One-Eyed Monster

Wizard Reed had managed to trap these influential figures with his assembled monsters and enhanced Water Folk alone.

At first glance, Wizard Reed seemed to have the upper hand, and quite leisurely at that.

Igor was amazed. What sort of power is this that makes this man so invincible? he wondered. What’s even more incredible is that these elders have no effective way to deal with it, and their final resolution is to set up an Alchemy Array to completely seal off this opponent. I don’t quite understand the Alchemy Array, so I can’t be of much help right now. All I can do is the same as Senior Kevin and the others: try my best to hold off the enemy’s attack.

The enemy’s attack was steady but potent. The floating fragments constantly fluttered around in front of the assembled monsters. Despite the overall darkness, even the blazing flames produced by exploding Flame Elementals could not fully illuminate the Moonflow Stream. Everything was hazy and not very clear, yet not totally invisible.

From a visual perspective, the monsters made up of skeletons and corpse fragments were rather frightening—or perhaps more accurately, disgusting. This sensation was quite unnerving, even inducing feelings of nausea.

Yet, it was this abomination defying norms that was attacking them, allowing them no time to quell their disgust and rage. It was indeed awkward to steel themselves and fight against such creatures, but these people, having fought and survived on battlefields for years, weren’t greenhorns. They gradually became accustomed to such a scene.

It could only be said that they knew very little about the Power of Darkness.

Wizard Reed was hell-bent on revenge against the Great Mentor, but these defenders were also quite tenacious, preventing him from approaching the Great Mentor at this moment.

The summoning spell required time. Although he was in perfect condition now, he wasn’t invincible. He was already finding this level of resistance somewhat troublesome.

He had thought he could break through the entire line of defense with a mere flick of his finger and then directly thrash the Great Mentor. But now I’m in a stalemate, he mused. Even though they can’t handle me, I don’t have any good strategies to crush them either. It seems that such overwhelming victories are concepts that only exist in legends and stories; many overlook the bitterness of reality. These details, always omitted by Wandering Bards in their performances, are ironically what determine everything!

Wizard Reed shook his head and began preparing his next summoning spell. The battle was evenly matched. But I can’t afford to be complacent, he thought. It’s clear these people resisting so desperately are buying time for those inside the circle, who seem to be brewing something.

Although Wizard Reed feared no counterattacks from the enemy, he still wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

I know I’m done for, he thought, but I intend to accomplish as much as possible for the boss before I’m discarded. Seeing the Ancient Key right in front of me, how can I not go berserk? Even if I am to be discarded, I’ll still secure more benefits for the boss. This was his true inner thought at this moment.

Therefore, he planned to summon another Puppet to continuously increase the pressure on the enemy.

Summoning was Wizard Reed’s forte. The Dark Force granted him endless possibilities, allowing him to clearly understand what he was capable of. For instance, the assembled monsters before them were products of his will—abilities the Dark Force had bestowed upon him. His will shaped these fragments into prime combat monsters, which then assembled into new forms.

These monsters were drawn from his memories of battle. Most of the battles he had experienced involved the valorous conquests of the brave Mantai, so he commanded these fragments to assemble into the forms of those valiant Mantai warriors.

That’s why Kevin felt an intense sense of familiarity when his swift sword met resistance. This familiar feeling originated from their past battles.

The Three Great Empires had been in constant conflict. As a Blue-Blooded League Guard of the Kayne Empire, Kevin was very familiar with such war scenarios.

Kevin was puzzled. Why are some of my attacks completely missing? It’s simply unreasonable.

In fact, it wasn’t that Kevin had failed in his targeting; it was that the assembled monsters were not true entities. They could disassemble freely, and once they did, Kevin’s sword would swing at empty air. But this change was hard to detect, creating the illusion for Kevin that he was constantly missing his targets.

This could be considered a twist of fate. At least, it dealt Kevin a not insignificant mental shock.

Milo faced an even more awkward situation. His ant explosion, despite its great momentum, was completely ineffective. The more he shattered them, the faster the enemy reassembled. It was an endless cycle of disassembly and reassembly.

Brad was in the same boat. After going Berserk, his thick, powerful arms were useless against the assembled monsters. Though his strength was great, and his punches shattered the assembled monsters into fragments, it was of no use. The enemy was back in perfect condition in the blink of an eye.

The situation faced by Igor and the others was no different from Brad’s awkward predicament. No sooner had they managed to destroy these monsters than they rose again, often in a different form. What’s worse, as soon as one was taken down, two more got up.

This endless cycle of repetition began to fatigue their resistance. At this point, someone suggested using fire. Consequently, they quickly coordinated a swap with the group fighting the Water Folk. The battle between fire and water was already fierce; forcing the Flame Elementals to divert some of their fire to attack the fragments clearly allowed the Water Folk to regain the upper hand.

This was truly an awful situation, and there were even moments when the defenders wanted to curse.

But they had no choice. The sealing array required a great deal of time to prepare; it couldn’t be completed instantly. Furthermore, those executing this array were considered among the strongest Alchemists on the continent.

Against the Power of Darkness, they currently had no countermeasures. Other than sunlight, nothing could resist the darkness. But they could not call upon the sun; sunlight was not something they could summon at will.

The only thing they could do was to seal it. This was indeed a helpless situation.

Great Mentor Guzan had just finished writing the Alchemy Equation, and Kuyi Tulan had just separated some extremely scarce impurities.

All prerequisites were met. Now, they only had to wait for the Alchemy Equation to take effect. Once the Alchemy Equation took effect, the entire array would form. Through the diffusion of the Alchemy Equation, the surrounding area would transform into an invisible cage.

Then, their task would become relatively simple.