Game Maker: Starting by Healing the Players

You could say every player who managed to beat Genichiro Ashina or Lady Butterfly had made significant progress.

At least being able to defeat them meant your fundamental skills were solid.

Being able to counter thrusts, dodge sweeps, perfectly parry with the Kusabimaru, and use the dodge step – these basic maneuvers were practically standard qualifications.

And Zack's progress wasn't too slow or too fast.

After defeating Genichiro Ashina, Zack's confidence skyrocketed. He felt like, "I've already beaten such a tough BOSS, so the remaining ones will be a piece of cake, right?"

But that fantasy was quickly and ruthlessly shattered. After dealing with Genichiro, players had three different paths ahead.

One was to go to Senpou Temple for the Immortality Severance, another to the Sunken Valley for the Divine Confetti, or to the Mibu Village to find a stone.

These three routes were completely open, and you could choose to explore any of them first.

However, Zack was completely unaware of this. After talking with Kuro and Emma, and spending considerable effort to complete the rat bounty for Isshin Ashina, he obtained a key to the Interior Fortification from his study.

Then, he started wandering around aimlessly.

This was mainly because before, there was only one clear path.

Go to Ashina Castle and find Kuro.

But now, after talking to Kuro at the start, he received news about looking for a stone and learned about the curse of the Dragon's Heritage. Kuro wanted to sever this curse of immortality and asked Wolf for help.

At the same time, after looking at the incense burner, talking to Kuro could also provide clues about a flower.

This left Zack a bit unsure of where to explore first.

He hadn't finished exploring Hirata Estate from three years ago, and he had a general idea of Senpou Temple's location.

Because on the way there earlier, he saw an old woman sitting on a bridge, bowing towards the distance. By talking to her, he could figure out that Senpou Temple was in the direction she was looking.

Honestly, he was a little lost about where to go now.

He wandered around Ashina Castle for a bit, and Zack even ran back to the main gate to defeat the General who he'd avoided before.

Besides the few troublesome firearm users nearby.

This General, he managed to defeat his two lives in just one attempt.

"That's right! After beating Genichiro Ashina, I've become incredibly powerful! Genichiro Ashina was my teacher!" Zack exclaimed, looking at the General he had just defeated. A sense of loneliness from being a master washed over him.

But as soon as he embarked on the journey to find clues for the Divine Realm, Zack quickly realized he had overthought things.

He didn't go to Hirata Estate from three years ago first, nor did he head towards Senpou Temple. Instead, he returned to the Ashina Reservoir, the path he had come from earlier.

With his confidence soaring after defeating Genichiro Ashina, Zack no longer ran away from enemies he encountered along the way, unlike before.

But he soon experienced the malice of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the ultimate creed of Soulslike games.

That is, regular enemies are more troublesome than bosses.

Zack found that the regular enemies in Sekiro were probably the most difficult to deal with in any Soulslike game.

Their class divisions and teamwork were simply too perfect.

Lightly armored melee soldiers, Taro soldiers holding large hammers and gas tank-like items, distant firearm users, and the cheerleaders pounding gongs in corners.

Once they aggroed, the enemies in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, despite having aggro range, were really hard to pull out and fight one by one.

The common scenario was facing a mob of enemies alone.

"Are you guys running a demon-slaying dungeon? You've got tanks and damage dealers!" Zack was on the verge of breaking down.

The enemies on the road made him suffer immensely.

However, there was one difference: unlike the sneaky placement of enemies in a dark corner in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the malice in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was more upfront. There weren't as many dirty tricks.

This at least let him die with understanding.

Compared to fighting regular enemies, fighting bosses was a completely different experience.

Especially after the trial with Teacher Genichiro, Zack no longer fought like before, relying on stealth kills and dodge steps.

Instead, he fought more comprehensively, focusing on clashing swords and countering.

That clang of metal striking metal was unbelievably satisfying.

Before the building where he found Kuro, Zack encountered one of the Ashina Seven Spears.

Because he wasn't familiar with his moves, Zack died once on the first encounter. However, the second time, he easily defeated him.

On one hand, the Ashina Seven Spears wasn't that strong, and on the other hand, the experience of fighting Genichiro Ashina had allowed him to fully master the game's combat system.

Countering thrusts, parrying combos, and even if he couldn't perfectly parry, he could still use regular blocks, and with the unlimited stamina bar setting, he could create distance, allowing his posture bar to slowly recover, though it would take longer to win.

These basic maneuvers were now all practiced and understood.

Facing a boss again became much easier.

Returning to Wolf's birthplace, he fell through a gap into the dungeon and saw a very familiar figure.

It was the purple-clad ninja who had dominated him three years ago. But now, he was a completely different person.

After dying about three times, he had essentially figured out the ninja's patterns.

The "military boxing" that had caused him so much trouble before had now become an easy gift.

After all, every punch was followed by a charged kick, which could be countered.

"So you're an Interior Minister! Purple Ninja, right?"

After killing his second life, Zack let out a villainous laugh.

One word: Awesome!

Anyone who had bullied him before would not escape now!

But his thought quickly changed.

Since beating Genichiro, his skills had surpassed his previous level, and Sekiro was different from Dark Souls and Bloodborne; it had no RPG elements.

But this was still a Soulslike game. Besides the difficult bosses in the story path, how could there not be malicious areas?

Feeling refreshed, Zack explored deeper into the dungeon.

Passing through a dark cave, Zack soon noticed something: at the deepest part of the dungeon, at the bottom of a valley.

There was a monster resembling a sacrificer, and around it were many blue-purple orbs of light.

"BOSS? Die!"

Unlike before, when he would run away with his tail between his legs upon seeing a boss, this time Zack bravely charged forward.

He just wanted to fight bosses now!

Especially human-shaped bosses!

After being educated by Genichiro, he had now given up on his prosthetic arm and stealth assassination playstyle.

He even threw away all sorts of miscellaneous items, like various sugars and divine confetti, sending them to the store.

He just wanted to clash swords, fight head-on.

That's what felt awesome!

"Seven-Faced Warrior? Looks like a weakling. Let me teach you how to behave!"

Zack bravely charged forward.

Two turns later.

FEAR

Zack looked at the buff above Wolf's head and was completely stunned.

"What's going on?! It even stacks buffs? It scared my Wolf to death?"

"And the damage is so pathetic!"

Zack was beside himself. He had confidently charged forward.

But after two turns, his Wolf was literally scared to death.

Unlike being crushed when facing Genichiro, Zack felt that dying to the Seven-Faced Warrior was incredibly frustrating.

Dying from being scared, what was that? And why was his damage so low?

Both the boss's posture bar and health bar dropped so slowly?

Revived and fought again. Maybe his approach was wrong?

(End of Chapter)

---

Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n

patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya

---

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!