The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 97

As expected, she could no longer see anything. All she could smell was blood and all she could hear was the lullaby and the baby crying. She lit up a small flame to improve visibility, but it did absolutely nothing.

Then the attack came. She did not sense it coming in any way or any form, but it was ... disappointing to say the least. It was just blades again. Nothing new. The only difference was that she could no longer see.

But then, another thing changed. It teleported. Or rather 'shifted'. It turned small pieces of something and regrouped right in front of her only to slash her once again. There were times when she was hit.

Each slashes hurt like never before but it wasn't really lethal. It was as if it wants to keep people away rather than kill them. It was also clear by now that the thing has no idea how to fight. Even in darkness, it did not change directions and kept charging at her blindly like a mad bull.

The difference was a bull would back away after being hurt a lot. The thing bore through fire and slashes alike. One might think it was not taking damage from this, but she could easily 'see' otherwise. It refused to retreat and kept trying to charge at her.

She recognized this behavior. It was like a wild animal protecting its cubs. She loved watching animals back on Earth. The behavior was similar to that of an inexperienced mother bear protecting its cubs. What it lacks for in strength, it makes up with ferocity.

Its inexplicable whirling of blades meant to keep away foes from touching its cubs. It was probably protecting something. Unfournately, it met her. All she had to do was burn everything down. It was probably trying to protect the crib as it only showed up when she touched it.

By now, she had very little desire to fight. There was no reason for to actually fight with that thing. Although she wished to know what it was, killing something for one's curiosity was not in her checklists of things she wishes to do.

Well, it was certainly a bad time for the Abyss Walkers to show up right then and there. A total of twelve showed up at once. They did not even look at her, but the thing rushed straight at the Abyss Walkers the moment they showed up.

Unlike her, the Abyss Walkers knows no such thing as mercy. It has six arms but there were twelve highly trained knights. It would not be wrong to say that the Abyss Walkers dominated the fight.

They pinned down each arm and cut the limbs of first and proceeded to quickly butcher it. But there was something they has yet to see. The thing only regenerated quickly. As she said before, it did not bleed. Only black mists came out.

That did not dampen the spirits of the Abyss Walkers one bit. They continued hacking at it like machines. They must have been used to creatures that did not bleed because she could not sense a single doubt in their swinging.

The creature tried to put up resistance, but it was futile before the topplers of kingdoms. The dodged all swings expertly and continue swinging at it. It was so one-sided that she did not even participate in it. She simply watched as the creature finally disappeared.

In a way, it was quite pitiful. The baby continued crying, until finally the crying disappeared too. Nothing happened. She felt like an idiot for even fighting in the first place. There was literally no reason for a fight.

She looked into the cradle once again. There was no stone fetus or a book. There was something that she would never expect to see. It was an umbilical cord. What even was this thing supposed to do? Does she bury it? Burn it?

It was dried up and looked like it had absolutely no use. Something inside her was screaming at her to take it and so, she did. She decided to keep it. The Ashen One has once told her to keep everything she find after killing a monster. It might come to use later on.

But now, she must leave. She heard someone cry once again. She was starting to get annoyed. She walked over anyway only to see a woman in white crying. It stopped and looked at her. It bowed to her.

This was another surprise today. It was not often that people would bow to her. Usually, she was the one doing the bow. It then disappeared and she was left alone again staring like a fool. What even was going on? There was no one ask or explain, and it was very frustrating.

Now she saw the surroundings once again and smelled blood once more. Blood. Then it hit her. Odin had once mention of the legendary city of Yharnam but could this be it? The word blood certainly fits the description, but this was literal ruin, and not a city.

Wait a minute. Yondu should have left her information about Yharnam but it seems they all just collectively forgot about it. Nobody remembered to exchange information about Yharnam. That was not natural at all. She should not forget something as important as Yharnam.

But first, she has to destroy the Abyss and save Artorias. She has now decided to go to Yondu once more as her next destination. She also needed news about the so called 'Cosmic Horror'. Yondu mentioned about selling information.

Something as big as a battle between the Celestials and the Horror should definitely not go unnoticed by empires that span across the universe. She walked back to the Abyss Watchers thinking about what to do in the near future.

When she was in range, she teleported out alongside the twelve Watchers only to be greeted by the largest crowd she has ever seen in both worlds. They were filled with thousands of Abyss Watchers. Their presence has drove all creatures away from this vicinity.