Perhaps his fighting style was rather aggressive, but Xia Nan had never been a reckless brute.
His outstanding perception attribute, far beyond that of professionals at his level, and his highly offensive combat techniques, focused on concentrated strikes, meant his battles were usually brief and decisive.
Observe through perception-find the enemy's weakness-strike it with everything he had.
That was his usual approach to combat.
And this time was no different.
Once he had determined that the enemy was most likely a Phase Spider possessing the ability "Ethereal Jaunt," he had known what to expect.
As early as that afternoon, he had prepared a suitable countermeasure.
Xia Nan knew his own advantages perfectly well. There was no need to analyze them again.
As a monster that relied on a special mechanic, the Phase Spider's greatest difficulty lay in its ability to travel freely between the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane, almost as though teleporting.
As long as he could deal with that ability appropriately, a Phase Spider, whose challenge rating was propped up almost entirely by that mechanic, would be no different from a Goblin to Xia Nan.
The only pity was that the Monster Bestiary provided only a general introduction to Phase Spiders. It did not explain which organ enabled their Ethereal Jaunt, leaving Xia Nan unable to target and destroy it.
That was also why he had aimed at the junction between the back of the spider's head and its neck.
If he could not find the organ that controlled its planar travel, he would make things simpler and attack a vital point directly.
As long as he could kill it in one blow, nothing else would require any further consideration.
He might even earn a few extra gold coins by leaving the Phase Spider's special organs intact.