If we count both the main story and side stories, there have been over a dozen installments of Demon World Village over the past few decades.
Although the plot of every installment is essentially the same with no novelty, it still maintains a main thread of "Knight saves Princess."
In the opening animation of the Famicom Version, it immediately shows a bare-chested Arthur and a Princess in a white long skirt having a "secret meeting" in a gloomy and terrifying graveyard, which is clearly easy to misunderstand.
But if you have experienced the 《Great Demon's Village》 and patiently watched the opening animation, the scene of the graveyard rendezvous can be explained.
In reality, this is not the first time Arthur has fought against the Demon King's side; under the King's dispatch, he had already led an elite raid on the Demon King's side once, and under the condition that everyone except himself was wiped out, he successfully seized the Demon King's Castle Map.
This is precisely the scroll that Arthur held tightly in his skeletal hand even after turning into a skeleton.
Theoretically, only with the guidance of the map can a Human have the chance to penetrate deep into the Demon King's Castle and reach the location of the Demon King who caused all the disaster.
All his Companions were sacrificed, and Arthur, who successfully brought out the map, was also severely wounded. The scene in the opening animation where he was naked with the Princess in the graveyard was actually the Princess, who possessed rare magical power, treating Arthur's injuries.
If a Player had not intervened, after the Princess was Seized by the Demon King's Subordinate, he would have straightened his remnant body, put on his Armor, and charged into the Demon King's Castle alone again to rescue the Princess.
By the way, the complaints from One-Ear and the Death-Seeking Duck when they first entered the Instance were inadvertently accurate; the Demon King's purpose for kidnapping the Princess was indeed reproduction.
The Demon King, being the head of the Demon World himself, intended to use his offspring with the Human-Demon hybrid Princess to become the new King ruling the entire Human Realm... the same pattern as the Dragon Turtle Clan's "Great Demon King Bowser" who kidnapped Princess Peach.
Clearly, Cheng Tian's seemingly self-talkative but actually very serious expression of his attitude towards Arthur's skeletal remains triggered the Instance's hidden mechanism.
The deceased Arthur gave Cheng Tian this Demon King's Castle Map, which was the only thing that could point to the correct path, along with some even more special things.
As Cheng Tian picked up the scroll and read the Item Description, a projection pop-up with a clearly higher priority covered the map description.
【In a state where you were only wearing Underpants and no Armor, you made a sincere promise of "Kill the Demon King" to the skeletal remains of the Knight Arthur who failed to complete his mission, and Knight Arthur gave you affirmation and heartfelt response as a fellow Underpants warrior.】
【You obtained the limited story Item 《Demon King's Castle Map》.】
【Demon King's Castle Map: Limited story Item, Map. Brought out by Arthur and his Companions through great Sacrifice and near-death efforts, this map marks the correct route to the uppermost level of the Demon King's Castle.】
【You have successfully triggered the limited story of 《Demon World Village》—The Truth of the Demon King's Castle.】
【The ruler of the Demon World, "Astaroth," has spread ominous Evil Magic Power throughout his Demon King's Castle. All Humans corrupted by the Evil Magic Power will be forever trapped in illusion, battling a false Astaroth in an Illusionary Realm. Even if they luckily win, it is merely defeating a phantom of the Void.
Only by holding the Demon King's Castle Map, which is marked with the correct route and imbued with special magical power, can one have the chance to meet the real Astaroth and rescue the captured poor Princess.】
【When you are outside the fixed Instance mission time, you can voluntarily open the Teleportation Gate to enter the exclusive Instance of 《Demon World Village》 without any Price, and continue your previous mission progress.
No other passing-by Players will Crossover into the exclusive Instance.
You can invite other Players to form a team to enter the Instance. For every extra day an invited Player lingers, they must pay a certain amount of Points.
The maximum team size is 5 people, and the overall difficulty of the Instance will increase or decrease based on the number of people.
Every time you enter the Instance, you must Kill the final BOSS unit of that stage before you can leave the Instance.
Teammates who were grouped up can cause the Instance to expel them by choosing not to continue paying Points. This method will prevent them from taking the Points, Attribute gains, or Skill Point gains from the Instance adventure out of the Instance.】
Limited story? Exclusive Instance?
For a Player experienced in games, Cheng Tian could accurately understand what these meant, but as a complete newcomer to the Chosen Space, Cheng Tian had no idea what this combination of a limited story layered onto an exclusive Instance truly signified.
This was a unique encounter that nine out of ten Veteran Players in the Chosen Space had never seen, one worthy of being adorned with the descriptors "Rare," "Precious," and "Unique."
In terms of rarity, a limited story is a tier above a hidden story. A purely hidden story can theoretically be triggered by anyone, but once a limited story is triggered, other Players cannot Replicate or piggyback on it.
Theoretically, the trigger condition only resets if the triggerer dies before completing the limited mission, waiting for the next destined person. Until then, everything is exclusive to the triggerer.
Furthermore, this is an exclusive Instance where no passing-by Players will Crossover.
One must know that often, Players themselves are the biggest unstable factor in all Chosen Dungeons. If the unstable factor can be eliminated, and progress is made step-by-step, both safety and the Possibility of rewards increase significantly. This is a peaceful adventure scenario that countless Veteran Players, sick of the erratic Fourth Calamity, have dreamed of!
It's just a pity that it was triggered by a complete newcomer like Cheng Tian, which is almost equivalent to winking at a blind man.
As for Cheng Tian himself, after reading the limited story description, he immediately thought of a key setting from the Famicom Version of Demon World Village.
If you only clear it on the First Playthrough, the ending tells you that the one you killed was just a Phantom of Astaroth. Only by playing through all six stages again from the beginning and completing the second playthrough can you face the Demon King directly and save the Princess.
Of course, this setting is meaningless to an Ordinary Player, because ninety-nine percent of them are already deterred by some Elite Red Demon before even reaching a quarter of the way through the first stage...
As long as he has this map, Cheng Tian can directly confront the Demon King's true body in the First Playthrough, provided he can survive until that point.
"Huh?"
Cheng Tian, whose gaze had shifted downward due to reading the projection, finally noticed something was wrong with himself.
His Underpants, which were previously covered in dirt and dust, turning from pure white to grayish-black, had actually transformed into a cute style adorned with a large amount of Strawberry pattern, identical to Arthur's!
Cheng Tian only froze for a second, then grinned widely.
Pink Strawberries! A real man's favorite!
【You made a promise to "Kill the Demon King Astaroth" to Arthur, and Arthur's Remnant Soul chose to Release its final ripple towards you.】
【Detected that you possess the exclusive Talent 『Game Master』—】
【Your Boxer Shorts transform into Special Equipment—《Arthur's Proof》.】
【Arthur's Proof: Green Excellent/Lv1, Limited story Equipment, Underwear, does not occupy a fixed Equipment Slot. Equipment Requirement: Arthur's Recognition.
When you are inside the 《Demon World Village》 Blueprint Instance, you will be Considered to possess the Native Protagonist Template—"Knight/Arthur."】