Cyclops: Champion Template, Demon of the Demon Village. HP=1015, MP=5. Strength 29, Agility 5, Spirit 1, Charisma 1.
Demon Trait—Flame Titan Descendant
As a Cyclops, its racial bloodline made it a typical high-Strength unit. Combined with the Champion Template, its Strength-to-HP conversion rate had reached a terrifying 1:35.
Even if it simply stood there and let Cheng Tian put his back into whipping it without dodging or evading, it would still take more than a hundred strikes to kill it.
But how many hits could Cheng Tian take from it?
Although he could not see its exact HP bar, just looking at that physique was enough for Cheng Tian to imagine how tough the monster's bones were. It definitely was not something he could fight head-on.
Even if the monster were empty-handed, Cheng Tian had no desire to take a single hit.
The only thing worth celebrating was that this giant monster followed the Famicom version, rather than the headless-knight-like version from Great Demon Village.
So the question was... how was he supposed to fight it?
Cheng Tian turned his head away. All he could see on the two college students' faces was deep shock and fear. They could not even imagine how they were supposed to stand before this monster.
All he could say was that Greenie's earlier assessment had indeed been extremely fair. Even if it was only the lowest-difficulty first stage of the Famicom-style Demon Village, "Outskirts of Demon King's Castle," its difficulty should still have been Rank D rather than E+.
Throwing a group of inexperienced novice players into this place was no different from crossing the road and running into a drowsy long-haul driver. It was pure human disaster, not a natural calamity.
With the slightest mistake, even Cheng, who had already displayed considerable combat power and astonishing potential, could be crushed to death.
Cheng Tian reached out and pulled the Demon Cicada floating beside him into his arms. He began rubbing it over and over like a rubber ball, while his unfocused eyes stared at the drowsy giant monster. Gradually, an idea began to form in his mind.
"Little guy, if you can understand everything I say, nod your head."
The oppressive atmosphere hung over them for quite a while. Only then did Cheng Tian position the Demon Cicada, which had been letting him knead it as he pleased, so that its face was in front of him. Lowering his voice, he whispered to it.
The Demon Cicada nodded.
"You do this and this..."
Cheng Tian began whispering.
"Hey~ You two."
After a while, when they heard Cheng Tian mention them, the two college students' bodies immediately tensed. Their bodies visibly trembled slightly, and no one knew what sort of wild thoughts had crossed their minds.
Then they saw Cheng Tian—who had somehow taken off his entire Knight Armor and stuffed it into his inventory, casually tossed aside the Red Arremer wing material he had swapped in, and was once again left wearing nothing but his underwear—pressing one hand onto each of their shoulders.
But just as they thought Cheng Tian was about to say something comforting, they saw him bare his teeth in an unsettling grin.
It seemed to contain a hint of excitement mixed with a touch of madness. The aura of someone preparing to risk his life was overwhelmingly strong. In short, he did not look much like a normal person.
"When I die, it'll be your turn! Gah ha ha!"
After saying that, Cheng Tian ignored the two college students' faces, which instantly turned an ashen green as if their mothers had just died. He turned and walked out of the bushes, bringing along the silently flying Demon Cicada, and crept toward the sleeping Cyclops as stealthily as a thief.
The two college students stood frozen in place, feeling that neither staying behind nor following was the right choice.
As another longtime Monster Hunter player, Cheng only regretted that he did not have a Large Barrel Bomb G that he could carry around. Otherwise, he would definitely have let this Cyclops enjoy the bliss of a sleep bombing.
As the distance between them shrank, the giant monster's body grew increasingly oppressive in Cheng Tian's eyes.
However, when the straight-line distance between them was down to only thirty meters, the still-eyes-closed giant monster suddenly inhaled, as if it had caught the scent of something that triggered a reaction in it. Then it abruptly opened its eye, and its slightly bleary gaze locked precisely onto Cheng's position!
Unlike the Gargoyle demon, which had a history tied to a Demon Village mercenary family and behaved far more properly than its appearance suggested, the Cyclops, also a demon, was actually much closer to a pure beast.
Ordinary giant monsters generally stood over four meters tall, while Champion individuals selected as Demon Generals could even exceed six meters. Their bodies were so huge that they resembled walking armored tanks, yet their brains could barely go toe-to-toe with a squirrel's.
Such a tiny brain driving such a massive body came with extremely obvious advantages and disadvantages.
Its miniature brain paired with its oversized body made pain signals travel extremely slowly. Much of the time, its pain nerves simply ignored these insignificant injuries. Even many spells that affected the mind were completely ineffective against them.
Idiots were completely unafraid of fear spells and mental control!
If you saw a giant monster that could count to three, it was definitely a once-in-a-generation genius. If it could count to five, it would qualify to compete for the title of King of the Giant Monsters. If it could count to nine... there was no need to doubt it—it had definitely been blessed across dimensions by some big blue bird!
The other guy was probably cursing as he racked his brains to bestow that blessing—
Damn! An otherworldly Ogre!
This Champion Template giant monster, recruited under the Demon King's banner, was probably somewhere between a once-in-a-generation genius and a King of the Giant Monsters. Even so, its bestial instincts still far outweighed its rationality.
A giant monster's body odor could practically be considered a biochemical weapon, yet even that could not conceal its excellent sense of smell. Especially when "humans," their favorite food, appeared, they could practically turn into Pavlov's dogs. Even while asleep, their bodies would react instantly, before their brains did.
"Demon Cicada! Metal Claw! Gouge out its eye!!!"
The giant monster's sudden awakening caught Cheng Tian off guard, but in the next second, he grabbed the Demon Cicada floating on his shoulder and made a powerful throwing motion.
Perhaps because the Demon Cicada consisted only of an insect shell and a soul, it did not have the physiological reactions of a conventional living creature. On top of that, its total weight, shell and soul included, was only around 1.2 kilograms, so it flew extremely fast when thrown.
As it flew through the air, the Demon Cicada's tiny claws had already begun shining with silver-white light.
As a one-eyed individual among giant monsters with a faint ancestral bloodline, this gatekeeping monster possessed extraordinarily keen long-range vision—so keen it could practically be called Eagle Eye. Picking up a large rock and hitting a target a kilometer away was no difficult feat for it.
But in exchange, a one-eyed giant monster would have trouble focusing on nearby targets, causing its vision to blur. This made it impossible for it to see the already-approaching Demon Cicada clearly.
Its shoulder and arm muscles had already reacted, visibly trying to raise an arm to block the attack, but...
Too slow!
A flash of silver light appeared, and the giant monster, whose pain sensitivity should have been extremely low, let out an incredibly shrill scream!
At the same time, the giant monster's HP bar, which had been as high as 1015, suddenly dropped to 960.
Metal Claw! Weak-Point Attack! Triple Critical! Part Destruction!
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