Bloodborne - 132 Hunter

“After countless battles and deaths, I have finally managed to understand one constant about Yharnam. It is as Gascoigne said before: Beasts all over the shop! I was so absorbed by not letting the beast devour me. I should’ve known better. A hunter becomes strong because he has the Old Blood in his veins. Old Blood heals, but Old Blood also devours.”

“I have long shut down those echoes from my mind. But what I didn’t realize was that they held the key answer for me. If a hunter craves blood, then a hunter must hunt. If a hunter doesn’t satiate his thirst, the beast will do it for him. The more intense their hunger becomes, the bigger the beast they have to defeat.”

“Losing Blood Echoes without putting them to good use will only weaken a hunter. If a hunter doesn’t fortify his body and mind, he will definitely be eclipsed by the beast inside of him.”

“Fear the Old Blood!” Surgit was absorbed in his writing. Since he started exploring the Chalice Dungeons, a lot of information was given to him regarding hunters and blood echoes. The knowledge Surgit gathered, mixed with his own experience, helped him form his own theories. After all, there was no one to teach him about his nature as a hunter. He had to find answers for himself or risk losing his link to the dream and transforming into some type of hideous beast.

Iosefka was right although she probably didn’t know what she was talking about. Multiple deaths may probably lead a hunter to lose his link to the dream. This had probably something to do with the hunter not able to withstand the beast inside of them anymore.

Surgit had already reached a new rank in his strength. That fact alone made him breathe easily. He no longer felt beasthood eating away at him. Fighting Vicar Amelia had taken a big toll on him but the reward he got from the fight was worth the risk.

Not only did he upgrade his attribute but he also got the password to access the Forbidden Woods. Now he only had to find a way to get there. He had no idea how to find that entrance though. “No matter, there is an entire section of the Cathedral Ward that I haven’t explored. I also need to check the surrounding areas of Great Cathedral.”

In his haste to collect echoes and suppress his beasthood, Surgit didn’t explore the areas around the Cathedral Ward. Now that he felt the pressure lifting from his mind, he felt more inclined to find out what the Cathedral Ward hid in its dark streets.

Surgit was still sitting in front of the desk at the hunter’s workshop. There was one more thing he wanted to do. In front of him was the prayer Vicar Amelia repeated. He had memorized it and written it on his notebook. There were some hidden meanings in there. He wasn’t willing to leave until he found them.

“Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears. Hmm… Why do I get the feeling that these people always speak in riddles?” Surgit sat on the chair and pondered while stroking his chin, a stubble had already shown on his face. “Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young.”

“Hmm… I have a feeling I’m close to the answer I’m seeking, yet something is missing so I just can’t grasp it yet. Minds young, Old Blood, this is a living breathing oxymoron and I am one too. The tombs I explored didn’t contain any Great or Old Ones. It only had guardians. I assume I will find something if I dig deeper into the dungeon. That place had some many answers for me before, it might contain something capital in its lower levels.”

Surgit stood up and headed towards the messengers. He still had some echoes and he wanted to trade them for some items. Before defeating Vicar Amelia, he had already accumulated three Green Echo Clusters. After the fight, he had Blue Echo Cluster on top of the Green ones he already received.

He tried activating the echo in the Blue Cluster and all he heard was the same prayer the Vicar repeated over and over. The Green Ones though insulted him and mocked him for his naiveté. He sighed as he shut them up again and focused on upgrading his strength. He needed to use the Blue Cluster to upgrade from Waste of Skin to Hunter. He was now a full-fledged hunter.

He needed some ritual material and suspected the messengers to have some. Sadly, the little creature just looked at Surgit with no reaction when he asked about ritual materials. “I guess you need some kind of badge for that. I have an idea, let me go to that place I was kidnapped to, I will certainly come back with something useful from there.”

The little pale creature nodded and a lamp appeared from the black pool the messenger was always linked to. In no time, the Cathedral in which the big creepy statue was erected showed in Surgit’s field of vision. He looked around and saw a kidnapper a few paces away from him. He immediately ran towards the beast and swung Gascoigne’s axe towards its head.

The kidnapper heard Surgit coming and turned to face his fast approaching enemy. The axe was buried deep within the kidnapper’s chest that it took Surgit two jerking motions to get it out of there. “Wow, the strength of a Hunter far exceeds my expectations!” One swing from the axe was enough to create a wound deep enough that even the Kidnapper’s magic couldn’t withstand.

Surgit was excited but this feeling was cut short as he saw the kidnapper rise again. “How are you even alive? I can see the locked door behind you from the hole I made in your body!” Since he rarely met humans capable of speech, Surgit started talking to the beasts he fought. He found that it was better than living in silence like some bald monk on top of a secluded mountain.

On the hole Surgit made on the kidnapper’s body, there were red lightning-like strands that connected the tissues and helped the snatcher move. A loud scream came from the kidnapper which was cut short by Surgit’s axe being buried deep in its skull. “Shut the fuck up! And stay dead!”

Surgit quickly ran towards the second kidnapper and split his face in two. As long as he didn’t have to fight two at a time, there was nothing for him to worry about. “Now, I think it’s high time I explored this area more.” When he first came here, Surgit was short on blood vials and the Kidnappers were hard to deal with. Now he felt more confident in his ability to unveil what secrets this place held.

“I want to know why I was kidnapped here. Then I want to know who sings this terrifyingly beautiful song.” Surgit now found the choir singing beautiful. Since he was the one with the upper hand, he felt like a hunter mercilessly destroying his enemies while having his own orchestra play music for his fights. He elongated his axe and moved outside the Cathedral, towards the main street.