Chapter 576 - 541 The Meaning of Ice Head
一听说Da Fei planned to explore the Eight-Headed Snake channel, Tachiusu immediately prepared a small leaf boat.
Da Fei believed that with his current skill level, using such a small boat with Mysterious Stealth Navigation, the Eight-Headed Snake would almost certainly not detect him. So, he brought everyone along to observe. Although Da Fei had long been mentally prepared to take it down, he still had to carefully plan the tactical operations. Of course, just in case, Deirdre stayed behind.
The scene changed, and the small boat in Stealth State entered the Vortex Space Gate, reaching the Eight-Headed Snake channel.
From a distance, the Eight-Headed Snake, resembling a mountain of flesh, had four or five long-necked heads writhing chaotically like drunken madmen. At the first sight of the Eight-Headed Snake, the ladies couldn’t help but feel a chill in their hearts.
Anlicia trembled as she said, "I say, City Lord, were you really going in and out in front of it alone a while back?"
Heh, as a wife, you must be in awe of your husband!
Da Fei retorted, "It just wasn’t as manic then as it is now!"
I can’t help but think the system surely intends for me to complete this mission! Moreover, it wasn’t issued by some high-profile NPC like a Prince or King, just a down-and-out Habbit Village Chief. Isn’t this akin to a village chief asking players to hunt a wild boar on a mountain? Even if I’m ahead of my time, could this task be this challenging?
Da Fei then explained the origins of the Eight-Headed Snake to everyone. Of course, this was entirely unnecessary, as this was a game, and vice heroes, even if they hadn’t experienced the task, would share information with the player by default. However, Da Fei felt good about his harem and was deeply engaged in the play.
Elena solemnly said, "Master, I sense that the Eight-Headed Snake’s body is filled with immense and turbulent energy. From this point of view, it is far more powerful than the Leviathan we encountered. Of course, it can’t be ruled out that the Leviathan consumed too much energy, making it incomparable. But in terms of strength, it should be on par with the Leviathan. Is the Master really going to battle such a creature?"
Da Fei’s heart skipped a beat. As expected, this monster that has absorbed divine power for thousands of years was truly formidable! While he already knew that the Eight-Headed Snake was very strong, hearing that it was on the same level as the Leviathan made Da Fei’s legs go a bit weak.
How could it be? This was clearly a mission issued by a system! Isn’t it enough of a challenge for me?
Da Fei quickly said, "But it has a weakness. It has an Ice Head whose strength is far inferior to the others; maybe we can focus on that aspect?"
Anlicia immediately responded, "No, the Hydra is a mythical monster that can rival gods. Even if all its eight heads are severed, it can still survive. The Eight-Headed Snake may not be as strong, but it won’t be far off. Even if we take out the Ice Head, it may not have any impact on it."
Catherine also furrowed her brows and said, "The terrain here is entirely unsuitable for large battleships to fight. Once a battle starts, we truly don’t know how to deal with its mountainous crushing force in such a narrow space."
Da Fei’s heart tightened; this was indeed a problem!
Even though the Flying had a level 10 city wall’s blood defense, the Flying was ultimately a ship floating on the water, not a city wall rooted in the ground. As a ship, it faces a significant threat: being overturned by wind, waves, or the brute force of a giant creature! Given the Eight-Headed Snake’s mountainous physique, the likelihood of it capsizing the Flying is incredibly high! If it capsizes, even if the Flying is godlike, it’s done for!
Moreover, did the game company design this mission with the necessity of requiring a large ship to complete it? That’s the main point! Think about how bizarre this space is, and how many players can be as advanced as me, installing a Teleportation Array on a large ship and then transporting it here? The completion criteria for this task are overly demanding, making it seemingly unlikely.
However, I was able to accept the Pool of Radiance task early on because I had a large ship, wasn’t I? Otherwise, how could I have been recognized and recommended by the mayor? In other words, this task truly requires a large ship?
Or should we stick to the original plan discussed with Tachiusu, wait for the Evil Branch Fortress to be resurrected, and use the fortress to withstand it? But time is running out! Besides, the Evil Branch Fortress’s attributes are not as good as the Flying’s!
Just when Da Fei was deep in thought, Anlicia spoke up, "This Eight-Headed Snake is so powerful that perhaps mortal strength isn’t enough to deal with it. Maybe we should report to the Kingdom and ask them to send powerful reinforcements?"
Da Fei was suddenly enlightened—so that’s how it is! The task may not have been issued by a high-profile figure, but the completion of it required high-level intervention! Meaning, the simplest way to complete the task was to go back and call for help, letting the players stand aside while the task gets completed? Whoa, that’s the most reliable gameplay!
But Da Fei was unwilling. He’d put in so much preparation work; couldn’t he personally take down a demigod? What does calling for NPC assistance imply? It means a significant reduction in task rewards! Systems won’t allow players to earn top-tier rewards simply by standing aside while NPCs do the heavy lifting.
Now that I think about it, every demigod I’ve defeated so far relied on NPC help. Skira’s avatar relied on Coltner’s ship, and Captain Renior’s ghost possessed to resist, eventually rewarding a Sea Soul Staff with mediocre attributes that have only now started to reveal its potential. What does this indicate? There’s a good chance that the Sea Soul Staff’s attribute reward was cut back then! If a player truly defeated a demigod with their own strength, the Sea Soul Staff awarded back then might have been even better than it is now.
Similarly, the defeat of the quasi-demi-god giant crocodile was achieved with the help of the entire Habbit village, and the Flame Demon’s avatar was taken down with the Pegasus Knights’ team holding the front line, so the two divine artifacts awarded couldn’t compare to the Sea Soul Staff now. Of course, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that these two rewards themselves weren’t that great.
In contrast, Da Fei’s intellectual battle with the demigod in Calubidis’ mouth was mostly due to his own strength and wisdom, resulting in a divine artifact teleportation crystal and a God-level Navigation upgrade scroll as rewards, much better than defeating the Flame Demon.
Of course, divine artifact rewards are secondary; the most important point is that if the Kingdom sends troops to relieve the siege, the ownership of the Habbit Village, the Mercury Mine, and even the Vine Demon Village stakes becomes an issue!
Because Da Fei’s Radiant City is a joint venture with the Kingdom, the usual situation is a 50% stake shared with the player, meaning half of Da Fei’s future earnings will go to the Kingdom. But if a player independently expands territories and acquires more domains, they gain more stake allocation, meaning if Da Fei successfully assimilates the Vine Demon Village and Habbit Village, Da Fei’s share could be over 70%, requiring only a 30% tribute to the Kingdom.
Once the Kingdom is asked to send troops to recover the territory, the Kingdom also claims a share, and still 50%, meaning if the NPCs contribute far more than the player, the player may end up with less than 50%, possibly leaving Da Fei with a 30% stake and the Kingdom with 70%.
Of course, as long as the pie gets bigger, even a smaller share allocation means earning more than before, but Da Fei ultimately feels a bit dissatisfied. After all, he is the man who defeated so many demigods!
Da Fei pondered for a while and said, "Calling for the Kingdom’s reinforcements is certainly the easiest solution, but after this campaign, it’s hard to say how many troops the Kingdom can still deploy. I still want to see if there’s a possibility for us to defeat it."
Anlicia frowned and said, "That’s true; in this campaign, the Kingdom even used the World Tree’s reserve energy. Until the World Tree finishes its slumber, it’s hard to send a large number of troops."
Just then, after carefully observing for a while, Elena spoke again, "Master, I now notice two problems: First, the Eight-Headed Snake’s internal energy is quite chaotic, indicating it might be at a critical phase of evolution, but under your strategy, it’s resting very poorly, making it unpredictable what might happen. Second, I’d like to take a closer look at its Ice Head, could we move the boat nearer?"
Da Fei hastily replied, "The first issue, the Habbit Village Chief also analyzed, believing it could lead to the Eight-Headed Snake prematurely evolving a ninth head and attaining godhood."
As he spoke, Da Fei’s heart skipped a beat; wasn’t my idea to fatten it up and kill it once it became a god? But that’s only if I can actually kill it!
Da Fei shook his head and continued, "No problem on the second point, we can get closer!"
Amidst the light fog, the leaf boat deftly dodged floating logs that came head-on and continued sneaking slowly closer to the mountain of flesh. Closer, and closer still!
At this moment, while the Eight-Headed Snake had four or five heads shaking, its vigilance was nowhere near what it was when Da Fei stowed away the second time and was forced to use branches. It seemed profoundly disturbed.
Finally, a red light flashed on Da Fei’s screen, and the Reconnaissance Skill alert sounded!
Da Fei immediately had the boat retreat, stopping just outside the Eight-Headed Snake’s alert line. The current distance was within the Crossbow Cannon’s range, but just because the small boat could come through didn’t mean the large one could.
Forget it, if the task truly requires a large ship showdown, I would rather not take this risk and directly call the Kingdom for reinforcements.
Time passed by second by second, with floating logs drifting silently past the small boat. The only sounds echoing in the channel space were the Eight-Headed Snake’s agitated snores and the soft thuds of the floating wood against its fleshy body.
Finally, Elena softly exhaled a long breath and excitedly whispered, "I’ve discovered something; its Ice Head has a surprisingly low magic resistance, possibly even negative! Any magic might have doubled effects on it!"
Negative! This head is incredibly brainless in a meaningful way! But Anlicia mentioned earlier that even taking it down wouldn’t help much in killing it!
Everyone quietly waited for her to continue.
Elena gravely stated, "So, Master, this head has almost no resistance to mind control magic. We can use Dark Magic Puppet Master to control this head, or use Dark Magic Madness Technique to disrupt this head and make them fight amongst themselves!"
Fight amongst themselves! Da Fei’s heart trembled—damn, this might be the significance of the Ice Head’s existence!
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