One-Eyed Monster

"Hold on!" The two shouts caught everyone's attention and implanted doubt in their hearts.

More than just doubt, they felt astonishment.

Stan Sol saw Baharo lying horizontally in mid-air; below him was a cliff...

But the scene Hector saw was completely different. Hector noticed that right behind Baharo was a patch of withered shrubs. If Baharo were to fall flat, he should hit these shrubs, and there ought to be a cracking sound...

However, although Hector saw Baharo fall onto the shrubs, he didn't hear the expected sound. He also noticed that the shrubs seemed to pass right through Baharo's body, as if they were a ring of transparent matter...

Could this be a new spell of his?

He's a Hunter; he must have some hidden abilities. I can't take him lightly. I mustn't be careless. Having witnessed this scene, Hector raised his vigilance to the highest level. He was the youngest Golden Seat at the Alchemy Workshop and lacked field experience; many times, he fought relying heavily on theoretical knowledge.

Joela was different. He had been through several guardian wars and had a keen sense of battlefield situations. His view didn't differ much from Hector's, but his first response wasn't vigilance, but amazement.

Old Joela was engaged with Stan Sol at the time, but he still saw everything clearly out of the corner of his eye. The burly fellow in earth-yellow clothing had clearly given up resisting, his entire being emanating an air of farewell...

The most frustrated one among them was Baharo himself. He had already bid goodbye to this world, so why was he still here!?

Furthermore, he ached all over, not just from Hector's two strikes, but also from the jarring pain of falling from the sky to the ground.

Falling from the sky to the ground... Yes, I should have fallen off a cliff. Could it be I didn't die from the fall? The height of Guru Mountain is terrifying. Random thoughts filled Baharo's mind, but he soon calmed down. The pain reminded him that his opponents hadn't stopped; they were standing right in front of him.

After seeing Hector's familiar yet unfamiliar face, Baharo began to observe his surroundings again.

"Hey, something's wrong!" Talkative Baharo, as if discovering a new continent, started making a big fuss.

This cry of surprise made Hector shiver, and he immediately adopted a fighting stance, fearing Baharo might launch an unexpected attack.

In reality, Baharo was surprised because he found himself lying on a blank space. He continuously touched the part of the cliff edge he thought was air, knocking, hitting, patting...

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. Muffled sounds echoed as Baharo knocked.

Hector, standing nearby, grew even more nervous. He felt that Baharo's actions—striking the transparent shrubs—were definitely preparations for some spell. For now, Hector could only remain on guard. He dared not attack, as his opponent was in an unpredictable state, seemingly baiting him by deliberately revealing an opening.

Cold sweat dripped down Baharo's back. He found that the empty cliff edge where he had just lain felt just like real ground when knocked upon; there was no difference.

Moreover, his hand was stained with traces of soil after patting it...

Is everything I'm seeing an illusion? Baharo involuntarily wondered.

"'Enough.' Like Joela, Stan Sol's peripheral vision had remained fixed on Baharo. When he first saw Baharo lying suspended in mid-air, he'd thought Baharo had mastered the highest level of creating Spirit Energy Items. However, when he caught sight of Baharo tossing away his twin swords, he realized the man had given up—and quite decisively, without even a struggle.

This surrender made everything around seem unusual.

Now, as Stan Sol saw Baharo knocking on the blank space, an idea suddenly sparked in his mind.

So, Stan Sol took a step back, retrieved his famished Sharkmon, dodged Brad's Frenzied Fist, and leaped towards Baharo.

Brad wanted to pursue with a fist, but Joela blocked him.

Joela watched everything unfold, a strange feeling stirring in his heart. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, but he sensed that a flaw in this Maze Array was about to be exposed.

And it seemed all these questions were about to be answered.

The feeling grew increasingly familiar to Joela. Ah, yes, it was excitement.

As for why he was so excited, Stan Sol's actions made everything clear.

Stan Sol jumped next to Baharo and, with the boldness that comes from great skill, began to walk straight towards the edge of the cliff...

However, he didn't fall!

Hector and Joela, the Alchemists, saw the ancient Hunter walking back and forth on what appeared to them as a ring of transparent shrubs. The shrubs remained completely undamaged...

Joela was filled with excitement. This wasn't easy. The enemy hiding behind the scenes has finally fallen into our trap. He let his guard down, and we found a loophole! The answer was so simple. Everything here was an answer, but we were too careful and ignored them all. This Maze Array tricked everyone using this kind of method. The technique is crude, yet very practical. These paintings look so realistic; no wonder they fooled everyone so thoroughly. Joela narrowed his eyes. His goal was clear: find the loopholes one by one and fulfill all the Chief's demands. Therefore, any obstruction was merely a hurdle to be overcome. Obstacles must naturally be eliminated; there's no room for negotiation on that.

Stan Sol sighed. It turned out that excessive caution often obscured the truth. In essence, this Maze Array was simply a Concealment Spell, masking the actual scene with fictitious scenarios. Furthermore, if the truth was concealed by a scenario familiar to the opponent, they would inevitably become trapped within it.

Unexpectedly, an accident had partially revealed the secret of this Maze Array.

Since a part of its secret had been discovered, there was no need to keep agonizing over what technique the enemy was using.

As for dismantling the array, it would likely still require mutual reliance and shared information. After all, many hands make light work; more minds thinking together meant a greater hope of breaking the formation.

Actually, hope was everywhere. Hope, much like the answers they sought, seemed mysterious and elusive, yet it was everywhere—and what's more, all of it was correct.

Who on earth came up with this puzzle? It's so difficult, with correct answers everywhere, utterly baffling.