At the graveyard, Ben found a small path leading straight down, which made him excited.
"As expected, this path should be the right one! But it doesn't look like the Undead Town mentioned before. It feels more like the Underground Ruins?"
Looking at the downward path, Ben muttered in his heart.
But he didn't think too much about it. He just kept running forward.
He had already spent his souls on leveling up earlier, and now he had less than a hundred left. What's there to be scared of?
The burden was thrown away, and now he was like a free little bird.
Rushing down the steps, Ben saw a dark opening and went straight in.
At the same time, a new area name appeared at the top of the screen: Catacombs.
"Nice! I knew it! As long as I get through the Catacombs, I should reach the Underground Ruins!"
Seeing the name of the new area pop up, Ben was thrilled.
After all, both "Catacombs" and "Underground Ruins" shared two of the same characters!
And they're both underground, so of course they should be connected.
As for the "Disease Village" that Crestfallen Guy mentioned earlier, he subconsciously ignored it.
"The attack power is so high! As expected, this new game didn't just change the maps and levels—stats also got a slight boost!"
On the stairs leading to the Catacombs, Ben ran into two skeleton monsters holding swords. He took a hit by mistake, and half his health was gone in an instant.
Because of the overweight penalty, he wasn't wearing his knight armor. Watching his health drop, he quickly rolled away several times to create distance, then drank an Estus Flask to restore it.
"If it were an ordinary newbie player, they'd probably chip away bit by bit. But too bad, as a battle-hardened fire-linker, I know too much about the world of Dark Souls!" Looking at the two wobbly skeletons chasing after him, Ben chuckled. For a moment, he looked just like his clever old self back in the Undead Asylum when he saw through a trap.
At this moment, he wasn't fighting alone! Countless wise men from history seemed to be standing behind him.
The deeper he went, the darker the map became. Luckily the background music wasn't too creepy, and the torches on the walls gave off some light. Otherwise, this would instantly turn into a horror game.
Along the way, he even saw three creepy-looking skulls. Good thing he was fast.
Dodging skeleton soldiers with some slick movement, he rolled down near the stairs. Ben didn't think much of it and just kept going.
There were some skeleton soldiers with longswords on the road, but sticking to the strategy of "don't fight if you don't have to," Ben simply ran past them.
Then, with sharp eyes, he spotted a small hole in the wall to his left.
Rolling inside, he found himself facing a lantern-wielding hollow, who was already casting a huge fireball, and next to him was an unlit bonfire.
There was also a pretty obvious switch near the lantern hollow.
Seeing the fireball coming at him, Ben quickly rolled to the side, then rushed to the bonfire and lit it.
With his worries gone, he grabbed his mace and bashed the lantern mage like crazy.
The moves were stiff, and other than having a lot of health, the enemy wasn't much of a threat.
"As expected, this game is full of malice! First the giant iron ball in the Undead Asylum, and now this lantern hollow!"
"One bonfire, and right next to it a hollow throwing giant fireballs! A normal player without preparation would get blasted in the face while the bonfire is right in front of them. How hopeless would that feel?"
"This kind of thing is such a huge blow to beginners. If I hadn't played the previous Dark Souls, and linked the fire so many times, most players would probably just rage-quit here after being fireballed to death." Ben looked at the newly lit bonfire and felt warm inside. He couldn't help but sigh.
Too bad he was playing alone. No one was watching from behind to cheer him on.
Thinking of this, Ben pulled out his phone, opened his friends list, and sent a message: "Zack, how's your progress? The difficulty jump in this game is no joke!"
On the other side, Zack had just reached the outskirts of Undead Town. Surrounded by phantom soldiers, he was sent back to the bonfire. At that moment, he also saw Ben's message. Looking at the screen flashing "YOU DIED," Zack fully agreed and replied: "Yeah! The damage from the mobs is way higher than in the last game! And if you're not careful, you'll pull a whole group, and they're way more aggressive."
Ben kept playing while replying: "Right? And it's so sneaky. The first bonfire even has a lantern hollow throwing fireballs at you."
"???? Lantern hollow? The first bonfire isn't that. It's outside Undead Town, with a bunch of undead soldiers and an archer in a tower guarding it, isn't it?" Zack paused in confusion.
Meanwhile, inside the Catacombs.
"Swish swish swish swish…!"
Ben got comboed by two sword-wielding skeletons and was sent back to the lantern hollow. Reading Zack's reply, he froze.
Outside Undead Town!?
Not the Catacombs!?
Ben suddenly realized something was very wrong. Even when the lantern mage hit him with two more fireballs and made him see "YOU DIED" again, he didn't notice.
Just then, Zack's messages kept coming: "Ben, did you go to the wrong area? At the start, I also took the wrong way and ended up in a place called New Londo Ruins."
"I'm telling you, that place is insane! At the entrance, there are a few harmless hollows just like the ones on Lothric's High Wall in the previous game. But when you go deeper, ghosts show up. Their attacks are brutal, and the worst part is I couldn't even hit them. They really are like actual ghosts!"
"I think in this game, they put all the high-level, late-game areas right next to Firelink Shrine."
"Ben, you okay over there?"
Zack had been waiting for Ben's reply for a long time but got nothing, so he sent a message asking.
Ben looked at the text Zack had sent, then glanced at the lantern mage who kept killing him over and over.
His hand trembled a little as he typed back: "Not so good, my situation right now is kind of awkward!"
A little awkward!?
This was way more than just a little!
Ben soon realized an even bigger problem.
He had rolled down the stairs when he first came into this catacomb.
And as everyone knows, the Undead don't have knees, so going back the same way was impossible.
Even worse, he had lit the bonfire in front of him.
And unlike the last game, the bonfire in this one didn't have a teleport function.
Which meant that every time he died, he would keep reviving right here.
If he wanted to get back to Firelink Shrine, he had to find another path!
Looking at the lantern hollow still tirelessly throwing fireballs at him, Ben's mood started to shift a little.
(End of The Chapter)
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