Watching the Crystal Giant that was quickly approaching him, leaving huge footprints and various shock fractures on the ground, covered in dust and flames, Zhang Yanhang's intuition told him that this might not be a good test subject. After all, he felt that compared to flames, this Crystal Giant seemed more adept at sheer strength, with flames merely playing a supportive role.

If you were to say that this was an entire Elemental Giant, especially a Fire Elemental Giant, Zhang Yanhang might have believed it, but considering this Giant was entirely made up of hard crystalline structures, believing that it was more proficient in flame attacks rather than physical attacks was simply self-deception.

While the Crystal Giant's fist, which was as big as a single bed, had not yet hit the Energy Shield, Zhang Yanhang quickly checked its attribute list, fearing he wouldn't be able to after possibly dying later.

[Molten Crystal Giant (Ordinary)]

[Level: Third Tier Three-star]

"Molten Crystal Giant? Indeed, it's a Third Tier Three-star Monster, but I just wonder how many Soul points a Third Tier Three-star monster is worth."

While Zhang Yanhang was contemplating this, the Molten Crystal Giant's fist, which had a force of tens of tons, hit the Energy Shield at subsonic speed. He even vaguely heard a sonic boom as it struck.

There was a huge 'bang' sound, and the dust that had been flying all around suddenly burst away. The outermost layer of Zhang Yanhang's previously calm Energy Shield finally showed a significant ripple and wave, visible to the naked eye.

After the ripple had dissipated, Zhang Yanhang glanced at his Shield Value. As expected, facing such a pure physical assault, it had decreased—though only by five points. But for a monster from the Fourth Tier Transmission Channel, this was a milestone progress; at least it was no longer completely unable to cause damage.

Moreover, although it only decreased by five points superficially, in reality, this was the effect after the reduction by the Defense Coin. So theoretically, under normal conditions without the Defense Coin, Zhang Yanhang would have directly lost fifty-five points of Shield Value.

That would be quite terrifying, meaning if the Molten Crystal Giant continued to punch him approximately 255 times, his Energy Shield would be shattered.

As for the amount after the reduction, the Molten Crystal Giant would need to continuously punch him 2800 times to break through the defense. There was no way around it; his Shield Value was fourteen thousand points, and although he himself was not too satisfied with it, it was still quite adequate compared to the Molten Crystal Giant's damage.

However, Zhang Yanhang could clearly see that the Molten Crystal Giant seemed to have used some Skill just now. Such a level of damage was definitely not sustainable.

The evidence lay in the fact that after seeing ripple on the Energy Shield, the Molten Crystal Giant seemed to get excited. It had already been hitting him at a rate of about ten punches per second for two seconds, but the Energy Shield only occasionally showed very slight ripples and waves, hardly visible to the naked eye. As for the Shield Value, it did not decrease at all.

But soon, Zhang Yanhang realized that his Flame Resistance might actually be very useful. The reason was that after finding it couldn't damage the Energy Shield, the Molten Crystal Giant seemed to have applied a BUFF to itself, presumably a strengthening Skill like Flame Burst or Flame Enchantment.

"Anyway, after opening this Skill, the Molten Crystal Giant's whole body began to flame up, especially its fists, which gathered a massive amount of flames."

"When the flames from the Molten Crystal Giant's fists struck the Energy Shield, Zhang Yanhang was surprised to find that this time the Energy Shield didn't even bother producing the tiny ripples and waves barely visible to the naked eye; there was simply no reaction at all."

"Therefore, in reality, although the Molten Crystal Giant had given itself a strengthening BUFF, it actually became weaker due to the activation of Flame Resistance."

"As for the situation that had unfolded, Zhang Yanhang really didn't know what to say. He thought that if the Molten Crystal Giant could talk, it might also find the situation quite absurd."

"And Zhou Muxi beside him still had no reaction, no, perhaps there was a little reaction; at least, while she was engrossed in mobile games, she involuntarily followed the rhythmic pounding of the Molten Crystal Giant and occasionally shook her head, completely treating the sound of the battle between the Molten Crystal Giant and Zhang Yanhang as background music."

"As for the serious response to the Molten Crystal Giant and the Energy Shield, it was completely absent because, in her view, it was quite normal for an Awakener like Zhang Yanhang, who was confident in taking down Fourth Tier Monsters, to have an Energy Shield that could withstand attacks from a Third Tier, Three-star Monster."

"It seems that the limit for the Third Tier, Three-star Monsters is probably here. Although I was a bit surprised when a monster proficient in physical attacks suddenly showed up, it was just that, nothing more."

"Zhang Yanhang had already recovered the five Shield Values he had earlier lost during the pounding from the Molten Crystal Giant. Although this was the highest level Monster he had encountered so far, it still seemed so fragile before him, newly promoted in Rank, as if he could shatter it with a puff."

"Zhang Yanhang really doubted that the Molten Crystal Giant could survive a brain buster from him without cracking on the spot, as it looked really fragile. Perhaps it was hard enough, but definitely not tough enough."

"Just like a diamond, although it could even cut through steel once transformed into a blade, a small iron hammer could easily smash it into powder—yes, literally into powder."

"As for why Zhang Yanhang thought the Molten Crystal Giant was fragile, it was because when it punched the Energy Shield, dust and even some larger, more complete rocks would fall off from its fists and arms and drop to the ground."

"That is to say, when this creature punched Zhang Yanhang, Zhang Yanhang wouldn't lose any health, but instead, it would lose health itself, which was really quite ridiculous. However, perhaps this was also the reason why the Molten Crystal Giant seemed powerful, even comparable in Attack Power to the Third Tier, One-star Lord Monster Goblin Chief・Nu Mountain, but was far less powerful than Nu Mountain in actual combat."

"Although just now he had been slightly delayed by wanting to observe the Molten Crystal Giant's attack method and Attack Capability, Zhang Yanhang no longer wanted to delay. The number of monsters that had gathered within the range of the Death Wave were quite numerous, probably around two thousand now. It was indeed time to release the Death Wave to clear the area and make room for the upcoming monsters."

"Death Wave!"

"A wave of invisible distortion rapidly spread from Zhang Yanhang's body, the first to bear the brunt being the Molten Crystal Giant that was still stubbornly attacking him."

"Because it was a Crystal-type Monster, the effects of the Death Wave on the Molten Crystal Giant were completely different from those on normal flesh and blood monsters, specifically in that the Molten Crystal Giant shattered too thoroughly."

The distortion wave had just spread over the Molten Crystal Giant's body when countless web-like fine cracks emerged on it, and these cracks rapidly delved deeper inside.

Then, with a loud "bang", the body of the Molten Crystal Giant, along with the fine cracks, shattered like tempered glass, instantly exploding into a pile of rubble.

The fiery red, high-temperature liquid that had been circulating inside its body also splattered all over the place in an instant, as if it had exploded from the inside.

If the bodies of other monsters could still somewhat remain intact, at least enough to discern what type of monster they had been, this Molten Crystal Giant, with its high hardness but poor toughness, was truly beyond saving. However, fortunately, by dying it avoided continuing to fight against Zhang Yanhang.

Along with this Molten Crystal Giant, several dozen others, which were moving towards Zhang Yanhang and were very close, shattered as well. Unfortunately, they would never reach Zhang Yanhang to deploy their Flame Fist against him.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yanhang continued to pay attention to the kill notification messages, though he just eliminated about two thousand monsters at once, he was quite used to it and showed no signs of being stunned.

[Successfully killed Third Tier Three-star Monster 'Molten Crystal Giant (Ordinary)' ×1, Soul points +1100.]

[Successfully killed Third Tier Three-star Monster 'Molten Crystal Giant (Ordinary)' ×1, Soul points +1100.]

[Successfully killed Third Tier Three-star Monster 'Molten Crystal Giant (Ordinary)' ×1, Soul points +1100.]

...

"The profits from the Molten Crystal Giants are pretty good. One yields 1100 soul points, which is an increase of 350 soul points compared to the previously killed Third Tier Two-star Crimson Flame Poison Dragon. I just killed about fifty, so that's roughly fifty-five thousand soul points.

Adding the remainder of the two thousand monsters I just killed, I could gain at least three to four hundred thousand soul points in this round. Higher ranks really do have their perks; merely releasing one Death Wave could easily yield the massive amount of soul points that could, under different circumstances, clear an entire area."

Of course, when Zhang Yanhang spoke of this "massive" amount, he was only referring to the Second Tier Period. During that period, three to four hundred thousand soul points was indeed a lot, enough to level up two Skills to Original LV.6.

Now, however, these soul points were barely enough to upgrade a skill from Original LV.6 to Original LV.7, nowhere near enough for Original LV.8, and dreaming of Original LV.MAX was like living in a fantasy.

At this point, the three to four hundred thousand soul points were akin to the thirty to forty thousand from the Second Tier Period for Zhang Yanhang. They weren't much use, not even enough to significantly raise his Profession Level.

But fortunately, this was only the profit from one Death Wave; he still had over forty thousand more monsters to clear. Amassing a few million more soul points to upgrade his Profession Level shouldn't be a problem at all.

"So, the question arises, will any tougher new monsters appear next?"

Regardless of whether new monsters appeared or not, Zhang Yanhang's strategy would definitely still be to stand still, as letting the monsters come to him was indeed more efficient than going out to find them himself.

This once again stirred the desire in Zhang Yanhang to find a taunt Skill, and it had to be a wide-range taunt, starting from tens of kilometers at the least. If it could only taunt for a few kilometers, it might as well not exist.

If it were just a few kilometers, perhaps instead of waiting for the monsters to approach, it might be faster for him to go to them directly since, although the monsters were fast compared to ordinary people, they were actually quite slow compared to him.

...

October 29, Thursday, four days after the Double Ninth Festival, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, 10:11 AM, Qin Island City, Jiaozhou Industrial Zone, Parallel Space Barrier.

After waiting another forty minutes, Zhang Yanhang could now confirm that the Fourth Tier Transmission Channel should indeed no longer have new monsters; he was almost done killing all the monsters in the transmission channel, and no new ones had appeared; these were probably the only new types, the Lord Monsters.

The reason why it took forty minutes to clear the transmission channel was that, towards the end, there were fewer remaining monsters, and correspondingly, the number of monsters charging him gradually decreased.

This resulted in Zhang Yanhang taking forty minutes to kill fewer than forty thousand monsters, still leaving about three thousand alive. By now, both the Third Tier Two-star Molten Fire Giant Lizards and the Third Tier Four Stars Molten Lava Giant Turtle had all been wiped out by Zhang Yanhang.

Now, what remained were all Third Tier monsters, specifically Third Tier One-star Molten Flame Toads, Third Tier Two-star Fiery Poison Dragons, and Third Tier Three-star Molten Crystal Giants.

These groups of monsters had now gathered together and initiated their final charge. Though calling it a charge might not be entirely correct; the Molten Crystal Giants charged, while the other two types, which were capable of Fire Jumps, Molten Flame Toads and Fiery Poison Dragons, teleported instantly over the newly formed artificial molten lava pool created underneath Zhang Yanhang's feet.

Just as Zhang Yanhang wondered why they were suddenly so reckless, he saw a new creature emerge from the transmission channel, or perhaps it should be called a Lord Monster.

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