Luo Wei's speed was greatly reduced, and the clay puppet rushed in immediately, raising its hand to strike. Its hands, having no fingers, made the punch look more like a hammer.
Luo Wei attempted to raise his hammer to block, but no matter what he did, he couldn't move quickly enough.
He tried to dodge again, but was too slow. He could only watch as the mud puppet's punch landed squarely on his face.
"Boom!"
Lao Tzu's handsome face!
Luo Wei cursed inwardly, feeling the impact of the punch. He was knocked back by the clay puppet and landed awkwardly on the ground.
Fortunately, the puppet's fist wasn't very hard. Although it left him seeing stars for a moment, it wasn't a serious blow. He rubbed his nose and quickly rose to his feet.
After the clay puppet struck, Luo Wei realized he couldn't dodge in time. Even as he gripped Verrigan's fist tightly, when the puppet closed in, he released the holy light that surged from his hand.
Holy Light Strike!
The holy light and flames intertwined on the warhammer and struck straight for the puppet's fist.
"Boom!"
The clay puppet's fist didn't stand a chance against Verrigan's strike. Half of its right arm was immediately blown away, with debris scattering in all directions.
But the clay puppet didn't seem to mind. It swung its left fist, knocking Luo Wei back once again.
Although the clay puppet's punches weren't overly hard, two consecutive hits to the face weren't pleasant.
Luo Wei saw stars, his nose throbbing. He barely managed to get up before the puppet charged toward him again.
The deceleration effect had weakened slightly, but he managed to get some distance from the puppet, gasping for breath.
He stood still, watching the puppet vigilantly.
After the battle, he had realized that the clay puppet wasn't intelligent. It lacked strategy, speech, and only performed a few simple movements.
That didn't mean it was easy to defeat.
Right in front of him, Luo Wei noticed the puppet's right arm, which had been blown off earlier, slowly regenerating. The arm eventually grew back and became as strong as it had been before.
Luo Wei's eyes widened.
"It can regenerate!"
But then he calmed himself. As the arm regenerated, he noticed the puppet's body shrinking in size.
It wasn't immortal—it was using soil from other parts of its body to rebuild its lost limbs.
Luo Wei thought for a moment before gritting his teeth and charging forward with his warhammer raised.
The clay puppet continued charging at a constant speed, ready to strike with a punch.
Just as they were about to collide, Luo Wei ducked under the puppet's fist and swung his warhammer.
Holy Light Strike!
Amidst the holy light and flames, Verrigan's strike severed the clay puppet's right leg.
The puppet lost its balance and crashed to the ground with a loud "boom!"
"Now let's see how you fight back!" Luo Wei seized the moment, rolling forward and pressing down on the puppet. He raised Verrigan's fist, ready to smash its head.
Unexpectedly, the clay puppet didn't care about its position. Whether it was lying on the ground or standing, its posture didn't change. It raised its hand and blocked Verrigan's strike.
"Boom!"
Despite the puppet's block, one of its arms exploded again. It immediately countered with another strike, punching Luo Wei in the chest.
Luo Wei's chest stung from the blow, and he was knocked back. He quickly rolled over, rubbing his chest as he watched the puppet.
As expected, the clay puppet's broken limbs had regenerated.
After losing two arms and one leg, its size had shrunk significantly, about half of its original size—roughly the same size as Luo Wei now.
"Keep going!"
Luo Wei mentally encouraged himself as he roared and charged forward again.
The two sides exchanged blow after blow, with Luo Wei finally delivering a devastating strike that shattered the clay puppet completely, turning it into a cloud of dust.
"Finally!"
Luo Wei collapsed onto the ground, exhausted and gasping for air.
An ordinary monster had taken so much effort—more than the rare monster Graf Sharptooth.
But after thinking about it, he realized there was no necessary connection between rarity and strength. The power of a monster was determined by its level, and rarity simply affected the type of loot dropped.
Time to check the drops from this clay puppet.
Luo Wei picked up the drop list.
He received [Devotion 17.25] and the [Book of Experience: Rock Golem].
Considering it was a common monster, the loot was decent—after all, most common monsters only dropped a bit of devotion.
Luo Wei opened the Book of Experience to inspect it.
[Book of Experience: Rock Golem]
Experience Level: Level 4
A fourth-level monster… the same level as Uncle Hogg.
Luo Wei estimated he wasn't strong enough to take it on, but curiosity got the better of him, so he decided to take a look.
The experience space of the rock golem was similar to the clay puppet's, with nothing particularly interesting in the forest and grass.
However, there were notable differences between the two types of puppets. For one, the rock golem was much larger, standing about twice the size of Luo Wei.
As its name suggested, the rock golem was made of rock, not clay.
Luo Wei spotted the rock golem, and it immediately noticed him.
He clenched Verrigan's fist, staying alert, recalling his battle with the clay golem, and speculating on the rock golem's fighting style.
The rock golem raised its hand and swung.
Could it be a deceleration skill again?
Luo Wei braced himself, trying to dodge.
However, the rock golem threw its right hand, transforming it into a massive rock that shot toward Luo Wei.
The rock traveled so fast that Luo Wei didn't have time to react, and it struck him dead on.
"Boom!"
Luo Wei was thrown back into reality.
This puppet was too powerful, he thought, and suddenly remembered where he had seen these types of puppets before.
Slowing down, throwing rocks… This was reminiscent of the Stone Golems from Warcraft!
No wonder they were so powerful. The golems from Warcraft were one of the toughest monsters in the wild, easily crushed by even a giant dragon.
Luo Wei took a deep breath, shook off his thoughts about the Stone Golem, and began sorting through the gold and silver jewelry he had taken from Lord Skrins.
Gold coins weren't noteworthy, but the gems needed identification.
[First-Level Items: Donations can earn 9.51 piety.]
[Second-Level Items: Donations can earn 17.66 piety.]
...
After identifying the jewelry, Luo Wei discovered one third-level gem and several first- and second-level gems. He decided to hold onto the third-level gem for now and sell the others.
Of course, he didn't plan to sell the gems directly for piety—that would be a loss. Instead, he'd convert them into gold coins for better value.
Every time he thought about this, he couldn't help but chuckle. How can you worship money when you have a holy deed like this?
After donating a large amount of gold coins, Luo Wei checked his piety balance: 4452.
Ignoring the decimals, he smiled at his progress.
Time to try drawing a prize.
He bought a gift of fate, expecting it to be a token of gratitude, but when he saw the reward, his eyes widened in shock.