While in its stone form, the Red Arremer enjoyed massive physical damage reduction. Bare fists were useless, and even a sharp blade would leave nothing more than a faint white scratch. It was functionally impenetrable.
Furthermore, its holy resistance was nearly total--holy light tended to have little effect on a mundane hunk of rock.
However, in the Heaven's Selection Space, a massive bonus almost always came with a corresponding price. The cost for the Red Arremer's immunity to blades and fists was...
A crippling vulnerability to blunt weapons, pickaxes, and drills!
And Chris just happened to have a "white label" sledgehammer he'd scavenged from his fallen "teammate," a loot drop from SD Final Fight.
[Two-handed Sledgehammer: Grade: White (Common) / Lv1. Type: Two-handed Hammer. Requirements: Strength 14. Weapon Damage: 12-22. Durability: 36/36.]
Neither Chris nor the hammer's previous owner, who had died within minutes of acquiring it, met the Strength requirement. But that didn't mean it was impossible to use.
Equipment requirements usually applied to higher tier magical items, those of Green, Blue, or higher grades that offered stat bonuses and special effects. If the requirements weren't met, those extras wouldn't trigger.
But that didn't stop a player from physically picking the damn thing up and swinging it.
It would be exhausting, but as long as you could swing it and hit something, the damage would still land.
Chris didn't know the exact specifications of the demon's racial talent, as this Elite version was an enhanced variant unique to the Heaven's Selection Space rather than a direct port from the original game.
However, his years of gaming experience had given him a deep library of knowledge to draw from. He could usually find a solution through analogy.
The moment he felt that rock like feedback from his cleaver, the term "Gargoyle" had flashed through his mind.
He'd played plenty of Undead in Warcraft III and spent enough time on the Dire side in Dota playing Visage to be intimately familiar with gargoyles.
The logical step was to trade his sharp blade for a blunt instrument.
Running was never an option. Now that the fight had begun, he was going to see it through to the end. Either he or the Red Arremer was dying today!
It was a shame he didn't have a pickaxe--that would have been even better than the hammer. As for punching a rock with his bare hands... he'd stopped doing that back in his Minecraft days.
The hammer's Strength requirement of 14 represented the point where one could use the weapon "effortlessly." With only 10 Strength, Chris couldn't manage a continuous, unhindered barrage, but he could certainly manage a few heavy, desperate swings before his stamina failed him.
He raised the hammer high and brought it down with everything he had.
His target: the Red Arremer's left knee.
It was a joint, the narrowest part of the limb and the easiest to shatter.
From the way he had targeted the wings earlier, it was clear that Chris lived by the philosophy of "better to sever one finger than to injure ten."
He was bold, meticulous, and intensely goal oriented. He loved "dancing on the edge of a blade." Some might call it a spirit of adventure; others would call it a self destructive streak.
Regardless, the blow landed. The Red Arremer, currently locked in its stone form due to the skill's cooldown, could do nothing but watch as its left knee shattered into dust. The lower leg separated from the thigh.
It wasn't just Chris's precision at work; the vulnerability of the stone form to blunt damage meant the blow dealt double its usual power.
His HP, which had just begun to recover to 170, plummeted again. It dropped straight to 146.
Because of his insufficient Strength, Chris's swing had only triggered the minimum weapon damage, but the double damage modifier for blunt-on-stone had more than compensated.
And Chris was far from finished.
He systematically moved from the left leg to the right, then from the right leg to the right arm. He circled the petrified demon, methodically dismantling its limbs in a ruthless execution of his "mutilation" logic.
Chris was also extremely cunning. He stayed on guard, aware that the stone form could end at any second. Even without limbs, the demon still had its mouth. He hadn't forgotten about its fireballs. He stayed well away from the demon's field of vision, hovering behind its pointed head and snuffing out its final hope for a desperate counterattack.
With its wings severed and its limbs shattered, the Elite Red Arremer beneath Chris's feet had been reduced to a pathetic "nugget" of a demon.
And Chris's caution proved to be justified.
The Red Arremer was an elite mercenary for a reason. In its final moments, it didn't beg for its life or scream empty threats. Instead, the moment it broke its stone form, Chris slammed its head into the dirt with his boot. The demon unleashed a final, desperate fireball that did nothing but create a cloud of thick, black smoke.
Even after making one mistake after another and facing certain death, the Red Arremer had tried to take a piece of Chris with it.
But when a bronze-colored treasure box popped out of the mangled, smoke-emitting corpse, the "Slay the Elite Red Arremer" side mission was officially over.
Cruel and cunning, Chris had achieved a rare feat: a flawless, no damage victory!
Yes, it was an achievement.
The moment the Red Arremer breathed its last, a small notification window popped up in the bottom right corner of Chris's vision. It looked exactly like a Steam achievement, and even the sound effect was a perfect copy.
Ignoring the possibility of a "Mimic" for a moment, Chris sat down on the bronze box. His metal boots were slick with sweat, and he took several deep, ragged breaths before opening the recording log.
[Limited Achievement: Red Arremer First Kill (Completed)]
[Condition: Within your first three trials in the Heaven's Selection Space, encounter a Red Arremer (Leader tier or higher) and defeat them solo without taking any damage.]
[Reward: Title, 'Enemy of the Red Arremer'; Permanent Agility +2; Permanent Fire Resistance +5%.]
[New Module Unlocked, 'Achievements.' See details for more.]
[Enemy of the Red Arremer: Grade: Blue (Rare). Type: Title (Growth type). You have successfully soloed an Elite tier Red Arremer, a conceptual manifestation of the countless players who had their dreams of beating 'Ghouls 'n Ghosts' crushed by this demon. You have avenged those players and thoroughly enraged the Red Arremer clan.
Effect (When Equipped):
You will immediately enter a state of high-aggro hostility with any 'Red Arremer' unit. Any Red Arremer that senses you has a high probability of launching a proactive attack.
Your final damage dealt to 'Red Arremer' and 'Gargoyle' units is increased by 1%.
For every Red Arremer you slay, your final damage bonus increases by +1%. For every non-Red Arremer Gargoyle you slay, the bonus increases by +0.5%.
When the final damage bonus reaches 100%, the title will undergo a growth evolution.]
[Title placement and removal can be adjusted at any time outside of combat.]
[You can only equip one Title at a time.]
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]