Chapter 58: The Metamorphosis of the Void Netherwolf!

Most of the wine jars in the dwarf wine cellar had been shattered by the collapse of the palace, leaving only a single jar completely intact.

"Phew, they left one for me!" Han Xing said with a sigh of relief.

For aged stock like this, even someone like Han Xing, who rarely drank, understood its immense value.

And such a precious item obviously had to be taken away.

However, given that this wine jar stood a full meter tall and half a meter wide, taking it with him would actually be quite a challenge.

Thus, Han Xing tried storing it in his backpack. The next moment, the black wine jar truly vanished from where it stood.

"Oh? It actually worked?" Han Xing was surprised.

Although this jar of wine was massive, it only took up two slots in his spatial backpack.

At that moment, a system prompt appeared.

[Black Vine Wine (760-year vintage) acquired, 230L.]

"Goodness! 760 years, I must be seeing things, right?" Han Xing rubbed his eyes.

When he confirmed the vintage listed in the item description, he was even more shocked.

He then read the notes below the Black Vine Wine.

Note: The dwarven race possesses a unique mastery of brewing, standing as their second greatest racial talent alongside smithing, capable of rivaling anything in the Holy Spirit Realm.

Black Vine Wine is also the dwarven race's most masterfully crafted brew. Its raw materials include black vines from the Gloomy Forest, magical leaves from the Elf Forest, the egg whites of giant roc birds, and Ghost Spring water... Combined with the dwarves' exclusive brewing techniques, a single jar of pure stock is finally born. The older the Black Vine Wine, the richer and more mellow its flavor becomes, making it deeply beloved by dwarven nobility.

The dwarven brewing technique was just as exceptional as their smithing technique.

Even before the seal was lifted, the aroma of the wine alone was intoxicating.

Moreover, this was Black Vine Wine with a full 760-year vintage. If it were brought back to Blue Star, it would drive countless die-hard drunkards completely wild!

Had a battle not been about to begin on the spot, Han Xing would have wanted to take a sip right then and there.

At this moment, Coalball stood before Han Xing, wagging its tail as if seeking praise.

Han Xing patted its head and praised, "Not bad at all, your dog nose really is sharp."

By now, five minutes had already passed out of the ten-minute preparation time given by the system.

Han Xing quickly walked over to the six remnants of the psionic puppets and dismantled them one by one, lest they be destroyed by the aftermath of the upcoming battle.

From these six puppet remains, Han Xing recovered a large quantity of fine iron arrows, stored a massive amount of specialized magical clay into his backpack, collected six damaged psionic cores, along with some mithril and fine iron.

After finishing this, Han Xing took a piece of dried beast meat from his backpack, chewed on it for a moment, and swallowed it.

He needed to seize the time to restore himself to peak condition.

Time flew by, and the ten minutes passed in a flash.

[The third stage of the challenge has begun. Survivor, good luck...]

As the prompt ended, Han Xing suddenly felt an unprecedented vibration beneath the palace he stood on!

Rumble~

Not just this palace, but Han Xing felt as though the entire valley had begun to quake.

Then, a terrifying giant hand thrust out from the center of the ruins, shaking off countless rocks and tiles.

Half a torso slowly sat up amidst the pile of rubble. It was like a giant that had slumbered for many years, awakened today by some unknown will.

When it stood to its full height, a colossal figure standing over six meters tall with a dark-yellow body appeared before Han Xing.

The attribute panel of this monster also appeared before his eyes.

[Enhanced Psionic Puppet (Elite Class)]

[Level: Lv7]

[Strength: 64, Agility: 48, Spirit: 49, Constitution: 67]

[Remaining Psionic Value: 80]

[Psionic Core Remaining Defense Value: 300]

[Skills: Energy Bombardment, Monolith Body (Passive skill, reduces physical damage taken by 30%), Seismic Impact (The psionic puppet leaps high and slams heavily into the ground, triggering a massive ground shockwave that deals heavy damage to enemies within range).]

Upon seeing the attributes of this puppet, Han Xing actually felt a wave of relief.

"Good thing it's only Elite class."

He had truly feared that the system would suddenly pop out a Boss-class monster, which would have been impossible to handle.

Though, thinking about it, the previous two rounds of combat had already been so difficult; if a Boss-class had appeared now, there would simply be no point in fighting.

Because even he lacked the confidence to solo a Boss-class creature.

If even he couldn't pass, how many people could possibly clear this hidden quest?

Still, despite it being an Elite-class puppet, he couldn't let his guard down.

Since an ordinary psionic puppet's defense was already comparable to an elite monster, it wouldn't be surprising if this enhanced puppet's physical defense rivaled that of a Boss monster!

The battle commenced, and Han Xing instantly entered a state of absolute focus.

He opened with the familiar Wind-Chasing Arrow.

Clang!

When this arrow struck the psionic puppet, it was directly deflected.

Han Xing's gaze sank, thinking: as expected.

This guy's defense wasn't even in the realm of stone anymore; it was practically comparable to fine iron.

Without Coalball's defense-reduction buff, this arrow hadn't dealt any damage at all.

The elite puppet was infuriated by Han Xing's arrow and was about to launch an attack.

At that very moment, Han Xing suddenly noticed numerous purple patterns appearing on Coalball's body. These patterns extended outward, as if connecting to another realm.

It was precisely Coalball's newly activated fifth skill, Void Extraction.

The next instant, the black light shrouding Coalball surged violently, and the entire wolf sprinted forward, appearing beside the elite puppet in a flash.

Blessed by the power of the void, Coalball's overall attributes skyrocketed by 50%. Coupled with the 200% speed bonus from Void Blink, Coalball's movement speed at this moment faintly broke through the limits of a 1-star monster.

Swish! Swish swish!

Before the elite puppet could react, over a dozen claw marks had appeared on its body.

Though it didn't look like much damage had been dealt, every single claw mark was emitting a purple mist.

In a single instant, Coalball stacked the armor-reduction status to its absolute limit, directly slashing the puppet's defense by 30%.

Compared to before it reached level 6, this speed had improved by more than just double!

Simultaneously, Han Xing saw Coalball's figure constantly blinking, frequently appearing right beside the psionic puppet's core. Every single time it appeared, it inevitably stripped away seven or eight points of defense from the core.

The elite puppet seemed enraged by this annoying little creature, letting out a muffled mechanical voice.

"Those who defy Lord Kairon shall die!"

The psionic puppet swung its millstone-sized palm in retaliation. Given Coalball's petite build, getting slapped by that paw even once would surely turn it into meat paste.

Normally in such a situation, without Han Xing needing to remind it, Coalball would rely on its instinctive battle awareness to dodge.

Yet this time, it showed no fear whatsoever, braving the psionic puppet's attacks and outputting crazily.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even though the psionic puppet continuously attacked Coalball, bizarrely, its blows landing on Coalball produced zero effect.

It was as if striking an illusory phantom; the psionic puppet's hand passed straight through Coalball's body.

Skill: Void Body—the 50% evasion probability triggered repeatedly.

Furthermore, Coalball's attack rhythm grew increasingly rapid. Every time it materialized, it clawed numerous wolf tracks into the elite puppet—a speed that made even Han Xing's scalp tingle as he watched from the sidelines.

Less than five seconds had passed since the battle began.

The psionic puppet's core defense value poured away like flowing water, plummeting directly below 250 points.

Han Xing stood watching from the side, utterly dumbfounded.

Clutching his longbow, he stood blankly as Coalball put on a solo performance.

After reaching level 6, this little fellow had completely transformed into a mini-boss. In a solo matchup, it was actively suppressing an elite monster.

At this moment, the psionic puppet's core apparatus was operating to its absolute limit, its output power having long since reached maximum capacity.

In other words, its CPU was practically smoking. Even so, it completely failed to keep up with Coalball's tempo.

Han Xing suspected that if the psionic puppet hadn't been programmed without emotions, it would likely have been driven mad with rage right then and there.

Just then, a cluster of energy suddenly charged up within the psionic puppet's palm, instantly emitting a terrifying aura.

"For... Lord Kairon!"

It had actually chosen to detonate the energy cluster right in front of its chest, opting for mutual destruction just to heavily injure Coalball!

"Watch out!" Han Xing cried out in alarm.

Coalball failed to dodge in time and was swallowed by the explosive energy.

Boom!

After the smoke cleared, Coalball's figure was sent flying backward.

Han Xing quickly rushed forward, preparing to provide backup.

However, he discovered that upon hitting the ground, not only did Coalball's aura fail to wane, but the void power enveloping its body began to surge dramatically.

Han Xing clearly saw that Coalball's fur had already been charred pitch-black by the explosion—the injuries sustained from the blast just moments ago.

Yet now, those injuries were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. In no time at all, it was fully recovered, rivaling the healing effect of Han Xing using a Life Secret Potion.

"This..." Han Xing paused, somewhat bewildered.

The next moment, the fully recovered Coalball once again charged toward the elite psionic puppet like a maggot on rotting bone.

Han Xing said blankly, "Given this situation, it seems there's nothing left for me to do?"

Right at that moment, Han Xing saw Coalball's body suddenly turn translucent.

Ten void spikes flickered in and out of visibility.

Then, the void spikes burst forth abruptly, all of them slamming into the psionic puppet's torso.

Puff, puff, puff, puff!

A dense barrage of metallic piercing sounds rang out.

With this single strike, two void spikes blasted away over 50 points of the psionic puppet's core defense value, while the remaining spikes all struck home as well, dealing terrifying damage!

Han Xing saw that the psionic puppet's right shoulder had even been pierced through by a void spike, snapping the mithril patterns and rendering its right arm completely useless.

Concurrently, with its core defense value dropping below 100 points, the psionic puppet entered a state of utter frenzy.

The patterns on its two millstone-thick legs flared with blinding light, as if all its energy was converging toward those legs.

The next instant, the psionic puppet leaped high into the air.

Han Xing's expression suddenly changed.

This was the elite puppet's third skill: Seismic Impact, an area-of-effect damage skill that was extremely terrifying.

Without a second thought, Han Xing rolled and sprinted wildly toward the edge of the palace.

"Coalball, run!"