I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 699 - 215: Holy Tree Stage!_2

Chapter 699: Chapter 215: Holy Tree Stage!_2

"The successor chosen by such a law. To the Corrupt Goddess, it was akin to a pillow arriving when one is sleepy, and a stewed meat dish when one is hungry—nothing could be more suitable!"

"The Corrupt Goddess simply adores these static, unchanging laws."

"And so, she directly possessed Marlene on the spot."

"This is also the reason why during the period of the Broken War, the Valkyrie, in her fight against the Fading One, as a pure scion of the Golden Bloodline, could use such massive crimson corruption moves."

"As long as it blooms three times, the Corrupt Goddess will completely strip away Marlene’s personality and consciousness, and return to life in another’s body."

"As a descendant of the God-man, Marlene must have realized the problem."

"She definitely wouldn’t just hand over her personality to someone else."

"That’s why she travelled far and wide in search of a method to suppress the crimson corruption."

"The amulet ’Legend of the Prosthetic Swordsman’ text mentioned: ’A girl born with a chronic illness met her teacher and his Water Sword; it is said that this gave her invincible wings.’"

"Who was this teacher? Although the text doesn’t specify, through his possession of the Water Sword, we can surmise it was the Blind Swordsman who once sealed the Corrupt Goddess."

"It’s apparent that Marlene was initially unwilling to accept her fate of being consumed by the Corrupt Goddess and had sought help everywhere, had put up a fight."

"This struggle continued until her brother Mikaila used his purity of divinity to make a Pure Gold Needle for her, which then sealed the corruption within her."

Originally,

the story should have taken a turn for the better here if nothing unexpected happened.

Although there were some ripples along the way, there was solid hope in the Golden Rule as well.

But as they say, if a story doesn’t have any unexpected events, then it can’t be called a story.

From birth, Mikaila’s divinity was very powerful; as a child, he could comprehend the basic principles of the Golden Rule and casually created a few prayers to give to his father Radagan. (Refer to the description in the prayer ’Three Halo Transformation’ for details.)

At first, Mikaila believed in his family’s Golden Rule.

But he quickly realized.

Belief in the Golden Rule could not save his sister.

Seeing his sister live in agony every day and being helpless to do anything about it drove him to action.

So, Mikaila began researching Pure Gold, embarking on a path that deviated from the golden fundamentalism. (Refer to the prayer ’Radagan’s Halo’ for details.)

In this period, he developed the Pure Gold Needle through his research on Pure Gold.

And when applied to his sister,

he found that it indeed could suppress the spread of the crimson corruption.

With this discovery, Mikaila was overjoyed.

In the dead of night, he fled with his sister.

They didn’t stop until they reached the foothills of the northernmost snow-capped mountains.

The terrain here was practically impregnable, with tall and continuous mountain ranges blocking all outsiders, a geomantic treasure perfect for establishing a base of power.

After settling there, Mikaila began to forcefully implement the grand scheme in his heart.

Usurpation!

And this wasn’t the trivial kind of power grab his siblings would engage in.

His plan was to completely replace the Golden Tree.

When the time was right, he would uproot the original Golden Tree, and let the Holy Tree he cultivated take its place as the greatest law of the Borderlands—the ’Pure Gold Rule.’

This was no longer something that could be described as heresy.

Compared to his siblings, who at most would take over the Golden Rule and inject a bit of their own thinking into it,

Mikaila’s move was like tearing up his family history!

Annihilating his own lineage so that no one else had a lineage left to exact retribution upon!

Eh, all under the guise of filial devotion!

Of course,

Mikaila, having committed such a grave sin, never imagined that reconciliation with the Golden Rule was possible.

Therefore, relying solely on the natural barrier of the mountain ranges was not enough to put his mind at ease.

"When it comes to being cautious, if Mikaila considers himself second in the Borderlands, then no one would dare to claim the first spot."

"Students who have played the game until the later stages know what kind of trials one must go through to reach the Holy Tree Stage, where Mikaila resides."

"First, the snowy mountain region is divided in two, with the left area known as the Snow Pandemical Forbidden Zone, and the right territory being the Sanctified Snowland, where our little wife Melina is burning herself right by the Giant’s cauldron."

"Players arriving at the Sanctified Snowland for the first time must first collect two symbols and combine them to access Sanctified Snowland through Lorde’s Elevator."

"Then, in the Sanctified Snowland, they must withstand the barrage from various Susanoo and the Bird of Death Ritual as they move forward." (Susanoo: a giant skeletal spirit in Elden Ring, nicknamed Susanoo by players due to its similar appearance.)

"After reaching Sol City, the northernmost part of the snowfield, they also have to battle old girl to get the symbol for entering the Snow Pandemical Forbidden Zone."

"Once they finally get the symbol and can head to the Snow Pandemical Forbidden Zone,"

"the Fading One is about to face the most sinister level design in the entire game—Heretical Scripture Town." (Originally named Ritualville, it’s called Heretical Scripture because it’s so sinister.)

Heretical Scripture Town is the last obstacle on the way to the Holy Tree Stage.

It’s split into the surface world and the underworld.

The surface world is a small cluster of buildings that resembles a village.

Covered in a blanket of snow, it initially seems quite nice.

But once a player activates the Array Eye, they enter the underworld.

The underworld looks consistent with the architectural style of the surface world, except that it’s darker, with no other difference.

However, if a player lingers here long enough, they’ll encounter several completely invisible Black Dagger Assassins.

Without a trace to be seen.

By the time a player hears footsteps behind them, it’s already too late."

The moment Black Dagger Assassins reveal themselves, they quickly move around to execute players with a slit to the throat."

If their health is even slightly low, they’ll be killed instantly.

Even players with plenty of health levels added will lose most of their health in one strike."

The scant remaining health makes it very difficult to confront the Black Dagger Assassins head-on.

Moreover, this area doesn’t just have one Black Dagger Assassin.

You might find yourself unable to control your device while retreating and taking potions because the second Black Dagger Assassin has already appeared and delivered a fatal blow."

What players need to do

is to kill or avoid the Black Dagger Assassins wandering on the ground and light the lamps on three towers within the cluster of buildings."

Only then can they unlock the area leading to the Holy Tree.

Of course, the reason this place is known to players as Heretical Scripture Town is not just because of the Black Dagger Assassins.

Once players start climbing towards the rooftops of the buildings, preparing to move quickly, jump back and forth, and then reach the towers,

they will be spotted by the platinum Magicians, almost blending into the rooftop, who will begin to shoot from a distance to cause disturbances."

These Magicians might not be as freakishly accurate as the Eternal City’s sniper Minotaurs,

but several Magicians firing arrows at the right gaps and intervals without pause,

make it almost impossible for players to have a moment to react.

And if they make a mistake and get shot down to the ground, they’ll be swarmed by Black Dagger Assassins."

"After getting through Heretical Scripture Town, players will finally arrive at the Holy Tree Stage," Yuan said, clearly a player who had suffered greatly, likely dying countless times in that place before managing to get through."

His teeth clenched and voice trembled as he mentioned Heretical Scripture Town.

This change in emotion also caught the attention of some of the viewers’ comments.

"The uploader is overreacting, it’s just a game, calm down."

"I can understand, though. Just listening to the uploader’s description and watching the video clip, you can feel all the malice from the top players ..."

"No worries, Heretical Scripture Town is NOTHING/smiley/smiley"

"←← The comment before is too arrogant, can you even say ’Heretical Scripture Town is NOTHING’? I’ve been stuck in Heretical Scripture Town for an entire day now. It’s clear that you’ve never been beaten down by Heretical Scripture Town, I suggest you actually buy and play the game before talking."

"For the guy before who suggested buying the game, I recommend you get some blood pressure medicine ready after you get through Heretical Scripture Town before entering the Holy Tree Stage/smiley/smiley"

"Really? As a newbie, I got through Heretical Scripture Town in three tries, didn’t find it that difficult, and now I’m heading to the Holy Tree. I think it’s not that the top player is too malicious; it’s more like you’re just too noob, stop blaming everything on Baby Ke, alright?"

As soon as this comment was posted, the viewer who posted it started receiving a non-stop stream of private messages.

Although the messages varied in length, the content they conveyed was remarkably consistent.

"Buddy, start a live stream, I want to see how a pro does it."