At first, they were happy since it seemed the Deep Ones wished for a one on one match as merely two of them had taken the initiative to attack out of the few that jumped from the second floor. The rest were either standing on the 2nd floor observing the fight or lurking at the sides of the main concourse, guarding the exits in case they decided to run away.
Judging from how quickly they died previously, the Pandawan Duo figured it would be simple to kill them before they executed their plans of escaping. They want to show that they were not the ones to be messed with either. (Besides, if all they do is to escape, what fun would it be for a dungeon instance?) While the Deep Ones slowly made their way towards Shi Zuo and Bin Yong, they were already looking out for possible climbing spots to use in order to reach the roof as fast as possible. Maybe those pillars at the side of the Grand Central Terminal, the side stairs or perhaps a single full charge through the main concourse while evading the rest of the Deep Ones.
Their strategy was to kill the Deep Ones once they found what they were looking for, and if circumstances did not allow them to be together, at the very least run separately to reach the broken roof windows. That way, they would at least not be at such a disadvantage than they were currently in since the swamp like situation benefited the Deep Ones more than the cultivators. Knowing not to fight someone in their advantageous element was basic Fighting 101. (But sometimes, cultivators wished to confront against such high odds, hoping to surmount them for the sense of achievement.)
Considering that the waterfall was consistently pouring water into the main concourse and rising. Shi Zuo felt it was strange that the water level was able to raise since there should be multiple exits in the Grand Terminal main hall that lead to the numerous subway platforms. “Unless…could it be that the subway platforms have already been flooded…?” Shi Zuo thought to himself. This made him even more assured that they should escape upwards instead of downwards. (Welp, they did not know that this was all a trap, and the real subway platforms were not there at all.)
However, as soon as they engaged with the Deep Ones, they noticed that they had been sorely mistaken. The Deep Ones’ movements were fluid, and their claw strikes, kicks and even tail jabs were damningly accurate. If not for the mini buckler Bin Yong had on him, he would have suffered multiple injuries to his left arm once again. (The previous bleeding had been closed off with chi and applying a makeshift bandage out of the Black Suit’s clothes)
Yet, it seemed that the mini buckler would not last much longer since there were no enchanments on it to withstand such violent abuse from the Deep One attacks. Bin Yong really wished he had his durable shield right about now, which had been imbued with multiple middle grade defensive inscriptions which he had invested time and money on.
“Darn it! Stupid fish head, if only I had my personal weapons with me!” Bin Yong cursed under a heavy breath as he estimated that the shield could take at most four more hits before it breaks. In the meantime, while his sword strikes were true, they were not strong enough to inflict sufficient damage against the Deep One’s natural armoured scales.
The Deep One even began to laugh at how pathetic Bin Yong’s struggle was,
angering him further to the point he felt focusing all his chi into the makeshift sword so that he could do a proper stab. He figured that he could continue fighting since he had the two knives as a replacement if the sword broke.
At the same time, Bin Yong tried to refrain from doing that since it would not be ideal for him because of the difference in the weapon’s attribute. He would not be familiar with the short reach of the dagger nor was he well versed handling a dagger. Bin Yong could wield it like a short sword, but he would not be fully utilising what a knife could offer.
Shi Zuo was not faring any better as he could feel that his hatchet could not stand the strain of his attacks nor the impact against the armoured scales of his own Deep One. It was bound to break within the next few strikes if he was not careful. That was why he was attacking with not just his weapon but with his fists and kicks too. Simultaneously, he tried to find any possible soft spots with his melee combat so that he could plunge his axe blade into it.
“Hahahaha, uselesss Pandawaannsssss.” The Deep Mage laughed as he clapped with his two webbed hands at the amusement they provided. There and then, the Deep Mage brought his beloved staff towards him and plucked out what seemed to be two rings. “Catch Ringsssss~!” He shouted as he threw the rings up high towards the direction of Bin Yong and Shi Zuo. The rings immediately glittered and the two cultivators could recognise the chi that was being emanated out by the rings. They were none other than their very own storage rings that had been missing since the start of this instance.
Still, though their Leader was helping them to even out the odds, that did not mean the Deep Ones in front of them would be kind enough to simply wait until they were ready. They immediately became even more aggressive, preventing them from catching their rings.
However, Shi Zuo had already predicted such an outcome as he threw his hatchet with whatever strength he could summon towards his own opponent to distract him briefly. The hatchet broke into pieces upon contact due to the immense rush of chi that was transferred into it, cuasing the Deep One to flinch badly. Shi Zuo took that opportunity to rush tackle Bin Yong’s Deep One so that his teammate had the window of chance to reach for his own storage ring.
“I will not disappoint you!” Bin Yong shouted as he jumped forward to insert a quick, nasty knee strike at the face of flinched Deep One, giving Shi Zuo more time to keep the other one pinned down. He realised that Shi Zuo was potentially sacrificing himself so that he could reach for his storage ring.
Moving forward, he was about to grab the storage ring before it dropped into the flooded floors of the main concourse, but it was at that point of time that something very strange occurred. The Deep Ones they were fighting as well as Shi Zuo and even the Deep Mage had stopped moving completely, seemingly frozen in time. “Have you comprehended the greatness of Lord Dagen?” That particular whisper came back to haunt Bin Yong. “Abandon your fellow friend. Climb to the roof and reach 34th Street, Exit B of Penn Station. The Truth is awaiting you.”
“I will not abandon him!” Bin Yong tried to scream with all his might though there was no sound coming from his mouth at all, nor were his muscles moving to produce those sounds.
“Denial is merely a minor obstacle in the process to the road of enlightenment and ultimately, the Blessing of Lord Dagen.” The whispers gently rubbed and enveloped Bin Yong’s mind once more before the time stasis released everyone in the Grand Central main concourse.
His body continued what it was doing, but the sudden control of his body made him miss the falling ring. Quickly following to where it fell, he used his chi to pull the storage ring towards him. (If not for the short proximity range for the chi to work on the storage ring, Shi Zuo wouldn’t have tried to sacrifice himself to let Bin Yong retrieve his.)
The moment the storage ring slipped into Bin Yong’s fingers, four spare swords furiously fuelled with chi flew out of his storage ring as projectiles and targeted the free Deep One.
Needless to say, the Deep One defended with ease, but it allowed Shi Zuo to stop struggling with the Deep One underneath him and quickly get out of the way. Bin Yong immediately threw a spare axe to his friend from his storage ring. The four good friends including Jia Le and Luo Bo always knew that there might come a time when their own storage ring might go missing or not work, hence each of them always kept a few spare weapons for their teammates.
“Finally, a decent weapon.” Shi Zuo poured his chi into the axe. While it might not be the latest, strongest and lightest axe he bought, it was something he had used before to great effect. This axe was none other than the one he got from the Bank Heist instance. A rare drop which allowed the Three Headed Bear in the Weapons Armoury to create an Ice Elemental Weapon, before Jin had changed the way he handed out rewards.
Shi Zuo grinned when he realised that the Ice Elemental Axe could be surprisingly effective in this particular stage. He poured a lot more chi in and slammed it into the flooded concourse as the Deep One who deflected the sword projectiles continued rush towards him.
“Axe Art… SCREW THIS GODDAMN FISH ATTACKKKK!!!” Shi Zuo shouted out blatantly as the ice elemental axe unleashed a cascade of icy glacier spikes at the Deep One, piercing its natural armoured scales. The chi ice spikes were strong enough to penetrate through the body and out of its back. Greenish foul blood leaked out of the Deep One as it tried to struggle one final time.
The Deep One portrayed its savagery by breaking the ice spikes with its …fish mouth. It opened its mouth widely and crunched on the tip of the ice spike despite the wound it had. When the Deep One got free, it released an enthralling scream of wrath to the Deep Ones who were watching before throwing itself again at Shi Zuo.
“Just die already!” Shi Zuo whirled his axe haphazardly and gave a swing to the abdominal wound the Deep One had, severing it into half the moment the fish monster got into range.
Bin Yong also had an easy time killing his target with a few precise strikes with his improved gear. In their happiness, both had forgotten about their escape plan as the Deep Mage snapped his finger once more. This time four Deep Ones moved into action against the Pandawan Duo.
As they cracked their webbed knuckles, the Deep Ones on the second floors threw forked tridents at them to even the odds against the well-equipped cultivators. It then struck both of them that this was not going to end any time soon.
Hope was in limited supply and running out fast.
