The Puppet’s Weakness

The cave was neither large nor small, measuring three meters in height and width. Even with two people walking inside, it never felt cramped.

After walking for less than half a minute, Chris halted. She gripped her sword, her expression grave, and stated, “They’re here.”

Lin Shenyue’s expression tightened, her focus sharpening instantly.

Before them, a puppet materialized. Given the unique nature of this dungeon and its creatures, Lin Shenyue could directly view the monster’s attributes.

[Combat Puppet (Elite): Level: 25. HP: 150000/150000. Physical Attack: 900-980.]

Lin Shenyue’s mouth twitched slightly upon seeing these stats. With such terrifying attack power, if Ye Jue were here, he absolutely wouldn’t last five hits, even factoring in their combined skills.

Otherwise, he’d likely be defeated in just two blows.

Chris’s expression grew solemn as she held her greatsword horizontally before her. The weapon was approximately 1.2 meters long and 20 centimeters wide, classifying it as a heavy sword, typically wielded by Berserkers.

The puppet charged forward with extreme speed the moment Chris entered its aggro range.

Chris’s expression remained unfazed. She dodged the puppet’s attack with a swift sidestep, simultaneously landing a blow to its head.

This strike inflicted additional damage, followed by a powerful Furious Slash that instantly depleted over 900 HP from the puppet.

Chris had expected the puppet to continue its charge for a short distance. To her surprise, it stopped abruptly with an unbelievable maneuver, simultaneously striking her for over 800 HP.

Chris frowned slightly, then swung her sword at the puppet once more. To her astonishment, the puppet actually evaded her attack.

Chris’s face changed. These puppets possessed a rudimentary combat awareness, even knowing how to dodge her attacks. If that were the case, they were likely in for a bitter struggle.

Due to the puppet’s exceptionally high attack power and Lin Shenyue’s mere level 12, she struggled to keep up with the healing.

Consequently, Chris’s HP slowly but steadily dwindled. Had Chris not skillfully utilized dodges and blocks to mitigate numerous puppet attacks, Lin Shenyue would have been utterly incapable of maintaining her health.

Lin Shenyue was forced to use Group Heal when Chris’s HP dropped to half, yet it only restored a meager 800+ HP—barely enough to withstand a single hit from the puppet.

In fact, if NPCs weren’t immune to level suppression, they would have likely perished under the puppet’s onslaught long ago.

Even so, after three minutes, the puppet still had 30,000 HP remaining, while Chris was left with a mere 3,000.

Lin Shenyue frowned, her hands never stopping as she continued to heal Chris. Her mind, however, was already racing, contemplating how to handle the current situation.

Though Chris had done her utmost to avoid damage using her combat instincts, the puppet also possessed some combat awareness. Coupled with its high level and superior speed compared to Chris, some attacks proved incredibly difficult for her to evade.

Furthermore, Chris’s technique was still rather unrefined at this stage; she hadn’t mastered many advanced skills, rendering her unable to fully withstand the puppet’s relentless assault.

Lin Shenyue hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to share her thoughts with Chris.

“Chris, these puppets are fast, hit hard, have high HP, and decent defense,” Lin Shenyue observed after a long analysis, “but they must have a weakness. And that weakness is their flexibility.”

“Because puppets are constructed from various components, no matter how excellent those parts are, they can’t match the flexibility of human joints. Even if they are fast, their agility is undoubtedly inferior in comparison.”

Chris’s eyes lit up upon hearing this during combat. Her attention had been so focused on fighting the puppet that she hadn’t paid much heed to its flaws.

Upon hearing Lin Shenyue’s words, she quickly caught on and began circling the puppet.

Indeed, compared to its speed, the puppet’s poor flexibility meant the number of times it could strike Chris plummeted. Even with Lin Shenyue’s healing, Chris could now endure the fight.

After another minute, Lin Shenyue and Chris finally defeated the puppet. What left Lin Shenyue speechless was that despite their arduous efforts, she gained absolutely no experience from killing it.

While resting, Chris drank an unknown potion, and her HP was completely replenished in just five seconds. However, unlike players, NPCs could not use potions during combat, but their out-of-combat HP recovery from potions was five times faster than a player’s.

After their brief rest, Lin Shenyue followed Chris deeper into the cave. They successively encountered puppets of levels 26, 27, 28, and 29, which they managed to defeat after expending some energy.

The final monster was a Level 30 puppet. Unlike the Level 29 puppet, this one’s HP was doubled, and its attack power had significantly increased. Not only that, but the puppet also possessed a skill that drastically boosted its movement speed for 10 seconds.

Lin Shenyue and Chris were completely overwhelmed by the puppet’s 10-second burst, forcing them to retreat outside its aggro range to temporarily regroup and discuss a counter-strategy.

Since Level 30 players could undergo a second class advancement, gaining more skills and higher attribute growth, it was natural for Level 30 monsters’ attributes to be significantly enhanced, and not by a small margin.

After a lengthy discussion, Lin Shenyue and Chris ultimately decided to try again. This time, Lin Shenyue took out all of her mutated potions that enhanced attributes, preparing to clear the dungeon in one decisive push.