Turn for the Worse

The two monsters were apparently in no mood to give them adequate time to adjust.

Brother Zhang had just touched the metal when a new round of attacks came.

Brother Li reacted quickly, blocking the attack while speaking to Zhuang Heng at a rapid pace: "The Mirror Ghost has to stick its head out first when it emerges from the mirror. It's not too hard to deal with a single Mirror Ghost. The main issue is the Resentful Ghost's illusion abilities working with its attacks, making it impossible for us to defend."

"Got it."

After putting on the reinforced glasses, Zhuang Heng took the metal tossed back by Brother Zhang and turned it into a metal bracelet to wear on his wrist.

"Brother Zhang, Brother Li, you two bandage your wounds first. I'll stand guard for a bit."

Zhuang Heng noticed both of them had some knife wounds and they couldn't keep bleeding like this.

"Kid, what nonsense are you talking about? These are just small injuries."

Brother Li suddenly covered Brother Zhang's mouth from behind: "No, you need it."

It didn't take long to simply treat the wounds. After blocking a few attacks, Zhuang Heng felt his teammates standing next to him again.

Zhuang Heng thought he could blow the horn to attack, but he found things weren't as easy as he imagined.

It seemed the Resentful Ghost had adjusted its condition. With the Ghost Blinding affecting them, they failed to notice the Mirror Ghost sticking out several times. They barely escaped by relying on their teammates' coordination.

The Mirror Ghost could rest anytime by hiding in the mirror, while they had to stay alert to guard against its sneak attacks.

The Resentful Ghost's Ghost Blinding posed huge trouble for them. One moment of carelessness could result in injury from the Mirror Ghost's slash.

The situation was extremely unfavorable.

Qi Yuan had the same thoughts as the three in the scene.

Forget about counterattack, after confronting the monsters for so long, the Mirror Ghost only suffered minor injuries, while the Resentful Ghost had only shown its face once.

MiaoMiao Rabbit's phone diligently broadcast the scene to the livestream audience.

[I don't understand what this dude is still waiting for]

[Zhuang Heng gave it his all, and he's not making a move?]

[Have you guys thought that maybe he's just drawing it out?]

[Yeah right, what's he putting on a show for then?]

[No way, the orphanage had been empty for many years. He must at least be an ability user to get into the fused space.]

[Are a pro and just putting on a show the only two options here?]

After analyzing the situation, Brother Li offered his opinion: "Little Zhuang, you stand guard. I'll carry the person, Old Zhang you take action when appropriate. Let's move along the wall and get out. The terrain here isn't good for us. Earlier, the two of us couldn't carry little Zhao out, that's why we stayed here. Now there're three of us, no need to go all out against them here."

"Okay."

Brother Zhang and Zhuang Heng immediately took action, covering Brother Li carrying their injured teammate.

Realizing their intention, the two monsters no longer steadily wore them down. Instead, they launched fierce waves of attacks.

Unable to properly defend, Brother Li became their primary target.

Noticing the unconscious Zhao was injured, Brother Li reluctantly put him down and dragged him to deal with the Mirror Ghost's attacks.

The slippery floor made it easy for Brother Li to drag Zhao, and their speed greatly increased.

But the attack range on Zhao expanded, so the Mirror Ghost changed its target.

Zhao was lying low, making it difficult for the three to guard him unless they bent down. This was even more troublesome than earlier.

Brother Li could only change plans and have the brawny Brother Zhang carry Zhao.

With his tall stature and sturdy build, Brother Zhang could better prevent Zhao's wounds from tearing open again while running.

The man-eating monsters certainly wouldn't let the duck flying into their mouths escape.

When the Mirror Ghost attacked, Zhuang Heng noticed the Resentful Ghost no longer hid its appearance. Considering the earlier frenzy of attacks, he guessed the Resentful Ghost was planning something big.

"Hurry up!"

Brother Li and Zhuang Heng had the same guess.

Without the Resentful Ghost's help and despite the terrain advantage, it would be a fantasy for a lone D-level Mirror Ghost to completely block three quasi-D-level and D-level ability users.

The three were well-trained squad members. Individually, they might not match some freelance high-level ability users.

But their coordination was top-notch.

While running and defending, they maintained formation remarkably well, advancing and retreating together.

Caught up in the battle, they didn't realize that after running for so long, they still hadn't left the hall.

Not far down the corridor, the two others watched this trio run a circle around the hall, eventually reaching the center of the hall furthest from the door.

"Ah..."

Eager to escape the hall, the three's defense was relatively crude.

Brother Zhang's arm was slashed, nearly dropping his teammate.

After being hurt, Brother Zhang was shocked to find they weren't at the door.

His two teammates were still oblivious, circling around and clashing with the Mirror Ghost.

It turned out the Resentful Ghost hadn't sat out the battle, but used Ghost Maze to confuse their sense of direction.

Realizing this, Brother Zhang didn't speak up. He silently gripped his knife.

Inconspicuously surveying the surroundings, he tried to locate the Resentful Ghost.

The weak Resentful Ghost refused to readily show itself.

As long as he could find it, Brother Zhang was confident he could end the monster's life in one strike.

Indeed!

If it was controlling from afar, the Resentful Ghost wouldn't need to keep rescuing the Mirror Ghost.

He discovered the Resentful Ghost not far from the Mirror Ghost.

Brother Zhang secretly shifted position and crouched down.

Abruptly, he put down his teammate and pounced towards the Resentful Ghost's location with the ferocity of a tiger descending the mountain.

The Resentful Ghost suddenly jerked its head, the corners of its mouth pulling into an arc beyond human capability.

The eerie smile set off alarm bells for Brother Zhang.

Bent on a lethal blow, the force of his pounce was enormous. Whether to stop was no longer up to his will...

The Resentful Ghost, the Mirror Ghost, and himself were in a straight line.

The Mirror Ghost had been waiting for the prey to deliver itself. It turned and inflicted agony upon Brother Zhang.

The sharp knife tore through his armor, leaving a deep gash across his belly.

By adjusting his posture, Brother Zhang narrowly avoided being sliced in half, but the injury was still grave.

He painfully collapsed to the ground, clutching the wound on his stomach to prevent his organs from spilling out.

The situation had changed too quickly. Zhuang Heng and the other two watched in horror as Brother Zhang suddenly pounced towards empty space, before the Mirror Ghost turned and slashed at him.

Before the Mirror Ghost could kill Brother Zhang, Zhuang Heng manipulated the metal to block that slash.

With the Ghost Maze effect gone, before the two could adjust, the monsters launched a new round of attacks.

The deadlock was shattered and the situation drastically deteriorated.

Brother Li and Zhuang Heng were struggling to hold their ground in a miserable state.

MiaoMiao Rabbit gulped nervously on the side. As an E-level water ability user, even her water gun probably wouldn't contribute much and might even make things worse.

Thinking of this, she stole another glance at Qi Yuan.

If he could help out, perhaps things would be different.

Back when they first met, it was his warning that allowed them to evade the Earthbind Spirit's attack.

She didn't believe he was heartless.

But she recalled the barrage comments...

Maybe he was just helpless?

But in that case, how did he determine there was an Earthbind Spirit next door?

The initial fusion had just ended, he didn't have enough time to probe before retreating into the adjacent room...