Chapter 5

Falling down, Zuyuan tried to stab into the tentacle and pierced it. Unexpectedly, the tentacle was much harder than it looked, especially with Zuyuan's awkward pose, which made it harder to attack it. 

*RUMBLEEE*

Metal debris surrounded Zuyuan as they all descended into the underground. Suddenly, Zuyuan found out that the black tentacle had let go of Zuyuan's ankle, letting gravity do the work. 

Watching the ground below approach him at an unprecedented rate, Zuyuan cursed silently in his mind as he started to cover every part of his body with Qigong, forming a transparent oval shield around him. 

'Shit, I don't know any 'lighten steps' technique...' 

Hoping that strengthening his body's defence with Qigong was enough, Zuyuan tried adjusting his body into a position that would be able to soften the impact. 

*BOOOMM* 

Rolling on the ground for some time, Zuyuan tried to get up. But before he could do that, another tentacle, which was much smaller than before, struck Zuyuan's left side and made Zuyuan roll on the ground again. 

"Gahk!" 

Coughing out blood, Zuyuan could feel that his wounds were starting to open, and one of his rib bones had broken. Not planning to be lashed out once more, Zuyuan raised his body and started to get into a fighting stance. 

His instincts that have been tempered in battles started to ring in his head. Without thinking twice, Zuyuan dodged to the left side. And from where he was standing before, a tentacle much bigger than his waist struck the ground. 

But before he could sigh in relief, Another much smaller tentacle, lashed out at the right side of his body, throwing Zuyuan far away and making him roll to the ground once more. 

'Fuck!' 

Cursing loudly in his head, Zuyuan gritted his teeth for he almost coughed out more blood. The wound in his arm opened up more and became wider. Blood flowed rapidly from all his injuries as Zuyuan's body crashed into the wall. 

Trying to get up, another tentacle swung in his direction. Avoiding another assault from the black tentacle, Zuyuan quickly jumped to his left, even when his body was hurting. 

*Boomm* 

"Huff... Huff…" 

Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he realised how dangerous the situation was. His right arm was broken, as was one of his rib bones, his wounds were all widening and getting worse, and not to mention, he was running out of Qigong. 

His eyes looked around the place as he searched for the creature's main body. Finally, he saw where all the black tentacles were coming from. A thirty-feet being that resembled an octopus was hanging from the steel rods connected to the wall above. The octopus had one big eye with a pupil that was glowing red. Zuyuan noticed that the room he was in right now was as big as a soccer field. 

The being's eye was looking straight at Zuyuan, observing him while it's tentacles waved around. Frowning, Zuyuan started to avert his gaze in another direction, wandering around the whole room and seeking for the exit gate of this place. 

[Warning: The Sentry has locked its sight upon you. Please find the <Key> and escape immediately!] 

'Even if you say that… where's this Key…' 

Grumbling inside, Zuyuan wanted to try to look for anything that resembled a gate in the wall, but then, he remembered that he still had the red arrow floating above his head. 

'The red arrow..' 

Gazing up above, Zuyuan saw the red arrow blinking, while pointing towards a direction. Sighing, Zuyuan dashed to the direction where the red arrow guided him. 

"Grrrr…" 

Emitting a low growl, which was loud enough to echo through the room, The Sentry began to move again and started assaulting Zuyuan. 

Zuyuan's retinas started shrinking as he saw tens of tentacles, varied in size, moving together to strike him down. 

*BOOMM* 

*BOOMMM* 

With death looming over him, his trait Undying Will activated. His depleting Qigong came back flowing through his dantian, even though it was so minuscule. But this trait strengthened this small streaming Qigong and made it much bigger, letting Zuyuan draw out the power that shouldn't have existed. 

'Left, Right, Left, Right, Right!' 

Utilizing his focus to the max, as well as his instincts, Zuyuan brushed past each strike of the tentacles with precision. 

*BOOMM* 

More and more tentacles came towards Zuyuan as The Sentry noticed that Zuyuan's energy had yet depleted. Dragging his wounded body, Zuyuan gave out a low shout as he filled his arms with more Qigong. Raising his spear, Zuyuan parried any tentacles that were too close or too fast for him to dodge. 

Step by step, Zuyuan finally arrived at where the arrow had pointed. In front of him, there was a kind of small entrance, that reached only till his chest. 

Squinting his eyes, Zuyuan shouted out loud as he swung his spear upwards, deflecting another tentacle. Then, Zuyuan rushed towards the small entrance focusing only on the running. 

Some small tentacles successfully whipped at him. Gritting his teeth in pain, Zuyuan was still rushing to the entrance.

'Five meters… three meters... one.. now!' 

Zuyuan immediately slid on the ground and used his running momentum to get through the exit. In two seconds, Zuyuan had got away from the room and escaped from the tentacles attacks. 

'Shit!' 

Few tentacles with the longest reach were still pursuing Zuyuan, as he had used all of his strength in that last sprint. Struggling to move with all his body drenched in blood, suddenly, a blue transparent shield came out of nowhere and cut the tentacles. 

[Hint: You are in the Safe Zone, the Safe Zone has been created by the Byonite to protect and hide anything that they deemed important.] 

[Hint: You have arrived at the <Key>, please awaken it quickly.] 

'Safe zone?' 

Mildly surprised by the sudden appearance of the blue shield, Zuyuan's gaze swept across the place to see where and what was this <key>. 

The small entrance had led him to a room around 350 sq. feet in size. In the middle of the room, there was an egg, that was twice as big as any ordinary person's head in diameter. The egg seemed like it was made of steel, with another feature that were the bluish glowing lines.

[Hint: You have found the <Key>.]