I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 667 - 209: Stonewell! The God-level Map Design That Silenced Designers Globally!_1

Chapter 667: Chapter 209: Stonewell! The God-level Map Design That Silenced Designers Globally!_1

"I’m so damn... uh!"

...

"I just don’t believe it... argh!"

...

"Rush him in one wave... ow!"

...

Seeing as Czcu, who vowed to take down the Furnace Knight in ten rounds, had already died more than ten times.

In the presence of countless viewers, he kept dying, resurrecting, and running back to his corpse.

Most of the time, the scene was at the very beginning where the Big Tree Guardian is.

After dying so many times, even Czcu was getting numb to it.

Just can’t get through, it seems utterly impossible no matter how hard he tried.

Though the Elite Monster’s moves looked routine, they were exceptionally uncomfortable to deal with in combat.

The knight had too many offensive stances, sometimes very deceptive.

For instance, sometimes he would step forward.

You’d think he was preparing to unleash a ground-shaking attack, so you rolled on the spot to dodge it.

But in actuality, he was just taking a horse stance, then firmly chopping down—exactly when the player would have finished rolling and stood up.

Sometimes he would swing his sword in a forward triple slash.

Once you thought you had figured out this move, and you rolled to avoid his triple slash, ready to counterattack,

he would immediately follow up with a shield charge, leaving the player unable to back off.

Despite viewers reminding Czcu via the chat that other streamers had countered this monster using Shield Counter, suggesting he should also try practicing it,

Shield Counter is different from the Anti-defense technique Czcu preferred to use.

If Anti-defense means waiting for the opponent’s sword to strike the player’s shield before retaliating with a shield bash,

then Shield Counter is about directly deflecting the opponent’s attack at the moment it’s about to land!

Successful Shield Counters always result in an execution stance.

Though the reward is high, it comes with high risk.

A failed Shield Counter means taking a solid hit from the opponent.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Czcu had ended in failure.

And, the Furnace Knight’s attacks were terrifyingly powerful.

Just a couple of hits could deplete the player’s health bar.

He simply gave up on Shield Counter and chose to roll to avoid attacks instead.

Then.

More problems emerged.

Czcu found out

it seemed like the Furnace Knight could read the player’s potion-drinking commands.

He experienced it several times,

whenever he tried to create distance and raise his hand to drink a potion, the enemy would rush over and slap him one.

Whatever he drank, he spat out.

His health bar would never fully replenish.

"It feels like... this guy’s putting more pressure on me than the Big Tree or even Omen..." Czcu wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

Omen and Big Tree Guardian, bad as they were, at least allowed the player to create distance and replenish health.

But facing the Furnace Knight,

the player always maintained a nearly crippled state, combatting under high stress.

However, the good news was,

through over a dozen repetitions of death,

Czcu had made some progress.

From the initial panic at the first meeting to glimpsing some understanding after dying five or six times in quick succession,

to now, after over a dozen explosive deaths, he had made some significant improvement.

He could even avoid the majority of the enemy’s attacks by rolling.

And as long as the player wasn’t too greedy for hits,

the enemy’s combo would inevitably expose a brief vulnerability for a few seconds.

That moment was the best opportunity for the player to deal damage!

It’s just that the damage wasn’t good enough; it required maintaining high concentration and gradually wearing the opponent down.

"I suspect I’m definitely fighting this BOSS at a higher level than I should be..."

"But that’s not important!"

"By defeating him, I inch closer to the road of becoming a king!" After reviving for the Nth time, Czcu bolstered his morale.

Reviving from the Blessing Spot at the City Wall Tower, he made his way with ease through the War Hawk corridor, then leapt off the protruding flank platform, plummeting down.

Again!

En route, Czcu shared with the viewers an interesting point he had just discovered.

"Guys, I don’t know if you’ve noticed it."

"Remember how I said that the game’s point of entry was poorly directed by the top player, to the point where most wouldn’t notice this hidden path?"

"After running it over a dozen times, I’ve realized I was wrong."

"In fact, Designer Ke did give directions. He concealed a War Hawk here, making it impossible for the player to kill it from a distance with an arrow."

"Once the player passes by, the War Hawk would launch a surprise attack. During the dodging process, in order to keep away from the surrounding explosive barrels, players would almost instinctively move towards this protruding platform."

"With the War Hawk in midair, the player cannot attack it directly, and most would choose to jump attack."

"During the jump attack, whether it’s the chaotic fight that has it kick you off,"

"Or the camera follows the War Hawk’s trajectory in flight,"

"You’re most likely to notice a small platform down below."

"This type of guidance that relies on the scene itself rather than external help, does not break the immersion."

"This subtle aid doesn’t steal the spotlight, and it avoids the kind of overbearing ’it’s me, the designer, telling you there’s a path here’ guidance, instead, it gives the player a sense of ’Ah, it’s a hidden path I discovered myself’."

"Little do they know, all of this is under Designer Ke’s control; it’s just that this sort of subtle guidance is really cleverly done."

After a brief sharp critique, Czcu went back to the intense fight with the Furnace Knight!

This time, his adept use of rolls allowed him to dodge most of the Furnace Knight’s attacks.

And while drinking potions, he made sure to create a great distance, only touching the potion bottle when he was sure the enemy’s charge couldn’t reach him.

He finally whittled its health just below half.

"There’s great hope for this one!" Czcu’s eyes sharpened.