Elden Ring: The Shattering!

The full moon hung high, and the grand Gothic-style architecture fell into silence, the Sorcerer was not a soldier… Except for a small portion of unlucky guards stationed for the night shift, most were asleep, snoring heavily in their beds.

The next day, there would be school, experiments to conduct, essays to write—who had the energy to wander around? Only the moonlight and the towering architecture's outer walls were witness to the figure climbing up.

The wall was straight up, with the wild night wind blowing and clothes fluttering. Kaelith, with a staff clenched in his mouth, used the unimaginable skills of a Sorcerer to climb the rope. It was so high here that the slightest gust would shake him to and fro, and below him, the cliff plunged several hundred feet.

Kaelith never looked down; he tightly held onto the rope, steadily approaching the balcony above.

The academy's outer structure was compact, but that did not mean there were no defenses… Especially at night, passing through the water mills on the lower floors without drawing attention was key. He preferred to avoid revealing his identity, so he jumped out from the second-floor corner, using a pre-prepared rope route.

He hadn't forgotten his objective. That "model student" was just a facade for the Academy, the real task was to complete his espionage mission…

So, over the past few days, he had been studying the terrain, sketching the Academy's internal map, and noting the defensive forces, hiding small tools along the way.

Reaching the end of the rope, Kaelith pulled himself over the railing and into the building, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Good thing I learned a few tricks from the wolves."

A warrior wasn't adept at sneaking in, but he was much more professional than the bulky, rough knights of The Lands Between.

Squatting down, he caught his breath, planning his next moves. He was now in the northwest corner of the building and needed to go through a corridor, bypass the courtyard, and climb halfway up a tall wall, where the Academy's most secretive and crucial records were stored, including the Queen of the Full Moon imprisoned in the large books in the vault. Important documents had been moved out to prevent them from being discovered.

But it wouldn't be easy to get there.

"There are ten golem soldiers in the corridor, and the dormitory for the professors is on both sides. Inside, a dozen Sorcerers are sleeping. Tonight, the courtyard watch duty falls to Kaloros's class, so they should be easier to deal with than the Sea Ma soldiers..."

"But these few magic instructors are in the nearby tower, and the wind rustling the grass will make them come to reduce me to ash."

Kaelith pondered for a moment. This place was filled with magic detection gases, and crossing a certain threshold would trigger an alarm… Therefore, Sellia's dark magic wouldn't work. This was truly an impossible mission.

"Good thing I'm not a Sorcerer." Kaelith stood up, donned a headscarf from a nearby Olivinis classroom, then pulled off his robe and moved forward with a staggered gait.

The floor was somewhat old, unlike Sellen's self-prepared bathroom, and the shared restroom was at the very end.

Along the corridor, the Glintstone lamps flickered with faint light, and golem soldiers were suspended from the ceiling… Once the alarm was triggered, they would immediately drop down, though Sorcerers on midnight breaks seldom reacted to the presence of these golems.

Kaelith hid his staff in his sleeve and passed the entrance of the courtyard, slowing his steps… He immediately noticed four Sorcerers guarding the area, one of whom glanced at him before quickly averting their gaze.

A headscarf disguising his identity as a Sorcerer was nothing new, nothing to look at here.

"Can't get in through the courtyard; I can't kill all four of them with a blink." Kaelith continued forward, heading toward the shared restroom and relieving himself before slowly returning. This time, he moved even slower, eyes fixed on the magic bell hanging on the wall.

At 4 a.m., the person in room 406 on the left was likely about to wake up for a bathroom break.

In fact, Kaelith had climbed up to the fourth floor multiple times over the past month, not to do anything in particular, but simply to lean on the ground-level balcony and observe the Sorcerers get up and go to the bathroom. It may sound a bit perverse, but in reality, it was the wolf that had taught him.

The wise hunter, always thoroughly prepared before taking action.

Creak…

The sound of a door unlocking echoed. Most of the Sorcerers had a bit of compulsive disorder, always making sure their actions were meticulously precise every day. Their laziness worked to their advantage, as a silent assassin could never find a pattern to exploit.

A Kaloros class instructor opened the door… It seemed like someone with severe compulsive behavior, as he always made a point to take a few steps to the bathroom every day. But today, his first step paused.

"Hm?" He groggily noticed a colleague standing at the doorway, unconsciously asking, "Aika la, your room is…"

Before he could finish, Kaelith suddenly lunged at him, sliding under his arm, wrapping his hands around his neck, and leaning back, taking the man down with him, while smoothly kicking the door open.

Bang—thud.

The sound of a body hitting the floor and the door slamming shut followed in sequence, but there was no loud noise… However, on the floor in the room, Kaelith's arm muscles bulged, clearly using all his strength.

The Sorcerer, trapped beneath him, flailed his limbs, evidently in great pain… But the legs that were about to kick the door were caught by Kaelith, leaving only his arms, like a person struggling desperately but unable to escape.

Ugh, ugh, ugh…

The voice of struggle grew weaker and weaker, and after a dozen seconds, all strength left him.

Kaelith twisted the body and pushed it aside, muttering a few curses as he stood up. His strength was on par with a Cuckoo Knight, and a sleepy Sorcerer had no chance of resisting.

"Intelligence really has increased. Too bad this kind of good thing only happens once." Kaelith felt the power he had taken, which seemed effortless but in reality, if he were on a level playing field, he wasn't sure he could defeat this instructor.

"Too bad I'm a ten-ranked all-rounder!"

With a fierce laugh, he looked toward the other room. The window there faced the quiet courtyard, and without hesitation, he stuffed his head and robe into his transformation ring, then swapped into the Ronin Set. He hung the Celestial Dew on his waist and opened the window, leaping out.

His toes pointed down to the ground, and his body hid in the shadow of the moonlight. Kaelith silently pressed himself against the wall, moving halfway when he suddenly stopped. Ahead, a Sorcerer was pacing back and forth, occasionally yawning.

Kaelith crawled forward, pressing his wet face against the grass, staying perfectly still in the bushes. Time passed, but he didn't feel a rush. It wasn't until the Sorcerer reached the bushes in front of him that he made his move.

Rustle—

The sound of armor scraping against the bushes, a few leaves flying up into the air. The Sorcerer instinctively leaned back, his face filled with shock.

At midnight, someone jumping out of the bushes? Was this some kind of ghost? Only after a moment did his rational mind win over his instincts.

"Enemy…"

Pff!

A dagger, a foot long, was driven into the Sorcerer's throat, all the way to the hilt, cracking the cervical bones. A blood arrow shot at Kaelith's face, and the words "enemy attack" that should have been spoken in his lifetime were never uttered. Kaelith moved quickly, taking a step forward and then kicking the Sorcerer in the chest.

The inertia immediately pushed the body away, but the Sorcerer, still alive, felt his feet leave the ground. Looking down, he saw nothing but a sheer cliff several hundred meters deep.

The Sorcerer was still in mid-air, becoming a meat pancake, and Kaelith, at the edge of the cliff, suddenly turned in another direction, taking a step forward and sprinting. His breathing had already carried him more than twenty meters away. He swiped at the ring on his finger, drawing a short crossbow that had already been cocked.

In the garden, there was a resting pavilion, and a Sorcerer stood there. He had heard the commotion and, just as he looked toward the other side of the cliff, he saw a dark figure leaping toward him in the moonlight.

!?

The Academy had never been breached before, and his brain immediately questioned the situation. Then, a "crack" sound came from the crossbow mechanism, and a cold light rushed toward him, magnifying in his eyes.

Thwack...

In the span of ten meters, the bolt pierced through the Glintstone helmet, freezing his thoughts as it entered his mind. The inertia pushed his body back, sending him flying off the pavilion, and he was left with a soft, gentle response from his nerves.

Just as Kaelith reached the base of the pavilion, he caught him. The action was so gentle, almost like holding a new bride. Then he softly laid the body beside a stream.

"The third."

Under the full moon, amid murder and drifting clouds, if Kaelith hadn't had to take over Sellen's duties tonight, he might have killed all the fourth-level Sorcerers. But with limited time, he simply considered this task complete.

He looked ahead; the bushes had reached their end, and there were about twenty or so meters of steps ahead. Two Sorcerers stood on the steps, with a wooden door behind them.

It was almost dawn, but there was still time.

At this point, it was already five in the morning, and the sun hadn't risen yet, but the Erdtree was slowly starting to glow, just at the most critical moment.

Kaelith pulled out a Fire Pot, tied it to the beam of the pavilion with a rope, and used a dagger to cut most of the rope. The rope stretched under the weight and snapped.

Thinking it was the right time, Kaelith climbed to the final bush, sitting down and gripping a crossbow in both hands. He took a deep breath, his gaze sharp as a blade.

Charge!!

With his toes pointed down, he erupted forward, fully exposing himself on the steps under the full moon. There was no way to hide his figure, and the Sorcerers, already standing in a high position, immediately noticed him.

"Who goes there!?"

Since the Academy had never been invaded, the two Sorcerers didn't immediately attack, but instead called out to inquire. But by asking this question, they allowed Kaelith to advance another ten meters, raising two short crossbows.

Whizz—-

The bolt shot out, followed by a scream of agony. Kaelith's two arrows flew toward the man on the left, with only half a second of space between them. The second arrow, though the man had some combat experience and dodged the first, struck him in the stomach. The intense pain immediately made it impossible for him to hold onto his staff.

Bang ——

The Stardust spread beneath the full moon like a pool of water, and Kaelith, still focused on his target, plunged the blade into the Sorcerer's chest. He then twisted his body, bent down, and yanked the blade out.

A Glintstone Pebble grazed past his head. If he hadn't leaned forward, his head would have surely turned into a smashed melon, but the second and third Magic Stones followed.

The person guarding here was quite skilled. The Sorcerer on the right swung his staff, releasing Magic Stones like a machine gun… Then, he realized the enemy and a fish darted past.

Three meters was too close. For Kaelith, it was but a blink of an eye. He struck forward low to the ground, and as the magic-powered runes lit up again, the lessons he had learned during his time studying immediately told him the result:

Crystal Burst, you think you can blow me apart at close range?

Not a chance!

His pace suddenly quickened, and just before the Magic took shape, his blade sank into the Sorcerer's stomach. Using the momentum, he broke through the door, crashing into the room, then mounted the Sorcerer, pulling a dagger from his side.

"No!"

The Sorcerer instinctively raised his hand to block, but immediately felt pain in his palm as his hand met the head of the nail.

The killing blow came in an instant, but the entire fourth floor was alerted. Because of the low walls, the Sorcerers guarding the entrance didn't notice the flash of magical lightning...

Instead, the firestorm in the pavilion caught their attention, and nearly at the same time Kaelith landed in the Study Hall, several people jumped up in alarm.

"What's on fire?"

"That damned Meire wouldn't have been on duty, would he, making barbecue?"

"Go, go, go, hurry and check it out!"

The Sorcerers on duty stood up, and the Glintstone lamps in the dormitory all lit up. It was clear they hadn't considered the possibility of an attack from above; this was the heart of the Academy...

Outside, the Sorcerers and golem soldiers were all dead, and there was no way the enemy could get in here.

The noises outside grew louder, but Kaelith remained calm, pulling out his dagger and sword. It seemed they'd take some time to discover the body, so he gently moved the blade, looking ahead.

The narrow corridor was lined with murals, its low-key opulence evident, and at the far end was a wooden door. He had entered it many times during the day.

The Study Hall was a place that could only be accessed with permission to read manuscripts, and the materials couldn't be taken out, so he had already familiarized himself with the layout.

Thud, thud, thud…

Heavy footsteps echoed from afar, seemingly from a Giant who was coming to investigate.

"Is it always like this at night?"

Kaelith's eyes sharpened as he used his hands and feet to climb up the pillar beside him.

Ahead lay the final obstacle, the Sorcerer guarding the room, a first-level instructor — Edward Bellhelicopter!