The Grave Fiends only had one objective in their mind, the flesh of Xu Feng. His life force was abundant enough to attract their attention completely.
"The system thinks it outwitted me, but I'll prove it wrong." Xu Feng sneered, sacrificing 10% of his current health, and activated Dark Pact.
Once the Abyssal Phantom was summoned, Xu Feng commanded it to attack the nearest Grave Fiends.
The Abyssal Phantom growled excitedly as it rushed ahead, slashing its claw at the Grave Fiends.
However, unlike the previous time, the Grave Fiends' defenses were no joke, and having withstood the claw strike, they quickly retaliated with their Necrotic Strike.
Necrotic strike was one of the Grave Fiend's skills, allowing them to inflict a damage-over-time(DOT) effect on targets, draining them 150 Health Points(HP) over 10 seconds.
Having witnessed their swift retaliation, Xu Feng warned the Abyssal Phantom to pay attention to its movement and position. Only attack when it was feasible and that it was sure to avoid being hit.
At the same time, Xu Feng swapped his weapon, replacing his current staff with a new one.
'Good thing I came prepared.' Xu Feng thought, rushing ahead to assist the Abyssal Phantom. He clenched his staff tightly and gave a 180-degree horizontal swing.
The Grave Fiend that got hit on impact, started to stagger a bit, and their health decreased by 500.
However, that was not the end, as its initial 2,000 health points which had got to 1,500, continuously declined.
The Grave Fiend remained motionless, almost as if it had been hit silly.
Meanwhile, Xu Feng remained composed as the effect was only obvious.
His new staff was enchanted with holy power and an effect to deal critical damage to undead creatures. Therefore, this new staff was the perfect beating weapon for these so-called undying legions.
Naturally, aside from a staff specifically targeting undead element monsters, Xu Feng had many more staff prepared for other types of monsters.
Hence, even if the monsters were changed to something else, Xu Feng was ready to dominate the field.
The battle continued for a while, and during this time, he managed to slay at least 30 or so of the Grave Fiends.
Nevertheless, the kill count seemed to be in vain, given that more Grave Fiends were popping up one after another in the openings.
As Xu Feng swung his staff at another Grave Fiend, he tanked one of the hits in the meantime, using the force and impact to propel himself backward.
Simultaneously, he glanced upward, looking at the timer showing 2 minutes and 12 seconds.
'It's only been 2 minutes something huh.' Xu Feng healed himself, his eyes glancing at the neverending horde.
Their movement stayed the same, but he felt like their speed had gradually increased. Of course, the truth was that his movement speed was gradually decreasing.
With the recovery being halved by the system restriction, there was only so much he could do alone. The Abyssal Phantom he summoned was also being swarmed at, unable to escape.
Xu Feng had initially planned on having it float to the air, and striking when an opportunity arose.
However, reality hit him harder. Once the Abyssal Phantom floated at a range the Grave Fiends could not reach, they would somehow shoot poison mist.
And it wasn't just one or two doing that, but almost all the Grave Fiends received the signal to shoot the poison mist, covering the air completely with poisonous gas.
The damage was also a lot, forcing Xu Feng to waste his precious heal to keep the Abyssal Phantom alive.
At this time, his health was only a little bit over 50%. It was far from enough to last him another 3 minutes.
After all, those damnable poison mists followed the law of gravity. Without anywhere to dodge or hide, he was forced to confront the poison mist.
'The strategy is flawed.' Xu Feng clenched his staff tightly, having been almost cornered to a dead-end. 'I can't sustain the Abyssal Phantom any longer. My own health is more important.'
Despite knowing so, he still resisted and continued to fend for as long as possible.
One after another, the Grave Fiends continued to be slain, but at the same time, their advancements were closing in on Xu Feng.
Finally, the Abyssal Phantom killed one final Grave Fiend before receiving a strike from the back, dying as it turned into particles.
Xu Feng's mana was on the low reserve, and his health wasn't ideal either.
Thus, Xu Feng could only reluctantly watch its death.
Without the presence of the Abyssal Phantom and its ability to stall, the Grave Fiends seemed to be exhilarated.
"It's getting annoying to always be glanced at like prey." Xu Feng coldly snorted.
Having said that, Xu Feng still retreated to the corner slowly after each bout with the Grave Fiends. Upon touching an invisible wall with his back, he knew that was the furthest he could retreat.
'Seems like I can only remain here to defend.' His eyes gazed at the agitated Grave Fiends, a firm and solemn expression on his face.
As the distance between him and the horde of Grave Fiends continued to decrease, Xu Feng still remained motionless, almost as if he had given up.
The timer on the display showed 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
It was almost close to the 4-minute mark, and truth be told, lasting another minute seemed impossible.
Being cornered all the way to the end with nowhere to run, the sheer number of Grave Fiends could literally suffocate him to death.
A few seconds later, the distance between them reached 1 meter.
'Looks like I can't save it anymore.' While Xu Feng had such thoughts in his mind, the Grave Fiends didn't bother to care much.
The closest monsters toward him very quickly activated the Necrotic Strike, wanting nothing more than to tear his flesh.
As the strike commenced, amidst the inevitable end, one tattered paper scroll slowly fell to the ground.