Meanwhile, Tony sat scrolling through comments, his expression half stunned, half amused. He never expected Natalie's casual post would blow up like this.
Martial arts actors, UFC fighters, world champions, all dragged into this frenzy!
Good lord. This wasn't just gaming anymore. Sekiro had become a weapon for exposing frauds.
And if players thought Genichiro was already shameless… Tony chuckled to himself. They hadn't seen anything yet.
Compared to what was coming, Genichiro was practically honorable.
As he was musing, Natalie plopped down beside him with a pout.
"…Happy now?" she huffed. "I post one little video, and the whole internet's clowning me!"
Tony blinked. "Isn't that a good thing? You're trending. Why so glum?"
Natalie puffed her cheeks. "Because I realized something. I started playing Sekiro before anyone else… but now tons of people are ahead of me! All because you made this game so damn hard!"
For her, each boss took hours of struggle. Meanwhile, naturally talented players breezed through in minutes. She had already been overtaken by people like PureWhite.
Sure enough, talent was something you couldn't brute force.
"That's not my fault," Tony shrugged. "I even gave you early access. If you can't keep up, that's on you."
"No way! You have a solution, Tony!" Natalie leaned in, eyes sparkling. "Didn't you say every boss has some kind of trick strategy? Tell me! Tell me all of them!"
Tony hesitated. "Normally, that's for players to discover themselves…"
"I don't have time!" Natalie clung to his arm, shaking it like a spoiled child. "Please? If I fall behind, my whole career suffers! You don't want your sister to lose her spot, do you?"
"…Fine, fine." Tony sighed, unable to resist. "I'll print out the strategies for you."
"Yay, thank you, Tony!"
Minutes later, he dropped a fat stack of printed pages in her lap.
Natalie's jaw dropped. "So many?!"
"Ungrateful, are you? Want me to take them back?"
"No no no!" she yelped, hugging the papers as if they were a martial arts manual.
Which, in a way, they were.
"Thanks, bro!" she grinned, kissing his cheek before bolting for her computer. "I'll start my livestream right now!"
"So soon?" Tony muttered, surprised.
"Of course! If I don't grind, I'll be left in the dust!" Natalie shouted back as her stream went live.
Back in her room, Natalie slipped on the VR suit and started the stream. "Alright everyone, today we're continuing Sekiro! Let's go!"
"Eh? Natalie starting so early today?"
"Wow, she's getting diligent now."
"Haha, well, she has to be. With her skills, if she doesn't grind hard she'll fall behind fast."
"Exactly. Remember what happened to NeasJ?"
"Alright, alright, enough talk, start the game already!" Feeling the pressure from chat, Natalie didn't waste any more time and loaded back in.
Her view shifted and she returned to the vast, desolate battlefield. Just last night, this was the place where she had used firecrackers to slowly grind down the Ghost Punisher.
Defeating him had rewarded her with [Memory of Strength], boosting her attack power. On top of that, she had unlocked a new martial skill, Hawkeye.
The ability functioned like a telescope, letting her zoom in on distant areas and even mark enemies. Marked enemies could be tracked even if they hid behind obstacles. It was an excellent scouting tool.
"Okay everyone, let's keep going."
After clearing the gatekeeper boss, she made her way across the battlefield until she reached the massive city gate.
Bracing herself, she grabbed both doors and pulled hard. Nothing. Frowning, she tried again with all her strength, still no movement.
"Eh? Why isn't this opening?"
"Maybe… you're supposed to push it instead?" a viewer suggested.
Natalie paused. "…?"
She tried pushing, and with a heavy boom, the door slowly creaked open.
"…" Her face burned. That was embarrassing.
The wooden gate was ridiculously heavy. Even Wolf could only force it open for a few seconds at a time, leaving just enough of a gap to slip through.
On the other side stood a towering fortress city.
The main tower loomed tall at the center, surrounded by smaller auxiliary buildings. Mountains enclosed the whole structure like natural walls.
"This… this place is gorgeous!"
"Yeah, the main keep looks amazing."
"Say what you want, but New World really nailed the architectural design this time."
"Of course. This is the core of Ashina Castle, he had to do it justice."
Taking a deep breath, Natalie pressed on toward the main tower.
Her goal today was clear, the top floor of the central building, the Tenshu Tower. According to what she'd learned earlier, that's where Lady Kuro was being held.
But getting there wasn't going to be easy.
Before long, she heard rhythmic shouts echoing in the distance, like a formation drilling in unison.
She crouched behind a rock and peeked out.
Ahead stretched a massive training ground, nearly the size of a football field. On it, a thousand soldiers stood in neat ranks, weapons glinting as they practiced their drills.
"Whoa! Look at all those soldiers!"
"That must be most of Ashina's army!"
"Yeah. For a small country like Ashina, a few thousand troops is already huge."
"Natalie, don't hide, just charge in!"
"Are you insane?! That's suicide!" Natalie snapped.
Even if those soldiers were all basic mobs, sheer numbers would crush her.
"…Yeah, nope. Time to find another way."
Glancing around, she spotted a paved street branching off to the right. Quietly, she slipped away.
The streets of Ashina Castle crisscrossed in a labyrinth. Patrols roamed every corner, common soldiers, musketeers with firearms, even massive club wielding Taro troops.
Strangely, she didn't see a single civilian. The city had been completely converted into a fortress.
The deeper she went, the heavier the patrols became. Hugging the shadows of walls and alleyways, Natalie crept forward inch by inch toward the Tenshu.
There was no way she could fight openly here. This was the enemy's home turf. Even with Wolf's martial prowess and the blessing of resurrection, she was far too weak to take on an army.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"There's an intruder! Intruder!!!"
A sudden gong blared above. Looking up, Natalie's heart sank, one of the roof sentries had spotted her!
"You've got to be kidding me, there were lookouts on the rooftops?!"
The soldier on the beam hammered the gong furiously, and almost instantly, troops swarmed in from every direction.
Taro soldiers hefted their giant hammers, musketeers raised their rifles, and the rest unsheathed their blades.
"Natalie, RUN!!!"
"Run, ah, too late."
With the audience screaming in chat, Natalie was mercilessly cut down, dying a glorious death. Thanks to the Dragon's Heritage, she resurrected on the spot, terrifying the nearby soldiers into freezing up for a brief moment, too afraid to advance.
Taking advantage of that opening, Natalie turned and bolted down the street, only to find the path blocked. A horde of soldiers poured in like gangsters from a movie, the narrow road packed shoulder to shoulder as they swarmed toward her. Judging by their armor, these were the very soldiers from the training grounds earlier.
"The thief must be a spy from the Interior Ministry!"
"Cut him down!"
"Kill!!!"
The thunderous roar shook the streets.
"…"
A moment later, she unlocked a new death method, hacked to pieces by a mob.
Reviving once more at the entrance near the training grounds, Natalie finally calmed her beating heart. This time, knowing there were sentries perched on rooftops, she fired her grappling hook and soared upward, becoming a shadow dancing among the beams.
Light on her feet like a cat, she crept across the roofs, her newly learned Eagle Vision sweeping the area. Soon, she spotted the sentries, frail old men clutching gongs. Moving swiftly, she slipped behind them and triggered a clean [One-Hit Kill].
One after another, the rooftop lookouts fell, silenced before they could raise the alarm.
Only then did Natalie notice a chilling detail, the so called sentries weren't real soldiers. They were elderly men, pressed into duty, their frail bodies unfit for battle.
"As expected," she muttered. "Ashina really is at war. Everyone, even the old, has been turned into soldiers…"
With the sentinels gone, her journey smoothed out. Crossing several rooftops, she soon arrived at an open square.
On one side yawned a bottomless cliff. On the other rose an imposing city wall. And in the center, chained tightly to a massive tree, loomed a monster of a man, over four meters tall, his eyes glowing scarlet, his face twisted with ferocity.
The Scarlet Demon.
Two soldiers stood nearby, guarding the beast.
"This red ghost… even bound like that, it's dangerous. If it breaks loose mid battle, we're all doomed."
"Yeah. It's stronger than the Taro soldiers, but it's insane, attacks friend and foe alike. Honestly, releasing it onto the battlefield sounds like suicide."
"There's no choice. The Water of Transformation isn't perfected yet. This is all we've got for now."
"Hmph. If we ever complete the formula, and every soldier carries a bottle… the Interior Ministry will never be able to breach our defenses."
Hidden on the rooftop, Natalie's ears perked up.
Water of Transformation? So that's what turned it into this monster?
Her eyes swept the square. No cover. No side paths. The only way forward was straight through. Luckily, the Scarlet Demon was chained.
"Alright then… let's do this."
She leapt from the rooftop, striking first. One soldier fell to a backstab. The second spun around, only to be cut down in two swift slashes.
But the clash had awakened the chained monster.
ROAR!!!
The Scarlet Demon let out an earth-shaking howl, thrashing violently. The tree it was bound to bent and groaned.
"Shit, it's breaking free?!"
Natalie's face paled as she bolted. Behind her came the sound of snapping iron. When she glanced back, the monster had already torn itself free, rushing straight for her!
"Fuck me…"
Each of its strides was worth four of hers. Even with the Wolf's speed, it closed in terrifyingly fast.
"Fight!!!"
Natalie spun and swung her blade, slashing across its chest. But the monster ignored the wound, barreling through the attack and grabbing her whole body in one massive hand.
The screen flashed, [Perilous Attack].
"Wait-!"
Before she could even finish cursing, the Scarlet Demon lifted her like a ragdoll.
Boom!!!
He smashed her into the ground, the earth erupting, rocks flying as Natalie's body left a crater.
"Fuck! That's a full on WWE slam!"
"Look at that crater, hurts just to watch!"
"This TM isn't wrestling, this is inhuman!"
The chat was half in awe, half laughing.
Natalie staggered up, blood bar gutted by two thirds. "This thing's ridiculous! If my stats weren't boosted, I'd be dead already!"
But the monster didn't give her time. Ignoring its own wounds, it lunged again, seizing her in its giant hands,and this time, it hurled her straight off the cliff.
The bottomless abyss yawned below.
"No no no no no-!"
Her instincts screamed to use her emergency escape skill. But then she remembered, If I waste it here, I'll still die. And I've got resurrection anyway.
So, gritting her teeth, Natalie let it happen.
The world tilted. The wind howled in her ears. A sickening weightlessness crushed her stomach as she plummeted.
"AHHHHHHH!!!"
Her scream echoed through the canyon, before the screen turned blood red.
[DEATH]
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