Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 543 - 371: Heroes and the Sun

Chapter 543: Chapter 371: Heroes and the Sun

The sound of the bonfire burning is like natural white noise, allowing listeners to relax unconsciously.

However, Elsa is unable to relax at all right now; her mind is in a state of intense tension.

"..."

The bonfire seems to have become a distinct boundary, separating her from Solar.

Solar sits on the other side, curiously examining the small sculpture that is obviously crafted to resemble his likeness, occasionally praising the craftsmanship’s exquisite detail.

Of course, it’s exquisite; this limited edition small sculpture named "Praise the Sun Warrior" only has three hundred in existence, each handcrafted by excellent artisans, thus commanding a high price.

Wondering why just having a handmade label could sell for a high price? Even Count Charon doesn’t know; he believes that sculptures mass-produced with Earth Magic are sturdier and more durable, but those are mainly for children, while finely handcrafted ones are aimed at adults.

Yet, Solar seems somewhat puzzled now.

Why is this small sculpture’s body so tiny, yet its head so large? It’s his first encounter with this form of "art," feeling it’s not very imposing and instead adds a hint of cuteness.

Another puzzlement is why Elsa has a statue of him in her possession.

Elsa occasionally glances up to secretly observe the other party, wishing she had an X-ray vision to see what kind of expression Solar has under that iron helmet. _{\n(o)v.e\l.com}

She feels restless, repeatedly rubbing her pant leg with her fingers, thinking to herself:

Strange, why does he keep staring at the sculpture? Ordinarily, residual shadows should ignore such things, right?

Someone tried giving a small sculpture to the blacksmith Andre, and he showed no reaction, as if he couldn’t see it, and the other residual shadows did the same.

But why, when it comes to Solar, not only can he see the small sculpture, he even praises its workmanship!

If only she had an Image Stone, she truly wishes she could capture this moment and give it to Luluwo, letting them analyze the scene that gives her such a versatile feeling.

However, Luluwo probably wouldn’t understand it either.

"Well, uhm, I can argue, no, wait, I can explain!"

As she stutters, Elsa accidentally bites her tongue, her expression looking somewhat embarrassed, fearing being misunderstood by Solar as some kind of stalker would be terrible!

"There’s no need to be nervous; I can tell you’re not someone with malicious intent." Solar’s voice remains gentle, not yet reaching his usual cheerful tone, perhaps afraid of scaring the already nervous girl.

In the world of Dark Souls, there shouldn’t be concepts like "fanatical women," so he doesn’t think of stalkers or the like, only finding the sculpture interesting.

Though he says this, Elsa obviously cannot be comforted and calm with just a few words, unsure why she’s so nervous now.

Is it because she realized the opponent’s strength surpasses her own? No, that’s not it; she’s not the kind to admire strength.

What would happen if she revealed everything about the dungeon here? Elsa’s lips move slightly but she ultimately decides against courting disaster and chooses to speak the "truth."

"These are sculptures made by those...who admire you."

"Admire me?"

Upon hearing this, Solar feels even more puzzled.

"You see, along the way didn’t you help a lot of people," Elsa feels like today is the day she talks the most, "those people made these sculptures to commemorate you, and it happened to end up in my hands, actually I also admire you..."

The more she speaks, the softer her voice becomes, because she notices Solar is in silence.

What’s wrong, did I say something wrong? But I wasn’t exactly lying, it’s true many people in Ulashiro received Solar’s help and admire him, and the Bed family created small sculptures for this reason.

Plus, the fact that "Solar helped many people" shouldn’t be false; many adventurers found out by inquiring in Ulashiro, knowing Solar had been to places like Undead Town and Sain Ancient City, with his personality he’d absolutely help someone in trouble along the way, right?

"This is truly..." Solar stared at the small sculpture in his hand, seemingly reflecting, "The things I’ve done do not warrant such commemoration by people. Sculptures and such are reserved for heroes or gods."

Upon hearing these words, Elsa suddenly recalled the "Adventure Record Image" sold by adventurers that Luluwo showed her, wherein there’s a Solar collection showcasing Solar helping adventurers avoid danger in various ways. No matter how recklessly adventurers acted, the Sun Warrior could solve more than ninety percent of the troubles, even if the adventurers threw themselves into a group of Abyss Monsters.

Initially, the adventurer filming the images did it for fun, but after being saved many times, they began looking at Solar with stars in their eyes.

Unless one’s moral baseline is particularly low, nobody should dislike the cheerful and helpful Sun Warrior.

Looking at Solar, still muttering, "I’m just an ordinary person chasing the sun, not meant to be commemorated. It’s better to remember those heroes..." Elsa’s emotional intelligence surged, suddenly saying:

"Could it be, you’ve already become a hero in others’ hearts?"

This sentence startled Solar enough that he abruptly looked up at Elsa.

This made Elsa, previously admiring her own knack for words, break into a cold sweat again, nervously laughing:

"Look, you did say you were chasing King Gwyn’s radiance, wanting to become the sun," she raised both arms to draw a large circle, "King Gwyn defeated the Ancient Dragon and committed to Fire Transmission to protect the world, which is why he’s the biggest sun."

Solar nodded in agreement, as long as you praise King Gwyn we’re good friends.

"On your way chasing the sun, you’ve gone through so much adventure and helped so many people. Although you might not realize it, the light you emit has influenced quite a few people, so..."

Elsa drew a small circle beside the big sun, saying:

"So you’ve already become the sun to some people...or maybe a little sun?" She quickly added, just in case Solar might perceive calling him a sun as a disrespectful act towards Gwyn, hence specifically adding "small."

"..."

Solar suddenly stood up.

Elsa shivered, wondering what was going on, had she said something wrong, and now Solar wanted to eliminate her on behalf of the Sun?

Unexpectedly, Solar just picked up his ordinary shield and ordinary weapon, reached out to her, and said with complex emotions:

"Let’s go, the journey to pursue the Sun continues, let’s do it together."

Have I succeeded in moving him? Elsa was astonished, she realized that Solar was changing the topic.

But since she had already received his promise of assistance, she wisely didn’t pursue any further questions, and quickly stood up, showing her full enthusiasm.

"Here, this is for you."

Solar returned the small sculpture to her "Thank you for the compliment, but my training is not yet worthy, such terms as the Sun don’t suit me."

"How can that be...." she was just about to retort,

"So, next, I will continue to work hard, to be worthy of people’s respect, hahaha!"

In the blink of an eye, he let out that signature hearty laugh, which lifted the spirits of everyone who heard it,

If it were a game, a prompt would surely appear at this moment.

[Sun Warrior "Solar" has joined the team! (Temporary)]

With Solar’s help, Elsa was like a tiger growing wings—no, it should be a winged tiger, because Solar is the real tiger.

Judging by his earlier display of stopping her hand knife with one hand, Solar must be very strong, maybe even stronger than her, and as a seasoned warrior, Elsa felt she couldn’t match him.

But when the spiral staircase rose to the middle level again, seeing the Sun Warrior toss out two Thunder Spears and then land two cuts to slice the Stone Statue Ghost, which once had her in fierce battles, as effortlessly as chopping a chick’s head off.

Elsa’s mouth gaped wide enough to swallow a whole Happiness Egg.

Only then did she remember she still had Jack’s wine with her, so she offered it with both hands, her expression very respectful.

"What is this?"

"It’s my respect for you."

After downing a drink cheerfully, the two walked together towards the path the Stone Statue Ghost guarded.

There lay the castle where the Brass Woman said King Gwyn truly resided, the center of Yanor Londo.

As expected from the center, they were immediately met by four giant guards upon crossing over, but with Solar around, these were nothing to fear.

The main gate emitted the classic [the great door doesn’t budge], the left small gate was the typical [cannot be opened from this side], only the open right small gate had welcoming arms for people to enter.

Truly venturing into the castle where the God resides, Elsa couldn’t help but feel nervous, even speaking quietly.

There were Silver Knights everywhere, rarities outside were clustering here.

Although Solar was considerate, facing a group of Silver Knights, Elsa inevitably struggled.

One side was the magnificent and splendid interior of the Royal City, the other was the murderous Silver Knights, she was appreciating the scenery while fighting the enemies.

The Royal City was exceedingly beautiful under the setting sun, entrancing people deeply.

"To see this kind of scenery, one must come to the dangerous Painting World..."

Elsa whispered in admiration.

"If only Yanor Londo could be seen in the usual Sain Dungeon."

After entering the Royal City, the monster’s strength greatly increased, even with Solar by her side, Elsa still felt exhausted.

The only difference now was, with a companion, there was a greatly enhanced sense of security.

As previously mentioned, Gong Qiying arranged the pace of Yanor Londo very tightly.

After adventurers find Solar, the only experience point left in this Painting World was——

The boss fight.

Not long after, when seeing the white Fog Gate appear in front, Elsa muttered:

"This is odd, how come the Fog Gate appeared so quickly?"

They hadn’t even found the mechanism to open the main door, nor pushed open the left side gate, it seemed like there were still many unexplored places in the vast castle.

But as they walked, they directly encountered the iconic white Fog Gate of a boss fight?

"Let’s go, challenge the legendary hero."

Solar was the first to touch the Fog Gate.