Chapter 250: Skeleton Rider No. 1, Reporting for Duty!
The Demon Gauntlet was arguably the most crucial item, if not the only one, that allowed Cheng Tian to complete the Ys Origin playthrough.
In a normal game, players could restore their status by defeating regular monsters for random drops, touching save points, and leveling up, allowing them to continuously explore and challenge.
However, once the entire Black Tower became a dungeon, all these player-friendly features disappeared. Players could only rely on pre-prepared recovery items and their inherent self-recovery abilities for slow sustain.
Although Cheng Tian had 400 MP, his MP recovery rate was only 4 points per minute. In other words, if his mana bar was depleted, it would take at least a full hundred minutes to completely refill it.
In the current exploration mission, where every second counted, no one would give Cheng Tian 100 minutes to recover his mana.
Similarly, while Cheng Tian's HP reached a considerable 460 points, his HP recovery rate was only 2 points per minute. After all, his bare strength was only 21 points, and if his health was damaged, even more time would be lost.
With the Demon Gauntlet, even if monsters didn't drop chests upon death, the soul fragments they released would randomly provide support and recovery, offering true instant sustain.
With it, Cheng Tian could use his skills much more freely and aggressively.
Besides instant sustain, it was also a prerequisite for activating the Onimusha transformation and a key item for enhancing his equipment.
Red souls could be used not only on Demon Armaments but also on other weapons and armor Cheng Tian currently wore.
Of course, there were limitations: critical level upgrades couldn't be achieved this way; freeloading wouldn't work.
However, the additional tip also made it clear that the number of monster red souls that could be absorbed throughout the Black Tower was not infinite. It was impossible to fully upgrade all one's equipment levels by absorbing red souls here.
After experiencing situations where red shocks exploded monsters until they stopped spawning, Cheng Tian understood this quite well.
As the saying goes, the Space didn't mind players exploiting rules or even bugs for profit, but everything had to have a limit; too much was never good.
Cheng Tian checked and found that killing a skeleton soldier yielded about 50 red souls. The red soul consumption for enhancing equipment was roughly equivalent to the Heavenly Selection Coin consumption of Kelly's enhancement device. From an enhancement perspective, every monster dropped money for Cheng Tian.
At first glance, the drops seemed a bit low, but skeleton soldiers were just basic fodder. Subsequent fodder monsters would clearly provide higher returns.
Just then, another squad of skeleton soldiers, possibly attracted by the recent battle noises, approached. As Bazett actively engaged them, Cheng Tian casually selected a random soldier and activated the Hundred Demons' Night Parade.
Although the Ten Commandments couldn't be used, the Hundred Demons' Night Parade wasn't delayed; the sooner it was used, the sooner it would cool down.
As the mutated magic power was injected, the skeleton soldier chosen by Cheng Tian as a target first froze in place, then surprisingly, instead of collapsing as before, it manually began to strip off its armor!?
When the skeleton soldier had stripped down to just a belt, even discarding the weapon in its hand, it surprisingly pulled out a red scarf from its butt... behind its hip bone, from who knows where, and tied it directly around its neck!
As the evil wind of the Azure Cry Domain blew, the red scarf on the skeleton's neck fluttered in the wind, just like the red scarf of Kamen Rider No. 1.
And the next moment, this skeleton actually struck No. 1's starting pose, then took a powerful leap, soaring high into the air (the Black Tower's height was ridiculously tall), before executing a perfectly standard Rider Kick, descending diagonally from mid-air and directly kicking its former companion in the head!
Skeleton Kicker! Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Codex No. 84, Elite Template, Demonic Undead Unit!
No doubt, this thing was a unit designed to mimic Kamen Rider, with its appearance paying homage to No. 1 and its only skill being the Rider Kick.
Although this little guy's HP was low, its agility was comparable to a Raw Stone Wyvern. Its light, magic-driven bones allowed it to perform various incredible movements.
In Bazett's eyes, this Skeleton Kicker was a friendly unit, similar to a 'Dragon Tooth Soldier' variant, summoned by Cheng Tian's spellcasting.
As it officially joined the battle and began its incredibly agile leaps and bounds, Bazett quickly showed an expression of 'having learned something' and began observing intently during the fight.
Bazett primarily excelled in grappling and boxing, with her feet mostly not participating in attacks, focusing only on movement.
But the Skeleton Kicker's exquisite kicks and leg techniques, while earning Bazett's approval, also sparked in her some ideas for learning.
And perhaps because it was designed as a mimicry of Kamen Rider, the self-awareness of this essentially demonic undead Skeleton Kicker was surprisingly that of a guy brimming with a sense of justice.
Not only did it not care at all when it realized Bazett was learning from it, even deliberately slowing its movements to facilitate Bazett's imitation, but its ruthlessness towards monsters was a dimension higher than anyone else present.
Cheng Mouren, who had completely lost the opportunity to strike, was relegated to the role of Utan's temporary mount and a soul fragment vacuum cleaner... As Bazett's Rider Kick proficiency grew, Cheng Tian simply swapped his Shock Absorbing Boots to Bazett.
Skeleton Soldiers, Golden Armored Skeleton Soldiers, and Skeleton Turrets fell one after another. Cheng Tian's red souls and innocent souls also surged, and the group arrived at an area clearly resembling some kind of altar.
The altar was surrounded by a barrier, and the skeleton soldiers encircling it all glowed with a demonic red light.
These skeleton soldiers were all boss-level units, and the red glow on them indicated that they were the energy source for the barrier. Only when they were all defeated would the barrier dissipate.
After enjoying several instances of the special X-shaped double Rider Kick, Cheng Tian and his companions predictably dismantled the barrier around the altar—
A uniquely shaped fan, glowing with a greenish-blue light, lay quietly on the altar.
But it was at this moment that the Demon Gauntlet in Cheng Tian's hand emitted the exact same greenish-blue light as the fan, and the fan, as if resonating, began to shine brightly.
The demon whip handle Cheng Tian held began to deform, eventually transforming into a greenish-blue scimitar with the infusion of wind elemental energy.
The most peculiar thing about this scimitar, however, was that a chain connected its hilt to Cheng Tian's Demon Gauntlet, feeling very much like a single-bladed, extended version of Kratos's Blades of Chaos from God of War.
[Your Template Armament 'Demon Gauntlet' has resonated with the Ys Divine Relic 'Wings of Azure Sky'—]
['Demon Armament' active—]
[You have obtained the new exclusive armament 'Gale Blade' and the corresponding 'Tactical Shell' ability.]
[Your equipment 'Fire Moth Wings' has been partially unsealed. You can use the Fire Moth Wings for short-distance aerial gliding.]