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Chapter 114: Outrageous!
As Mike charged forward, the enemy Crystal Lizard roared and went into action. Seeing the Crystal Lizard approach, Mike instinctively rolled.
But his timing was off. The roll ability grants an invincibility frame during the movement. During this frame, the player is immune to damage from monster attacks. However, this frame lasts for a short time, so if the roll is too early or too late, he will take damage.
Mike rolled too late. Not only did the invincibility frame fail the Crystal Lizard's attack, but he also failed to get out of its range.
With a loud bang, the Crystal Lizard fell to the ground, and a layer of blue crystal spikes appeared around it. Simultaneously, Mike's health was reduced by almost half. Simultaneously, '123' also flew away from the powerful impact.
"Damn! What kind of damage is this?" Mike asked, looking at his computer, stunned.
Wasn't that too much damage? He got hit and lost almost half his health? At that moment, Mike panicked.
He rolled twice to distance himself and then took a sip of his orange juice to replenish his health. But then the enemy Crystal Lizard charged again.
Seeing the Crystal Lizard approach, Mike didn't roll this time, but right-clicked to use his small wooden shield as a defense. However, the stamina from those rolls had not yet recovered, and two slaps from the charging Crystal Lizard emptied his remaining stamina bar.
In Dark Souls, in some cases, stamina is even more important than health. Health is just for show, but without it, no amount of life is enough.
With his stamina bar depleted, Mike watched as the game's '123' became paralyzed, standing there like an idiot, motionless. At that very moment, the Crystal Lizard's claws delivered a slap, sending the game's '123' flying through the air again.
'No! Why is my health bar like paper?'
Mike finally felt that something was wrong. If the "Pressure" from before was considered an ability of this monster, then it would be fine. But how could this ordinary "Great Slugger" reduce his health by a third?
Despite being a blank slate, with only shorts on, this monster's damage was truly terrifying.
"Didn't the prompt tell you to go back? Clearly, this is not a monster you can face!" Sarah, standing beside him, smiled happily.
It would be her turn soon.
"Ouch! Defend yourself! Why are you always rolling around like a donkey?"
"You're running out of stamina again!"
"Defend yourself! Are you waiting for this monster to get tired?"
In the past, Mike would have undoubtedly responded, but now he simply didn't have time. If he were to use a book to summarize his feelings at that moment, it would probably be called "The Feeling of Pressure." It was simply overwhelming! This sense of pressure was simply overwhelming!
The crystal lizard in front of him attacked him furiously. It charged, bit, pounced, and even used a move similar to a spinning wheel, with an incredibly high attack frequency. It was practically impossible to defend himself.
"How do I beat this thing! It's not much of a tank, but I can't touch it!" After finishing his last bottle of orange juice, Mike watched as the rolling wheel shattered his game character's body, '123', and despair washed over him. This is outrageous! This is outrageous in the extreme!
'123' let out a high-pitched scream and fell to his knees, followed by the Crystal Lizard's disdainful turn.
The screen slowly changed from bright red to dark red and then to black and white, accompanied by tragic death music. In the center of the screen, a line of large characters appeared: "You are dead!"
Meanwhile, a bronze trophy achievement notification appeared in the bottom right corner.
[First Time]
In Dark Souls, Alex also added many collectible achievements. Just like in his previous PlayStation, trophies were categorized as bronze, silver, and gold. After completing all the achievements, a platinum trophy was obtained. This significantly boosted platform engagement.
Let's remember that there were many trophy collectors before, and several trophy games were even created. Some developers specialized in creating games that made it easy to get platinum trophies, which allowed them to make a living.
Upon seeing the achievement trophy that appeared, Mike, sitting in front of his computer, felt a sense of novelty, but he was also speechless. 'Had so much time passed and he had already lost his first life?'
With a sigh, Mike offered his seat. The stool had barely warmed up!
Sarah, sitting beside him, happily sat down and briefly tried the controls in the Cemetery of Ashes. But she soon exclaimed in surprise: "My money! How did it all disappear after I died?"
The UI in the bottom right corner, which showed the number of souls, only had a blank zero. Observing the rest of the game, it was evident that this was not a save game reload, but the game's settings.
"It seems to be the game's settings, but if you go back to that crystal lizard, you should be able to get it back," Mike speculated, even with some anticipation.
"I'm not going!" Sarah pursed her lips.
'Do you think she's stupid?'
She couldn't defeat the crystal lizard, and she might not even see the souls it dropped. Even if she recovered them, if she was killed, wouldn't it be like moving a tomb? And more importantly, if she died, wouldn't that mean someone else would be next?
"That monster was definitely not meant to be fought from the beginning. The prompt already told us to go back, and you were foolish enough to rush in," Sarah said, happily choosing another path to the cliff.
The enemies she encountered along the way, the seemingly easy-to-defeat zombies, were all weaklings that could be taken down in twos. After successfully lighting the first bonfire, she continued to advance. Following the system's prompts, she even performed a swift club technique, splitting a zombie's head in half.
While the game's moves were simple and unadorned, it was undeniably satisfying to observe how simple slashing moves, coupled with sound effects, impacted the monsters.
However, Sarah soon experienced her first health loss in the game. Upon approaching a door, she ran into a zombie archer and was hit by an arrow. Her health was reduced by approximately a quarter. Looking at the health bar in the top left corner, Sarah had a bad feeling.
'Almost a quarter of her health had been lost from a single arrow?'
With a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, she took a drink from her elemental flask to replenish it.
"Isn't that normal? I just lost half my health after being slapped by a crystal lizard. It's mainly because a useless person has nothing on, so how can he be that strong?" Mike said beside her.
"Makes sense," Sarah nodded.
'That's the truth! How can this knife cut the same when cutting armor as when cutting meat?'
Sarah finally put her worries behind her and crossed the ancient bronze door into a courtyard. In the distance, a BOSS called Judge of Cinder with a spiral sword plunged into his chest was visible. When Sarah and Mike saw this boss, their eyes lit up.
'They knew this BOSS!'
The BOSS that was defeated in the video from the previous online press conference, which is why he seemed so weak at the time, turned out to be the starting area BOSS!
Instead of rushing to activate the interactive button to awaken the boss, Sarah glanced at the courtyard first. But soon, she noticed something that surprised her.
'Oh my God! This courtyard...' Sarah's eyes widened. Who knows what she saw!