Chapter 469: Breakthrough!

Xia Nan did not know the specific challenge rating of this Shashou monster in front of him.

But undoubtedly, this should be the most powerful enemy he had encountered recently, second only to the adult Red Dragon banished by the mage Weirouer.

After only a few rounds of confrontation, his keen perception ability made him clearly feel the opponent's exaggerated physical strength that seemed to be able to crush steel.

The "Deflection Field" that could crush the 【Deathline】 ring was enough to prove that the surging force when it attacked was not something that the physical defense ability of their level could withstand.

So he, who noticed this point during the brief confrontation just now, also temporarily adjusted his combat strategy, changing to using his mobility to entangle and pull, avoiding head-on combat with the opponent as much as possible.

In this level of combat, perhaps low-level enchanted equipment like the 【Deathline】 ring was gradually unable to keep up, but with the technique grade of 【Tooth Hunt】, combined with his outstanding physical constitution, it could still be used as the core of his combat, at least it could be considered barely able to have a back-and-forth.

And in the end, he did indeed complete his purpose, buying enough time for his teammates who were in a state of mental control.

Right now, as Haian, Luo Lin, and others joined the battlefield one by one, the huge pressure that had been on Xia Nan's shoulders alone was shared, allowing him to return to his comfort zone and wander on the edge of the battlefield as a free agent.

Of course, he wasn't just watching.

He didn't know if it was because of his personality in his bones, or a habit formed after his combat style gradually took shape.

When Xia Nan was fighting in a team, he preferred to wander on the edge of the field and expand his vision to the entire battlefield.

It was as if he were truly a Winter Wolf in a hunting state, pacing quietly in the shadows, carefully observing the prey surrounded by teammates in the middle, looking for its weaknesses, and at the same time, when teammates encountered danger, he could also use his mobility to provide support.

Right now, although the time was short, this Shashou with a huge body did not expose too much, but Xia Nan found the breakthrough point he considered:

—the pale human body fused into the opponent's body.

He didn't know how the two combined in this deformed and twisted way, and he didn't know where they came from.

But starting from the actual combat aspect, this alien creation fused by two kinds of creatures perfectly complemented each other's weaknesses.

The huge body of the Shashou served as the main body, and the terrifying physical constitution that was strong and powerful constituted the foundation of everything; and the spell-like ability of that human body made this monster obtain a crowd-control type of ranged attack means.

To put it bluntly, just for that nearly five seconds of mental control time, if there were no "super-model monster" like Xia Nan in the team who possessed a special resistance feat to buy time for everyone to break free from control.

With just one charge from the Shashou, the *Blade of Vengeance* squad would likely have suffered heavy casualties.

Even, the existence of this human body further improved the fault tolerance rate of the Shashou during combat.

That kind of invisible shock wave sweeping toward the surroundings directly avoided the possibility of a serious injury for its main body.

... Must solve the human body fused on the opponent first!

As thoughts flowed, Xia Nan had already made a decision in his heart.

And faster than his thoughts were his body movements.

Even at the moment he decided on the next combat strategy, Xia Nan's body had already rushed halfway in the sound of the wolf howl.

It was not reckless, but as a free agent positioned in the team, he instinctively sensed the time when he needed to act.

Vroom-boom—

The shock wave emitted by the silent scream of the human body hit Luo Lin, Sawa, and the Barbarian Aken around the Shashou's body.

The Shashou stumbled a few steps because of the mud puddle it stepped on, taking the opportunity to control its body's center of gravity.

And at this time, the few people who were hit by the shock wave had just landed.

Their performances were different.

Luo Lin had the highest professional level, and her average physical constitution was also the most comprehensive among the three; although she looked a bit embarrassed, she still barely adjusted her body's center of gravity in the air, and her two pointed leather boots sank deeply into the mud;

The Tabaxi Sawa had a light posture; although her low defense ability made her eyes dazed for an instant after being hit in the face by the shock wave, the wild bloodline from within still made her like a flexible big cat, twisting her waist and abdomen in the air while her furry long tail swayed, and her four feet landed nimbly.

Under the impact, it was the Barbarian Aken, who looked the strongest, who performed exceptionally poorly.

He was already in the stiff period after the powerful jump slash, and had just pulled his anchor-shaped giant axe out of the mud, his strength scattered.

He couldn't react at all under the impact, and fell to the ground in a posture of facing the sky.

To this, the Shashou was clearly not low in intelligence, and in an instant, it chose the target most likely to cause actual attrition among the three around it.

Just after stabilizing its body balance, it rushed toward the Barbarian like a small mountain, wrapped in fishy-smelling strong wind.

The first to arrive on the battlefield before Xia Nan was a beam of greenish magic radiance.

—2nd Circle·Transmutation·Thorn Overgrowth

As the core of the entire squad, Haian might not be able to become a "spell turret" with powerful destructive power like many high-level spellcasters, or release powerful spells through long chanting preparation to achieve a final decision, because of her 【Druid】 profession and lv3 professional level.

But even facing this kind of sudden encounter battle that was not prepared in advance during the mission, she could still exert the convenience brought by her spellcasting attribute and provide enough support for her teammates as a core crowd controller.

Vroom—

The greenish radiance fell onto the mud.

Unlike the 1st Circle "Entangle" before, the plants growing from below changed from the original water grass vines to more tenacious and difficult thorns with barbs.

Even the range of the spell's effect was clearly expanded, from a small area only under the enemy's feet to the entire clearing between the Shashou and the Barbarian.

Knowing that the sharpness of the thorn barbs was not enough to cause any damage to the thick and tough shark skin on the Shashou's body, and that swarming up would also be quickly broken free.

Haian very experiencedly chose to trade "quantity" for "quality," by arranging thorns as much as possible on the enemy's path to play the effect of slowing down its speed.

Very effective!

The huge Shashou entangled by thorns was like walking in a dense forest shrub, and a large number of tenacious thorns climbed up with every step it took.

Perhaps its own excellent physical constitution made these thorns torn apart just after they were entangled, but after accumulating step by step, it also made the Shashou's speed gradually slow down.

It bought time for the Barbarian Aken, who was struggling to get up on the ground ahead, and for Xia Nan, who came to support from the side.

Awoooo—

The familiar long wolf howl came abruptly from the direction of the back of the head.

The anger that had just been suppressed in his heart rose again, and the Shashou actually stopped its steps under the entanglement of thorns, twisted its body, and slapped its right arm toward the back, tearing the air.

He could vaguely feel a pain coming from his spine; clearly, another wound was cut by the blade.

But he didn't feel any real sense of hitting an object on the swinging arm.

Retreat after one hit!

In order to ensure his speed and flexibility to the greatest extent, Xia Nan didn't even use 【Gravity Etching】, which could cause a lot of damage, and launched an attack on the enemy purely in the form of harassment.

Making the Shashou's pouncing action stop and slow down accordingly.

It also allowed the Barbarian Aken, who was hit by the shock wave and fell to the ground, to finally take this opportunity to climb up.

"Attack the human body on it!"

Wrapped in pitch-black energy, Xia Nan retreated rapidly while dodging the Shashou's pursuit, and reminded the group.

In fact, after this encounter, Luo Lin and others with rich combat experience further realized the danger of the human body's existence and quietly shifted the target of the attack to the human body fused on the Shashou's torso.

"Sizzle-la-la!"

Replacing Xia Nan was the dazzling firelight that rose abruptly from the side of the Shashou. ===== CHAPTER 470 =====