Chapter 588: The Unreasonable Newbie Crusher
After creating the character, the game officially began.
First, another relatively simple cutscene played.
At this moment, Zou Zhuo found himself in a dimly lit dungeon. A rat scurried quickly across the frame. Torches on the walls on either side illuminated only a small area, which instead added an eerie atmosphere to the scene.
At the base of the wall beneath a torch, a skeletal, corpse-like figure sat on the ground, its status—alive or dead—unknown.
This scene reminded Zou Zhuo a bit of the setting from *Outlast*.
"Is this place a freaking insane asylum or something?" Zou Zhuo wondered to himself.
A deep, low voiceover began: "The Dark Sign represents the curse of undeath. So in the kingdom, all Undead are captured, sent north, and locked away in prisons until the end of the world."
"And this is your fate."
The camera cut to a cell. The character Zou Zhuo had created was in the corner of the cell, hidden in the darkness.
"Wait, what the hell is this? Why is my lady character a Hollow?!"
Zou Zhuo was shocked. He had carefully crafted a beautiful female character, but when he entered the game, she had turned into a gaunt, skeletal corpse...
*Dark Souls* also had a Hollowing mechanic, but that only happened after making a pact with the Pilgrim of Londor and receiving the Dark Sigil, turning the character into an ugly skeleton.
But the prequel started with the character already Hollowed?
Zou Zhuo felt a pang of frustration. His wish to admire the scantily clad body of his lady character was dashed... But then he thought about it again. This was probably for the story's sake. There must be a way to revert the Hollowing later.
Suddenly, the protagonist looked up.
With a "thud," a corpse that looked like a skeleton fell right in front of the protagonist. A white glow emanated from the corpse.
Clearly, the corpse held an item.
The protagonist looked up. Through the cell's skylight, a knight was visible, turning and walking away.
The protagonist stood up, and the camera switched to a first-person perspective. It felt like Zou Zhuo had possessed the protagonist, slowly rising to his feet.
Approaching the corpse, Zou Zhuo picked up the Dungeon Key.
Zou Zhuo familiarized himself with the basic controls, including rolling, attacking, and so on. It was essentially identical to *Dark Souls*, so he picked it up quickly.
The only thing was, this starting area seemed even darker than the previous game's...
At least in *Dark Souls*, the starting area was the Cemetery of Ash, which was relatively bright. The prequel starting in a dungeon cell was pretty miserable.
And the most infuriating part was that Zou Zhuo only had a Broken Sword!
The Broken Sword existed in *Dark Souls* too, but basically no one used it. A quick look at its stats was enough to know it was a trap.
Zou Zhuo was shocked again: "What's going on? Shouldn't I be given a Club and a Wooden Shield? Why don't I even have a Club?"
Based on his experience with the previous game, the player should start with a default weapon. The Deprived class's default weapon was the Club, commonly known as the "little chicken leg."
But Zou Zhuo only had a battered, broken sword. Where was the promised "chicken leg"?
Not giving up, Zou Zhuo checked the nearby cells but found nothing. He had no choice but to grit his teeth, leave the cell, and move forward.
Just outside the door was a minor enemy. Zou Zhuo charged in and slashed it several times with the Broken Sword before it died.
At that moment, Zou Zhuo felt a rumbling tremor from his right side.
He turned his head and saw a massive demon behind the iron bars on the right. It looked just like a Pit Lord from *Warcraft III*, commonly referred to as "Big Ass."
"Damn, is this thing the first boss..."
Zou Zhuo felt a bit panicked. His memories of being endlessly taught a lesson by Gundyr were still vivid, and this newbie-crushing boss seemed even more insane than Gundyr!
He continued forward.
Zou Zhuo felt like he was playing *Outlast* again. It was so dark that his vision was severely limited!
In first-person view, the scattered minor enemies were all huddled in dark corners, without health bars. If he wasn't careful, it was easy to miss them.
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful.
After climbing up a ladder from a well, Zou Zhuo reached the first Bonfire.
"Alright, it's pretty clear a boss is coming up..."
Having been baptized by *Dark Souls*, Zou Zhuo knew that, according to the standard game flow, there would likely be a gatekeeper boss after the first Bonfire, similar to Gundyr—a newbie crusher.
If it were just a series of minor enemies, that wouldn't fit Chen Mo's style at all!
But looking at the Broken Sword in his hand, Zou Zhuo felt a pang of frustration.
He was supposed to fight the first boss with this thing? Even killing minor enemies was a struggle. Fighting a boss with it would be a slow, agonizing suicide!
Pushing open the rusted iron door, Zou Zhuo walked into the room.
"Huh? No boss?"
Zou Zhuo was a bit surprised. The room in front of him was empty, with no sign of a boss.
But just as Zou Zhuo walked forward unsuspectingly, intending to search the room for items...
Suddenly, he saw a massive figure flash across the top of his field of view!
"Holy crap, what was that?!"
Before Zou Zhuo could react, a huge demon suddenly dropped from mid-air, landing with a thunderous crash right in front of him!
"Damn it, where did this thing come from?!"
Zou Zhuo was stunned: "As expected, this is the pattern. This thing is the first boss!"
Actually, the "Big Ass" he saw earlier and this one were not the same, but that didn't matter much. He couldn't beat either of them anyway...
"Alright, I feel like you're about on Gundyr's level. I can handle this!"
Zou Zhuo tried to psych himself up.
To be honest, this demon was even more intimidating than Gundyr. Its sheer size was oppressive, roughly the same as the Stray Demon on the bridge in the Farron Keep, though its skin looked healthier—maybe it was better maintained.
Zou Zhuo charged forward, swinging the Broken Sword and slashing at the Big Ass's body!
But the demon's health bar only dropped by the tiniest sliver...
Zou Zhuo was dumbfounded: "Are you kidding me with this damage?! This is way too low?!"
He had also fought Gundyr as a Deprived before. The Club hitting Gundyr at least showed a noticeable drop in health, and its poise damage was good.
But this Broken Sword hitting the demon showed almost no health loss at all!
How many years would it take to kill it like this?!
While Zou Zhuo was fretting, the demon had already raised its massive hammer high and slammed it down!
"Not good!"
Zou Zhuo was still stunned by the pathetic damage of the Broken Sword, and his momentary distraction caused him to fail to dodge the hammer.
With a loud crash, the entire scene began to shake violently. The hammer came down from above, smashing Zou Zhuo flat onto the ground. At the same time, his health bar was completely emptied!
Three large, blood-red words appeared on the screen: YOU DIED!
The screen went black, and Zou Zhuo returned to the Bonfire.
Zou Zhuo stood by the Bonfire for a full minute before snapping out of it. Was the difficulty of this game way higher than *Dark Souls*?
Not only was the weapon terrible, but he didn't even have an Estus Flask! There was no way to heal!
"Wait... Do I have to beat this boss without healing, using only this Broken Sword to slowly chip it to death? The difficulty is definitely more than just a little higher!"
Zou Zhuo calmed himself down: "Getting killed by the first boss is normal. Stay calm, stay calm."
He raised his Broken Sword again and charged at the demon.
Ten seconds later, Zou Zhuo was back at the Bonfire.
"Something's not right! The difficulty is broken! It's impossible to win! At this rate of health loss, it would take at least ten minutes to kill it, and that's with zero mistakes?!"
Zou Zhuo was shocked. Sure, there were pro players in *Dark Souls* who did crazy things like beating the Nameless King with starting gear, but those were pros. How could an average person do that?
Was this Big Ass a bit too ridiculously strong?!