Pokémon, but cultural invasion

Considering the speedrun competition, Qishu didn't observe it much, and upon meeting it, he slashed at the little reptile with his sword.

The orange juice splattered everywhere, standing out against the gray and white background.

"This tactile feedback..."

The visual impact and the monster's retreat amazed Qi Shu. With her second strike, the small reptile that had been cleaved away turned into a shriveled corpse, and several snail shell coins exploded out.

"This time, the genre is combat, it's awesome!"

"The impact of the attacks and the kill effects are very satisfying to watch."

"Classic monster-slaying and money-making mechanics."

The snail shell coins were collected in the icon in the upper left corner, and only then did Qishu notice the five white icons above.

Does this mean the little knight has five lives?

Having experienced a boss taking half her health in one hit while she was in a two-person team battle, Qi Shu curled her lip; she didn't believe it.

After passing through five doors and eliminating three small reptiles, a small mound studded with coins appears on the screen.

One slash and currency appeared, which Qishu liked, but unfortunately it couldn't withstand five slashes.

She jumped up the steps to climb the cave above, when a sharp stone pillar suddenly fell and startled her.

"A sinister map design; hopefully, this kind of perverse humor will be reduced in the future."

Still shaken by the ordeal of digging for survival, Kiju walked up to a glowing mirror.

【O higher beings, these words are spoken only to you】

...

Slash through enemies to collect their souls, and gather those souls to heal your wounds.

Qi Shu suddenly realized that the white liquid constantly shaking in the circular container in the upper left corner was the soul, and she had gained a way to restore her health.

"If you can recover health by killing people, wouldn't you be invincible?"

"Using war to sustain war is my favorite kind of killing game."

"Does the health regeneration cause a freeze effect? ​​Should I stand still or move slowly like a maggot?"

The strange tree climbed upwards, casually killing two flies that were flying in the air. Pale blue butterfly grass grew in a recessed corner of the cliff.

A large, blue, bulb-shaped sphere hangs above; when it is broken, two small, walking light bulbs fall down.

Adhering to the principle of killing any monsters, the strange tree's health bar has two extra light blue bars.

"This can't be a temporary maximum health limit, can it? The Blue Light Bulb is more suitable for killing before fighting the BOSS."

Muttering to himself, Qi Shu wandered around the neighborhood like a headless fly.

During the Plants vs. Zombies era, she discovered that the tutorial levels in Tingxiang were excellent, and Hollow Knight is no exception.

We'll teach you everything—attacking, jumping, healing, and currency—without providing any unnecessary information that would make learning more difficult.

This includes the stone treasure chest that Qishu found while parkouring through a region of stone pillars and spikes.

[Amulet collected - Wrath of the Dead: Equip an amulet to activate powerful abilities]

The amulet needs to be equipped on a bench.

With patient and persuasive guidance, even a fool can understand how to play the game.

"The host is a bit slow. Xiaoju'er has already entered the town of Dirtmouth."

"Hey, Little Chrysanthemum doesn't have this Wrath of the Dead amulet. Did she miss it?"

"Quickly catch the spies and prevent them from tipping them off!"

I caught a few comments out of the corner of my eye. It turns out that Xiaoju was in such a hurry that she missed the map details.

Qi Shu also quickened his pace.

[Passing through here, you will enter the territory of the King and the Creator. Cross this threshold, obey our laws, and witness this last and only civilization.]

Hallownest

The little knight's continuous slashes landed on the stone door that occupied most of the screen, and more and more light shone through the cracks in the door.

Finally, the gate to the lost kingdom crumbled.

A sudden, rapid piano solo begins, and the little knight walks past ruins and decaying towns—Dertmouth awaits him, long awaited.

Beside the bench where amulets could be equipped, a tall, hunched old member of the same clan, resembling the young knight, spoke:

"Hello, traveler. I'm afraid I'm the only one left to welcome you. The other residents have all entered the great kingdom beneath the town, even though it has become ruins."

"Wealth, glory, enlightenment—the darkness in the depths seems to hold infinite possibilities, but be careful."

Qi Shu sat down on a nearby bench and equipped the [Wrath of the Dead].

The holder's power increases as they approach death.

Then descend from the town's mine.

Forgotten Crossroads

Compared to the bare cave just moments ago, the crossroads now features abandoned fences, road signs, and wheelbarrows everywhere.

The monsters have also become more threatening.

A wandering husk that pounces on anyone it sees; a white, spiky worm that can crawl along walls; an aerial monster with a large, orange belly; a horned husk that charges around wildly...

These diverse monsters were nothing to Qishu; she cleared the map as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

After spending thirty coins to buy a paper map from the cartographer, she finally unlocked the map function.

Avoiding the spiky Gom worms that suddenly sprang from the ground, Qishu rescued a green caterpillar trapped inside a glass bottle.

The strange tree, wandering all over the map, didn't find the "fake knight" but instead encountered a large fly lying on the ground, fast asleep.

Mother of Groz

"It seems impossible to get past her without defeating her."

Qishu, manipulating the little knight, roused the sleeping Mother of Groz with a few sword strikes.

Mother of Groz slowly ascended into the air, and the Strange Tree seized the opportunity to leap and slash. After seven or eight strikes, it rose to a high altitude and used the ceiling to bounce down.

The greedy Qi Shu had no time to dodge and lost its first health point.

Mother Groz bounced up and down in the room locked by the iron gate like a ball, landing on the spot and twitching.

Qishu saw through the single attack method and seized the opportunity to strike a few times. Mother of Groz hovered in the air and frantically burst out orange liquid.

Just as Qishu thought the BOSS was about to unleash some powerful attack, it exploded and fell back to the ground, dropping a pile of currency.

"died?"

Qishu was stunned. Then, the corpse of Mother of Gruz writhed, and more than a dozen small flies burst out of her belly, which she killed one by one.

"What a weak boss, killed in just a dozen or so hits."

"This game is a blessing for those who have no sense of direction."

"Oh no, isn't the difficulty level a bit too low?"

Qi Shu knew things were going badly. If the fake knight and the wasp were at this difficulty level, she wouldn't be able to catch up with Xiao Ju'er's progress using the skill gap.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

The BOSS battle belonging to Xiaoju has officially begun.

Chapter 116 The Strange Tree's Unfavorable Start and Frequent Bloopers

The exit was blocked by the fallen iron gate, and a heavily armored man wielding a long-handled, round-headed hammer fell from the sky amidst flying debris.

Its belly was grayish-white, its entire body was covered in armor, and its two large horns pointed straight into the sky.

"The streamer is progressing faster than Qishu."

"Qishu is terrible with directions, but Xiaoju'er has the advantage."

"In my experience, the bigger the boss, the easier it is to defeat."

The armored giant, as tall as six or seven small knights, leaped high into the air, landed with a thud, and swung his giant hammer.

The giant hammer struck the ground, creating a white shockwave, which Xiaoju jumped away from.

Her fighting style is completely different from Qishu's; she is very cautious and never greedily attacks when the BOSS's attack patterns are unclear.

Leaping over the shockwave, Xiaojuer lightly slashed with her sword, and a white hit effect appeared on the fake knight.

The next shockwave from the giant hammer followed immediately, but Xiaojuer, who had spared some energy, easily dodged it.

This process was repeated until the fake knight's injuries reached a certain threshold, at which point he was slashed to the ground by the next strike.

After tumbling six or seven times, it collapsed, its head armor splitting open to reveal a large, white, bun-like head.

Seeing the fake knight completely powerless to resist, Xiaoju boldly slashed several times, orange liquid splattering, until the armor closed, then she jumped away.

To Xiaoju'er's surprise, the moment she jumped away, the fake knight also jumped up and landed right where she was about to land.

Before it had escaped its attack range, the fake knight, with a flurry of blows, swung his long-handled hammer left and right, smashing it violently against the ground.

Little Chrysanthemum was hit again, and two bars of her health disappeared instantly.

The entire screen shook violently as barrels filled with orange liquid crashed down from the ceiling.

She dodged a few small buckets and stood in a corner to recover her health.

A pale white aura swirled around the little knight as it rose, and after it glowed, its health was restored by one bar, followed closely by the armored man's rear end.

After dodging, Xiaojuer landed two more hits, gradually figuring out the BOSS's attack patterns.

After defeating the fake knight once again, Xiaoju did not rush to attack. Instead, she replenished her health before slowly inflicting damage.

"I was tormented by that mountain climbing game all night yesterday, but this kind of BOSS can't stop me."

Her face was covered with dark circles that even makeup couldn't completely conceal.

After eight strikes, the fake knight repeated his old trick, leaping up and smashing left and right.

This time, Xiaoju was not hit. She stood at a distance and watched it go crazy. The only thing to watch out for was the wooden barrels falling from above from time to time.

When the fake knight was knocked down for the third time, he got up and jumped so hard that he sat through the floor, causing a large section of the ground to collapse.

Little Chrysanthemum jumped down too and started hacking wildly at the big white face.

"The deaths of the first two bosses were quite comical."

The orange light emanating from the gaps in the armor and the fake knight's intermittent wails made Xiaoju chuckle.

"I witnessed the evil side of Xiaoju'er."

"Congratulations on passing the level. Taking down the wondrous tree is within reach."

"I'm terrible at hand-eye coordination, but I have this strange feeling that I'm actually good at it again."

Little Chrysanthemum followed the open road and learned the [Soul of Vengeance] from the snail shaman.

This spell actually consumes the soul, and the soul can heal injuries.

The effect is that a light bullet is launched, and the recoil makes the scene look very intimidating.

Forced by the shaman to deal with the elite pill bug, Xiao Ju'er, who was eager to quickly complete the level, felt frustrated.

But the thought that the strange tree next door would also have to go through the same thing made her feel much better.

......

Qishu's fighting style against the fake knight is much more aggressive. He keeps taking advantage of the boss's recovery animation to greedily attack, and even throws falling barrels at the fake knight while he's randomly slashing.

Despite being hit multiple times, the remaining one-blood Qishu narrowly escaped with two high-damage attacks, taking down the fake knight.

While searching for the Wasp on the new map, Green Path, you receive information about a traitor in the comments.

"Report! Little Chrysanthemum was defeated by the Wasp and has given up her first blood!"

"Hurry up, streamer! The second boss required for speedrun is just ahead."