"Tsk, the Abyss..."
Ashen Xia Yu looked at that pitch-black giant serpent, his face full of displeasure.
He was someone who had played the dark souls trilogy and knew everything about the Dark Souls World like the back of his hand; after all, he could have been considered a 'Soul Scholar' back then.
The manifestation of Fire is the sun in the sky, while the manifestation of humanity is the dark Abyss beneath the earth.
People of the Soul World become Hollows when they lose their humanity. When too much humanity gathers in a certain place or creature, it erupts to form the Abyss.
The form the Abyss takes in the world is the Pus of Man. In the early stages of Pus of Man erosion, it causes madness and loss of sanity. If the erosion lasts too long, it bursts from the body and reveals its true form.
Gundyr's current black snake form is the state where the Pus of Man has completely eroded its host. In other words, Gundyr is already dead, and what lives now is merely a puppet controlled by the Pus of Man.
However, compared to the humanoid Gundyr, the Pus of Man form might actually be easier to fight.
Because once the host transforms into the Pus of Man, they completely lose their sanity and become a monster that only attacks by instinct. Furthermore, the weakness of this form is very obvious: it's afraid of fire. Ashen Xia Yu just happened to have Firebombs ready before fighting Gundyr.
What a joke; he was a man who had played dark souls up to New Game Plus 7 back in the day. As soon as a boss raised its hand, he knew exactly what move was coming next.
He was only hit just now because Gundyr didn't play by the rules, using moves from outside the game, which caught him off guard for a moment.
But now, with him prepared, the boss shouldn't dream of touching him again.
Looking at that hideous and terrifying giant black snake, Ashen Xia Yu and Undead Xia Yu exchanged a glance, and both instantly understood the plan.
They were both the same person; no words were needed.
Undead Xia Yu held his Straight Sword, drawing the giant snake's attention at the front. The black snake, acting purely on instinct, was naturally lured away by him.
"Hiss-ha!"
The giant snake suddenly opened its bloody maw, lunging to bite Undead Xia Yu in an extremely unscientific posture.
The stench of the wind blowing in his face didn't make Undead Xia Yu show any fear, because he believed in himself.
"Smash!"
The sound of a glass bottle bursting rang out abruptly. When the giant black snake was still two meters away from Undead Xia Yu, its bloated and massive body suddenly burst into flames.
The intense burning caused the black snake to writhe in pain, but the fire clung to it like a maggot on a bone.
Wisps of ominous black gas rose from the giant snake. Under the scorching flames, its bloated body even shrank significantly.
Standing behind the giant snake, Ashen Xia Yu tossed a Firebomb in his hand. Seeing signs of the fire dying down, he once again threw the Firebomb forcefully at the snake.
"Smash!"
Another round of flames ignited. The giant snake, extremely weak to fire, writhed in agony, unable to mount any effective counterattack.
"Tsk tsk, this is truly a spectacular sight."
Undead Xia Yu, also holding a Firebomb, returned to Ashen Xia Yu's side, sighing as he watched the giant black snake grow smaller and smaller under the flames.
If you can 'cheese' a boss fight easily, who would be stupid enough to go in and deal Chip Damage?
Moreover, this wasn't a game, so there was naturally no need to make oneself suffer specifically for entertainment.
Under their unscrupulous bombardment of fire, the originally aggressive Pus of Man didn't even have time to show its offensive before it was burned alive to the point of being on its last breath.
Only a monster like the Pus of Man, which is extremely weak to fire, could be cheesed like this. Against other monsters that aren't afraid of fire, just throwing Firebombs would probably get you killed.
At the final moment when the Pus of Man couldn't even maintain its giant snake form, Ashen Xia Yu delivered the final blow.
"Glintstone Pebble!"
A pebble of magic with a trailing azure tail was casually fired by Ashen Xia Yu. As the final straw fell, the Pus of Man finally reached its end and completely dissipated into nothingness.
All that remained was Gundyr's corpse in tattered armor, bloodstained and covered in the marks of battle.
"Phew, as expected, it's different from the game. The corpse didn't turn into ash and vanish."
Ashen Xia Yu walked forward and pulled his stuck Straight Sword from the eye socket of Gundyr's corpse. This was his handy weapon, after all, and he didn't want to replace it yet.
"After all, a game is a game, and reality is reality." Undead Xia Yu also walked up, poking Gundyr's armor. "In a game, if you want an enemy's equipment, you have to farm for drops over and over. But in reality, you can just strip it right off their body."
"It's a pity this armor can't change size with the wearer; otherwise, it would be decent defensive gear."
"Just melt the armor down and recast it." Ashen Xia Yu looked at Undead Xia Yu with a strange expression. "You just said it yourself: a game is a game, reality is reality. You need to use your brain, you know?"
"..."
I really want to hit him. What should I do?
Undead Xia Yu still suppressed the urge to act. After all, they were both himself; hitting him was the same as hitting himself. It wasn't worth it.
[dark souls i]: We've defeated Gundyr. His corpse didn't disappear. Do you guys think this body is still useful?
[marvel]: I remember that after defeating Gundyr, you get the Ember effect. Which of you two has the Ember effect?
[dark souls iii]: Neither. That's just game mechanics; it wouldn't make sense in reality. However, I did absorb Gundyr's soul. It should be enough to level me up a few times.
[resident evil]: Search Gundyr's corpse for an Ember. Although it's a game mechanic, it shouldn't just disappear entirely.
Seeing this, Undead Xia Yu, squatting beside Gundyr, wasn't squeamish. He flipped the corpse over and began dismantling Gundyr's armor piece by piece.
Seeing this, Ashen Xia Yu also knelt down to help. In a short while, Gundyr's corpse was completely stripped of its armaments.
The body inside the armor was a mangled mess of flesh, with hardly a single piece of intact meat to be seen. However, in the rotten flesh at the heart, a tiny spark of light flickered.
"Found it."
Undead Xia Yu reached into the rotten flesh and rummaged around, eventually pulling out a charred stone shaped like a seed. A lava-like glow flowed within the stone.
"There really is an Ember."
Looking at the Ember he had pulled out, a flash of understanding crossed Undead Xia Yu's eyes. Although they hadn't directly gained the Ember state, it hadn't just vanished either; instead, it had manifested as a solidified Ember within the corpse.
"Here, catch."
After playing with the Ember for a while, Undead Xia Yu casually tossed it to Ashen Xia Yu. Catching it, Ashen Xia Yu raised an eyebrow and asked offhandedly.
"You don't want it?"
"Heh, I'm not an Ashen One; I'm an Undead. Embers are useless to me."
Undead Xia Yu stood up, bracing his hands on his knees, and stretched, his bones popping and cracking. After letting out a comfortable hum, he spoke again.
"Besides, we're the same person. What's yours is mine; what does it matter who holds it?"
"Who says?" Ashen Xia Yu suddenly retorted. "Other things can be shared, but my Fire Keeper waifu is mine alone. You're an Undead; go find your own wife."
"..."
"Seriously, this is the first time I've realized just how punchable I am."