Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Crack!
The Blackwind Sword carved a fracture across the Giant Rock Monster’s leg.
-54!
A pitiful damage number floated upward.
But…
He had broken through its Defense!
Rending Slash’s secondary effect, draining 0.2% of maximum HP per second, also took hold.
-200!
-200!
…
“I can kill it!” Zhou Ming’s eyes brightened.
Under Warlord, the shifting balance of attributes had pushed his Attack above the Giant Rock Monster’s Defense.
“Weak human, you court death!”
The instant it was attacked, the Giant Rock Monster raised a fist and smashed down. The blow carried tremendous force and covered an enormous area.
Zhou Ming did not dare take it head-on. He raised his left hand, and fire elements erupted from his palm.
Blazing Heaven Sword!
Rip!
Unlike its usual overhead descent, Blazing Heaven Sword appeared beside Zhou Ming this time. Under his control, its blade pointed upward and surged with brilliant flames as it collided with the Giant Rock Monster’s fist.
Shattered stone flew in every direction, and shock waves howled across the field.
While the boss’s attack was briefly stalled in midair, Zhou Ming hurriedly retreated and avoided the direct clash.
-225!
His second attack dealt noticeably more damage.
The Gold Wolf King Ring he wore carried Lesser Armor Break, reducing the Defense of any struck target by 10. Against this boss, the benefit was enormous.
“Excellent!” Qianying praised. “You learned how to control the skill’s attack pattern very quickly!”
Blazing Heaven Sword’s basic method was to descend from above and smash into its enemy, but that did not mean the movement was fixed.
The heart of the skill lay in conjuring a phantom greatsword from fire elements. The direction it attacked should naturally be decided by the person casting it.
Zhou Ming said nothing. His expression remained solemn.
For him, the Trial of the Seven Sins had officially begun. He had to give it everything.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Giant Rock Monster’s movement shook the ground violently as it charged with enough force to uproot mountains and topple trees.
“Human, you have angered me!”
Zhou Ming ignored it.
Rending Slash reduced Movement Speed by 30%, while Blazing Heaven Sword reduced it by 50%. With both slows stacked, even a Level 60 Silver boss had no hope of touching him.
His five-star Speed Growth only widened that advantage.
“First place in this Damage Challenge is definitely going to Zhouyou Shijie!”
Many watching players felt unwilling, yet powerless to compete.
At the current stage of *Destiny*, Zhou Ming was probably the only player who could barely break through the Defense of such a high-level boss.
“So what? The boss will still crush him with one punch,” another player said sourly. “He only has a numerical advantage. Give me his panel and I could do it too!”
“I’ve already started recording. I’m just waiting to see him get smashed to death!”
…
Many players offered him nothing but malice, their resentment toward Zhouyou Shijie running deep.
Greater Fireball!
After opening the distance, Zhou Ming hurriedly added another attack to prevent the Giant Rock Monster from leaving its aggro range.
-50!
“Is he a warrior or a mage?!” one mage asked, utterly bewildered.
Five seconds later, the Giant Rock Monster recovered its speed and strode after him. At the fifteen-second mark, it caught him from behind and launched another Rock Fist.
This time, Zhou Ming could not evade. He could only swing his sword and force a damage trade.
-26!
-1,030!
The difference was enormous.
Boom!
The blow struck Zhou Ming’s chest with pain sharp enough to clear his mind. He flew backward with the force, losing one-fifth of his HP.
Fortunately, the Giant Rock Monster was exceptionally cumbersome and attacked slowly, giving him a chance to escape its range.
“Six punches and the boss is guaranteed to kill him!” a bystander gloated.
Zhou Ming stuffed a red potion into his mouth. The moment twenty seconds passed, he stepped forward with Rending Slash, then sent Blazing Heaven Sword charging from beside him. The attack inflicted a slight Suppression effect on the rock monster and prevented a counterattack.
Both strikes landed almost simultaneously.
The instant they did, Zhou Ming resumed kiting and bought himself room to breathe.
More than ten seconds later, the Giant Rock Monster caught him again.
“Second punch!” a player jeered from the distance.
“Do you seriously think I’m playing a turn-based game?”
Zhou Ming narrowed his eyes. The instant the boss’s fist fell, he threw himself to the side.
MISS!
Successful evasion!
Just as Zhou Ming had expected, the Giant Rock Monster possessed enormous HP, Defense, and even Attack. Its weakness was that both its Attack Speed and Movement Speed fell far below smaller creatures of the same level.
After dodging, Zhou Ming’s skill cooldowns ended. He immediately repeated his previous method, using his two precious Rare skills to grind away the boss’s HP.
96%… 92%…
The Giant Rock Monster’s health began to fall slowly.
The pace was hardly fast, but at least it kept going down.
Naturally, Zhou Ming could not avoid every one of its attacks. Even one or two successful dodges, however, gave him a tremendous margin for error.
“Something’s wrong. This guy…”
Only then did one of the distant spectators grasp what was happening. “He’s trying to kill the Giant Rock Monster outright!”
“How many levels is he skipping?”
“Keep dreaming. The boss hasn’t even used its ultimate yet!”
…
The players discussed the fight in disbelief.
What they were watching stood far beyond their understanding.
What kind of game allowed a player to kill monsters this far above their level?
Zhou Ming remained meticulous, making every reapplication of Rending Slash as close to perfect as possible.
80%!
60%!
When its HP reached 50%, the boss abruptly stopped moving.
A skill was coming!
Zhou Ming’s heart tightened.
Before him, the Giant Rock Monster gathered metal elements and formed stone around its feet. It snatched up the rocks and crushed them into countless fragments, then hurled them toward Zhou Ming with all its strength.
“Cunning human, die!”
“Ding!”
[System: The Giant Rock Monster has used [Rubble Bomb], scattering stone fragments across a 50 x 50 meter area ahead. Each fragment deals damage equal to 130% of its Attack!]
Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!
Dozens of stone fragments rained across the area, tearing up turf and smashing shallow craters into the ground.
Trapped inside the attack zone, Zhou Ming could only weave left and right with erratic footwork.
MISS!
-1,339!
MISS!
-1,372!
…
Only two fragments grazed him, yet they still removed half his HP.
At least he was alive!
Relief washed over Zhou Ming. He immediately consumed a potion and used Blazing Heaven Sword from range to apply its slow. He did not dare approach again until his health returned to a safe level, at which point he resumed his original strategy.
Time passed one second at a time.
Throughout the fight, his nerves remained taut. He did not relax his vigilance for an instant.
40%!
30%!
When only one-third of its HP remained, the Giant Rock Monster suddenly leaped high into the air and hurled itself at Zhou Ming with Mountainfall.
“You must dodge this attack!” Qianying cried anxiously.
Dodge it…
Got it!
In a flash of inspiration, Zhou Ming used Blazing Heaven Sword to strike the soft turf in front of him, forcibly carving out a pit half a meter deep. Then he threw himself inside.
Fallen Leaf Plains was wide open, but its ground was relatively soft. He could create his own terrain advantage!
BOOM!
The earth caved inward, but the pit absorbed most of the impact for Zhou Ming.
-1,236!
The damage remained well within his ability to endure.
“That works too?!”
The distant players were already staring in slack-jawed amazement.
There was far too much worth studying in Zhouyou Shijie’s boss strategy.
“Let’s see what else you’ve got!”
Zhou Ming flipped out of the pit and continued the fight.
10%!
5%!
Ultimately, it was only a Silver boss, and it repeated the same three skills. Once Zhou Ming understood its patterns, it lost every chance to reverse the battle.
“The Sin of Pride can’t stop me!”
Excitement spread across Zhou Ming’s face.
The battle had been unbelievably difficult. He had kited the boss back and forth for three full hours and consumed an unknown number of potions just to grind it down to critically low HP.
Slash!
Just as the battle was about to end, a water-blue wave of sword energy shot in from the side.
Whoosh!
Qianying seemed to have known all along that an enemy lurked nearby. She emerged from the God-Demon Orb, closed one elegant hand around the sword energy, and crushed it.
At the same moment, Zhou Ming stripped away the Giant Rock Monster’s final sliver of HP. It crashed to the ground and became a corpse.
After exhausting every possible stratagem and using over a thousand players as stepping-stones, he had finally crossed the trial’s first gate!
“Ding!”
[System: Congratulations! You have completed [Trial of the Seven Sins – Sin of Pride]…]
…