Volume 11: The Evil God Temple of the Seabed Chapter 9: Deep Within the Courtyard

Tethering the silver-haired siren statue and turning it over in his hands, Li Bin felt immensely proud and triumphant. Although the series of three consecutive battles had been exceptionally perilous, the harvest was by no means small. Not only had he acquired the corpses of three super bosses, but both his combat level and campaign level had also increased by 1, bringing his current levels to 9 and 12 respectively.

As long as Li Bin's combat level increased by just one more tier, he would be eligible to undertake the Great Mummy's racial advancement quest, at which point his abilities would be elevated once again.

At this moment, Moonwater Tianlian also hurried over. The Foot Monster burst into a loud laugh the moment he laid eyes on Li Bin and said, "I must say, brother, you really have what it takes. If it were me, I would have died at the hands of that old hag long ago."

Hearing this, Li Bin could only respond with a wry, helpless smile. "If I truly possessed such skill, the elite forces under my command wouldn't have been wiped out so completely. The battles ahead will rely entirely on you all."

"You can rest easy on that count. There is only one checkpoint left beyond this passageway, and I've fought the guardian boss stationed there before. I happen to have a foolproof method for dealing with him," Moonwater Tianlian declared with absolute certainty.

Hearing these words from Moonwater Tianlian, Li Bin did not say much else. He once again summoned a batch of cannon fodder troops, arranging them neatly at the very front of the entire formation.

Meanwhile, he led his remaining elite forces to follow deep within Moonwater Tianlian's main army, remotely directing the advance of the cannon fodder units from a safe distance.

Soon enough, they walked out of the passageway and arrived at a grand courtyard. Four different pathways branched out from the perimeter of the courtyard, leading to unknown destinations. The door to the central passage was tightly locked, while the left and right passages were guarded by a colossal boss.

This boss was completely different from the three bosses Li Bin had encountered initially, and neither Li Bin nor his companions doubted for a second whether this creature could single-handedly guard such a massive courtyard.

For right before Li Bin and the others was a giant crab stretching thirty meters in length, draped in heavy azure-colored armor. Its four massive claws snapped and waved menacingly as its entire body scuttled swiftly from the left doorway to the right doorway, and then traced its path right back, never stopping for even a single moment.

Moonwater Tianlian pointed at the giant crab and explained, "This Polar Sea Crab patrols back and forth between the left and right gates every minute, attacking any enemy daring enough to approach either entrance. If we wish to bypass it without fighting, we only have a thirty-second window to slip through one of the doors. If we choose to fight it, we only have twenty-five seconds to prepare."

Li Bin glanced at the two doors, understanding what Moonwater Tianlian meant by a thirty-second window for entry, yet remaining entirely puzzled by the notion of a twenty-five-second preparation time.

Noticing Li Bin's confusion, Moonwater Tianlian produced a small vial of potion and looked toward Li Bin, saying, "The moment I open this, the Polar Sea Crab will detect us, and we will truly have a fight on our hands."

"Let's fight it then," the Foot Monster interjected from the side. "How many people can we possibly squeeze through in thirty seconds? We might as well just take this guy down directly."

Hearing this, Li Bin nodded in agreement and said, "Let's fight."

"Very well. Once I open this vial, that Polar Sea Crab will fall into a stupor for twenty-five seconds, so you must use that window to tie him up."

"Tie him up?" Li Bin and the Foot Monster exclaimed simultaneously.

"Precisely. Bind his legs and all four claws tightly against his body," Moonwater Tianlian nodded and said.

"What? We aren't going to finish him off?" the Foot Monster asked.

"That fellow's armor is simply too thick. All attacks deal a meager 1 damage to him, yet his health pool exceeds 5,000, and he regenerates 5 health points every 10 seconds. Who on earth could ever beat him to death?" Moonwater Tianlian said with a twitch of his lips.

Hearing Moonwater Tianlian's explanation, dark lines shadowed the faces of Li Bin and the others. However, Moonwater Tianlian had no intention of waiting for them; he casually uncorked the vial and immediately charged forward with his subordinates.

Upon seeing this, Li Bin also led his troops to pounce upon the Polar Sea Crab. In the span of a mere three seconds, the already-stupefied Polar Sea Crab was flipped completely onto its back. Its numerous legs were pressed firmly against its torso, and countless ropes wound continuously around its form. In no time at all, the Polar Sea Crab was wrapped up tightly like a giant rice dumpling.

In truth, halfway through the binding process, the Polar Sea Crab had already regained consciousness. However, every movable joint across its entire body had been securely lashed down with ropes by Li Bin and his companions, leaving it no choice but to watch helplessly as they performed all sorts of manual indignities upon its body.

After dealing with the Polar Sea Crab, the Foot Monster remained somewhat skeptical of Moonwater Tianlian's claims and specifically ran a test using the crab's body. Yet when he witnessed how every single effort of his resulted in a pitiful deduction of only 1 point of damage, he too felt utterly defeated, and could only follow closely behind Moonwater Tianlian to deliberate on choosing between the left and right doors.

"The door on the left leads to the library; the guards inside consist of a mage-type boss and 12 evil priestesses. The door on the right leads to the knight encampment, guarded by a knight-type boss and 12 evil knights," Moonwater Tianlian stated. "Make your own choice as to where we go first."

"Moonwater Tianlian, you must have raided these two places before. Tell us, which one is easier to handle?" Li Bin asked instead of making an immediate choice.

"Neither is easy. I've raided the library three times, and my best record was slaying only 9 evil priestesses. As for the knight encampment, I've only attacked it once; I laid eyes on a single evil knight before my entire army was completely wiped out," Moonwater Tianlian said with a helpless grimace. "Truth be told, this is the farthest I have ever advanced in this domain."

"What? You haven't cleared it? Then let's not fight at all," the Foot Monster shouted loudly upon learning of the enemy's formidable strength. "We've already acquired so much loot anyway, let's just turn back..."

However, just as the Foot Monster retreated to the entrance through which they had originally entered, he suddenly let out a startled shriek: "Good heavens! What on earth is happening?"

Hearing this, Li Bin hurried over to take a look, only to discover that the passageway outside the courtyard gate had completely vanished, replaced entirely by an endless void of darkness.

"Moonwater Tianlian, what is the meaning of this?" Li Bin's tone turned somewhat rigid and cold.

"The outer passage has reset. To prevent people from repeatedly farming treasures and bosses, the system seals off the retreat route. If you want to get out, your only two options are to clear the entire dungeon or die trying," Moonwater Tianlian explained helplessly, though Li Bin and the others could catch a faint trace of amusement in his eyes.

At that moment, Li Bin felt a sudden urge to beat Moonwater Tianlian up. Had he known beforehand that such a condition awaited them, he certainly would not have brought all his Deathbringers, Liches, and Bone Dragons along.

It wouldn't matter much if he died, but losing all these elite subordinates would be a tragic waste. Now, the only course of action left for Li Bin was to push forward relentlessly, preferably clearing this dungeon in one go.

Naturally, realizing that all paths of retreat were completely severed, Li Bin no longer held back regarding the deployment of his Deathbringers. He assigned the remaining seven Deathbringers into the ranks of the Liches, explicitly instructing those Deathbringers that the moment they encountered enemies akin to the evil warriors, they were to dispense with hesitation and immediately cast Death Sentence.