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The spear in General Kevil's hand was as tall as he was, and lethally sharp.
Its spearhead in particular had been forged from General Kevil's own venomous crab fangs.
Its shaft was made from the bones of his limbs.
The spearhead shimmered with a ghostly green poison, making it clear to everyone that even the slightest touch would mean death!
General Kevil swung his spear in a wide arc.
For the first time, he collided head-on with Ling Zhan.
Creak!
A teeth-grating sound rang out.
The next second,
the spear in General Kevil's hand suddenly felt lighter.
"Not good."
As the thought surfaced in his mind,
suddenly!
His body, hanging upside down from the palace ceiling, lost its balance!
At the same time,
unbearable pain shot from his eyeball into his brain!
Splurt!
Dark green blood sprayed out.
"Argh!!"
General Kevil's scream echoed through the palace.
One of his eyes had been pierced blind.
One of his originally lantern-sized eyeballs had been slashed through, dark green, foul-smelling venomous blood spraying from the wound.
They said pain in your fingers reached your heart.
A ruptured eyeball hurt even worse!
The searing pain of having his eye pierced jolted General Kevil and made it impossible for him to keep hanging from the ceiling.
His mountainous body crashed into the palace floor, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Damn human!"
"You actually used the Assassin's beginner skill—Shadow Stealth—while fighting me!"
"My eye!"
"Damn it!"
Lying on the floor, General Kevil couldn't make sense of it.
His upper body was that of a giant human skeleton, and his jawbone trembled with rage.
In truth, when he used Arc Sweep,
Ling Zhan had already used the Archer's beginner skill, [Flash Step], to dodge his attack and reach the ceiling.
Even while airborne, [Flash Step] could still be used.
But [Invincible Slide] could not.
[Invincible Slide] required the user to be on the ground.
After using Flash Step, Ling Zhan had used the Assassin's beginner skill, [Shadow Stealth], and seized an opportunity to pierce General Kevil's eyeball.
General Kevil had never dreamed that Ling Zhan could instantly cast two skills in less than 0.5 seconds.
Besides,
the reason General Kevil's defense was so high was that the armor he wore was a piece of defensive equipment.
That was why Ling Zhan had chosen to target the one spot without any armor: his eyeball.
Without a doubt,
the eyes were the least defended part of the body.
In the very first moment of the battle, Ling Zhan had achieved an impressive result: the elite monster's left eye had been put out.
General Kevil had two eyes, and losing just his left one—though excruciating—did little to reduce his fighting strength or HP.
It had, however, completely awakened his feral instincts.
And yet,
just as he was about to fly into a rage,
Ling Zhan didn't stop using [Shadow Stealth]. Thanks to the various buff effects, his movement speed and distance had been boosted to terrifying levels!
[Shadow Stealth] made him as elusive as a ghost's shadow.
He had appeared behind General Kevil.
"Argh!!"
General Kevil was consumed by fury. He had guarded this checkpoint for countless years, and those laughable high schoolers had never once managed to break through.
Not only that, he had hunted those inexperienced humans and hung them from the ceiling.
And now one of them dared to humiliate him like this!
Rage!
An ocean of fury surged through General Kevil!
Boom!
Dust swirled around him, and countless pieces of gravel and grit rose into the air.
He began channeling!
As the chant began...
a golden light welled up across his body.
A terrifying pressure was about to awaken within General Kevil.
Clearly,
he was about to use his trump-card skill.
His feelings toward this human were complicated.
Fury, murderous intent, contempt...
But also wariness!
The human had blinded one of his eyes right from the start, without even saying a word.
And the worst part was that he hadn't been able to fight back at all!
That meant a simple contest of strength and physical power wouldn't be enough. He had to use a skill!
Otherwise, he could easily end up defeated through carelessness.
However,
when Ling Zhan saw his opponent about to use a skill, the corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile.
Did you think I'd just stand here and let you use your skill?
Remember,
whether it was a monster or a human, any skill that required chanting could be forcibly interrupted.
Take a mage's skills, for example. Most of their powerful ones required chanting and could only be released once the chant was complete.
If the mage suffered an abnormal status, took damage, or was hit by a specific skill while chanting, the skill would be interrupted.
For example, if an enemy inflicted [Silence] on a mage while he was chanting Fireball Technique, then even if he had completed 99 percent of the chant, it would still be forcibly interrupted!
Would Ling Zhan just stand by and let this elite monster finish channeling its trump-card skill?
Of course not!
The greatsword in his hand vanished in an instant!
In less than half a second, his innate talent, [Weapon Master], activated, and a scepter appeared in his hand.
Note that a scepter and a staff were different weapons.
A staff was a mage's weapon, while a scepter was a Shadow Priest's weapon.
As it happened,
one of the Shadow Priest's beginner skills could silence an enemy for one second.
It was called [Silencer].
[Silencer (F+)]: An instant-cast skill that fires a beam of black light at an enemy, dealing minor damage and silencing them for one second.
Many people thought a skill that silenced an enemy for one second was useless.
But in Ling Zhan's hands, it was a top-tier skill that could instantly turn the tide of battle if used well!
Whoosh!
A beam of dark light shot from the scepter.
It struck General Kevil directly.
It shaved off 10 HP.
It barely even counted as a tickle.
But a silence countdown appeared above his head!
As a result, his channeling was instantly interrupted.
The skill's activation came to an end.
General Kevil, who had been seething with rage, was silenced for one second.
He froze for that second.
But in that crucial second,
Ling Zhan switched weapons again, and his greatsword reappeared in his hand.
Blazing blood-red light erupted, and his aura surged to a terrifying level!
"Bloodthirsty Frenzy Slash!"
Ling Zhan gave a low shout in his mind.
His heavy sword blazed with sharp, blood-red light as he hacked at General Kevil again and again.
[Bloodthirsty Frenzy Slash (F+)]: A Berserker beginner skill. The user swings their heavy sword to deliver fifteen consecutive slashes. Each hit causes the enemy to suffer severe hitstun and inflicts the "Heavy Injury" status, which can stack up to three times. The user consumes 50% of their current HP.
[Note: While under the Heavy Injury status, the enemy takes 30% more damage, and healing effects are halved.]
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