I Have a God Simulator

Chapter 44: Chapter 39: The Knight Who Shouldn’t Exist

Luh Yao glanced at the number above the Blood Knight’s head. The smile vanished from his face, and his fists clenched.

’Are you fucking kidding me!’

’Lv 60!?’

’Is it even reasonable for a level 60 boss to show up in the Newbie Village? Where are the dog-shit devs and planners for this simulator? Help me, someone help me!’

’How the hell are we supposed to fight this?!’

Luh Yao immediately typed, urging Isabel to disengage from the fight.

However, the battle wasn’t as one-sided as Luh Yao had imagined. Isabel was clearly struggling against the Blood Knight and was constantly losing health, but she was still holding on tenaciously.

Health numbers kept ticking down above her head.

-28

-29

-27

For someone with Isabel’s total Life Value, this amount of damage was extremely dangerous.

But Luh Yao felt that something was off.

He quickly tapped on the Blood Knight several times, pulling up the boss’s detailed stats.

After taking a screenshot, he immediately ordered Isabel to retreat.

Fortunately, the Blood Knight wasn’t fast. It also seemed that some kind of restriction in the castle prevented him from leaving it. Although Isabel was injured, she managed to retreat fully intact.

Only then did Luh Yao look at the screenshot.

...

[Hero LV60]Blood Knight · Necied[Weakness][Chaos][Seal]

Life Value: 3850/3850

Mana Value: 14/937

Damage: 62 (-62)

Defense: 34 (-34)

Speed: 8 (-8)

[Thick Hide]

Possesses innately high Life Value.

[Indestructible]

Has special resistance to ranged damage.

[Moving Spellcasting]

Can perform Casting during mobile combat at the cost of slow speed.

[Corruption Creation]

Uses corpses and salt to create Corrupters. The Corrupters’ strength is related to the corpses used.

[Enchantment LV25]

Attacks are imbued with Mana damage.

[Fleshly Weakness LV2]

[Nevied’s Exclusive Ability] The Whistleblower granted Necied the ability to form a corps. Necied can raise the Tier of Corrupters through training and the Call, evolving them into the more elite Rotting Guard.

...

From the stat panel in the screenshot, Luh Yao got a general understanding of the Blood Knight’s role.

He was a Knight-type character who trained troops, responsible for training and assembling the Corruptor Corps for the Whistleblower here. This was also Necied’s most valuable asset.

The Blood Knight was a Commander-type Hero. He could provide the Whistleblower with an endless supply of soldiers. [Corruption Creation] and [Fleshly Weakness] were practically Divine Skills for recruitment and training.

As long as he was supplied with corpses and salt, the Blood Knight could mass-produce an army of death-defying Corrupters.

The true secret of the Salt Pool Tribe was this very boss.

The Blood Knight needed salt and corpses, and all their trades revolved around these two things.

The existence of the Salt Pool meant salt was never in short supply. The key, then, was to collect as many corpses as possible, especially those of powerful species.

That was why the Salt Pool Tribe had always coveted the East River Tribe’s Sea Monsters. They not only targeted the Barbarian Tribe and the Burrower Monsters but had also once tried to occupy the Ghost City Saniluo at the southern end of the continent.

It was all in the name of finding and collecting the corpses of powerful beings.

Luh Yao conducted further theoretical analysis.

The Blood Knight was a master of positional warfare: he wasn’t afraid of ranged damage, his attacks dealt Mana damage, he could create Corrupters while fighting, he had no fear of a battle of attrition, and he could continuously train his soldiers and raise their Tier.

The flip side of his strengths were his weaknesses.

In other words, the Blood Knight wasn’t a vanguard capable of breaking through enemy lines alone, nor an unstoppable warrior who could take on ten thousand foes. He lacked the ability to single-handedly reverse the tide of battle in an instant. He needed time to assemble his corps and set up formations, achieving victory one step at a time.

He was the polar opposite of Isabel.

Although Isabel had [Forest Sword], she usually didn’t bring these created beings with her, preferring to solve problems on her own.

These were all conclusions Luh Yao had drawn from analyzing the data. But theory always had to be tested by practice, so he questioned the combatant herself, Isabel.

"My Lord, Necied’s power comes from Forrest."

Isabel said in the dialogue box, "He was created by the Flute Player from Forrest’s corpse. I can sense that aura, which is why he exhibits a state of Chaos, and his Combat Power can’t be fully unleashed as a result."

"The rules of this world have placed a seal on him, greatly diminishing his power, because he isn’t supposed to exist here."

"Creating Corrupters also continuously consumes his Mana."

"Previously, following your orders, My Lord, I eliminated a large number of Corrupters. He continuously created replacements, consuming a great deal of Mana. That’s why the Blood Knight is now exceptionally weak, and his combat ability has declined even further."

Luh Yao’s eyes lit up as he listened.

A countermeasure formed in his mind.

’If I follow this process, I can first keep killing the Corrupters to drain his Mana, making him unable to use his abilities. With the Blood Knight constantly in a state of Weakness and Chaos, he can only use 50% of his combat ability.’

’Stat-wise, Isabel’s damage can break through the Blood Knight’s defense.’

"My Lord, I’m afraid that won’t work."

Isabel maintained a calm caution regarding the battle.

She said, "Even under these conditions, it would be difficult for me to withstand multiple attacks from the Blood Knight."

’That is a problem,’ Luh Yao thought.

She only had 140 Life Value left.

In front of the Blood Knight, Isabel’s stats were still too fragile. The chasm between their Tiers was reflected in a massive, all-around numerical gap.

Luh Yao scratched his head.

The Blood Knight with his fatal flaws was right in front of him, yet he had no way to exploit his weaknesses.

It was like a giant whose weak spot was on the back of his head; a small, unarmed child could jump with all their might but still wouldn’t be able to reach the giant’s neck, let alone strike it.

Suddenly, Luh Yao remembered something.

[Skinner’s Statue LV3]

A treasure made by the Skinner. It can initiate the Beastification Ceremony, stealing the sanity, cognition, and memories of a living Sacrificial Offering through gazing, turning them into a powerful skinner beast in exchange for Power of Faith granted by the Skinner.

’Could this thing work?’

"..."

Isabel thought for a moment. "My Lord, I can activate the statue and try."

After a short rest, Isabel charged into the castle again.

This time, she lasted about ten seconds before retreating again.

Her Life Value had dropped to a mere 63 points, leaving no more room for trial and error.

However, this attempt was highly significant.

A new negative status effect appeared above the Blood Knight’s head: [Skinner’s Curse].

A line of text appeared.

[The Skinner’s Statue has deprived the Sacrificial Offering. The Skinner grants you 100 Faith.]

Luh Yao finally understood. The true mechanism of the [Skinner’s Statue] was the Curse of another God behind it, the Skinner.

’Every God really is a force to be reckoned with.’

Still, using the Skinner’s treasure against the Whistleblower’s subordinate was quite fitting.

Although the [Skinner’s Curse] showed no immediate effect on the Blood Knight, Luh Yao decided to double down and further contaminate his mind.

’I’m in no hurry, anyway.’

Over the next week, Luh Yao went head-to-head with the Blood Knight.

Aside from occasionally checking on the Garlic Tribe and the Ghost City Saniluo, the vast majority of his attention was focused on the castle in the Salt Pool Tribe.

After many patient attempts, Isabel finally completed her mission.

Under the continuous effect of the [Skinner’s Curse] buff, forced to constantly gaze at the statue, even the LV60 Blood Knight could not remain immune to the effects of the Beastification Ceremony.

He became increasingly strange.

When fighting Isabel, the Blood Knight would shout out some nonsensical phrases.

"Flesh, the flesh on your body!"

"Woman, terrible woman, beautiful woman, suspicious woman!"

"Hunger, it follows me like a shadow."

"I want to sleep, I need to sleep!"

"Desire is burning, searing me!"

"Forest God, Whistleblower, corpses, bones, outlander..."

The deranged Blood Knight began to attack friend and foe alike, viewing every living thing around him as an enemy.

Whether it was Isabel or other Corrupters, anything that got too close to the Blood Knight would be attacked. Since he had gone completely mad, he no longer used any of his abilities, resorting only to the most primitive melee attacks.

Seeing this, Luh Yao breathed a small sigh of relief.

’It wasn’t a waste of my time after all. This boss has finally lost his mind... He can no longer issue commands to the Corrupters.’

With this, the Salt Pool Tribe, with the Blood Knight at its core, was no longer a threat.