104: Chapter 104 The Ferocious Stone Tyrant

The cracks on the eastern defensive wall spread across the stone like a spiderweb, with gravel rustling down from the fissures and hitting the ground with a muffled, dull thud.

The faint blue shimmer of runes struggled to flicker amidst the shattered stone bricks, like the final fingers of a drowning person breaking the surface, clawing in vain at the boundary between light and darkness.

The aftershocks of Chief Shi Ba's punch had not yet dissipated; dust and stone powder hung suspended in the air, slowly swirling in the morning light like a frozen blizzard.

Wang Sheng leaped down from the top of the wall.

His Holy Light Battle Armor gleamed with golden light as he fell, looking as if the sun itself were plummeting from the sky.

His feet landed on the shattered stone bricks, and the Power of Holy Light poured into the ground from his soles. The gravel beneath his feet ground into powder under the impact, just like parched soil shattered by a hammer.

Peering through the dust and smoke, his eyes locked onto Chief Shi Ba.

Chief Shi Ba, a Warrior Rank 6, stood just outside the breach. His grayish-brown stone skin appeared as hard as rock in the morning light.

His turbid, earthy-yellow eyes were filled with greed and murderous intent, like two pieces of topaz soaked in muddy water—devoid of luster, harboring only naked desire.

He stood two heads taller than Wang Sheng, his muscles piled up like boulders, and spiritual energy surged beneath his grayish-brown stone skin like lava flowing under the surface.

The Brute Force Warrior passive skill [Rock Body] hardened his entire skin like stone, as if he were wearing a natural armor.

Behind him, the forty Blackrock Barbarians resembled a grayish-brown torrent of rock, forming a primitive siege formation in the morning light. The blades of their stone axes and bone spears glinted coldly in the dust.

"Chief Shi Ba," Wang Sheng's voice was like forged iron—cold, steady, without a single trace of trembling.

Standing on the shattered stone bricks, the golden holy light gathered on his fists like a condensing sun. The ice-blue frost flower circuits silently operated within the lining of his Holy Light Battle Armor, pushing spiritual energy conduction efficiency to its absolute limit.

"I will deal with your Beast Tide. But first... I'm beating you out of here."

"Hahaha! Warrior Rank 4? No... I heard you broke through to Rank 5?"

Chief Shi Ba's laughter boomed through the drifting smoke like muffled thunder, each guffaw causing the gravel to vibrate and jump slightly.

He looked down at Wang Sheng as if staring at an overconfident ant. His mouth curled into a grin, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth with bits of meat seemingly still stuck between them.

"So what if you're Rank 5? I am a Warrior Rank 6, a Brute Force Warrior, born with divine strength."

He slowly clenched his fists as spiritual energy surged like lava beneath his grayish-brown stone skin. The Brute Force Warrior's passive skill, [Rock Body], was fully activated.

His entire skin hardened like rock, his grayish-brown stone skin gleaming with a metallic chill in the morning light, as if he himself were a living, breathing mountain of stone.

"Come, let me see... just how bright your light is."

Wang Sheng did not reply. He moved.

The golden holy light on his fists resembled a compressed sun.

His figure shot forward like a bolt of golden lightning, passing through the dust, the gravel, and the struggling, flickering remnants of the runes in the cracks, charging straight for Chief Shi Ba's face.

Holy Light Slash, First Stage: A golden arc of light slashed from his fist like a golden crescent moon, dragging an afterimage through the morning light as it sliced toward Chief Shi Ba's stone-skinned arm.

*Bang!*

Chief Shi Ba took the Holy Light Slash head-on with his forearm.

The golden arc struck the grayish-brown stone skin like metal clashing against rock. Sparks flew, and a searing heat spread across the stone surface.

A crack spread outward from the point of impact, resembling a riverbed cracking under a blazing sun during a drought.

But it did not cut through. The defense of a Warrior Rank 6 was not something a regular attack from a Warrior Rank 5 could easily breach.

The stone skin was like the sturdiest layer of rock; the crack went barely half an inch deep before being forcefully halted by the Brute Force Warrior's monstrous constitution.

"Is that all?" Chief Shi Ba sneered, his turbid, earthy-yellow eyes filled with contempt, like a hunter sizing up a cub that could do nothing but bare its teeth.

His other fist shot out like a battering ram, aiming straight at Wang Sheng's face. The moment Chief Shi Ba punched, his brute force felt like a collapsing mountain, the gale kicked up by his fist tearing through the dust like a curtain.

Wang Sheng dodged to the side.

The gale from the punch brushed past his shoulder, the sheer force of the air pressure cracking the shoulder guard of his Holy Light Battle Armor.

The ice-blue frost flower circuits flickered within the cracks, like frost struggling under a blazing sun.

Using the momentum of his dodge, he spun around. Holy Light Slash, Second Stage: Two golden arcs of light slashed out in a cross, like two golden scimitars slicing toward Chief Shi Ba's waist.

Chief Shi Ba blocked with his left arm. The golden arcs struck the stone skin, deepening the cracks and sending shards of grayish-brown stone skin flying like shrapnel, yet they still failed to cut through.

The Brute Force Warrior's stone skin was like the most stubborn rock layer; the deeper the cut, the stronger its resistance became.

"A Brute Force Warrior's punches grow heavier with every strike."

Chief Shi Ba gave Wang Sheng no time to breathe. He took a step forward, making the earth tremble as the gravel beneath his feet ground into powder.

He unleashed three consecutive punches, each heavier than the last. The Brute Force Warrior's passive skill [Charging Fist] allowed each punch to stack brute force on top of the previous one, like mountains piling up layer by layer.

With the first punch, Wang Sheng blocked with his Shield of Light. Upon impact, the shield looked like golden glass, covered in cracks but not breaking.

With the second punch, the cracks on the Shield of Light spread like a spiderweb under the impact of the brute force, sending golden shards flying like sparking stardust.

With the third punch, the shield shattered. The golden fragments rained down like a golden shower, resembling a fleeting meteor shower in the morning light.

Wang Sheng was pushed back three steps by the brute force, leaving deep footprints in the gravel with each step, as if being pushed back by the heavy palms of a giant.

"Last time at the market, you shattered a stone," Chief Shi Ba sneered as he closed in.

Every step he took made the gravel beneath him tremble, as if each step of a Brute Force Warrior was a miniature earthquake.

His mouth curled open, his yellow teeth glinting coldly in the dust. "But stones don't fight back. I... do."

He charged his power.

The Brute Force Warrior's charging skill [Mountain Fist] gathered in his fists, his grayish-brown stone skin surging like lava.

The entire brute force of a Warrior Rank 6 was poured into it, as if compressing a mountain into a space the size of a fist.

As he charged, his fists resembled two grayish-brown suns, the light of the surging brute force spilling out like lava overflowing from a volcanic crater—scorching, heavy, and unstoppable.

"Die!"

At the critical moment, Wang Sheng activated the second stage of his Holy Light Slash once again.

Two golden arcs of light slashed out in a cross, like two golden scimitars slicing toward Chief Shi Ba's right arm, deflecting the brute force of the Mountain Fist.

The fist, like a runaway horse suddenly yanked by its reins, veered away from Wang Sheng's face and slammed into the ground beside him.

*Boom!*

The deflected fist smashed into the gravel ground. The earth cracked, and shattered stones erupted like a barrage of shrapnel, as if someone had detonated a bomb of pure brute force on the ground.

Cracks spread outward from the fist print like a spiderweb unfolding across the earth, and dust billowed up like a mushroom cloud.

Wang Sheng used the split-second deflection to retreat three steps, several more cracks appearing on his Holy Light Battle Armor.

The ice-blue frost flower circuits in the lining were like frost flowers on the verge of extinguishing, flickering with their final light within the cracks.

Yet, the Frost Spiritual Circuit continued to operate automatically, dispersing the impact like flowing water to every inch of the armor.

Consequently, the actual damage Wang Sheng sustained was reduced to less than one-tenth.

"This is... Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's frost circuit."