Chapter 766: Think You're Great After Beating Iudex Gundyr? Everyone in the Starter Village Teaches You a Lesson

"Is this thing seriously the tutorial?!" St. Rayton was playing to the point of absolute daze and exhaustion.

On his screen, a character clad in tattered knight armor was being chased, rolling wildly all over the ground.

At this moment, the upper half of Iudex Gundyr's body swelled up, transforming into a skinless monster resembling a dragon or a snake, its entire mass like a writhing black pustule.

As its head and tail thrashed, even a plaza this spacious became mostly a zone of death!

Its eyes gleamed with a vicious red light; even though the man was already dead, it still raged with madness, and a single panicked roll into the wrong spot saw the character smashed nearly to dust against the ground.

And you are telling me this is the tutorial?!

He couldn’t help but recall the line of words someone had carved on the floor before entering: Turn back.

Right now, he genuinely felt the urge to turn around and lie back down in the coffin obediently!

...

By this time, it was already closing hour for most of the customers.

"Is this kind of mystic realm even meant for humans...?" Even after logging off, Kelanbell’s mind was entirely consumed by how to defeat Gundyr... Could anyone actually beat this thing?

Reflecting on her status as a Sacred-level master... if she couldn't beat it, surely no one else could, right?

She quickly looked around left and right to confirm that indeed no one had passed this absurdly difficult tutorial.

Just then, a sudden cry of surprise rang out: "My goodness, someone beat it!"

"What?!" Following the sound, she saw a large group of elves gathered around the sofas in the lounge area, flanked by knights from the Golden Gryphon Knight Order, several of them watching a live stream from the Continent of Immortal Relics.

"Those people over there really seem amazing..." Commander Evan marveled.

"The old gentleman I’m watching passed it a while ago, alright?" Sera pointed at her communication jade.

"..." Kelanbell felt like dying of shame and frustration. Why didn't any of you come to watch me play? Why is everyone watching someone else!

She then hovered in the back to observe, and found that someone really had cleared it.

How could anyone be so incredibly skilled?!

Instantly, she felt that if she didn't work harder, her own elves would end up belonging to someone else.

As the Elven Queen, she naturally still wanted these elves to revere her.

Thus, the next day.

Before Boss Fang had even opened the shop, he spotted a lone elf standing outside.

"Why so enthusiastic?" Moreover, every time he saw this elf, she was always by herself.

"Don't you have any friends to come with?" Boss Fang asked while unlocking the door.

Ignoring Boss Fang entirely, she marched straight to a seat and logged on.

She bore the exact demeanor of a busy queen who had no time for his banter.

"Since someone else can pass, I refuse to believe I can't!"

After all, to achieve the Sacred level, one's talent could never be poor. Combined with the foundation built from a whole day of practice yesterday, after a period of time...

Having died an countless number of times, Kelanbell’s heavily battered character on the screen dodged Gundyr’s withered, massive claw as it swept past by a mere hair's breadth. With a side-roll straight in front of Gundyr, she put everything on the line—nothing ventured, nothing gained!

She thrust her sword downward!

"I passed! I passed!"

Wiping away a bead of sweat, she began to exclaim.

Since elves were highly sensitive to any commotion in the shop, a group of them who were eating instant noodles promptly gathered around, clutching their bowls.

On the screen, Iudex Gundyr’s massive frame collapsed, and a fraction of the power contained within his corpse and soul was absorbed, granting the player a limited boost to a few attributes.

Of course, the condensed soul power could also serve as currency, which was the unique money of this world.

Meanwhile, the Ember within Gundyr's body gradually ignited upon the character she controlled—strengthening her vitality through the plundered Ember.

She had indeed passed.

"My goodness! How did you pass this?" An elf humbly asked for tips.

"Hahaha!" Kelanbell felt a deep sense of gratification inside, though on the surface she remained impassive, maintaining the appearance of playing the game seriously.

"Well..." Kelanbell summarized earnestly while continuing to play, "Actually, it's not that difficult when you think about it."

Unlike other games, there were almost no shortcuts to take here; even if there were, they could only reduce the difficulty by a minuscule fraction. Everything depended on one's own combat skills and ultimate mastery over details.

Only now did Kelanbell's character push open the massive, seemingly age-sealed stone doors behind Gundyr. Accompanied by a heavy rumbling sound, she finally beheld the world outside.

Following the mountain path upward along the slope, an ancient stone hall came into view—the Firelink Shrine.

Inserting the Coiled Sword into the central altar, the bonfire ignited, signifying that the tutorial journey had come to a pleasant conclusion.

Opposite the entrance of the Shrine, cluttered white candlelight illuminated five massive thrones, which were the seats of the Lords of Cinder.

A despondent swordsman sat nearby.

The Shrine had only an entrance, with no exit or paths leading elsewhere.

"The techniques... could you explain them in detail?" Sera asked while watching this unfamiliar elf play.

Clearly, she had also been stuck on Gundyr for a long time.

"Of course!" The Elven Queen Kelanbell used to receive praise from these elves every day without feeling much of anything, but now, for some reason, she felt an immense sense of achievement. "Let me find a slightly more powerful monster."

By this time, quite a few more people had gathered around.

"Someone at our shop passed it too?" Helen asked in surprise.

"Yeah, might even be the first in the shop!"

Several other Sacred-level masters looked over as well.

There were no exits inside the Shrine, so Kelanbell made a loop and walked back out. The hollows outside naturally couldn't serve as her target; they were too weak.

After clearing a path, she headed up the narrow trail along the left cliff of the Shrine. At that moment, she suddenly spotted a person completely different from the hollows.

"This monster looks a bit different, I'll use this one to demonstrate." After all, having slain the boss, she could practically walk sideways through this "starter village."

Even if he was a bit unusual, how powerful could he possibly be?

"Mm-hmm!" The spectating crowd behind her nodded repeatedly.

On the narrow cliffside path ahead stood a lean man dressed so raggedly he was almost indecent, walking over with a long katana in hand.

To call him a beggar would probably be giving him too much credit; he didn't look like he would be much stronger than a hollow.

"See~" Kelanbell held her rapier, oozing confidence as she explained, "The key to combat technique lies in how meticulously you master your own body, and how deeply you understand yourself. When you can strike and retreat at will, you can handle any enemy with ease."

With that, just as the opponent entered her optimal striking range, she thrust her sword forward.

Immediately after...

*Clang!*

A flash of blade light erupted. Suddenly, a dull impact rang out as her entire sword blade, along with her arm, was deflected away. A strange deflected force seemed to return her own strength entirely back upon her; her whole body felt as if it had been violently struck by a sledgehammer. In that instant, she was completely numbed.

She could only watch helplessly as the opponent drove the katana straight into her chest!

On the screen: YOU DIED.

Kaelanbell stared at the screen, utterly petrified, her mouth agape wide enough to swallow an egg whole: "..."

Everyone behind her stood in identical, speechless stupefaction: "..."

.