One-Eyed Monster

After receiving the advice from the Great Mentor, Igor also retracted the flames he was about to release.

As per the Great Mentor’s suggestion, they remained still. Doing so would prevent the enemy from sensing the fluctuations of their Spirit Power, adding a significant element of confusion. Igor noticed the Great Mentor was under a Spirit Attack. His connected Spirit could vaguely sense that oppressive sensation, so he quickly understood the Mentor’s advice.

From these subtle signs, he inferred that the enemy was probing.

Probing indicated uncertainty on the enemy’s part, so the opportunity was still equal for everyone.

Although the adversary’s strength might be somewhat greater, at this moment, he had not yet fully ascertained the Great Mentor’s position. In other words, the enemy was advancing completely blind, unable to see the direction clearly.

While they also didn’t know the enemy’s location, their current goal was evasion. Their sole purpose was to avoid the enemy’s attacks. To put it bluntly, there was a slight disparity in their strength—though not an insurmountable one. More importantly, the Great Mentor didn’t fully understand the adversary and temporarily lacked complete confidence in a direct confrontation.

Thus, their collective strategy at this moment could be summed up in one word: avoid.

Avoid the invader’s spearhead, play for time with the enemy, slowly understand their intentions, wait for an opportunity, and strike decisively. This was Igor’s line of thought, an idea he also shared with the Great Mentor and the others. At this moment, Igor felt they were bound together, completely a single entity.

Grand Master Guzan appreciated Igor’s strategy. Though he also felt their time was limited, as long as they could engage the enemy, they could buy more time. Igor’s strategy was one of endurance, which indeed secured them the necessary time.

With this time, he could analyze the invader again and use this breather to ponder Kuyi Tulan’s connection to the whole affair.

Although the Great Mentor was currently suppressed and under intense attack, he could endure these blows. Moreover, even while taking these hits, he could still speculate and calculate. Despite not being a true Scholar, his years of experience allowed him to understand such matters.

This was just the Initial Stage of the confrontation. Igor could completely control his own rhythm and methods. As long as he maintained the status quo, it would greatly confuse the enemy. This was also a shared strategy between the Great Mentor and Igor.

This was indeed a characteristic of the World Setting Technique.

As the founder of the World Setting Technique, Grand Master Guzan had perfected the art of disguising these traps. As an inheritor of the World Setting Technique, Igor had also significantly expanded and extended this technique.

”Master, you are the bait now. We can bear these injuries for you,” Kuren said. Feeling the impact of the blows on the Great Mentor, he was very worried about the Mentor’s health, especially given his age.

”Yes, Mentor, let us bear the pain. Let us be the bait.”

They communicated cautiously, slowly sending Spirit Power messages according to Igor’s rhythm.

”No need. The enemy has locked onto my Spirit Power. If my Spirit Power mixes with yours, he will notice, and then our disguise will be useless,” the Great Mentor explained. He knew these young ones looked to him as their leader and cared deeply for him, but at this moment, he absolutely could not endanger them because of himself.

It hadn’t been easy to rekindle their hope to fight on. If they lost that hope now, all their previous efforts would be in vain. This is what it means to grow old, he mused, to be plagued by fears of gain and loss, always worried about losing something, and fearing that one’s efforts will not be rewarded.

Grand Master Guzan understood the anxieties of these young ones, so he had to preserve their hope for survival. The attack he was currently enduring was painful but not fatal. He could sense the invader holding back. His many years of battle experience were not without value; at the very least, he could still discern the invader’s intentions.

Whether it was an attempt to kill or merely to probe, he could sense the difference.

He clearly sensed the invader’s restrained attack. It appeared the enemy didn’t want his life, only to provoke him continuously.

It seemed the invader wanted to keep him alive. This also implied the invader had other plans for him. What exactly they were, he needed to contemplate further. It wasn’t something he could figure out in a short time.

Seeing the Great Mentor unwilling to let them share the burden of the attacks he was enduring, Igor couldn’t persuade him. He had to maintain the current rhythm to prevent the enemy from becoming suspicious. He also needed to create some illusions; otherwise, the enemy might pinpoint their location as well.

The Great Mentor’s reasoning was sound, but they truly couldn’t bear seeing him, at his age, withstand the enemy’s Spirit Attack.

”Igor, we need to probe the enemy too. We can’t keep hiding forever. Only through continuous probing can we gauge our opponent’s depth,” Stan Sol reminded Igor. When it came to Spirit Communication, Stan Sol was quite fluent.

”I understand, but we still need to conceal our positions for now. I think we need to stir up some trouble for him here.”

Igor and Stan Sol were on the same wavelength; Igor, too, was thinking about teaching this invader a lesson.

He had initially planned to use a flame attack to probe, but the Great Mentor’s timely reminder had stopped him. After all, he remained somewhat cautious about attacking and would always heed the advice of his seniors.

”You said you saw a black ocean before, right?” Stan Sol asked.

”Yes, that ocean is surging. I think it won’t be long before it floods this place,” Igor replied.

”Could we use that somehow?” Stan Sol’s words held a hint of cunning.

”You mean... Oh, I understand! I think that should work,” Igor said, quickly catching on.

The others were confused, especially Kadi and Kuruto, but they remained highly cooperative. Afraid that any misstep on their part might negatively affect the situation, they focused on providing maximum support through Spirit Power transmission.

The confrontation had just begun. The invader continuously launched probing attacks. Meanwhile, Igor and the others, as instructed by the Great Mentor, responded by remaining concealed, looking for opportunities to gradually launch counterattacks.

This approach was like being harassed by a mosquito: constantly buzzing around you but never landing to bite. Honestly, this kind of maneuvering was truly infuriating.

It was unexpected that the Great Mentor would employ such a devious probing method. No, to be precise, Igor had come up with this method; the Great Mentor had only offered the initial suggestion.

A direct confrontation, that’s what was truly needed in a clash, Igor thought silently. Even though they couldn’t deliver a powerful blow to the invader right now, they could certainly harass him.