The Tentacles of the Strange Salamander

Twenty minutes later, the countdown ended. Liu Xuan immediately spoke with Finch, beginning the final battle of the second stage.

A brawny man stepped out from among the workers and walked over to Finch.

“Captain, shall we begin?”

Finch nodded, then sighed. “Do it.”

He then called over his soldiers and followed the brawny man to the center of the site. He also instructed Liu Xuan to wait by the riverbank.

“Once work starts here, the monster will appear very soon. Be ready.”

Liu Xuan did as he was told and went to the riverbank.

Bell came along as well, but crouched down some distance away from Liu Xuan.

Liu Xuan had been about to tell him to stand farther away when things at the center of the site began.

The brawny man carried a large white stone over and placed it on the ground. Then he raised a heavy hammer and brought it down.

Bang!

After striking it once, he cautiously glanced toward the river.

Then he struck it again and stole another look.

After several such blows, the stone finally split in two.

The once-calm Orchid River gradually grew turbulent. Mud and sand from the riverbed were churned up, turning the entire river murky.

The brawny man stopped in terror, forcing Finch to shout at him, “Keep going! We have to lure the monster out!”

The brawny man swallowed hard. His hands trembling, he raised the hammer and brought it down again.

Bang!

That strike seemed to completely anger whatever was lurking beneath the river. A wave suddenly surged upward, rising nearly as high as a person, and water began spilling over the riverbank.

The brawny man gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and furiously hammered the stone several more times.

A deep roar suddenly came from beneath the river. The sound was low and muffled, sending chills through everyone who heard it.

The brawny man’s hand shook so badly that he dropped the hammer.

The soldiers beside him hurriedly grabbed his arm and pulled him backward.

Finch shouted toward Liu Xuan, “Warrior, we’re counting on you!”

As for Bell, Finch had already completely forgotten about him.

At that moment, as a huge wave came crashing in, a tentacle rose from beneath the river’s surface.

The tentacle was almost completely transparent and more than ten meters long.

After emerging from the water, it paused for a moment, as though searching for a target. Then it suddenly swept toward the center of the site.

Perhaps enraged that someone had disturbed its peace, it wrapped itself around the broken stone and squeezed hard. The stone instantly crumbled into dust.

Fortunately, the brawny man who had been smashing the stone had run quickly. Otherwise, that blow would have killed him.

Liu Xuan, however, was startled. By some terrible coincidence, the tentacle had landed right beside Bell.

The hotheaded idiot was so frightened that he dropped his sword. But he immediately picked it back up and charged forward, shouting,

“Die!”

He slashed at the tentacle. Liu Xuan watched as its health bar instantly dropped by... 1 point.

The next moment, Bell was slapped away. His entire body spun twice through the air before crashing heavily to the ground, his health bar instantly dropping to zero.

“...”

If Liu Xuan had not possessed the Insightful Eye and seen that Bell still had 3 HP remaining, he would have thought Bell had been killed outright.

Liu Xuan shook his head. As he hurried toward the tentacle, he examined its attributes:

[Monster Salamander’s Left Tentacle (Special)]

Level: 10

Health: 9,999/10,000

Tenacity: 100% (Special monster; immune to the effects of control skills)

Skills: [Smash] Deals 300–700 physical damage to the target and those around it.

[Adaptive Camouflage] After receiving physical or magical damage, the next instance of damage of the same type is reduced by 50%. This effect can only maintain one layer. After receiving damage of the other type, it immediately changes to that type.

Seeing its attributes, Liu Xuan couldn’t help twitching at the corner of his mouth.

The damage dealt by [Smash] fluctuated randomly, with a maximum of 700!

Bell only had 600 HP, yet he had somehow survived with 3 HP left. That really was an impressive stroke of luck.

Then there was the [Adaptive Camouflage] skill. It was downright disgusting.

Every time it took damage, the next instance of damage of the same type would be reduced by 50%.

For example, Bell had just dealt physical damage with his sword. The next physical attack against the tentacle would therefore deal only half damage.

However, if the next attack dealt magical damage, it would deal full damage, while the tentacle’s damage reduction would switch to magic and reduce the next magical attack by 50%.

Then, if another physical attack followed, it would deal full damage again.

Liu Xuan roughly calculated that if a large group of people attacked it, throwing out all kinds of skills with physical and magical damage making up roughly half each, the average damage reduction would be around 25%.

But if the damage type was relatively uniform—physical damage only, for instance—the damage reduction from [Adaptive Camouflage] would approach 50%.

It really was an obnoxious ability, especially for someone fighting alone like him.

By then, Liu Xuan had already reached the tentacle.

Fortunately, most of the creature’s body was underwater, and it seemed unable to leave the river. As a result, its aggro system differed from that of ordinary monsters: it could only attack the nearest person.

The moment Liu Xuan approached, the tentacle slammed down at him.

-634!

A huge number appeared, and Liu Xuan’s expression immediately darkened.

His armor was currently as high as 65 points. If the tentacle’s attack had dealt 634 damage, didn’t that mean the original damage had been 699?

Was he really that unlucky?

The tentacle then took magical damage from [Nightmare Incarnation], which replaced the physical damage reduction it had gained from Bell’s attack.

Unfortunately, the monster’s Tenacity was maxed out, so it was completely unaffected by [Fear].

It immediately slapped Liu Xuan again.

-615!

Liu Xuan: “......”

It was better than the last hit, but not by much.

Fortunately, he had plenty of health.

At that moment, the poison damage from [Source of Plague] also triggered. Since it dealt physical damage and came after the magical damage from [Fear], it dealt full damage.

-2,500!

The second poison tick, however, was only half as strong.

-1,250!

The tentacle originally had 10,000 HP, meaning four poison ticks would have been enough to kill it. Now, it would take seven.

It was a pity that [Fear] could only trigger once on the same target within thirty seconds. Otherwise, he could have alternated between magical and physical damage and kept cycling the effect.

But that was only wishful thinking. He wasn’t the only one who could use [Fear]. At present, nobody had the Tenacity attribute. If everyone could repeatedly be affected by [Fear], then the game would be completely unplayable.

From a balance perspective, the restriction made sense.

After seven poison ticks, Liu Xuan had taken five blows from the tentacle and lost nearly 2,500 HP.

Fortunately, with [Troll’s Blood], he had already regenerated more than 2,000 HP in that short time.

To be safe, he drank a Minor Healing Potion, and his health began climbing rapidly.

The Monster Salamander’s Left Tentacle dropped nothing when it died—not even experience.

Furthermore, the commotion when its health reached zero didn’t resemble death at all. It merely withdrew slowly back into the river.

Liu Xuan wasn’t surprised. Judging by its name, there was probably a right tentacle as well. The main body might even emerge afterward.

This was a multi-phase boss.

Sure enough, just as the left tentacle disappeared beneath the surface, the river began churning violently on the other side.

As a huge wave came crashing in, another transparent tentacle emerged.

[Monster Salamander’s Right Tentacle (Special)]

Level: 10

Health: 10,000/10,000

Tenacity: 100% (Special monster; immune to the effects of crowd-control skills)

Skills: [Slam] Deals 300–700 physical damage to the target and anyone nearby.

[Constriction] Envelops all enemies within an area, dealing 100 true damage per second and continuously stunning them until the monster’s health is reduced by 1,000 points.

[Protective Coloration] After taking physical or magical damage, damage of the same type taken next is reduced by 50%. This effect can only have one stack and immediately changes when damage of the other type is received.