How Much Do I Look Like I Used To?

Lu Xiu felt that she had grasped the essence of combat.

But whether she had truly understood it or was merely under an illusion, there was no point in just thinking about it.

She had to fight. She had to use every rare powerhouse to prove it.

So, after easily defeating Genichiro Ashina, Lu Xiu began eagerly traveling through the various locations.

Heavenly Watchtower, Mibu Village, Senpou Temple, Sunken Valley, Fountainhead Palace...

Against the aged Isshin Ashina.

The first phase was fine.

Lu Xiu still found it easy. After all, he was merely an enhanced version of Emma. He had quite a few more moves, but none of them were particularly strong.

However.

In the second phase, when Isshin Ashina used all sorts of fire-controlling attacks and Secret Technique: One Mind, Lu Xiu began to feel the pressure... And this was only the aged Isshin Ashina, not the grandfather Genichiro Ashina had envisioned.

Lu Xiu realized that even fighting the aged Isshin Ashina had been somewhat difficult for her. The confidence she had just built took a slight hit.

Still, she ultimately won, and learned a lesson... When it was time to dodge, she still had to dodge.

Gyoubu Oniwa.

Trash.

Cleared.

Lady Butterfly. Other than her annoying summons, she was not very difficult either.

Cleared.

Folding Screen Monkeys. A puzzle-type boss; Lu Xiu cleared them casually based on her memories of the game.

Guardian Ape... This one was impossible to clear.

It was Lu Xiu's first time seriously fighting a non-humanoid rare powerhouse. Honestly... it felt completely different.

It was also the rare powerhouse that gave Lu Xiu the most trouble after the aged Isshin Ashina.

Especially the second phase.

But she ultimately forced her way through using nothing but her blade.

The Headless Guardian Ape was much the same.

In the second phase, it even shamelessly called another ape over to gang up on Lu Xiu, but at the end of the day, they were just monkeys.

Cleared.

Illusory Corrupted Monk.

A legendary damage sponge. Its posture gauge recovered at an utterly ridiculous speed.

But Lu Xiu swung faster.

Cleared.

True Corrupted Monk.

Another rare powerhouse with three phases.

And the second and third phases were exceptionally disgusting.

The former was like watching a horror movie, while the latter kept spinning like a windmill at every turn.

But all of its attacks could be deflected.

Cleared!

Great Shinobi Owl... What a despicable bastard!!!

Loaded Shuriken, Shinobi Firecracker, forbidden medicine, smoke, poison.

Damn it... While Lu Xiu was fighting him, she could hardly tell who was the boss and who was the player.

He truly used every trick in the book.

But unfortunately, he was not actually a player.

Lu Xiu turned into the boss and blew him away.

The young foster father.

Just as despicable, he would often retreat to confront Lu Xiu from afar, then seize the chance to recover his posture.

At the same time, he was a rabid dog.

Honestly, fighting him meant the ultimate blade clash, the ultimate technique, the ultimate deflections.

If Lu Xiu had fought him first, she probably would have shut down on the spot.

Unfortunately for him, that was not the case.

Lu Xiu had fought too many bosses beforehand. After breaking his posture a few times, she blew him away.

Divine Dragon.

A spectacle boss.

Cleared.

Demon of Hatred.

The legendary king of damage sponges.

A thoroughly Soulslike boss.

Lu Xiu wanted to die fighting it.

Especially in the second phase.

Its attack range was enormous, it rampaged all over the arena, and its attacks inflicted fire damage.

Everything Lu Xiu had learned before seemed to lose all meaning before it. She could only watch as it leaped up and crashed down, sending her flying again and again with that damned fire.

Yet she could only fight at close range.

Because once she put distance between them, its moves became even more complicated, leaving her with no openings to attack at all.

Lu Xiu was forced to switch to a Soulslike mindset. Against this kind of colossal boss, she suppressed her fear and began constantly circling around its feet. When it jumped, she ran; when it stepped back, she chased. She stayed beneath it at all times, forcing it to figure out how to hit her instead of letting it pull away and use its moves more effectively.

But even so.

Lu Xiu still fought with utter despair.

There were too many charging attacks.

And once it got some distance, it came straight at her spewing fire.

The third phase.

That was even more brutal.

It directly created a ring of fire, then kept attacking Lu Xiu like some crazed ritual dancer.

Lu Xiu was stuck on the third phase for an entire day.

Maybe because it was a hidden boss... Lu Xiu felt that she had grown enough, and she was unwilling to use items, so she stubbornly kept at it until she no longer wanted to live.

But in the end, she still defeated it through perseverance and skill.

However, once the fight was over.

Lu Xiu immediately exited the instance and ran back to reality.

"I don't want to play anymore."

Lu Xiu flopped directly onto her bed, sprawled out without the slightest concern for her image.

At that moment... not a trace remained of the demonic aura she had possessed while slaughtering gods and Buddhas in Ashina Country.

Mainly because the terror of being dominated by huge Soulslike monsters had left far too deep an impression. Even thinking about it now made her scalp tingle.

She could not clash blades with it, only hack at its feet, all while guarding against those utterly unreasonable, wide-area fire AoEs... It was torture.

Lu Xiu had originally wanted to continue on to the final rare powerhouse, Sword Saint Isshin Ashina.

But after fighting the Demon of Hatred, she gave up.

She was too exhausted.

And the Sword Saint at his peak was no reasonable opponent either.

Not only was his swordsmanship unfathomably superb, but in the second phase, he would suddenly leap up with a shout of, "My blood is boiling!" and pull a huge spear out of thin air. And while fighting... he would even unexpectedly pull a pistol from his robes.

The theme was simple: the times had changed!

Lu Xiu felt that if she challenged the Sword Saint at his peak now, with her fighting spirit battered full of holes by the Demon of Hatred, she would definitely develop severe PTSD toward this instance.

"I need a break. I absolutely need a break..."

Lu Xiu took several deep breaths. As a Constructor, running away was impossible, but she could change her approach. "Anyway, I've already seen the high-difficulty rare powerhouses. Why not... go bully some weaker enemies and sort out the game's underlying systems while I'm at it?"

This instance.

Was unlike Resident Evil.

In this [Sekiro], Lu Xiu had constructed whichever boss came to mind first.

Although after the mini-boss hell week and the recent nonstop run of rare powerhouses, the map had already connected together, she had never actually checked it over, and there were still plenty of systems she had not examined either.

So this was the perfect chance to test and inspect them, while also practicing the moves she had learned from the various bosses.

Once she finished checking everything, she could challenge Isshin Ashina.

And after defeating him, she could directly validate the instance.

Perfect.

At that thought.

The lifeless look in Lu Xiu's eyes instantly regained its spark. She slowly climbed up, summoned the system panel again, and entered the construction space.

This time, she did not choose to begin from the late-game area.

Instead, she began from the point after the game's protagonist lost his arm.

The decayed, damp stench of the Dilapidated Temple rushed into her nostrils, mingling with the cold air faintly scented with incense.

Lu Xiu abruptly threw off the straw mat covering her, stretched her body, then turned to look beside her.

A burly old man with a beard covering his face sat with his back to her, tirelessly carving something, stroke after stroke.

The sound of flying wood chips was the only melody in the silent temple.

The Sculptor.

He was also the one who, at the beginning of the story, had saved Wolf after Genichiro Ashina cut off his arm and fitted him with the Shinobi Prosthetic.

Lu Xiu got out of bed and walked behind the Sculptor.

"...You're awake."

The Sculptor did not stop carving. His voice was hoarse. "Looks like you weren't meant to die."

Lu Xiu began reciting her lines.

After learning that the young master was in Ashina Castle, confirming her objective, and verifying that the other text was all correct as well, Lu Xiu left the room and began checking the tutorial.

After making a full circuit, everything seemed fine... except when she saw Miss Emma, Lu Xiu felt a little embarrassed, as though her conscience ached faintly.

After all, she had killed her so many times.

In the end, it was also thanks to Emma that she had fully mastered every technique she had learned before.

Yet in the other's gentle voice, Lu Xiu quickly forgot that slight discomfort. She left the temple and officially began pushing through the dungeon's inspection route.

...Compared to those inhuman bosses, the game's normal progression was ridiculously easy.

Lu Xiu stopped at the edge of the roof, her gaze fixed on the target below. She softened her breathing and shifted her weight forward.

The next instant, she dropped soundlessly from above, driving her knee into the soldier and pinning him beneath her as she raised her blade.

Splat—

Scalding blood sprayed out.

[Deathblow].

Lu Xiu smoothly pulled out her blade without making the slightest unnecessary sound.

She did not linger. The grappling hook gave a soft clink, and she soared into the air again, landing on another rooftop.

Drop Deathblows, rear Deathblows, wall-hugging stealth, hiding in grass, concealed passages, items... Lu Xiu knew every part of the route by heart. She inspected it all while rapidly advancing through the dungeon.

Patrolling soldiers vanished one after another. Before any alarmed shouts could arise, the path ahead had already been silently cleared.

Soon, Lu Xiu saw that familiar mini-boss.

The Samurai General.

He was still standing there, armored and holding his sword like a silent boulder.

Lu Xiu stopped and slowly let out a breath.

When she had first started building the dungeon, this mini-boss had taken her four hours to defeat.

But now...

Lu Xiu jumped down from the roof. Watching the Samurai General draw his sword and roar in fury, she gave him a friendly smile. "Do I look at all like I used to?"