Cheng Tian's introduction to the concept of "Treasure Chest Monsters" had come from Demon World Village—more precisely, Great Demon World Village.
Great Demon World Village could be seen as an enhanced version of Demon World Village. The story progression remained completely unchanged, while the visuals, performance, mechanics, and other aspects had been improved, making the game more enjoyable but also far more difficult.
Arcade platformers were all about eating coins to make money.
A special callout for Captain Hook: after clearing the game, it seamlessly looped back to the first stage. It was not even particularly hard, practically letting players freeload on a single coin while wasting electricity. No wonder Cheng Tian had barely seen it in Chinese arcades when he was young.
Great Demon World Village itself had a "treasure chest" mechanic. Those chests could yield different weapons and armor exclusive to Arthur, but they could also conceal Vampire Magicians capable of using "Polymorph (Duck)" on Players.
Treasure chests dropped loot. Treasure Chest Monsters ate people.
Those transformed into ducks temporarily lost every means of attack, leaving only ordinary jumping ability. The spell's effect was comparable to the "Polymorph" spells in Dungeons & Dragons or Warcraft, except the latter two were more inclined to turn creatures into harmless sheep.
Furthermore, Phone Bro had no relevant resistance whatsoever, and there was almost no magic power in his body capable of countering spells. This polymorph would likely last even longer than expected.
Although the opening scene of this dungeon came from the NES version, that did not stop Cheng Tian from remaining wary because of the arcade version.
As it turned out, his caution had been correct. Someone tested it firsthand.
"Kekekeke~~~"
The Vampire Magician let out a string of harsh laughs like an elder from the Soul Hall while admiring the masterpiece created by his polymorph.
Phone Bro, now transformed into a duck, had no idea what was happening to him. Yet this polymorph had a peculiar trait: it also bestowed the characteristics of the transformed creature, and the transformed person's physical instincts would likewise lean toward that creature.
Several zombies farther outside twisted their bodies, trying to eat an unroasted live duck, but the terrified and frantic Phone Duck was already flapping his wings and darting about wildly.
To be honest, he was pretty nimble. He could even manage brief flight.
Combined with the movement pattern he had observed while hiding near Cheng Tian and the others—that the zombies only excelled at walking in straight lines—the zombies truly could not catch him for the moment... provided the Red-Eyed Crows did not interfere.
As living corvids rather than corpses, Red-Eyed Crows possessed exceptionally high intelligence among birds. Unlike the zombies that only lowered their heads and charged, after several of their companions had their heads precisely blown apart by the whip's tip, they simply kept far away from Cheng Tian and instead began pecking at the scraps of human flesh being torn apart by the zombies.
High intelligence often meant they did not act solely to survive. After satisfying their basic desires, corvid bigwigs would find their own amusement—and a plump live duck was clearly very good entertainment.
Suddenly, the Vampire Magician who had still been admiring his polymorph shuddered. He sensed an extremely chilling gaze.
Almost without thinking, the magician wrapped his body in his red cloak and vanished into thin air, just as abruptly as he had appeared when he was a Treasure Chest Monster.
On the other side, Cheng Tian, standing atop the low hill, withdrew his gaze from the magician's back.
Cheng Tian felt not the slightest emotional stir over Phone Bro's actions, whether he had been snatching treasure chests or courting death. He might even have wanted to applaud the kid for testing the waters in his place. But when he saw the magician cast polymorph, his hunting instincts abruptly surged forth, and even the whip handle clenched in his hand faintly began to heat up.
The Vampire Hunter Template Cheng Tian had loaded indeed covered a broad hunting range. All Dark Creatures and evil creatures were on its hunting list. But just as the Template's name suggested, killing other monsters was merely incidental. Killing vampires was the real profession.
Just like the ranger class in Dungeons & Dragons, the Belmont Family had chosen "vampires" as their Nemesis, remaining endlessly entangled across countless generations.
Onii-chan~ Please party up with me and kill vampires for the rest of our lives.jpg
After lashing out with his whip, Cheng Tian clenched his teeth and pursed his lips, producing a sharp, strange sound like a rat's squeak. One-Ear, worried and angry at his roommate at the same time, heard it, saw it, and quickly understood.
It was some kind of warning that could not be spoken aloud.
Although he did not know why Cheng Tian was doing this, One-Ear chose to trust him. While chopping zombies, he devoted part of his attention to guarding against something.
Then, just as their lines of sight overlapped and both exposed the blind spot behind their heads, the flamboyant vampire in blue appeared.
With a cape-spreading flourish like a pervert revealing himself, he flung out a second "Polymorph" missile formed from a six-pointed star. Naturally, it had only one target: Cheng Tian, his fellow Nemesis.
This Nemesis business went both ways. The Belmont Family had become the eternal Nemesis of Dracula and his vampire monster spawn, but this also meant that generation after generation, they would suffer Dracula's curse. That was the price.
Though One-Ear was brave, he had not entered this Vampire Magician's field of view in the slightest... and Cheng Tian understood that perfectly through his Nemesis instincts.
It was worth mentioning that when the caster hurled out this polymorph, Phone Bro, who was still flapping about in the graveyard and trying to evade pursuit, suddenly transformed back with a bang!
It was not because the time had run out, but because the effect had been terminated.
That clearly meant his polymorph most likely had the attribute of "only affecting a single target at a time."
But just as the gust from that spell missile was about to smack into the back of Cheng Tian's head, a zombie's fist struck first, smashing into the arms Cheng Tian had crossed in front of his chest to block—
He had actually deliberately chosen not to dodge or defend against the zombie's attack!?
Then something miraculous happened.
The polymorph missile that should have directly struck the back of Cheng Tian's head and turned him into a plump white duck instead passed straight through his body, then blasted directly into the zombie amid its vacant expression!
A familiar Special Effect appeared, producing a Zombie Duck that looked as if it had been air-dried for who knew how long, with grayish-white wings and a shriveled body.
Not only had Cheng Tian dodged the polymorph with some inexplicable ability, he had even used the rapid three-meter backward leap to turn and sprint the instant he landed, pouncing straight at the Vampire Magician!
This strange scene had occurred entirely because Cheng Tian had made use of a Passive Skill that came with his loaded Template.
[Damage Dodge: Template Skill, Passive Skill. A NES Castlevania game mechanic loathed by countless Players, yet in the eyes of experts, it had the potential to become an aid. When you suffer one effective hit from an enemy, your entire body enters a stiffened state, and you are forcibly knocked backward a short distance. At the same time, you gain "Phase Shift" for 3 seconds. The stiffened state can only be lifted after landing. During Phase Shift, you have no collision volume with enemies or teammates. You will not suffer ordinary damage, but your effective attacks can still hit enemies. If you remain overlapping with a teammate or enemy when Phase Shift ends, then after the effect ends, you will suffer massive damage and trigger Damage Dodge again.]
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