"Crap!" Jet cursed and hurriedly swam away.
The water had turned to normal and everyone could see the dragon turtle again. It was staring menacingly at the dwarf who was running away. It knew it was the dwarf that had caused its intense pain just now. It swiped its powerful tail and its large body lunged forward in Jet's direction.
"Protect him!" John ordered.
Ama heard John. She was also disappointed that the move just now failed to take down the turtle. But then again, what did she expect? The dwarf was not that high-level. It was too far-fetched if she hoped that this outworlder took out half the dragon turtle's HP in a single move without using any skill. Even with skills, taking out one-fifth of the HP from a high-level mythical beast was also unheard of.
Ama realized then, this dwarf's degree of mana manipulation exceeded even that outworlder's leader.
"Protect him...!" Ama echoed John's order.
The merfolk immediately moved following Ama's order. They rushed forward and clashed with the dragon turtle again, hindering it from getting to Jet. Another merfolk, Nogg, swooped in and grabbed Jet, he pulled Jet away before the dragon turtle managed to close in.
Nogg flung Jet in John's direction. Jet somersaulted in the water before balancing himself and landed beside John. He was not angry about Nogg's rough treatment. He was grateful that Nogg bothered to pull him away.
"We are running out of time. You will need to use that martial art again," John said to him.
"Are you nuts?!" Jet said. "Look at that turtle!"
The dragon turtle used to just stay in one place and smacked everyone that came near. It was easier to focus its aim that way. Now, it was zooming around the water, playing chase with the merfolk. Under this situation, it was difficult for the turtle to catch the high-moving merfolk, but the merfolk also landed fewer hits. But most of all, this nullified Jet's chance to creep up on the turtle. Not to mention landing another consecutive seven hits.
"That turtle also sees me as a sworn enemy now. Do you think it will just let me leisurely hit it like before? I'm sure it will ignore everyone and come at me when it sees me anywhere near again!" Jet added.
As they were speaking, the dragon turtle that was swimming nearby suddenly veered in their direction.
"F*ck! Run...!!" Jet exclaimed. Both he and John quickly slipped through the narrow gaps in the wall and fled to the outside.
They saw through the gaps that the dragon turtle slammed the place where they were. Jet saw the dragon turtle stare right at him through the gap before swimming away.
"F*ck! There is no mistaking that turtle is holding a grudge against me," Jet cursed.
"You must be imagining it. We need you to execute that martial art again," John repeated.
"Dude! Did you not hear what I said?" Jet complained.
John was massaging his chin. He was looking through the gaps while contemplating.
"Hey! Did you hear me?" Jet uttered again when he saw that John is ignoring him.
"Be quiet please, I want to speak with the merfolk," John said.
"Unbelievable," Jet was speechless.
Will came approaching after seeing the two come out. "Mate, that was truly dangerous just now. You have balls for an old dude! What was that move you used in there?"
"You call me old dude again and I will use that move on you. You hear me, punk?" Jet threatened.
"Chill, mate. I meant no disrespect," Will said.
While the two were chatting, John sent a message to Nogg via their mental connection. "Hey, companion. I need to ask you and Ama something."
"Call her sea mother, you disrespectful outworlder!" Nogg responded. "And we are busy! We don't have time to chat here!"
"I apologize, but it's important that we speak! Ask the sea mother to come out for a bit," John insisted.
He didn't hear Nogg replying, but he saw from the gaps that Nogg was shouting something at Ama. He then saw the two swim towards him. Ama called other merfolk to enter to take hers and Nogg's places.
"What is it? Can't you see we are short on time?" Ama said to John crudely. She was not in a good mood. Losing a score of followers and fighting a losing battle were hardly the things to cheer one up.
"It is precisely because we are short on time that we need to talk," John said. "We can't win if we continue like this."
"Can't he repeat the thing he did just now?" Ama pointed at Jet.
"He can, but you must agree that the dragon turtle won't let him get near anymore," John replied.
"... So, what do you propose?" Ama asked.
"Do you have a skill that can bind the turtle for a time? Even if just for a few seconds."
"I have," It was Nogg who answered.
"Are you sure your skill can stop a mythical-grade monster?" John asked.
"Not for long, but I know it can stop this dragon turtle for at least three or four seconds. I know because I used it on the turtle when I found its lair."
"Why are we talking about this? Isn't the Hex stopped us all from using a skill?" Ama asked.
"We are going to shut it," John said.
"What?!" Everyone who heard uttered.
"We can't win with standard attacks. That's why we are going to take a gamble." John said. "The dragon turtle doesn't know what is stopping it from using its skill. Even if it somehow had knowledge of the Hex of Power Restraint, it would know the artifact's duration was still around fifteen minutes left. I will turn it off five minutes before its duration. The dragon turtle didn't know the exact time when it can use skills again, but we do. I will give everyone a shout once the Hex is turned off. Once you hear from me, unleash all the most powerful skills you possess. You and all your merfolk, especially the high-level one. We will gamble the few seconds before the dragon turtle realizes that it can use its skills again."
John paused to let everyone understand his plan.
"Even if we use all our most powerful skills, I doubt we can deplete all the turtle's HP. If we fail and it unleashes its dual-world domain, we are finished. Only your kind and very few of my merfolk can fight then. Not to mention it can also use its Total Defense skill. Its defense is incredibly tough when it uses that skill and its HP recovery is insane. It can heal back the damage it lost in a short time."
John had witnessed the newborn dragon turtle's total defense. But from Ama's description, this adult's version was even more powerful.
"That's why we need Nogg's binding skill. You have seen this guy's move, right?" It was John who now pointed at Jet. "He could take out almost twenty percent of the turtle's HP with that move. You and your merfolk only need to take out the remaining ten percent. As long as we take the initiative before the turtle can act, we will be able to pull this off."
Ama and Nogg looked at one another. It was risky but they knew they didn't have a better plan. Finally, Ama said, "All right. I think your plan is doable. I need time to convey this message to my warriors fighting inside."
"Take ten minutes to do it. We need to do it before the Hex's natural duration just in case the turtle knows it," John said.
Ama nodded. She called a merman to come on standby with Jet. That merman would take Jet to the dragon turtle's underside once they started their plan. She then slipped back into the tunnel.
Nogg looked at John for a beat before following the sea mother. There was recognition in his eyes. John had forced him to be a companion, so he didn't exactly have a good opinion of John. But he sort of grew a certain amount of respect for the outworlder after this.
"Dude, I hope this works," Jet said.
"It will all depend on you. Don't f*ck this up!" John warned.
"Damn it, punk! What did I say before about speaking to your elder?!"
Inside the tunnel, Ama and Nogg approached the other merfolk one by one to convey the message. They didn't have outworlder's messaging system, after all. These other merfolk also help to spread the word. They took care to only convey the message when they were away from the dragon turtle. For safety and also in case the turtle can understand language.
John and Jet had silently slipped back into the tunnel while waiting for the time. John had sent an instruction to the player who was watching after the Hex of Power Restraint. The player was now waiting for John's message before shutting the artifact down.
When he saw that there was no more merfolk who was talking and it was five minutes before the Hex's duration. He sent the message to the player. He then shouted to the others, "Now...!!!"
