Diamond Mammoth

Ning Chen hesitated no longer. With a flick of his right hand, three Azure Flame Pearls appeared between his fingers.

He sprang from the tree branch and, while still airborne, hurled the Azure Flame Pearls at the Diamond Mammoth's head.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three explosions erupted before the mammoth's face, filling the air with smoke and dust.

Enraged by the sudden blasts, the mammoth let out a muffled roar. Its massive body turned toward where Ning Chen had landed, and its four hooves pounded the ground as it charged at him like a moving hill.

Ning Chen did not linger after landing. He turned and sprinted straight into the depths of the forest.

The Diamond Mammoth pursued relentlessly, smashing through countless ancient trees along the way. The ground shook violently beneath its trampling hooves.

After running roughly two hundred meters, Ning Chen suddenly stopped and spun around. He stomped his feet hard against the ground, using the acceleration effect of the Wind-Chasing Boots to burst forward in the opposite direction, brushing past the oncoming mammoth.

At the instant they crossed paths, the Fierce Slash Blade in his hand blazed with scorching fire as he viciously slashed at the joint of the mammoth's left foreleg!

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere. A shallow white mark was left on the diamond carapace, but it did not break through its defense.

The mammoth roared in pain and swung its long trunk in a sweeping strike.

Ning Chen ducked beneath it. At the same time, he raised his left hand and detonated another two Azure Flame Pearls against the mammoth's belly.

Amid a thunderous boom, the mammoth staggered a step. A trace of blood seeped from the relatively soft flesh of its abdomen.

Ning Chen's eyes lit up. Its belly was the weak point!

The mammoth flew into a complete rage. Its diamond carapace suddenly burst with dazzling light, and countless tiny diamond fragments shot outward like a torrential downpour, covering dozens of meters around it.

Ning Chen's expression changed. The Starlight Bracer shone with brilliant silver light as the Stellar Shield unfolded instantly.

The diamond fragments struck the shield with a dense barrage of sharp clinks. Its surface trembled violently, and cracks rapidly spread across it.

He gritted his teeth and held the shield together as he kept moving, circling to the mammoth's side. Just before the shield shattered, he leaped up, stepped off a low-hanging branch, and flipped onto the mammoth's broad back.

The mammoth thrashed wildly, trying to throw the pest off its back.

Ning Chen's left hand gripped a gap in the diamond carapace tightly to steady himself. With his right hand, he clenched the Fierce Slash Blade and poured all his Soul Power into it.

The blade's flaming patterns glowed to their utmost brilliance, and the entire weapon seemed to transform into a burning blade of fire.

Ning Chen brought his blade down. Wrapped in blazing flames, the Fierce Slash Blade cleaved at the Diamond Mammoth's nape.

Clang!

A piercing metallic clash rang out as sparks scattered in all directions.

The Fierce Slash Blade was knocked back several inches, leaving only a blade mark about a finger deep in the diamond carapace. It had not truly broken through the defense.

Ning Chen's heart sank.

He had poured eighty percent of his Soul Power into that strike. Even with the Fierce Slash Blade's own flame enhancement, it had only left a shallow mark.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Diamond Mammoth's defense was even more terrifying than he had expected.

Feeling the pain at its nape, the mammoth thrashed even more frantically. Then it suddenly twisted its body and rammed viciously toward an ancient tree so thick that three people could barely encircle it.

It wanted to crush the pest on its back against the trunk!

Ning Chen's pupils contracted. With no time to think, he sprang off the mammoth's back.

The very next second after he leaped away, the mammoth's back slammed heavily into the ancient tree. With a deafening crash, the tree snapped in half, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

Ning Chen spun once in the air and landed on the ground. Before he could steady himself, the mammoth had already turned around, its blood-red eyes fixed firmly on him.

Two thick streams of white vapor blasted from its trunk. It scraped its forehooves against the ground, then charged again!

This time, it was even faster than before!

Ning Chen did not dare take it head-on and dodged sideways. But as the mammoth passed him, its trunk lashed out like a steel whip toward his waist.

In his haste, Ning Chen raised the Fierce Slash Blade horizontally before him to block.

Bang!

An overwhelming force struck him. Ning Chen was sent flying and slammed heavily into a large tree. A sharp pain shot through his back, and blood surged into his throat.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed the blood back down. Rolling to his feet, he saw that the mammoth had already turned and charged at him again. It gave him no chance to catch his breath!

"What a nuisance..." Ning Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze turning solemn.

With a flick of his left hand, another two Azure Flame Pearls appeared between his fingers. But instead of throwing them at once, he held them tightly as he retreated and rapidly considered his options.

The Azure Flame Pearls were indeed powerful, but the Diamond Mammoth's carapace was simply too thick. Unless he could blast it from the inside, it would be difficult to deal fatal damage.

The inside...

Ning Chen's gaze sharpened as he thought of a method.

He suddenly stopped retreating and charged directly toward the mammoth!

Seeing that he actually dared to rush it head-on, the mammoth roared and lowered its head. Its two enormous tusks aimed at him like spears, and its charge accelerated even further.

Just as the two sides were about to collide, Ning Chen smashed the two Azure Flame Pearls in his hand against the ground!

Boom!

Azure flames erupted. Thick smoke and dust from the violent explosion instantly filled an area more than ten meters wide, completely obscuring both sides' vision.

The mammoth's charge was disrupted by the sudden blast, and it instinctively hesitated for a moment.

In that instant, Ning Chen shot out from the smoke and dust—not from the front, but by sliding in from beneath the mammoth's left side!

His body nearly skimmed the ground. Holding the Fierce Slash Blade in a reverse grip, its point aimed upward, he viciously slashed upward as he passed beneath the mammoth's belly!

Rip!

The blade tore through the relatively soft flesh of the mammoth's abdomen, leaving a half-meter-long wound that poured with blood.

The mammoth howled in agony, its massive body twisting sharply as its right hind hoof stomped violently toward Ning Chen.

Ning Chen had no time to get up and could only roll clumsily to the side. The enormous hoof came down grazing his back, crushing a deep crater into the ground and sending stones flying.

Ning Chen rolled to his feet, his breathing already somewhat ragged.

The consecutive high-intensity battles, coupled with the injury from that earlier blow, were rapidly draining both his Soul Power and stamina.

Yet though the Diamond Mammoth was wounded, its ferocity only grew stronger.

It turned around, and the diamond carapace across its body began to shine once more!

Ning Chen's expression changed. Without hesitation, he activated the Starlight Bracer's Illusory Stars.

A faint silver halo spread from his body. The surrounding scenery began to twist and distort, while his figure became blurred in the mammoth's senses and his presence vanished instantly.

The Diamond Mammoth's Diamond Stars lost their target and could only spray blindly in every direction.

Diamond fragments poured down like rain, riddling every tree and rock within dozens of meters with holes.

Under the cover of Illusory Stars, Ning Chen quickly moved to the mammoth's rear flank.

He glanced at the Fierce Slash Blade in his hand. Fine cracks already covered its blade. That previous direct clash had damaged the soul tool considerably.