Chapter 499: Facing Reality (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

"Only you can shoot, right? Only you're capable, huh?"

Song Ren, who had just been shot square in the face, quickly took two steps back to create distance, then hurriedly jabbed a Blood Vial into his thigh to restore his health.

Then he raised his hand and fired a shot at the Priest.

You have a gun? He has one too!

But after firing, Song Ren fell silent for a moment.

The shot from his opponent felt like a direct hit to an artery.

His own bullets, however, were purely dealing very low damage.

If he really had to kill this BOSS with gunshots, Song Ren estimated he'd have at least over a hundred new needle marks on both thighs. Why?

Because he'd have to exchange Blood Vials for bullets!

When he was team fighting monsters before, Song Ren had thought this Priest was just a pushover.

But facing him now, Song Ren felt an intense Sense of Oppression.

Before this, the Cleric Beast on the bridge, though appearing large and fierce.

In reality, its movements were very slow, and its aggressive intent wasn't that strong.

The Priest before him, however, was different. After closing the distance, he'd fire a shot, then grab his axe and rush forward with a furious assault.

He didn't even get a chance to try a Molotov cocktail to see how much damage it could do.

He had only managed to hit the Priest's health bar with three axe swings in total; the rest of the time was spent playing hide-and-seek among the gravestones in the graveyard and jabbing Blood Vials into his thigh.

"This BOSS is way too fierce, isn't he? Like a Mad Dog!"

"With these 20 Blood Vials, I don't think I can last much longer!"

Song Ren groaned incessantly. Initially, he'd felt that having 20 Blood Vials in this game made it far too easy.

What BOSS couldn't you slowly wear down with 20 Blood Vials?

Even though they couldn't be replenished by lamps, what was the big deal?

If you were careful fighting monsters along the way, Blood Vials would even drop. You'd never run out, right?

But fighting the Priest, Song Ren completely abandoned this idea. Although the Priest's attacks dealt high damage, they weren't instant kills, so he could usually create distance and recover by consuming Blood Vials.

But there was another serious problem: Blood Vials often put him in an awkward situation.

That is, his health wouldn't be quite full. Adding more health felt wasteful, but not adding it made him vulnerable to being instantly killed by the BOSS.

As a result, he was consuming Blood Vials much faster than Song Ren had anticipated.

He hadn't even figured out the Priest's attack patterns, and he'd already chugged seven Blood Vials. Including the two he used earlier fighting the werewolf and the Brick Wielder at the entrance,

He now only had 11 Blood Vials left, while the Priest's health was still around four-fifths full.

"Oh right, the music box!"

"Didn't the little girl say to play music if the Priest loses his mind?"

Song Ren suddenly remembered something, quickly equipped the music box, and used it.

He then saw Father Gascoigne clutch his head on the spot, falling into a confused state for at least two or three seconds, but he quickly woke up again, rushing forward and swinging his axe like a Mad Dog.

"So, this music box is for crowd control, letting me deal damage? But it can't be just a one-time use, right?!"

Song Ren understood at this point, but he quickly realized one crucial thing: if it was only a one-time use, he was finished.

So Song Ren used it again to test.

Seeing the Priest fall into a confused state once more, Song Ren was overjoyed.

"Invincible! Isn't this invincible!?"

With a Charged Attack, the Priest's health bar instantly dropped significantly. However, the Priest quickly shook his head and recovered, then gave him an axe swing in return, scaring Song Ren into hastily retreating and jabbing two Blood Vials to regain health.

"So that's how you beat this BOSS! Use the music box to make him confused while frantically attacking and dodging."

"At this time, players can seize the opportunity to attack!"

Seeing that the music box still worked, Song Ren's eyes lit up.

Mr. Chen is so sly!

Previously, all the windows in Yharnam were lit, but apart from the first one that provided a main quest-like hint,

The remaining Yharnam residents in the windows spoke without any politeness.

"You vile outsider," "get lost quickly," they would say without hesitation.

And windows related to quests were placed later.

If players ignored the window dialogue, they wouldn't get this music box and would only continue to suffer.

Song Ren felt he might have uncovered the truth of the matter. While giving himself a mental thumbs-up, he distanced himself from the Priest, preparing to use the music box again.

As the music box's sound began, Song Ren was stunned: this time, the Priest didn't clutch his head in confusion as before. Instead, he stood in place and let out a tragic, painful roar.

Next, the Priest's body suddenly swelled, and with a thunderous boom, dark ichor splattered from him.

The powerful shockwave sent Song Ren flying, but his health didn't drop at all; clearly, this aftershock carried no lethal force.

But Song Ren's attention wasn't on whether he lost health. Instead, he was looking bewildered at the direction where the Priest had been.

Because the original Priest had transformed into a giant werewolf.

His entire outfit had stretched and bulged from his beastly transformed body; he had become a completely crazed beast!

"Damn it! If you don't like repeat playback, you should've said so earlier! Can't I just change the song for you? Is there any need to transform like this?!"

How could Song Ren not understand now?

This Priest probably had different forms, just like Teacher Gundyr in Dark Souls.

Once his health was depleted to a certain stage, the Priest would transform into a werewolf, much like Gundyr becoming the Pus of Man in Dark Souls.

While using the music box could make the Priest confused, continuous use would cause him to transform into a werewolf prematurely.

Song Ren ran around the gravestones in Oedon Tomb; he had previously relied on this method to evade the Priest.

But now, with the Priest transformed into a werewolf, that tactic was completely useless against him.

The transformed Priest ripped apart the gravestone in front of him with one hand, then with a second swipe, directly sent Song Ren flying.

His full health bar immediately dropped by two-thirds.

"I'm finished! I'm finished! My Blood Echoes, they're all gone!" Song Ren yelled, guzzling Blood Vials as he frantically fled.

However, the transformed Priest's speed was much greater than his previous Hunter form.

Fortunately, besides the gravestones in the graveyard, there were also a few old crooked-necked trees, which the Priest in his werewolf form couldn't directly destroy.

Often relying on these trees, Song Ren performed "King Qin kiting around the pillar," barely managing to contend with the Priest.

But he could only run for his life, with no room to counterattack.

"Is the music box still useful?" Song Ren fumbled to activate the music box once more, but it had no effect whatsoever against the now completely frenzied Priest.

One minute later.

Looking at his remaining two Blood Vials, Song Ren finally made a decision.

That was...

To face reality!

[YOU DIED!]

Accompanied by the Priest's werewolf claws, three large characters appeared on Song Ren's screen.

At the same time, his Blood Echoes burst forth from his body.

In the Hunter's Dream, looking at his Blood Echoes, now reset to 0, Song Ren's entire little heart was trembling.

It was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking!

"Ah! My Blood Echoes!"

Song Ren let out a wail.

All his Blood Echoes were gone.

And the most crucial point was that he didn't have many Blood Vials left either.

So next, he would need to grind for Blood Vials!

And he couldn't die again in the process, or else the accumulated Blood Echoes would truly become mere memories.

Feeling stifled, it was unbearable.

(End of Chapter) <>