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"Surely we are not stuck here?" Gascoigne scratched his head with some degree of frustration "There must be a way out if we find it elsewhere"
Time in this place was strange at best and confusing at worst. They could not tell if it was day or night, of what hour it is or how much time had passed
"I'm just happy we got to be together once more" Henryk sighed, Saw Cleaver resting comfortably on his lap "But I agree, being in this place had started to take its toll on me"
Gascoigne made to move, but Viola grasped her husband by his arm, stopping the man short of taking another step
"Are you going to wander in this abyssal void without the lamp to guide you?"
All at once, everyone present felt a chill went down their spine. The two hardened hunters remained calm in the surface, but their silence spoke volume of how unsettled they are with the prospect of getting lost here
The light fades away quickly, causing one to lose direction less than a hundred meters away from there. They are basically stuck inside this endless darkness, waiting for something to happen.
But what will that something be? And when will it come?
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Shots after shots hit the area where I stood. I once again Quickened away from the trail of projectiles blazing after me
I ducked behind a corner. Behind me stood hundreds of bullet holes drilled deep into the wooden tiles of the building I'm standing on
Does this guy ever run out of Quicksilver bullet, I wonder
Luckily, said bullets from Djura's machine gun, while comes in large quantities and was fired in quick separate bursts, seems as though they're traveling in slow motion to me. Possibly due to the effect of [Instinct] that slowed down attacks from the user's point of views
Once or twice, the thought of deflecting the bullets back to him or even snipe him back from a distance for a kill surfaced in my mind
However, those thoughts were quickly discarded in the end. After all, I don't need to get into conflicts with a fellow Hunter this soon
Partly because I already did, but...you get the point
Deciding to just ignore it, I disappeared off the distance away from him and killed some stray beast with my Threaded Cane. But the more I killed, the more they came, from seemingly multiple directions as time goes on
Their roar echoed across Old Yharnam as I wade my way across the horde of deformed creatures. Saw Cleaver slashing left and right, coated in burning flame to clear the horde faster. I strut forward despite the multitude of enemies facing me
Eventually I finished killing them all, coming out from the other side of the street covered in blood and organs. The Saw Cleaver snapped shut as I put it back behind me
A few minutes of walking later, I arrived at a mass incineration site, where burnt carcass of beasts are hung on crucifix in the middle of the square. The Carrier Crow are slow and was easily killed. I gazed up at the corpses on display, before sighing
All of them were long dead. The remaining Beast Patients from all genders and age littered this place. Truly fitting of the Scourge's origin
My nose crinkled, unable to watch the sight. Using [Gravity Manipulation] I then jumped on a nearby wall and ran upward to my next spot
It is not long ago that I learned to create stronger gravity field around my foot in order to stick myself to walls and ceilings alike. With this I can just traverse on any surface without the influence of gravity, saving me time to walk on the ground and have unexpected encounters with the few beasts in ambush
Alternatively, I can inverse gravity to a certain direction to throw myself across great distances, effectively enabling me to fly for a short time
Realizing the usefulness of the ability got me deep in thought.
Wisdom. It's a peculiar stat
"The more points I invest in Wisdom, the more abilities I unlocked" I frowned. Normally leveling up my other stats would give me new skills as a Hunter. If I started investing in it, what other abilities can I unlock? Teleportation? Summoning meteors? Something that breaks the rule of the hunt, or possibly reality itself?
No. That's still too soon to speculate
Quickly choosing to put such thoughts to later, I focused back on reality. My eyes zeroed on the lone shadow standing above me from the roof
I jumped over the ledge and landed on top of a Beast Wolf. A cleaver found its way inside its skull just moments later before I ripped my Saw Cleaver to the side, spraying it's blood on the brick tile
Nearby noises caught my attention as more beasts poured out from the rooftop entrance. Perhaps they heard the noise I made or their nose picked out the thick scent of blood on me. Regardless, it's easier this way
Instead of hiding from them, the prey chose to go to after the hunter
I raised a hand and blew back a Cloaked Beast lunging at me. My Saw Cleaver lacerated the first Beast Patient and I fired off my gun, parrying the second one. I quickened up with two swift swings and jumped back to avoid the claw swipe. Wind rushing through my ear, I closed up once again, switching to the Hunter Axe and took down two of them with a spinning attack from the side
The first Cloaked Beast barely managed to stand up before I pinned its foot to the ground with the axe and stabbed it through the heart using the Cane, ending its life
Blood Gauge: 23/60
Pulling the bloodstained axe from the ground, I gazed toward the distant section of the city, where smoked from my previous escapade was still rising up
Old Yharnam is clearly divided into two parts. One from the gate to the courtyard and the second from there until you meet the Blood-Starved Beast. Passing through both of them and I should find myself teleported to Hypogean Gaol
In anticipation, I took a step forward. However, a hail of gunfire raining down on my position forced me to retreat and duck under the cover of a wall.
Shielding myself with upturned debris, I heaved a sigh
You know what? I've had enough
Having to constantly dodge the gunfire is an annoyance
I stood up to face the approaching fire. As the rain of quicksilver bullets shower back down on my position, my Saw Cleaver snapped up as I used [Deflection] to alter the bullet's trajectory so that none of them hit me.
Metallic casings create rattling sounds as they fell on the floor. Every single one of them was perfectly intercepted without fail
When the last round had been emptied I immediately raised my gun and let out a shot. The projectile traveled the distance of hundreds of meters in less than seconds and whizzed by Djura's shocked face
The message was clear. I possess full capability to assassinate him where I stood, but will refrain as long as he's not stupid enough to attack me
It must have worked, as no more shots were aimed at me when I walked into the street
Heading up the stairs of a burned building, I looted some more things from under the corpse in the room. The layers of dust caking his skeletons showed this man has perhaps also been a Hunter a long time ago
The bullet mark on his skull isn't that reassuring though
+1 [Rifle Spear]
+ [Charred Hunter Set]
I continued up into another abandoned old building, where I pick up the occasional [Antidotes] necessary for the Blood-Starved Beast fight and stock up on them in the Dream.
Old Yharnam is a good place for farming off these items, as well as weapon fortification material
After a while I soon slowed down to let my breath steady. Now with over four trick weapons equipped to my body I'm starting to feel the strain in my movement speed.
While I'm still confident I can evade most enemies here, the stamina drain is going to be a pain to handle. Again, it ks my fault for not leveling up on Endurance
I hoisted the spear on my shoulder with the Repeating pistol on my other hand. As I descended down more beasts made themselves known. Gunfire and the flashing of metal lit up the corridor as I took them down on by one
Walking through the burnt corridor, I killed the remaining beasts standing in my way before entering the balcony, where I jumped down from the rafter of the altar.
The worn wood creaked under my foot. Remembering my first play through, I swung my cleaver to the side. The rope holding the lamp was swiftly cut off and fell to the floor below where they ignite the beasts on fire, killing them and saving me later troubles
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"The red moon hangs low, and beasts rule the streets. Are we left no other choice, than to burn it all to cinders?"
The first few hours here were full of beast slaying and me running around the place trying to collect all the necessary materials like the greedy hoarder I am
I went outside, bathed in blood and ashes of the enemies I slain. With a relieved sigh, I head to the last stop separating this place to the second part of Old Yharnam
Unfortunately, I found out my endeavor will not be as smooth as I thought
Djura's ally was already waiting for me in the courtyard. Wearing a Charred Hunter Set and Beast Claw hunter hood, his face is obscured under the shadow of the buildings surrounding us
Moonlight illuminating the dark space. We stopped within a certain distance and stared each other down. The both of us slowly circled our opponent. Aside from the outfit, his equipment matched mine. A Saw Spear and a Pistol in each hand
"Do we really need to do this?"
"Not if you stop attacking the beast" The Hunter's voice was rough and demanding. "Get out of here and don't come back if you value your life"
"I do not want to fight" I stated. He should understand. He has to understand. Surely
"Neither of us have to"
My hope was dashed. His insistence on stopping me surpassed the bounds of ignorance and intruded upon straight stupidity
"A Hunter's job is to hunt beasts" I pointed out "You think beasts are man. You're wrong. They're simply hollowed shells of what used to be man, blanketed with a desire for flesh and blood"
"They can't hurt anyone here. In Old Yharnam, the beasts are harmless"
Slowly, my ire grew. What does this Hunter know of the beast's feeling? Perhaps he and Djura felt it necessary to clung onto the remain of this ashen city, but all I see is a decrepit ruins already nearing its imminent collapse
The vision of the fight with Vicar Amelia surfaced in my mind. Of how she plead with her eyes for me to end her and the horrendous beasts that come after. A feeling of frustration rose within me
The one that need most liberation from the beast was the beast themselves.
"Then I guess there's no other choice, [Gravity Pull]"
The next moment, the Hunter was pulled toward me by an invisible force. I lazily lifted my spear up and let him impale himself on the weapon's tip
"You-Agh!"
A disgusting squelch could be heard as he attempted to free himself from the spear
"Let me pass or die" I stated simply
"You think you can kill-"
I switched the weapon into it's gun mode and pulled the trigger, blasting his organs across the wall behind him. The man went limp. He was swiftly discarded from my spear as I flicked it to one side
With the nuisance out of the way, I entered the second section of Old Yharnam
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It had occured to me that ever since I started stacking on Dex, the number of times I resorted to using Blood Vials had been almost non-existent
There's this one time in the fight with Henryk where I had to heal after taking a hit from Eileen. A couple of other time where I was careless enough to get enemies sneaked up on me. But almost every time I regained my health back with ease using Rally. In essential, it had gotten to the point where I considered Blood Vials to be...well, useless
After all, why need healing when you can evade enemy attacks all the time and heal yourself with every hit you returned to them?
Perhaps I am using this as an excuse for my hatred of the Blood Vials. I simply dislike the invigorating sensation it brought me and the effect that came with it. It's akin to using a mild poison, a drug, that slowly kills one from the inside without them aware of it
That too, is an excuse. The Dream made me immune to the scent of blood so I can heal as many times as I want. Perhaps its an irrational thing from my part that led me to the paranoia
I don't want to be starving for blood
The Hunter's torch lit up the darkness around me, making the Scourge Beasts retreating at its light. Their growling echoed in the building. The pale shade of fire danced in their blood-drunk iris. All at once, they lunged forward
The gravity around me exploded, sending them crashing down the floor for a brief moment. As the effect lessened and the beasts slowly got up, I already Quickened back while tossing a Molotov at the pack, causing them to be lit ablaze.
An extended swing of the Saw Cleaver into the fiery chaos is enough to take care of the remaining ones
Blood Gauge: 41/60
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The journey through this part of Old Yharnam was long, but I finally saw a glimpse of my destination
I hefted the weapon on my shoulder and continued walking past the bridge. It didn't take long for me to arrive at the end of the road after killing off any beasts I could find nearby. An arching building made of stone towered over me. It's structure hollowed, and when I peeked inside I could catch a glimpse of the Boss I'm about to fight
The Blood-Starved Beast, lying in all its horrific glory at the other end of the clearing
Calmly, I checked on the stacks of Antidotes, Fire Papers, Molotov Cocktails, Pungent Blood Cocktails and the Flamesprayer on my body. One used to counter Slow Poison, one for distraction, and the last two deals extra damage against beasts.
Thankfully, all of them are present, which means I can kill him by myself
New Quest Created
- Be a true hunter. Kill the Blood-Starved Beast using firearms only
Reward: +20,000 [Blood Echoes], +10 [Bone Marrow Ash]
My point stand corrected. I can kill him myself without sacrificing Insights to summon Alfred
Sighing, I swapped to the Hunter's Pistol and it's spare contender, effectively dual-wielding firearms for a better firing rate. I set the Bone Marrow Ash on both of them, enhancing their damage output one step further
I walked inside the building where the Blood-Starved Beast was still lingering across from me. At the sound of my footstep it raised its head up, clearly alarmed.
Thin, malnourished limbs slowly extended as the creature got up on four...before rushing at me with speed surpassing that of most beasts I've seen til this point
A single shot to take it down just as the boss raised it's claw up. I dashed forward and did a Visceral attack, before Quickening away from its following strike. In the first stage the beast's movement was hugely telegraphic, a weakness that I zeroed on
The bone marrow ash was once again on my Pistol as I parried its next lunge with perfect precision, followed with a close in second Visceral that spattered blood on the stone floor underneath us. With a shriek, the Blood-Starved thing jumped back and put some distance between us
I barely have a second to roll to the side as it nimbly performed several leap attacks on my position, slamming its claw against the brick tile that I've been standing on just moments before and break it into many pieces
The Flamesprayer got into action as I pulled the trigger, enveloping the beastly abomination in a hail of scorching flame that temporarily halt its following jump. I pinned the trigger and continued spamming on it, lighting its skin on fire
This repeat until I got him down to second phrase, signaled by a shrill scream that almost burst my ear drums. Poison and mucus bleeds from its hanging skin, creating a horrific sight straight out of a nightmare
When he entered this phase, Blood-Starved Beasts's movement became much more erratic, meaning I can't lock on to him without fear of getting hit from the side. It was around this time that I started thinking of using Pungent Blood Cocktails as a distraction, before realizing the challenge said firearm only
Well, bother
Parrying its attack with carefully aimed pistol shots, I damaged the thing with three more Viscerals before the third phase rolled by. It starts to get difficult as the beast would jump back after every attack, leaving me only small window to capitalize on with a high chance of being punished for it
At this time I had the idea of using [Gravity Pull] to slow the beast's movement down
It worked, to my utter surprise
Apparently Great Ones abilities are really overpowered
The malnourished creature was pinned under the magnified force of gravity enacted on him, albeit only for a moment as I don't have the required stamina to keep him there for long. But that is enough time to fire several Bone Marrow enhanced shot to its skull, draining a large part of the beast's health bar away
I sidestepped the poison spray, having witnessed it dozens of times in my first playthrough. The antidote I have carefully prepared now seem unnecessary as I found out I can avoid them with shocking ease
. 4 Quicksilver Bullets left. Let's make it count. There was a clicking sound as the hammer was cocked for its next shot, as well as the falling of bone ash as the bullet glowed a pale white
"One"
As soon as the creature recovered I immediately fired. One on the chest, stopping its attack
"Two"
Another bullet pierced it's hind leg, causing the beast to stagger forward
"Three"
The third bullet decimated its front leg. The beast fell, unable to keep its balance
I leveled the gun at its head, the cocking of a hammer rang out in silence between both of us
"Four"
The final shot rang out, ending it's life
Watching as the now lifeless creature fell in fromt of me, I blinked. The stench of blood mixed with poison was almost intoxicating now. Yet it cannot drown out the pure feeling of satisfaction when taking down a beast that had made many Hunter suffer with firearms alone
"I didn't choose the hunter life" I calmly holstered my gun "The hunter life choose me"
"Prey...Slaughtered"
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Quest Completed
- Become a true hunter. Kill the Blood-Starved Beast with firearms only
Reward
+20,000 [Blood Echoes]
+10 [Bone Marrow Ash]
+2 [Tempering Blood Gemstone]
You have killed a boss
+4 [Insight]
+1 Stat Point
The reward was a welcome aspect after that challenge I was out through. 12 Insights and 1 stat points. With this I can level up two of them at the same time
The first thing I focused on is my Dexterity. With another point invested into it, the stat had almost hit it's level cap
Dexterity (9/10)
A new skill had been learned
[Razor's Edge]: At higher mastery, an experienced Hunter command the wind in their blade
- When equipped with bladed weapons, allow you to compress the air flow on your blade and launch them out in lethal bursts of wind with a maximum range of 2 meters
Because there's nothing much I can do with Insight, I decided to spend them on upgrading Wisdom
You spend 5 Insights to take a level one stat to level two, but it will cost you an extra 5 for every subsequent level that came after. In this case, it costs 10 Insights
Wisdom (2/10)
A new skill had been learned
[Moonless Echo]: The Hunter was guided with the good blood, as per their saying. Beckons upon the power of deceased spirits to combat the nightmare
- Allow you to summon 1 Phantom to help you in battle
I peered curiously at the skill description, before looking sideway to search for an explanation
Nothing
Absolutely nothing that can tell me how the hell I'm supposed to summon them. Not even a single sentence
Alright then. I suppose if I tried hard enough some big bad phantom's gonna pop up out of nowhere and started fighting for me. It's not like I need any instruction and it will automatically happen should I wish so
"You call for me, good Hunter?"
I am not afraid to say I screamed like a little bitch at the sound of the man's voice just behind me
After all, I did kill him before
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"Where did Gascoigne go!?"
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"Gascoigne?"
I must congratulate myself for not losing my cool right there. If anything, my voice had lowered to a calm and collected tone after that screaming session I've just gave him
"Indeed, me" The man was tall even in his human form. A big, burly frame with enough strength to one-handed a transformed Hunter Axe and still almost manage to kill me. How ironic that we would meet up like this
"Is my daughter still fine?"
I blinked, confused at the gentle tone in his voice.
"She is. The girl's been brought to the Chapel after your died. It's probably the safest place on Yharnam now so I won't worry about her"
"Oh thank God" Gascoigne's hand shook "Thank the good blood, and thank you for taking care of her. Words can't express my gratitude, but I'm sure Henryk and Viola would be thrilled to meet you in person"
Now I felt embarrassed. I was being thanked because I have a basic moral compass. Is it that rare in Yharnam?
...No. At the moment I should focus on the old Hunter's phantom that I accidentally summoned.
"Gascoigne. Are you feeling like partaking another hunt now?" I asked him
To have another helper in the hunt would be deeply appreciated, but I don't intend to force the man into it if he don't want to. Especially after what he's gone through
"The request of my summoner is absolute" He bowed, while I stiffened in surprise "If a hunt is what you wish, then we will hunt until you are satisfied"
Somehow I have a feeling this is going to get complicated real fast soon
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