Right now, Hannah was in a round courtyard. On the right was a cliff, and on the left were countless gravestones and piles of lit candles.
In the middle stood the Ash Judge Gundyr, still as a stone statue.
But what really caught Hannah's attention wasn't him—it was the bloodstains on the ground.
Next to Gundyr, she could see at least twenty or thirty bloodstains.
In Dark Souls, when players play online, their game data is sent to the server.
One thing that's different from other games is that, besides messages, the way a player dies can also randomly appear in other players' worlds.
It's random, but recent deaths get the highest priority.
The reason for placing so many here was to give players some comfort—
to let them know they're not alone in this hopeless world.
Getting schooled by Uncle Gundyr right after entering the game wasn't something that only happened to them.
And right now, the twenty or thirty bloodstains in front of Hannah meant that many people had already fallen here.
"Oh my god! How many people died here?" Hannah's bad feeling grew stronger.
She moved her in-game character, "123," over one of the bloodstains and pressed the interact button.
The stain turned into a red phantom, rolled twice on the ground, then got stabbed by something and went flying into the air before crashing down and dying.
She checked a few more stains nearby, and the deaths were all different—
some got launched into the air, some looked flattened, some seemed to be skewered.
But there was one thing they all had in common: before dying, every phantom was rolling around on the ground.
"This is bad… I think Gundyr might be really strong!"
Hannah was starting to feel uneasy.
Zack also sensed something was off, but he still said, "You're falling for it. Why do you think you can only see the moment they die?"
"This is Lucas's trap! He's messing with players' minds like this to make them more and more nervous. The unknown is the scariest part—just like in Outlast," Zack said confidently.
Hannah thought for a moment. "So you mean Gundyr might actually be weak, and Lucas is just using tricks to make it seem scary?"
Zack shook his head. "No… I mean hurry up and start the fight. If you die, it's my turn."
"Get lost!" Hannah rolled her eyes.
With a mix of tension and excitement, Hannah took a deep breath, moved her character forward, and triggered the cutscene.
In the game, the character tightened their waist, gripped the spiral sword stuck in Iudex Gundyr's chest with both hands, and slowly pulled it backward.
Pfft—
A stream of black blood gushed from Gundyr's chest, and at the same time, the spiral sword was slowly drawn out.
When the sword was finally pulled free, the screen shook. The Gundyr that had been kneeling on the ground like a stone statue now stood up, holding his halberd.
Hannah had already seen this boss, Iudex Gundyr, in the online showcase video.
But watching the video and actually playing the game were two completely different things.
His huge, ash-grey figure stood up, towering taller than three of her in-game character "123" stacked on top of each other.
That massive figure blocked out the cold sunlight, creating an overwhelming sight.
As Gundyr rose, grand background music and deep chanting filled the game. An atmosphere that could only be called "epic" took over, making Hannah feel unexpectedly fired up.
At the bottom of the screen, a long health bar appeared along with the boss's name — Iudex Gundyr.
This was only the first boss fight of the game, but to Hannah, it already felt like the final battle in other games.
In terms of atmosphere alone, Dark Souls was absolutely explosive!
"Now it's a fight to the death! You won't stop me from linking the fire!" Listening to the vast, grand music, Hannah felt herself completely fired up. The "acting mode" in her just switched on.
In the game, Gundyr, now awake, was already launching his first attack.
He took a heavy step forward, charging straight at Hannah.
Dust flew as his huge halberd, light as a feather in his hands, swept across in a wide arc.
Instinctively, Hannah rolled backward twice. That little flimsy shield she had? She doubted it could take a hit from Gundyr's halberd.
She'd already learned from watching Zack's first death just how important stamina was in this game.
If your stamina bar emptied, you were in real trouble, so she figured rolling was safer.
But after that first sweep, Gundyr didn't let up — he followed with a jumping slash toward Hannah.
This time, she wasn't so lucky.
The hit landed, and her health bar dropped by half in an instant, like she'd been struck in a main artery.
"Oh my god! That damage is insane!" Hannah was shocked.
Now she understood why in every death clip she'd seen before, the player would just roll a bit and then die.
Was this really supposed to be a beginner boss?
Rolling across the ground in a panic, Hannah couldn't help but wonder.
When she'd watched Zack fight the crystal lizard before, she could give commentary from the sidelines.
But watching and playing were worlds apart — now that she was holding the controller, she realized something was seriously off with this game.
The crystal lizard wasn't a big deal — the "Turn Back" message was right at the door.
But this Iudex Gundyr?
This damn sense of pressure — why was it so strong?
That's right!
Pressure!
For Hannah, who was touching Dark Souls for the first time, this boss fight was pure pressure.
The huge, fierce Gundyr swung his halberd in wide, powerful arcs, every move full of dominance.
Especially when the halberd smashed into the ground — the sound effects and the dust clouds made it feel even heavier.
Facing Gundyr, Hannah spent most of the time running for her life.
She mustered her courage once, sneaking in two quick hits when he paused after an attack, but with no stamina left to roll away, she got clipped by his halberd.
That little hit still took half her health.
Her "Sunny D" healing flasks were already gone.
Out of ammo, out of options.
She looked at Gundyr, whose health was only down by about a tenth, then at her own sliver of HP.
Hannah made her character "123" charge forward bravely.
She gave Gundyr's foot a perfect "massage."
Surprisingly, it took off quite a bit of health.
After a couple of solid whacks, Gundyr's health bar dropped by another tenth or so.
But the next moment, Gundyr's halberd swung upward in a brutal uppercut.
Her character was launched into the air, letting out a pitiful "Ahhh!"
Three words appeared in the center of the screen — "You Died."
(End of The Chapter)
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