Free Web NovelChapter 428: Chapter 358: Chaotic Battle
Yan Qing did not use the transformation card "Face the Heavenly Demon of Transfiguration and Freedom" to teleport directly over.
Although it would likely teleport him directly into the Baibao Guards Array and disrupt their setup from within, fighting in the terrain chosen by the enemy is akin to a Female Knight willingly running into a goblin’s lair—cleverly foolish.
Moreover, can the Baibao Guards under the leadership of [The People’s Heart] really be ambushed? For an army that can switch between front and rear battle formations instantly, teleporting in would only change the scenario from an ’external battlefield’ to an ’internal surround’ battle.
Hence Yan Qing chose to approach from the rear, making it seem as if he and the Baibao Guards were flanking the True Demon. Before the official battle commenced, he took one last look at his puppet lineup:
First, the "Qiongqi" with 592,500 attack power and 534,200 life value.
The "Ascending Six-Ears", attributes ignored.
The "Unjustly Deceased Ghost", with the Trait [Haunted by Resentful Souls].
And Yan Qing’s long-cherished special combination: "Steam Military Strategist", "Steam Tomb Guardian", and "Life-taking Physician".
"Third Transformation Mechanism·Steam Military Strategist"
"Attack Power: 15,300" (all blood sacrifice-enhanced values)
"Life Value: 18,400"
"Trait: Holy Shield, Attack, Recruitment: Each time this puppet attacks, it summons a 300/300 [Steam Warrior] and bestows this effect upon all Mechanical Puppets."
/
"Third Transformation Mechanism·Steam Tomb Guardian"
"Attack Power: 14,100"
"Life Value: 17,200"
"Trait: Holy Shield, Mechanism Reassembly: For each fallen Mechanical Puppet, another Mechanical Puppet gains a Holy Shield."
/
"Fourth Turn: Life-taking Physician"
"Attack Power: 14,000"
"Life Value: 16,900"
"Trait: Life-taking and Life-preserving: In battle, whenever a summon appears on the battlefield, it is immediately destroyed. This puppet and a random friendly puppet gain the summon’s attributes (only for this battle)."
This is a very interesting puppet combination: first, the Steam Military Strategist’s attack triggers the ’Attack’ effect, summoning a Steam Warrior and granting all Mechanical Puppets this Attack Trait. But at the moment the Steam Warrior is summoned, the Life-taking Physician will destroy it and acquire its attributes, simultaneously triggering the Steam Tomb Guardian’s ’Mechanism Reassembly’ Trait to apply a Holy Shield to the Mechanical Puppet.
Attack→Summon→Destroy→Holy Shield→Attack...
Thus, these two steam puppets can completely charge the front as tanks; as long as this cycle remains unbroken, they can only continue generating Holy Shields to absorb damage!
From this, one can glimpse the elegance of a complete Mechanical Puppet lineup: life value becomes meaningless to this race, because they can continuously generate Holy Shields to absorb damage. By the time you are struck and killed, they might still remain unscathed.
Due to today’s final battle, the "Bai Ze" and ordinary "Six-Eared Macaque" stats have all been transferred to the "Qiongqi" through "Cumulative Avalanche". Otherwise, it wouldn’t reach nearly six hundred thousand attribute height. Purely in terms of value, it already far surpasses the Sixth-Turn Demon Fiend, with even a basic attack capable of breaking a Seventh-Turned Immortal Monarch’s regular defenses.
Now is the moment to verify the strength of his lineup!
As the "Qiongqi" entered the ten-step range of the Heavenly Demon of Transfiguration and Freedom, battle was immediately triggered. As the True Demon issued a battle declaration, "Paired Entry and Exit" and the "Heavenly and Earthly Unrivaled Blade" were also activated in succession.
First, blade patterns appeared on the body of the monstrous creature Qiongqi, followed by the appearance of two identical Qiongqi. Then, "Ascended Six-Eared" [True and False Monkey King] took effect, showing three monsters with stats close to six hundred thousand!
Moreover, all the Qiongqi have the Fury ability, meaning that in the first round alone, they caused nearly three million points of damage! Using the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror as a conversion, this could kill Yan Qing three thousand times. The so-called numerical breakdown is just like this, but the Demon Gathering Land is a grand melee of numerical breakdowns, and Yan Qing has not yet reached the ultimate limit.
Such terrifying damage shook even the True Demon, causing its dark shadowy body to disperse and leak molten flames. But the True Demon’s counterattack was extremely fierce as well, dropping a black sun from its palm to cause area damage. Since there wasn’t time to dodge, two Qiongqi got affected.
Yan Qing raised his wristband to check, each lost ten thousand health. For Qiongqi, this wasn’t serious damage; they could still endure for dozens of rounds. But how much health does the True Demon have, which requires the entire Demon Gathering Land’s players to crusade against? He really was uncertain.
Hence, Yan Qing quickly withdrew the three great monster generals and sent the Steam Dual General Stars to endure the damage, while the Life-taking Physician and Unjustly Deceased Ghost guarded them closely.
Just as they were methodically crusading against the True Demon, Murong Hui, wearing the "Golden Fish Goggles," reminded, "They’re here."
Baibao Guards were seen bypassing and coming around the True Demon, maintaining a constant distance of ten steps from it. But they stopped to re-form their formation as they approached, only daring to shoot arrows from afar, unable to pose any threat to the puppets, merely scratching some health points.
This is the Baibao Guard’s biggest weakness: not skilled in encounter battles. They can easily evaporate Raging Eight Monstrous Spirits’ millions of health, but once the setting changes, they can hardly deal even one percent of the damage. This is why Yan Qing directly attacked the True Demon, possibly being troubled by simultaneous siege by True Demon and Baibao Guards, but challenging Baibao Guards first might hit the proverbial rock.
But, does the possibility of being besieged by both sides truly exist?
As Baibao Guards quickly closed in, the density of the arrow rain suddenly surged, causing even Yan Qing and his two companions, directing from afar, to get affected. However, Yan Qing and the others had prepared in advance, not only hiding behind walls but also using the Life-taking Physician and Unjustly Deceased Ghost as their shields, these two puppets not qualified to partake in the True Demon battlefield but more than suitable for blocking damage.
Right at this moment, the True Demon issued a boiling roar:
"You shall not have your way!"
Only to see it pointing a finger, a phantom link connected all of Yan Qing’s puppets.
"I shall seize your souls!"
Like a volcanic eruption, flames surged from within the True Demon’s dark shadowy form, as its hands scooped upwards, as if manipulating unseen energy.
Boom! The first shadow pressure exploded onto the Steam Dual General Stars, dark shadows fell like a waterfall, but the Holy Shield protected the mechanism creation.
Boom! The second shadow pressure exploded onto Qiongqi, even though Yan Qing purposely spread them out. However, the range of shadow pressure was too vast, blasting Qiongqi and Ascended Six-Eared, each losing thirty thousand health, but the link that True Demon dropped earlier resurfaced, causing other puppets to suffer ten thousand points of chain damage! The three great monster generals remained unharmed, but other puppets’ health quickly fell to the brink!
Boom! True Demon slightly turned around, the third shadow pressure struck the nearby Baibao Guards! Baibao Guards failed to evade in time, at least ten Baibao were caught in the blast, meanwhile, the defense barriers of all Baibao rippled, stably receiving a total attack of three hundred thousand points.
If it were merely two days ago, they might really not have been able to withstand it, but Ying Le dispatched people again, three hundred spread three thousand divided evenly is merely a thousand points of damage per person, even a decent defense barrier can hold out. Yet, this certainly did not reassure Baibao Guards, their activity became more aggressive instead, facing the evasive and smaller-targeted Yan Qing and companions, choosing to concentrate all their strength on crusading the currently attacking three great generals and Dual General Stars!
Apparently, the opposing commander realized this, thought Yan Qing.
As a co-op boss of Demon Gathering Land, the True Demon’s attack logic isn’t hard to guess, surely focused on wide-range, low-damage group damage, to test player team composure to the greatest extent. Group damage barely affects Yan Qing but deeply affects the number-dense advantage of Baibao Guards. Even if they don’t engage the True Demon, the True Demon’s group attacks might incidentally wipe them all out.
Comparing the chase of Yan Qing, what they need more is to first eliminate the fighting puppets, unable to let them continue enraging the True Demon. This is why Yan Qing directly attacks the True Demon, compared to limited-range, slow-moving puppets, the True Demon is the biggest aid in dispatching Baibao Guards!
However, Yan Qing made one oversight, that is, the damage chain inflicted by the True Demon can also trigger on Baibao Guards!
As the three great monsters endured more and more damage, the Life-taking Physician and Unjustly Deceased Ghost both plunged into the depths of their health pool, but it seems the damage chain cannot kill them; they remain half-alive, just a step away from defeat.
Damn, why don’t you apply the damage chain on Baibao Guards? Yan Qing really wanted to see if a bug would occur, knowing Baibao Guards have damage spread; if adding a damage chain, wouldn’t it constitute an infinite loop of damage spread→chain spread→spread of chain, etc.? With minimum damage being 1 not 0, an infinite loop back and eventually dealing damage, perhaps a touch on Baibao Guards would explode their ranks.
Thus far the Steam Dual General Stars had already endured countless thousand damage; every extra round the Life-taking Physician lives adds more tolerability, but it’s regrettable that their makeshift hiding place had nearly been shot apart by arrow rain, now it’s their turn to shield the puppets’ movement with their flesh.
Just as they emerged from concealment at the road junction, Murong Hui shivered all over, goosebumps sprouting all over her, a familiar shudder traversing through her - the Three-Turn Messenger’s intuition, the last struggle strong creatures make in the face of death!
The piercing black spear, already aimed at her chest!
Yet in this flash moment, Murong Hui internally thought: indeed as Yellow Dog said, this battle today must resolve all troubles!
