Chapter 116: As If the Clouds Parted to Reveal the Blue Sky

Chapter 116: As If the Clouds Parted to Reveal the Blue Sky

"Could it be that we're playing the game wrong?"

Wang Han turned to Zhang Yi beside her, her face filled with bewilderment.

This game… something was off!

"I have no idea either!"

After holding back for a long time, Zhang Yi finally blurted out a sentence.

How could he know if she didn't?

Although watching Wang Han get tormented by Ash Judgment Gundyr had been quite entertaining,

the truth was, he didn't think he'd fare much better. Judging from his earlier encounter with the Crystal Lizard,

this Ash Judgment Gundyr seemed to be of a similar level.

"And what's the point of that burial gift? It turned me into a stone block and then vanished?" Wang Han was utterly speechless.

Having already vacated the seat, she watched Zhang Yi use the Twigs from birth selection. The transformation on screen was completely different from what she'd imagined.

In her fantasy, it should've been a transformation talisman.

And since Dark Souls, according to the tags in the game store, was a dark fantasy story,

surely it would include races like Elves, Dwarfs, Dragons, and Goblins?

The Twigs must be related to Elves. In her mind, using them should transform her into an Ancient Elf, with all stats and skills maxed out.

But reality?

She'd merely turned into a stone block, reverting back upon taking a single hit.

The gap between expectation and reality was just too wide!

After respawning before the bonfire, it was now Zhang Yi's turn to control the in-game character '123'.

However, Zhang Yi immediately noticed a serious issue.

"Why are all the mobs on this path alive again?!"

Staring at the Hollows that had respawned ahead, Zhang Yi was stunned.

He'd originally assumed that the thing called a bonfire was just a save point.

Dying and returning should've been like loading a save file. But now it clearly wasn't that simple.

Resting at a bonfire caused the mobs along the path to respawn.

Although he hadn't progressed further, in that instant, Zhang Yi already sensed that the water temperature had started to rise.

The distance from the first bonfire to the BOSS room of Ash Judgment Gundyr wasn't far, nor was it complicated.

But the key point was—this was only the beginning of the game!

If this mechanic persisted later on, and he died somewhere along the way without having lit a bonfire, wouldn't he have to run the entire path again?

Unintentionally, Zhang Yi had uncovered a truth about the game.

Yet despite his shock, he didn't delve deeper at that moment. He simply accepted it as a difficulty mechanism built into the game.

Right now, Zhang Yi's biggest challenge remained the BOSS known as 'Ash Judgment Gundyr'.

Rather than rushing straight into the BOSS fight, he first circled around the Cemetery of Ash to confirm there was no alternate route.

Only then did he realize one thing:

This Ash Judgment Gundyr was the Newbie Village BOSS!

"Didn't one of the in-game messages teach Perfect Guard? During the online press conference, Mr. Chen's Actual Gameplay Demonstration showed blocking this BOSS and dealing massive damage with a single counter!" Wang Han offered her suggestion.

"But… my shield doesn't seem to allow Perfect Guard!" Looking at his broken wooden shield, Zhang Yi pressed the button and watched as the bare-chested '123' charged forward with the Small Wooden Shield.

As for bare-handed parrying, there had been no hint in the system's messages, so naturally Zhang Yi had no idea about it.

Though honestly, even if he had known, it might not have made a difference.

"I'll try again—dual-wielding seems to boost attack power with weapon art." Eyeing his Small Club and broken wooden shield, Zhang Yi decided to challenge the BOSS once more.

Carefully clearing the Hollows blocking his path, Zhang Yi soon reached the BOSS area again.

The stone gate was now shrouded in a thick white mist.

Upon approaching and triggering it, the character entered the room. At the same time, in the distance, Ash Judgment Gundyr was no longer in his stone statue form.

Instead, he patrolled back and forth with a halberd. On the ground nearby, among the bloodstains left by other players, was a green residue—the souls dropped upon death.

"Come on! Let's have a fair and honorable duel!" Switching to dual-wield mode and releasing a War Cry, Zhang Yi noticed a new symbol appear beneath the status bar in the upper left corner—a weapon icon with a plus sign, clearly indicating increased attack power.

Canceling dual-wield, Zhang Yi bravely charged forward.

"General Gu, your halberd technique is impressive!"

"Let me take a sip of Fruit Pulp Orange Juice! Ambushing me? That's not honorable, General Gu!"

"This broken wooden shield! My stamina bar empties in one hit? What's there to be proud of with your weapon advantage… scoundrel! Drop your weapon—we'll fight barehanded!"

The room echoed with shouts of powerless rage.

One minute later, the familiar screen reappeared—those three words again.

Zhang Yi's brows were heavy with seriousness.

"This game… it's so hard!" Wang Han, seeing that Ash Judgment Gundyr had lost only about a quarter of his health, finally sighed with emotion.

Hearing that, Zhang Yi instinctively nodded in agreement.

"How is Ash Judgment Gundyr this strong? Like Lu Bu reborn! Who can possibly beat him? Is Nebula Games fooling around? Did they mess up the Numerical Design?" Zhang Yi said, still trembling with lingering fear.

This Dark Souls had certainly given him a stern warning—and a massive one at that.

Having never experienced this type of game before, this was just way too hard!

"That can't be right. Large-scale games like this are thoroughly tested before launch. They wouldn't allow such an issue. Besides, during the launch event, they demonstrated it—Perfect Guard must be a crucial skill in this game. A successful counter leads to an execution that deals massive damage!" Wang Han shared her speculation.

Zhang Yi, who had just stood up to give her space, suddenly had a flash of inspiration. It was as if a bolt of lightning had torn through the darkness, dispelling the fog ahead.

"I get it! I understand! That's how it works!" Zhang Yi beamed with excitement, as if he'd just solved a difficult problem back in high school.

"Remember what class the character in the launch demo was? A Knight! A Knight with a built-in shield, sword, and armor! It's not just a Class—Dark Souls must integrate difficulty and Class into its core setting!"

"Why can't the Deprived's Small Wooden Shield perform Perfect Guard? That's to increase difficulty, forcing players to rely on positioning and rolling to fight Ash Judgment Gundyr. But the Knight comes with a full set of equipment, drastically lowering the difficulty!" Zhang Yi said triumphantly.

Wang Han thought it over carefully and found it actually made sense.

Seemed plausible!

"So… should we create a new save file?" Wang Han asked.

"Absolutely!" Zhang Yi was brimming with excitement and pride, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the blue sky.

Undeniably, as a game player, Zhang Yi was quite experienced.

But this reasoning of his…

Well, it was correct—but not entirely.

His problem-solving approach was sound. The answer, however…

(End of Chapter) <>