The next morning, in that hazy blue moment before dawn, the sky cleared and the rain stopped. The campfire had long since burned out, leaving only a pile of ash.
Nidhogg woke up, stood, yawned, and stretched. Then he turned and gently patted Torrent's belly, waking him as well.
He glanced at the stump on the ground.
It was the original human body that had appeared after the Apostle's death last night—an old woman, covered in wrinkles, thin and small.
"Time to go."
Torrent snorted white vapor from his nostrils. He lifted his front legs first, then steadied himself on his hind legs and took a few steps toward Nidhogg.
He shook himself, and the bridle, reins, saddle, stirrups, and pack all settled into place. Nothing was out of order.
Nidhogg led Torrent out of the dilapidated house, took out the map of the Kingdom of Midland that Casca had given him, and studied it.
In Berserk, there were actually only a few low-rank Apostles that left a strong impression on him. One was the face-hugger. Almost all of them had a habit of moving within a specific area. If he could find that area, he could find them.
The problem was that in Berserk, locations were rarely given directly, and the human names of Apostles were almost never stated outright. Taking the initiative would be difficult.
Besides, Apostles were quite cunning. When they weren't eating people or causing harm, they often lived in human form, hiding among the populace. Those who saw through their disguises were usually killed by them.
If Nidhogg wanted to complete the open-world quest "Eliminate Low-Rank Apostles and Low-Rank Invaders in the Kingdom of Midland," he would have to search for them one by one.
It was also strange that after killing the face-hugger last night, he realized this quest could be completed and turned in at any time. So theoretically, he could have completed it last night.
But the reward for completing a mid-term quest by simply killing one face-hugging Apostle definitely wouldn't be very good. Naturally, he hoped to hold onto it until the benefits were maximized before accepting.
As for how to find them one by one, Nidhogg would of course start with the simplest method: the few Apostles whose identities were clearly indicated.
For example, the "thief leader of Gaol Castle."
Nidhogg quickly learned the approximate location of Gaol Castle from travelers. Following Casca's map, he made his way there at a leisurely pace.
This Apostle, incarnated as a thief leader, operated very close to where the face-hugging Apostle had been active. Since he had encountered the face-hugger last night, it proved he was in the right area.
Nidhogg stared at the map for a long time, then confirmed his direction. He mounted Torrent, gently squeezed the horse's flanks, pointed in a certain direction, and said, "Torrent, let's go. This way."
Torrent whinnied, stretched his four legs, and galloped down the road ahead.
On the path washed by last night's torrential rain, mud splashed beneath his hooves as the sun gradually rose beside them.
Nidhogg rode for a while, emerging from the path onto a main road. But the road was just as bad.
He took up the reins, confirmed his direction, and decided to let Torrent keep running.
Just then, a carriage slowly emerged from another side path.
The people dressed as merchants in the carriage also saw him. When they saw he was armored and didn't look battered, they all nodded to him as they passed.
They were out on business and didn't want to cause trouble. In case the man before them was a titled knight, they feared their actions might offend him and stir up a storm. So everyone was very cautious.
Nidhogg simply rode alongside them and asked the driver of one carriage, "Uncle, may I ask if Gaol Castle is nearby?"
The driver had clearly been here on business before. When he heard Nidhogg's question, he was momentarily stunned and said, "Gaol Castle is indeed nearby... But why do you ask?"
"I want to go there." Nidhogg replied directly.
Whether it was the driver or the merchants nearby, when they heard this answer, they all frowned and couldn't help but look Nidhogg up and down.
The driver said, "Sir, Gaol Castle is not a good place... It's been taken over by a group of thieves. It's their lair. Even the nearby lord doesn't dare provoke them."
"Yes," another person chimed in, his tone aggrieved. "They often rob caravans coming and going. And sometimes, on a whim, they'll kill an entire caravan. It's just awful."
"The lord and his knights don't care. And our business isn't going well..."
As the man spoke, the driver nudged his shoulder, and he dared not continue.
After all, it concerned a noble lord. It wasn't something common merchants could talk about.
Besides, the man riding before them might be a knight.
"It's fine. I'm just going there. Just point the way." Nidhogg insisted.
The driver looked Nidhogg up and down again, hesitated for a moment, and said, "In that case, you can come with us. This stretch of road is the same way. When we reach the lord's town, I'll show you the direction."
Nidhogg nodded and said, "Alright."
So Nidhogg and the caravan traveled together.
He was also quite talkative and soon struck up a conversation with the drivers and merchants.
Upon learning that he held no title, they quickly dropped their guard and began to chat freely, sharing stories they knew.
"You know that Hawk Company?" The driver smiled and brought it up. "They're the knights promoted from a mercenary order for their courage and fearlessness in the Hundred-Year War. Now, I hear they're called the White Eagle Knights."
"I know," Nidhogg replied, and grew a bit interested. "What about them?"
"I heard they recently suffered a great disaster. They ran into 'Zodd the Immortal' and took heavy losses."
The driver chattered on cheerfully.
"Wasn't the Tudor Empire about to formally sign a peace treaty with us soon and never set foot in the Kingdom of Midland again? But on the lands they previously captured and occupied, there were still knights and mercenaries who hadn't withdrawn."
"This 'Zodd the Immortal' is a mercenary of the Tudor Empire. I hear he's hundreds of years old... Hahaha, of course, that's just an exaggeration..."
"But some parts don't seem exaggerated. For example, he occupied a castle alone and refused to obey the Tudor Empire's orders to withdraw. So the King directly ordered the White Eagle Knights to surround and suppress him."
"And you know what? The White Eagle Knights now number in the thousands, and they couldn't even breach the castle. 'Zodd the Immortal' killed many of them and repelled wave after wave of attacks."
"I don't know if it's because the White Eagle Knights are incompetent or if 'Zodd the Immortal' is really that strong... Anyway, later on, the leader of the White Eagle Knights and the captain of the shock troops stepped forward and drove Zodd away."
"But the commander of the White Eagle Knights and the captain of the shock troops were also seriously wounded. After that, the White Eagle Knights escorted them to the royal capital of Windham City to recover from their injuries."
When Nidhogg heard this, he knew better.
He knew that Zodd hadn't been driven away. He had left voluntarily.
Although Zodd was slightly overwhelmed and had been cut by Guts and Griffith, Zodd had reattached his severed arm with powerful healing abilities. In a sense, it could be said he hadn't been harmed at all.
On the other hand, Guts and Griffith, in order to sever one of his arms, had been seriously wounded themselves. Griffith had even lost consciousness.
If Zodd hadn't seen the Beherit that Griffith carried, and hadn't known everything that would happen in a little over a year, and hadn't let them go and quietly flown away, Guts, Casca, and the others would likely have been buried there.
Zodd had lived for hundreds of years and had witnessed the birth of a God Hand at least once.
He knew well the causality of the Eclipse, and of course, he had no intention of interfering.
In any case, aside from Griffith, they were all sacrifices of the Eclipse. And sacrifices were naturally left for the monsters in the demon-subduing ceremony.
Nidhogg nodded silently, a sense of urgency rising within him.
A little over a year—whether long or short—at least his combat ability to withstand low-rank Apostles wouldn't help him at the moment of the Eclipse.
What was indispensable at the Eclipse were the Apostles. And they were everywhere.
He still needed to become stronger.
"Hmm... Anything else? Anything else interesting?" Nidhogg asked.
He was actually just asking casually, but he didn't expect the driver to say something that would catch his attention.
"I heard there's a bandit in the Kingdom of Midland who's made himself king of a mountain. He's quite twisted." The driver shivered and hugged himself with both hands. "They like to cut off people's arms and legs and graft them onto themselves."
Nidhogg was stunned when he heard this, then turned his head. "Graft them onto themselves?"
"Yeah, pretty twisted, right?" the driver asked. "What's the leader's name? I think it's... something like 'God' or...?"
"Godrick?"
"Ah, yes! You know him? That 'Grafted' Godrick. But it's not that important. Now that we have our White Dragon, White Tiger, and White Eagle Knights, these bandits won't cause much trouble."
Nidhogg nodded, his face indifferent, but his heart was already pounding.
He remembered what Melina had said when they first met three years ago.
It seemed that in this world, there really were people who had come through the cracks opened by the wedge he had driven in. They were gradually taking root and expanding their power...
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard someone shouting from the carriage ahead: "Hey! Why are you squatting in the middle of the road? Get out of here! Get lost!"
Nidhogg rode Torrent a few steps forward, looked up, and saw a short, stout man squatting with his back to them, chewing on something.
Hearing the shout, the stout man turned his head, revealing fangs in his mouth and blood dripping from his lips and chin.
Looking closer, everyone realized that this man was actually crouched over a half-dismembered human corpse, gnawing on it randomly.
For a moment, everyone's faces changed in shock. They even held their breath.