225: Chapter 225 Not enough damage, burn again.

Just as Xiao Niao had thought, when Tang Yao was noticed by the Millennium Tree Demon's eerie, condescending gaze earlier, she hadn't realized she was the target of its mental control due to the height and angle. However, the moment Xiao Niao's warning sounded in her ears, she suddenly felt an inexplicable palpitation arise from the bottom of her heart, as if she were being watched by something terrifying. Moreover, this feeling of dangerous terror didn't seem to be aimed merely at her body, but at her mind and spirit as well.

The instant Tang Yao realized the danger of losing control of her mind, she didn't even think; almost subconsciously, she activated her "Sword Heart" skill, entering the "Sword Heart Enlightenment" state where all distracting thoughts were discarded. In an instant, apart from the longsword in her hand and the pale white protective barrier blocking it, there was nothing else in her eyes or mind.

-4.

She sought out a spot on the protective barrier surrounding the Millennium Tree Demon's body that appeared weaker and thrust her sword at it. Although the tip of her sword still struck a hard object and could not advance, the damage dealt this time was already slightly higher than it had been before she activated the "Sword Heart Enlightenment" state.

Xiao Niao watched all of this, feeling secretly encouraged. "Yes, that's it! Although the damage hasn't increased by much, at least she wasn't controlled by the Millennium Tree Demon and rendered unable to attack. If she keeps outputting damage like this, she can barely suppress the Millennium Tree Demon's health regeneration!"

"It's just… the damage output is still not enough."

Xiao Niao had read the skill description for Tang Yao's "Sword Heart" skill and knew that once activated, it would continuously consume spirit—spirit being roughly a type of energy similar to mana. In any case, the duration for which Tang Yao could keep this skill active wouldn't be very long. This meant she couldn't maintain this state indefinitely, whereas the Millennium Tree Demon's skills could be cast continuously. Even if Tang Yao wasn't affected for the moment, it didn't mean it wouldn't turn to control Hu Gualing or the Sharp-toothed Piglet instead!

Furthermore, the Millennium Tree Demon didn't only know the mental control skill; it also had "Vine Entanglement" combined with "Earth Spike Technique"! If these skills hit Tang Yao, while they wouldn't kill her instantly, Xiao Niao remembered that when Tang Yao was in the "Sword Heart Enlightenment" state, she couldn't seem to take heavy damage, or she would be forced out of the "Sword Heart Enlightenment" state. At that point, there would be absolutely no way to deal with this Millennium Tree Demon!

Just as he was thinking this, Xiao Niao saw that after the Millennium Tree Demon's mental control skill failed to have an effect on Tang Yao, a trace of human-like confusion seemed to flash deep within its eerie, dark red eyes. It vanished immediately, leaving Xiao Niao wondering if it had just been his imagination. Then, without any warning, a cage woven from green vines appeared on the field. Xiao Niao was truly startled, but upon closer inspection, the one wrapped inside the vines was actually Hu Gualing. His hanging heart finally settled a little; at least this attack from the Millennium Tree Demon boss wasn't aimed at Tang Yao, which was good...

As for Hu Gualing, who had become the target of the Millennium Tree Demon boss's attack, he was already sufficiently practiced in dealing with this boss's combo skill. It was just standing still and surrendering, wasn't it? The moment his lower body was wrapped in vines, he immediately gave up all resistance, letting the solid soil beneath his feet turn into fine sand, from which a hard and powerful Earth Spike emerged to strike him heavily. -33; a barely acceptable damage number floated up from above Hu Gualing's head. Accompanied by the feeling of pain, his health bar dropped by nearly a quarter.

However, with the protective barrier blocking the Millennium Tree Demon's body, his fists couldn't reach the Millennium Tree Demon's bark. He couldn't take the Millennium Tree Demon's reflected damage, and therefore couldn't trigger the trait on the "pants of the vibrant white boar" he was wearing, which had a certain probability of healing health upon taking damage. On top of that, Xiao Niao didn't have much mana left to heal him, so these thirty-plus health points were truly lost, and there was no way to recover them in the short term.

-6.

With Hu Gualing tanking the boss's firepower, Tang Yao, in the "Sword Heart Enlightenment" state, swung her longsword single-mindedly to thrust at the pale white protective light barrier around the Millennium Tree Demon boss's body. The damage value dealt was 2 points higher than the previous attack; it seemed that the effect of using swordsmanship while in a focused state had improved.

Xiao Niao saw this and felt joyful in his heart, because with this sword thrust from Tang Yao, the Millennium Tree Demon boss's health bar finally stopped fluctuating and stagnating, and finally dropped a little bit. Although this little bit was very small, it at least indicated that the current damage output was greater than the boss's health regeneration, and theoretically, there was now hope of defeating the boss!

"But it's still not enough…" After a brief moment of joy, Xiao Niao had to face reality. He knew that Tang Yao's current state couldn't be maintained for long, and this amount of damage, even if it increased a bit more, was still far from enough for the Millennium Tree Demon boss's current health. Unless… Tang Yao could hit the boss with another "Burning" state!

However, Xiao Niao also knew that the "scorching sharp longsword" in Tang Yao's hand was indeed marked with a "Scorching" trait, which had a small probability of triggering after an attack. According to Xiao Niao's conservative initial estimate, this "small probability" was likely under one percent. Otherwise, Tang Yao wouldn't have slashed one or two hundred times throughout the day only to trigger the "Burning" effect once. Wanting to trigger it again within a short time… was difficult.

Xiao Niao's mood at this moment was very complex. On one hand, he certainly hoped more than anything that Tang Yao's next sword strike would produce a special effect so the Millennium Tree Demon could truly witness the power of a lucky player. On the other hand, he had concluded from the data that the probability of Tang Yao dealing a special effect was simply too low; it was almost an impossible occurrence.

...

"Puff!"

A faint, inconspicuous sound suddenly rang out.

Xiao Niao suddenly widened his eyes, staring at the longsword in Tang Yao's hand with an expression of disbelief.

He saw that the longsword in Tang Yao's hand had, at some unknown moment, once again silently plunged into the protective barrier surrounding the Millennium Tree Demon. The tip of the sword scraped across the hard, cracked bark, and with a "puff" sound, friction ignited a flame, and a "-10" damage number with a flame special effect jumped out from the side.

"It actually triggered again!"

An expression of immense surprise appeared on Xiao Niao's face. He hadn't expected that the "Burning" effect, which he had calculated to have a trigger probability of less than one percent, had actually been dealt by Tang Yao again. Was Tang Yao's luck just too good? Or did her Sword Heart skill also have a probability-boosting effect?

These two thoughts flashed through Xiao Niao's mind, but now was not the time to think about such trivialities. Subconsciously, he glanced at the top of the Millennium Tree Demon's head. "87." The Millennium Tree Demon's current health was 87, and the "Burning" effect on it could last for 10 seconds, Burning away 10 health points per second. Subtracting the 1 second that had already passed, there were still 9 seconds remaining, totaling 90 points of Burning damage! Furthermore, the "Burning" state could suppress the Millennium Tree Demon's health regeneration effect, which meant that as long as the "Burning" state lasted until the final second, it would be the moment of this Millennium Tree Demon's death!