NOVEL NEXT Chapter 183: Mutual Destruction
Round, but not an eye worm, its size is about the same as a hot air balloon.
Lin Jun easily guessed what it was, it's that Evil Eye from last time!
Lin Jun looked at the team, the so-called six hundred Puki army, in reality, nearly a hundred of them were Cow and Horse Puki.
After all, the goal isn't to kill the enemy, but to transport their bodies back for disassembly.
Now with less than five hundred Puki, going against a Level 50 monster... can we win?
Lin Jun actually thought they could fight.
The Eye Worm is so fragile, the Evil Eye with the same eyeball appearance probably isn't known for its blood volume, right?
And this time, Lin Jun's Puki were of various kinds.
There were rolling explosions, flying explosions, Mushroom Cannon, and even variants of Mushroom Cannon that could spray Digestive Mucus.
Even if the Evil Eye's ray attack could wipe out a row of Puki in one shot, there should still be enough time for the Puki to output damage.
It didn't take long for the Puki, the Evil Eye, although it floated, moved not slowly at all and soon entered the cavern.
As soon as it entered the Magic Perception range, Lin Jun pulled up its panel.
[Level: Level 50]
Indeed, it's the one from last time.
[Blood Volume: 1480]
For something so large, it only has this much blood volume, indeed a fragile monster.
Once the Evil Eye entered the cavern, the Puki rushed over, spreading out.
Based on last time's experience, the Evil Eye had a range far beyond the Puki, so this time it was the Puki's turn to charge.
The ones leading were still Bat Puki and Rolling Puki.
The Evil Eye stopped from a distance, facing the surging Puki army, its huge pupil suddenly expanded to the limit.
[Petrification Beam Level 8]
The Bat Puki and Rolling Puki closest to it were affected by the petrification, gray-white stone spots immediately appeared on their surfaces.
Although the speed of petrification wasn't as swift as with the reconnaissance Puki last time, even in a high-speed sprint, even partial body stiffening was enough to completely throw the Puki out of balance.
In an instant, the out-of-control Puki either crashed violently into jagged rock walls, shattering into pieces; or, during tumbling friction, tore their bodies apart, collapsing to the ground—a self-destruct unit was entirely wiped out by a single strike from the Evil Eye!
In contrast, the Mushroom Cannon units that hadn't gotten close enough were not affected by the petrification at all.
It seems that this method of large-area attack also weakens the power and range of the petrification.
However, Lin Jun dared not let the Puki move closer.
Since there's a medium-range area attack, then the Puki's numbers don't offer an advantage; sacrificing hit rate is better, trying ultra-long-range attacks instead.
Lin Jun ordered the Puki to attack on the spot.
At a distance of nearly five hundred meters, even with Precision enhancement and the target being the huge Evil Eye, the Puki's hit rate was still dismal.
Lin Jun couldn't determine precisely the range of the Evil Eye's area attack, only ordering the troops to continue firing, doing their best to deplete it, any blood deducted was worth it.
Yet...
A few lucky shells finally crossed the distance, just about to hit the Evil Eye's enormous body, but in the moment of contact, they were effortlessly blocked by an invisible Magic Shield, causing only a few faint ripples before dissipating without a trace.
The Evil Eye took no damage.
Lin Jun had to carefully re-study its skill bar.
[Skills: Petrification Beam Level 8, Magic Shield Level 8, Cold Resistance Level 8, Magic Perception Level 7...]
Magic Shield?
The enormous body of the Evil Eye had drifted into the three hundred meters range, and more Mushroom Cannons began hitting it!
However, aside from causing circles of futile magic ripples in front of it, there was truly no damage at all!
The Mushroom Cannon was ineffective, Lin Jun still wanted to test if Digestive Mucus could cause damage, but this attack required a closer range, and the Evil Eye had already unleashed another [Petrification Beam]...
Under the pale light, Puki were transformed into stone en masse, along with Chis's dozen or so Clumsy Worms—it seemed this area attack couldn't tell friend from foe, just like Lin Jun's [Infrasound Attack].
Soon, the cavern was inexplicably filled with hundreds of stone pillars of various postures, silent and dead.
The troops Lin Jun sent for sneaky attacks...
were not entirely wiped out!
Three Bat Puki escaped calamity.
Some hid behind rocks, others behind other Puki.
[Petrification Beam] clearly couldn't cause penetrating damage.
And when the Evil Eye believed itself to have accomplished its task and ceased its attack, three shadows shot out like arrows from their hiding spots!
[Wake Jet]
One lost control, crashing directly to the ground and self-destructing.
But the other two flew over.
In a panic, the Evil Eye only had time for one glare, using a single attack to petrify a Puki mid-air, but the last Bat Puki managed to reach it.
The Evil Eye tried to attack this Puki with the floating tentacles beside its eye, but the Puki self-destructed in advance.
The ripples of the Magic Shield surged wildly, yet it was not as adept at repelling a [Mushroom Cannon].
Just like a firecracker exploding by the eye, the Evil Eye was nearly blasted right out of the sky, the light in its pupil dimmed significantly.
Though it only lost less than one-sixth of its life, the Evil Eye dared not advance further, hurriedly turning its massive body, fleeing back through the deep passage it came from, at a speed even faster than before, quickly disappearing beyond Lin Jun's reconnaissance range.
...
...
...
A mutual setback!
Chis's "transport team" was wiped out, and Lin Jun's sneaky attack team was too.
However, the information gained was quite plentiful.
Lin Jun now roughly understood the Evil Eye's attack patterns, whereas its [Magic Shield] seemed extremely effective against magic-related attacks, its effect was noticeably reduced against physical attacks, though not entirely ineffective.
With this, next time Lin Jun could formulate some targeted tactics...
Still, these were not the main points.
In fact, this was Lin Jun's first encounter with an enemy capable of large-scale elimination of cannon fodder Puki.
Even Shi Wu could only crush entities within a ten-meter range, whereas this time, the Evil Eye's area attack had a radius of nearly three hundred meters, showcasing that Lin Jun's sea of Puki tactics... was rendered ineffective!
Upon consideration, Lin Jun decided to raise the basic qualities of the Puki, making some specializations...
First, targeting the Evil Eye, Lin Jun needed some Puki that could stand at the front to block its sight.
Lin Jun thought of Fat Otaku Puki, their large size was suitable as cover for other Puki.
But being large with high Constitution wasn't enough, the Power Attribute also needed appropriate enhancements, otherwise Fat Otaku Puki would move too slowly.
Additionally, to resist petrification, Lin Jun intended to add [Rock Eating] or [Chitin Shell] to them.
The former could form a thick Rock Armor on the body, surely the Petrification Beam couldn't petrify Rock Armor!
As for [Chitin Shell], Lin Jun wasn't sure if it could withstand petrification, but the shell was obviously much lighter than Rock Armor, saving a lot of Attributes.
Simultaneously, Lin Jun applied the previously seldom-used [Magic Resistance Level 6] to them, believing that this kind of petrification should classify as a magical attack.
Finally, the human-contributed [Heavy Armor Mastery Level 5], this skill could enhance defensive effects while reducing the impact of heavy armor on mobility, an essential for tanks.
On this basis, Lin Jun also planned to create several variants, adding Mushroom Cannon, Hallucinogenic Spores, Self-Destruction, etc.