Chapter 77 - Upper-Level of Izalith (Patreon)

Nobody was confident in the source of the demise of the Chaosflame Covenant that also brought down the entirety of the Chaosflame Covenant, Izalith, and Firelink Shrine, transforming the formerly bustling and prosperous region into a wasteland filled with the Undeath. 

Right now, they were en route to one of the vaults where the Chaosflame Covenant was used to store the Extraordinary Ingredients and other precious stuff. Across the entire Firelkink Shrine, the Pyromancers have built a ton of such vaults because they were not going to put everything into one place.

In such a case, it would become highly vulnerable to attacks from the outside, so they would rather choose to divide it and store it across the entire Firelink Shrine. This was also the main reason why, to this day, nobody really managed to recover even a fraction of the treasures of the Chaosflame Covenant.

Because most of their resources and treasures were spread across the entire region of the Firelink Shrine, in the various places around the Izalith, and so, nobody managed to recover them. 

Aside from the immeasurable hordes of the Undead that were in this place and, as he found, appearently, there were also High Sequence Undead, and this entire place was one huge death trap.

It was filled with traps, and at the same time, it was in terrible condition. He wouldn't be surprised if someone here died just by stepping on the bridge or something that was connecting two places, and it would fall apart right below the person. 

"The good side of the Cult of the Dammed being here is that, at least, they would open the doors to the Vault for us."

Valkorion didn't really know if this was a positive thing, but alas, he went with the flow, as there was nothing else for him to do. Certainly, opening the sealed vaults of the Chaosflame Covenant would be a pain in the ass, so if the Cult of the Dammed could open those vaults from them, it would be a really wonderful surprise.

At the same time, hopefully, there were not many members from the Cult of the Dammed, because it could get ugly if there were more Beyonders from the Cult of the Dammed. Just that one Lich in Sequence 7 was already problematic enough, even though he managed to get rid of the Undead rather fast.

However, that was mostly thanks to Excalibur, as the Sealed Artifact was really like an antithesis to everything Undeath.

He really hoped that the Excalibur would also be effective the same against the cultists from the Cult of the Dammed, but he predicted it would be because even they had some degree of Necrotic Corruption in their bodies.

So, going by the rules of Excalibur and its properties, then it should also be effective against humans and other sentient living beings that were not Undead but still had some sort of Necromantic Energy in their bodies. 

"You really have certainly a positive outlook on things."

Valkorion muttered as he cut through another set of cobwebs that were hanging down from the ceiling, as there was rather a huge number of them. The deeper they were heading in this place, the more the environment looked unstable as he took note that the pathways and tunnels looked that they would collapse any moment. 

The staircases that they were using were already half-collapsed and barely held up together, most probably only due to the superior craftsmanship. They finally arrived at the end of the tunnel, where they were shocked by the sight before them. 

When they exited the tunnel, they were greeted by enormous underground space, with several smaller hills or what exactly they were, it was just clear that they were not natural, but artificially made.

Everything was interconnected with bridges made from a combination of metal and stone. They stretched out through the tens of kilometers as the network of small metal stone hills that were being interconnected by the network of bridges was enormous. 

"Welcome... to the once glorious heart of the Chaosflame Covenant and the Forge of Fire, the Firelink Shrine. Once in the ancient past, this region housed several million people, ranging from the humans and dwarves to the elves and gnomes and even some other more exotic species. Now, everything that remains here are the Undead Asylum Catacombs, the decay, and the Undeath Curse."

Mellisadre's voice woke both him and Gotrik from their stupor because even the dwarven Slayer was rather surprised by the sight of the true extent of the Undead Asylum Catacombs, and this was just an upper-level; this wasn't even the true heart of the Izalith.

"Right now, we are on the Upper Level of Izalith. Our target is right there..."

The red priestess of the Red Temple pointed at one of the hills or temples, or however he should be calling them. Meanwhile, even the dwarven Slayer looked in wonder because this place really looked like it was made by the skilled dwarven stone shapers and blacksmiths.

"This place... how the stone is shaped, it is reminiscent of the forgotten arts of the dwarven stone shapers from the 1st Epoch."

The dwarves always had a certain unique connection to the earth and the ground; they could feel the stone and metals like nobody else. This applied even to those who were not Beyonders and the ones who became Beyonders; it was applied a hundredfold.

"Yes, it is... according to the legends, the Chaosflame Covenant invited the stone shapers of the 1st Epoch from the Khazad-dûm and the Gnome Engineers to create and build the Firelink Shrine when they were at the height of their power."

It was no wonder that this place seemed this kind of majestic and withstood the passage of time since the 1st Epoch that already passed many thousands of years ago. And still, in some form, the Firelink Shrine still stood and existed, albeit in a totally desolate condition.

"We need to cross that one bridge and enter the temple. From there, according to the information gathered by the Red Temple, we need to reach somewhere around the middle levels of that pyramid to find the vault."

When Valkorion looked at the bridge that she was pointing at, he almost grimaced because it looked like it would fall apart at any given moment. It was not really the safest thing around, and every bone in his body was screaming at him not to go through there.

"You are aware that it is going to fall apart?"

He asked in an uncertain tone because all the parts of the bridge were already missing and falling apart. Nobody took care of this place for more than 8,000 years, and at the same time, this place underwent a huge war; so many things were destroyed from the fighting that happened during the end of the Chaosflame Covenant.

"Yes, but three of us are not really that heavy, so it should be safe to cross."

The priestess of the Lord of Light said almost nonchalantly as she entered the bridge and started walking towards their destination pyramid, while being followed by Gotrik Gurnisson as the dwarven Slayer too entered the bridge, having faith in the dwarven skills in the stone shaping.