Trembling with Rage

Players in Nine Provinces were already mentally prepared for the grueling challenges of Lu Xiu's dungeons.

After all, it's not like I haven't played Sekiro before.

Moreover, players from Nine Provinces have already experienced the bizarre scenario of being forced to run around unarmed in a mental hospital, so they are truly mentally prepared for it.

But as it turns out...

They weren't mentally prepared enough.

Sekiro can be considered a Soulslike game has always been a subject of debate.

It's definitely difficult, but there's not that much malice involved.

In Sekiro, most player deaths are due to a lack of skill, a failure to master the rhythm of Deflect, or an inability to Mikiri Counter or jump when faced with Perilous Attacks.

After dying, players will complain about how difficult the game is, how difficult the moves are, and how monstrous the enemies are, but they will also berate themselves for being too greedy and for not being skilled enough.

Being hunted down unarmed in a mental hospital creates a purely oppressive atmosphere of terror. Players know their situation as a reporter and know that as long as they run fast enough and hide well enough, they can survive.

But in [Dark Souls]----

Let me put it this way.

In this instance, dying often has absolutely nothing to do with how well a player plays or how fast they run.

Players in Nine Provinces originally thought that the difficulty of the SSS dungeon lay in the high monster stats, dazzling moves, and the long process.

However, what Lu Xiu's [Dark Souls] initially showed was completely different. The most significant difficulty was actually a malicious attack on the player's psychology and habits.

Moreover, this kind of temperament is already evident in the very first map.

The Asylum Demon are a prime example.

The boss battle is right inside the entrance, and the exit door is barely noticeable; there's only a "Run!" message on the ground, right in the middle of the room.

Players are faced with Demon descending from the sky. They are clearly unable to confront it head-on and are forced to flee, yet they are not explicitly told to run. Coupled with the Demon's immense size and overwhelming presence, this forces players to lose their composure.

real.

It's like they've blatantly plastered the word "malice" on the players' faces.

But this is just the beginning.

There's more malice to come.

For example, there's the staircase with falling rocks, which is also a beginner map and has caused countless players to have a stroke on the spot.

When players finally escaped the Asylum Demon, followed the hidden passages to break free, and found a barely usable set of weapons and shields, they felt relieved, thinking they could finally explore and fight normally again.

A straight stone staircase appeared before them.

Based on players' experience in clearing dungeons, such narrow, straight passages with no branching paths and where you've just acquired equipment are often transitional zones leading to safe zones or the next story point.

Players are usually at their lowest level of alertness at this moment, their minds filled with thoughts of revenge and monster slaying.

Then, just as they were walking uphill without any warning, a huge iron ball suddenly rolled down with a dull rumble!

How can I describe this feeling?

It's like being blindfolded and led into a glittering Michelin three-star restaurant, listening to elegant classical music, and happily thinking you're about to enjoy a grand meal.

When the blindfold was removed, it was discovered that the chef, without saying a word, picked up a basin of steaming hot water and poured it over his face!

Are you crazy?!

At this moment, even the most knowledgeable players from Nine Provinces, who thought they had developed immunity to Lu Xiu's torment, broke down.

no.

Is that even possible?!

They considered the torment of dungeon runs.

But I never expected it to be so torturous.

This is just the beginning!

At least give me some breathing room!

Back in Sekiro, even with the frustrating sword-fighting mechanics, players could at least stealthily assassinate a few unsuspecting Ashina soldiers at the beginning. There was a long buffer and adaptation period between the spawn point and encountering the real elite enemy, the Samurai General.

The Dark Souls immediately attacked from both sides, slapping the player's buttocks several times.

This is absolutely outrageous!

[I'm laughing in exasperation! Lu Xiu! Why didn't you make that BOSS's little door a hidden door?! And that ridiculously overpowered "Run!" message, why didn't you tattoo it on the Asylum Demon's big butt?]

[I'm seriously speechless! What kind of hellish dungeon is this?! I just escaped from the secret passage, finally managed to find a straight sword and a broken wooden shield, and felt like I could finally stand up again, striding proudly up the stairs. And then justice just rained down from the sky! No way! Lu Xiu! Was it really necessary? If you wanted players to get the Estus Flask, you could have just created a hole! Was it really necessary?!]

[The second time I saw the Asylum Demon! Don't hesitate! Jump! Otherwise, that beast could smash the entire second-floor stands down with one blow! Then he'd sit on me and the rock, killing me instantly! Damn it!]

[Wait, this instance just opened, why is the forum already like this?]

[----]

On the forum.

It truly lives up to its SSS rating.

The power of the SSS-level dungeon was already evident shortly after it was released.

Judging from the forums alone, someone unfamiliar with the game might think that the players had reached the later stages of the dungeon and encountered an insurmountable obstacle.

And this is only for low to mid-level players.

As for the mid-level players...

At the same time.

Du Shu, who rose to fame in the [Sifu] dungeon, is currently struggling to survive in the Dark Souls dungeon.

Compared to Rein and Shen Nian, who entered the instance immediately.

He entered the instance a little later.

At the very beginning, he, like Rein, also experienced the initial encounter with the Asylum Demon and being crushed by the iron ball.

However, as a somewhat famous and talented player, he realized something was wrong with the dungeon after being disgusted three times. Then, with his decent tactical skills and caution, he managed to escape from the Northern Undead Asylum with great difficulty.

After all, he was used to Lu Xiu's alternate versions of himself.

When he saw the colossal eagle, which blotted out the sky, snatch him up, fly over the vast mountains, and finally land on the dilapidated Firelink Shrine.

He was actually in a very good mood.

"This is how Epic dungeon should start—the real adventure has finally begun."

Du Shu took a deep breath, feeling the cool breeze of the sacrificial site, and the gloom that had accumulated in the Undead Asylum was swept away.

The rest of the main story will definitely not be as disgusting, right?

Was the narrow, maliciously designed terrain of the Undead Asylum merely a beginner's trial set up by the Architect to weed out lower-level players?

Otherwise, there's really no way to fight.

As Du Shu pondered this, he sat down by the Bonfire at the Firelink Shrine.

"You can upgrade using your soul?"

After Du Shu sat down, explanations related to leveling up and souls immediately popped up. He looked at the tutorial window in front of him, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. "So that's how it is. After killing an enemy, you can obtain their soul, and then the soul can be used to level up—and you can pick it up again after dying and re-entering the dungeon? Wait, eight basic attributes?!"

soon.

Du Shu, who had brought up the dungeon character panel, saw something outrageous.

Unlike Lu Xiu's previous Sekiro, this dungeon features a total of eight basic attributes on the player's character panel!

In addition to the usual health points, strength and agility, there are even subdivisions such as intelligence, faith, memory, and endurance, as well as toughness, bleeding resistance, and poison resistance.

It's very complicated.

In some ways, it's even more complex than a real-world game panel.

Du Shu examined it carefully and gasped.

--It's safe to say that this is indeed an SSS-rated dungeon.

certainly.

That's not the point.

The key point is...

With so many basic attributes, plus the equipment slots already revealed on the panel, and various spells.

Just how big is this instance to support such a setting?

Du Shu dared not think about it anymore.

No wonder Lu Xiu had a Bonfire rest mechanism.

"Are they afraid that players will never be able to complete the game no matter what?"

Du Shu gave a wry smile, then pondered for a moment before finally following his instincts and adding all the souls he had plundered from the zombies to his [Power].

Then, he stood up and murmured softly, "Hopefully, the next part of the process won't be as malicious as the Undead Asylum, otherwise, such a long process—"

Du Shu shook his head, not wanting to think about it any further, because that possibility was too terrifying and impossible. He looked around and finally walked toward the Crestfallen Warrior NPC sitting on the ruins, looking somewhat dejected, and tried to strike up a conversation.

"Another new face—probably here for some mission to prevent the dead, right? Ha, we're all the same."

"It's all over when you're cursed. Staying in the Undead Asylum is the wise choice—why come out and suffer?"

"But it doesn't matter anyway, I'm just killing time anyway, so I'll teach you."

"There are two bells of Bells of Awakening mentioned in the mission of the Undead. One is located above this place, in the Bell Tower of the Undead Parish. The other is located deep below this place, in the ancient ruins beneath Blighttown. It is said that something will happen if these two bells are rung."

But who knows how it will turn out? At least for me, I've never heard of what happened afterward—anyway, it doesn't matter.

"Hurry up and get on your way. You came to this cursed land of the undead for this very reason, didn't you? Hahaha."

The Crestfallen Warrior rambled on and on.

His tone was laced with mockery and schadenfreude.

Du Shu probably understood that this was some kind of guidance.

As mentioned at the beginning of the previous instance, the Chosen Undead can travel to the Lordran and ring the Bells of Awakening.

But he still wanted a specific mission objective.

But.

No.

"So, like Sekiro, it doesn't have a traditional mission objective system?"

Du Shu surveyed the vast Firelink Shrine and, after reaching this conclusion, felt a headache coming on—this map was quite different from Sekiro's.

This is a well-connected network.

never mind.

Let's take it one step at a time.

After hesitating for a moment, Du Shu decided to trust Lu Xiu and headed straight for the most conspicuous path.

As it turned out, he made the right choice; this was indeed the normal path in the game.

Heading upwards.

Soon, he encountered undead soldiers carrying swords and shields.

This monster was equipped with far superior gear than the monsters in the Undead Asylum, so Du Shu was extremely cautious and used a roll to defeat it.

"The pressure is quite strong, but as long as you play steadily, it's actually not too bad. It's just that rolling around—"

As Du Shu pondered this, he continued walking up the slope.

Ahead, a zombie standing on a high place is throwing firebombs down.

Du Shu focused all his attention on the monster throwing the fire pot. He silently calculated the frequency of the throws in his mind, then suddenly accelerated and sprinted forward, preparing to seize the opportunity to kill it!

However, the terrain here is an uphill slope that veers to the right, with towering mountains on the left creating a perfect blind spot.

Just as Du Shu rushed forward, before he could even swing his sword!

From the shadows on the left, a zombie wielding a battle axe suddenly sprang out and delivered a leaping slash in mid-air!

"----?"

Before Du Shu could react, he was struck on the forehead with an axe, without even having a chance to roll away and create distance.

Bang!

The fire pot from above hit him squarely in the face.

[YOU DIED]

Du Shu was stunned; in an instant, his hands and feet turned ice-cold!

What the heck?

Are there still monsters there???

He remained silent for a moment, then re-entered the instance and arrived at the Firelink Shrine.

He ran over again.

This time he learned his lesson and kept an eye on the left side beforehand, finally managing to clear out all the monsters without any major incident.

"No, is it really that serious?!"

But Du Shu stood there, not happy at all; on the contrary, his sense of foreboding grew stronger.

Didn't they just come out of the Undead Asylum?

How could they be so vicious!

What on earth happened to Lu Xiu?!

This copy----

He remained silent for a long time, but in the end, he could only grit his teeth and continue forward, walking into the dark and narrow sewer.

Because it was too dark, he couldn't see anything clearly, but he saw a white thing shining in the distance, and instinctively reached out to explore it.

Halfway there.

Pfft!

A sharp pain shot through Du Shu's groin, and he couldn't help but scream.

At the same time, his health bar suddenly dropped significantly, and a pale green hue, indicating [poisoning], appeared at the edge of his vision.

He turned his head sharply in horror and saw a huge rat, its body covered in pustules and its size comparable to a wild dog, crawling out from a blind spot behind him and biting his buttocks!

Behind the sewer entrance, there's a recessed space, specifically designed to hide monsters that bite people's butts!

Despite the excruciating pain, Du Shu managed to kill the Giant Rat in a disheveled state.

Then, after the poison buff wore off, standing in the foul-smelling sewage, looking at her nearly depleted health bar, she uttered a question from the depths of her soul, "No way! Lu Xiu —was it really necessary?!"

At this moment, his hands and feet grew even colder.

What the hell!

Use Bai Guang to attract them from the front, and put mice in the back to bite their rear ends!

What the hell is this?! How could anyone be so inhumane?!

Du Shu drank from the Estus Flask while taking deep breaths. He finally managed to calm himself down before continuing his actions, cautiously making his way forward in the dark.

One minute later.

finally.

He emerged from the sewer and came to the bottom of an upward staircase.

On the long staircase, a faint light shone at the top, as if foreshadowing hope.

Seeing the light at the top of the stairs, Du Shu breathed a slight sigh of relief and immediately ran up.

This is human instinct.

After all, nobody wants to stay in a dark sewer.

However.

He had just run up the steps, ready to greet the sunlight—

I turned around and saw two little monsters.

The monster closest to the stairs saw him, leaped up, and slashed at his head with its blade.

Du Shu: "----"

A sharp pain struck.

The health bar instantly dropped by a large chunk.

Du Shu was completely bewildered.

Then it suddenly dawned on me.

My heart rate jumped to 180 beats per minute!!

Roll!!!

He just started rolling around randomly.

After finally managing to defeat the two monsters...

Du Shu's hands and feet grew even colder—he was even trembling with anger.