Sensing a tremor from the abyssal rift below, Daoyan immediately cast her gaze downward.
Then, a giant came into her view—its skin a sickly grayish-green, standing three meters tall, with a hideous face, three heads, and six arms, looking just like an Asura from legend. It radiated a pressure far beyond that of a three-star peak abyssal beast, having torn through the rift with its six hands.
“Just as I expected.”
Staring at the grayish-green giant below, which had already broken past three-star and reached four-star—only slightly weaker than herself—Daoyan confirmed that her earlier premonition had been right, and muttered this quietly under her breath.
Then, without a trace of fear, she raised her longsword and charged straight at the giant below.
Sensing the threat from above, the grayish-green giant that had just crawled out of the abyssal rift immediately raised two of its arms, shrouded in demonic energy, to block.
A shrill, piercing sound rang out—like metal scraping against stone. Daoyan noticed that her spirit sword hadn’t sliced through the giant’s outer defenses as easily as it had against three-star abyssal beasts, like cutting through vegetables. Yet her expression remained largely unruffled.
Noticing that the giant’s other four arms were now cloaked in demonic energy and coming at her, Daoyan promptly ended her assault. She gave a fierce kick against the giant’s arm, then retreated to a safe distance at a speed far greater than before.
“Four-star abyssal beasts are way tougher than I imagined. Looks like I’ll have to get serious.”
After retreating to safety, she looked up at the distant giant and thought this to herself. Then, with her left hand, she pulled a large bundle of talismans from her sleeve—ones she had spent the past few days developing using her innate Daoist talent, through repeated deduction and multiple trials, finally perfecting them for practical combat.
“Feel honored,” she murmured softly, a faint smile on her face as she addressed the grayish-green giant. “You’re the very first abyssal beast to personally experience just how powerful my talismans can be.”
With that, Daoyan hurled the talismans into the air, then directed them straight toward the grayish-green giant.
Sensing the immense spiritual energy contained within the incoming talismans—energy not to be underestimated—the grayish-green giant knew that if they got close, the consequences would be dire. It immediately slammed both fists into the ground, shattering the surface and sending chunks of concrete of all sizes flying upward.
Tracking the concrete chunks with four of its eyes, while locking onto the talismans’ trajectories with its remaining two, the giant began swinging all six arms at breakneck speed, redirecting the debris not downward, but straight at the approaching talismans.
Seeing the giant react so quickly with the concrete, Daoyan immediately tried to maneuver the talismans out of the way.
But because the giant’s reflexes were sharp, and because this was her first time using talismans in combat, a good number of them were struck by the flung concrete and exploded midair in fierce blasts.
“Looks like I can’t send them all clustered together like that in the future.”
Watching the talismans detonate not far away, Daoyan acknowledged the flaw in her previous attack. She mentally noted this, then took control of her remaining talismans, splitting them into several groups and sending them at the grayish-green giant from different directions.
Seeing the talismans now coming at him from all sides after the earlier explosions—though reduced in number, still capable of inflicting serious injury—the grayish-green giant pondered for a moment, then began furiously hammering the ground with all six arms at once.
But this time, the goal wasn’t to create chunks of concrete—it was to dig a hole beneath itself.
Under the giant’s violent pounding, in less than a second, a massive crater had opened up beneath its feet.
Confirming that the hole was large enough to accommodate its body, the grayish-green giant wasted no time—it leaped in just before the talismans could surround it and self-destruct.
Watching from a distance, Daoyan couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
“This guy digs a hole and actually jumps in? Isn’t he afraid I’ll just stuff all my talismans in there and blow it up, turning that hole into his grave?”
Just as she was mulling this over, the ground began to tremble violently. Sensing a surge of malice racing toward her from underground, Daoyan instantly understood why the giant had willingly jumped into its own hole.
“Moving that fast underground—are you a pangolin or something?”
She snarked internally. Realizing the danger, she quickly propelled herself into the air.
The next second, the grayish-green giant burst out from where she had been standing, and with all six arms, launched a barrage of heavy, relentless strikes at her before she could gain altitude.
Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Daoyan activated the Golden Light Incantation she’d developed for defense, while raising her spirit sword to execute the Daoyan Sword Art—an innate skill from her character card—to parry and counterattack.
After an intense, high-speed bout, Daoyan finally managed to break through the giant’s defense after landing over a dozen stabs—but it hadn’t suffered any fatal wounds. Eventually, under gravity’s pull, the giant was forced to cease its assault, drop back to the ground, and dig its way underground once more.
Hovering in the air, watching the grayish-green giant return to the earth and burrow in again, Daoyan—who had taken a few punches during the fight and would’ve been wounded if not for the Golden Light Incantation’s sturdy defense—couldn’t help but speak with a tinge of frustration.
“Guess I’ve had it way too easy against abyssal beasts before. Now I’m actually underestimating them. That’s not a good thing—I need to correct that starting now. So…”
She paused briefly, then continued with a serious expression.
“Let me show you—this four-star abyssal beast—what it looks like when I go all out.”
With that said, Daoyan immediately activated every skill from both herself and her character card. She used her Truth-Piercing Eye to lock onto the grayish-green giant’s position as it sped underground toward the city. She applied a layer of true-damage enchantment to her spirit sword using Samadhi Fire, clad herself in golden light armor with the Golden Light Incantation, recalled all her talismans, and then, channeling the Daoyan Sword Art, dove straight down toward it.
