Once he found the location, Bai Shi made his way forward and soon arrived near the Smoldering Wall.
Standing beside the wall, Bai Shi saw Elder Dragon Greyoll from a distance.
This was the largest creature Bai Shi had seen since coming to this world.
Her body was like a mountain; it was hard to imagine such a colossal life form could exist.
However, without a point of comparison, he didn't know how her size stacked up against the creature to whom the giant skull once belonged.
Many drakes stood guard around Greyoll.
Each of these drakes was considerable in size, adult dragons capable of holding their own in a fight.
But next to Greyoll, they seemed tiny.
A single drake was only about the size of one of Greyoll’s claws.
Agheel, whom he had defeated earlier, was already a formidable individual among drakes, his body much larger than that of an ordinary adult dragon.But if Agheel were placed next to Greyoll, he would look no different than a hatchling.
Her mountain-like body lay on the ground, which was composed of scarlet rot fungi, her form rising and falling with each breath.
Although he had visited Greyoll countless times in the game to cash in and use her as start-up capital, Bai Shi had no intention of doing so now.
If the opportunity arose, Bai Shi also wanted to form an alliance with the drakes.
Ancient dragons were now nearly extinct; most of them were likely on Farum Azula.
Other than Lansseax on the Altus Plateau, Bai Shi had no way of contacting them.
The drakes, however, were different. As descendants of the ancient dragons, their reproductive capabilities were far greater, and their footprints could be found all over the Lands Between.
Moreover, Greyoll was always here, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to find her.
Times had changed. It would be a long while before he could re-establish his alliance with the ancient dragons, and it wasn't even certain if the current ancient dragons would agree to a new alliance.
If possible, allying with the numerous drakes was also a good option.
He just didn't know if Greyoll could communicate, but theoretically, she should be able to.
If communication was truly impossible, he could always ask Ranni for help later.
After all, the Carians had managed to form an alliance with ordinary drakes, so there had to be a way.
Bai Shi gazed at them for a moment from afar, then turned his attention away.
He crossed the Smoldering Wall and arrived at the entrance of Fort Faroth.
At the entrance, Bai Shi could already hear a gentle song drifting from the darkness within the fort.
The singing was quite beautiful, immediately conjuring the image of a lovely young maiden, making one want to draw closer to listen.
To Bai Shi, however, it only felt eerie.
For he knew that the singer within this fortress was not a beautiful maiden befitting the melodious voice, but a grim, aged, human-faced bat.
It was because he knew the truth that Bai Shi was unfazed by the song, even if it did sound pleasant.
They were just like the Sirens of legend, luring people in with their songs, except these creatures in the Lands Between were not beautiful nymphs, but bats with the faces of old women.
If they were beautiful Sirens, they would surely be more popular.
Bai Shi dismissed the thought, let Torrent go off to play on his own, and stepped through the gates of Fort Faroth.
As soon as he entered, Bai Shi was met with a warm welcome from the residents.
Amidst a chorus of sharp screeches, several dark figures lunged at him.
It was a group of massive bats.
Bats often roamed the Lands Between at night, attacking passersby, but they were generally weak, nothing more than beasts.
The bats in Fort Faroth seemed to have been affected by the Scarlet Rot, growing larger and stronger than their counterparts in the wild.
However, their bodies had also been corroded. Even the membranes of their wings were tattered and torn; it was a wonder how they could fly.
But even if they were a bit stronger, they were still just common beasts.
Bai Shi summoned a storm, shredding the overconfident bats to a bloody pulp and sending them crashing to the ground.
The bats writhed on the floor, and in the next moment, the sweeping storm reduced them to fresh skeletons.
The incessant singing had ceased at some point.
Soon, around a corner, Bai Shi saw the owner of the voice.
An old, kind face, a full head of white hair—she looked just like a neighborly old woman... if one ignored the shriveled, emaciated bat body.
The creature’s body, larger than that of a normal bat, had sharp claws that were clearly not just for show.
Upon seeing Bai Shi, this human-faced bat immediately sprayed a toxic mist, shrouding the entire interior of Fort Faroth in poison.
Bai Shi casually commanded the storm to blow the toxic mist away.
Just then, a human-faced bat that had been lying in wait behind him pounced, its claws about to make contact with Bai Shi’s back.
These monsters were even capable of coordinated attacks—one drawing attention from the front while another lay in ambush.
It hadn't even made a sound when Bai Shi slaughtered the other bats earlier. This was not something an ordinary beast could do.
It seemed that unlike ordinary bats, which were just beasts, these human-faced ones were a more intelligent species.
Unfortunately, an ambush was useless.
Bai Shi reached back with his left hand, accurately grabbing one of its feet, then swung it forward.
The bat was flung with such force that it created a sonic boom.
With a loud "crack," her leg was first dislocated, then gradually torn from her body in mid-air.
After she hit the ground, the leg completely severed from her body, and her already flat frame spread out on the floor like a pancake.
The throat that could produce such a beautiful song now only emitted meaningless shrieks and cries of pain.
The sound was like a demonic cacophony, torturing Bai Shi's ears, so he immediately raised his spear-sword and thrust it down fiercely.
The spear-sword split her head in two, and the pained screams ceased.
Witnessing the brutal outcome of a physical struggle, the other human-faced bats didn't dare to approach, instead harassing Bai Shi from a distance with air cannons created by sound waves.
But such attacks were child's play to Bai Shi.
Both the force and frequency of their attacks couldn't compare to the sorcerers in Sellia from yesterday.
Bai Shi casually waved his spear-sword, deflecting the incoming attacks one by one.
Then, he used the Zamor Ice Storm for the first time in a while, to keep his skills sharp.
The bats stood no chance against the blizzard, and Bai Shi easily finished off the remaining ones.
After these bats were killed, Bai Shi found some runes where they had been resting.
The quantity and quality were decent, with five or six Golden Runes around the [10] tier. It seemed they were what the bats had collected over time.
If he followed the normal procedure, Bai Shi should now be climbing the ladder to get the other half of the medallion hidden in Fort Faroth.
Then he would have to descend into the fort's interior from the front, circle back to the first floor, and reach the location of Radagon's Soreseal. But in the real world, it didn't need to be so troublesome.
Bai Shi broke through the wooden barricade at the fort's entrance with his spear-sword and walked straight in.
He quickly found Radagon's Soreseal inside.
Bai Shi immediately placed the eyeball-shaped talisman into his talisman pouch.
He wanted to test whether Radagon's Seal and the Soreseal could be worn at the same time.
If they could, the boost to his attributes would be enormous.
Although the damage he'd receive would increase, with higher attributes, that would be a non-issue.
After all, unlike in the game, the mobs in later areas wouldn't have ridiculously high stats.
What did it matter if the damage he took from regular and elite enemies was increased? It was questionable whether they could even break his armor.
With higher stats, Bai Shi was confident he could finish them all off before they could even touch him.
And against powerful enemies like demigods, higher attributes would give him more initiative in battle.
Unfortunately, it didn't go as he'd hoped.
Although Radagon's Soreseal and the regular Soreseal were in different talisman pouches, they couldn't take effect at the same time.
Upon sensing Radagon's Soreseal, the original Soreseal began to drain its power from Bai Shi's body, making way for the new one.
Ultimately, the Soreseal bonded firmly with the talisman pouch, channeling its power into Bai Shi, while the regular Soreseal became inactive, no longer tightly bound to its pouch.
Fair enough, it was called a Soreseal after all; a normal body part would surely shun it.
The Soreseal provided a greater attribute boost, but the effect of increased damage taken was also more pronounced.
Bai Shi had already experienced the feeling of his body being 'corrupted' by the regular Soreseal, and now the sensation was even stronger and more intense.
Fortunately, unlike in the game, his equipment was not affected by this.
So as long as his armor wasn't broken by the enemy, the increased damage taken was not a very noticeable effect for Bai Shi.
In other words, for talismans that increased damage taken, the negative effect had actually been significantly weakened.
After some thought, Bai Shi equipped Radagon's Soreseal, the Winged Sword Insignia, and the Erdtree's Favor in his three talisman pouches.
He would give Radagon's Soreseal back to Erlisa later. He had taken it from her in the first place, so returning it would also boost her attributes a bit.
As for the Holy Dragoncrest Talisman...
He didn't need it anymore.
He'd keep it as a collectible for now. He had only worn it because he didn't have any other talismans.
Putting aside its pathetically low holy damage negation, which only offered slight protection, he would use the +1 or +2 versions later if he ever needed one.
Most importantly, Bai Shi hardly ever encountered enemies who used holy damage. The last one was Margit, the Fell Omen.
As for when he would meet the next enemy who used holy damage, that was still a long way off.
Bai Shi rearranged his talismans, putting the unused ones back into his small pouch, then climbed the stairs to the top of the fortress.
As soon as he stepped outside, Bai Shi noticed that the treasure chest that was supposed to be here, the one containing the medallion, was gone.
He looked around and found that there was no sign of a place where a medallion might be stored anywhere on the fortress roof.
It seemed he still had to explore the fortress to find it.
He had thought he could save time exploring by getting Radagon's Soreseal easily, but it turned out he couldn't.
Thinking about it, it made sense. This was the real world, after all; it was only normal for item locations to change.
Since Bai Shi could directly break through the wooden barricade to take Radagon's Soreseal, it stood to reason that the carefully guarded medallion wouldn't be left in the most conspicuous place like in the game.
Bai Shi leaped from his current position to a platform on the top of Fort Faroth.
As soon as he landed, many spectral soldiers materialized.
They were a squad from the Redmane Knights.
There were four with swords and shields, two with greatshields and spears, and one crossbowman.
Without exception, their translucent bodies emanated a faint blue glow, attesting to their spectral nature.
Their mission was to protect this fortress from outsiders, a duty they had not relinquished even in death.
These spectral soldiers worked in concert, surrounding Bai Shi.
To be honest, Bai Shi didn't want to fight these soldiers, but unlike the spectral storm soldiers in the catacombs, these Redmane soldiers wouldn't listen to an outsider like him.
Bai Shi had no choice but to deal with them one by one.
Finally, after rummaging through everything, Bai Shi found the chest containing the medallion in a corner of the fortress.
The chest was hidden, and Bai Shi almost missed it.
Taking the right half of the medallion from the chest, Bai Shi stored it in his small pouch.
He had already ordered his Tarnished underlings to retrieve the left half from Fort Haight earlier.
Now that he possessed both the left and right halves, Bai Shi could go to the Grand Lift of Dectus whenever he wanted and ascend to the Altus Plateau.
But he didn't plan on going up just yet.
There were still many matters to attend to outside the Altus Plateau.
Bai Shi wanted to finish everything and then lead his army to attack Leyndell, the Royal Capital on the Altus Plateau, in one fell swoop.
To become Elden Lord, Leyndell was an obstacle he had to overcome.
However, Morgott wouldn't just watch as Bai Shi and his army proceeded to the Altus Plateau.
Bai Shi guessed that the front of the Grand Lift of Dectus was now heavily guarded, and there were probably troops stationed on the Altus Plateau as well.
But perhaps after obtaining two Great Runes, he could go to the Altus Plateau alone to scout the situation first.
For instance, he could go through that abandoned tunnel, defeat the Magma Wyrm, and then ascend to the Altus Plateau.
Using Fengling Yueying's invisibility, Bai Shi might be able to enter the capital city unnoticed.
Besides that, there were other methods. He could check out the transporter trap on the Weeping Peninsula; it could also teleport him into Leyndell, the Royal Capital.
Although he would be teleported to a high tower there, Bai Shi felt that with the help of his storm abilities to break his fall, playing the part of an aerial acrobat shouldn't be a problem.
Lost in thought, Bai Shi left the now-empty Fort Faroth.
He glanced once more at the mountainous form of Greyoll in the distance and began to ponder his next destination.
He had activated most of the Sites of Grace in Caelid and had reached Dragonbarrow.
With the ability to teleport via the Sites of Grace, moving back and forth would be very convenient from now on.
Millicent's whereabouts were still unknown, and there was no use rushing it. He could only wait for O'Neil's spectral soldiers to search for her in the Swamp of Aeonia.
Other than that, there didn't seem to be any particularly urgent matters.
There was still plenty of time before the Radahn Festival. Should he continue exploring Caelid?