Chapter 119 Two Sides

Let's split the tale into two.

Leaving aside the result of Link's battle, let's observe the situation in the Mirror Realm...

At this moment, the members of Order finally understood the meaning of Feng Bujue's phrase: "Before the Six Directions Mirror, all beings are equal."

After several probes, the players discovered... that the Mirror Demon's main abilities were not complex; in fact, they were "reflection" and "feedback."

The former could transmit the attacker's murderous aura back completely, and the latter... was "damage feedback."

Please note that it is "feedback" rather than "reflection."

Reflection refers to the defending side "bouncing" all or part of the attacking side's released energy back; while the Mirror Demon's feedback is another principle...

Take Asura's Bawang Quan (Overlord Fist) as an example... At that time, the skill undoubtedly hit the Mirror Demon, and the energy of the attack was completely eaten by the Mirror Demon, without any "reflection" returning.

After being hit, the Mirror Demon was naturally injured. How serious was the injury? To put it in numbers—it was about 21% of the total health; and this value was the damage difference produced by the interaction between the "destructive power of [Asura Bawang Quan-Modified]" and the "Mirror Demon's survival value and defense power."

The part "fed back" by the Mirror Demon was precisely this already calculated "damage difference." That is: how much the Mirror Demon is injured, the attacker suffers the same proportion of damage.

Why did the Mirror Demon say to Asura, "If my body were as weak as yours, you would have died long ago?" Its real meaning was... "If my defense and health were not high enough, you would have killed yourself while killing me."

Seeing this, some people may think—the Six Directions Mirror Demon doesn't seem very strong, at least this "feedback" ability is a bit of a chicken rib.

But in fact... the reason for this "chicken rib" existence is because it is "too powerful" in itself, and the system had no choice but to turn its ability into this.

Just imagine, a monster that only loses 21% of its health after taking [Asura Bawang Quan-Modified] head-on, what is the concept of its defense power and survival value... If the Mirror Demon's "feedback" is changed to "reflection", or "feedback by damage ratio" is changed to "feedback by power", then it basically doesn't need to do anything, just stand there and be beaten to death and it can bounce all its opponents to death.

In short, the Mirror Demon's ability as a "god", or rather its design concept, is mainly reflected in the "defense" aspect.

It does not have much exaggerated destructive power, no particularly effective control skills, and no ability to suppress players' physical skills or body size...

The Six Directions Mirror Demon is a "defensive" monster that has an absolute advantage in a "war of attrition."

Aside from the ability to reflect damage, its health is very, very high, its defense is very, very high, and the most outrageous thing is... it also has an astonishing health recovery rate. It's like those late-stage Bosses that frequently appear in the Robot Wars series... its ability to withstand hits is obviously as stinky and hard as shit, but it can automatically recover 10% of its maximum health every round. Anyway, it just grinds you down like this. If you haven't been able to handle it after you've used up all the spirit and ammunition of your entire team, then just give up... the more you fight, the more desperate you will become.

And what Asura said before—"the method to defeat the Mirror Demon", is roughly the same as the Boss battle tactics in Robot Wars.

The first step is for the six people, including him... all to step forward and surround the Boss.

The second step is to find the most comfortable output position and think about the means of output.

The third step is for everyone to simultaneously launch a continuous, rhythmic offensive against the Boss.

As for the method of attack, Asura has also thought about it; there is no need to use moves with amazing power, because that kind of move often has a long cooldown, consumes a lot of energy, and increases the damage ratio of "feedback"; his strategy is... everyone just uses conventional attack methods to fight, as long as they ensure that the intensity of the attack can break the Mirror Demon's defense.

Asura's idea is theoretically feasible: assuming... that he and the five members of Order can cause 1% damage to the Boss per second (taking the average value), then there will be 6% damage in one second; and assuming... that the Mirror Demon's health recovery per second is between 2% and 4%; extrapolating at this ratio, the Mirror Demon will definitely die in half a minute at the fastest and one minute at the slowest. And at that time, the survival value of their six attackers, on average... each person will only lose about half of their health at most, and if all goes well, they will only lose less than 30%.

It has to be said that this is indeed a rather clever tactic, at least the tactical thinking is very correct.

Unfortunately, he ultimately miscalculated one thing...

"What's wrong?" After fighting for nearly five minutes, the Mirror Demon saw that the players' attacks were gradually slowing down, and asked, "Everyone... are you unable to fight anymore?"

"Stop talking nonsense! Can't I take a breath!" Gui Xiao replied in a fierce tone.

"I'm just... hiccup~" Meng Jingchan smiled wryly, "I drank too much wine, I'm a little drunk."

"Stop pretending, I think you're using too much force and being over-injured by the feedback..." Sheng Yu Pian (Raw Fish Slice) chose to remind Brother Chan to pay attention to controlling his health by using sarcasm.

"Stop saying useless things there..." Wu Sican Xuan (Comprehending Mysteries Through Death) was more pragmatic. During the gap in his moves, he turned his head and glanced at Asura, "I said... did you miscalculate something?"

"Hah... no... impossible..." Asura's face was very ugly. The dual pressure of physical and mental energy made him sweat profusely, "It should have died long ago!"

"I don't know when it will die, I only know that I have only one blood bottle left... Counting the decay effect of multiple blood replenishments in a short period of time, I should burn incense if this last bottle can recover 10%." Zui Wo Changran (Drunkenly Lying, Lost) didn't pant much when he responded.

This guy is really powerful... From the moment he entered the Mirror Realm, he has basically been responsible for clearing monsters for the entire team; not long ago, he also released a [Long Quan-Baofa (Dragon Fist-Burst)] when besieging Feng Bujue; but right now, when the attacks of other people have begun to slow down, only Zui Wo Changran's rhythm has not been disturbed at all.

Perhaps outsiders can't see anything special, but slightly more skilled professional players can understand... this is the performance of "controlling physical energy" being superb.

For example... for a standing jump, the general public's physical energy consumption may be between 3 points and 5 points. Only by deliberately adjusting their breathing and movements can they possibly complete it with only 2 points; while Zui Wo Changran does it, it is naturally 2 points. The average physical energy consumption of ordinary people doing ten such jumps is probably 4; while Zui Wo Changran doing ten such jumps... will be 2 points each time.

Taking this as an example, from small to large, accumulating little by little, even without counting recovery power, the difference is considerable.

And this... is not some kind of talent, it is purely a skill learned through hard training. They are also professional players, why are some able to reach the top and be revered as gods by many players? And why can some only mix in the second or third tier, acting as substitutes? Admittedly, talent is very important, but to reach the peak, one must have the awareness of "not treating oneself as a human being in training" in order to touch the fields that ordinary people cannot touch.

"Hehe... how ridiculous..." Listening to everyone's conversation, the Mirror Demon laughed. The yin and yang laughter made people shudder, "Clearly knowing nothing, you are still confidently talking about some 'plan'."

At the beginning of the battle, Asura was explaining the tactics to the Order members while fighting, anyway, he was not afraid of being heard by the other party.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, this has become the Mirror Demon's capital to laugh at them...

"You few... should be considered extremely strong among your kind, right?" The demon aura in the Six Directions Mirror was rising with the Mirror Demon's tone, "So, when you discerned part of my abilities, you took it for granted that you could kill me." It sneered, "Hmph... but have you ever thought about, besides abilities, what else... affects the outcome?" Its voice became higher and higher, "What are the basic factors that determine 'strength' and 'weakness'!"

Hearing this, Gui Xiao was the first to react and muttered, "Strength...?"

"Hahaha... correct answer!" The Mirror Demon laughed loudly and turned the mirror surface to the four of Zui Sheng Meng Si (Drunken Life, Dream Death), "You should have noticed it too, right? In fact... when I had not yet been freed from the 'seal', I was already testing your strength."

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the four people changed. Their reactions were all very quick, and they immediately understood... why they kept encountering blocking monsters along the way, why the combat power of the blocking monsters gradually increased, and... why when they decided to stop, the Mirror Demon would actively transform into a black ball, forcing them to move forward.

"Unfortunately... I didn't observe too much, because you are very strong..." The Mirror Demon continued, "The demons that I released in my state at that time could not make you use your true skills at all." It paused, "Of course, that doesn't matter. After the seal is broken, it's the same for me to test you personally."

During the Mirror Demon's words, the players' attacks had stopped. Looking at the demon aura that was spreading out from the mirror, they all instinctively felt danger...

"Looking back at you few... hehe... you know almost nothing about me, and you think you can win me just by glimpsing some superficial things." The Mirror Demon's words continued, "You are really ignorant and deserve to die..."

At this point, the Mirror Demon's tone returned to calmness, and the demon aura that spread out from the mirror gradually materialized, becoming demons and ghosts with physical bodies.

"I might as well tell you clearly..." The Mirror Demon raised its disheveled head, "The kind of painless attacks you just did will never kill me..." Its next line could be described as terrifying, "I can recover 30% of my strength in a single breath..."

The players understood as soon as they heard it that the monster's health recovery per second far exceeded the number they had estimated... its actual value was as high as 30% or more.

"You..." At this time, the Mirror Demon had almost finished speaking, "You should obediently die and let your souls return to my wonderful mirror realm!"