust me, there's no mistake! Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!"
"..."
Krith watched the two of them descend into a sudden religious frenzy and felt utterly lost. Wait, were these two really former assassins like me?
As Mohg led Liana and Horuff toward the Ainsel River Well to observe the defenses, he had no idea the "Three Stooges" had completely misinterpreted his intent. He could only chalk it up to his first time using the ability; had he known the drawbacks of the mental link, he would have repeated himself a few more times.
"Is that... a Carian Knight?"
Spreading his wings to hover above the camp, Mohg spotted a man in familiar armor walking through the grounds. The man was significantly taller than the "wealthy" knight Mohg remembered from the game; he looked to be about the size of a Banished Knight.
Peering further down, Mohg felt a headache brewing when he confirmed the presence of two Golems in the camp.
Two Golems, a Carian Knight, and a vast number of Carian soldiers and sorcerers... By a rough estimate, there were at least a hundred soldiers and sorcerers, along with several first-generation Albinaurics riding silver wolves.
A direct confrontation was out of the question. He had to use his wits.
Mohg nodded to himself, satisfied with his decision to send the infiltrators. He began to glide down toward Liana and Horuff's position. To avoid drawing attention, he had chosen a distant spot to take flight, while his two companions kept watch on the ground.
As Mohg flew, one of the Albinaurics in the camp pulled her gaze away from the sky. She had spotted him, but due to the distance, she couldn't make out exactly what he was. She assumed it was just a large Stormhawk or some other beast.
But just as Mohg was closing in on Liana and Horuff, a violent sense of dread surged from behind him.
Without hesitation, he beat his wings and sharply veered off course.
A second later, a gale whipped past as a long, snake-like silhouette streaked by at high speed. The creature had two wings positioned high on its torso, which looked somewhat disproportionate to its elongated, massive body.
The sight stunned Mohg. He didn't recall anything like a "Flying Serpent" in the world of the Elden Ring.
But the creature quickly wheeled around for another pass. This time, Mohg got a clear look at it, and the sight made his skin crawl.
It had a face resembling a skull, yet shaped like a hatchling bird. A portion of its massive head was shattered, and its body looked rotted and withered. It clutched an iconic weapon in its grasp...
It was an envoy of the Twinbird—a Deathbird!
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Elden Ring: As the Consort, I Reject Miquella (286 Chapters – Ongoing)
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