How Did It Come to This

The race has reached its fifth day.

Ultimately, Prison Rock was powerless to reverse the situation.

The countdown for the race phase is about to reach zero.

The advantage that Nine Provinces gained in the first clear speedrun of [Dark Souls] is now irreversible.

Even if players who have had a mental breakdown in Prison Rock manage to adjust their mindset, they simply cannot regain a normal pace of clearing the game in a short period of time, let alone if they change their strategy.

And with the dust settling on the race...

Having seemingly confirmed their victory, the Coordination Bureau quickly shifted its strategy, no longer rushing to push more second- and third-tier players to force their way through the main storyline.

Since there's no need to rush, there's no need for everyone to go to the Kiln of the First Flame as firewood.

Instead, they dispatched a large number of elite troops to immediately turn their attention to attacking Oolacile and the Painted World.

Since I'm not worried about wasting time, I might as well familiarize myself with the mechanics, terrain, and bosses of these two independent maps before the big battle breaks out, so I won't be completely clueless.

There's just not much time left.

Adding the two separate maps makes it even more tedious, allowing only a cursory glance.

They're not as familiar with it as they are with Prison Rock.

On the other side...

Lu Xiu was not idle during this time either.

In addition to creating the Sister Friede and Father, Lu Xiu also plans to create another heavyweight BOSS, placing it in a separate area of the main body, adding another powerful element to the upcoming group battle.

But after thinking it over, she still couldn't come up with a suitable boss.

She did consider becoming Nameless King.

But after thinking it over carefully, he ultimately shook his head.

Making players directly fight against Nameless King is just too unfair.

Although the Sister Friede were quite bullying.

But isn't that part of the Painted World?

However, the most important point is still...

Lu Xiu genuinely didn't know how to get the [Archdragon Peak] map.

If we insist on doing it, then we'll have to forcibly insert a magnificent ruin built on top of a sea of clouds into the original structure.

That still makes it a separate map, doesn't it?

Moreover, the workload is too great.

That's too much trouble.

After much deliberation, Lu Xiu finally decided to abandon the Firstborn of the Sun and set her sights on another target.

Continue working on the Dark Souls III DLC.

She planned to throw [Darkeater Midir] into her main body.

This boss is undoubtedly incredibly challenging for players, and most importantly, Lu Xiu had already created a character build for it during the previous test.

Whether it's the raging Dragon Charge, the overwhelming flames, or the devastating Abyss Laser, all the stats, framework, and judgment are readily available and mature.

She doesn't even need to spend much time; just adjusting the stats and adding the entire backstory is enough to make it appear.

"Perfect."

Lu Xiu looked at the tragic descendants of the Ancient Dragon not far away and nodded in satisfaction.

The BOSS has now been constructed.

As for where to put it----

Lu Xiu opened the map of Dark Souls again.

Such a large Abyss Fatalis cannot be simply stuffed into the city wall or sewers.

It requires a sufficiently large space.

Speaking of which...

Lu Xiu's most memorable dragon-type boss in the Soul series is still the Bayle the Dread.

The entire Shadow of the Erdtree DLC received extremely negative reviews.

That great one, the super numerical monster, the Promised Consort Radahn, has tormented countless Faded Ones.

To say that this DLC has no redeeming qualities would be to underestimate FS.

The storyline of the Bayle the Dread left a deep impression on Lu Xiu.

It started when they met Igon.

We marched up the Jagged Peak, braving the thunder.

Whether it's the Epic feel of the storms and thunder along the way, the remains of dragons scattered everywhere, or the frantic roar of summoning Igon, all of these elements push the atmosphere of the dragon-slaying battle to the peak of the performance.

pity.

In Dark Souls, there is no such towering terrain that perfectly sets the stage for Epic feel.

Valley of Drakes is too narrow; the enormous Ancient Dragon simply cannot maneuver freely there.

The poisonous swamp at the bottom of the Blighttown is large enough, but the terrain is too disgusting. When Midir's Abyss Laser sweeps through, players in the muddy state don't even have room to roll and dodge. It's a pure dead end, which is no fun.

Where should I put it?

Lu Xiu's slender fingers slid across the map.

However, fitting such a large map, designed specifically for Ancient Dragon's creative endeavors, into an already compact and exquisite map, while also considering not disrupting the original area's main storyline and terrain structure, is indeed a difficult task.

As she searched, Lu Xiu's patience gradually ran out.

"Simply----"

Her fingers suddenly paused, her gaze settling on the very heart of the Dark Souls map. "Let's just build Firelink Shrine."

The Firelink Shrine.

It serves as a haven for all players and a transportation hub connecting various areas such as Undead Burg, the Catacombs, and New Londo.

It was built on a pile of ruins.

Theoretically, there is still room for further exploration.

A new collapsed gap was added to the edge of the sacrificial site.

When players take the elevator connecting the upper and lower areas to return to Firelink Shrine, they will clearly hear a deep roar coming from the depths of the earth in the originally silent passage.

If, at this moment, any daring or overly curious player were to follow the roar and search the ruins carefully, they would find the bottomless crevice behind a few collapsed stone slabs.

Follow the gap downwards, through a dark and cramped tunnel, and your view will suddenly open up, leading to an underground cave filled with purple Abyss crystals.

And Midir, the descendant of the Ancient Dragon who once devoured endless darkness, dwells in that unfathomable depths of the earth, quietly awaiting the feeding of a destined one.

"Anyway, it's a limited-time boss fight for groups. We'll leave after we finish it in a few days, so there's no need to worry about the main storyline."

The more Lu Xiu thought about it, the more feasible the plan seemed.

Firelink Shrine is a psychological comfort zone for all players.

It would be quite interesting to put a world-destroying Ancient Dragon underground in the basement of all the players' supposedly safe homes.

Let's do it this way.

Without further hesitation, Lu Xiu used her privileges to begin modifying the original instance that served as the scene.

It's not complicated at all.

All that's needed is to rebuild a downward passage and then embed the map of Darkeater Midir, into it.

Lu Xiu is now quite adept at Constructed Instance.

It didn't take much time.

It was done very quickly.

That concludes the discussion.

The [Sister Friede and Father] from the Painted World, plus [Darkeater Midir] from beneath the sacrificial site, are the two limited-time bosses that can be defeated.

Mission accomplished.

After confirming that there were no problems, Lu Xiu handed it over and stretched.

After that, it had nothing to do with her anymore.

She looked up at the countdown for the race.

There are more than three hours left.

It'll be soon.

The three-plus hours passed in the blink of an eye.

When the countdown timer in the upper right corner of the player's view jumps to the last second.

Bite!

The distant notification sound echoed in the ears of all players in Nine Provinces and Prison Rock at the same time, resounding across the skies above both factions.

[Announcement: The first clear speedrun race for the SSS-rank dungeon <Dark Souls> has officially ended!]

[Final Faction Number of Players Cleared - Nine Provinces 36: Prison Rock 21.]

The winning faction this round is: Nine Provinces!

[Faction loot distribution in progress----]

[Settlement complete!]

[The fifty regions of the Prison Rock Capital are now under the jurisdiction of the Nine Provinces faction!]

Whether inside or outside the instance, or in the realities of Nine Provinces and Prison Rock.

All the players paused in their actions.

Immediately afterwards.

In the sky, a holographic map slowly unfolded.

That's an aerial view of the capital city of Prison Rock.

On the map, the fifty sections that originally represented the colors of the Prison Rock faction were all transformed into the colors representing Nine Provinces within a few seconds.

Fifty regions!

Adding to the territories lost earlier—at this point, the entire capital of Prison Rock, a full two-thirds of its territory, belonged to Nine Provinces.

This was an outcome that no one—including the top brass of Prison Rock Nine Provinces —had anticipated.

After all, Prison Rock was indeed more experienced, and initially Prison Rock was the one who attacked Nine Provinces defended.

But no one expected it.

Players from Prison Rock were tormented to the point of near death by the Lu Xiu dungeon right at the start of the arena phase.

Then, instead of choosing those high-difficulty dungeons, let's engage in head-on battles—and every player in Nine Provinces is like a war god.

The mere loss of a limb can ignite the Ordinary Person's Courage.

When your health drops below 30%, your Survival Instinct is triggered.

After finally defeating it, its health points reach zero, triggering the Loser's Obsession!

Add to that the Resentment that makes him a One-Punch Man! The Mortal Martial Arts that can Neutralize unarmed attacks from ordinary people! And all sorts of random gadgets!

Fighting a Nine Provinces player is like fighting a boss. First, there's the normal state, then the second phase starts with limbs severed and low health, then there's the deathrattle after killing them, and then you have to fight the third phase.

The thought alone is despairing.

The players in Prison Rock first discovered that Lu Xiu's dungeon was beyond their expectations, then they discovered that the players in Nine Provinces were beyond their expectations, and finally they managed to stabilize.

The Architect himself has now won nine consecutive battles!

After a flurry of punches, they were all stunned.

Then came the speedrun, which left me mentally deranged from the torment of Dark Souls.

The most striking word is "miserable".

And then, in a muddle-headed way—that's how this situation came about.

"Is this the role of Architect?"

Inside the Coordination Bureau, Director Li Bao looked at the map outside the window, at the map that symbolized the great advantage that Nine Provinces had gained, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

He knew it very well.

The reason why Nine Provinces was able to gain such a great advantage is inseparable from Lu Xiu.

Without Lu Xiu, relying solely on Construction Club would be impossible.

In that case, it's likely that Nine Provinces will be the one in a passive position.

If it weren't for her dungeons and the rewards they gave,

---- Relying solely on one person.

one person.

Li Bao withdrew his gaze, then walked to the table, looked at the report handed over by Yan Fushou, and murmured, "One man against a nation— Apostle?"

Next.

I need to think carefully about how to get along with this young Architect.

Her value is increasing, but the Coordination Bureau can offer her less and less.

She doesn't seem to need the resources.

She didn't seem interested in status either.

Is letting her do whatever she wants a good thing or a bad thing?

I don't know.

Li Bao thought for a moment, then opened another report.

--A report on the experimental Placement Function of Lu Xiu.