393: Chapter 393: The damage wasn't great, but the insult was extremely strong.

The Rock-Earth Behemoth stood up, its ten-meter-tall frame nearly reaching the ceiling of the cavern.

"Intruder... Die!"

The behemoth's roar echoed through the cavern, vibrating with enough force to make one's eardrums ache.

It didn't pounce immediately; instead, it raised a rocky foot as large as a millstone and stomped heavily onto the ground.

"Boom!"

The ground shuddered violently. With its foot as the center, a circle of earthy yellow ripples rapidly spread outward.

Wherever the ripples passed, the hard ground instantly became like quicksand—soft, sinking, and exerting a powerful suction.

"It's Quicksand Pit! Don't get trapped!" Dongfang Xinghe's expression changed as he leaped backward in a hurry.

Being of the wood attribute, he was sensitive to changes in the earth. He immediately recognized this as a type of earth-element Demonic Technique that could turn the ground into a quagmire to trap enemies.

Shui Qingdie reacted quickly as well. With a wave of her delicate hand, a stream of water swirled beneath her feet, carrying her as she drifted back lightly.

Pei Tieshan let out a low growl, channeled strength into his legs, and stomped hard to spring backward. Although he wasn't skilled in movement techniques, his sheer strength allowed him to forcibly break free from the initial suction.

Meanwhile, Ye Tian had already flashed ten meters away a moment before the quicksand ripples reached him, leaving a thunderous afterimage in his place.

"This thing has intelligence and can use Spells; it's no ordinary Yao Beast."

Ye Tian stared at the mountain talisman seal on the behemoth's brow. The seal was perfectly integrated with the creature's head, as if it had grown there naturally, blending seamlessly with the heavy aura of earth and stone radiating from its body.

"The token is its power core, but it's also its weakness."

"Damn it, the token is growing on the monster's head. How are we supposed to get it?"

Pei Tieshan steadied himself. Looking at the massive creature and then at the glowing Talisman Seal on its brow, he felt a bit of a headache.

The behemoth's aura was terrifyingly strong—definitely Rank Four. Furthermore, based on that move just now, its control over earth-element power was extremely proficient.

"Shatter it!" Ye Tian said briefly, and he was already moving again. The probing phase was over; it was time to get serious.

This behemoth had a body of earth and stone; it possessed great strength and high defense, but its movements were bound to be relatively slow.

With a few leaps across the ground, he closed in on the behemoth.

sword was unsheathed, and he thrust the sword straight at the behemoth's knee. He aimed for a vital point to disable its movement first.

"Roar!" The Rock-Earth Behemoth's reaction wasn't slow either. A massive rocky arm swept toward him; the force of this sweep was likely tens of thousands of catties.

Ye Tian's footwork changed again. With a twist of his body, he slid past and drove his sword hard into the behemoth's knee.

Ssh!

The sword tip pierced into the rock, sinking half a foot deep. Gray-purple lightning exploded, shattering a small patch of stone. But that was it.

The rock at the behemoth's knee was unimaginably hard and contained dense earth-element spiritual power. Ye Tian's Sword Qi and lightning power only managed to chip off a small notch without causing serious damage.

On the contrary, the recoil caused Ye Tian's arm to go slightly numb.

"Good grief, it's really tough!" Ye Tian's heart tightened.

Although he hadn't used his full strength in that strike, he had used seventy percent of his power, yet it only caused this much damage.

The defense of this behemoth was likely even stronger than that of a metal-attribute Yao Beast of the same rank.

Stung by the pain, the behemoth swung its other rocky arm, smashing a fist down toward Ye Tian.

Ye Tian didn't dare take the hit head-on and moved three meters away. The giant fist slammed into the ground, booming as it created a large crater and sent stone fragments flying.

"Junior Brother Ye, we're coming to help you!" Seeing that Ye Tian's strike failed to achieve much and that he was instead caught within the behemoth's attack range, Dongfang Xinghe immediately acted.

He brandished his longsword, firing streaks of emerald-green Sword Qi that coiled around the behemoth's legs and arms, attempting to bind its movements.

Wood overcomes earth; his Sword Qi could, to a certain extent, interfere with the flow of the behemoth's earth-element spiritual power.

"Ice Seal!" Shui Qingdie also acted simultaneously. Her hands formed seals, and a blast of frigid air surged out, enveloping the behemoth's feet and lower body.

Water can nourish earth, but extreme cold can solidify it. She was trying to use ice to slow the behemoth down.

Pei Tieshan was even more direct. With a roar, his muscles bulged, and an earthy yellow light surfaced on his body as he slammed a fist hard against the behemoth's ankle. "Crack for me!"

The emerald vine-like Sword Qi coiled around the behemoth's limbs, indeed causing its movements to falter slightly, and the yellow light on its surface flickered.

Shui Qingdie's ice spread across the behemoth's feet, covering them in a thin layer of frost. Pei Tieshan's heavy punch landed on the ankle with a dull thud, chipping away a few more stone fragments.

However, the behemoth merely swayed its body. Earthy yellow flames flickered in its eye sockets; it seemed to be enraged.

With a violent struggle, the vine-like Sword Qi wrapped around its legs snapped inch by inch. With a tremor of its feet, the thin ice shattered. It looked down at Pei Tieshan by its feet, raised its other foot, and stomped down hard!

"Old Pei, get back!" Dongfang Xinghe shouted urgently.

Seeing things were going south, Pei Tieshan hurriedly rolled backward. The giant foot stomped down, and the ground shook violently, leaving a deep pit where he had just been standing.

"It's no use, we can't break its defense!" Shui Qingdie's face turned pale; her ice had a negligible effect on the behemoth. Dongfang Xinghe's binding Sword Qi could only cause a brief delay. Pei Tieshan's heavy punches were like scratching an itch.

"Attack its brow! The token is the core!" While dodging the behemoth's attacks, Ye Tian observed the creature.

He noticed that whenever they attacked the behemoth's body, the mountain talisman seal on its brow would glow slightly, and the rock on its surface would become even harder.

And when Dongfang Xinghe and Shui Qingdie's interfering attacks landed on it, the seal's light would also flicker, as if it were mobilizing power to neutralize them.

This confirmed his suspicion: the token was not just a key, but the power center and vital point of this Rock-Earth Behemoth!

"I'll distract it! You guys find an opening and attack the Talisman Seal on its brow!" Ye Tian shouted.

This behemoth's defense was too strong and its power too great; wearing it down through brute force was not the way. They had to concentrate their power on its core.

"Understood!" The three responded, immediately changing their strategy.

Ye Tian stopped his hit-and-run tactics and suddenly accelerated, turning into a thunderous shadow. He moved rapidly around the behemoth's massive body, his sword piercing out from time to time.

Each time, the gray-purple lightning left a small, charred pit on the behemoth.

The damage was low, but it was extremely insulting, successfully provoking the behemoth's rage.

"Roar! Bug! Die!"

The behemoth roared repeatedly, flailing its arms and stomping the ground in a continuous assault on Ye Tian. Sand and stones flew within the cavern amidst the constant booming.

But although its movements were fierce, it was always a beat slower than Ye Tian, unable to hit that slippery figure.

Dongfang Xinghe and the other two circled the perimeter, looking for an opportunity.

Shui Qingdie continuously deployed water curtains and ice walls to interfere with the behemoth's vision, occasionally firing ice spikes at its eye sockets, forcing it to close its eyes or turn its head to block, creating more opportunities for Ye Tian.

Dongfang Xinghe's sword light became increasingly sharp as he specifically sought gaps in the behemoth's attacks. Although it was still difficult to cause effective damage, he could continuously drain its protective earth-element spiritual power.

Pei Tieshan, relying on his thick skin and tough flesh, would rush in during the gaps in the behemoth's attacks on Ye Tian to land a few heavy punches on its ankles and the back of its knees.

He would run as soon as he hit. Although it was a bit cheap and not very effective, it annoyed the behemoth to no end.

For a time, the cavern was filled with flickering lightning, crisscrossing Sword Qi, pervasive ice and water, and the whistling of fist winds.

Strong as the behemoth was, under Ye Tian's agile movement and the coordinated harassment of the other three, it was temporarily unable to do anything to them, and was instead being driven into a flustered state.

Seeing that more than half of the behemoth's strength had been consumed, a sharp light flashed in Ye Tian's eyes. He deliberately left a flaw, slowing his speed for a split second.

The behemoth indeed took the bait, slamming its rocky palm down toward the top of Ye Tian's head.