Patches swallowed hard, too stunned to speak for a moment.
The sight of that armor set had sent his mind into a state of profound shock.
'It can't be, it can't be, it just can't be!'
'Why would this set of armor... appear in the Lands Between!?'
'No, that's not right.'
'Why am I even thinking this? I shouldn't recognize this armor at all.'
'And that voice, that horse... it must be Bai Shi.'
'Then why does his armor feel so familiar, as if I've seen it somewhere before...'
As he looked upon the magnificent and imposing armor, a vision of an entire era suddenly materialized in Patches's mind.
It was a dynasty of incomparable power, at the very peak of its glory.A king with the power to move heaven and earth, four knights of distinct styles, and an invincible army.
And there was an equally powerful prince, hailed as the God of Dragonslaying.
This armor... it should have belonged to that very prince.
Patches had no idea what to make of these inexplicable fragments of memory; he didn't even understand himself very well.
All Patches knew was that he had somehow arrived in the Lands Between, all alone, with no knowledge of his past.
He felt as if he didn't belong to this world; everything here was foreign to him.
Any other Tarnished might have dismissed such a feeling as unremarkable.
After all, their homes were outside the Lands Between. It was only natural to feel that the world had changed after being so far from home.
But Patches felt that this state of being was his norm, as if... he had always wandered through many lands just like this.
Perhaps he had crossed over from another world.
Or perhaps he was being influenced by fragments of information from a counterpart in another world.
But there was no way to prove any of it. No one knew what Patches's situation truly was.
After all, not even Patches himself knew what had happened to him.
Patches truly was a strange one.
Bai Shi, oblivious to the shocked expression on Patches's face, casually swept his swordspear forward.
A tempestuous blast, wreathed in lightning, surged outward. The skeletons of Those Who Live in Death disintegrated in the gale, pulverized into bone dust, unable to rise again.
Lightning coursed through the lake, charring the remains of the undead.
With a single strike, the horde of Those Who Live in Death was felled like wheat before a scythe.
Bai Shi wasn't particularly satisfied with the power of the attack.
The lightning inherent to the Dragonslayer Swordspear wasn't enough to produce such an effect on its own, and Bai Shi didn't know any lightning incantations.
The bolt that had descended from the sky was from an Ash of War he had taken from the Stormveil storeroom, which he had applied to his Dragonslayer Swordspear.
This skill was called Lightning Slash.
It could summon a bolt of lightning from the heavens, imbuing a blade with its power to be unleashed in an attack. The residual lightning would then linger on the weapon, aiding in combat.
It had a flashy effect, but unfortunately, Bai Shi hadn't fully mastered it yet, so the damage was only mediocre.
He wondered if it would improve once he had a full grasp of lightning-based arts.
It seemed this was something Godrick and his knights had brought with them when they left Leyndell, and now it had fallen into Bai Shi's hands.
It had been a long time since Bai Shi had used an Ash of War. Though its power was just passable, it was undeniably cool.
This was also the first time Bai Shi had fought since acquiring this set of gear.
On one hand, he needed to quickly deal with These Who Live in Death and rescue Patches and his group.
He still had a score to settle with Patches for daring to use his name.
On the other hand, of course, his hands were itching to try it out.
Was it even human to get new equipment and not test it immediately?
In the game, there was an international firing range—the Gatefront Ruins—for practice, but this was reality. Bai Shi couldn't test his blade on his own people.
As it happened, these aberrant creatures, Those Who Live in Death, were perfect for a test run.
Watching as the horde of undead was mostly wiped out by that single blow, Patches and the others were utterly stunned, all staring wide-eyed at Bai Shi.
The moment that bolt of lightning had descended and enveloped Bai Shi's swordspear, D and the others had already scrambled out of the lake.
They weren't foolish enough to think Bai Shi had summoned lightning just to make a grander entrance.
With the exception of Patches, no one else had yet realized Bai Shi's true identity.
Patches snapped out of his shock.
To hell with it. Since he couldn't figure it out anyway, he might as well pretend it never happened.
And so, Patches reverted to his usual cheeky self and bellowed:
"Haha, did you see that! This is the mighty power of the Storm King, Lord Bai Shi!"
Just moments before, he had claimed to be good brothers with Bai Shi, yet now he switched to calling him "Lord" without a hint of hesitation.
The other Tarnished, hearing Patches, ignored his sudden change of address and just exclaimed in awe:
"What!? This is Lord Bai Shi?"
"So... so powerful!"
"What incredible might!"
D said nothing, his eyes scanning Bai Shi from head to toe.
Even if he wasn't interested, D had inevitably learned a great deal about this Storm King at the Roundtable Hold.
Of course, he had never met Bai Shi before and had only learned of him through rumors.
He just never expected that the reality would be even more exaggerated than the legends.
D spoke up, cautioning Bai Shi:
"These undead cannot be truly eliminated unless you strike them with something imbued with holy power."
"Before long, they will rise from the ground again to harm travelers."
Bai Shi nodded at D, but he was at a loss. He didn't currently possess any sacred weapons.
In that case, he would just have to keep destroying their skeletons until they were reduced to a powder that couldn't be reanimated.
Bai Shi spurred Torrent onward, charging toward the Tibia Mariner.
Bai Shi plunged the blade of his swordspear into the lake, channeling a massive amount of lightning into the water.
The undead that hadn't been completely destroyed in the first attack tried to reassemble themselves as they had before.
But under the continuous assault of lightning, any of Those Who Live in Death that had already been scattered could only struggle futilely, constantly taking damage from the electricity, unable to reform.
The lake water rose past Torrent's knees, but the lightning, under Bai Shi's control, did not harm his steed in the slightest.
Bai Shi continued to observe the undead's behavior.
It seemed Those Who Live in Death in this world were a bit trickier than in the game.
They were different from their game counterparts; it seemed they couldn't be finished off with extra damage once they were disassembled.
However, using powers like the Sacred Order could still easily destroy them, and pulverizing their bones with physical force could also prevent their revival.
But regardless, to Bai Shi, these undead were nothing more than practice dummies.
The remaining undead tried to lunge at him, but Torrent easily leaped over the sluggish creatures with a double jump.
Bai Shi reached the Tibia Mariner unimpeded.
Seeing that things were going poorly, the Tibia Mariner attempted to teleport away again.
But Bai Shi thrust his swordspear forward with lightning speed, striking it just before it could vanish.
A massive hole was punched through the boat's hull.
Fortunately, the Tibia Mariner was not entirely a physical object, or it would have sunk by now.
The skeleton on the boat teleported to another spot, stared at the new hole in its vessel, and seemed to grow angry, its whole body glowing red.
The skeleton on the boat raised its brass horn and blew a loud, long note.
The lake water beneath it began to glow with a purple light.
Then, the water erupted upward like a geyser, lifting the Tibia Mariner high into the air.
The Mariner pointed its horn at Bai Shi, and a colossal wave, like a tsunami, came rolling toward him.
Facing the giant wave, Bai Shi swept his swordspear horizontally./
A storm laced with lightning erupted from the swordspear, and even the distant Patches and his group felt a powerful gust of wind.
The tsunami-like wave didn't last for a second before it was instantly sliced in two horizontally.
The purple water was caught in the storm and shot backward even faster than it had come, painting the shape of the gale.
The Tibia Mariner, which had been held aloft by the water, lost its support and plummeted from the sky.
Like a crashing plane, the skeleton seemed to panic.
Bai Shi raised his swordspear high again and brought it down in a vertical chop.
The blow landed squarely on the skeleton of the Tibia Mariner, shattering half of its bones to pieces.
The vessel was on the verge of collapsing, but Those Who Live in Death were not so easily killed. The destruction of half its body didn't stop it from teleporting.
But this was merely a death throe.
The Tibia Mariner teleported instantly, fleeing to a location very far from here.
It was no longer in the lake, but on hard, dry land.
Yet the Tibia Mariner could still move with ease on the ground.
This was the furthest it could escape.
If it could just wait a few more seconds, it would be able to use its teleportation ability again and escape from this group.
Unfortunately, even if it fled to the ends of the earth, it could not escape its fate of destruction.
Several glintstone comets, trailing long tails of light, shot from behind the Tibia Mariner, shattering it completely.
Unseen until now, Bai Shi held a glintstone-encrusted staff in his left hand.
The comets had just been unleashed by him.
Glintstone Comet was one of the highest-level sorceries he could learn.
With a 36 Intelligence requirement, same as Zamor Ice Storm, it was the current limit of what Bai Shi could master.
More profound sorceries were beyond the reach of ordinary people, belonging to the realm of true geniuses.
However, Bai Shi wasn't far from that realm; he just needed a few more runes.
The Tibia Mariner was utterly annihilated, but it did not try to reassemble its body like the other undead.
Instead, an object that looked like a black root appeared on the ground where it dissipated.
All the struggling undead in the vicinity, who had been trying to reassemble themselves, now fell still.
‘Death’ had been driven from this place... for now.
Bai Shi rode Torrent over and looked at the Deathroot on the ground, which was exuding an aura of death. He had no intention of picking it up with his hands.
The moment the Deathroot touched the ground, it began to emit a sinister black aura.
Black thorns even started sprouting from the ground nearby.
D ran over, took out a sacred seal, and cast an incantation.
As a golden light flashed, the Deathroot was enveloped in a golden sheen, completely sealing it off from the outside world.
D picked up the Deathroot, presented it to Bai Shi, and explained:
"This is a Deathroot. It is the source from which Those Who Live in Death are born."
"Please, do not touch it under any circumstances. It will bring defilement and is taboo. It must be sealed with the power of the Sacred Order."
"If it is inconvenient for you to handle, I can do it on your behalf."
D was a little nervous now, fearing Bai Shi might underestimate the danger of the Deathroot.
Bai Shi didn't take the Deathroot.
"It doesn't seem to be of any use to me, and I have no way of storing it."
"What do you usually do with them?"
D pointed in a direction.
"Deathroot is a thing that must be destroyed. There are several ways."
"At the far end of Dragonbarrow is a Bestial Sanctum. A Beast Clergyman named Gurranq resides there. I have known him for some time."
"He is collecting and consuming Deathroot. I usually give any I find to him."
"If you wish, I can introduce you to him for trade."
"He has many treasures. You might find something that interests you."
Bai Shi thought for a moment. He would have to meet this Beast Clergyman sooner or later.
After he finished with the Radahn Festival and resolved all matters in Caelid, it would be on his way to go to Dragonbarrow.
"Then I'll have to trouble you. I'm quite curious about this Beast Clergyman you speak of."
"But let's discuss that later."
"That Mr. Patches over there, there will be consequences if you try to run again."
Patches, who had been tiptoeing away, froze in place.
"Hahaha, what? Running away?"
"Ha, hahaha..."
Patches rubbed his bald head, which gleamed even in the night, trying to laugh it off.
Bai Shi dismounted from Torrent and looked at Patches with a cold sneer.
"Well, if it isn't Patches the Savior?"
"Why are you running away from your dear brother?"
Patches had pulled no shortage of dirty tricks in the game.
But usually, you couldn't really punish him for it, since you rarely fought him for the sake of gameplay.
At most, you could beat him half to death and watch him beg for mercy on his knees.
'I couldn't really get back at you in the game, but now that I have you in my grasp, you're in for a treat.'
Patches knew he couldn't just laugh this off, so he stood there obediently.
Once he was truly caught, Patches was no longer panicked, adopting a "bring it on, I can take it" attitude.
"Oh, haha! Ah, my sincerest apologies."
"So, what do you plan to do with me? Don't worry, I'll accept my punishment gracefully."
Bai Shi was a little surprised.
He'd expected Patches to try and squirm his way out of it, but he hadn't thought he'd just obediently confess his guilt.
On second thought, it was actually quite in character for Patches.
If his little schemes succeeded, he'd become unbearably smug.
If he ran into someone tough, he'd fall to his knees and beg.
If he got caught being smug and suffered the consequences, he would obediently swallow the bitter pill.
Sometimes, if you attacked him, he wouldn't even hold a grudge the second time you met him.
Perhaps it was this personality of his that made people both love and hate him.
"Well, well, you're admitting your guilt so readily."
Patches shrugged his shoulders, a familiar smile on his face.
"Oh, well, what can I do? The man himself caught me, so of course I have to own up to it."
"Getting caught after borrowing your name... it was bound to happen."
"I will bear whatever punishment you mete out. I'll do anything you ask."
"And then we'll let bygones be bygones, like water under the bridge. That's my life's creed, hehe."
Bai Shi laughed along and clapped Patches on the shoulder.
"Since you're being so reasonable, that puts my mind at ease. I was just wondering what to do with you if you refused to admit it."
"In that case, you can start by mining in the Limgrave tunnels for three years."
The smile on Patches's face gradually froze, his expression turning rather colorful.
"Er, mining?"
Bai Shi nodded, his hand on Patches's shoulder tightening slightly.
"That's right, mining."
"My army is in great need of smithing stones to strengthen their weapons. I'm sure Patches the Savior would be willing to lend a hand."
"This is a matter of great importance for the Lands Between. It wouldn't do to have any delays."
"Besides, you just said you'd do anything."
"I know you're a man of your word, Patches. Isn't that right?"
Hmph, I'll throw you in the mines and let you taste what it's like to be a slave laborer.
My whip is itching for a swing. Time for you to taste the lash!
Patches seemed to accept his fate and laughed, "Hehe."
"Yes, of course. I, Patches, am the very definition of chivalry and integrity."
"Rest assured, I'll turn over a new leaf. It will absolutely never happen a second time."
'Next time, I definitely won't let you catch me,'
Patches thought to himself.