Chapter 180 Chen Xu Predicted Everything! (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 180 Chen Xu Predicted Everything! (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Facing the knight before him, Song Ren circled back and forth.

He couldn't help it—right now, he was overwhelmed with envy.

Why are we both Undead, both knights, yet your gear is so luxurious?

Bright silver knight armor, a Greatshield emblazoned with a violet pattern.

Now look at my shabby equipment.

The difference between knights is just too huge!

And didn't you say you were about to die and asked me to Link the Fire for you?

If you won't need your gear anymore, why not just hand it over?

Looking at his own Small Iron Shield, then at the other's magnificent shield, Song Ren felt genuine jealousy.

For a brief moment, he actually considered killing the knight and stripping the shield from his corpse.

But he managed to restrain himself.

Because he suspected this knight might be connected to the main story later on.

And based on his understanding of Dark Souls,

if he killed this knight right now, only two outcomes were possible.

First, the knight might be a respawnable NPC, like the Fire Keeper.

Second, the knight—who currently appeared sickly and claimed he was dying—might suddenly stand up full of vigor and lecture him about the virtues an Undead should possess.

So after careful consideration, Song Ren decided to quietly leave.

The world is beautiful. People, especially the Undead, shouldn't be so aggressive.

With full confidence, Song Ren continued forward, ascending the stairs to a corner.

Suddenly, two Hollows wielding short swords burst from the side, followed by an archer firing a cold arrow.

An arrow struck his chest directly, causing his character to pause slightly.

Immediately after, the two short sword-wielding Hollows unleashed a wave of relentless slashes.

Coordinated with the stun from the distant archer's arrow, the combo attack was seamless.

Compared to the minor health loss from arrow impacts, the damage from the short swords was borderline unreasonable.

And because being hit by an arrow caused a slight delay, there was no time to roll and dodge.

After a barrage of slashes, Song Ren's health bar was completely emptied.

"What just happened? How are these Hollows so fierce!?"

Staring at the familiar message on screen—"YOU DIED"—Song Ren was completely bewildered.

Earlier, right after escaping the prison cell, he had encountered Hollows before.

But why are they so deadly when armed!?

After respawning, Song Ren resolved to be extra cautious.

After all, he was playing Dark Souls!

He couldn't afford to let his guard down anymore.

Back on the second floor, Song Ren reminded himself sternly.

After respawning, he carefully aggroed the enemies and eliminated the archer and the two short sword Hollows.

Ahead was a corridor. Upon entering, he saw a phantom soldier holding a sword and shield.

Behind the phantom soldier was a locked door.

Instead of immediately entering the fog gate, Song Ren first challenged the phantom soldier.

But the enemy was surprisingly weak—Song Ren even felt it was less threatening than the previous duo of short sword Hollows supported by the archer.

"I only got this trash?" Picking up the white glow, Song Ren obtained a Hollow Soldier Shield. After checking its stats, he found it was nearly identical to his starting kite shield with tower emblem, except heavier—promptly rejected decisively by Song Ren.

With armor he couldn't even wear, why would he pick up a heavier shield?

Humming a tune, Song Ren approached the locked door, only to receive a message that froze him in place: No Key.

"Wait, wasn't my starting gift the Master Key? Even the Master Key can't open this broken door!?" Song Ren felt deeply frustrated.

If he couldn't pass through here, the only option left was the fog gate.

Entering the white fog gate, Song Ren found himself on the rooftop of the previous room, with the Asylum Demon below.

Beside the fog gate was an in-game message: "Plunging attack possible."

"This map design is awesome! It's all interconnected!" Song Ren couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Connected-level design was a major hallmark of Dark Souls.

So far in the Undead Asylum, Song Ren had already discovered three such interconnected areas—truly astonishing.

Clearly, the next step was to perform a plunging attack to execute the boss, just like fighting the Ancient Wyvern in the previous game.

With that thought, Song Ren smiled, sheathed his shield, and switched his weapon to two-handing mode.

"Can't touch me! Come on, hit me! Please, please come and kill me!" Standing on the balcony, imagining the perfect execution pose on the Asylum Demon below, Song Ren grinned triumphantly at the boss pacing below, glaring fiercely at him.

But the next moment, his smile froze.

The Asylum Demon below suddenly let out a roar, leapt up, and swung its hammer straight at the second floor where Song Ren stood.

With a thunderous crash, accompanied by screen shaking,

the floor beneath Song Ren collapsed, and his character plummeted, losing a large chunk of health.

Before he could even get up, the boss swung its demon sledge again for another hit.

"YOU DIED." The familiar three words appeared once more.

"Holy cow, I can't stall at all, or it'll just attack me directly!" Song Ren was completely stunned.

This was something he had never anticipated.

Even more crucially, a bronze trophy achievement titled "extreme joy turns to sorrow" popped up in the lower right corner.

Seeing the name of the trophy, Song Ren felt utterly frustrated.

So all of this was already within Chen Xu's calculations?

He anticipated that players would show off in front of the boss, so he designed this mechanic—delaying the attack, triggering it only after a pause.

Soon after, Song Ren respawned at the bonfire and returned to the balcony on the second floor of the Undead Asylum.

This time, he learned his lesson and didn't stand foolishly in place.

He jumped directly from the balcony, swinging his weapon down hard onto the boss's head.

Immediately, the boss's health dropped by half.

Having removed his heavy armor, Song Ren's agile body rolled on the ground and delivered a full set of foot massage combo to the boss.

"Now this is a proper attack!"

Watching the boss lose a substantial chunk of health, Song Ren sighed with emotion.

No more dealing very low damage—this time he dealt respectable damage. The difficulty felt entirely different.

Song Ren even felt this boss was weaker than Teacher Gundyr the Ash from the previous game. Unlike Gundyr, this boss didn't even have a second phase transformation.

"With a look like the Stray Demon, you're this weak? Just leave the group chat already—embarrassing!"

Rolling, then landing a couple of hits.

Soon, the boss let out a wail and collapsed dead.

Song Ren obtained a key to unlock the gate of the Undead Asylum and an item called humanity.

Using the key dropped by the boss, Song Ren opened the massive gate of the Undead Asylum.

He marched forward, and upon reaching the cliff at the back of the Asylum, successfully triggered a cutscene.

'According to ancient legend, a rare few chosen Undead may leave the Asylum and embark on a pilgrimage to distant lands.'

Accompanied by the background narration, a giant black bird suddenly descended from the sky, appearing before him—just like when he left the High Wall of Lothric after defeating the Ice Dog. It seized the protagonist and flew off into the distance.

'There lies the land of ancient kings... Lordran!'

Piercing through thick clouds, a magnificent ancient city-state came into view.

Yet it appeared utterly dead silent.

Finally, the bird dropped him into a scene resembling ruins.

At the center of the game screen, the region's name appeared: Firelink Shrine.

"Such a familiar place!"

Unlike the grand Firelink Shrine from the previous game, this one appeared somewhat primitive.

Completely different from his memory, it was even open-air.

In the center, a bonfire burned—a save point.

Looking around, the entire Firelink Shrine resembled a desolate ruin.

"The journey to Link the Fire has finally begun in earnest!" Song Ren sighed with emotion, gazing at the Firelink Shrine. Though different from the previous game, it was still the legendary starting point of a pilgrimage.

Even though he had naturally died four times in the Undead Asylum,

he could only say: no big deal!

(End of Chapter) <>