212: Chapter 212 Reflecting Damage

Hu Gualing vaguely felt a sense of oppression emanating from the Millennium Tree Demon before him, acting upon his spirit. He immediately shook his head to cast aside this strange thought. "What a joke, it's just a tree. How could it possibly have the legendary spiritual pressure!" Hu Gualing gave a self-deprecating laugh in his heart, thinking he might have read too many Xuanhuan novels, causing his brain to hallucinate under stress.

Thinking this way, the tension in Hu Gualing's heart eased considerably.

But just then, the ground beneath his feet suddenly softened, and Xiao Niao's shout came from behind: "Gualing, dodge!"

Hu Gualing's reaction was incredibly fast. Just as Xiao Niao's voice rang out, a warning sign flared in his heart. His muscles tensed instantly, and he exerted force with his feet to perform the Lazy Donkey Roll skill, which was practically etched into his heart. His entire body tilted to the side, his hands reached out to support his arms, and he rolled two and a half times across the solid yellow earth.

-14.

However, even though Hu Gualing's reaction was so swift, he still didn't completely evade this sudden attack. He was grazed by an Earth Spike that suddenly shot up from the ground. Although no major hindrance appeared on his body, a red damage number of -14 popped up over his head.

After completing the roll and standing firm, Hu Gualing turned his head to look at his waist where the Earth Spike had grazed him. No wound was left; even the leather of the white wild boar pants' waistband hadn't been pierced. It seemed the quality of these white wild boar pants was indeed top-notch. However, he estimated this was also related to the fact that the Earth Spike hadn't directly hit his body but only grazed the edge. Thus, Hu Gualing didn't dare to be careless. Instead, he shot a quick glance at the yellow earth where the Earth Spike had emerged and then returned to normal, then looked at the thick and massive Millennium Tree Demon before him with a solemn expression, as if facing a formidable foe.

While dodging the Earth Spike earlier, he had also caught a glimpse of what exactly was attacking him. Just as Xiao Niao had described before, it was a spike composed of sand and soil that emerged from underfoot without warning, thick at the bottom and thin at the top. Logically, something made purely of sand and soil, no matter how tightly packed, couldn't compare to a real weapon, let alone cause much damage to a human body. But this Earth Spike had caused 14 points of damage just by grazing Hu Gualing's waist, clearly indicating that the lethality contained within was absolutely not to be underestimated.

Hu Gualing now completely believed what Xiao Niao had said earlier—that this Earth Spike could take out seventy points of his health with a single critical hit.

Furthermore, unlike the White Wild Boar BOSS's "Boar Hand Swipe" and "Pig Foot Sweep" attack patterns, the attack this Millennium Tree Demon just unleashed clearly exceeded the physical realm. First, a sand pit formed without warning on the ground, making him lose his footing, and then a spike gathered from sand and soil emerged from under that pit. This kind of attack method clearly belonged to a Spell. While the lethality was still within a bearable range, there were almost no traces to catch before the attack, which made it quite difficult to deal with.

Hu Gualing wasn't a tank or meat shield in the traditional sense; he only held the position of drawing the monster's fire because he reacted quickly enough in battle and possessed a dodge skill. But now, the reaction speed and dodging ability he took pride in had failed during the Millennium Tree Demon's first attack. The battle ahead would likely be difficult.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. This internal monologue was just a flash of thought for Hu Gualing in his combat state. Even though he already held a pessimistic attitude toward this BOSS battle, Hu Gualing, having entered combat, naturally wouldn't harbor the slightest intention of retreating. After standing firm, he immediately swung his fist toward the incredibly thick trunk of the Millennium Tree Demon.

-4, -5.

-1 (reflected damage), -1 (reflected damage).

This Millennium Tree Demon was so massive that its trunk was naturally incredibly thick, as wide as a wooden wall blocking his path. When Hu Gualing swung his fists to attack, there was naturally no possibility of missing. He landed a right straight and a left straight in succession, "pang pang," against the trunk—considering the Millennium Tree Demon's height proportions, it might be more accurate to say he was hitting the tree stump.

Regardless, Hu Gualing's two punches landed solidly on the Millennium Tree Demon, a double hit dealing -4 and -5 damage.

Before Hu Gualing could react to these terrifyingly low damage numbers, he saw two -1 damage numbers pop up over his own fists. It was actually reflected damage, something he had never seen before in this game!? Feeling the pain and the counter-shock from his knuckles, Hu Gualing's heart sank even further.

This Millennium Tree Demon not only had unpredictable attack methods but also such high defense, and it could even reflect damage.

Hu Gualing suppressed the wariness in his heart, paused for a brief moment, and punched again.

-4, -4.

-1 (reflected damage), -1 (reflected damage).

Hu Gualing, his knuckles aching, felt a chill in his heart as he saw the two -1s pop up again. This meant the Millennium Tree Demon's reflected damage wasn't a chance trigger but a 100% mechanic. As long as he punched it, it would reflect damage once. Although it seemed that each instance of damage was only -1 and not a big deal, Hu Gualing knew that the damage he was dealing to the Millennium Tree Demon wasn't much higher either.

The characteristic of brass knuckles is a fast attack speed, but the damage of a single attack isn't high, featuring high-frequency chip damage. Facing a BOSS like the Millennium Tree Demon that could reflect damage, he was suddenly in for a rough time. Hu Gualing had to punch it to deal 4 damage, but a single reflection would cost him 1 health point. This meant one-fifth of the attacks he landed on the BOSS were effectively hitting himself. This was quite bad!

After withdrawing his fists this time, Hu Gualing didn't punch again. Instead, he watched the Millennium Tree Demon cautiously. First, he didn't want to attack too quickly and let his health drop too low from reflected damage; second, he was guarding against the BOSS's mysterious attack methods.

After standing alert for over a second, Hu Gualing indeed felt the ground beneath his right foot soften. Clearly, the BOSS was using its Spell-like attack method again. However, Hu Gualing had already seen it once, and now, fully on guard, he felt the ground soften just as his body began to tilt. He used his other foot to push off the stable ground, letting his body follow the momentum to fall to the right. Curling his body and supporting himself with his hands, he rolled away to the side, dodging the hard Earth Spike that came straight for his crotch.

"It seems that as long as I'm prepared, I can still dodge the Millennium Tree Demon's Earth Spike Technique." Hu Gualing thought this after standing firm, momentarily relieved. However, his fists didn't immediately attack the Millennium Tree Demon BOSS. He felt the damage he dealt was low, and every punch reduced his own health bar. Moreover, the attack speed of his Fist Technique was naturally fast; if he got carried away and threw dozens of punches, even without taking an attack from the BOSS, the reflected damage alone would be enough to do him in. So, Hu Gualing wanted to play it safe. In any case, according to the tactics Xiao Niao had set, his current task was to test the Millennium Tree Demon BOSS's attack patterns. It was fine to slack off a bit and save his strength for later.

As Hu Gualing was thinking this, he heard Xiao Niao shout from behind again: "Gualing, don't stop! Keep hitting it! Use both hands and let it have it!"

Hu Gualing thought to himself, 'You're not the one taking reflected damage, so of course it's easy for you to say.' Although he complained like this in his heart, he didn't want to show weakness in front of Xiao Niao and be looked down upon. He immediately barked back a fierce "Fine!" and then swung his fists, hitting the Millennium Tree Demon's trunk repeatedly, venting all his dissatisfaction with Xiao Niao onto the Millennium Tree Demon BOSS through his fists.

His fists poured out like raindrops. The dull "pang pang pang pang" sounds of impact continuously rang out from where Hu Gualing's fists met the surface of the Millennium Tree Demon's trunk. Simultaneously, a string of -4, -5, -1, -1 damage numbers popped up from the point of impact.