56: Chapter 56, the easiest level.

Arena.

Shi Lei stood at the north end like an immovable mountain.

His gaze passed through the slits in his heavy helmet and fell upon the one human and two pets opposite him.

A Slime.

A Skeleton Soldier.

Could this combination actually reach the ninth level?

Shi Lei was a bit puzzled, but he didn't underestimate them at all.

Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength.

He gripped his tower shield with both hands and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

He was ready at any moment to deal with the incoming attack.

...

Lu Yuan's mouth curled up slightly.

"This Shi Lei has a bit of Little Skeleton's style."

Little Skeleton grinned, its jawbones parting. "Thank you for the praise, Master."

Slime: "They're all cowards."

Shi Lei frowned upon seeing this.

"Being able to defeat Wu Xin means you have some strength."

"But this is the end."

"My shield cannot be broken by anyone."

[Earth Shield]

One of Shi Lei's proudest skills.

The core skill of the legendary class—Earth Protector.

It can increase defense by 500%.

He was a legendary class 'Earth Protector', and his defense was already ridiculously high.

Add this 500% boost, and professionals of the same level simply couldn't break his defense.

...

Slime gave an evil smirk.

"Defense?"

"Hahaha..."

"This Slime loves fighting tanks!"

As the words fell, a blob of Slime was thrown out, landing on Shi Lei's tower shield.

Shi Lei looked down at the Slime that was still wriggling slightly.

His frown deepened.

"What is this..."

Before he could finish speaking!

Boom!!!

A violent explosion rang out.

Fire soared into the sky, and shockwaves rolled out.

A terrifying impact force penetrated the Earth Shield, directly blasting Shi Lei away.

-3402!

A huge damage number floated slowly above his head.

Shi Lei froze in place.

???

"How is this possible..."

...

Outside the arena.

Monitoring room.

Dead silence.

All the examiners widened their eyes, staring fixedly at the screen.

That damage number.

"This..."

Examiner Fan Zhiyuan opened his mouth, his voice strained.

"How is this possible?"

"Shi Lei's Earth Shield can boost defense by 500%!"

"His base defense is already terrifyingly high."

"With the Earth Shield boost, output classes of the same level simply can't make a dent in him."

The examiner next to him was also in disbelief.

"Also."

"Did you notice?"

"This damage number is basically no different from the damage dealt to other Guardians before."

Once this was said, everyone was stunned.

Yes, the damage caused by the Slime hadn't fluctuated much from the beginning.

Whether the opponent was an assassin or a tank, it seemed to ignore their defense.

"Ignore defense..."

Admissions Officer Han Feiyan frowned, muttering to himself.

"Could it be that this Slime is unleashing the legendary True Damage?"

True Damage.

That is a power that even legendary professionals cannot grasp.

A Slime, the lowest-level Magic Pet.

How could it possess True Damage?

Everyone's gaze turned towards City Lord Lu Feng.

City Lord Lu Feng was still leaning back in his chair, legs crossed.

He held a teacup, taking slow sips.

The smile on his face couldn't be suppressed.

"Don't be so surprised."

"This Slime just has a bit of True Damage, a high HP pool, and knows a few simple Heal spells."

"Apart from these, it has no other advantages."

Admissions Officer Han Feiyan: ???

Commander Xu Tianjiao: ???

Examiner Fan Zhiyuan: ???

True Damage?

Fifty thousand HP?

Heal skill maxed out!

This is already perverted enough, what more do you want?

Commander Xu Tianjiao's eyes turned red.

Versailles!

Old Lu is blatantly showing off!

He was so envious he was turning purple.

If his son or daughter could be this outstanding, he'd wake up laughing in his dreams.

Damn it!

...

Inside the dungeon.

Shi Lei slowly climbed up from the ruins, looking at his half-depleted health bar.

"No wonder they could make it here."

"Truly strong."

He took a deep breath.

He gripped his tower shield with both hands and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

"But this is the end."

"That was just a display of error tolerance."

"This time, you will have no more chances."

As he spoke, he knelt on one knee, pressing his hands onto the stone floor beneath his feet.

His eyes closed tight, piously chanting some kind of incantation.

[Earth Pulse Awakening!]

Rumble—

The entire arena shook violently.

The ground cracked inch by inch.

Huge fissures spread out from under his feet.

From the fissures, earthy yellow light gushed out.

Immediately after,

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Huge walls of earth rose up from the fissures, wrapping Shi Lei layer by layer.

Each of those earth walls was several meters thick, with rich earth elemental light flowing on the surface.

Dense runes were engraved on the earth walls, each rune slowly flickering.

This was not an ordinary earth wall.

This was a barrier condensed from the power of the earth's pulse.

It was the strongest defensive means of Shi Lei's legendary class.

The earth walls rose higher and higher, stacking more and more densely.

In the blink of an eye, a small earthen fortress had formed in the center of the arena.

Impregnable and airtight.

True Damage doesn't fear high defense.

It only fears shield-type skills or excessively high HP caps.

But the Slime wasn't afraid.

"This King loves bombing fixed targets like this the most!"

"Watch this King blow your shield to smithereens."

Just as the Slime prepared to take off, it was grabbed by the tail by Little Skeleton and pulled down.

"Big Brother, wait."

"I have a plan!"

Then, Little Skeleton leaned into the Slime's ear, whispering its plan.

Lu Yuan shook his head slowly.

He was too familiar with this look on Little Skeleton.

This old schemer was preparing to scheme against someone again.

Sure enough,

The Slime's small bean-like eyes gradually widened, and an excited light began to appear.

"Good, good, good!"

"Second Brother, you're too scheming!"

"How did I not think of this move!"

Little Skeleton didn't say anything, just bowed elegantly.

It retreated behind Lu Yuan.

The Slime let go of Little Skeleton and spread its dragon wings.

"This King will definitely not let you down."

It flew into mid-air.

Facing the very top of that earth wall fortress, it frantically launched Slime bombs.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

Continuous explosions rang out.

Soon, it blasted a not-so-small hole in the earth wall.

Then, it threw the Slime directly into that hole.

Inside the fortress.

Shi Lei sensed the fluctuations of the bombing, his mouth curling up slightly.

"Give up, it's useless."

"No professional of the same level can break through this move of mine."

Just then, inside the pitch-black earth wall fortress, a ray of light suddenly shone down.

Shi Lei looked up, somewhat bewildered.

Just then, a small piece of light blue Slime fell from the sky.

Shi Lei's pupils shrank.

"How is this possible?"

At this moment, his heart was filled with despair.

This earth wall fortress was built by himself.

Airtight, impregnable.

He had built a perfect cage for himself.

Boom—!!!

The shockwave of the explosion echoed continuously within the earth walls.

Shi Lei's health bar instantly dropped to zero.