“I’m surprised the Elder Pandarens don’t seem to be affected by the firecrackers. They didn’t even flinch when those went off..” One of the spectators, a young teenager, wondered out loud.
“There are different types of firecrackers on sale in the village. The ones they used are smaller in size, and therefore there is also less of the explosive compound within them.” A young woman in her twenties who had done the dungeon once offered her insight.
“Most importantly, they’ve come prepared and are using earplugs. Their communication so far seems to revolve around the visors’ teamspeak option. Still, I gotta say they have guts to wield their firecrackers around like this. I would hesitate even if had the same fire-resistance inscription charms as them.” A middle-aged man chimed in as well.
“I see! But if that’s the case, why did the firecrackers not cause the dragon-like scales on Nian to break?” The teenager asked the two of them.
“I’m not too sure about that. Maybe only fireworks can make that happen?” The young woman seemed unsure.
“There’s a difference between the firecrackers and the firework?” The middle-aged man was surprised about such a revelation.
“Fireworks contain some gunpowder, but they also have the components to let it spark flashes in a variety of colours. Firecrackers might be essentially the same thing, but they are primarily designed to cause a loud bang.” The young woman explained.
“I think the Nian knows that those fire bolts can destroy her scales, making her vulnerable. That is why she tried to run away from it every time they get lit up. It could be the same for the fireworks too, just that Blind Cat Cultivator managed to aim with the use of his chi and scored a lucky direct hit.” An astute observer next to them shared his theory.
Everyone who had fought the Nian would agree that her sturdy dragon scales was the only thing preventing the cultivators from doing massive damage to her. But now with the real weakness exposed, she could be defeated relatively easily.
The Pandarens in the Cinema Hall who knew about it realised that Jin had included the myth of Nian being afraid of firecrackers as part of his dungeon mechanism. All of them had been fooled into thinking that Nian was merely afraid of the loud sounds, but when in reality, it was the underlying mechanism that would allow them to break her high defence scales. All along, she was agile enough to prevent any direct contact with the firecrackers.
Similar to the Christmas Devil Event, the audience quickly spread the word on how to fight Nian in the spoiler portion of the forum. After which, the crowd went wild when they witnessed a scene where one of the firecrackers the party had used managed to touch Nian’s scale. The Elder Panderens were desperately trying to score a hit so they could prove that the firecrackers were equally effective. True enough, when it impacted, it immediately exploded with a different kind of loud bang and a portion of the scales disappeared. However, in terms of damage, Nian didn’t even lose a single HP.
But it was not the Elder Pandarens who managed to score that firecracker hit. Only when the screen panned its camera to the side, did everyone see the culprit who threw the firecracker and it was none other than Bu Dong, the Angry Ape Pandawan. And right behind him was the bunch of explosives along with the firecrackers he was holding to.
“I heard you like these, you stupid beast! Here, I brought even more of them just for you!” Bu Dong taunted the Nian as he lifted them up. He had tied the explosives and firecrackers up with the most basic binding agents one could ever rely on.
Duct tape.
With lots of duct tape, he efficiently carried the mixed load of firecrackers and explosives with chi while bouncing it up and down. Nian saw the impending threat and summoned the entire stream of lava to surround the stone circle they were in. Without any further warning, the lava spread high and wide as if it was a tsunami wave waiting to be dropped into the circle and engulf the entire stone circle.
Despite being aware of the danger the Nian placed them in, the entire party were still going for the kill. Since the Nian had enclosed them in a kill box, there was nothing to do other than fight to the bitter end.
In such a high-stress situation, Bu Dong turned that fear into more anger as his chi enveloped the firecracker bombs. His fiery chi set the fuses alight, and he charged towards Nian as if he was carrying two large boulders on his shoulders.
The rest of the Pandarens also did their part with Zi Dan executing his Chain Ball Prison while Xia Mao kept control of Nian’s movements with the adept use of his fireworks shooter.
At the same time, Jing Yu conjured up her chi once more, and her clothed blades pulled down Nian while reinforcing Zi Dan’s Ball Chain Prison. The firecracker spear was wearing down from its prolonged use, and she too rather be using something she was proficient at.
Nian tried to get out of the imprisonment she was caught in, but after utilising her magic to call upon the tsunami wave of lava, her body had barely any energy left to resist, so she succumbed to the chains and blades. At that point, the waves were already crashing down, and Nian gambled on the lava destroying the explosives before it would reach her.
However, all of them had underestimated Bu Dong. The young Pandawan threw the ball of mixed firecracker bomb like some athlete during the Olympics. Once both explosive boulders were in midair, the firecrackers started to pop and exploded on impact with the Nian. The resulting explosion might even track on the Pepper’s scale (although at only 1/10) and was enough to deflect the falling lava.
As valiant as his effort was, it couldn’t help the team who was consumed by the incoming lava. Only instead of a black or ‘Game Over’, the spectators were greeted to the sight of five stone pillars emerging out of the pool of molten mess.
