222: Chapter 222 Protective Shield

Xiao Niao knew that his combat ability was the weakest in the team. Even after obtaining the blue-quality skill 'Recovery Spell', his combat attributes hadn't improved in the slightest. Therefore, from the very beginning of this boss fight, he had the self-awareness to keep his bow and arrows in his backpack, not firing a single shot.

However, at the final moment of the push, they needed to speed up their damage output to prevent the Millennium Tree Demon from pulling any tricks that might lead to an unexpected turn of events. Thus, adhering to the philosophy that 'every little bit helps', Xiao Niao pulled out his bow and fired an arrow at the Millennium Tree Demon. As for aiming at the eyes near the top of the canopy, it was simply because that was the strangest part of the Millennium Tree Demon's entire body. Furthermore, the Millennium Tree Demon had just used those eerie eyes to cast some kind of sorcery on him, causing him to briefly lose control of his character. No, it felt like more than just losing control of his character; it was more like being injected with a large dose of anesthetic, such that even on the level of his Soul and consciousness, he couldn't perceive what had just happened.

This feeling left Xiao Niao both shocked and furious, so he immediately fired a retaliatory arrow at the Millennium Tree Demon's eyes. To his surprise, those eerie eyes really were the Millennium Tree Demon's weak point. Even with his low attack power, he had dealt a massive 21 points of weak-point damage. If it had been Gualing or even Tang Yao... Xiao Niao stopped that thought immediately. Although Gualing and Tang Yao had high attack power, the Millennium Tree Demon's eyes were at the very top of its trunk, more than ten meters off the ground. It was basically impossible for Hu Gualing and Tang Yao to reach them. So, Xiao Niao pushed the thought aside and didn't tell Hu Gualing and Tang Yao that he had discovered the weak point of the Millennium Tree Demon boss, lest they get distracted during the intense fight.

In a flash, Xiao Niao had thought through these points. With a thought, another arrow appeared between his two fingers. This was the convenience of the game; if it were in reality, just drawing and nocking the arrow would take a while. It was nowhere near as convenient or cool as it was in the game.

After landing that arrow, Xiao Niao felt a surge of confidence welling up inside him. Full of confidence, he raised his left wrist and rubbed the two fingers of his right hand that were holding the fletching of the wooden steel-tipped arrow. The wooden steel-tipped arrow was then launched in a Lob Shot, exactly the same as the previous one.

Although even if he successfully killed the Millennium Tree Demon, he might not be able to retrieve the arrow stuck in the trunk over ten meters high, Xiao Niao couldn't bother with such trivial details at this moment. As soon as the second arrow 'whooshed' off the string, he thought, and a third arrow appeared in his hand out of thin air.

Just as Xiao Niao was confidently thinking that after eight consecutive arrows, the Millennium Tree Demon boss would be securely taken down, and that Hu Gualing and Tang Yao would cast looks of respect his way, he saw the fired arrow pause at the highest point of its arc. Then, influenced by gravity, it turned and headed downward toward the Millennium Tree Demon's pair of red eyes. Logically, with such precise Archery, nothing should go wrong. However, the Millennium Tree Demon seemed to have consciousness; its spread-out branches and leaves silently closed together, protecting its trunk. Xiao Niao had used the Lob Shot technique for this arrow. The arrow lost its momentum at the highest point and plunged down, inherently lacking much lethality. It was only because the eyes were the Millennium Tree Demon's weak point that the previous arrow had been able to deal twenty-one points of damage. But now, with the Millennium Tree Demon closing its branches and leaves to protect its weak point, the arrow got stuck in the lush foliage without even touching the Millennium Tree Demon's trunk. Naturally, it failed to deal even the slightest bit of damage to the Millennium Tree Demon.

After looking up and seeing this scene, an undisguised look of disappointment appeared on Xiao Niao's face. However, he quickly regrouped and prepared to aim at the pair of dark red, eerie eyes that the Millennium Tree Demon had hidden behind its lush foliage. Although the branches and leaves were blocking them and a hit wasn't guaranteed, he would surely land a successful hit if he fired several more arrows.

Just as he was thinking this, a pale white ring of light suddenly appeared within Xiao Niao's line of sight as he stared at the Millennium Tree Demon.

The ring of light emitted a faint white glow, somewhat like the sphere of light that surrounded normal-quality loot dropped after killing a monster, but it was much fainter than that. Logically speaking, it wouldn't be easy to notice if one didn't look closely.

However, this pale white ring of light did not just appear on a single part of the Millennium Tree Demon's trunk; instead, it enveloped the entire giant tree—which was as thick as ten people could embrace and over ten meters tall—from top to bottom and front to back. Looking at the Millennium Tree Demon's full appearance from afar, one would find that the entire Millennium Tree Demon was now shrouded in a white shield from head to toe. Although the color was relatively faint and light, such a huge shield appearing before one's eyes was impossible to ignore.

Xiao Niao noticed this suddenly appearing, massive cover, and his mind instantly stalled. 'What is this thing? It looks like a barrier, or some kind of protection shield?' Xiao Niao was immediately unsure, and couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. But the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. He couldn't worry about so much right now, so he immediately released the bowstring using the same technique as the previous two arrows to fire the third arrow. With a 'whoosh', the arrow flew into the air above and then plunged down, passing through the Millennium Tree Demon's lush foliage towards the dark red eyes hidden within the canopy. Suddenly, however, the arrow struck the pale white shield enveloping the Millennium Tree Demon. It was as if it had hit some kind of hard object. After a crisp 'clang', the arrow was deflected and fell limply, getting caught among the Millennium Tree Demon's incredibly lush branches and leaves.

-1. Xiao Niao only saw damage that barely broke through the defense.

'It's over, it really is a protection shield!' With his foreboding confirmed, Xiao Niao looked at Hu Gualing and Tang Yao and discovered that whether it was Hu Gualing's brass knuckles, Tang Yao's longsword, or even the Sharp-toothed Piglet ramming and biting, all attacks were completely blocked by the pale white protection shield surrounding the Millennium Tree Demon. Hu Gualing's fist attacks on the protection shield, just like Xiao Niao's arrows, could only deal -1 damage. The damage caused by Tang Yao's steel longsword slashing at the protection shield was slightly higher, but only slightly; each attack could only deal two to three points of damage... As for the Sharp-toothed Piglet's output, that was even less worth counting on. It was now in a state where it couldn't break through the defense at all, and even the damage numbers weren't appearing.