A Mad Dash

Let's move the timeline forward slightly.

The first group of players entered the matchmaking process.

The remaining players can only wait anxiously on the forums.

They constantly post predictions of victory or defeat, analyze the situation, and even arrange their troops based on their knowledge of High Sequence players.

But after a while, it got a bit boring.

Ultimately, everyone is just talking theory; they can't see or touch the actual situation inside, and they don't even know what kind of hellish maps the two sides have been assigned to.

Fortunately, this torment of being left staring blankly didn't last long.

The situation changed quickly.

Just five minutes later.

A system announcement then went off.

[System Announcement: Spectating matches for T1 games is now available. All players can spectate through the designated entry point.]

As this announcement was made.

The forum, which had been quiet, exploded instantly, with countless players who weren't qualified to participate flooding into the spectator interface.

The spectator system this time is very comprehensive. In addition to automatically capturing and broadcasting the most exciting battle moments, it also thoughtfully provides a list of fixed viewing angles. Players can click on the star players of their respective factions to directly lock onto and watch their movements.

And in that glittering list of star players...

The name [Nine Provinces · Lu Xiu] was prominently displayed at the top, in the most eye-catching first position.

After all, this was the only buff in this massive battle of a thousand players that granted the player the equivalent of killing five Core Bonfire.

This means that many battles will inevitably revolve around her.

However, when the players in Nine Provinces saw this name, they all hesitated.

"Guys—if I click on this, it's not going to just be another black screen, right?"

"Don't even mention it! Last time I clicked in with high hopes for the recapture battle, only to have the screen go black for nine rounds in a row. I'm traumatized by it now!"

Despite the complaints, driven by curiosity, countless fingers still honestly pointed to Lu Xiu's name.

Click to open.

Many people even subconsciously squinted, preparing themselves for complete darkness.

However, the scene did not descend into deathly darkness as it had last time.

The screen flickered for only a moment before lighting up immediately.

Then, the players from Nine Provinces were stunned.

They could see the figure in the center of the image clearly, and they could also see the appearance of Lu Xiu, the Architect of Nine Provinces.

But what caught the eyes of all the spectators was neither a cunning old man with a fierce face, nor a weak bookworm.

Instead, she was a slender and upright young woman with a neat high ponytail, wearing an extremely casual T-shirt and jeans.

The camera focused on her face, a flawless, almost unbelievably beautiful face.

At this moment, the girl held a knife in one hand and a heavy-looking halberd in the other, her posture casual.

Directly in front of her were two top-tier bosses as large as small mountains, and a circle of murderous Prison Rock elites.

A strong visual contrast.

It brought a tremendous impact.

The comment section, which had been scrolling wildly because the spectating session had started successfully, suddenly paused for a strange three seconds.

Then.

The entire live stream chat exploded.

"???"

"?????"

"Holy crap?! Who is this unbelievably beautiful girl?! Don't tell me this is our Architect Lu Xiu?!"

"He's wearing a suit! I don't believe it! How could such a freakish Architect look like that! I don't believe it!!!"

"How is this possible?!!!! This is the Architect of Resident Evil?! This is the Architect of Outlast?! This is the Architect of Dark Souls?!"

"Ha???"

"This art style is off!! System! Come out here! Did you add a filter for us?!"

Players in Nine Provinces felt like they were dreaming.

My perverted Architect is a beautiful girl.

What kind of weird development is this?!

Before the players in front of their screens could recover from this shocking scene, the girl in the live stream moved.

Instead of trembling with fear, he wielded two weapons and danced on the edge of the blade between the two giant bosses, eventually even treating the bosses like dogs.

Then, accompanied by the inexplicable phrase, "I am the King of Trains."

He ran away right under the watchful eyes of countless spectators.

Meanwhile, the two heavy dump truck bosses, their eyes completely bloodshot, followed behind the girl, roaring as they crushed into Prison Rock's formation, beginning a horrific one-sided massacre.

The chat in the live stream went completely wild at that moment.

"Deflect? Was that Deflect just now? Deflect in Sekiro? Is this really Architect?!"

"No way!!!"

"Why is the operation so smooth?!"

Who is the Train King?

"She went out."

As the live stream chat exploded with comments, Lu Xiu in the video had already reached the exit at the far end of the hall.

However, the scene outside the door made everyone in the live broadcast room, including Lu Xiu herself, raise their eyebrows slightly.

This is not the familiar passageway from the original instance at all.

As a scene depicting a battle involving thousands of people, the spatial structure of the entire Anor Londo has clearly been subjected to a ruthless stretching and stitching by the system.

Outside the gate was a magnificent corridor, seemingly bottomless and wide enough for four carriages to travel side by side!

At this very moment, a fierce and chaotic multi-party battle is unfolding in this corridor.

Silver Knight wielding swords and shields, and towering giant guards brandishing greatswords, are locked in fierce combat with countless Nine Provinces and Prison Rock players who have randomly landed here.

Swords flashed, the glow of high-level skills was colorful, desperate roars and dull thuds of melee combat intertwined, blood and rubble flew everywhere, it was a miniature battlefield like a meat grinder.

The system's live camera, like an invisible swallow, Extreme Speed swept across the high corridor, taking in the chaotic battlefield below where everyone was fighting their own battles.

Immediately afterwards, the camera suddenly spun and reversed in mid-air.

Finally, the camera focused steadily on the girl who had just stepped out of the house.

The girl's high ponytail swayed slightly in the breeze. Her slender figure appeared somewhat frail against the grand backdrop of smoke and death, but the way she held a sword and a halberd at her sides exuded a composure that seemed out of place with her surroundings.

Several players near the gate, whether from Nine Provinces or Prison Rock, were drawn to the commotion in the BOSS room. They instinctively parried the monsters in front of them and turned to look at this unexpected guest.

"That—that is—"

"Lu Xiu?!"

One of the players from Prison Rock saw Lu Xiu's ID above her head and shouted out, the surprise in his eyes not yet fully blooming.

A sudden change has occurred!

Rumble rumble rumble!!!

A terrifying tremor came from behind Lu Xiu without warning.

The ground shook violently, and the ancient murals and reliefs on both sides of the corridor were shaken and fell off.

Before anyone could react to what the tremor meant...

Bang!!!

The door frame, along with the surrounding seemingly indestructible load-bearing stone walls, instantly shattered! Countless huge boulders shot into the corridor like cannonballs!

Blinding golden lightning, like a mad serpent, tore through the smoke and dust, followed closely by a colossal, suffocating figure.

Ornstein and Smough!

These two enormous top-tier bosses actually managed to smash through the door frame, roaring and crashing into the corridor with their fury and murderous aura!

Beneath their visors, their eyes, glowing red from the [Creator] buff, burned with a fury that seemed to solidify, locking onto the slender figure directly in front of them.

At this moment, the Nine Provinces players in the live stream, watching the terrifying scene on the screen where the Ornstein and Smough were pressed tightly against Lu Xiu's back, finally understood what the so-called "Creator" buff really meant!

After a brief pause, the comments section erupted even more wildly.

Holy crap!!!

"The two basic skills were directly brought out!!!"

At the same time.

Lu Xiu also noticed the earth-shattering commotion behind her.

She knew the trouble was far from over; the scope and obsession of the Ornstein and Smough, after the restrictions were completely lifted, had clearly exceeded the original underlying logic of the instance.

She took a deep breath, flicked her wrist, and decisively pulled out the [Jump Kit] from her system inventory.

A crisp click.

She was equipped with Jump Kit.

Then, just as the Ornstein and Smough roared, preparing to launch their charge...

Lu Xiu shifted her right leg slightly backward and leaned forward, assuming a standard and explosive starting stance.

She didn't turn around, but stared at the chaotic corridor ahead, and shouted, "Players of Nine Provinces, all of you, back up! Stick to the wall and shrink into your seats!"

After shouting.

She took a deep breath and smiled.

I never expected that I could still use Outlast techniques from the game "Escape Room"—

but.

Fun.

Lu Xiu bent down slightly.

[Cat Step] Gear!

[Atypical Courage] Begins!

[Dodge Step] Initiated!

[Jump Kit] Activated!

Boom!

Two dazzling, dark blue trails of flame erupted from the [Jump Kit] behind Lu Xiu's waist! A powerful recoil thrust exploded instantly.

This is further amplified by attribute enhancements and the burst of movement skills.

This caused Lu Xiu's figure to pause in place for a moment, a strange and visible pause.

That's because the transition from extreme stillness to extreme motion instantly breaks through the frame rate limit of visual capture.

Immediately afterwards, she transformed into a straight white line, and with a piercing sound like the sound barrier breaking, she vanished from her spot in an instant!

Swish!

A violent gust of wind swept through the corridor, causing the torches on both sides to sway wildly, and even the heavy Silver Knight was unconsciously forced to raise his hand by the force of the wind.

Lu Xiu's speed was simply unreasonable; she was like a streak of dark blue lightning, weaving through the dense crowds and gaps between monsters.

Behind them, Ornstein and Smough, who had just broken down the door, were clearly stunned for a moment.

Then, they realized that their Creator had already flown more than a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye.

"Roar!!!"

The two BOSSes let out a deafening roar and immediately charged and crushed along the trail of Lu Xiu's remaining flames, disregarding everything else!

It's also extremely fast.

Especially dragon hunters.

The two sides began to chase each other.

And ahead of Lu Xiu's whirlwind path.

A High Sequence player from Prison Rock, who was locked in combat with the Silver Knight, only caught a glimpse of a blinding blue light out of the corner of his eye.

He didn't see what it was, but she knew Lu Xiu had arrived. With the instinct of a top player, she turned around, drew her sword, and slashed horizontally!

The cold blade tore through the air, precisely slicing through the path of the blue streak of light.

However.

Just as the blade was about to touch Lu Xiu, Lu Xiu, who was speeding at breakneck Extreme Speed, suddenly stopped. Her powerful core strength, combined with her Cat Step balance, allowed her to complete an extremely exaggerated sudden stop and backward lean, completely defying the laws of physics!

Swish! The cold blade whistled past the tip of her nose, severing only a few strands of her flying black hair.

The player Prison Rock suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"What?!"

Before he could react, Lu Xiu exerted force, and the Jump Kit once again emitted a cluster of azure flames.

Then, the girl's figure Afterimage like a ghost, leaving only a gust of wind before disappearing completely from his sight.

The player from the Prison Rock stood frozen in place, his knife still in the swinging stance.

He blinked blankly, his mind filled with the shock of that inhuman evasive maneuver.

But soon...

He couldn't care less.

He felt the light above his head suddenly being completely blocked by a huge shadow.

A chilling sense of oppression swept over us.

He turned his head stiffly.

What came into view was Ornstein's spear tip flashing with destructive lightning, and Smough's terrifying giant hammer that seemed capable of smashing city walls.

"Lu Xiu!!!! You have no martial ethics!!!"

Boom!!!

The corridor was in complete chaos!

The Ornstein and Smough had already entered a berserk state.

To them, every living being on the straight path is now a stumbling block preventing them from hunting down their Creator.

A completely irrational and indiscriminate attack has begun!

Whether it's the Silver Knight raising his shield in defense or the High Sequence Prison Rock player entangled with him, all are equal before these two speeding dump trucks.

Golden lightning flashed continuously, and a giant hammer, as large as a mountain, swung down relentlessly.

Countless players who were still Prison Rock in a fierce battle, without even understanding the situation, were instantly crushed into ashes by the terrifying kinetic energy, leaving no trace of their bodies.

In contrast, players in Nine Provinces were much luckier.

Because of Lu Xiu's reminder before the race, at least the High Sequence players directly controlled by the Coordination Bureau demonstrated extremely high execution capabilities.

They abandoned their immediate goal almost immediately, scrambling back to the sides and pressing themselves tightly against the cold stone walls of the corridor, even holding their breath.

A fierce wind howled.

The shockwave, carrying fragments of stone bricks, along with the desperate screams and curses of the Prison Rock players, swept wildly past their noses.

It was only a dozen seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

As the tremors of the earth finally subsided and the terrifying figures of the Ornstein and Smough charging recklessly disappeared into the distance, these High Sequence players from Nine Provinces cautiously and slowly left the wall.

They dusted themselves off, stared at the two giant bosses still relentlessly chasing Lu Xiu at the end of their line of sight, then looked at the Prison Rock players in the corridor who were crying and cursing after being beaten, and fell into a long period of bewilderment.

After an eerie silence, one of the Strategy Group members finally realized what was happening.

He recalled the orders given by the Coordination Bureau before entering the arena, and seeing the horrific scene of one-sided slaughter before him, he instantly broke down, pointing at the sky and cursing. "Yan Fushou! You bald bastard! Protect?! Who do you want us to protect?! Protect your mother?!"

"You'd be more likely to have Architect protect us!!!"

At the same time.

The live stream was so crowded with comments that it caused some buffering.

Millions of eyes were fixed on the slender figure in the image, leaving a faint blue Afterimage.

The girl's movements were all perfectly executed; every jump, sudden stop, and leverage demonstrated a unique sense of rhythm and feminine flexibility.

Without the slightest hesitation, elegance and violence are perfectly combined, resembling the art of combat.

Most importantly.

These things.

Players are very familiar with it.

"Perfect Deflect — the Perfect Deflect in Sekiro —that's not a normal block! I've confirmed it! That's absolutely Perfect Deflect!"

"A warp Jump Kit, used for Jump Kit in the Anor Londo—!"

"And there's the Dodge Step, the instant acceleration even includes the Dodge Step- Sekiro ----"

"How can the transitions be so smooth and seamless?!"

"Not only do they make us suffer inside the dungeon, but they also teach us how to use the dungeon rewards outside the dungeon?!"

"I----"

Looking at the stunningly beautiful girl on the screen, watching her race wildly through the Anor Londo with the world-destroying BOSS behind her.

All the players felt a chill run down their spines, and only one thought remained.

"This girl—she's actually the Architect of Nine Provinces?!"

But soon...

They couldn't care less.

Because at that very moment...

"Lu Xiu is about to break out of the main palace of the Anor Londo!"

"What's wrong? At her current speed, she can just rush over there, can't she?"

"I just took a look from the perspective of other star players—the members of the Nine Provinces Strategy Group are locked in a fierce battle with the Chosen Player from Prison Rock! There are at least a hundred people crowding outside the door, completely blocking the way!"

"Holy crap?! Is this the end?!"

"Lu Xiu is currently relying on his Jump Kit and speed to outmaneuver the dual-base players. Once his speed slows down, or he gets stopped by the Chosen Player of Prison Rock outside the door—"

"No way! Lu Xiu only seems to be able to run! What should we do? Will something bad happen to her?"