"Ha ha ha~" Yamano Seijiro laughed loudly, then turned to the people around him and said, "You see? I told you he wouldn't make it through the fifth round! A five-star king-level, that's a shared monster level!"
"Yes, yes, yes~" The people around nodded their heads hastily, agreeing with the president.
"Look at the situation and raise the bets!"
"Alright, alright~"
...
Sniff~
Ming takes a deep breath of the peony fragrance, temporarily controlling his urge to fight Kuet. He knows that he cannot rely on some minor tricks to face a five-star king-level and has to stay constantly sober, letting himself think rationally about how to respond.
No, he wants to fight the zombie again.
No, he must resist the urge.
The peony scent dissipates, and relying on the fragrance alone is no longer enough to keep him alert. Ming bites into a peony flower, chewing the petals to temporarily stay sober while he walks around the maze, thinking rationally.
He must absolutely avoid being hit!
Ming bites another piece of the peony flower, chews the petals, and temporarily regains his sobriety. Damn it, the peony flowers are almost gone. It's very frustrating. What's even more frustrating is that the online store and chat channels are closed, and he can't even ask for help to buy flowers from others.
There it is again, the urge to fight the zombie.
Ming bites into a peony flower, temporarily sobering up. But once the flowers run out, he won't be able to control himself from confronting the zombie head-on!
Damn it, the self-taunting skill is just too overpowered.
Next, to fight this zombie, he must find the right opportunity and make every hit count.
This zombie's skills are also quite overpowered. A former boxing champion with fancy footwork, fancy enough to make his opponents lose their confidence while fighting!
Overpowered!
Right, the zombie Kuet has a chance to trigger 3 seconds of invincibility during battle.
It's freaking overpowered!
Ming eats the last petal of the peony flower in his hand, regains his sobriety, and continues to walk around the maze. The purpose of the maze comes into play at this time. Without the maze, there's no way the zombie would give him so much time to think.
Thump! A sound of falling is heard. Ming knows that the zombie stepped on the steel balls he placed in the maze's passageways and then fell.
Steel ball effect +1.
[Ming walks through the maze, and the zombie walks through the maze as well]
[Ming places steel balls, and the zombie steps on the steel balls]
[The zombie falls heavily, crashing into the steel plates, which toppled to the ground]
[...]
Ming continues to walk around the maze, placing more steel balls under his feet, "Only two flowers left, let's try Plan A first!"
Ming bites into a peony flower he took out from the warehouse. There's only one more left in the warehouse, and the potted plant at home has been almost completely picked. The flowers are very useful; he should stock up more in the future.
[Your foodie is once again filled with the heart of battle, searching for the zombie to collide with it...foodie can't control itself, it wants to confront the zombie...]
[Your Da Vinci is furious, it has never seen such a hate-inducing zombie. It can't suppress the urge to fight it...your Da Vinci is moved by the heart of battle!]
"I!!!" Ming is surprised. He has to admit, Kuet's self-taunting talent is just too powerful. Even his cute and kind frog is provoked to be so irritable?
Most importantly, being able to ignite Da Vinci's heart of battle... is terrifying!
Today seems destined to be a day of joint battle against the zombie!
Let's start with Plan A.
Inhale~ Ming takes a deep breath of peony fragrance to stay sober and calm.
"foodie~ You've eaten so much all the time, you should show off a little today~" Ming picks up Foodie and starts to replenish its energy, while also leveling it up. The reason Foodie couldn't knock down Kuet was that the opponent's weight was beyond its striking capacity.
Ming immediately levels up Foodie to increase its striking power.
"Consume 110 travel experience points, foodie's level increases to 11, striking power increases by 10 pounds."
"Consume 210 travel experience points..."
"Consume 310 travel experience points..."
Ming upgrades Foodie to level 30, with a striking power of 500 pounds. He estimates that the zombie weighs around 300-400 pounds.
Of course, only if Plan A works.
[Your foodie feels full of power, it jumps off your palm, strides forward with its little legs, sways, and crawls into the maze to find the zombie... I found it... foodie croaks, its heart of battle reaches its peak, charges towards the zombie, the zombie dodges... foodie crashes into a steel plate... It sees a bunch of little stars smiling at it...]
[Da Vinci rushes up, striking the zombie's leg... The opponent is fine, but it hurts its head and is bounced back, landing on the steel ball on the ground, the ball rolls under the zombie's foot... The zombie steps on it and falls to the ground...]
[Your Da Vinci has a sudden inspiration, continues to look for steel balls ... The steel ball rolls toward the zombie... The zombie steps on it, its body leans back...]
[Your foodie shakes its head, says goodbye to the stars... Sees the zombie leaning back and about to hit Da Vinci, it rushes over and pushes Da Vinci aside... foodie looks at Da Vinci proudly... No need to thank]
[Da Vinci's head is full of twinkling, bright little stars...]
"You two~" Ming thought it would be a serious battle against the zombie, but as expected, with you two around, everything turns into chaos~
[Your foodie charges at the zombie that just got up... It hits the zombie's back squarely, and the zombie stumbles forward...]
[Da Vinci, still seeing stars in its head, stumbles and bumps into a steel ball, and the ball rolls... towards the zombie... The zombie steps on the steel ball, its steps are thrown into disarray, and it leans back...]
[Your foodie seizes the opportunity, reactivates its heart of battle, and strikes the leaning zombie, sending it flying, one meter above the ground... foodie looks at you...]
"Here it comes!" Ming shouts, stepping on the top of the maze's steel wall and jumping up. He gathers all his strength in his right fist, striking down like a hammer falling from above, hitting the flying zombie right in the chest!
Boom! The zombie crashes to the ground!
Ming leaps down, his right foot as the tip, plummeting like a meteor, stomping on the zombie's face. The zombie, Kuet, rolls to the right, and Ming's foot misses. At the same time, Kuet sweeps a right punch at Ming's lower leg, too fast to dodge.
Bang!
Ming's left leg is hit, and he falls to the left, his head hitting the maze wall heavily.
Pants durability -5.
Hat durability -1.
Zombie Kuet triggers the Iron Fist effect, making Ming fall into a fixing.
[Your Da Vinci sees you being hit, and it's furious! No one should hit Ming like that!]
[Da Vinci angrily strikes a steel ball, which rolls under the zombie's advancing feet...]
Thud! The just-standing-up zombie steps on the steel ball, its body lunging forward toward Ming.
[Zombie steps on the steel ball, body leaning forward and pouncing]
[Zombie about to hug Ming]
[...]
"Damn it!"Ming sees the zombie pouncing toward him and quickly retreats.
Thud~ The zombie falls in front of him, and Ming's right foot kicks sideways, hitting the zombie's face and collapsing its nose. He then rolls backward to get up. At the same time, the zombie gets up and pounces again.
Ming pushes against the walls of the maze with both hands, jumping up to dodge the zombie's lunge. Kuet quickly gets up, and his right fist shoots out, hitting Ming right in the abdomen!
Bang! Ming feels the pain and flies backward, crashing into a steel plate behind him before stopping. The steel plate is dented, and the durability of his leather coat decreases by 5.
"Damn it!"
Ming is immobilized, unable to move his body. The zombie's attack speed is incredibly fast with 490 agility, and he can't dodge in time.
Hehe!! The zombie takes a step forward, charging like a wild bull.
Bang! Foodie slams the zombie into the maze's steel plate, but it gets thrown back and falls to the ground.
[Your foodie shakes its head, feeling no pain, only seeing stars again... It tells the stars to come back later since it's fighting right now...]
[Da Vinci strikes a steel ball, which rolls under the fallen zombie's feet... Da Vinci looks at you and sticks out its tongue... Don't praise me, just doing my job... The zombie dodges the steel ball with a butterfly step...]
[Your Da Vinci angrily strikes the steel ball... too forcefully... its head hits the steel plate and buzzes...]
"Oh, my frog~" Ming takes a deep breath of the peony fragrance.
Plan A isn't working. Zombie Kuet's attributes are overpowering him, and his two little froggies have lost their normal agile thinking due to the taunts, making it impossible for them to fight normally.
Time to start Plan B.
[Your foodie shakes its head... looking at the zombie with a faint golden glow... it continues to charge head-on... it's not afraid of the golden glow... because after activating its heart of battle, its whole body emits a green glow... both of them glow, so who's afraid of whom?]
[Your foodie slams into the zombie, who doesn't dodge... Foodie is thrown back and doesn't cause any damage to the zombie...]
"Invincible state!" Ming sees Kuet's body emitting a faint golden glow, and he knows that it's the effect of its triggered 3-second invincibility!
He immediately jumps forward to grab Foodie and Da Vinci, knowing that he shouldn't be reckless while the zombie is invincible. At that moment, with his back to the zombie, he feels like he's being hit by a giant tree, heavy and unable to move.
Hit, immobilized!!
Damn it! It hurts so much!
Clothes durability -5.
Bang!! Pain comes from the back once again, getting hit again.
The pain doubles!
"Damn!"
Ming grits his teeth in pain. If this goes on, with every punch from the zombie immobilizing him, he might be beaten to death!
[Your foodie struggles to free itself from your hand, lands on the ground, stares at the zombie with furious eyes, and maxes out its fighting spirit! Why are you still hitting Ming!]
[Your foodie charges forward, slams into the zombie and gets thrown back... The reason is that the zombie is still invincible...]
[Your Da Vinci sees you standing still and getting hit, feeling something is wrong. It immediately looks at Foodie and says "Hit Ming!"]
[Foodie understands, turns around, and slams into your back...]
"Wow, my Da Vinci is so smart!" Ming is sent flying by Foodie, breaking free from the immobilization caused by the zombie.
