[Demon Trait--Flame Gargoyle]
Since Cheng Tian had no scouting-type skills, he could not see the Red Demon's exact stats.
But that did not stop him from knowing full well that the Red Demon was a high-agility unit far superior to himself.
In the original NES version, Red Demons were notorious for their high movement speed, erratic footwork, free flight, and ability to spit fireballs. They were terrifying creatures.
That was also the main reason Cheng Tian had not immediately opened with Polymorph.
After all, this was not the kind of Polymorph from Warcraft that directly affected its target. It was a spell with a projectile trajectory, and a high-agility unit had an extremely high chance of evading it.
The Red Demon's behavior followed Cheng Tian's memories exactly. It immediately chose to widen the distance, flew high into the air, and looked down at him from above.
What Cheng Tian did not know, however, was that more than half the reason the Red Demon had done so was because of him.
From the Red Demon's perspective, an unfamiliar human wearing Kingdom Knight Armor, with an expression as twisted as a Demon World Demon's, charging straight at a genuine Demon World Demon like itself without dodging or evading was already an utterly counterintuitive act.
Though they were jokingly called the ever-present Grunt Units of the Demon World, it was precisely because of that that the Red Demon Clan had accumulated vast combat experience and passed it down through the generations.
The Red Demon had seen human Kingdom Knights before, including the strongest among them, Arthur. Yet even those who had stormed the Demon King's Castle and stolen the map had never committed such a recklessly foolish act.
That made the Red Demon sense that something was off, so it chose to pull back and observe.
But just as the Red Demon thought the human below could only stare helplessly, it saw him directly hurl the Goblin Cleaver in his hand into the sky without the slightest hesitation.
The cleaver spun clockwise as it followed a parabolic arc toward the hovering Red Demon.
Yet despite having thrown the cleaver, the other hand still held an identical blade.
In an instant, the Red Demon recognized the source of this move, while a question arose in its mind.
Wasn't Arthur supposed to have a huge beard? Had he shaved the whole thing off?
Doubts aside, its extensive mercenary combat experience still made the Red Demon swiftly dodge sideways. The cleaver, which had already reached the highest point of its arc, failed to cut so much as a hair.
At that moment, the Red Demon lowered its body and dove straight down.
By now, the Red Demon was basically certain that Cheng Tian was Arthur or Arthur's successor. Moreover, he was using a poor weapon that made his throwing attacks almost entirely harmless.
Arthur's throwing damage and threat depended completely on the weapon he currently held.
Taking the original game as an example, most players probably liked the dagger best. Its straight flight path and high attack speed were enough to deal with ninety-nine percent of the monsters in Demon World Village.
The Knight Spear Arthur started with was fairly standard. It flew in a straight line and had moderate attack speed. It was not ideal, but it was usable.
But the most infuriating weapon had to be the "Fireball."
The Fireball's throwing speed was about the same as the Knight Spear's, but its trajectory formed a small arc. Not only was its range ridiculously short, it could even sail over an enemy's head and fail to hit them at all.
Although the Fireball would produce a small wall of fire after landing that lasted around one second and could damage enemies, that still could not conceal its greatest weakness.
It could barely be used against something like Zombie Crows, but taking it against a Red Demon was practically suicide.
In the Red Demon's eyes, the one-handed cleaver Cheng Tian held, which could only be thrown in an arc, was much the same. That meant Cheng Tian posed almost no threat to Lord Red Demon.
Arthur was famously almost incapable of melee combat. Once a demon successfully closed in on him, Arthur's only fate was for his armor to shatter, leaving him to run around in Strawberry Underwear before finally being smashed into a skeleton by an elbow strike.
Facing the diving Red Demon, Cheng Tian hurriedly threw another cleaver projectile, but it still achieved nothing. Like a nimble fighter jet, the Red Demon tilted its body forty-five degrees to the right with its wings and effortlessly dodged the second blade.
At this point, the Red Demon believed Cheng Tian had exhausted all his tricks. Even if he still had one more throw left, its physical strength was enough to take one hit head-on. There was no need to dodge at all.
And with just one opening, the Red Demon could tear through the human's tin can shell and feast on the delicious human flesh within.
Extending its claws, the Red Demon seemed to have already seen Cheng Tian being opened like a can.
However, at that moment, a somewhat familiar cane suddenly appeared in Cheng Tian's left hand.
Before the Red Demon could search its memories, a hexagram-shaped spell projectile had already erupted from the tip of the cane aimed at it.
"Holy Satan!"
The Red Demon finally recognized the source of the Polymorph. Shock and fury immediately appeared on its face, but because it had prepared not to dodge and had accelerated too quickly, it could not move sideways and slammed headfirst into the hexagram.
As a small puff of smoke rose, the Red Demon had already turned into a furious Summer Duck covered in bright red feathers, with a pointy head and a duckbill that looked more like a bird's beak.
Polymorph, hit!
What Cheng Tian had actually used here was an equipment-switching mechanic unique to Chosen Players.
Simply put, while in combat, players could not freely switch the equipment in their hands with backup equipment in their inventory through thought alone.
For example, when Cheng Tian held a Goblin Cleaver in his main hand, if he switched it with a baseball bat in his inventory, the two items would exchange places. However, the baseball bat moved into the main-hand Equipment Slot would gain a six-second Countdown. During those six seconds, he could neither use the baseball bat nor switch again.
It was somewhat similar to Dota's mechanics.
But Cheng Tian had exploited a minor mechanic that was not quite a bug. Before entering combat, he had removed his off-hand weapon and placed it in his inventory.
Equipping an item temporarily while empty-handed, however, took effect immediately.
Using that method, Cheng Tian successfully concealed the Vampire Gentleman's Cane. Combined with the Red Demon's preconceived belief that Cheng Tian possessed only one harmless weapon, it ultimately led to the current outcome.
Without a single wasted word or unnecessary movement, what awaited the pointy-headed Red Demon duck was Cheng Tian's utterly cruel and terrifyingly targeted assault--
Cheng Tian tossed away the cane, turned sideways, grabbed the flapping duck wing, then raised the Goblin Cleaver and viciously chopped down at the base of the wing!
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