During her time as the Warrior of Sunlight, Stella had encountered all kinds of people.
Most were polite, but there were always oddballs. Some believed that since she had been summoned, it was her duty to babysit them—putting on airs as if they were above her.
Others, poisoned by conspiracy theories, assumed her free assistance must conceal sinister intentions, and hurled accusations at her.
And then there were those who weren't rude, just disastrously inexperienced—dying in the strangest places, where even Stella couldn't save them.
When faced with the first two types, Stella's go-to strategy was simple: she'd sprint off to drag a horde of monsters their way and let those fools learn the hard way.
Since Assistants couldn't harm summoners, and she lacked an item to sever the link, this was her only option. Once the summoner died, she would be automatically dismissed.
Luckily, whether dismissed or defeated, Assistants didn't leave the dungeon. They were simply returned to the spot where the summoning mark was drawn—a detail Stella greatly appreciated.
But even so, if she got summoned too many times in one day, her head would start spinning. She had no idea why.
Anyway—that was a tangent.
"As an adventurer, what haven't I seen?" Stella used to say with confidence.
But now, staring at the grotesque demons before her…
She had to admit: This, I've never seen before.
"Summoner's not here?" She swept her gaze around quickly. No sign of humans. "Don't tell me… the demons summoned me?"
Why were demons inside the dungeon? Could this be connected to the recent uproar?
She recalled the rumors of demons disguising themselves as humans to sneak into cities. But the Bedford family had already hired mages and priests to sweep the city several times, without finding a single infiltrator. Then one day, all the captured demons mysteriously died, and the matter was quietly dropped. At the very least, the City had tightened its defenses afterward.
The demons before her, sluggish to react and slow on the uptake, were clearly not the summoners.
Stella raised her bow and let fly.
Thwack!
The arrow sank deep into a tentacled demon's abdomen, drawing a guttural scream.
Though I'm not old, my arrows are still sharp!
"Looks like they're not the ones who called me. That makes things simple."
Stella smiled confidently—then turned and bolted.
"ROAARR!"
Enraged, the demons thundered after her.
It was a tactic.
Facing four demons at once was beyond her strength. Her only chance was to split them up and pick them off one by one.
For that, she needed to run a marathon.
It was the same tactic Wade had once described, how Players dealt with triple invaders in the Souls Series—separate them first, then strike.
The direction she chose? Blighttown.
She didn't know every twist of its layout, but she knew enough traps to use the terrain to her advantage. Classic monster-kiting.
Whizz, whizz, whizz!
Whenever she gained distance, she fired a few arrows, whittling away at their stamina.
The demons retaliated, launching volleys of steel-feathered wings like a storm of bullets. Caught off guard, Stella suffered several gashes and frantically checked her status to see if she'd been poisoned.
Finding none, she sighed in relief—then felt an odd twinge of disappointment.
Really? No poison? Even the blowdart freaks in this dungeon use poison. Demons, famed for cruelty, and they don't? What a letdown.
Then she slapped her own cheeks. What am I thinking?! That's a good thing!
To her horror, she realized the dungeon had warped her mindset. She was actually complaining that enemies weren't cruel enough.
She fled. They chased. No wings to save her this time.
Meanwhile, Baron and Ceri finally dared to peek from their hiding place.
"Are… are we safe now?" Ceri whispered.
"Safe? Are you crazy?" Baron hissed back. "How could we possibly fight demons?"
"But she's fighting for us…"
"I've heard Assistants don't actually die when defeated. Miss Stella's not in mortal danger. If we rush in, she'll just have to waste energy protecting us."
Baron shook his head firmly. "What we should do is get out of the dungeon and report this to the city lord. Demand another full-scale sweep of the City!"
Stella sprinted through Blighttown, demons snarling close behind. The ramshackle houses all looked alike—easy to get lost in.
"There!"
She spotted a narrowing street ahead, barely wide enough for one person, with a sharp bend.
Kicking off the wall, she ran along it instead of touching the ground, flipping around the corner.
The demons charged single-file into the alley—
Only for the leading tentacle demon to be slammed to the ground by two hulking Infested Barbarian lying in ambush!
They swung their clubs in a storm of blows. The demon howled in agony.
The others, trapped in the alley, were suddenly swarmed as skeletal soldiers poured from the crumbling houses, hemming them in.
"Perfect."
Stella grinned. She had once died here herself—tricking demons into the same fate was immensely satisfying.
She triggered a combat art, clinging to the wall like a spider as she drew her longbow to full tension. A fiery aura gathered at the arrow's tip—this was no ordinary shot.
The pinned demon roared, tearing through one brute, but too late—
"Combat Skill: Blazing Breakshot!"
The fire-wreathed arrow streaked forward, piercing its forehead.
BOOM!
The skull detonated in a burst of scorched gore.
The flames seared the wound shut, halting regeneration. Without immediate healing, it was finished for good.
The other demons' hatred for Stella spiked. They entered a frenzy, doubling their speed.
She dodged and weaved through alleys, luring them into traps, buying herself precious seconds. For a while, victory seemed possible—
Until—
"You've got to be kidding me. A dead end?!"
She stared at the blocked passage. Even after exploring Blighttown countless times, she still got lost.
Now what?
The demons closed in, mutated limbs lashing wildly. With no room to fire her bow, she drew her dagger.
A desperate stand, then. She even wondered—would killing a demon yield soul rewards?
She crouched low, ready to unleash one of her few close-combat techniques—
Then something caught her eye.
Her breath hitched.
"That's…!"
Her eyes widened in shock. Behind the demons stood a figure she had longed to see—
The Crucible Knight.