Professional Rank

The "Headless Centaur Phantom" is the kind of trash mob that, at first glance, seems perfect for players to use as a "counter-attack teacher."

But that's not actually the case.

Its attack patterns are repetitive, and its wind-ups are large and sweeping. Once you learn its rhythm, it just becomes a boring memorization exercise.

It will enter a spectral state in three situations, performing a feigned charge before teleporting behind you for a sneak attack.

The first is when the opponent first shows intent to attack. The second is after it misses two consecutive attacks. The third is when its health drops to 15%.

At other times, it's either charging forward to attack your back, or charging to attack your face.

Its teleportation has a cooldown of 3 times every 10 seconds, and its invincibility also has a 10-second cooldown.

In other words, after using its teleportation twice, this Headless Centaur Phantom can only teleport one last time!

The Dragonkin stepped forward, preparing to bait the centaur's teleportation.

However, upon seeing the Dragonkin move for the first time, the full-speed charging Headless Centaur Phantom immediately vanished, reappearing three hundred meters away at the limit of its teleportation range.

Seeing this, a hint of surprise finally broke through the Dragonkin's usually impassive expression.

Seriously, man!

I've only taken off 10 HP from you the entire time. How can you be this cowardly, you elite monster over level 30?

At this moment, he deeply felt how much more interesting combat became when even low-level mobs were equipped with learning AI.

"Bzzzzzzzzz!!!"

The Mining Mech emitted a series of loud noises. This civilian facility, constructed entirely of steel and standing over five meters tall, raised its high-speed rotating drill bits.

The Scholar was startled by the deafening sound.

He snapped out of his daze from the Dragonkin's astonishing sword techniques and looked at the reawakened metal behemoth with his teary, sore eyes.

Admittedly, this world did have a lot of exposed surface minerals.

But there was no need to design such an exaggerated industrial mech just for mining.

The so-called "Mining Mech" was nothing more than a weapon to legally bypass regulations.

However, this cumbersome hunk of iron might be alright against equally cumbersome monsters, but when facing a nimble phantom centaur, it was just meat on a cutting board waiting to be processed.

"Mr. Dragonkin, help me deal with the spider on my belly! I have a way to lead everyone to safety!"

The Scholar shouted urgently.

Although this might attract the centaur's attention, the Scholar had already realized that the Dragonkin's exquisite sword techniques couldn't inflict any real damage on the phantom.

He had to take a risk and gamble.

But the Dragonkin seemed rooted to the spot. He merely glanced at the Scholar out of the corner of his eye, remaining motionless.

The Scholar's blood pressure shot up instantly.

If he were a regular viewer of the "Expedition Cup," he would know that such a frustrating scenario was bound to happen. It was only because Brother Dao had won the championship three times in the World Series that everyone had exclaimed, "Misunderstanding cleared."

Fortunately, compared to the Scholar, who could only shout, the centaur charging from a distance still considered the newly activated Mining Mech a greater threat than the Dragonkin.

The 3-meter-tall phantom centaur charged towards the 5-meter-tall, cumbersome iron behemoth.

At this moment, the Scholar could only hope that this terrifying phantom creature didn't understand the structural principles of the Mining Mech and didn't know to attack the Gnome inside the cockpit.

"Rumble, rumble—"

The Mining Mech took a step forward, swinging its drill bits to meet the charge. Its terrifying weight of 32 tons made the ground tremble slightly.

The drill bits pierced through the Headless Centaur Phantom's translucent body without resistance. Then, using the momentum of its forward charge, it pivoted on its right leg, causing the heavy steel giant to spin like it was dancing a light waltz, narrowly dodging the blade that attacked from behind.

The Scholar's eyes widened.

He knew this couldn't be a coincidence; such an operation required planning the entire sequence of movements and their follow-ups before acting.

But that was a Mining Mech!!!

Let alone its cumbersome body, he remembered the cockpit only had two joysticks and six buttons.

This industrial mech, with its extremely low sensitivity, couldn't possibly perform delicate, nuanced operations. Otherwise, it wouldn't have passed the "civilian" facility inspection.

Returning to the battle, "I Don't Want to Pay Breach of Contract Fees" swung its drill bits again after dodging the first teleportation attack.

The centaur's invincibility was on cooldown. It now had to either face the drill bits or use its second teleportation.

As expected, the centaur chose to teleport, appearing behind the Mining Mech.

But the Gnome, affectionately called "Baron" by his fans, had already prepared a counter-plan in the cockpit.

He overloaded the drill bits' rotation speed, jammed the two high-speed rotating drill bits into the ground, and used the friction generated in that instant to support the entire weight of the Mining Mech. Then, like a horse, he forcefully pushed backward!

Before being kicked by the steel giant's iron hoof, the Headless Centaur Phantom could only teleport again. Unexpectedly, it arrived behind the Dragonkin, whom it had long neglected.

All three teleports were used, and invincibility was also on cooldown.

The Dragonkin leaped into the air, striking the ground with its tail to alter its trajectory before entering the centaur's attack range.

"Thousand Strikes in an Instant!"

The stamina value, referred to as the "Green Bar" by players, determined how many actions a player could perform in a short period.

It depends on the Stamina value, known as the "Yellow Bar." The higher the Stamina, the higher the Energy.

Under the buff of the hero template, a Level 1 Dragonkin is similar to a Level 5 Human in terms of attributes, allowing it to cast 8 skills consecutively.

First, the [Sword Draw Slash], then the [Sheathe Technique] to cancel the attack's recovery animation, followed by another [Sword Draw Slash]...

This burst of instantaneous damage is a technique only the top players can master.

However, after the terrifying burst, the price is a depleted "Green Bar." This is the offensive style Brother Dao, who favors counter-attacks, dislikes the most.

It's simply because he believes this move—

Isn't a sword draw.

"Swish—Swish—Swish—Swish—"

Four incredibly fast, dazzling slashes dealt less than 60 damage in total.

But!

"Even a mouse, if it bites twice, can take down a lion through anaphylactic shock!" the Dragonkin's weathered voice rang out.

The centaur stumbled, and four white marks appeared on the joints of its four legs. It lurched forward uncontrollably.

It had been accelerating for the past minute, its speed long exceeding 200 kilometers per hour. Once out of control, its body was completely unmanageable. But this time, it wasn't soft mud that awaited it.

"Vroom! Vroom! Vroom—!!!"

A five-meter-tall steel behemoth thrust its high-speed rotating drill towards the out-of-control Headless Centaur Phantom.

The moment they made contact, ink-blue soul essence was churned out by the drill, scattering in specks onto the surrounding mud.

The two players felt a warmth spread through their bodies, and the number in the [Faith] column on their character cards changed from 0 to 6.2.

In other words, this Level 32 elite monster provided them with 31,000 experience points each, enough to level up to 9.

The Scholar in the distance felt that the past ten minutes were more exciting than his entire previous life combined.

Two mortals who weren't even Bronze Rank had actually teamed up to take down a Silver Rank monster... If his eloquence was good enough, he might even be able to persuade those muggles who had never seen a monster.

But what happened next, no one would probably believe.

He watched as the Headless Centaur Phantom's corpse gradually dissipated. Some of the faint light merged into the bodies of the two, while another part gathered again, solidifying into something that equally took his breath away.

[Centaur Heart (Purple)]

[Item Effect: Upon use, Maximum HP +50 (up to 1000).]

[Item Description: A robust heart from the Centaur tribe, containing abundant vitality. Consuming it can increase lifespan. The Centaur tribes prospered because of it. The Centaur tribes perished because of it.]