Chapter 165: The Holy Knight

Until Zhou Yi entered the next stage.

The mentors on the ritual platform were still discussing Zhou Yi's recent one-shot kill.

Speculating why his fire damage was so high.

Among them, the elemental college's teaching mentors debated the most intensely.

Some guessed he'd consumed a special damage-boosting potion; others speculated his Intellect stat was exceptionally high...

Some even argued among themselves.

Of course, as a top-tier university, Suzhou-Hangzhou University.

Its academic atmosphere was excellent; academic disputes were inevitable, and no one grew angry or hostile because of them.

The elemental college's instructors were engaged in heated discussion.

Meanwhile, the melee instructors stood dumbfounded.

What's going on? Isn't Zhou Yi the one who excels at close combat and fighting?

The massive battle axe on his back was one of the very reasons they admired him.

After all, students who still used giant weapons were extremely rare!!

Most used battle swords or longswords.

Yet now, the Zhou Yi they admired hadn't even drawn his weapon—just cast a few skills—and cleared the first stage of the Abyss-level dungeon!

Is this really the same Zhou Yi who loved using close combat techniques with "900" in the college entrance exam dungeon, and whose style was brutally sharp?

"These Xiong Guai are too weak—Zhou Yi hadn't even had time to follow up with more damage before they were instantly killed.

Yeah, that must be it."

A muscular mentor spoke with absolute certainty.

Holy Cross was indeed not a powerful offensive skill.

It relied on prolonged burning for sustained damage.

Usually, Paladins who invested in Holy Cross.

Even when using it to kill monsters, they had to wear down the enemy's HP over time.

Of course, that applied to ordinary Paladins...

Under the effect of Zhou Yi's S+ talent, Divine Angel's Protection, the flames from Holy Cross had already gained considerable output.

And before using Holy Cross, he had activated the divine skill 'Holy Flame Wheel'!!

Holy Flame Wheel granted a 40% increase to fire damage.

Combined with Zhou Yi's Intellect stat, boosted by stacking buffs to an almost terrifying level.

Thus, the instant Holy Cross was cast.

It resulted in the scene everyone witnessed: flames instantly killing all the Xiong Guai...

Divine skills were extremely rare—very few people even knew of them.

Added to that, Zhou Yi's current four stats had reached an average of 165 points, something none of the mentors had anticipated.

So it was normal that the dean and instructors couldn't guess why Zhou Yi's fire damage was so high.

As for why he didn't use close combat to kill these Xiong Guai—

The reason was simple: he was racing for time!

In the Freshman Competition, others must have chosen the Abyss difficulty too.

He needed to clear it as fast as possible and claim first place!

If he used his battle axe—even one swing per Xiong Guai—it would take nearly twenty seconds to kill them all.

But with Holy Cross, all the Xiong Guai were instantly killed—wasn't that much faster?

Even if one second wasn't enough, two or three seconds certainly would be.

Either way, it was far quicker than close combat.

Of course...

Entering the dungeon and immediately activating all buff skills to reach peak condition had drawbacks.

That was, skills like Divine Blessing and Protection Blessing might expire before reaching the boss stage.

But for Zhou Yi, this didn't matter much.

After all,

This wasn't yet a high-intensity battle against the Fire Demon Legion, so he didn't need to strictly conserve mana.

Once a buff's duration expired, he could just reapply it.

After all, his shortest-duration buff, Holy Flame Wheel, lasted only five minutes—and its cooldown was just about one minute.

By the time the buff faded, the cooldown would already be ready...

The first stage was cleared successfully.

Unlike the college entrance exam dungeon, no teleportation portal appeared on the spot for the next stage.

So Zhou Yi followed the path trampled by the Xiong Guai and walked forward.

Notably,

The once-dark forest, illuminated by the Holy Light aura swirling around Zhou Yi, lost all its sinister atmosphere—instead, it glowed with radiance...

Someone might wonder: wouldn't a Paladin surrounded by Holy Light become the most obvious target on the battlefield?

Actually, there was no need to worry.

First, Paladins were among the most sought-after classes on the battlefield, protected by many other combatants.

Moreover, Holy Light aura wasn't unique to Paladins alone.

When all buff skills were activated, the entire legion benefited—everyone would be wrapped in Holy Light.

Besides Holy Knights, humans have many other support classes that also grant numerous buff skills.

When all these buff skills stack together, it becomes nearly impossible to tell which skill was cast by whom...

As time passed, Zhou Yi walked through the forest.

Not long after, a thunderous roar suddenly came from afar.

Boom—boom—boom!!

As if a vast army of thousands charged forth, the entire forest floor trembled beneath it.

"Entering the second stage..."

Before him, on a wide open clearing in the forest, a formation composed entirely of Xiong Guai came into Zhou Yi's view.

A rough count revealed at least a hundred of them!!

"Sixteen? A hundred? The difficulty just jumped sixfold!"

Under the Appraisal Technique, the information of these Xiong Guai also appeared in Zhou Yi's mind:

【Monster: Xiong Guai Warrior】

【Level: 17】

【Talent: Silver Rank ☆☆】

【Skills: Mao Fa Armor, Charge, Berserk】

【Monster: Xiong Guai Tracker】

【Level: 17】

【Talent: Silver Rank ☆☆☆】

【Skills: Slow, Track】

【Monster: Xiong Guai Ursa Warrior】

【Level: 18】

【Talent: Silver Rank ☆☆】

【Skills: Resilience Aura, War Trample】

"No wonder this is a Deep Abyss-level dungeon—Silver Rank monsters appear in droves..."

"And there are even a few Xiong Guai with aura skills..."

Looking at the information revealed by the Appraisal Technique, Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes.

An aura is essentially a permanent buff skill.

It requires no mana cost and grants buffs to oneself and nearby allies.

On the battlefield, nearly every legion carries various auras...

The Resilience Aura is one of the more common auras among beast monsters.

It slightly increases the physical and magical resistance of nearby friendly units.

"Under the Resilience Aura, it's impossible to instantly wipe out these Xiong Guai."

"If so, then let's go!"

Zhou Yi's gaze sharpened, and he charged forward swiftly.

"Aaaoo!!"

As if stunned that this human dared launch a preemptive attack, the Xiong Guai ahead roared in unison and surged toward Zhou Yi!!

The range of Holy Cross is about 200 meters; as both sides charged toward each other,

the distance between them rapidly shrank to under 200 meters!!!

Boom!!

Bright golden flames of light attributes erupted across every Xiong Guai's body!!