Prologue: Undead Difficulty
"Is it really that bad?"
A difficulty that makes Soulslikes look like child's play. I thought they were just exaggerating, but at this point, even I'm getting a bit tense.
"......"
"People really say whatever they want online."
Plaud couldn't do it. That was my trigger button. Not as a human, but as Plaud of the 72 Dungeons—who was I? 30,000 hours of playtime. World number one in the 72 Dungeon Strategy Record speedrun. The very first user to ever clear Lunatic difficulty. That was me.
"Me, unable to clear it? Ridiculous."
Sure, I'd been busy with work lately, so gaming had taken a backseat. Maybe that's why the community thought I was washed up. To be absolutely clear, it wasn't that I couldn't do it—I just hadn't tried. If I had, the 72 Dungeon Gallery would be flooded with posts worshiping me by now.
I switched off my phone and tossed it onto the bed. A week at most. No, I'd clear it in four days. I stretched my stiff body and sat in front of my computer. My fingers danced across the keyboard and mouse, moving as swiftly as a concert pianist's.
[Character 'Enoch' has died.]
[Would you like to exit 72 Dungeon Strategy Record?]
[Exiting 72 Dungeon Strategy Record...]
[Welcome to 72 Dungeon Strategy Record.]
[You have selected the character 'Lv. 44 Enoch'.]
It might look like I was just dying repeatedly, but this was entirely intentional. The infamous Undead Difficulty wasn't actually an official difficulty setting. To be precise, it was an easter egg. An easter egg triggered when a Level 44 character dies 44 times in a row, and reconnects 44 times immediately after each death. For a newbie, it was a mind-numbing, wrist-destroying grind, but for me, it was as natural as breathing.
After the 44th death, the character transforms into an undead. It wasn't just a cosmetic change; their stats and detailed mechanics shifted entirely. A massive reason this difficulty was so brutal was the extreme hostility of human NPCs. Many said that if you wanted to experience a 5-star wanted level from GTA in a fantasy game, you should play Undead Difficulty.
"Oh, it worked."
After dying 44 times, my character had indeed become a corpse. Enoch, who was once human, had now grown into a fully-fledged Death Knight.
"This is going to be fun for the first time in a while."
I'd wrap this up quickly and post the proof on the forums. Suddenly, the monitor flashed with a blinding light—and that was the last thought I ever had.