Elden Ring: With God Mode Enabled

Chapter 362: Messmer the Impaler

Bai Shi accepted the sun's gift, descending from the sky back to the ground with deep satisfaction.

This harvest was truly unprecedented.

He had only intended to destroy the Lord of Frenzied Flame, never expecting the sun itself to intervene.

Not only did it completely extinguish the Frenzied Flame here, but it also blessed him with a massive windfall.

In an instant, a championship match had turned into a bonus round.

Praise the sun!

The miniature sun above Bai Shi's head gradually dissipated, and his head returned to normal.

The arm formed of Frenzied Flame also retracted its power, reverting to the brand on his newly grown limb.

Once back in his original form, Bai Shi began to take stock of his gains.

What excited him most was, of course, the Great Rune that had been reforged and now possessed the very law of the sun.

Previously, that Great Rune had been a blank slate, capable only of holding a bit of magic.

But now, it was no different from the Mending Runes in the game that could alter the ending.

If he merely intended to repair the Elden Ring within its existing framework, as in the game, this was more than enough to usher in an Age of the Sun.

The endings available in the game were never particularly good.

Even the seemingly best outcome, the Age of Order, had its shortcomings.

But before, he only had ideas, lacking the ability to craft a Mending Rune from scratch.

After all, he was no top-tier programmer like Goldmask.

Goldmask was a master capable of repairing the logical flaws of the entire Lands Between through pure calculation.

Though powerful, Bai Shi was helpless in that regard.

Until now, the solar power he wielded was just that—raw power, which didn't touch upon its core principles.

Possessing a Great Rune of law undoubtedly solved this problem.

However, Bai Shi already had his own ideas for governing the Lands Between after becoming Elden Lord.

In fact, if there were a better option, Bai Shi might not even keep the Elden Ring as the law's physical structure.

But that was all still a bit far off; he would have to decide based on the circumstances at the time.

Aside from the Great Rune, the substantial increase in his own strength also brought Bai Shi great joy.

Not long ago, he had painstakingly scraped together some runes to push three attributes of one of his forms past their limits, finally reaching the next tier of power.

However, opportunities to acquire such a large number of runes at once were few and far between.

With each level up, the required runes increased substantially.

The number of runes Bai Shi needed to level up just once had already reached a terrifying figure.

But in the real Lands Between, the runes gained from enemies didn't increase in later areas as they did in the game.

Acquiring runes was becoming more difficult, while the demand for them grew ever larger.

Furthermore, the stats in his normal form were far from their soft caps, requiring many more levels to strengthen.

For instance, his lowest attribute, Faith, was currently only at 33, a long way from the limit.

This meant that pushing his normal form's stats past their thresholds seemed almost hopeless.

Just as Bai Shi was fretting over the massive rune deficit, this one event had solved everything in a single step. It was a wonderful surprise.

The sun had recycled the energy that should have naturally dissipated, converting it into runes to strengthen him.

Even accounting for the unavoidable, massive losses during conversion, it was still an immensely powerful force.

Using that residual power, all of Bai Shi's attributes were raised to terrifying levels.

In the state enhanced by his Great Rune, Bai Shi's Vigor, Strength, and Dexterity had long since surpassed their limits on their own.

Now, after this enhancement, Endurance had also broken through.

With all four physical attributes past their limits, his physical power was incredibly formidable.

But the true gains were fully manifested in his normal state.

The vast majority of the energy this time had all been applied to his lower attributes.

In his normal state, none of his stats, aside from Arcane, were particularly high.

Calculated in terms of runes needed to level up, it would probably require sixty to seventy million—an amount that would be very difficult to accumulate.

Thanks to that immense energy, Bai Shi was able to close this gap and instantly boost his power.

With this, Bai Shi's attributes had reached a terrifying level.

In his Great Rune-enhanced form, the attributes that had surpassed their limits were:

Vigor: 70, Endurance: 70.

Strength: 65, Dexterity: 65.

And in his normal state, the attributes that had surpassed their limits were the other four:

Mind: 70, Intelligence: 65.

Faith: 65, Arcane: 65.

The improvement was massive, though he still needed to rely on the Great Rune to shift some attributes around to cobble together such a result.

Although he hadn't managed to get every attribute past its limit in every form, and there were still some minor shortcomings, one could say.

But now that both forms had reached a kingly level in their respective domains, Bai Shi was completely satisfied.

This had already saved him countless hours of accumulation, and best of all, it was all for free.

The energy was conjured from thin air with the help of Fengling Yueying, and the conversion was handled by the sun itself.

As for the final additions—the Frenzied Flame arm and the energy-generating core...

Possessing the power of the Lord of Frenzied Flame, now completely harmless, was also a significant boost to Bai Shi's strength.

One could say that even though he had just acquired it, its power was already close to rivaling his long-honed gravity abilities.

And the core, which continuously generated energy, elevated Bai Shi's already terrifying stamina to an even higher level.

If this had been in the past, it would have been an extremely significant gain that would have kept Bai Shi excited for a long time.

But this time around, these two excellent abilities could only be considered mere bonuses.

—

Seeing Bai Shi walking toward them, faces of relief appeared on the faces of the group.

It was truly over.

But Bai Shi's gaze fell on the winged serpent beside Melina, and he was quite puzzled.

Where did this snake pop out from...

And why did it have wings?

As far as Bai Shi remembered, there was only one place in the game with winged serpents, and that was Volcano Manor.

And they weren't even living snakes, just statues by the entrance.

Bai Shi looked at the group and asked:

"What is this?"

Irena blinked and said:

"This is... we ran into it just now while we were hiding from the Frenzied Flame."

"After it helped us clear some of the Frenzied Flame, it just started following us."

"It seems to be just a phantom, but it has no ill intent, so we didn't pay it any mind..."

Melina nodded, adding:

"I feel a sense of familiarity when I see it, and some of my sealed memories have begun to stir."

"I feel it must have something to do with my brother, but I can't be certain yet."

Bai Shi glanced at the winged serpent.

A serpent from the Land of Shadow. Messmer the Impaler?

The Black Knight Harold had said before that they only joined the commander of the Black Knights in rebellion after learning of Messmer's serpent nature.

Now that he was seeing this winged serpent, the truth would likely come to light very soon.

Just then, Lilianna flew up to Bai Shi and pointed at the burning sun brand on his chest.

"The sun itself descended just now, didn't it?!"

"Why would It intervene? In my memories, It has never responded to anything."

Hearing Lilianna's question, Melina and Irena also looked on with curiosity, waiting for an answer. Irena quickly followed up:

"Was it because of the Frenzied Flame?"

Bai Shi casually threw on a robe and, after a moment's thought, decided to explain the information he had about the sun to them.

If he was to walk the path of the sun's law in the future, he would naturally need to spread its faith.

Although the sun itself didn't need followers, if Bai Shi wanted to manage the Lands Between well, he would certainly need some methods of governance.

He couldn't rely on suppressing everyone with violence or ruling purely by charisma forever. Establishing a faith was an excellent method.

By explaining things clearly now, he could have Melina help advise him later.

So, Bai Shi organized his thoughts and began to explain:

"The sun projecting its consciousness here this time had nothing to do with the Frenzied Flame."

"It intervened purely because It sensed the powerful solar energy I had unleashed."

Stroking his chin, Bai Shi began to share his understanding of the sun:

"As a deity myself, it's difficult for me to fully comprehend Its thoughts."

"But after a few encounters, I've begun to understand Its pattern of behavior."

"Aside from spreading sunlight, It does not otherwise interfere with the workings of the world."

"The sun holds no particular attitude toward the Lands Between itself."

"After all, to It, the Lands Between is just one of many worlds It illuminates, albeit a slightly special one."

"To light up the world is Its purpose, for once darkness falls, the world will descend into abnormality."

"This is the goal of all Its actions, Its core logic."

"It once showed me the fate of worlds that fall into darkness—a catastrophe the Lands Between can hardly imagine."

Pausing for a moment, Bai Shi continued:

"However, for some reason, It is now undertaking a pilgrimage."

"The darkness between the stars is too deep. It cannot illuminate every world, so It can only help as much as possible before It departs."

"But an unexpected situation arose in the Lands Between."

"Before It had completely moved away, the sunless sun appeared on the Lands Between—a method to resurrect Godwyn."

"The sunless sun actively blocks the true sunlight, perhaps hoping to draw upon the power of that darkness."

"It was only at this time that It tried to communicate with the Lands Between to find a solution."

"Unfortunately, there is no more faith in the sun, so no one can communicate with It, and It is powerless to act."

Melina couldn't help but ask:

"The sun is so powerful. Is it unable to deal with the sunless sun?"

Bai Shi shook his head.

"Although the rules of the Lands Between that repel Outer Gods cannot constrain the sun's power, It has already journeyed far away and will not turn back for this."

"Besides, this is an affair of the Lands Between, so It will only seek someone from the Lands Between to solve it themselves."

"After all, this is just one world among many. If it truly cannot be saved, then there is nothing to be done."

"Fortunately, I unexpectedly gained Its favor, successfully establishing a connection and receiving the power It granted me."

"The price is that I am required to shatter the sunless sun."

"But after witnessing my growth just now, It changed Its mind."

"It's no longer just about me shattering the sunless sun and being done with it. It wishes to cultivate me."

"If I have the opportunity to become a sun, then I too can illuminate the worlds around me."

"To It, having a fellow traveler who can disperse the darkness is undoubtedly a good thing."

After hearing Bai Shi's words, the expressions on the faces of the group were varied.

They never imagined the sun held such significance, that it had been protecting the Lands Between all along.

But one thing was clear to them all:

The sun was indeed a pure and benevolent deity.

Melina looked at Bai Shi and asked:

"Now that the Lord of Frenzied Flame has been dealt with, is there anything else we need to do?"

Bai Shi let out a soft chuckle, his gaze shifting from the winged serpent to the distant horizon.

"For now, we do nothing."

"If I'm not mistaken, someone is very eager to meet us."

"I'd guess he will arrive here shortly."

"Let's just wait a bit. It will save us the trouble of seeking him out later."

Melina followed Bai Shi's gaze to the winged serpent and immediately understood who he was talking about.

If this serpent was truly connected to her brother, then he should already be on his way.

—

Before long, a streak of fire appeared on the horizon, approaching at incredible speed.

The black-and-red glow was dazzling, leaving a long trail of flames as it hurtled forward.

A greatspear, its blade designed like slanted, flickering flames, fell from the sky first, instantly embedding itself deep into the ground.

The fire followed, landing with an explosive wave of violent flame.

A tall, slender figure emerged from within and seized the greatspear.

Messmer the Impaler had made his grand entrance!

Seeing him in person, Bai Shi couldn't help but nod.

This new brother-in-law of his was quite handsome, and not weak either.

It was just a shame that he seemed to have the hereditary family affliction, appearing to be missing his left eye.

As she made out the tall, thin figure within the flames, a series of related memories flooded Melina's mind.

As more and more recollections surfaced, Melina finally spoke to the figure:

"Brother..."

Hearing Melina's address, a faint smile touched Messmer's otherwise stern face.

Messmer recalled what the winged serpent had shared with him.

It seemed Melina's memory had been incomplete; she hadn't even recognized the winged serpent.

Fortunately, some of her memories appeared to have returned, and she could still recognize him.

Striding toward Melina, Messmer spoke with a smile:

"Melina, I never expected to find you here."

"I am very happy to see you again."

"Ever since I was left in the Land of Shadow and Mother took you away, I've had no news of you."

Melina nodded gently.

"Mother had a mission that I needed to fulfill."

"It was for that reason my memories were hidden."

Messmer tilted his head back and sighed.

A mission...

The two of them, brother and sister, were completely bound by their missions.

Even if they had accepted them willingly.

But soon, he turned his head and looked at the companions surrounding Melina.

Upon seeing Bai Shi's colorless eyes, Messmer's expression suddenly became somewhat strange.

"Melina, please introduce me to these companions of yours."

Melina nodded, turning her gaze first to Bai Shi.

Biting her lip, Melina spoke with great shyness:

"This is Bai Shi... he is my... partner."

Hearing Melina's words, the expression on Messmer's face changed dramatically.