Chapter 688: Just You Wait, I'll Make You Cry Later! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

After bypassing the samurai from before, Zhang Yi felt completely energized.

As a veteran Firelinker, he could be said to have experienced countless battles. This trap could be broken with a little observation, couldn't it?

Most players, seeing this samurai and the city gate behind him, would first react by defeating this samurai and then proceeding through the main gate.

But as a Souls-like player who enjoys thinking, he clearly saw a small path nearby without any fog.

Thinking carefully, isn't this just the trick from the Undead Asylum in the Dark Souls Prequel?

Old Song, that shouldn't be!

Thinking of Old Song from their previous voice chat, Zhang Yi, who had already reached below the broken bridge, couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Then he called Song Ren's voice channel.

Returning wealthy without showing off is like walking in embroidered clothes at night.

And since he so cleverly discovered Mr. Chen's traps and schemes, doesn't he also need to show off a bit?

“Old Song, have you passed it? I've already beaten this BOSS.” Zhang Yi said, laughing heartily to Song Ren after the call connected.

On the other side, Song Ren, who had just barely taken down Yamauchi Shikibu Toshikatsu's first health bar and was then cleaved to death by a single strike, was completely stunned upon hearing Zhang Yi's voice in the chat.

“What the heck, Old Zhang, you passed it in just one or two tries? Are you cheating?” Song Ren was utterly shocked.

To be honest, he didn't really feel the BOSS in front of him was that difficult.

After dying six or seven times consecutively, he had basically figured out the BOSS's attack patterns, which were just simple three-pronged attacks, and their weaknesses were easy to spot.

The first move was a vertical slash, the second was two horizontal sweeps left and right, and the third, after creating some distance, would be a Split Mount Hua with Force just like Brother Gundyr in Dark Souls.

Aside from that, there were no additional moves. Ash Judgment Gundyr, at least, would enter its Pus of Man second form after losing half its health.

But this guy was purely a 'useless person,' his attack animations were so slow, as if afraid others wouldn't be able to dodge.

But if this were in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, Song Ren actually wouldn't find this small BOSS difficult.

However, under the combat system of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Song Ren felt that the combat style and approach were completely different.

Initially, he was fighting it with the combat style of Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Which meant slashing twice and dodging twice, but he found the damage to be extremely low.

Simply relying on depleting the health bar, he didn't know how many times he would have to hit it, and he only had one Healing Gourd.

Clashing swords head-on with it, its Posture Bar did indeed rise very quickly.

However, there was also a significant drawback, which was the absence of a stamina bar in the game, making the combat feel very fluid and exhilarating.

But it made him involuntarily want to keep slashing; this unique combat system paradoxically made the game feel more difficult for him.

However, he also discovered one thing, which was that the sense of frustration in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was not as strong compared to Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Mainly, it felt really satisfying to fight, with the 'clanging' sounds of deflecting and sword clashing, and the rapidly rising Posture Bar of the enemy upon a perfect deflection, as well as the bright sparks flying out – it was simply exhilarating.

But now Old Zhang was telling him that he had already passed it?

One must know that in their previous voice chat, the other party's progress was behind his own!

“Cheating? What are you talking about? I'm a green player! I won't talk to you anymore, I'm going to continue advancing the story. If you get stuck later, ask me!” Zhang Yi said, chuckling cheerfully, then hung up the voice chat.

Continuing to walk forward, Zhang Yi accidentally fell off the bridge. At first, he panicked slightly.

But soon he found that his health had not been deducted; apparently, in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the damage from high-altitude falls was very forgiving.

Such a height would have been enough to kill several Undead and Geralt, but for Wolf, he didn't even lose a sliver of health. After eliminating two lizards in the water, Zhang Yi used a double jump from the nearby wall to return to the previous city wall and followed the edge of the wall all the way to the secret passage entrance mentioned during his previous conversation with Kuro.

Upon reaching the entrance of the secret passage, Zhang Yi triggered the game's cutscene. Wolf pulled out the Young Lord's whistle from his pocket and blew it.

After two or three seconds, Kuro was already at the agreed-upon tunnel entrance.

Passing through this tunnel-like passage, they arrived outside.

A patch of white reeds. The ground was filled with various weapons. In the distance, a samurai stood with his back to them, gazing at the distant full moon.

‘It's been a long time, Young Lord.’

‘We haven't met since we parted ways at my uncle's grave, have we?’

The samurai under the moon slowly turned around, looking at Wolf and the Young Lord.

‘Lord Genichiro… I…’

Stopping Kuro, who wanted to step forward, Wolf stared at Genichiro, his hand gripping his sword hilt.

‘Please, leave this to me.’

‘Do you intend to stand in my way? The Young Lord's shinobi.’

As the two exchanged glances, the game's UI appeared the next second, officially entering a BOSS battle.

‘Genichiro Ashina, joining the battle…’

“This BOSS seems to be the one from the previous promotional trailer? The kind that Wolf easily defeats, and then has no choice but to call out the BOSS Isshin Ashina?” Zhang Yi smacked his lips and didn't pay much attention to this BOSS named Genichiro Ashina.

However, upon entering the combat phase, Zhang Yi instantly felt that things were different.

The previous minor mobs could completely be called idiots.

They walked like old grandmas crossing the street, and their attacks were sluggish.

But Genichiro, right before his eyes, fully demonstrated what it meant for 'blade like lightning, body like a swift wind'.

A charge, followed by a two-hit combo and a horizontal sweep, he couldn't even react before Genichiro's sweep emptied his health bar.

The next moment, Zhang Yi saw in the cutscene, Wolf's hand was directly severed by Genichiro's blade.

“So that's how the prosthetic arm in the promotional CG animation came about?”

Zhang Yi smacked his lips, but didn't feel any sense of frustration; after all, it was just a story kill.

He had been a little curious before, as Wolf's left hand was clearly intact, how exactly it turned into a prosthetic arm in the game.

Now he had the answer.

After severing Wolf's hand, what left Zhang Yi speechless was that this guy in front of him didn't forget to mock him.

‘Is this all a shinobi amounts to?’

‘I shall take the Young Lord with me.’

“You've never won before, have you? Just you wait, when I get stronger, I'll make you cry!” After being directly provoked, Zhang Yi couldn't help but grit his teeth.

After a brief black screen, the scene reappeared. Wolf appeared in a ruined temple, having been rescued by someone called the Sculptor.

And he also obtained a prosthetic limb capable of firing a grappling hook.

Sculptor's Idols and a physician named Emma who appeared after resting, by talking, allowed him to get what were called Gourd Seeds to increase his Healing Gourd uses.

Clearly, this was Sekiro's Fire Keeper.

A definite Souls-like game setting.

However, currently he couldn't upgrade, nor could he learn skills or shop.

Evidently, some prerequisites needed to be met, just as the Doll in Bloodborne requires Insight to awaken.

Besides, on a small path nearby, he also saw an Undying Swordsman with whom he could practice moves.

This character was likely analogous to the Crestfallen Warrior or Gehrman. After confirming there was nothing else, Zhang Yi was ready to officially begin his exploration.

“Next, it's time to showcase my skills!”

“Kuro, just wait for me in peace. I'll beat the living daylights out of Genichiro and rescue you!”

Gripping the Kusabimaru in his hand, Zhang Yi said, with a great sense of immersion.

(End of Chapter) <>