I, Cheng Tian, Foe of the Red Imp!

In its stone statue form, the Red Arremer indeed gained massive physical damage reduction. Bare fists were out of the question; even blades only left faint white marks when they struck it, unable to break its defense at all.

Nor was holy damage of much use. Holy light could not burn an utterly unremarkable stone statue.

However, within the Chosen Evolution Space, substantial buffs usually came with a price, and the price of the Red Arremer's immense damage reduction against physical blows from bare hands, blades, and the like was...

An extreme fear of targeted attacks from blunt weapons, pickaxes, drills, and similar tools!

And Cheng Tian happened to have an ordinary "SD Final Fight" Great Hammer he'd looted from a teammate's corpse.

Great Hammer: White/Common/Lv1, two-handed hammer. Equipment requirement: Strength 14. Weapon damage: 12–22. Durability: 36/36.

Neither Cheng Tian's own stats nor those of its previous owner, who had held it for less than a few minutes before dying, actually met the Great Hammer's equipment requirements. But that did not mean it was completely unusable.

Equipment requirements generally applied to higher-grade magical equipment—that was, the attribute boosts and equipment effects inherent to green, blue, and higher-tier gear. If one failed to meet the hard requirements, those effects could not be activated.

But that did not stop players from forcibly picking these things up and using them anyway.

It was strenuous, sure, but as long as they could swing it and hit someone, the damage would still have to be taken.

Naturally, Cheng Tian had no idea what the Red Arremer's racial talent specifically did. After all, what this elite Red Arremer had displayed was an expanded enhancement from the Chosen Evolution Space, not something native to the original work.

But years of gaming had given Cheng Tian a wealth of experience. By drawing parallels, he could always find a suitable solution.

The moment he noticed the stone-like feel of striking the Red Arremer, information on "Gargoyles" naturally surfaced in his mind.

He had played plenty of Undead in Warcraft and plenty of Dire hero Visage in Dota. He was quite familiar with Gargoyles.

Thus, he naturally came up with the idea of replacing a sharp weapon with a blunt one.

Running was impossible. Since he had already gone head-to-head with it, he would see it through to the end. Today, either he or the Red Arremer had to die!

It was only because he did not have a pickaxe that he settled for a hammer. Otherwise, a pickaxe would definitely have taken priority... As for punching stone barehanded, he had stopped doing that back in his MC days.

The Great Hammer required 14 Strength. This was really the requirement for being able to use the equipment freely and effortlessly. With only 10 Strength, Cheng certainly could not swing it continuously without hindrance, but putting all his strength into a few fierce blows before exhaustion set in was not too difficult.

The Great Hammer rose high, then came crashing down.

The target Cheng Tian chose was the back of the Red Arremer's left knee.

It was a joint, and also the narrowest part of the limb—the easiest place to shatter.

His earlier decision to cut off the thing's wings made it clear enough that the saying, "Better to sever one finger than wound ten," practically summed up his entire behavioral logic.

Bold, meticulous, and purposeful, he liked dancing on the edge of a blade. Put nicely, he had an adventurous spirit. Put bluntly, he had a bit of a self-destructive streak.

In any case, when that hammer came down, the Red Arremer—unable to immediately leave its stone statue form due to its skill cooldown—had its left knee shatter with a crack. Its lower leg and thigh completely separated.

This was not only because Cheng had chosen his target well; it was also because the stone statue form took double the full damage from blunt weapons, pickaxes, and drills.

Its HP, which had only just recovered to 170, plummeted by a chunk straight down to 146.

Due to his insufficient Strength, Cheng Tian's strike had nearly triggered only the weapon's minimum damage. But the doubled damage from blunt impacts made up for that shortfall.

Of course, Cheng Tian was still far from exhausted.

After the left foot came the right foot; after the right foot came the right hand. Cheng Tian circled around, starting on the Red Arremer's limbs and thoroughly carrying out his limb-severing battle plan.

Moreover, Cheng Tian was extremely crafty. He remained on guard against the Red Arremer potentially leaving its stone statue form at any moment. Even with all four limbs broken, it still had a mouth. Cheng Tian had not forgotten that this thing could breathe fire, so he always positioned himself away from its pointed head. This completely snuffed out the Red Arremer's last hope of a counterkill.

Its wings had been severed and its limbs smashed apart. The elite Red Arremer beneath Cheng Tian's feet had become a limbless torso, the most miserable form anyone from its clan could die in.

But as it turned out, Cheng Tian's caution was justified.

The Red Arremer truly deserved its reputation as an elite demon among the demon world's mercenary clans. Before its death, it neither begged for mercy nor spat threats. After leaving its stone statue form, it was stomped down by Cheng Tian, who pressed the back of its head into the ground. In the end, it could only unwillingly unleash a Fireball Spit that billowed with black smoke.

Even knowing it was doomed to die, the Red Arremer, which had repeatedly made the wrong judgments, still tried to take a bite out of Cheng Tian.

But when a bronze chest popped out of the incomplete limbless corpse, the side quest of "killing the elite Red Arremer" was finally over.

The cunning and cruel Cheng had even achieved the rare feat of taking no damage throughout the entire fight!

Yes, an achievement.

The instant the Red Arremer breathed its last, a small notification window popped up in the lower-right corner of Cheng Tian's vision, just like on Steam. Even the sound effect had been copied exactly.

Not caring whether it was a mimic chest or not, Cheng Tian, so exhausted that sweat had pooled inside his metal boots, plopped down onto the bronze chest. After taking several deep breaths, he comfortably opened the record details page.

Limited Achievement: Red Imp First Blood (Completed)

Requirement: Within the first three Chosen Trials after entering the Chosen Evolution Space, encounter any Red Arremer with a boss-tier template or above and defeat it alone without taking damage.

Achievement Reward: Title "Foe of the Red Imp," Agility permanently +2, Fire Resistance permanently +5%.

You have successfully unlocked the "Achievements" module. View details at your leisure.

Foe of the Red Imp: Blue/Excellent, title, can grow. You successfully encountered and solo-killed without taking damage a concept-tier elite-template Red Arremer created because it "successfully crushed countless players' desire to clear Demon Village throughout gaming history." This not only vented the fury of those players, but also completely enraged the Red Arremer Clan.

When wearing this title—

You will immediately enter a high-hostility enemy state with any "Red Arremer" unit. All Red Arremer units that sense your presence will have a high chance of attacking proactively.

All damage you deal to "Red Arremer" and "Gargoyle" units gains a 1% final calculation increase.

For every Red Arremer you kill, the final calculation increase rises by 1%. For every non-Red Arremer Gargoyle you kill, the final calculation increase rises by 0.5%.

When the final calculation increase reaches 100%, the title will undergo growth evolution.

While out of combat, you may equip or remove the title at any time.

You may only wear one title at a time.

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