He woke up next to the lamp. To his surprise, his garb was intact, as if it resuscitated with him. “When you told yourself to be careful, you managed to make the worst miscalculation of your life. Good job Surgit.” He was talking to himself, frustrated at how he didn’t think of the ceiling on top of him as he tried to jump over the veiled creature. He waited for the echoes to comment on what he just said then remembered that they all get lost if he ever dies. He sighed in relief.

“Now you have to go through all the monsters you’ve slain before, and probably, the old man will be shooting at you at the same time.” He was still beating himself up as he went through the big wooden door and accessed the hidden town. By that time, he knew what to expect as he crossed the first bridge. He took care of the first three enemies that came at him and found himself in front of the square with the creepy statues.

As soon as he started climbing down the stairs, bullets started raining his way. He was ready this time as he jumped on top of the railings and ran down towards the beasts patrolling the square. He jumped high as soon as the first bullet hit the railing and landed among his opponents. If he had to get away from the flurry of bullets that rained down on him, he had to use his enemies as shields and escape the open areas as fast as he could.

The beasts didn’t have time to attack him as they started to drop like flies and Surgit used the commotion to eclipse himself in the street that led down towards the building he died at earlier. The Gatling gun soon followed him, but he was faster this time and hid inside the building just in time. He prepared his plan of attack with the lady monster downstairs and headed to meet her.

‘Remember, she’s poisonous so don’t come too close.’ He repeated in his head as he came face to face with his foe. The woman quickly dashed towards him and made to grab him. Surgit dodged backwards and punished her predictable move with a slash of his weapon towards the extended arms of the beast. He managed to scratch the hide of the beast but the injury wasn’t too deep to make a clean cut. The poisonous enemy then slashed with its claws towards Surgit to which he retaliated with a series of five swift and quick blows to its limbs.

He managed to stagger it and she fell back. Surgit pressed on and, with a vertical slash using the elongated version of his cleaver, made a deep cut on her chest. The woman let out a deafening scream and her eyes glowed red. She was enraged. She attacked Surgit with her claws in a series of unstoppable slashes. He kept his calm like he had learned earlier while fighting hordes of monsters, and concentrated on reading the patterns of the attacks. He danced around the almost invisible arms as they moved too fast for a normal eye to follow.

As soon as the beast stopped to collect its breath, Surgit shot it twice in the head and attacked with all his strength, aiming for the neck. Three strong attacks were enough to open the woman’s throat and blood started gushing out. Surgit stepped backwards in order to enjoy the show and see the woman gasping for breath. He wanted to witness the same thing that happened to him earlier.

That didn’t happen however as the beast still kept coming at him, struggling to move but willing to attack and kill him nonetheless. Surgit jumped back as a vertical slam headed his way. He shortened his weapon and hit the hand that just tried to strike him. Another hand came crashing his way so Surgit dodged and shot the dangling head. That was enough to bring the fight to a halt as the beast collapsed and stopped moving. “That was a close one. I didn’t think they could still move with an injury like that.” He was out of breath, more from the surprise he had just endured than from jumping and moving around the attacks.

‘The fool has recovered us!’ said the voices inside Surgit’s head. He forgot that he could actually recover his echoes after slaying the last beast that killed him. He mumbled something under his breath that clearly signified his displeasure at their presence. As much as he enjoyed the strength they potentially offer him, as much as he hated their constant murmurs and taunts.

He inspected the apartment in which he had just fought the beast. There was a closed balcony and he decided to inspect it. From the looks of it, it was positioned at an angle that wasn’t on the field of vision of the man with the Gatling gun. From there, he observed again the city below him and tried to plan his route.

He discovered that the city extended way lower than the clock tower and the big cathedral. The darkness that engulfed the valley was still terrifying to Surgit. He couldn’t fathom what would lurk down below.

Old Yharnam’s layout sure was strange. The street through which he’d come down led down towards the square. If it weren’t for the destroyed road, he would have been able to reach the place easily. He then remembered the barrage of bullets that welcomed him every time he was out in the open. That was enough to convince him that he would’ve chosen the building regardless of the state of the road.

From another door in the apartment, there was another exit. The street outside led towards another building that seemed to give access to the big square before the clock tower. He would need to plan his move carefully once he reached that building. Otherwise, the gun’s bullets would pierce him full of holes. He knew for instance that once he’d be down at the dark alley below him, the man would be ready to fire at him even blindly. Once the monsters attack him, it would be a signal for him to fire, even if it was carelessly done. After all, the street was narrow and he didn’t have much room to dodge or hide. There was no time to dwell on too much planning anyway, he decided to go down and improvise.

He went to the ground floor and opened the door that led towards the narrow street. He ran towards the closest enemy and raised him up with both arms. They were small and light, lifting them and holding them from their backs allowed Surgit to avoid their claws too. As he ran forward, the other two noticed him and dashed towards him. He tackled them using their friend as a shield and as he heard the gunshots, he braced himself for impact. The other two died instantly and he felt his body being pushed backwards as the other monster absorbed the bullets. He knew that he had only a few seconds left before its body got impaled and the bullets reached him. He pressed on and saw the opening that led towards the other street and then towards the next building, towards safety.

BOOM!

An explosion sent him flying several paces away from his previous objective. He was in great pain but he didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Surgit stood up, rolled to the side and picked up a corpse from the ground. He repeated the same manoeuver and, with all his strength, he pushed the succumbing beast-shield forward until he reached the opening. As soon as he glanced at the open space, he rolled to the side. He ran as fast as he could towards the building as bullets hit the ground beside his feet. Silence fell as he was finally inside the building, panting. His body ached and every movement was followed by intense jolts of pain that immobilized him. The adrenaline rush he experienced and the will to survive were the only things that kept him moving after that explosion.

Surgit peeked from the door through which he had just come. In the dark street, clay jars were displayed on the ground in a peculiar fashion. “The bastard had already installed some explosive shit in there!” screamed Surgit. He was faced to a cunning and very dangerous man. He injected himself with a blood vial and turned around. He had to reach the clock tower and bring this nightmare to an end.