Last time, on Running out of Titles for Dark Souls we followed up on beating possibly the hardest enemy I’ve ever faced, Manus, by taking on the easiest boss in the game, Pinwheel. Felt a bit like shifting without a clutch. After overcoming that challenge way back in Oolacile, is there anything left in Lordran that can stretch us? Well, what do you say we find out?
After emerging from Pinwheel’s lair, I find myself surrounded by a deep darkness, the likes of which we’ve not seen before. The only light I can see comes from those prism stones littered among the path, and the occasional message expressing dismay. “I can’t take this…” “Need hope.” “Despair.” Looks like the other chosen ones have been beaten down by this place. I may have gotten myself into something, here.
I follow the prism stones along until I find out where I am. The Tomb of the Giants. I’ve heard of this place. Not anything good about it.
Red Metal had left me some advice last time, for this situation. Following it means doing something I find really distasteful, but… well, I have to keep moving forward.
The Sunlight Maggot. It lead my friend, Solaire, to his doom. With luck, it might save me from mine.
Oh man, nobody’s going to be able to recognize me without that gargoyle helmet. It’s like I’m wearing a whole new face. It does emit light, however. And light’s what I need. I’m not about to dive into an enemy-strewn underground cavern without being able to see. Especially not when I can see the glow of some eyes just a bit away.
It illuminates this skull, directly to my left. Guess they weren’t kidding with the name of this place. I smash it just in case. I’ve no inclination to give respect to the dead when I’ve died so much more. There’s a bit of light coming from the lava in the area beyond. Not enough to illuminate this place, of course. I think I recognize that, though. Am I looking at the Demon Ruins there?
The glowing eyes I saw earlier belonged to this giant skeleton. I’m a little disappointed. I’d fought one of these already, a long, long time ago, back in the graveyard by Firelink Shrine. I had a divine weapon then. I never changed my equipment after fighting Pinwheel. This could be trouble.
The giant skeleton places one hand behind his blade and slams it down. I slip to the side of his strike, and cut into him twice. This straightens him up, and then he falls apart. I wait for him to reform, ready to switch over to the Silver Knight Spear. I watch his bones closely, ready to enter my inventory the moment they start quivering closer together. I keep waiting. And waiting. The moment never comes. I didn’t kill him with a divine weapon, but I still killed him for good. Huh. Were these guys powered by some different necromancy? Did killing Pinwheel earlier cut off the skeleton’s regeneration ability, somehow? Was it that I smashed the giant, non-animated skeleton earlier? No idea. But I like the results.
The path leads downwards, curving back and forth. It takes me past another giant skeleton. A dead one. Well, you know what I mean. I smash it for good measure. The next curve puts me in front of another enemy giant skeleton. It cuts down at me. I block it, knocking it back, then cut into it twice. Like the last one, it doesn’t recover.
There’s a corpse trapped in the ribcage of another giant behind him. I pick up some souls from the corpse, the take a moment to wonder how exactly it got there.
Lost to the Aether 