Bai Shi called Slude, and they left the Converted Tower.
Following the cliffs of the Moonlight Altar, the two stepped into the cold waters of Liurnia.
Thanks to her exceptional mobility, Slude avoided the much-anticipated scene of getting drenched.
Slude only needed to leap between glintstone crystals and trees to keep pace with Bai Shi and Torrent.
Next to this Converted Tower was a Minor Erdtree, guarded by an Erdtree Avatar.
And on the slope ahead was the evergaol of Adan, Thief of Fire.
Bai Shi added both of them to his to-do list.
Bai Shi still planned to collect some of the Crystal Tears used for mixing the Wondrous Physick.
He knew exactly what tears the Erdtree Avatar by the Converted Tower dropped.
It dropped the Cerulean Crystal Tear and the Ruptured Crystal Tear.After all, he was very familiar with them from playing as a human bomb in PvP in the game.
Bai Shi had no intention of playing human bomb again; he didn't want to get himself critically hit in the vitals.
The tears from the Erdtree Avatar on the Weeping Peninsula were more valuable to acquire.
It had the Opaline Bubbletear, which reduced damage, and the Crimsonspill Crystal Tear, which slowly restored health.
Currently, Bai Shi only had the Crimson Crystal Tear, the Thorny Cracked Tear, and the Greenspill Crystal Tear.
They had all been picked up when he sent people from the Mistwood to the underground areas.
It was just that Bai Shi hadn't used them yet.
He'd ask Melina to help mix them when the time came.
As for Adan, Thief of Fire, Bai Shi planned to release him when he had some free time.
He wanted to see if Adan knew a way to the Mountaintops of the Giants.
That way, both map fragments for the snowy mountains would be revealed.
Recruiting him wouldn't be a bad idea either.
He had stolen the flame of the Fell God, after all, so he had some combat prowess.
And Bai Shi could learn some fire incantations from him.
If he proved valuable, Bai Shi would also protect him from the Fire Monks' attacks.
—
While passing near the Village of the Albinaurics, Bai Shi asked Slude to wait for him outside.
He planned to take a look at the current situation in the village.
Casting the Unseen Form sorcery, Bai Shi rode Torrent across the constantly bubbling poison swamp.
Bai Shi observed from the edge of the village. The situation wasn't bad.
Although the village was now full of the old, weak, sick, and crippled who couldn't even walk on their own, at least they were all still alive and hadn't been massacred.
It seemed Gideon hadn't yet found information on the location of the Haligtree Secret Medallion.
Even though the village hadn't been massacred, he couldn't let his guard down.
No one knew when Gideon might find the information and send someone to seize the secret medallion.
It seemed he would have to arrange for someone to keep an eye on the area in the future.
When the time came, he could send Nepheli to counter-ambush them.
It would also be a good opportunity to rid Nepheli of her blind obedience to Gideon.
Alternatively, he could send someone later to ask the villagers directly if they were willing to follow him.
The Albinaurics had been wandering for so long, wasn't it all just to find a place to call home?
In any case, Bai Shi's Stormveil championed racial harmony and didn't discriminate against Albinaurics.
If they were willing to come, they could move to Stormveil.
The more Bai Shi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
Compared to the Haligtree, which they didn't even know how to get to, the nearby Stormveil was clearly more convenient.
Except for Latenna, who had a mission, the other Albinaurics had no particular reason to go to the Haligtree.
Although Gideon wanted the secret medallion, he would never go to war with Bai Shi if Bai Shi protected the Albinaurics.
Gideon was quite decisive when it came to dealing with sunk costs.
In the game, after the invader Ensha of the Royal Remains died, Gideon immediately gave up on the Haligtree medallion he had been pursuing for so long.
Bai Shi didn't think he could do the same; in that situation, he might have acted himself.
Without speaking to the Albinaurics, Bai Shi left the area.
On the way back to Stormveil with Slude, Bai Shi stopped by a few ruins.
He wanted to see if he could find any trace of White Mask Varré.
Given Bai Shi's current hostile relationship with the Mohgwyn Dynasty, there was no way he could get the Pureblood Knight's Medal from Varré anymore.
Besides, Bai Shi had already found the Consecrated Snowfield, so he no longer needed Varré.
The right thing to do was to get rid of him quickly, to stop him from preying on other Tarnished.
However, Bai Shi didn't see Varré. Instead, in one of the ruins, he saw several Tarnished ganging up on a Royal Revenant.
There were four Tarnished in varied attire, their bodies shimmering with a brilliant golden glow.
Around them lay the corpses of many revenants.
Now, only a single Royal Revenant remained in their encirclement.
The Royal Revenant propped itself up high, then lunged forward violently.
Its dozen or so limbs below struck continuously at the young, spear-wielding Tarnished before it.
Its limbs attacked like a torrential downpour, moving so fast they left afterimages.
It was an onslaught that had brought endless surprises to countless Tarnished!
If that move hit someone, it would have easily pounded them into a pulp!
But a Tarnished holding a metal greatshield with both hands dashed forward to block for his companion.
The Tarnished braced the heavy metal shield on the ground as a gray light coated its surface.
Empowered by Barricade Shield, the Royal Revenant's flurry of blows only managed to push the greatshield-wielding Tarnished back repeatedly but never broke through his defense.
The archer from a distance fired a precise shot into the Royal Revenant's mouth, the arrow exiting through the back of its neck.
However, a Royal Revenant was not a normal living being; this wasn't enough to kill it.
After the continuous onslaught ended, the greatshield user seized the opportunity to shove forward, sending the Royal Revenant staggering.
The young, spear-wielding Tarnished let out a war cry and charged out from the side of the shield.
The spear pierced the unbalanced body of the Royal Revenant, pushing it toward the last person.
The final Tarnished, wielding a great axe, had long been prepared.
He took his stance, lowered his body, and a gray light flashed across his great axe.
Ash of War: Spinning Slash.
The blow sank deep into the Royal Revenant's body, nearly cutting it in half.
The great axe and spear pinned the Royal Revenant from front and back, holding it in place.
The archer turned sideways, drawing his bowstring taut while also twisting it to increase the arrow's spin for greater penetration.
The next arrow would pierce the Royal Revenant's skull.
The Royal Revenant finally managed to find a gap to teleport, barely dodging the arrow.
It reappeared on the other side of the ruins, apparently intending to flee.
But its new position was right next to Bai Shi.
The other Tarnished saw Bai Shi as well and quickly shouted to him:
"Quick! Stop it!"
Bai Shi didn't look weak, otherwise they wouldn't have asked him to help stop the Royal Revenant.
Although they would have to share some runes with him after asking for help, it was better than letting all the runes escape.
Bai Shi hadn't planned to intervene, but since they'd asked, there was no reason to let the Royal Revenant go.
So, Bai Shi took out his Dragonslayer Swordspear and raised it high above his head.
Lightning crashed down with a roar, completely shattering the heavily wounded Royal Revenant.
These Tarnished were secretly shocked by Bai Shi's strength.
For a moment, they all froze.
Bai Shi also observed this group of Tarnished carefully.
These Tarnished were strong, unexpectedly so.
A large number of revenants and a Royal Revenant, an insurmountable challenge for ordinary Tarnished, had barely managed to harm them. Their martial skills, coordination, and discipline were impeccable, and they even knew how to use Erdtree buff incantations.
Where did this group come from?
There couldn't be people like this in Stormveil.
If there were such powerful Tarnished, Bai Shi, who had just returned to Stormveil a few days ago, couldn't possibly be completely unaware.
But there was nothing special about their appearance.
Their attire perfectly matched the typical Tarnished scavenger aesthetic, a mishmash of all sorts of equipment.
Except for the young man with the spear, the other three appeared to be slightly older, in the prime of their lives.
This was the prime age for a Tarnished warrior.
Their martial arts had been honed in battles of life and death, their combat experience was incredibly rich, and they possessed the ability to handle any situation.
On a battlefield, such men would typically be the most seasoned warriors.
And the three older Tarnished across from him watched Bai Shi nervously.
Their experience was vast, so they recognized his power the moment he acted.
And so, they immediately thought of the name they had heard since returning to the Lands Between.
The one who defeated 'Godrick the Golden' and took his Great Rune.
The Tarnished who restored the Storm dynasty—'Storm King' Bai Shi.
In other words, he was not someone they could afford to cross.
So they deliberately acted very naturally, not daring to reveal anything unusual.
They signaled each other to put away their weapons and nodded at Bai Shi, but still maintained a normal, cautious distance.
Only then did Bai Shi put away his swordspear.
Then, they naturally approached Bai Shi to discuss sharing the runes.
Bai Shi didn't care about the runes and had originally planned to let them have them all.
However, since they insisted on sharing, Bai Shi didn't refuse.
After dividing the runes, they waved to Bai Shi and quickly left.
Judging by the direction they were headed, it seemed they were going north, perhaps aiming for the Altus Plateau.
After their figures had completely disappeared, Bai Shi shook his head.
He couldn't figure out what was up with that group.
Oh well, they weren't absurdly strong, so maybe there was nothing worth looking into.
With so many Tarnished in the Lands Between, it was normal for some of them to be powerful.
They might not have passed through Stormveil; perhaps they had just returned to the Lands Between.
But he still felt that something was strange.
The confusion lingered with Bai Shi on his journey.
It wasn't until he passed through the narrow path and arrived before the main gate of Stormveil.
Bai Shi suddenly slapped Torrent, startling him.
"That's not right!"
A faction Bai Shi had forgotten emerged in his mind.
—
On the other side, after leaving Bai Shi, the four Tarnished traveled on in silence.
As soon as they were out of Bai Shi's sight, they immediately quickened their pace, eventually breaking into a full-on sprint to get away.
They ran for a very, very long time, all the way until dusk.
Only when they were sure they were far enough away from Bai Shi did they let out a sigh of relief.
The young spearman had been restless for a while, full of questions.
But the atmosphere among his master and the elders had clearly been tense earlier, and they had been focused only on traveling.
Now that the mood had relaxed, he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer and asked:
"Master, that man just now seemed so strong!"
"He even used lightning. Was that Vyke, the Roundtable Knight?"
The Tarnished with the greatshield and spear whom he called master shook his head.
"I have seen Lord Vyke before. It wasn't him."
"If it had been Lord Vyke, we wouldn't have had to run so frantically."
"I suspect he's the Storm King we heard about on our journey."
The archer, whose face was covered in dense scars, nodded in agreement.
"He didn't use storm abilities, but his appearance and strength match the descriptions."
"That's precisely why we had to hurry."
"If he had noticed anything, we would have been finished."
The young spearman licked his lips.
"Is he that strong?"
His master knew his temperament well and warned him:
"Don't get any ideas."
"You may not have the eye for it, but we do."
"Even the Lord Vyke you admire would be no match for him."
Hearing that his idol was no match for Bai Shi, the spearman was a little indignant.
But his master's authority was not something he dared to challenge.
So he looked toward the great axe-wielding Tarnished who had been silent all this time.
"Second Uncle, is that true?"
The short, heavily bearded Tarnished shot him a glance, too bothered to deal with this greenhorn.
It was the archer who chuckled and explained to him:
"It is indeed true."
"Lord Gideon himself specifically ordered us not to start any conflict if we were to meet him."
"The Storm King undoubtedly has the ambition to be king, which makes him our Lord's enemy."
"In other words, if our identities had been exposed back there, not a single one of us would have escaped."
The spearman realized this was indeed the case and shut his mouth sheepishly.
But upon hearing Gideon's name, the bearded man became agitated.
"Hmph, since we returned, Gideon is the only one we can contact, and he's been so secretive and cryptic."
"He's been back in the Lands Between for so long, yet he just hides in the Roundtable Hold!"
"All the other Roundtable Knights have vanished, and Bernahl even betrayed the Erdtree!"
He shook his fist angrily.
"That was the very meaning for which we once fought..."
"Why have they, who contributed the most back then, become like this now!"
Seeing him like this, the greatshield Tarnished stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly.
"I know you are devout in your faith in the Erdtree and can't stand to see them this way, but now is not the time to waste."
"Regardless, let's return to the Royal Capital, Leyndell, first."
"We can't let our guard down yet."
"We've already been delayed by the attacks from those strange creatures. Who knows what else we'll encounter on the way."
"Of the dozen or so vanguard teams that set out, it seems only ours successfully crossed the sea and returned to the Lands Between."
"Therefore, we cannot afford to fail this mission."
"No matter who controls Leyndell now, we must deliver the news."
"Then, we must stabilize the situation until our king returns."
The group fell silent and proceeded toward the Grand Lift of Dectus.
They were going to the Altus Plateau to return to their Royal Capital, Leyndell.
Their purpose, as the vanguard, was to bring back news of their king—
Beyond the fog, their king, Godfrey, was reconquering the badlands.
Once the war was over, the Tarnished, along with the conquered tribes, would immediately set out to return to the Lands Between.
At that time, the Lands Between would once again fall under the rule of the 'First Elden Lord,' Godfrey.