Chapter 299: Dragging the Goddesses Down with Him
The Paradise Great Serpent, reactivated by Cheng Tian for the second time, was still essentially an excavator. Just like the giant mining engineering vehicle activated by Johnny in the movie "Ghost Rider 2," its special attack effectiveness remained against buildings, minerals, and tower-like structures.
The Demon King Damm, integrated with a large amount of monster flesh, obviously did not fit the above characteristics.
This electromagnetic cannon, with its energy source replaced by holy fire, seemingly only caused comprehensive physical damage to the Demon King, whose attributes were completely opposite, contained within the Great Serpent's mouth. However, the Demon King Damm let out a terrifying wail that almost reached the soul—a situation that had not even occurred when Cheng Tian caused permanent damage to the Root of Evil!
But Cheng Tian, who had always been observing the BOSS's actions, saw that as the electromagnetic cannon continuously fired, more than ten strange things were propelled into the sky by its powerful thrust—
These were the unlucky individuals who had been swallowed whole by the Paradise Great Serpent and were receiving a shield tunneling machine massage in its mouth.
Thanks to the friendly-fire immunity buff, neither the shield tunneling machine nor the electromagnetic cannon could cause them actual damage, but they were subjected to a series of basic physical interferences.
For example, they felt a temperature that was almost at the limit of human endurance, scalding but not burning.
For example, some of their equipment and weapons sustained irreversible damage.
Furthermore, having been thrown to such a high point, they would have to endure the subsequent fall damage... However, because they had seen the 'No Fly Zone' entry before entering the instance, they had inferred that they might face the danger of high-altitude falls, so they all had preparations like parachutes, gliders, and slow-fall spell scrolls.
So Cheng Tian only glanced at them before retracting his gaze, turning instead to something more important—
A black spherical object.
That was the Black Pearl, which, due to the anti-magic field, the Demon King Damm had always been unable to easily retract into his body!
Under the immense impact of the electromagnetic cannon, the Black Pearl finally detached from the main body, and surprisingly, very obvious cracks appeared on it!
It turned out that, as a replica of a divine artifact, the Black Pearl looked like a "pearl," but in reality, it still used Cleria ore, or rather, demonized Cleria ore. Only high-purity Cleria ore had the ability to absorb and store the power of the divine artifact Black Pearl.
It was precisely by virtue of this medium and the suppression of the Root of Evil that Cain was able to resonate with the true Root of Evil using the replica divine artifact.
But this electromagnetic cannon from the Paradise Great Serpent had a "special attack against minerals" property.
The Black Pearl, which the Demon King Damm had always carefully protected, apparently failed to resist the special attack output of the serpent-shaped shield tunneling machine. Along with the cracks on its surface, the hidden display representing "?" on the Demon King Damm's false health bar shattered.
The current remaining health was 14240 / 14240... Huh? What's with this number!?
The health bar, which had been constructed from light in Cheng Tian's vision and had significantly decreased, instantly refilled!
But the problem was, what about the damage caused earlier? How did it disappear out of thin air?
Cheng Tian, who was charging forward, noticed this detail and his brain began to work at high speed.
Firstly, neither the Flying Sword Array of the Blazing Dragon Sword nor the players' focused fire, nor even the Paradise Electromagnetic Cannon of the Paradise Great Serpent, had caused any real damage to it.
Strangely, while its health didn't decrease, its health cap did reduce by a small amount.
Regarding this, Cheng Tian could only associate it with his use of the Ghost Eye to permanently judge and burn away some soul fragments containing the Root of Evil; the two were very likely directly related.
It can be inferred that burning soul fragments indeed causes irreversible reduction in its health cap, and it might even indirectly indicate that the Black Pearl has the effect of masking the true health bar.
But this couldn't explain the main reason why the Demon King Damm and the Black Pearl had simultaneously taken so many attacks earlier yet remained truly undamaged.
Black Pearl... Black Pearl... With an agility cap of 50, he had successfully approached the blown-away Black Pearl. At the same time, the Demon King Damm below, who had taken the Paradise Electromagnetic Cannon head-on and whose body was visibly damaged, was unable to give chase because the Great Serpent's mouth was biting down on its lower half, seemingly watching Cheng Tian's intimate contact with the Black Pearl with impotent fury.
But for some reason, Cheng Tian vaguely sensed that this Demon King, with all its weaknesses exposed, didn't seem as panicked as it appeared.
Cheng Tian raised the Paradise Chain Hammer in his right hand and violently struck the Black Pearl.
A damage value of "-76" popped up above the Demon King's head, but the very next second, a "+76" also appeared simultaneously!
But Cheng Tian's expression remained unchanged. Instead, he directly threw the Blazing Dragon Sword from his other hand at the physically knocked-away Black Pearl.
The complete sword body instantly split into seven sections, whipping the Black Pearl like a lash, striking it hard and making the Black Pearl spin rapidly like an eight-ball struck on a pool table.
However, the damage number that popped up this time was even more incomprehensible.
It was "0"!
No damage was dealt!
Whether it was an illusion or not, Cheng Tian seemed to hear a sneer from the Demon King Damm below, who was wielding the Asura Battle Axe and vigorously striking the body of the Paradise Great Serpent.
Hearing this sound, Cheng Tian was calmer than expected, his mind still rapidly analyzing.
The Demon King Damm was an amalgamation of Cain, Dares, Kishugal, Saba, numerous monsters, and the Black Pearl combined with the Root of Evil.
This also meant that the opponent might have also mixed in the characteristics of these characters.
In an anti-magic state, the only effective characteristics the opponent likely had left were physical ones.
The electromagnetic cannon from the Paradise Great Serpent and the Paradise Chain Hammer attack, which contained high-purity Cleria ore, were clearly effective. This was based on the description that "only weapons and equipment reinforced with Cleria ore can cause effective damage to Dares."
However, the subsequent equal amount of health recovery, rather than being a contradictory effect, was more like two separate effects occurring.
It was at this moment that Cheng Tian keenly noticed that the chain hammer in his hand felt slightly lighter.
It wasn't due to a decrease in strength; rather, the Cleria ore inside it had genuinely decreased!
In an instant, a flash of new-human lightning crossed Cheng Tian's mind—
So that's it. Although that kid Thor in the original work didn't speak human language either, the path he chose was indeed correct!
"Fina, Rhea."
Cheng Tian's sudden remark made the tense twin goddesses look at him in unison, their faces full of confusion.
"Both of you, get ready! It's time to fall with me!"
After saying something that made the twin goddesses even more bewildered, Cheng Tian unhesitatingly looked at the Demon King Damm again, and a strange but familiar magical fluctuation surged forth—
Hundred Demons' Night Parade! Activate!
And then... backlash!
The pure white wings on Cheng Tian's back visibly began to turn pitch black!