Inside the room, Ben sat in silence.
"You Died!"
Those blood-red words felt all too familiar.
But Ben's mind was still on the fight just now.
He kept replaying his clash with Artorias.
He originally thought the fight was just skill chains, that Artorias canceling attack recovery frames with rolls was already ridiculous enough.
But he was still too naive, never expecting the boss to actually fake out attacks.
It looked like a thrust, so how did it suddenly turn into a roll?!
And you're such a huge boss—how can you move that fast?!
If this wasn't a boss fight, Ben would've sworn this Artorias was a skilled Dark Souls player in disguise.
The only word for this is absurd!
"Artorias in Death Mode is way too strong!"
"Yeah, Ben didn't even stand a chance!"
"But damn, he's so cool! This is the legendary Abysswalker, one of the Four Knights of Gwyn!"
"Exactly! When I played the previous game, I thought the Abyss Watchers were already peak coolness, but this Artorias at his prime? Absolutely unbeatable!"
"No wonder the Abyss Watchers idolized him and even copied his look."
"Too bad they didn't copy everything—Artorias originally used a shield, but he left his Greatshield behind to protect the Great Grey Wolf Sif."
Zack and Hannah chatted away, amazed by Artorias's incredible performance.
As for Wells and Joey, they were each holding a slice of watermelon while eating.
Because they had been busy before, even though both of them bought the game Dark Souls: Age of Fire, they hadn't really played it much yet. They had no idea just how crazy Artorias really was, only that he looked cool.
"I feel like this mode might not be for me, at least for now." Ben sighed, cutting into Zack and Hannah's conversation, trying to ease the awkward mood.
Even though on his first try he managed to take away one-fifth of Artorias's health…
It was clear that this one-fifth belonged to Artorias's first phase, and the change wasn't much.
In short, it felt like Lucas had shown mercy.
After all, this was the player's first time facing the boss. Before he could even make a proper move, he got killed instantly.
What a huge blow this must have been to the player's mind!
So basically, in a first playthrough, even if you used a weapon that made things easier, as long as you understood the boss's basic skills and had some decent technique…
For first encounters with certain bosses, you could at least trade a few blows.
And clearly, the upper limit for those few blows was about one-fifth of the boss's health.
Once the player takes away that one-fifth, the boss immediately enters the next phase. The moves and rhythm of the fight change completely, and that's when the real challenge begins.
Hearing Ben's words, Zack gave him a glance. "Don't say things like 'I feel like' or 'for now.' Just admit this mode isn't for us!"
Even though he hadn't tried it himself, just watching was enough to feel it.
The first phase of Artorias wasn't too hard to handle.
But the second phase of Artorias was a bit terrifying.
And he was a boss, not some regular player.
Zack knew enough about his own ability to be realistic.
"Not necessarily. You can play this in co-op! How about we team up, Zack? And we don't even have to fight Artorias. He's too crazy in the story anyway. Let's go mess with his fans in the previous game instead!"
The more Ben talked, the more excited he sounded. "Yeah, let's take on his fans, the Abyss Watchers! If we can't beat the idol, we can at least beat the fans, right? Besides, even though Death Mode adjusts stats, there are still different playstyles. With our tanky builds, we definitely have some advantage."
"I can join if it's the earlier game!" Wells said.
In the new game, he was still on a fresh account. He had only just reached Blighttown and hadn't even rung the second bell yet.
But in the older game, he had more weight to his words. Without level restrictions, his account had already turned into a tank.
"Fine, but I bet we're still going to get wrecked." Zack smirked, but his hands didn't stop moving as he quickly launched Dark Souls.
Wells also entered the game. Since they had already updated it earlier, everything was ready.
Once inside, the three of them teleported to Firelink Shrine, turned on Death Mode, and then warped to the Abyss Watchers' fog gate.
Zack placed a summon sign on the ground, the others searched through the friend system, and soon entered his world.
They buffed up, and then the three stepped into the fog.
The boss stood motionless in the distance, just like when Ben had fought Artorias earlier.
Obviously, they had to move closer to trigger aggro and actually start the fight.
After a quick discussion, they decided one person would lure the boss's attention while the other two attacked.
Zack stepped forward. As soon as he did, the background music kicked in, and the Abyss Watcher charged forward, greatsword swinging.
The three of them jumped him together.
"This feels way easier!"
"Yeah! As long as we avoid getting one-shotted, it's fine!"
Zack and Ben exchanged quick battle notes.
In co-op, bosses had higher health values.
And the boss wouldn't just target one player, but would switch aggro randomly.
That made things tougher. Otherwise, two could keep him busy in melee while the other cast spells from a distance. Since there was no friendly fire, it would have worked.
But that wasn't possible now, because almost every boss had a skill to quickly close distance.
On top of that, Death Mode made their attacks and patterns different from normal.
Those quick gap-closing moves were still very hard to dodge.
Even so, with three of them together, the first phase didn't feel too bad.
The Abyss Watchers were different from other bosses: at first, you just fought regular members. But once they were beaten, the wolf's blood they carried would merge, creating a stronger Lord of Cinder.
Before long, they had pushed the boss into phase two.
"Wait, where's the red-eyed guy who goes berserk and attacks everyone?"
As the second and third Abyss Watchers stood up, Ben and Zack quickly noticed something was off.
Normally, one of them should have gone berserk and started attacking the others.
A lot of players beat the Abyss Watchers before the wolf's blood phase not with their own strength, but because the red-eyed ones killed most of the health for them.
But now, where are the red-eyed ones?
And these resurrected Abyss Watchers—while they don't have a boss health bar—their attack patterns are exactly the same as the boss!
Even worse, they actually work together.
Zack had just tried circling behind the boss that Ben was tanking to land a heavy strike, when one of the two bosses ganging up on Wells suddenly broke away and rushed him, forcing Zack to stop his attack and defend instead.
"The Abyss Watchers aren't just one person, but a whole group of Undead. They formed the Farron Undead Legion, swearing on wolf's blood to guard against the Abyss. As soon as they sense even the smallest sign of the Abyss, they won't hesitate to wipe out an entire country."
"According to soul scholars, Warlord Wolnir's kingdom was destroyed and sealed by the Farron Legion. If their combined power is at that level, wiping out a nation, then beating just you three is nothing strange."
While snacking with Joey, Hannah casually explained the background of the Abyss Watchers.
"She's right!" Joey chimed in, still chewing.
And while they were talking, the Abyss Watchers' perfect teamwork wiped out the three-man squad.
In multiplayer, certain bosses scale in number.
Take the Abyss Watchers—think teaming up will make it easier?
Sorry, they've got more people than you do!
This isn't a team beating a boss—it's a boss beating a team!
"I think… this is out of our league," Ben coughed.
"I think so too," Wells nodded.
"Exactly," Zack concluded.
(End of The Chapter)
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