Fierce beasts were nothing like ordinary wild beasts or magical creatures — they were primordial beings.
In the ancient era, fierce beasts were monsters capable of fighting gods head-on, and some had even slain gods outright.
In terms of life essence, they were no inferior to angels or dragons, possessing the ability to challenge opponents far above their level.
Shi Feng had witnessed major guilds attempt to take down fierce beasts on multiple occasions, and the battles were nothing short of brutal.
An army of over ten thousand players — all elite-tier — backed by hundreds of top-level experts. These weren't ordinary experts either; by Divine Realm's classification, they were all first-rate or top-tier players. Everyone was above level 100, and among them were quite a few who had already advanced to the third rank. Yet the fierce beast they were fighting was only level 90. In the end, ninety-five percent of the elite players were wiped out, and more than half of the experts fell — and only then did they manage to kill the beast.
The gap between level 90 and level 100 for players was enormous — comparable to the difference between level 40 and level 50. Stats would jump up an entire tier, and monsters worked the same way.
Even with that one-tier advantage, the casualties had been devastating.
Although the Nine-Headed Demon Serpent before him was only a Grand Lord — nowhere near the High Grand Lord-level fierce beast from that battle — its level was still far higher than Shi Feng's.
A level 55 Grand Lord fierce beast would require at least level 60+ players to have a shot.
In Shi Feng's estimation, to take down this Nine-Headed Demon Serpent, the minimum requirement would be five hundred second-rank players at level 60 or above, and their gear would have to be exceptional — especially their weapons, which needed to be at least Dark Gold-grade or higher. Anything less was just feeding yourself to the beast.
Because unlike other monsters, fierce beasts didn't just possess terrifying combat power — they also carried the life force of the primordial era.
Other monsters recovered 1% of their HP every five seconds during combat.
Fierce beasts recovered 3% every five seconds. Fierce beasts already had some of the highest HP pools among monsters, and with triple the recovery rate, they were practically a bug in the system.
The Nine-Headed Demon Serpent had 90 million HP. In combat, it recovered 2.7 million hit points every five seconds. Even if Shi Feng's damage were multiplied tenfold, the serpent could just stand there and not fight back — and he still wouldn't be able to kill it.
With such a fierce beast guarding the stone gate, one could only imagine how difficult the Solomon's Treasure quest truly was.
Even an Epic-tier quest probably wouldn't be this hard.
"Thank goodness I don't actually need to kill the Nine-Headed Demon Serpent to get through the gate." Shi Feng glanced at a circular hole carved into the stone door — perfectly sized to fit an Elemental Core — and let out a breath of relief.
Whiteman had said the Elemental Core served as both a map and a key.
Right now the gate was sealed; he just needed to use the Elemental Core to open it. And given the Nine-Headed Demon Serpent's enormous body, there was no way it could fit through the gate. As long as he got inside, he should be safe.
But opening the gate right in front of the serpent — that was no simple task.
"I suppose I'll have to sacrifice the Infernal Demon." Shi Feng checked the timer on the Infernal Demon — it had very little time left anyway. Since it was going to disappear sooner or later, it might as well serve one last purpose.
The Infernal Demon had 13 million HP. That should buy a fair amount of time.
He immediately activated Phantom Kill, sending his clone away from the area so he'd have an escape route if things went south.
While the clone retreated, Shi Feng directed the Infernal Demon to charge straight at the Nine-Headed Demon Serpent.
At just over three meters tall, the Infernal Demon was like a tiny ant in front of the thirty-meter serpent — a single bite could probably swallow dozens of them.
The Infernal Demon rushed to within thirty yards of the serpent, which simply yawned and flicked its tail. Like a small mountain hurtling through the air, the tail appeared before the Infernal Demon in an instant. Shi Feng didn't even have time to react — the demon he was controlling was sent flying, slamming deep into the stone wall beside them.
A damage number appeared above the Infernal Demon's head — the highest Shi Feng had ever seen.
-267,849 Even Shi Feng's mouth twitched at the sight.
That damage was far higher than he'd estimated.