Ben circled around the knight in front of him.
He couldn't help it—he was full of envy at this point.
Why is it that we're both Undead knights, but your gear looks so fancy?
A shining silver knight's armor, a big shield with violet patterns on it.
Then look at my pathetic gear.
The gap between us is ridiculous!
And didn't you just say you're on the verge of death and want me to go link the fire for you?
You're not going to need that gear anymore, so why not give it to me?
Ben looked at the tiny iron shield in his hand, then at the knight's gorgeous shield, and he couldn't help feeling tempted.
For a second, he even had the urge to kill him and take that shield.
But he held back.
Because he figured this knight was probably tied to the main story later on.
And based on what he knows about Dark Souls…
If he killed this knight now, there would usually be two outcomes:
First, the knight would be like the Fire Keeper, an NPC that respawns.
Second, this sickly, dying knight would suddenly spring up full of life and lecture him about what kind of virtues an Undead should have.
So after thinking it through, Ben decided to walk away quietly.
The world is a beautiful place, and especially for an Undead, there's no need to be so violent.
Full of confidence, Ben moved on, heading upstairs to a corner.
Out of nowhere, two sword-wielding Hollows jumped out at him from the shadows, and behind them was an archer ready to snipe.
An arrow hit him right in the chest, making his character stagger for a moment.
Then the two Hollows slashed him in a brutal combo.
With the archer's shot causing stagger and the timing of the sword strikes, their combo was flawless.
Compared to the arrow's tiny chip damage, those short swords hit way too hard.
And because the arrow staggered him, he didn't even have time to roll away.
After that brutal combo, Ben's health bar was wiped clean.
"What the hell? What just happened? Why are these Hollows so strong?!"
Ben stared at the familiar "YOU DIED" on the screen, completely stunned.
It's not like he hadn't run into Hollows earlier right after leaving the cell.
But why are they so deadly once they pick up weapons?!
After respawning, Ben decided to be extra, extra careful this time.
After all, he's playing Dark Souls!
Can't afford to let my guard down anymore.
Back on the second floor, Ben reminded himself in his heart.
After reviving again, Ben carefully pulled the enemies one by one, clearing out the archer and the two short-sword hollows.
Ahead was a passageway, and inside stood a ghostly soldier holding a sword and shield.
Behind the soldier, there was also a locked door.
Instead of going straight into the white fog gate, Ben went to challenge the soldier first.
But the ghostly soldier turned out to be surprisingly weak. Ben even felt it was less of a threat than the two short-sword hollows with the archer.
"All that for this piece of junk?" Ben muttered as he picked up the glowing item. He got a Hollow Soldier Shield, but after checking the stats, it was basically the same as his starting Tower Kite Shield—only heavier. He instantly wrote it off as useless.
A knight can't even wear full armor yet, and you give me a heavier shield?
Humming to himself, Ben walked toward the door behind it, only to get a message that made him freeze: needs a key.
"Wait, didn't I pick the Master Key as my gift at the start? And it can't even open this crappy door!?" Ben felt like crying.
Since he couldn't pass through here, the only way forward was the fog gate.
At the white fog gate, Ben went inside and found himself on the rooftop of the room from earlier—right above the Asylum Demon.
In front of the gate was also a hint: "You can perform a plunging attack."
"This map design is awesome! Everything is connected!" Ben couldn't help but shout in amazement.
Interconnected layouts were one of Dark Souls' trademarks.
So far in the Asylum, Ben had already found three areas linked together, which really impressed him.
Clearly, the next step was to do what he did with the Ancient Dragon in the previous game—jump down from above and finish it.
With that in mind, Ben smiled, put away his shield, and switched his weapon to two-handed mode.
"Can't hit me, can you? Come on, try it, please, try to kill me!" Standing on the balcony, imagining the perfect pose for his plunging attack, Ben looked down at the boss pacing below and glaring up at him, and grinned smugly.
But the very next moment, his grin froze.
The Asylum Demon suddenly let out a roar, then leapt up and swung its hammer straight at the second floor.
With a thunderous crash, the screen shook violently.
The floor beneath Ben collapsed, sending his character plummeting down and losing a huge chunk of health.
Before he could even get up, the boss smashed down again with its Demon Great Hammer.
[YOU DIED!] The familiar words appeared once more.
"Damn it, you can't stall here, or it'll just attack directly!" Ben was completely dumbfounded.
He had never expected something like this.
What made it worse was that, at the same time, a bronze achievement popped up in the corner: [Too Much Fun, Big Trouble].
Looking at the trophy's name, Ben wanted to cry.
So this was all part of Lucas's plan?
He had already predicted players would mess around here, showing off in front of the boss, and deliberately set it up to punish them if they waited too long.
Soon after, Ben respawned at the bonfire and returned to the balcony of the Asylum.
This time, he learned his lesson and didn't stand there like an idiot.
He jumped straight down from the balcony, slamming his weapon hard into the boss's head.
Right after that, the boss's health bar dropped by half.
Ben had already taken off his armor, and with his agile body, he rolled on the ground and gave the boss a full set of attacks.
"This is what a real attack should look like!"
Seeing the boss lose an entire health bar, Ben couldn't help but sigh in relief.
No need for scratching and scraping anymore; now he could deal real damage. Suddenly, the fight didn't feel that hard anymore.
Ben even felt this boss wasn't as strong as Iudex Gundyr from the previous game. And unlike Gundyr, this boss didn't even have a second phase.
"Looking like that and you dare to act like a Stray Demon? Get out of the group, you're embarrassing yourself!"
Roll, then slash twice.
Soon, the boss in front of him let out a scream and collapsed, dead.
Ben got a key that opened the Undead Asylum's main gate, along with something called Humanity.
Holding the boss's key, Ben opened the gate of the Undead Asylum.
He kept moving forward, and when he reached the cliff behind the asylum, a cutscene started.
'According to ancient legend, a few chosen Undead can leave the Undead Asylum and begin their pilgrimage to distant lands.'
With the narration in the background, a huge black bird suddenly swooped down from the sky and landed in front of him, just like the one that carried him away from Lothric High Wall after beating the frost dog. It grabbed the main character and flew off to the distance.
'That is the land of the ancient lords… Lordran!'
Passing through thick clouds, what appeared in Ben's sight was a grand, ancient city.
But it looked completely dead and silent.
Finally, the giant bird dropped him in what seemed like a ruined place.
The name of the area appeared on the screen: Firelink Shrine.
"This place feels so familiar!"
But unlike the majestic Firelink Shrine from before, this one looked a bit shabby.
It was nothing like what he remembered—this one was even out in the open.
In the middle, a bonfire was burning, ready to be used for saving progress.
Looking around, the whole shrine felt like ruins.
"The journey to link the fire begins here. Finally, we're on the real path!" Ben looked at Firelink Shrine. Even though it was different from before, it was still the starting point of the legendary road. He couldn't help but sigh.
Sure, he had already died four times in the asylum.
But hey, no big deal!
(End of The Chapter)
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