The river blocking the path was very wide, but on the route closer to the Demon King's Castle, there were two river islands, one large and one small. The existence of these two river islands divided the originally very wide and fast-flowing river surface into one wide and two narrow tributaries.
Among them, on the surface of the widest tributary, there was a cyclically moving platform driven by magical Power, while the two narrow tributaries could be crossed with just a dash and a jump.
However, crossing the river itself was not the problem; the biggest issue was the Malice originating from the Chosen Space and the producer of Demon World Village that appeared alongside crossing the river.
The producer of Demon World Village was named "Tokuro Fujiwara." This guy, after leaving Konami—whose FUCK aura was already beginning to show—directly transferred to the producer at Blue Cabbage (before its name change), and during the production of Demon World Village, this jerk had already exposed his wicked nature of "taking pleasure in tormenting Players."
From the very beginning, the level design of Demon World Village, which had no intention of having sequels, was entirely aimed at killing every Player.
This guy Fujiwara even set up a testing spot in an Arcade Hall near the Company, stuffing the in-development test version into the machine for people to play for free, and then using his Company position to secretly observe the Players' progress through the stages from the side.
As soon as he found a spot where a Player could pass smoothly without any sign of getting stuck, Tokuro Fujiwara would immediately record it and rush back to the Company, modifying the code overnight to add bricks and mortar to the path obstructing normal Player progression...
Clearly, the Chosen Space had faithfully restored even this wicked detail.
I swear, the Original Flavor!
The moment Cheng Tian jumped down from the moving platform on the river surface, he sensed something was off, and goosebumps immediately rose on his skin.
Simultaneously, six or seven Shield Armors, which had been completely absent from the distance, suddenly materialized from the Void into solid forms, floating entirely in mid-air. They were approaching Cheng Tian and his group in a wave-like S-shaped trajectory.
【Specter Armor: Normal Template, Ghost Unit. HP=1, Mana=120. Strength 1, Agility 5, Spirit 12, Charm 0.】
【Monster Trait—Puppet Armament】
If Arthur, instead of Cheng Tian, were seeing them at this moment, he would immediately recognize that these floating Knight Armors were the Armors of the Kingdom Knights who sacrificed themselves alongside him when they broke into the Demon King's Castle.
And now, all these Human Knights' Armors were being repurposed, driven by Specter Units capable of controlling inanimate objects, to intimidate any audacious intruders.
The attack method of the Specter Armor is peculiar. The empty shells they Control generally cannot launch normal attacks; they can only rely on the Armor's inherent mass and the Shield they hold, using a form of physical pressure akin to Psychokinesis against intruders. Their ultimate goal is actually to push people into the water, which is the main reason the Specter Armors spawned immediately upon Cheng Tian and his group landing on the river island.
At this moment, Cheng Tian and his group were completely trapped on the small island in the middle of the river, truly in a dilemma.
These Specters controlled by the Demon King's side do not possess much intelligence; they only loyally execute everything according to the Spell instructions. The Battle instructions the Demon King gives them can basically be summarized in one word—harassment.
The Ghost Unit Armors just hovered back and forth Circling above the river island, neither approaching nor moving away. But as soon as anyone tried to approach the edge of the small island to cross the river, they would immediately rush down and strike with a Shield attack that wasn't strong but was enough to throw a person off balance.
If they were just on the riverbank, it would be fine, but if they were already jumping or on a moving platform, they would most likely be knocked into the cold River Water.
The Durability of the Specter Armor depends entirely on the Durability Value of the Armor it is attached to. Even if the Armor shatters, the Specter itself usually won't take damage; for them, they just need to swap out an Armor to return to the Battlefield.
It can be said that for Players lacking intelligence, the Specter Armor, whose role is "delay and harassment," is truly very misleading.
However, facing the aerial Specter Armors, the two university students clearly became nervous, while Cheng Mouren's expression first showed confusion, then sudden realization.
Cheng Tian suddenly raised his hand and fired a Great Prison Heaven Finger at one of the aerial Specter Armors.
"Transform!!!"
Cheng Tian shouted loudly.
The Specter Armor targeted by Cheng Tian was struck as if by a Lightning Strike and froze in place.
【You used Hundred Demons Night Walk on the Normal Template unit "Specter Armor."】
【Your Spirit Attribute Difference with the target is 0; your Charm Attribute Difference with the target is +9.】
【Your Skill success probability is 59%—】
【Judgment passed.】
The Specter Armor whose Skill Judgment passed began to show numerous fine cracks visible to the naked eye.
Just as the Specter Armor spawned and floated over, Cheng Tian had already begun to feel that his decision to temporarily uninstall the Vampire Hunter Template was correct.
Therefore, the Terrain of the river island he was currently on was a typical area for environmental kills involving Hit Dodge.
Getting hit normally wouldn't matter much; 140 HP couldn't be instantly killed, but an uncontrolled backward jump after being hit, seamlessly followed by Dissolves in Water, would likely cause Cheng Tian to channel the spirit of a rage-quitter, dedicating all the profanity he knew in his life to the Chosen Space in the one or two seconds before he fell into the water and died.
Fortunately, he still had the Knight Throw ability granted by his tough Strawberry Underwear; he wasn't in a state where he could only take hits.
Even if the Knight Armor on his body shattered and accidentally bounced him into the water, he should still have a chance to climb back ashore.
However, operating under the mindset of "Since I'm already here for the New Year," Cheng Tian decided to try using his new Skill before attempting a throw.
As a result, the Skill icon selected for the target was highlighted, indicating it could be used normally!
Cheng Tian's expression turned subtle at this point.
A newly appearing enemy naturally couldn't have less than 10% HP remaining; this left only one possibility: the target's total HP was in the single digits.
This was clearly strange. Whether based on the original Yugi settings or the conventional understanding that Instance difficulty increases as progression advances, the Specter Armor's HP should be thicker than a Zombie's. Thus, Cheng Tian came up with two guesses.
One was that the Specter Armor's HP was similar to the Knight Armor he was wearing, presenting as "Absolute HP," ignoring damage dealt, and only counting the number of effective strikes required for Elimination.
The other was that this set of Ragged Flight Armor might have additional settings like a Shield or Armor Value that needed to be broken through before damaging the Main Body hidden inside, which only had single-digit HP.
So, Cheng Tian, with the thought of "Worst case, I'll turn into a Monster myself," directly used Hundred Demons Night Walk on the front-line Specter Armor.
At the cost of nearly half his Mana, the Specter Armor began to change.
However, when he saw the Specter Armor that he had turned into a "Monster" unit, Cheng Tian himself was the one who froze.
The shattered Armor fragments, which should have fallen off, underwent a massive self-reconstruction and Form Change, ultimately transforming into... a strange creature with a white crescent halo above its head, featuring strong insectoid head and Torso characteristics, while simultaneously giving off a sense of emptiness.
【『Hundred Demons Night Walk』 transformation complete.】
【You have become the temporary Trainer of the Pokémon "Shedinja."】