Chapter 180: Chen Xu Got It!

Looking at the knight in front of me, I circled back and forth.

No way, I am full of envy at this moment.

Why are all the undead knights equipped so luxuriously? Bright silver knight armor with a large shield emblazoned with violets.

Then there's my equipment. The gap is too big!

And he was dying? He asked me to spread the fire for him. If that's the case, he clearly doesn't need this equipment anymore, so why not give up?

I looked at my shield and then at the gorgeous shield he was holding. The envy nearly consumed me.

At one point, I even had the urge to hack him down and take the shield.

But I held myself back.

Why? Because this knight might be connected to the main plot.

And with my experience playing Dark Souls, I could only imagine two possible outcomes if I attacked.

First, he might be a refreshable NPC like the Fire keeper.

Second, this sickly knight, who claimed he could no longer fight, will suddenly stand up, brimming with life, and start lecturing me about morality.

After thinking it through, I decided to leave silently. The world is vast and beautiful, and as an undead, I shouldn't resort to violence so easily.

With a sense of moral superiority, I moved forward, heading upstairs to a corner.

Out of nowhere, two living corpses wielding daggers leapt out at me. Behind them, an archer fired cold, precise arrows.

One arrow struck my chest, causing my character to pause momentarily. Before I could recover, the dagger-wielding corpses launched an unparalleled barrage of attacks.

The archer's timing was impeccable. The stiff pause caused by the arrow left me no time to dodge or roll away.

The damage from the daggers was unrelenting. The health bar, already dented by the arrow, was emptied in moments.

As my character crumpled, the screen flashed a familiar message:

[You Are Dead!]

I was completely dumbfounded.

What just happened? Why so ferocious?

Sure, I had run into corpses before, but they were saints. How did these two become unstoppable killing machines just because they picked up daggers?

The logic felt unscientific.

After being resurrected, I decided to be more careful this time.

After all, I'm playing Dark Souls! I can't let my guard down like this anymore.

Returning to the second floor, I warned myself to stay vigilant. After being resurrected again, I carefully lured out the monsters, dealt with the archer, and defeated the two dagger-wielding enemies.

Ahead was a passage, and upon entering, I spotted a soldier wielding a sword and shield. Behind the ghost soldier a locked door.

Instead of rushing the fog door, I decided to challenge the ghost soldier first. Surprisingly, the ghost soldier was weak—so weak, in fact, I felt they were no match for the corpse soldiers with short swords and the archer I'd encountered earlier.

"Just dropped this garbage?" Picking up the white light, I obtained a corpse shield. But after checking its stats, I realized it was similar to the tower-pattern kite shield I already had, only heavier. Too heavy.

This knight can barely carry all the armor—how could I possibly carry a heavier shield?

Humming a little tune, I walked towards the door behind the ghost soldier, only to be met with a frustrating notification: There's no key.

"Wait, isn't the master key my starting gift? It can't even open this broken door!?" I muttered, feeling utterly exasperated.

With no way forward through the locked door, the only option left was to enter the white fog door.

Passing through, I found myself on the roof of the previous room. Below, the Demon of the Undead prison prowled.

A warning before the White Mist Gate: You can perform a plunging attack.

"The design of this map is incredible! Everything is interconnected!" I exclaimed in amazement. The seamless interconnectivity of the Dark Souls world is one of its standout features.

So far, within the Undead prison, I'd discovered three interconnected areas—a truly impressive layout.

From the looks of it, the next step was clear. Like fighting the ancient dragon in the previous game, I had to execute the demon by plunging from above.

Smiling, I sheathed my shield and switched my weapon to dual-wield mode.

"Come on, try to hit me! I'm right here!" Standing on the balcony and eyeing the Demon of the Undead prison pacing below, I smirked, confidently formulating my next move.

But the next moment, Song Ren's smile froze.

The Demon of the Undead prison below suddenly let out a roar, jumped up, waved it's hammer, and smashed it directly towards the second floor.

A deafening rumble followed, shaking the screen. The second floor collapsed, and the character in the game fell, losing a large portion of health. Before the character could get up, the boss swung the demon sledgehammer again, delivering a fatal blow.

[You are dead!]

The familiar three words appeared on the screen.

"I regret, I can't delay here! Otherwise, I'll be directly attacked!" Song Ren exclaimed in frustration, completely dumbfounded.

This was entirely unexpected. Worse still, a game achievement brass trophy titled [Joy and Sadness] popped up in the lower right corner.

Looking at the trophy name, Song Ren felt an intense sense of discomfort.

"Was this all expected by Chen Xu?" Song Ren muttered.

It seemed like Chen Xu had anticipated that players would pause in front of the boss. The game was deliberately programmed to wait before triggering the attack, catching players off guard.

Resurrected at the bonfire, Song Ren returned to the balcony on the second floor of the Undying Prison. This time, lessons learned, there was no hesitation.

Jumping directly from the balcony, Song Ren slashed at the boss's head with his weapon. The damage was immediate—the boss's blood bar dropped visibly, nearly halved.

Stripped of its armor, the boss was left vulnerable. Rolling nimbly on the ground, Song Ren executed a series of well-timed strikes.

"This is how a normal attack should feel!" Song Ren sighed in relief.

Instead of scraping away at the boss's health bar, significant damage was dealt, transforming the fight's dynamic entirely.

Song Ren even thought, This boss is nowhere near as challenging as Mr. Guda from the previous game. Unlike Guda, this demon didn't even transform during the second phase.

"You call yourself an outlier demon? What a disgrace! Leave the group—you're embarrassing yourself!"

With a quick roll and two more precise strikes, Song Ren landed the final blow.

The boss let out a guttural cry and collapsed.

Song Ren obtained a key to unlock the door to the Undead Prison, as well as an item labeled Humanity.

Holding the key dropped by the boss, Song Ren opened the door of the Undead prison.

Walking forward, he soon reached the back mountain cliff and triggered a cutscene.

"According to ancient legends, there are very few chosen undead who can leave the Undead prison and embark on a pilgrimage," the background narrator intoned.

Suddenly, a massive black bird descended from the sky, landing with a dramatic flourish. Just like when leaving the Lothric Wall after the battle with the ice hound, the giant bird grabbed the protagonist and soared into the distance.

"There lies the land of ancient kings… Lordran!"

Through thick clouds, a majestic ancient city-state gradually emerged. However, the place seemed silent, devoid of life.

The bird eventually dropped him in what appeared to be ruins. As the character landed, text appeared on the game screen, marking the area: Fire link Sacrificial Field.

"What a familiar place!" Song Ren muttered, glancing around.

Unlike the grand Fire link Sacrificial Field remembered from before, this version appeared rough and desolate. A solitary bonfire sat at the center, serving as a point to save progress. The surrounding area, filled with ruins, hinted at an earlier glory now long-lost.

"The road to spreading fire begins here. Finally, I'm on the right track!" Song Ren said with resolve as he stared at the sacrificial ground.

Reflecting on his journey so far, he couldn't help but smile. Despite dying four times in the undead prison, he shrugged.

"It's no big deal."