Bai Shi retraced his steps, returning to the checkpoint he had passed earlier.
According to the map, he could have reached Sellia, Town of Sorcery, by continuing forward from O'Neil's location.
But night had already fallen, making it difficult to find his way in the swamp.
To avoid getting lost, Bai Shi chose the safer route.
He had already spent a good deal of time exploring the lake of Scarlet Rot today.
Even though he walked quickly on his way back, the journey still took considerable time.
By the time Bai Shi saw the checkpoint again, it was already night.
However, he didn't plan to rest this time and decided to press on.
He needed to confirm Millicent's location quickly, worried that something might have happened to her.
The Kindred of Rot weren't particularly strong, but to Millicent, who had lost her right arm and could no longer wield a sword, they posed a considerable threat.Millicent had no way of knowing that the Kindred of Rot would not harm her.
If Millicent, unable to bear the humiliation, were to take her own life in despair, that would be a terrible outcome.
However, as Bai Shi neared the checkpoint, he suddenly saw a strange creature.
The creature resembled a bird, but it was extremely bizarre and somewhat horrifying to look at.
It had a massive, broken skull for a head.
A short beak on the skull indicated its avian nature.
Its cranium was shattered and exposed, with an ethereal blue glow emanating from within.
Its neck was long and sinuous, much longer than its body.
The torso was nearly as thin as its neck, adding to its grotesque appearance.
In fact, its entire body was a long, twisted shape.
Its body looked as though it had been stripped of feathers and skin, leaving it completely bare.
There were fissures on its desiccated body.
But like a dried corpse, no blood flowed from the cracks.
To be frank, the creature's entire body resembled a single, absurdly long, plucked bird neck.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that what hung from its pitch-black wings were not feathers, but shimmering, azure souls.
Clutching forked spears, the souls clung to the aberrant bird's wings.
Like a choir singing a hymn, they chanted an inscrutable song.
This was a messenger of death, a Deathbird.
The souls clinging to it were those of ancient priests, permitted to join the ranks of the Deathbird.
After undergoing a death ritual, the priests would become guardians of the Deathbird.
It is said that this act is equivalent to forging a pact for reincarnation in the distant future.
Recognizing the Deathbird, Bai Shi tried to recall any information he knew about it.
The Deathbird in the distance was gathering corpses from the side of the road.
It hadn't noticed Bai Shi's presence and continued its task.
Bai Shi stopped and watched silently.
In the age before the Erdtree, death was anointed by Ghostflame.
And the Deathbirds were the keepers of the Ghostflame.
As for the so-called Ghostflame of the graveyards, there wasn't much information in the game.
Bai Shi only knew that it functioned something like an incinerator.
He didn't know the exact process of anointing the souls, but it certainly involved casting the bodies into the Ghostflame.
This was because the Death Poker wielded by the birds was the very tool they used to rake the burnt remains of corpses from the Ghostflame furnace.
Was the Deathbird collecting these corpses to take them back to the furnace for incineration?
Perhaps. If Ghostflame was understood as a spiritual fire, or a flame of souls, then burning the residual spiritual essence on the corpses might fuel it, making it burn brighter.
Of course, it was also possible that it had no effect at all, and the Deathbird was simply repeating the death rituals of the past out of instinct.
After the Shattering, the Golden Order's control grew weaker and weaker.
Those ancient faiths that had once been driven away by the Erdtree and vanished without a trace were beginning to re-emerge.
He wondered if the mother of the Deathbirds—the Twinbird—had returned to the Lands Between.
The Twinbird was not only the mother of the Deathbirds, but also an emissary of an Outer God.
Bai Shi watched for a moment longer. Indeed, the most eye-catching feature was still its twisted neck.
A neck like that was not unique to the Deathbird.
In the game, another character shared this trait.
That was Rosus, the 'Death’s Guide'.
Many would be unfamiliar with the name, but statues of him were quite common.
They were the very statues found all over the Lands Between that pointed to the locations of the catacombs.
His statues also had such long, twisted necks.
Both served death and shared the same physical characteristic.
It was hard for Bai Shi not to wonder about a connection between Rosus and the Deathbirds.
But what was strange was that if Rosus and the Deathbirds were related, then why were the Deathbirds banished by the Erdtree while Rosus's statues pointed the way to the Erdtree's catacombs?
Erdtree Burial was a cyclical system unique to the Golden Order, so these statues must have been erected later.
Some catacombs even contained Rosus's light, which could grant form to intangible shadows.
What's more, it was strange that Deathbirds in the game were vulnerable to Sacred attacks.
Bai Shi suddenly had a bold idea.
Could it be that while Deathbirds and Those Who Live in Death were different, their very form of existence was remarkably similar?
Those Who Live in Death were born after the death of Godwyn the Golden, from the Deathroot that spread through the roots of the Erdtree.
Their existence was a complete accident.
They were souls who had died but had not returned to the Erdtree, continuing to exist. This was an anomaly.
That was why the forces of the Golden Order had developed Sacred rites specifically to counter such beings.
Deathbirds, however, were likely not creatures that became what they were after dying. Rather, they were born already dead.
This would perfectly satisfy all the conditions for vulnerability to the Sacred Order's power.
Bai Shi's thoughts began to wander.
Perhaps the factions that wished for Godwyn to have a proper death had already sought out the Deathbirds.
The pitch-black feathers on the Mausoleum Knights, their ability to exist as headless spirits after death, the anointing of souls...
Suddenly, the Deathbird seemed to notice him.
It glanced over at Bai Shi, interrupting his thoughts.
The Deathbird cocked its head, tilting its head and neck a full ninety degrees to the side in a grotesque version of a cute head tilt.
Caught off guard, Bai Shi felt his skin crawl at the eerie sight.
Just as he thought the Deathbird was preparing to fight him, it suddenly flapped its wings and flew away to some unknown destination.
Bai Shi watched the direction it flew, not understanding why.
But this was for the best; there was no need to fight it.
The Deathbirds were part of an entire faction dedicated to Death.
In the future, Bai Shi wanted to restore a proper and impartial Death to the Lands Between.
Therefore, Death was an aspect he would have to factor into the new law.
There were several paths to reintegrating Death into the overarching law of the land: the Destined Death sealed away by the Black Blade, the Mending Rune of the Death-Prince conceived by Fia the Deathbed Companion, or even these Deathbirds.
Since the Deathbird showed no intention of attacking, he could try to make contact with them in the future.
Under the cover of night, Bai Shi passed through the towering checkpoint.
Unlike Stormveil, this checkpoint was not manned.
It made sense; Godrick was a coward.
That was why he had stationed so many troops on the road from the checkpoint to Stormveil.
As for Sellia, there was nothing left that needed special protection.
After passing the checkpoint, he walked a while longer.
Bai Shi saw a small, dilapidated shack by the roadside, and a large dog tied up.
The giant dog had a simple, crude collar around its neck.
It was clearly being kept by someone.
However, this giant dog's fur was sparse, its body emaciated, and the fungi of Scarlet Rot covered its entire body like tumors, which was rather disgusting.
Its appearance was a far cry from Hilbert's hound.
However, such disgusting hounds were the common kind in Caelid.
The tied-up hound saw Bai Shi and immediately rushed forward, opening its mouth to bite.
Then Bai Shi casually lopped off its head with his sword.
He walked into the small shack and looked around.
Inside the drafty wooden shack, there was only a chair and nothing else.
Sage Gowry, who was supposed to be here, was now nowhere to be found.
Bai Shi didn't find any clues, so he took a look and left.
He continued toward the blurry cluster of buildings in the distance.
Not far ahead was Sellia, Town of Sorcery.
---
Not long after Bai Shi left, the very Sage Gowry he had been thinking about slowly approached the shack.
Sage Gowry was not in a good mood today.
Things had not been going smoothly recently.
First, his adopted daughters had finally reached the point where they were ready to receive the blessing of the Scarlet Rot.
This was a major event.
After some effort, he had finally managed to get them to stay quietly within their buds.
His daughters had grown up and learned to defy their father. How pathetic.
But as long as they all received the grace of the Scarlet Rot, none of this would be a problem anymore.
Having accepted the Scarlet Rot, they would no longer abandon them, the followers of Rot.
These buds of his would bloom into the most magnificent flowers.
Then, after the Goddess of Rot descended, they would be reborn, transformed into Valkyries of the Scarlet Bloom.
In the future, they would spread the gospel of Rot throughout the Lands Between.
But that was where the problem began.
Millicent. She had escaped.
She resisted the Scarlet Rot, even severing her own arm to do so.
Gowry wasn't actually upset about this.
Although she resisted the Scarlet Rot, this was proof of her greatest resemblance to her 'mother,' Lady Malenia.
She was surely the finest bud among the sisters, destined to blossom into the most beautiful flower.
However, Millicent's whereabouts were now unknown, and this was what Gowry found most unacceptable.
It wouldn't matter if her consciousness hadn't been completely altered; there would be time for that later.
But if she were to perish alone in that swamp...
To not be able to see that beautiful flower bloom... Gowry's heart would break.
Not to mention that Millicent had not fully accepted the rot, so the Scarlet Rot would continuously erode and harm her body as it would any ordinary creature.
Simply having lost an arm, without any means of treatment, she could very well die.
And the scent of blood would attract other creatures in the swamp, among which were some truly terrifying and formidable beings.
So he sent out Millicent's other four sisters to search for her in the swamp, and at the same time, to find that veteran of the Battle of Aeonia, Commander O'Neil.
Gowry believed that he must have the Unalloyed Gold Needle to suppress the rot.
The current situation was no longer suitable for Millicent to continue accepting the rot. Preserving her life was now the top priority.
Besides, letting her fight against the rot, just like her mother, was also a good thing.
With such a tenacious will, what an exquisite flower would she bloom into when she despaired after being betrayed?
However, this led to the second thing that troubled him.
The four sisters had failed.
Victory was clearly in their grasp, but a mysterious person appeared out of nowhere and ruined everything.
That man... his strength was too astonishing.
In their brief clash, two of the four sisters were severely injured. If he hadn't chosen not to pursue them, likely none would have escaped.
That was a level of power no ordinary hero could match. He was probably no weaker than a scion of the demigods.
He called himself the Lord of Stormveil, a name Gowry recognized.
During their infiltration and reconnaissance in Limgrave, they had gathered some information.
This Lord of Stormveil was apparently the one who had recently defeated the demigod Godrick the Grafted and claimed his Great Rune.
Although Godrick was a scion of the demigods, he was different from the others.
He held a Great Rune, a fragment of the Elden Ring, and had his own domain. He was a Shardbearer in the truest sense.
To be able to defeat Godrick, this Lord of Stormveil was not to be underestimated.
For such a figure to arrive in Caelid so quietly, he wondered what impact it would have on their grand cause.
No, it had already had an impact.
Without the needle, if Millicent didn't hold on, her ravaged body could very well be consumed by the Scarlet Rot.
Now he could only hope that Millicent could endure on her own.
A follower of the Scarlet Rot, the very instigator who cast Millicent into the rot, was now praying that the Scarlet Rot would not take her life. How ridiculous.
Gowry sighed and prepared to return to his shack to rest.
But before he even reached it, he smelled the thick stench of blood.
As he drew closer, he saw that the giant dog he had kept for so long had been killed.
Its massive head had been severed clean from its neck, and blood flowed across the ground.
The Scarlet Rot-tainted soil was already drinking the blood, and strange plants were beginning to sprout.
Gowry was speechless.
Then he silently walked into the shack and sat down on the chair.
Recent events made him feel awful, as if he had swallowed a fly.
"I have another bad feeling..."
---
Bai Shi had now reached the outskirts of Sellia, Town of Sorcery.
Looking at Sellia, whose architectural style was different from the rest of the Lands Between, Bai Shi stepped inside without hesitation.
Then, he was assailed by magic projectiles coming from all directions.