Chapter 1122: Jumping Off Mount Olympus (Third Update)
"What's happening?? Help!"
My name is Lin Xue, and I'm freaking out right now.
This giant ogre's calf alone is thicker than Lin Xue's entire body; the difference in combat power is completely on another level.
Lin Xue looked down at her clothes—she was still wearing the casual outfit she had on when she left the seaside mansion. She really missed the Havel's armor from *Dark Souls* right now, or even just a Zweihander; she'd feel a lot more secure.
In all the games Lin Xue had played, there were countless ways to take down this giant ogre, but right now she was just an ordinary person with no strength to fight back.
At the seaside mansion, a player's perception, strength, speed, and all other stats were no different from a normal person's, so Lin Xue had no choice but to turn around and run.
"Even if I wanted to 'link the fire' right now, you'd have to give me an Estus Flask first, right?!"
Lin Xue sprinted away, but there was no way her short legs could outrun an ogre. The massive creature caught up to her in a single step, then swept its hand down, grabbed her in its palm, and lifted her up.
Lin Xue was terrified. She pounded on the ogre's giant hand with all her might, but hitting its skin felt like striking marble.
Lin Xue had no doubt that even if she had a knife right now, it would be nearly impossible to cut a wound in the ogre's hide.
The ogre let out a slightly mocking laugh. It didn't crush Lin Xue to death but instead casually flung her away.
"Ahhh!!"
Lin Xue screamed as the wind roared past her ears. She traced a parabolic arc, flying far, far away.
Free fall wasn't the greatest fear. Lin Xue watched helplessly as the world around her changed at breakneck speed.
What had been an island, a beach, and a seaside mansion shifted violently. The sea around the island rapidly collapsed, and what was once an island turned into a mountain peak.
Lin Xue looked down and saw mist swirling below, set against a sky full of red clouds.
She turned her head back. The place she had fallen from had become a towering mountain peak, sheer cliffs rising thousands of feet into the clouds.
An intense sense of weightlessness made Lin Xue feel like blood was rushing to her head. She wanted to scream, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Just as she was flailing helplessly like someone about to drown, she suddenly noticed another person falling beside her.
Unlike Lin Xue, this bald, muscular man with a bare upper torso was falling headfirst. He showed no panic at all, instead exuding a calmness, as if he were bravely facing death.
Just then, Lin Xue realized her own form was gradually fading. Her perspective zoomed in on the bald, muscular man, and she could even clearly see the tattoos on his body and the scars on his face.
A female voiceover began: "Kratos leaps from the highest mountain in Greece. Ten years of suffering, ten years of haunting nightmares, are finally coming to an end."
"Death will be his final escape from all of this."
Even though her falling speed was increasing, Lin Xue no longer felt afraid. Instead, there was a strange sense of calm, as if her mental state had been infected by this burly man.
"Bro, even if you bet on Croatia last night, you didn't have to jump off a cliff this high, right? You could've just done it from your own rooftop..."
Before Lin Xue could finish her sarcastic remark, the muscular man had already plunged headfirst into the sea at the foot of the mountain, and her vision went black instantly.
A line of text appeared in her view: "Three weeks earlier, the Aegean Sea."
The voiceover continued: "But he was not always like this."
"Kratos was once a warrior who served the gods..."
A thunderclap exploded in the sky, and Lin Xue's vision returned. She found herself still without a physical form, but ahead of her was that muscular man with red tattoos.
He was dual-wielding two chained blades wreathed in flames, his bulging muscles nearly bursting out: "You bastards, I'll send you all back to the depths of the Underworld!"
Yeah, a real man's voice, full of vigor.
At this moment, Kratos stood on a battered old ship. On the other side of the vessel, monsters wielding long blades were emerging endlessly. They let out grating, low growls, clearly just mindless wandering souls eager to devour anyone.
Lin Xue let out a long breath: "Scared me to death, so it's a new game! Seriously, Chen Mo, can't you introduce a new game in a gentler way? You have to scare people like this... I thought my seaside mansion had exploded..."
Obviously, the terrifying scene at the beginning wasn't some "ogre invasion" gameplay, but the opening of a new game.
But since Chen Mo hadn't leaked any information beforehand, and everyone was still obsessed with *World of Warcraft*, they weren't prepared for a new game. So when that giant ogre appeared, most players, including Lin Xue, got a huge surprise.
Or rather... a shock.
A swarm of monsters began charging at Kratos, who immediately swung his chained blades to meet them.
Kratos growled, his chained blades dancing as they mercilessly reaped the monsters' lives. One by one, the monsters were cut down, torn apart, smashed, or thrown into the sea. Red souls burst from the monsters and converged into Kratos's body.
This feeling of battle involuntarily reminded Lin Xue of Spartan warriors.
Lin Xue wasn't controlling Kratos, but at that moment, she could clearly feel every one of his movements.
It felt like Kratos was Lin Xue's puppet on strings, but instead of her controlling the puppet, the puppet was moving on its own, controlling her in reverse.
"This mode is so strange, a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective for next-gen VR? Oh, at least there's a first-person mode."
Lin Xue tried switching to first-person perspective. This time, she was essentially possessing Kratos, watching him slaughter everything in sight.
The immersion of first-person perspective was indeed stronger. Lin Xue could even feel the rage and fury inside Kratos. Right now, he was like a never-ending killing machine, cold and efficient.
But switching to first-person made Lin Xue a bit uncomfortable. With the over-the-shoulder perspective, she could see Kratos's body and the monsters around him. After switching to first-person, Lin Xue essentially became the bald giant himself, and not being able to see behind her felt a bit off.
"A new perspective mode for the Matrix game pod? Hmm... it's not bad, I guess." Lin Xue switched back to the over-the-shoulder perspective and tried to get used to this "puppet-on-strings" mode.
Kratos was still slaughtering everything, constantly using various combat techniques.
Light swings, heavy smashes, launching enemies into the air, pulling with the chained blades, grabbing and tearing, finishing off downed foes...
Kratos was putting on a show of stylish monster-killing, and the feel of these moves kept reinforcing itself in Lin Xue's mind.
"Is this... a tutorial?" Lin Xue began to focus on understanding Kratos's combat style, experiencing the thrill of mowing down enemies.