【Red Demon: Elite Template, Demon World Demon. HP=200, MP=35. Strength 10, Agility 15, Spirit 7, Charisma 5. 】
【Demon Trait—Fire Gargoyle 】
Since Cheng Tian did not possess any scouting Skills, he could not see the Red Demon's specific Panel.
But this did not stop him from clearly understanding that the Red Demon was a high-Agility unit far surpassing him.
In the original Famicom version, the Red Demon was notoriously fast, moving unpredictably, capable of free Flight, and a terrifying existence that could spew Fireballs.
This was the main reason Cheng Tian did not immediately use Polymorph.
After all, this was not a Polymorph that acted directly on the target like in Warcraft, but a Spell with a ballistic trajectory, meaning the possibility of evasion by a high-Agility unit was extremely high.
The Red Demon's action logic was exactly as Cheng Tian remembered: it immediately chose to create distance, flying high into the air to look down upon him.
However, what Cheng Tian did not know was that a large part of the reason the Red Demon acted this way was due to him.
From the Red Demon's perspective, a strange Human clad in Kingdom Knight Armor, wearing a twisted expression on his face comparable to a Demon World Demon, charging straight toward a true Demon World Demon like itself without dodging or yielding, was an overly counter-intuitive action.
Although mockingly called the all-attending Grunt of the Demon World, it was precisely because of this that the Red Demon Clan had accumulated vast Combat experience, which was passed down.
The Red Demon was not unfamiliar with Human Kingdom Knights, nor their strongest member, Arthur, but even they, who had stormed the Demon King's Castle and Seized the Map, had never performed such a reckless act.
This made the Red Demon feel suspicious, so it chose to keep its distance to observe.
But just as the Red Demon thought the Human below could only stare helplessly, it saw the opponent throw the Little Demon Cleaver held in his hand toward the sky without hesitation.
The Cleaver spun clockwise as it flew in a parabola toward the hovering Red Demon.
Yet, even though the Cleaver had been thrown, the opponent's hand still held an identical Blade.
Almost instantly, the Red Demon recognized the origin of this move, while simultaneously wondering.
Shouldn't Arthur be a bearded man? Did he take time off to shave off all his beard?
Despite the confusion, vast practical mercenary experience allowed the Red Demon to quickly react with a sideways dodge; the Cleaver, having reached the apex of its parabola, failed to hit anything.
At this moment, however, the Red Demon executed a low dive, plunging downward.
The Red Demon was now largely convinced that Cheng Tian was either Arthur or Arthur's successor, and one who wielded an inferior Weapon, rendering his throwing ability almost harmless.
How much Output and threat Arthur's throwing ability possessed depended entirely on the Weapon he currently held.
Taking the original game as an example, most Players probably preferred the Small Knife; the Small Knife's straight flight trajectory and high Attack Speed were enough to deal with ninety-nine percent of the Demon World Village Monsters.
The Knight Spear that came standard was mediocre; its flight trajectory was straight, and its Attack Speed was average. While not ideal, it was usable.
But the most frustrating one had to be the "Fireball."
The Fireball's throwing speed was similar to the Knight Spear, but its trajectory was a slight parabola. Not only was its attack range very short, but there was also a Possibility of it flying over the Enemy's head without making contact.
Although the Fireball could generate a small Fire Wall upon landing that lasted for about 1 second, which could damage Enemies, this still couldn't hide the Fireball's biggest disadvantage.
If the Fireball could barely be used against Zombies or Crows, bringing it against a Red Demon was practically courting death.
The single-handed Cleaver that Cheng Tian could only throw in a parabola was seen by the Red Demon as being in a similar situation, meaning Cheng Tian posed little threat to the great Red Demon.
Arthur was famously known for having almost zero Close Combat ability; an Arthur successfully engaged in Close Combat by a Demon would basically only face the fate of having his Armor shattered, running around in Strawberry Underwear, and finally being turned into a skeleton by an elbow strike.
Facing the diving Red Demon, Cheng Tian hastily threw out another Throwing Object, a Cleaver, but it still yielded no result. The Red Demon, like a nimble fighter jet, successfully evaded the second knife by tilting its Wings and body forty-five degrees to the right.
At this point, the Red Demon believed Cheng Tian was out of tricks. Even if he had one more throw left, its physical toughness was enough to withstand one hit, requiring no evasion at all.
And with just one opportunity, the Red Demon could directly crack open the Human's tin can and feast on the delicious Human Flesh and Blood inside.
Extending its Claws, the Red Demon seemed to already visualize the scene of the Human being opened.
However, just then, a stick that looked somewhat familiar to the Red Demon suddenly emerged from Cheng Mouren's left hand.
But before the Red Demon could complete its mental search, Magic Missile in the shape of a Hexagram erupted from the tip of the staff aimed at it.
"For Satan's sake!"
The Red Demon, now completely recognizing the source of the Polymorph, showed shock and anger, but because it had already prepared to stand its ground without dodging, its Acceleration was too fast, preventing lateral movement, causing it to crash directly into the Hexagram.
Accompanied by a small puff of smoke, the Red Demon had transformed into a shocked and angry Summer Duck, entirely red-feathered, with a pointed head and a duck bill that looked more like a bird's beak.
Polymorph, Hit!
Cheng Tian here actually utilized a mechanism related to equipment switching inherent to a Chosen Player.
Simply put, while in Combat State, Players cannot arbitrarily switch the equipment currently held with backup equipment in their Inventory via thought.
For example, when Cheng Tian was holding the Little Demon Cleaver in his Main Hand, if he switched it to the Baseball Bat in his Inventory, the two items would swap positions, but the Baseball Bat moved to the Main Hand Equipment Slot would display a 6-second Countdown; during these 6 seconds, the Baseball Bat could neither be used nor swapped again.
This is somewhat similar to Dota's settings.
However, Cheng Tian exploited a minor mechanism that wasn't quite a BUG: he had removed the Off Hand Weapon and placed it in his Inventory before entering the Combat State.
And equipping an item temporarily while empty-handed allows for immediate effect.
It was by using this method that Cheng Tian successfully concealed the Vampire Gentleman's Cane, combined with the Red Demon's inherent mental bias—believing Cheng Tian only possessed one relatively harmless Weapon—that led to the current outcome.
Without a single wasted word, without any useless maneuvers, what awaited the red-headed Duck Demon was Cheng Tian's extremely cruel and targeted assault—
Cheng Tian immediately dropped the Cane, sidestepped, raised his hand, grabbed the flapping Duck Wing, and then raised the Little Demon Cleaver, hacking fiercely toward the base of the Duck Wing!