The player approached the Doll and started a conversation.
Reduced to just a head, Daphne still put on a forceful front. "Listen, this is very unfair. Fight me again, or I won't let you through-without the 'key,' nobody can get past."
"Hmm, Seluvis should still have some spare parts... Bring some back for me. Of course, as Sellen taught me, I'll pay you. How about it?"
The player selected [Agree to trade].
Daphne: "You're surprisingly agreeable... That fellow should be at [Blood Moon Manor] down in the valley... Get going!"
The player froze. Blood Moon Manor? So it was down in the valley?
And so the player teleported out of the study, looking forward to the journey ahead... Would it be any different from the first playthrough?
However, things did not go as the player had expected.
Never mind what the manor was like inside; just the road down to the valley was already an absolute struggle.
The waterways were crawling with crayfish and crabs. Ordinary crayfish and crabs would have been one thing, but not only were some fitted with metal armor, a considerable number had undergone mechanical modifications...
The Shrimp Lords stood in the water, firing water jets to snipe the mounted player from a kilometer away.
Riding Torrent, the player was sent tumbling, steed and all, by a sudden shot. No sooner had the player climbed back up than another shot came from behind.
The player was thoroughly shot into submission! Nobody could travel in a straight line across these waters!
The player had no choice. Fighting them was definitely out of the question; these Shrimp Lords had outrageously absurd stats. It was hard to imagine monsters in an "early-game area" having stats like these. Since fighting was impossible, hiding was the only option.
The player took