The method Leon had described for entering Irithyll of the Boreal Valley required obtaining a specific item.
The "Small Doll" — the very object shown being handed from someone in Irithyll to a church-looking figure in the vision that appeared after Wolnir's defeat.
As for how anyone had actually learned this detail —
Sein Dungeon — Irithyll Bridge
[Those without a Doll may not enter Irithyll.]
"Captain, why didn't we see this message the first time we came through here?"
Belto stared at the glowing text on the bridge.
"Yeah… why didn't we see it?"
Luluwo rubbed her eyes.
The message — clearly designed as a hint — had been sitting in plain view the entire time. And somehow none of them had registered it on their first pass through.
For a brief moment, she genuinely wondered if her own vision had somehow deceived her.
"…I must have really been running on empty that day."
The method had, in fact, been written on the bridge from the very beginning, using the standard messaging system the dungeon employed. Since Sein Dungeon's messages followed the Elden Ring formatting style rather than the more visually prominent style of the older Souls games, they weren't quite as eye-catching by default.
Even accounting for that, the message hadn't been hidden in any meaningful way. The only reasonable explanation was total exhaustion — the entire group had been operating on fumes that day.
And exhaustion wasn't the only thing weighing on Luluwo lately. Several developments had landed in quick succession, each one a fresh bruise.
First: missing the first clear on Wolnir. They'd since learned exactly who had taken it — not that Leon had made any effort to hide it. He'd openly listed every first-clear reward in his published strategy guide, essentially announcing his own achievement without a hint of subtlety.
Beyond the usual Larva Tear, the first-clear rewards had also included an item called Wolnir's Finger Bone. Its effect: Carthus-affiliated humanoid enemies — Skeleton Soldiers, Carthus Warriors — would stop attacking the wearer on sight and instead offer a salute. It also increased rare drop chances after defeating monsters, and that second effect was the one that actually mattered. Leon had already reported pulling a Titanite Slab off a Skeleton Warrior while wearing it.
Which led directly into the second bruise.
Leon had released his strategy guide before theirs.
And it had sold considerably better.
Luluwo had reread his guide multiple times, trying to understand exactly how they'd been outmaneuvered so thoroughly. What she found was that his guide beat hers on nearly every axis — and more importantly, his strategy for defeating Wolnir was significantly more accessible to an ordinary adventurer.
Like hers, it centered on destroying the bracelets. The difference was entry cost. Her approach required a fairly steep barrier — Poké Balls weren't common, and accumulating enough Rust Monsters demanded serious effort. Anyone who spent their entire Rust Monster stockpile on a single failed attempt was looking at a genuinely painful sunk cost, well beyond what most adventurers could reasonably absorb.
Leon had solved this differently.
Part luck. While exploring the Catacombs, his group had been invaded by the dark spirit Patches. Normally, Patches fled once seriously wounded — but if killed before he could escape, he dropped an item.
[Crafting Manual: Corrosive Pot]
The very tool Patches had used to strip Eliphis's equipment down to nothing.
A Corrosive Pot, when shattered, released a yellow gas that rapidly corroded and aged any exposed equipment. The crafting materials weren't rare, and producing one was dramatically faster and cheaper than the Poké Ball / Rust Monster pipeline. Less effective than Rust Monsters per unit, sure — but the accessibility more than made up for it.
Leon had even dedicated a full page of his guide to proper throwing technique, timing windows, and general handling of throwables — a level of care that demonstrated real depth of understanding, not just a lucky drop.
Once the recipe went public, merchants started churning out Corrosive Pots for sale almost immediately, and the number of adventurers taking on Wolnir spiked overnight.
This round, in short — Luluwo had lost decisively.
Even so, no one had yet located where the Small Doll could actually be obtained. Maybe the Catacombs weren't fully mapped after all. But most adventurers were fairly confident they'd already combed every corner of a relatively compact area.
Then there was the third thing crushing Luluwo's spirit.
"Captain… are you really selling the Holy Sword?"
"Yes. Definitely."
Luluwo answered with something close to a dead stare.
"I couldn't win a single invasion with it. What's the point in holding on?"
After picking up Wolnir's Holy Sword, she had happily found a matching helmet and started invading other players.
Her first invasion had matched her against Leon's group.
The result had gone exactly as everyone might have predicted.
Even with every trick she'd absorbed from Dark Souls, Leon's team consistently found the counter. When they noticed her tendency to bait people toward cliffs for a Wrath of the Gods knockback, Leon simply pulled out his own Holy Sword, and everyone pooled their mana into a single wide-area Wrath of the Gods that sent Luluwo flying off the cliff with an expression of pure, uncomprehending shock.
She revived, reflected briefly on her mistakes, and — after a short rest — launched a second invasion.
That one introduced her to her personal nightmare.
The Mysterious Helmet Man.
The original one.
She couldn't overcome the sheer psychological pressure of the encounter and fled voluntarily before combat even began.
Though — his location had felt strangely familiar. And his build had reminded her of someone she knew.
The third invasion delivered an even worse experience.
Sword Saint Gapar.
"You old man! Weren't you supposed to be lying low outside Bedford City? Why are you back here?!"
"I was passing through the Royal Capital and thought I'd take a look around."
Gapar smiled warmly.
"Didn't expect to get invaded, honestly."
Then he casually beheaded her in a single motion.
After three consecutive, thoroughly humiliating defeats, anyone whose fighting spirit hadn't completely shattered deserved genuine recognition.
Luluwo, finally, understood something important about herself.
Her strength sat above average — but not among the true elites. Which meant the invasion matchmaking system kept pairing her against absolute monsters, presumably because the system had no better bracket to slot her into.
"…I am never invading again."
"I have never once actually enjoyed invading."
And so a young knight who had briefly wandered toward the darkness found her way back to the righteous path.
Luluwo's emotional collapse had knock-on effects for the group's operations. Belto stepped up to fill the gap. He'd also recently noticed real organizational talent in Tami and had started quietly grooming him for a larger role.
While the Skyrim Group struggled, Leon's veteran team continued thriving.
Sein Dungeon — Farron Keep.
Leon spent a considerable stretch of time peeling half-melted armor off his body — the metal had nearly liquefied from heat exposure. His underclothes hadn't survived at all; they'd burned to ash entirely.
Maru hurried over with a fresh set of clothing.
Everyone present — Leon, Maru, Drew, Terl — was covered in soot. The bonfire's rest had closed most of their injuries, but broken equipment stayed broken regardless of how much recovery magic was applied.
"Good thing I deliberately wore old armor for the Abyss Watchers today," Leon said, running a hand through his singed golden hair with visible frustration.
"I wanted to test whether the Holy Sword had any special interaction against them."
"…Instead I just made them angry."
The moment he'd obtained the Holy Sword, the Abyss Watchers had been the first thing on his mind. Wolnir and the Watchers were ancient enemies, after all, and the sword itself carried a substance resembling Abyss corruption that somehow posed no danger to whoever wielded it. Since the Watchers had themselves been driven mad by Abyss corruption, Leon had wondered whether the sword might deal bonus damage against them specifically.
The result: nothing. No special effect triggered whatsoever.
Possibly his own strength simply wasn't high enough to activate whatever hidden interaction existed.
Instead — the moment the Holy Sword had appeared, the Abyss Watchers had entered full berserk state on the spot. The roaring flames pouring off their frenzy alone made breathing difficult, let alone fighting. Leon's team hadn't survived more than a few seconds before being wiped out entirely.
Now, staring at the Abyss Watchers seated on their throne from a safe distance, Leon's expression carried an equal balance of respect and genuine fear.
"…Come to think of it," Maru said with a sigh, "we walked into a fight with the Abyss Watchers while literally carrying Wolnir's weapon."
"Isn't that basically the equivalent of showing up to insult someone to their face?"
Leon laughed, a little embarrassed.
He genuinely hadn't thought that part through.
"Let's head back. I'm completely drained today."
Even though it was still morning by the clock, the fight had emptied him out entirely.
There were bonfires scattered beneath Farron Keep, but only a select few offered teleportation. The rest of the trip back to Firelink Shrine had to be made on foot.
Along the way, Leon looked around at the surroundings.
Everything felt intimately familiar.
He knew every trap, every monster, every item location down to the exact corner. If anything, he probably knew Farron Keep better than he knew his own house at this point.
Which meant if something changed here, he'd notice.
"…Hm?"
He stopped, pointing toward the distance.
"Was there always a path over there?"
"A path?"
Everyone turned to look.
Hidden behind the withered, half-dead trees of Farron Keep was a narrow trail running alongside a cliff face.
"I don't remember that one at all, meow," Maru said, scratching her head.
"No," Drew confirmed, unfolding his personal map — the internal version they'd never shared publicly. "That spot used to have a tied-up crazed wolf."
A missing wolf.
A newly appeared path.
There was only one reasonable explanation for that combination.
"A localized dungeon anomaly?!"
Leon's face lit up with excitement.
He exchanged looks with the rest of the group. Everyone nodded in unison.
A new path. No reason at all not to walk it.
They cleared away the dead trees blocking the entrance, squeezed through the narrow rock passage, and climbed the rough trail upward. The foul stench of Farron Keep's poisonous swamp gradually thinned behind them. The air cleared. Little by little, actual flowers and healthy grass started appearing along the trail's edges.
At the top, an open road stretched out before them.
Large glowing letters appeared in the air.
[Road of Sacrifices]