Bai Xia’s slender brows furrowed completely. These formidable Lava Giants, thick and hard as stone behemoths, were precisely the type of enemy most loathed by assassin-class professions, leaving her momentarily unsure how to even begin.
However, the Lava Giant offered them no reprieve for contemplation. Despite its towering frame lending a certain sluggishness to its movements, every single strike it delivered was imbued with astonishing power.
Having missed its initial strike, the Lava Giant let out a furious roar. Flames on its other arm abruptly surged, coiling like a twisted, venomous serpent, before it swung with terrifying heat towards Bai Xia’s position!
Curiously, Tian Zheng was clearly closer on the other side, yet the monster’s primary target remained Bai Xia. Evidently, as the true examinee of this trial, the Lava Giant’s aggression was almost entirely fixated on her.
The advantage of its colossal size was now fully evident. Though it was merely an arm descending, it conjured a perilous sensation, as if an entire mountain range were collapsing. The sheer area encompassed by its falling limb was astonishing.
Moreover, while the Lava Giant’s movements were somewhat sluggish, the velocity of its attacks was far from slow. Its fiery arm whistled through the air, lashing out like a whip forged from stone pillars, causing the surrounding ground to erupt and shatter!
In that instant, earth and stone erupted, and molten lava sprayed forth.
Had it not been for Bai Xia’s inherent agility as an assassin, coupled with her lithe frame, anyone with even slightly slower movement would surely have been unable to evade.
Moreover, in a real-world scenario, the mere spray of magma and flames would have been enough to leave anyone utterly disheveled. Thankfully, in this virtual realm, these elements caused minimal impact.
The Lava Giant’s assaults descended like a relentless downpour. Its colossal attack range and devastating force caused the entire earth to tremble. If its attack speed were any swifter, perhaps accompanied by an “Ora Ora” sound effect, its might would undoubtedly be even more staggering.
Even with its slightly reduced attack frequency, the targeted Bai Xia found herself in considerable distress, almost convinced that she would be pulverized into a bloody mess at any moment.
In such a predicament, launching an attack was out of the question; even simply surviving seemed momentarily arduous!
****
Fortunately, she was not battling alone. Witnessing the Lava Giant’s relentless pursuit of the young woman, seemingly determined not to cease until she was vanquished, Tian Zheng on the other side began to grow displeased.
On one hand, he couldn’t stomach the sight of Bai Xia being so mercilessly bullied. On the other… ‘was this monster truly looking down on him?’
With a decisive movement, his frost greatsword was raised. Activating ‘Exhilaration,’ he instantly closed the distance to the Lava Giant’s back, and the massive blade, wreathed in countless ice spirits, heavily sliced into its stony hide!
*Schiiing!*
Yet, what seemed to be a formidable blow, striking the giant’s immense form, unleashed a recoil so powerful that Tian Zheng nearly lost his grip on the greatsword.
Though he had braced himself mentally upon observing the Lava Giant’s form, the sensation of striking what felt like refined steel still secretly unnerved him. ‘This thing is far too hard!’
Then, accompanied by an ear-splitting screech of friction, a pitiful “-31” floated above the Lava Giant’s head.
A level difference of nearly five, the inherent suppression of a Lord-tier monster, its very nature as a creature renowned for its defense, and its innate talent to mitigate substantial physical damage…
The Lava Giant truly was, without exaggeration, the bane of all physical melee professions!
Tian Zheng managed to breach its defenses largely due to his superior weapon and the elemental counter between his frost attribute and the Lava Giant’s fire and earth properties. Otherwise, his attack would have resulted in a mandatory “-1” damage, or even a complete “MISS.”
The man found himself somewhat speechless, yet he did not allow impatience to take root.
He wasn’t afraid of low damage; he was afraid of being unable to even penetrate its defenses. Since he could inflict damage and the monster’s health bar had appeared, there would certainly be a way to vanquish it!
With a clearer understanding of the Lava Giant’s formidable defenses, Tian Zheng grew even calmer. He accelerated, narrowly evading the monster’s sweeping arm as it pivoted, and in the same fluid motion, leveraged his superior attack speed to land two more strikes on its arm.
While the cumulative damage from his three strikes remained negligible for the Lava Giant, its aggro finally shifted away from Bai Xia.
Its crimson eyes, appearing to flow with molten lava, locked onto Tian Zheng. This was precisely his intention. As an assassin, Bai Xia’s class was inherently ill-suited for engaging such an enemy directly; once suppressed, she would struggle to find openings and risked being instantly obliterated by splash damage.
His current objective was to continuously draw its aggro, thereby creating more openings for Bai Xia to inflict damage.
Although Bai Xia lacked an inherent frost attribute, her racial characteristics granted her a certain degree of magical damage. While the Lava Giant boasted formidable physical defenses, its magical defense was not necessarily as exceptional. Otherwise, they would truly be at a loss on how to defeat this colossal foe.
And as it turned out, Qingcheng still possessed a modicum of integrity. At the very least, they hadn’t been entirely deprived of a chance to win.
Its relatively low magical resistance was precisely one of the Lava Giant’s crucial weaknesses!
“My dagger, you see, is laced with poison…”
Though she felt a sudden urge to mimic a dramatic TV show by licking her dagger, such an act would be utterly foolish. Moreover, there was no time for such antics now.
Thus, as the Lava Giant’s attention momentarily shifted to Tian Zheng, Bai Xia’s silk-clad thighs instantly tensed. The very next moment, like a nimble black cat, she leaped high, her skirt hem flaring as she ascended. The blessing of the Ice Spirit perfectly negated the encroaching flames, and a lethal dark blade extended from her power-infused Shadow Dagger.
After closing the distance, she unleashed three swift strikes. The energy blades, forged from dark power around her dagger, carved three deep gashes into the Lava Giant’s arm, simultaneously revealing a barely perceptible sliver of emptiness on its extensive health bar.
‘It’s working!’
Seeing the efficacy of her attacks, Bai Xia’s eyes gleamed with renewed vigor.
“Roar!!” Having sustained a more threatening attack, the Lava Giant, whose aggro Tian Zheng had only just diverted, immediately fixated on Bai Xia once more.
Its colossal stone leg, initially poised to kick Tian Zheng, abruptly froze mid-air. It then twisted its massive body, reaching out to grasp her at a slightly unsettling angle!
But before it could complete its move, Tian Zheng on the side revealed a chilling smile. “I say… would you mind not always ignoring me? Extreme Ice Lock!”
Before his words could fully dissipate, the colossal frost sword in his hand was decisively plunged into the ground before him.
Subsequently, the very ground, even the molten lava, began to visibly congeal. In the blink of an eye, it was encased in a thick layer of frost.
The terrifying power of ice, manifesting instantly, spread across the ground and ascended the Lava Giant’s body. It then solidified into ice-blue shackles, pinning the creature in place, its arm, originally reaching for Bai Xia, now forcibly frozen mid-air.
Though the ice trapping it shattered and melted within mere seconds under the assault of brute force and scorching flames, that brief interval was sufficient for Bai Xia to land several more casual strikes and retreat to a safe distance.
Yet, the Lava Giant was clearly unwilling to let her escape so easily. As she retreated, it suddenly opened its gargantuan maw, from which molten lava and raging flames flowed!
Surging flames and molten lava rapidly converged and solidified within its gaping maw, transforming into a deep crimson orb that emanated a palpable aura of danger.