Chapter 114: This Is Beyond Ridiculous!

As Zhang Yi rushed forward, the Crystal Lizard opposite let out a furious roar and suddenly leapt into the air.

Seeing the Crystal Lizard turning toward him, Zhang Yi instinctively performed a rolling dodge.

But the timing was incredibly awkward.

During the rolling action, the rolling skill grants a brief window of Invincibility Frames.

Within this invincibility period, the player becomes immune to damage from monster attacks.

However, this invincibility window only lasts for a very short duration.

So if the roll is executed too early or too late, the player will still take damage.

Zhang Yi’s roll was clearly too late—he not only failed to align the Invincibility Frames with the Crystal Lizard’s attack, but he didn’t even escape the attack range.

With a thunderous ‘boom,’ the Crystal Lizard landed on the ground, and blue crystalline Spikes erupted around it. At the same time, Zhang Yi lost nearly half of his health.

Meanwhile, ‘123’ was violently knocked backward by the shockwave.

“Damn it! What kind of damage is this?” Zhang Yi, sitting in front of the computer, was completely stunned.

Was this damage output seriously this high?

He got slapped once and lost nearly half his health?

In that instant, Zhang Yi panicked.

He performed two consecutive Donkey Rolls to create distance, then switched to a Fruit Pulp Orange Juice and took a sip, replenishing the lost health.

But at that moment, the Crystal Lizard charged again.

Facing the charging monster, Zhang Yi didn’t attempt another roll. Instead, he pressed the right mouse button, opting to block with his Small Wooden Shield.

However, his stamina hadn’t fully recovered from the previous consecutive rolls. As the Crystal Lizard struck him twice, his remaining stamina bar was completely drained.

In the game setting of Dark Souls, stamina is arguably more important than health in certain situations.

Health might look good on screen, but if your stamina is gone, no amount of lives will save you.

With his stamina depleted, Zhang Yi watched helplessly as ‘123’ entered a flinch/stun state, standing motionless like a complete idiot.

At that moment, the Crystal Lizard’s claw delivered a powerful slap, sending ‘123’ flying once again.

“What the hell? Why is my health bar as fragile as paper?” Zhang Yi finally realized something was seriously wrong.

If the earlier Mount Tai Crushing attack was a special skill, he could accept that.

But why did a Regular slap take away a third of his health?

Granted, he was a Deprived with nothing but a pair of underwear.

But the monster’s damage was just absurdly terrifying!

“Didn’t the in-game message tell you to turn back? Clearly, this isn’t a monster you can handle!” Wang Han, sitting beside him, laughed joyfully.

Because she was about to get her turn to play.

“Hey! Fight back! Why are you just doing Donkey Rolls over and over?”

“Your stamina is gone again!”

“Fight back! Are you waiting for this monster to die of exhaustion?”

Under normal circumstances, Zhang Yi would have snapped back with a retort, but right now, he had absolutely no time.

If he had to summarize his current state in one book title, it would be Sense of Oppression.

The pressure was just too overwhelming!

This Sense of Oppression was simply too intense!

The Crystal Lizard in front of him seemed to have gone mad, attacking him relentlessly.

Charges, bites, lunges, and even a Rolling Wheel Attack-like move—all delivered at an extremely high frequency.

It was completely Impossible to Guard Against.

“How the hell do I fight this thing? It’s not even that meaty, but I can’t even touch it!” After drinking his last Fruit Pulp Orange Juice, Zhang Yi watched helplessly as the Rolling Wheel Attack mercilessly crushed ‘123’ in-game.

He was utterly defeated.

This was like Ridiculous’s mother opening the door for Ridiculous—this was Ridiculous to the extreme!

Accompanied by a piercing scream from ‘123’ in the game, the character dropped to his knees. The Crystal Lizard turned away with obvious disdain.

The screen slowly shifted from bright red to dark red, then to black and white, accompanied by a sorrowful death BGM.

In the center of the screen, a large text appeared—【YOU DIED】

At the same time, a bronze trophy achievement notification popped up in the bottom right corner.

【First (achievement)】

In Dark Souls, Chen Xu had added many collectible achievements.

Just like in his previous life with PS, he implemented a tiered trophy system with Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. Completing all achievements would grant a Platinum Trophy.

For the platform, this served as a significant factor in increasing user retention.

After all, in his previous life, many players were trophy collectors, and even entire trophy-centric games emerged. Some game developers specifically created games where earning a Platinum Trophy was easy, turning it into a livelihood.

Looking at the achievement trophy that just popped up, Zhang Yi, sitting in front of the computer, felt a bit intrigued—but mostly just Speechless.

How long had it been? He’d already lost his first life?

While sighing with emotion, Zhang Yi vacated his seat.

He had barely warmed the chair!

Wang Han happily took his place, testing out the basic actions in the Cemetery of Ash.

But soon, she shrieked in shock: “My money! Why did all my souls disappear after I died!?”

In the UI display at the bottom right corner showing soul count, there was only an empty 0.

Checking other parts of the game, it was clear this wasn’t a case of loading a save. Rather, it was simply how the game was designed.

“This is probably just part of the game’s setting. But if you go back to where the Crystal Lizard was, you should be able to recover them,” Zhang Yi speculated, secretly hoping she’d go back.

“No way I’m going back!” Wang Han pouted.

Did she look stupid?

She couldn’t beat the Crystal Lizard even if she went back. She might not even see the dropped souls, and even if she did, she might die again trying to retrieve them—essentially just relocating her grave!

And more importantly, if she died, it would just be someone else’s turn again, right?

“That monster clearly isn’t meant for the early game. The game even told you to turn back. Only you, you big dummy, charged right in,” Wang Han said, then contentedly chose the other path leading to the cliff.

The enemies along the way were just those weak Hollows that could be taken down in two hits—total pushovers.

She successfully lit the first bonfire and continued advancing.

Following a system prompt, she even executed a ‘descend from the sky’ staff technique, smashing a Hollow’s head into pieces.

Although the in-game actions were extremely simple and plain,

it had to be said—these simple slashing movements,

when combined with the satisfying sound effects upon hitting monsters,

felt incredibly good.

But soon, Wang Han also took her first hit in the game.

When approaching a large door, a Hollow Archer standing nearby caught her off guard with an arrow.

Her health bar dropped by about a quarter.

Looking at the health bar in the top-left corner, Wang Han suddenly had a bad feeling.

One arrow took away nearly a quarter of her health?

With mild OCD, she drank an Estus Flask to replenish her health to full.

“Isn’t that normal? I got slapped by the Crystal Lizard and lost half my health. The Deprived isn’t wearing anything, so how could they possibly be tanky?” Zhang Yi said from the side.

“That actually makes sense,” Wang Han nodded.

Yeah, that was true!

Wasn’t there a difference between a blade hitting armor versus hitting bare meat?

Her previously anxious heart settled a bit. Wang Han passed through the ancient bronze Conduit and entered a courtyard.

In the distance stood Gundyr the Ash, his chest pierced by a Coiled Sword. Seeing this BOSS, both Wang Han and Zhang Yi’s eyes lit up.

They recognized this BOSS!

This was the same BOSS that had been easily defeated in the online press conference video earlier. No wonder he looked so weak back then—he was just the Newbie Village BOSS!

Instead of rushing forward to trigger the interaction button and awaken the BOSS, Wang Han first took a moment to examine the courtyard.

But soon, she noticed something that shocked her.

“My god! This courtyard…”

Wang Han’s eyes widened. Nobody could have imagined what she was seeing!

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