Ch. 82 A straight sword slashed down from his left shoulder blade

A straight sword slashed down from his left shoulder blade, cutting through at least half the bone.

The reason Nelius didn’t split in two was that he lunged toward Mia the instant he retreated.

This scene of survival by’shedding a tail like a lizard’ didn’t cause Wilden to pause for even a moment.

For in his memories, the undying Royal Army on the battlefield were far more frenzied than this.

The other sword swung toward Nelius’s neck, and Nelius exerted every ounce of his remaining strength.

He escaped that fatal swing.

Blood poured from the wound like a waterfall; extremely easy bleeding was the grace of the Lord of Blood. Correspondingly, even after losing a massive amount of blood, Nelius could still fight with full strength!

The moment he rushed toward Mia, he pressed his palm against his wound, his nails digging deep into the flesh.

He let out a painful roar.

“O Philanthropic Lord of Blood, please share your power with me!”

Bloodflame Talons!

A crimson, bright power of blood attached to Nelius’s hand, and then, like a beast, he swung his claws at Mia.

“…”

From beginning to end, the young girl before Nelius watched him with a calm expression.

‘Die, die! Just die for me!’

The two grew closer and closer.

Thump.

Mia’s staff tapped against the ground, producing a sound that filled Nelius’s heart with icy despair.

The caster in front of the Bloodfinger vanished into a pile of stardust.

She instantly appeared behind him.

‘Swift Glintstone Pebble’

The fist-sized shard, enhanced by a special formula, struck Nelius with the speed of a bullet leaving a barrel.

The impact caused him to stumble forward violently, covering several meters.

Mia narrowed her eyes.

A massive hole had appeared in Nelius’s chest.

“Heh—heh—”

Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth.

It is said that after the heart stops, human consciousness can remain for seven seconds.

These seven seconds were his final chance at life.

A powerful survival instinct drove him; in an instant, he pulled out a red flask of sacred tears and downed the liquid inside.

The terrifying hole in his chest was healing at a visible rate.

‘I must escape!’

That was his only thought.

From’shedding his tail’ by taking Wilden’s sword strike to attacking Mia, all were sacrifices made for the sake of fleeing.

However, Mia’s teleportation magic and the Swift Glintstone Pebble that heavily wounded him were not part of his expectations.

The Bloodfinger ran desperately toward the cave exit.

He had killed countless Tarnished as sacrifices for the Lord of Blood.

Through this, he had received the grace of the Lord of Blood.

Because of this, he could not simply die in this place!

He couldn’t let everything he had done—all the slaughter—go to waste! He absolutely could not become a’sacrifice’ himself!

Nelius panted heavily; even with the recovery from the flask of sacred tears after being heavily wounded, the brief aftereffects wouldn’t disappear immediately.

After all, a fist-sized hole had just appeared in his chest!

Nelius could already see the dawn at the cave entrance.

As long as he could reach that place…

“I’m sorry, but please return to the Erdtree.”

A slightly raspy female voice suddenly sounded from behind.

A gentle but irresistible hand grabbed Nelius’s shoulder.

Pfft—

A curved silver dagger pierced through Nelius’s chest.

This time, there were no more tears in his flask of sacred tears.

But he still struggled, reaching out to touch that bottle.

Then, even that final, illusory hope vanished.

Nelius’s flask of sacred tears was now held in Melina’s hand.

“A Tarnished maddened by cursed blood… a villain who hunts his kin and obstructs the Elden Lord.”

“You are unworthy of holding such a precious gift.”

Nelius’s body collapsed face-down onto the stones.

Melina glanced at him, then looked away.

The flask of sacred tears in her hand gradually dissolved into golden light, leaving only three golden seeds in her palm.

Subsequently, Melina returned to Mia’s side.

“Where’s Nelius?” Patches pressed for an answer.

Melina replied, “He is dead.”

“These are the Erdtree seeds I recovered from his flask of sacred tears. Lady Mia, please accept them.”

“Hmm.” Mia curiously took the two seeds.

In the game, Erdtree seeds were items players had to collect themselves.

She hadn’t expected that killing a hostile Tarnished here would cause them to drop…

“As long as I put this into the flask of sacred tears, it should increase the number of uses, right?”

Even though she already knew the answer, Mia still asked to prevent any unknown settings from cropping up.

“That is correct.” Melina nodded. “However, these seeds can also be planted by you.”

“Wait a moment, you two.” Patches suddenly interrupted. “Could I borrow a light?”

“Borrow a light?”

“The invader has been eliminated, so I’m going to see if my things are still there,” Patches replied. “If you’re looking for me, come to the innermost stone chamber in a bit.”

“Sure.”

Mia readily agreed.

After lighting a torch for Patches, he shouldered his shield and walked alone toward the depths of the cave.

Then, Mia and Melina continued their conversation.

She looked at the round Erdtree seed in her hand, her curiosity piqued.

“How should I plant it?”

“You simply need to find suitable soil…”

“What kind of soil counts as suitable?”

Melina shook her head. “I am not sure either; this is something you must discover for yourself.”

“Alright then.”

It felt like she had inadvertently been led into a trap.

She hated these kinds of ambiguous things the most.

Pouting, Mia dropped two seeds into her blue flask of sacred tears, leaving one in her storage space.

“It doesn’t seem to have increased.”

Shaking the bottle, Mia said in confusion.

“The Dew within the flask wells up slowly; the seeds also require time.”

“That makes sense.”