Volume 11: The Evil Temple of the Seabed Chapter 1: The Entrance of the Evil Temple

Just as Libin and his companions had made thorough preparations and were about to enter the Evil Shrine, a flying fish, commonly seen skimming the ocean surface, suddenly darted out from the direction they had just come.

Shuiyue Tianlian and the others paused for a moment, and just as they reached out to catch the flying fish, it flew straight into Libin's hand. Libin looked down and smiled, saying, "This is an undead flying fish, my communications scout in the sea. Its level is quite decent..."

However, before Libin could finish his sentence, his expression suddenly turned exceptionally excited. After a moment, he burst into loud laughter, "Ha,ha! That Xuanyu actually refused to give up and went to attack my city. Thanks to the efforts of my subordinate heroes, he has tasted defeat once again."

Upon hearing this, Foot Monster immediately congratulated Libin, while Shuiyue Tianlian frowned and asked, "Do you know how many troops Xuanyu brought and how many he lost?"

Libin took another careful look at the newly delivered report and finally replied, "He brought one cohort of troops, ranging from level 6 to level 9. Not many made it back alive—only 17."

Hearing this, Shuiyue Tianlian grew even more tense. "Not good. He is culling his troops; he is preparing to come to the Evil Shrine."

Knowing that Shuiyue Tianlian had been at odds with Xuanyu for a long time and that his judgments were rarely wrong, Libin asked, "Should we leave some personnel behind to deal with Xuanyu?"

"That won't be necessary. I know Xuanyu; 17 combat heroes are far from enough for him. He won't come here without absolute certainty," Shuiyue Tianlian said with conviction.

"Alright, stop talking about this fellow. Can we go in now? I can't wait any longer," said Foot Monster anxiously, looking at the two who were discussing matters on the side.

Shuiyue Tianlian smiled bitterly at Foot Monster and said, "Little one, you must never rush into things. Impetuosity leads to losses."

"You two are just too dawdling," Foot Monster said dismissively, glancing at Shuiyue Tianlian. "If it were just me, I would have charged in long ago."

Shuiyue Tianlian shook his head. Without saying another word, he led his troops up the steps. They had not gone far before his subordinates quickly formed a defensive array.

Seeing this, Libin and his companions did not dare to lag behind and hurriedly arranged defensive measures for their own troops. Before Libin's side was even fully prepared, a system prompt chimed in his mind: "You have been attacked by the first patrol of the Evil Shrine. Evil Shrine instance completion: 0%."

Libin had no time to ask Shuiyue Tianlian what this completion rate meant. He saw about seven squads of troops closing in on them from all four directions.

Upon closer inspection, Libin discovered that these forces were a mixed hybrid unit composed of the various Evil Shrine troops they had encountered along the way. Led by a pitch-black Evil Shrine hero, they charged rapidly toward Libin's position.

While reinforcing his subordinates' defense, Shuiyue Tianlian shouted loudly, "Everyone, be careful! These are mid-tier troops upgraded to level 11. Do not be careless."

Hearing this, Libin and Foot Monster did not dare to take them lightly. They first secured their own defenses before engaging the enemies rushing toward them.

Unexpectedly, this patrol squad was already accustomed to dealing with forces assaulting the Evil Shrine. Before Libin and his men could fully prepare, they were subjected to a comprehensive suppression fire from the Evil Shrine's crossbow-toting tortoises at the very rear of the enemy formation.

Realizing this approach was not working, Libin intended to send out cannon fodder troops to pave the way. However, the patrol squad had anticipated this move; before Libin's cannon fodder could even set out, they were already locked within the enemy's primary strike zone.

The Evil Shrine mermaids, which had previously caused Libin considerable trouble, launched direct mental attacks targeting the cannon fodder troops. These cannon fodder units were meant to be expended anyway, so Libin paid little attention to their status—until forty or fifty of them fell under the mental control of the Evil Shrine mermaids and turned to launch a counter-charge against Libin's main camp, at which point he realized something was amiss.

Nevertheless, having survived large-scale wars involving tens of thousands of troops, Libin was well-equipped to handle such minor chaos.

Instead of dispatching elite troops from his main camp to suppress these chaotic undead Evil Shrine mermen, he simply pointed straight at the Evil Shrine mermaids, and the cannon fodder units still under his command pressed forward directly.

Those chaotic undead Evil Shrine mermen stood no chance against such a massive horde. Any unusual movement on their part resulted in immediate execution by the surrounding cannon fodder. By the time they reached the vicinity of the Evil Shrine mermaids, the mermen controlled by the enemy had accomplished nothing at all.

This enraged the patrol's commanding Evil Shrine hero, who shrieked in fury. Realizing the situation was turning against him, he immediately shifted his target to the three heroes: Libin, Shuiyue Tianlian, and Foot Monster.

However, the battlefield was now firmly under Shuiyue Tianlian's control. His subordinate magic hero, Naya, froze the enemy hero in place with a single ice-sealing spell.

Seizing the rare opportunity and ignoring the enemies surrounding him, Foot Monster swept up the frozen Evil Shrine hero and smashed him heavily against the stone steps.

When the ice encasing the Evil Shrine hero shattered, the hero had almost no health points left.

With the hero dead and command gone, the remaining troops were no longer viewed as a threat by Libin and his allies. The seven squads of enemies totaled no more than sixty individuals. Lacking leadership, they could not even defeat Libin's cannon fodder. Within moments, these Evil Shrine creatures were reduced to corpses, stored as material inside Carter's mechanical cart trailing behind the group.

After dealing with the enemies, Libin replenished the number of his cannon fodder troops and asked, "Shuiyue Tianlian, what is this instance completion rate about?"

Flipping through the equipment left behind by the defeated troops, Shuiyue Tianlian replied, "That is the progress meter for a unique instance. It's used to calculate your rewards at the end. It resets to zero as soon as you leave the instance. The highest I've ever reached was twenty-seven percent."

"Then did you go exchange it for rewards?" Libin glanced at Shuiyue Tianlian.

"No," Shuiyue Tianlian said, gazing toward the depths of the Evil Shrine. "You can only exchange for rewards once you reach the Evil Shrine's treasury."

"Then you mean to say that besides fighting your way in, there are other ways to enter the Evil Shrine?" Libin caught the underlying meaning in Shuiyue Tianlian's words.

"You could say that. But would you give up better rewards? Keep in mind that once this instance is cleared, it's gone forever."

"If it were me, I certainly wouldn't give it up," Foot Monster chimed in loudly, having listened to the conversation from the side.