When it came to action games, Eriri had indeed played quite a few, but the Dark Souls combat test demo that Ichin brought out was very different from typical action titles.

The character's attack animations weren't flashy—just simple movements and slashes. The main challenge was mastering the flow of combat: knowing when to back off, how to bait attacks, and when to exploit openings in the enemy's offense or defense.

Having watched Yagami Kō's attempt earlier, Eriri knew that the first part of the path was easy—just a few basic enemies she and Kō had breezed through.

As she reached the room's entrance, Eriri stopped cautiously, hesitating about her next move.

Then Utaha spoke up beside Ichin, "There's a throwing knife in the item menu. You can use it to lure enemies out."

"Huh? Really?"

Eriri checked her inventory and sure enough, found throwing knives. She turned to Utaha. "You've played this already?"

Utaha nodded. "But only the very first version, with just this room. Nothing beyond that."

"I see…"

Eriri selected the throwing knife, locked onto an enemy ahead, and threw it.

Thwip!

HP -1

The torch-wielding grunt reacted immediately.

"Heh, just a 1v1? Easy!"

No sooner had she spoken than the longsword guy hidden at the doorway stepped out.

Not just Eriri—everyone watching fell silent. It was still a 2v1 situation in the end.

"W-Wait! This is a bad spot!"

The narrow hallway left little room to maneuver. Eriri raised her shield, but her stamina quickly drained, and once it broke, the torch guy unleashed a classic five-hit Lord of Cinder combo, taking her down completely.

"…"

Eriri went silent for a few seconds, then dropped the controller and lunged at Utaha.

"You totally set me up! I'm getting back at you!"

The two of them began squabbling, but Ichin didn't intervene. He turned to Aoba, the third in line.

"Alright, Aoba, you're up."

Aoba nervously gulped and picked up the controller. "I'm kinda scared..."

"Hahaha, don't worry, take it slow," Ichin reassured her.

Controlling the character from the start, Aoba quickly got the hang of the controls and made her way to the room entrance.

She paused, carefully observing the setup.

"Okay, one up front, one hiding by the door, and one behind the crates in the corner. Fighting all three at once won't end well. Hallway's too narrow, so the best bet is to fight them while moving around inside the room. Kō's method wasn't wrong—she just got startled."

With that thought, Aoba had her character dash into the room. She killed the torch guy in two swings, quickly turned, blocked the longsword guy's hit with her shield, and struck back with three slashes to finish him off.

Watching her play, Yagami Kō cheered, "Nice one, Aoba! Keep going!"

Hearing that, Eriri stopped wrestling with Utaha and turned to watch too.

Aoba stayed calm, raised her shield, and carefully distanced herself from the busted crates.

"Let me regen stamina..."

After blocking three attacks from the dagger enemy, she retreated a bit, regained stamina, and struck decisively to finish him off.

Having cleared all three enemies, Aoba put down the controller and let out a heavy sigh.

"They weren't even strong, but that was exhausting!"

"You did great," Ichin praised. "You weren't really good at this genre before, so getting this far shows how much you've improved over the past year."

Aoba scratched her cheek, a little embarrassed. "Hehe, I guess. I mean, I did spend ages beating Hollow Knight, so maybe that toughened me up. Okay, break's over—let's keep going!"

She picked the controller back up and moved toward the left exit of the room.

The next area opened into a round plaza. Across the open space was a stairway leading up to a tower about three stories tall—likely the destination.

But the enemies had changed.

Besides the knight at the base of the stairs wielding a longsword and iron shield, there were now three massive, ferocious-looking dogs in the plaza.

"Oooh! Doggies! But… they look scary!" Nene watched in awe as the dogs howled on screen before charging in. She was curious to see how they would attack.

Even though she was a bit scared, Aoba had been expecting this. She raised her shield and braced herself as the three dogs lunged.

Wham!

Wham!

Wham!

The shield took three solid hits, pushing the dogs back a bit. Aoba had lost over half her stamina, but she didn't waste the opening—she swung her sword and knocked two of the dogs away.

Repeating the pattern of defense and offense, she took down all three dogs without losing a single drop of HP.

"Amazing!!"

Everyone burst into applause at her flawless execution. Ichin clapped too, genuinely impressed.

Of course, Ichin had shown a bit of mercy—the AI on the three dogs wasn't dialed up too high. If he had, they wouldn't be slow with low attack rates—they'd be full-on Three Dog Godslayers.

But the real reason he didn't ramp up the AI was because of what came next—the Lothric Knight.

After the dogs fell, the knight moved.

He advanced slowly toward Aoba, and even at a glance, it was clear his sword and shield were no ordinary gear.

This enemy radiated a completely different level of pressure, and Aoba instantly tensed up.

Backing away while holding her shield, she called out, "Ichin-kun, any tips? How do I deal with this guy?"

Ichin smiled and generously shared some info. "That knight's shield is like yours—100% physical block. Plus, he's got high poise and strong defense. Even with a full stamina combo, you won't kill him. So focus on defense and dodging."

He didn't mention parrying. Although he'd implemented it, it was a risky move for beginners—poor execution could easily lead to death. Better to let her learn naturally.

*

Author's Note:

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