219: Chapter 219 Giving Up Resistance

Xiao Niao looked at the health bar above the Millennium Tree Demon with a worried expression, silently counting down the time until the boss's next skill cast. His heart felt bitter because, according to the current situation, the boss would hit either Hu Gualing, Tang Yao, or the Sharp-toothed Piglet every 30 seconds, dealing seventy or eighty points of damage each time. With his current remaining mana, even if he used it sparingly, it wouldn't last until Hu Gualing and Tang Yao emptied the boss's health bar...

Xiao Niao thought bitterly, but suddenly realized something was wrong. Why did the boss's combo skill deal critical damage three times in a row? The "Vine Entanglement" within this combo skill only served as a restraint to bind the players, causing no damage at all; the actual damage was dealt by the "Earth Spike Technique" that followed. But this "Earth Spike Technique" didn't seem any different from the one the boss cast when its health was above fifty percent and before the combo skill was unlocked. Could it be just because the boss's critical hit rate increased after its health dropped below half?

That might be a plausible explanation, but subconsciously, Xiao Niao felt it wasn't that simple. Thinking about it, the scenes of the previous critical hits flashed through his mind: an Earth Spike would drill out from under their feet, and since they were already tightly bound by the "Vine Entanglement," they had no way to dodge... So, was the cause of the critical damage related to these vines?

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Xiao Niao.

That was it! It must be because Hu Gualing and Tang Yao were already bound by the vines and fixed in place, unable to move, so they couldn't dissipate the impact of the Earth Spike attack, which in turn amplified the power of the Earth Spike. Perhaps the vines didn't just fix them in place, but also dragged them toward the ground while wrapping around them. Under the action of these two completely opposite forces—one pulling down and one pushing up—the "Earth Spike Technique," which had no changes, was able to deal critical damage every single time.

"Are you ready? Can I go in?" Tang Yao, holding her longsword, watched Hu Gualing fighting the Millennium Tree Demon alone and couldn't help but ask Xiao Niao.

"Oh, oh, wait a little longer!" Xiao Niao had just figured out his hypothesis regarding why the boss's "Earth Spike Technique" dealt critical damage every time, and he needed Hu Gualing to test it to see if the guess was correct, so he told Tang Yao to keep waiting.

"Gualing, the next time you get tied up by the tree vines, don't panic. It's best to give up resisting and don't move!" Xiao Niao shouted his plan to Hu Gualing.

"Huh?" Hu Gualing suspected that his high level of concentration during the battle had caused him to mishear things. However, when he heard Xiao Niao repeat it with an absolutely firm tone, 'Remember, give up resisting and don't move!' Hu Gualing finally confirmed that it wasn't a hallucination, but rather Xiao Niao's serious arrangement. He just couldn't understand why Xiao Niao wanted him to do that, so he replied with a confused "Okay."

"Twenty-eight!"

"Twenty-nine!"

"It's coming, Gualing, give up resisting!"

Following Xiao Niao's shout, Hu Gualing simply pulled his two fists to his waist and "surrendered." When he heard Xiao Niao's last sentence, his body was indeed wrapped in green vines again without him noticing. Of course, since Hu Gualing was standing upright this time, these vines only wrapped around his lower body, which wasn't as suffocating as the last time when his whole body was wrapped up while he was rolling on the ground.

However, the Millennium Tree Demon boss's combo skill didn't just consist of vines; the Earth Spike beneath the vines was the thing that truly dealt damage!

Hu Gualing felt the ground beneath his feet soften. Fortunately, he had been mentally prepared in advance and timely shifted his center of gravity to the other foot that was still on normal ground, keeping his body standing steadily. However, he knew that in the next second, the Earth Spike would drill out from underground. Even though facts had already proven that he couldn't dodge the incoming Earth Spike while under the control of the vines, his body still reacted almost instinctively to dodge.

"Gualing, don't move, don't move!"

Hearing Xiao Niao's tireless and solemn reminder again, Hu Gualing suppressed his body's instinctive urge to dodge and forced himself not to move, letting the Earth Spike hit him. -34. Hu Gualing's body shuddered from the impact contained within the Earth Spike.

The Earth Spike dissipated, and the vines retracted underground. Hu Gualing twisted his hips, feeling no major harm, and was surprised to find that the damage he received this time didn't seem as severe.

A relaxed smile finally appeared on Xiao Niao's previously serious face. He waved his hand, casting a "Recovery Spell" on Hu Gualing's body. He didn't worry about the remaining health that hadn't been fully restored; anyway, as long as Hu Gualing punched fast enough, the more reflected damage he got from the Millennium Tree Demon boss, the more health he could recover himself.

Most importantly, Xiao Niao's hypothesis was finally verified! It seemed that the reason every previous Earth Spike could deal critical damage was absolutely because the vines tightly constricted the players, and the interaction between the two forces greatly increased the damage received by the players. This time, he had Hu Gualing give up all resistance and stop moving, and the vines that appeared around Hu Gualing's legs really did not contract or tighten, allowing Hu Gualing to still have some room to move when he was hit by the Earth Spike. This greatly alleviated the force contained within the Earth Spike, bringing the damage received back to a normal level.

"Tang Yao, you can go in!" Xiao Niao said with a happy expression on his face.

...

The Millennium Tree Demon's health dropped steadily.

Although they hadn't found a way to neutralize the boss's combo skill, through Xiao Niao's hypothesis and Hu Gualing's personal experiment, they learned that as long as one gave up all futile resistance when the vines appeared, and preferably didn't move at all, one could reduce the subsequent damage by nearly half. Tang Yao was still a bit unaccustomed to it at first and couldn't help but struggle, but after experiencing it once or twice, she became mentally stronger and, when told not to move, she didn't move.