CHAPTER 621: CHAPTER 620 DEATH ROLL

"Although Second Tier two star is actually quite high," Zhang Yanhang thought that just by virtue of the size, the Demonized Emperor Crocodile could completely crush the Goblin Shaman.

Well, perhaps not necessarily, since Goblin Shamans generally have many other Dragon Vein Goblins around them and never appear alone. Therefore, after fully buffing themselves, who would win and who would lose is really hard to say.

Goblin Shamans might indeed feel powerless when facing an opponent like Zhang Yanhang whose strength greatly surpasses their own, but when dealing with a Demonized Emperor Crocodile, which does indeed have a power disparity, yet not by that much, they should still have a fighting chance.

However, it remained unknown how many Dragon Vein Goblins would have to die to kill a Demonized Emperor Crocodile. Zhang Yanhang believed it should definitely not be in the triple digits, but it absolutely wouldn’t be below double digits either; plus, the Goblin Spear Throwers would definitely need to be included because their ranged attacks could likely inflict considerable damage.

"In that case, if it were a one-on-one, the Demonized Emperor Crocodile could indeed completely dominate the Goblin Shaman. However, if the Goblin Shaman maxes out his BUFFs before dying and hits the Demonized Emperor Crocodile with a Lightning Four-Strikes, the Demonized Emperor Crocodile wouldn’t be too well off either."

Unlike creatures that rely on normal attacks, the Dragon Vein Goblins depend on their lightning energy and skills to deal burst damage. Therefore, in terms of damage alone, they’re indeed outstanding, otherwise Zhang Yanhang’s energy shield wouldn’t have been broken.

"Moreover, this Demonized Emperor Crocodile, worthy of being a Second Tier two star demonized creature, indeed far surpasses those previous First Tier three star demonized creatures like the Demonized Maned Beast and the Demonized Dogtooth Giant Ape in terms of skill power."

"Especially this demonization skill, which has evolved from the previous ’Half-demonized’ into ’Demonization (Mutant)’, not only has the amplification strength increased, but the duration has also increased. Even the cooldown time has decreased."

Zhang Yanhang remembered that the original half-demonization skill could only increase three points of Strength, Agility, and Constitution attributes, while now it can increase five points of Strength, Agility, and Constitution.

While it seems to have only increased by two points, when you add up the attributes, the total increase is six points—from an amplification of nine points to fifteen points—thus, its overall potency has jumped, despite the side effects which have reduced intelligence and charm attributes by even more, from five points to seven points. But it was indeed more than worth it.

Moreover, side effects compared to the previous half-demonization had actually decreased. Before, it decreased five points of intelligence and charm, a total of ten attribute points in return for a nine-point increase in Strength, Agility, and Constitution. Compared to the reduction in intelligence and charm, there was actually a bit of a loss.

Now, it only lowered fourteen points of intelligence and charm but increased fifteen points of Strength, Agility, and Constitution attributes. It even reduced one point less of attribute values—a shift from -1 to +1 amounting to a two-point difference.

Therefore, compared to the previous half-demonization, this Demonization (Mutant) was indeed much more powerful. After all, the duration had also greatly increased to nine minutes, and at the same time, the cooldown was reduced, lowering the cooldown time från 60 minutes to 45 minutes—a 15-minute reduction.

Just a mere Second Tier two star demonized creature had already reached this level; Zhang Yanhang even wondered if the ultimate Third Tier Lord monster could possibly have no cooldown time and could activate and deactivate the demonization skill at will.

"The Demonized Emperor Crocodile has 35 points of Strength and 35 points of Constitution, at the peak of Second Tier two stars. With just a little more in attributes, it could immediately become a Second Tier three star monster, and after demonization, it could increase five points, taking its Strength and Constitution from 35 points to 40 points.

Thus, after activating the demonization skill, the Demonized Emperor Crocodile is akin to a Second Tier three star monster, and even among the most powerful of those. By that calculation, not to mention the ordinary Goblin Shamans, perhaps even Maka Bagga likely couldn’t defeat this creature and could only rely on a mass of minions to overwhelm it.

Furthermore, after activating the demonization skill, the Demonized Emperor Crocodile, originally weaker with only twenty-five points in Agility, could also immediately reach the nearly Second Tier two star level."

Of course, compared to Agility, the primary weakness of the Demonized Emperor Crocodile is still its slow wits and relatively limited means of attack, unable to cope with various ranged attacks, energy attacks—just suitable for close combat. If it’s just close combat, this thing could probably be more ferocious than a tank, after all, its sheer size is there, and even if weak, it can’t be too weak.

"And more so, apart from the attributes increased after entering the demonized state, the increased chances of triggering Spiritual Suppression and Demonization Infection after successful demonization are particularly terrifying.

Just the demonization skill and Dark Shock Wave combined have a 70% chance to trigger Spiritual Suppression and an 11% chance to trigger Demonization Infection, which are even higher than the total trigger probabilities of the previous Demonized Dogtooth Giant Ape with Talent Boost added.

If the Prehistoric Giant Beast’s Talent bonus is added, the triggering probability of Spiritual Suppression for the Demonized Emperor Crocodile has already reached a staggering 90%, and Demonization Infection will increase to 13.5%."

For this outcome, Zhang Yanhang could only say that he indeed underestimated the Second Tier demonized creatures before; he originally thought that even for Second Tier demonized creatures, the chance of triggering Spiritual Suppression was at most around seventy to eighty percent. Yet, it turned out the Demonized Emperor Crocodile hit ninety percent straightaway.

"Given the current situation, if there are any Second Tier three star or Second Tier four star monsters in the Demonized Swamp, their starting point would probably be a hundred percent chance of Spiritual Suppression, meaning any creature smaller than these demonized beings would be definitely hit, and even those of equal or larger size have a high probability of enforced trigger."

Zhang Yanhang figured that, if not for his Supreme Will Skill, clearing the later stages would probably involve battling under the negative status of continuous Spiritual Suppression—definitely a significant hassle. Moreover, more troublingly, the Spiritual Suppression itself might stack, making it all the more complicated.

Not to mention compared to merely reducing movement speed and defensive power, the more terrifying aspect was the Demonization Infection, which could cause severe physical deformities—after all, data remains data, and being digital doesn’t imply that even with severe physical deformities, normal combat capabilities could still be maintained.

Moreover, if the mutation happened in the brain, that would be even more horrifying—it might lead to instant death on the spot.

But fortunately, Zhang Yanhang’s current Supreme Will Skill, let alone these second-tier monsters and third-tier monsters, could even withstand the fourth and fifth tier monsters; so, truly, there wasn’t much to worry about—or rather, there was no need to worry about these demonized creatures triggering negative status effects through their skills.

"By the way, I clearly remember that the Emperor Crocodile, due to its body structure, supposedly doesn’t perform Death Rolls, and only the more recent Horror Crocodile does it. Yet the Emperor Crocodiles here actually use the Death Roll Skill. Could it be due to demonization?

It’s indeed quite likely, especially since the body size of the Emperor Crocodile here actually seems bigger than the ones I remember."

Zhang Yanhang was quite interested in Death Rolls, and if possible, he wanted to try and see what it felt like to be bitten.

What tempted Zhang Yanhang a little was that he now seemed to have the opportunity, as the demonized Emperor Crocodile, which had been joyfully swimming in the water, had already discovered Zhang Yanhang—this guy who had been following behind it—and began to attack him.

The thick tail of the demonized Emperor Crocodile acted like a spring, propelling the crocodile high out of the water like a whale breaching, and it lunged straight at Zhang Yanhang, who was not flying very high in the air, opening its gaping maw, which was even larger than the height of an average adult, to bite into Zhang Yanhang’s body.

Accompanied by a slightly dull sound, the demonized Emperor Crocodile successfully bit into Zhang Yanhang’s body, and then, under the effect of gravity, it fell heavily onto the river’s surface, splashing up white water several meters high—or rather, thick water columns.

At this moment, with his entire body enveloped by the mouth of the demonized Emperor Crocodile, with only his legs sticking out, Zhang Yanhang started pondering an important question: was this what they call "Swallowing"? If so, the experience of being swallowed was truly terrible.

Right now, Zhang Yanhang could clearly feel the sharp barbs on the upper jaw and tongue of the crocodile continuously poking at his chest and back; moreover, the circular conical sharp teeth on both sides of the crocodile’s mouth were ceaselessly gnawing at his arms.

Of course, these things weren’t very important. What was really crucial was that the teeth at the front end of the crocodile’s mouth were incessantly nibbling on his butt. Although not highly damaging, it was immensely humiliating; therefore, to protect his bottom, Zhang Yanhang was forced to switch his Energy Shield to its original oval shape, effectively becoming a true "Swallowed" victim.

Just when Zhang Yanhang wanted to move his body a little, whether it was because the demonized Emperor Crocodile felt that the guy in its mouth was too tough to chew, it suddenly activated its Demonization Skill.

Since he was located within the mouth of the demonized Emperor Crocodile, Zhang Yanhang had a clearer and more direct perception of the Demon Transformation—from the inside. He might not have felt much about other parts, but the barbs in the mouth left a deep impression. Not only did the barbs grow longer, but they also turned blacker and harder,

However, there was still a long way to go before the barbs could penetrate Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield; the barbs might need effort, but the teeth did not.

Perhaps partly because the weight advantage was enhanced in the teeth, coupled with the increased Strength Attribute after demonization, the teeth of the Demon King Emperor Crocodile could now actually break through the defense of the Energy Shield.

Even if each tooth of the demonized Emperor Crocodile only caused one point of damage per second and not all teeth could inflict damage, Zhang Yanhang was still losing double-digit damage every second.

Moreover, most crucially, this was continuous damage. If Zhang Yanhang couldn’t escape, it would probably take only about ten minutes for his Energy Shield to be penetrated, and he would be chewed alive by the demonized Emperor Crocodile.

"I didn’t expect the demonized Emperor Crocodile to be so terrifying. After activating the Demonization Skill, it really does become much stronger."

While Zhang Yanhang was reflecting on the formidable strength of the demonized Emperor Crocodile, whether it was because the demonized Emperor Crocodile realized that, despite being in a demonized state, it still couldn’t chew through its foe, it immediately unleashed a Dark Shock Wave.

Compared to the Demonized Maned Beast’s narrow black beam, which was only as thick as an ordinary adult’s arm, the demonized Emperor Crocodile, as a second-tier demonized creature, used the Dark Shock Wave and directly produced a black energy pillar as thick as an ordinary adult’s body.

And Zhang Yanhang, who was instantaneously smeared in the face by this thick black energy pillar, was surprised to find, whether it was because the Intelligent Attribute of the demonized Emperor Crocodile was relatively low, originally only twenty points, and had decreased by seven points after activating the Demonization Skill, leaving only thirteen points, this black energy pillar looked somewhat scary. But after hitting him, his Shield Value didn’t drop at all.

Instead, because it opened its mouth and the teeth that had been continuously inflicting sustained damage on Zhang Yanhang could no longer cause damage, it indirectly caused Zhang Yanhang, who had been hit by a Dark Shock Wave, to now possibly have his shield value fully replenished due to a buffering effect.

However, Zhang Yanhang couldn’t entirely ignore this Dark Shock Wave; the black fog swirling around his Energy Shield indicated that he had just been inflicted with a negative status by that Dark Shock Wave from the demonized Emperor Crocodile.

Even though this negative status lasted less than a second before it was purified by Supreme Will, it proved that the Dark Shock Wave of the demonized Emperor Crocodile did have an effect.

Although due to the low Intelligence Attribute responsible for enhancing energy damage, the Dark Shock Wave itself was not strong in attack power, this couldn’t be blamed on the demonized Emperor Crocodile. It was the fault of incomplete evolution. If the brain had evolved stronger, the Dark Shock Wave from the demonized Emperor Crocodile would definitely have done more than just scratch the surface.

Moreover, because the Dark Shock Wave was completely defended by Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield, he was not blown away by the impact it brought. Instead, he was still properly lying in the mouth of the demonized Emperor Crocodile.

Perhaps it was precisely because Zhang Yanhang was still lying in the mouth of the demonized Emperor Crocodile that, after using the Dark Shock Wave Skill, the demonized Emperor Crocodile, upon realizing that its previous attack was completely ineffective and hadn’t even managed to blow its enemy away, immediately closed its mouth again and directly activated the Death Roll Skill.