Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 429 - 304: Path of Living Sacrifice

Chapter 429: Chapter 304: Path of Living Sacrifice

The day before Leon and the others discovered the Path of Living Sacrifice.

Sain Dungeon, the City Lord’s room.

"The narratives of the Undead Settlement, Path of Living Sacrifice, and Deep Church are linked together. If separated, they won’t be as effective, so how should I set them up?"

Gong Qiying looked at the micro-model of Sain Dungeon, focusing on Fran Fort and the Casas Underground Tomb.

Why are these three scenes’ narratives considered continuous? Because they involve the storyline of the Ember King, "the God-devouring Elderly."

As everyone knows, Elderly, besides the formal nickname "Deep Saint," is also known as Swallow God and Drowned Pig. He’s called Drowned Pig because of one thing—he continually eats people, to the point where his body swells and turns into something like black sludge.

In the background story of Dark Souls III, the Primordial Flame gradually weakens, and the requirements for those who can execute Fire Transmission have lowered from the original Divine Heroes to simply having large, burnable souls, even getting rid of the Steel Giant Puppet responsible for screening Firekeeper candidates.

Consuming humans was initially a minor hobby for Elderly, but when people discovered that devouring humans could strengthen his soul, they locked him up like livestock, constantly feeding him human flesh, and eventually threw him into the Initial Firestove to burn gleefully as kindling.

Among the Ember Kings who appeared, Elderly is probably the least respected, as if everyone despises him.

Returning to the scenes, since Elderly needs to eat human flesh, there must be a place continuously providing meat, like the Undead Settlement.

The Undead Settlement provides human flesh, the Path of Living Sacrifice transports it, and finally, it’s delivered to the Deep Church for Elderly to consume. After he’s full, he is sent on his way.

This is the storyline of the God-devouring Elderly. Of course, to experience the complete storyline, it should merge with a certain Pope waiting in the Cold Valley.

Gong Qiying’s current concern is that separating the three continuous scenes isn’t ideal, but combining them brings too many new elements that people might not handle well.

Yilushier of the Cold Valley is already a large scene; entering the Cold Valley requires the Little Puppet, which is obtained in the Deep Church. This already introduces two new scenes.

Adding the Undead Settlement and Path of Living Sacrifice makes four new scenes, on par with a major transformation in Sain Dungeon.

Taking into account various factors, Gong Qiying must make some concessions.

He could simply insert an Elite Monster in the Casas Underground Tomb that grants the Little Puppet after defeating it, but that would mean sacrificing the rather excellent (and tormenting) map of the Deep Church, which he is unwilling to do.

When he used to play the game, he was stuck in the Deep Church for a long time, so he definitely wants to include it for others to "enjoy" as well.

Hence, considerations for the Undead Settlement and Path of Living Sacrifice involve cutting them out.

"Honestly, the positioning of these two maps is like beginner maps. The Monsters originally aren’t strong, the level design is consistently excellent but not distinctive enough. I can enhance the Monsters and terrain, but that might change the vibe; what powerful monsters could possibly inhabit a gathering of the old, weak, sick, and disabled like the Undead Settlement?"

Gong Qiying thought for a while and finally made a decision.

"Connect the Path of Living Sacrifice road to the first half of Fran Fort, and passing through the Path leads to the Deep Church."

"As for the Undead Settlement, let’s temporarily design it as the Painting World. We can expand it into a new area when conditions allow."

He emphasizes designing the Deep Church, while the Path of Living Sacrifice is more like an accessory for narrative and helps prevent awkward scene transitions.

The scenery of the Path of Living Sacrifice and Fran Fort is quite similar, and besides the fat old lady and Cage Brother, the featured Monsters include the Crow Man, oh right, the Big Crab, Black Knight, Crystal Elder, and two opposing Fran Guards wielding the beginner-friendly Divine Artifact—the Exile’s Greatsword.

This map’s positioning is designed as a beginner’s map; newcomers unable to handle Fran Fort can hone their skills on the Path of Living Sacrifice.

Additionally, besides reaching the Deep Church via the Path of Living Sacrifice, Gong Qiying originally intended to design a road from the Casas Underground Tomb also to the Deep Church, with both routes ending at the same bonfire.

But, on second thought, since adventurers from the Royal City can teleport to the Shrine via bonfires and then reach the Path of Living Sacrifice, adding a shortcut in the Underground Tomb would actually reduce the spiritual power he could exploit, so the shortcut was shelved.

"That’s it then, Sain Dungeon 2.1 version update complete."

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Returning to the present, Leon and his group had just entered the Path of Living Sacrifice and witnessed an uncommon scene.

"Squelch..."

The sound of fresh flesh being sliced echoed continuously as Leon and the others hid in the nearby bushes, observing the heavy taste event unfolding before them.

"That person... is he eating someone?"

Maru covered her mouth, her face full of disgust.

Following her gaze, they saw a tall, brawny man draped in rags, carrying an iron cage on his back filled with something foul-smelling. In both hands, he wielded a peculiar tool that seemed both like an iron bar and a machete, violently slicing up an animated corpse on the ground.