They quit the game and made a new character.
The old "123" character was now history. The new "aaa" would be the new flame of hope.
This time, Zack didn't spend time customizing the face.
Since the knight class came with armor, a sword, and a shield, the helmet completely covered the head anyway.
That meant you couldn't even see his detailed face work, so he skipped it.
As for the burial gift, last time he had chosen a branch that might have some special use, but he didn't know what yet. He just knew it was completely useless against Iudex Gundyr.
So this time, after some discussion, Zack and Hannah chose the life ring that boosts health.
If you don't know what the other items do, picking something that gives you more HP is always the safe choice!
They skipped the intro cutscene, and when Hannah saw the armored "aaa" holding a sword and shield on the screen, she felt oddly reassured.
Her confidence shot up for no reason.
They moved forward just like before, clearing the hollow enemies one by one.
They picked up the Ashen Estus Flask that restores focus, lit the first bonfire, jumped onto the coffin to get a white item—a Titanite Shard, not that they knew what it was for.
Hannah didn't bother going after the crystal lizard on the other path.
After all, that lizard wasn't the one who humiliated her before.
Her main target now was still Iudex Gundyr.
She went through the stone gate and into the courtyard.
In the new save, Gundyr was still kneeling just like before.
The only difference was the courtyard's bloodstains—they were everywhere.
Hannah took a moment to watch how other players had died.
Most were pretty similar, but one thing made her nervous—she noticed quite a few dead players were also wearing knight armor.
Some deaths looked especially bad. One side of the courtyard was full of gravestones and candles, while the other side was a sheer cliff.
From the bloodstain replays, Hannah saw that plenty of players rolled their way to the cliff's edge, only to be knocked clean off.
That convinced her to stay away from the cliff during the fight.
Dying to Gundyr in combat wasn't embarrassing—it wasn't her first time, after all.
But if you die because of the terrain, that's just embarrassing.
It's not like this place is some narrow path either — it's a big courtyard.
Taking a deep breath, Hannah controlled "aaa" to step forward and pull out the spiral sword from Gundyr's chest.
After pulling the sword, she didn't step back to make space. Instead, she swung her longsword at Gundyr, watching the stamina bar drop and getting used to the rhythm of her attacks.
Each slash sprayed out blackish-purple blood.
"This boss isn't even awake yet. Why are you hitting it? Isn't that just wasting stamina?" Zack complained from the side.
"I'm just getting a feel for it, can't I? Besides, I'm keeping an eye on the stamina bar!" Hannah replied.
But what happened next took Hannah by surprise.
When Gundyr finally stood up, the boss's health bar that appeared on the screen had already dropped a bit.
"Oh wow, you just got lucky!" Zack was shocked. He didn't even know that was possible.
"What do you mean lucky? That's called knowing the game mechanics!" Hannah snorted.
Of course, she hadn't known about this trick beforehand, but that didn't stop her from bragging.
And as everyone knows, when a player starts showing off, their IQ tends to drop. So she didn't get to enjoy her moment for long.
With a loud "thud," a deep sound came from the speakers.
Still lost in her self-praise, Hannah didn't notice that Gundyr had already woken up.
He slammed his halberd into the ground, sending her flying.
"Wait, what? I'm wearing armor! How is the damage this high?!"
Her eyes went wide as she watched "aaa" get knocked back.
What was this?
Why did her health bar suddenly drop by a third?
Sure, she was lasting longer than when she played the useless class earlier—
But all it did was change from dying in two hits to dying in three.
What's the difference?!
Watching her health drop and Gundyr still charging at her, Hannah felt her worldview collapse.
Was this armor basically useless?
Not that the boss cared about her feelings.
His slow-looking walk suddenly closed the distance in an instant, and like a tiger pouncing, Gundyr swung his halberd again.
Hannah instinctively raised her shield — and instantly regretted it.
Because when Zack played as the useless class, he had also tried blocking with a shield.
It ended terribly.
The stamina bar drained insanely fast, and the flimsy wooden shield couldn't fully block the damage — it only reduced it.
The reduced damage was basically like going from 100 to 50.
If you died in two hits before, you might survive four after blocking.
But this time, Hannah was surprised.
Her shield completely blocked Gundyr's attack.
She didn't lose a single point of health.
"I'm invincible! So this is the real secret to winning!"
Gundyr hit her twice in a row, and she still hadn't lost any health. Hannah was thrilled.
Too thrilled to notice her stamina bar.
Her shield was still up, and she hadn't even finished speaking—
When Gundyr suddenly dashed forward and unleashed two sweeping attacks.
Her already low stamina bar was wiped out in an instant.
Her character staggered, unable to move, and Gundyr's right hand shot forward.
Hannah watched as her character was lifted into the air by the halberd like a broken doll.
Her health hit zero instantly.
"You Died" — the same words, turning from red to black-and-white.
Hannah went silent.
"You're doing it wrong! In this game, stamina is more important than health. If you run out, it's basically game over. Blocking with a shield might stop damage, but it uses twice as much stamina as rolling. And weren't you going to parry? Why just block?" Zack gave his commentary.
The only thing that surprised him was that even with the knight class, her defense didn't seem much better at all.
To put it simply, the useless guy before was like soft tofu. Now, after choosing the knight and putting on armor, he's just become old tofu.
Sure, the second kind is a bit harder, but it's still tofu—the kind that breaks with a single touch.
Sitting on the stool, Hannah's face darkened at Zack's after-the-fact analysis. "If you're so good, why don't you try?"
"Fine! I'll show you what I can do!" Zack sat back down, already picturing his upcoming fight with Iudex Gundyr in his head.
(End of the Chapter)
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