One-Eyed Monster

The advantage was on Igor and his team’s side. If they continued to fight within this Inner World, the invaders were more likely to lose than win.

The Great Mentor firmly believed this.

However, he knew that even if they won within the Inner World, it wouldn’t change the fact that the invaders were stronger than Igor and his team.

The invaders had merely lost a battle within the Inner World, a domain they were not skilled in. They had not yet fully revealed themselves, currently fighting only through their mental state. The great distance and immense difficulty involved indicated that the invaders’ strength far surpassed that of Igor and his team.

But at this moment, the Great Mentor couldn’t remind Igor and his team of this reality. Shattering the self-confidence they had just formed in battle would be not only cruel but also shameful. Battles involved wins and losses; if they knew defeat was inevitable, how could they fight with all their might? The Great Mentor wanted to see them grow. After all, he was pinning the entire future on these young people. If they weren’t allowed to grow now and were constantly protected, they would be doomed when the real tests arrived.

At least in this somewhat advantageous situation, let these children have a free hand.

The Great Mentor thought this way because he held high expectations for Igor and his team. He hoped his gamble would succeed, that these children would completely inherit the hidden secrets of Guru Mountain. Whatever the outcome, their ideals needed to be passed on; at the very least, their sense of right and wrong needed to continue.

This world was undergoing cataclysmic changes. They might be insignificant, perhaps even swallowed by the tide of history, but their hearts always yearned for good. They hoped for a world with less strife and more care; they hoped the world could become a little better.

The journey was long, and they might not live to see its end, but they hoped the values they had always guarded could be guided correctly…

They didn’t want to see everything they had painstakingly protected end up in the hands of some scoundrel looking for shortcuts…

Regardless of the outcome, the Great Mentor now placed his hopes on Igor.

It wasn’t just the Great Mentor; the others on Guru Mountain were also gradually shifting their thinking in this way.

He wondered if Igor and his team could discover the subtlety here. If they could realize this was a contest within the Inner World, then what followed should be much simpler.

The Great Mentor observed the young individuals. Igor and Stan Sol were generally cautious, with Stan Sol being the most meticulous; his analysis was also the most comprehensive. Igor was a bit slow to react, but his responses were reliable. The one least concerned about consequences was naturally Kadi. This young man seemed quiet, but he was quite impulsive when it came to action.

Although Kadi was impulsive, his simple methods were sometimes more effective than anything else.

This was truly a peculiar thing.

The optimistic Kadi, seeing Igor remain motionless for a long time, grew anxious and urged, ”Are you sightseeing? The enemy is stunned right now! Why aren’t you seizing this chance to attack?”

”Huh?” Igor didn’t understand what Kadi meant. He looked at Kadi in confusion, then conveyed Kadi’s baffling behavior to Stan Sol.

The Great Mentor chuckled. Indeed, Kadi is always the one to start things. If the personalities of these young men could be melded, they might truly create another genius.

”He means we should find the right moment to counterattack,” Stan Sol said. He had already become adept at manipulating the Ghostly Flame. He had arranged the Malice Spirit Entities well, forming them into orderly ranks, like a well-trained army.

”We can sound the horn for a counterattack?” Igor exclaimed in surprise. He had always felt they were still in a defensive phase.

”Come on! Look at the enemy—they’re not moving at all! You instantly defrosted those ice blocks, so why haven’t any of those menacing Water Folk appeared? It’s not normal. It means the enemy has suffered a heavy blow,” Kadi analyzed, sounding quite convinced.

”What if it’s a trap set by the enemy?” Igor still maintained his cautious stance.

”So what if it’s a trap? Don’t you have the resolve to break it? Besides, the enemy is just a sea. It shifts and changes, but it’s always either waves or Water Folk. It’s all variations on the same theme. I don’t believe they can set any kind of truly different trap,” Kadi shrugged, unconcerned. He felt the enemy was insignificant now and they could definitely take the offensive.

”Er…” Igor hesitated, feeling he should hear Stan Sol’s opinion again.

”I think we can probe them a little,” Stan Sol said. He had already positioned all the Malice Spirit Entities that had appeared.

”You mean we can really sound the horn for the counterattack now?” Igor asked, a little excited.

”The enemy hasn’t moved for a long time. I don’t think we’ll achieve anything good by remaining stagnant,” Stan Sol analyzed. He too felt the enemy’s silence had lasted overly long.

”This…”

”If the enemy’s silence is just Smoke, intended to lure us away, then our original plan will have completely failed,” Stan Sol continued his analysis. His thoughts were indeed more comprehensive than the others’.

This solidified Igor’s resolve. After all, their mission was to buy time, giving Kuren and the Great Mentor enough opportunity to devise a strategy to repel the enemy.

If they were delayed by the enemy, they would indeed have made a grave mistake. Therefore, Igor felt this was truly not the time to be overly cautious. Fortunately, Kadi had been called in; with Kadi around, fighting would be much more straightforward.

Igor felt he was being a bit too indecisive…

The enemy was the sea. They had already caused the utmost disturbance. So, how to conquer this sea? Should they churn it upside down, or simply find something to fill it up…

Igor let his imagination roam. He suddenly realized he could do anything he wanted here; as long as he imagined it, anything could happen.

This involuntarily reminded him of an ancient story where a bird, with its meager strength, filled an entire sea. He had once thought the story incredible, but now he truly wished he could summon that bird. After all, characters from legends always possessed astonishing power.

ROAR—

Before Igor could fully gather his thoughts, a colossal bird appeared in the sky. Its wingspan was as vast as two large ships. As it soared, the mere flapping of its wings could stir the waters of the vast ocean below…

”This?!”

Igor heard Stan Sol and Kadi exclaim in surprise simultaneously.

”This is our signal for the counterattack! This great bird can level the sea!”