They had noticed that most Tarnished had no witch companions, could not see the Sites of Grace, yet still possessed formidable martial skills.

They used Stormveil Castle to test the quality of these Tarnished, then recruited the outstanding ones to become Blood Knights.

However, Brandon Jenkins was in no hurry to make a move against Varre right now; he wanted to keep Varre around for the time being.

Once he entered the Blood Dynasty through Varre, that would be the time for Varre to pay the price for his foul mouth.

So at this moment, Brandon Jenkins pretended to be half-convinced, silently leaving Moon~Yi*Shou=Fa| in the direction Varre had indicated.

“Hehe, I have a feeling we’ll meet again soon, dear~”

Brandon Jenkins ignored him, afraid that if he stayed any longer, he wouldn’t be able to resist killing him ahead of time.

Varre simply watched Brandon Jenkins walk away in silence.

His eyes beneath the mask were cold and deep; no one knew what he was thinking. Only the bloodstained white mask kept its usual smile.

-----------------

Following the guidance of the Site of Grace, Brandon Jenkins crossed one hill after another, finally arriving near the ruins of the church.

Now, there was only one hill left between him and the church ruins—once known as the Church of Elleh—but Brandon Jenkins stopped in his tracks.

He crouched in a bush, which could be found everywhere, and took off the helmet given to him by Hakan to prevent any reflections from revealing his position.

This was because a powerful field boss, the Tree Sentinel, patrolled nearby.

Now was not the time to fight him. Even when facing elite monsters like the Grafted Scion, Brandon Jenkins had to rely on “cheats” to win, let alone a field boss like the Tree Sentinel.

Although he had the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow in hand, it seemed that its uses did not recover over time—at least, not as far as he could tell, though maybe he hadn’t spent enough days yet.

In any case, every use of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow was extremely precious.

Compared to the Tree Sentinel, Brandon Jenkins would rather save his “cheat” uses for main story bosses who possessed Great Runes.

Brandon Jenkins crouched motionless in the bushes, searching everywhere for signs of the Tree Sentinel.

But after a long time, he still didn’t see that dazzling golden figure.

With such a bright color scheme, if it appeared in Brandon Jenkins’s field of vision, there was no way he would miss it.

“Could it be different from the game? Maybe there’s no Tree Sentinel stationed here at all? Or maybe it’s been moved somewhere else?”

Brandon Jenkins stood up and slipped out of the bushes, but after just a couple of steps, he immediately darted back.

Cold sweat broke out on Brandon Jenkins’s forehead. Just after he stood up, he suddenly saw, at the bottom right of the hill he was on, a golden figure emerge from his blind spot on a dirt road leading to the Church of Elleh.

Back in the bushes, Brandon Jenkins watched as the Tree Sentinel, clad in golden armor and riding a giant horse also armored in gold, slowly patrolled the dirt road.

Its massive body was as tall as the trees by the roadside.

“How far does this guy’s patrol route go? He actually came from the direction I arrived from.”

Earlier, Brandon Jenkins had avoided walking along the dirt road for fear of soldiers guarding it, instead traveling up and down the hills—unexpectedly, he had just missed running into the Tree Sentinel.

“Whew, that was dangerous, but at least now he’s within my line of sight, so I don’t have to worry about him suddenly charging out and hacking me while I’m moving.”

Brandon Jenkins let out a sigh of relief and pulled the thick bushes around him even closer.

He had decided to stay here and study the Tree Sentinel’s patrol route before moving on.

“Grrr~”

Brandon Jenkins’s stomach growled in protest, and he looked up at the sky.

All he saw was the enormous Erdtree, and then he remembered there was no sun in the Lands Between.

He decided not to care about the time—if he was hungry, he’d eat.

Brandon Jenkins slowly took out a packet of white meat slices from his small bag.

This was just an ordinary packet of dried meat, not soaked in any special potion, so it had no special effects and could only fill his stomach.

It was made for convenience and preservation, so the dried meat naturally didn’t taste good.

Not to mention, this meat had drifted over with Brandon Jenkins, and had been soaked in seawater.

It really was just something to fill his stomach. Brandon Jenkins chewed with difficulty while keeping an eye on the Tree Sentinel.

The Tree Sentinel walked very slowly. Fortunately, because the meat tasted so bad, Brandon Jenkins ate even slower than the Tree Sentinel walked.

By the time he finished the last piece of meat, Brandon Jenkins had figured out the Tree Sentinel’s patrol pattern.

“The patrol range is much larger than in the game—it takes more than half an hour for a round trip.”

Although the Tree Sentinel rode slowly, the giant horse was so big that the patrol route was still quite long.

“And he never patrols to the left, where there’s no road. Once he leaves the hill below me, I’ll set out and circle around from the left.”

After making his plan, Brandon Jenkins continued to wait quietly for the right moment.

When the Tree Sentinel passed under the hill again, Brandon Jenkins counted three minutes in his mind, then quickly left the bushes.

Nothing unexpected happened along the way. Brandon Jenkins jogged all the way and arrived safely at the Church of Elleh.

The ruined church had mostly collapsed, with broken walls standing haphazardly, turning the place into an open-air structure. Only the main entrance of the church still retained a bit of its original facade.

As soon as he entered the church, Brandon Jenkins saw a fire burning in the corner, and beside it, a man and a donkey.