Isla listened carefully, nodding as she cross-checked what she had observed during the battle.
When he finished, she said, "That matches what I noticed too. We can move to the next area. Since the mid-boss is defeated, we should be reaching the final area soon."
Isaac nodded. "Good. Let’s keep going."
They turned toward the far end of the corridor.
Another large doorway stood there, faint light leaking from its cracks.
When they pushed it open, a wave of warm air hit them.
The moment they stepped through, the door vanished behind them.
"It’s a city," Celia muttered, eyes wide.
The view before them was strange and beautiful.
A vast, open space where gravity and direction twisted constantly.
Floating structures made of glass and crimson metal drifted through the air, connected by glowing bridges of light.
Buildings hung upside-down. Some floated sideways.
Others reflected themselves endlessly.
When they looked up, they could see another version of themselves walking below, as though trapped in a loop.
Isaac scanned the area quickly.
"Be careful while moving. Don’t stray too far from me," he said.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Celia replied with exaggerated enthusiasm, giving a mock salute.
He looked at her and shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
They continued forward carefully.
Every step had to be measured/
Sometimes the pull of gravity shifted unexpectedly, tilting their direction sideways or pulling upward.
The reflections all around made depth perception almost useless.
As they crossed one of the light bridges, a shape moved ahead of them.
A floating pyramid emerged, about the size of a human.
Its surface gleamed like molten glass, and each of its corners emitted thin beams of light.
The pyramid began spinning, and the beams shot outward.
The beams didn’t fly directly toward the group.
Instead, they bounced from the mirrored surfaces of nearby buildings, refracting in unpredictable angles before striking the area around them.
Isaac immediately used Bastian Gate, a skill he had copied from Celia.
A faint blue barrier formed around his team, strengthening their defenses.
Then he used Phantom Ward, another copied skill from Emily, creating a transparent shield that stood before them like an impregnable fortress.
"Stay behind the barrier," he said, stepping forward.
The Arcane Construct spun faster, its beams cutting through the air.
Isaac moved carefully, adjusting to the strange shifts in gravity.
He struck the pyramid with a single slash, but it spun away, the light reflecting off its surface making it hard to track.
It fired again, this time from below, forcing Isaac to reorient himself midair.
He twisted, landing on an upside-down platform before leaping back toward it.
The refracted beams grew in number every time they reflected from a surface, making the fight harder as it went on.
"This one’s a bit tricky. It doesn’t seem to have a weakness."
He watched its pattern, noting that the beams always refracted at specific angles.
The monster was relying on the city’s mirrored surfaces to attack indirectly.
After a few more exchanges, Isaac’s sword cut through its core.
The light inside dimmed, and the pyramid fell apart, scattering into faint motes that faded away.
Arcane Construct (Elite Rank) Defeated
Drop: 3 Silver Coins, EXP
Isaac landed back near his team.
"This one is going to be harder to defeat for the awakeners," he said.
Warn chuckled dryly. "Yes, and that’s no joke. I could barely follow what was happening."
Beatrice exhaled, brushing dust from her armor. "And there must be more than one of those things around. We’re probably not done yet."
Isaac didn’t answer.
His eyes were on Isla, who was quietly scanning their surroundings, the mirrored floors, the light trails still lingering in the air from the last fight.
"What are you thinking?" he finally asked.
Isla tilted her head slightly. "What if we paint this city?"
Celia blinked. "Paint it?"
"If we cover parts of the mirror city — or at least the parts where we’re fighting — won’t that make these monsters’ beam attacks useless?" Isla said, half to herself. "They don’t attack directly, and rely on reflection and refraction. If the surfaces stop reflecting, their beams won’t bounce around anymore."
Isaac stared at her for a moment, impressed despite himself.
Celia’s eyes widened.
Warn smiled faintly. "Told you she’s a genius. It’s because of her that the Radiant Guild used to dominate the old dungeons."
Isaac nodded. "Makes sense."
Beatrice gave a quiet laugh. "We’ll need a lot of paint though."
"It doesn’t have to be literal paint. We can use a skill, or maybe something like Shadow Film or Dust Veil. Anything that dulls the surface," Isla said quickly.
Isaac smiled a little. "You’re definitely not a normal strategist."
’She really is a genius to think like that,’ he thought.
Isla blushed when she looked at his smile, and heard his praise.
Isaac ignored it.
There was something else he was focusing upon, none of them had asked him about his skills.
They should have known that a Farmer shouldn’t have skills like him.
Yet they stayed silent, and that silence said a lot.
’They’re smart. That’s good.’
They continued through the mirror streets, fighting their way past several Arcane Constructs that floated between the mirrored walls.
After testing a few of them and making a detailed report about the monsters, Isaac killed the rest of them with a single hit.
After one particularly fight, they encountered something new.
Humanoid ghosts, thin and transparent, moving between shards of glass and broken constructs.
They carried spectral tools and drifted soundlessly from one shattered Arcane Construct to another.
"Are they attacking us?" Celia asked, raising her sword.
"No. They’re fixing the constructs," Isaac muttered.
As soon as he spoke, one of the repaired constructs rose and fired a light beam at them.
The ghosts didn’t fight directly. They just repaired and reinforced whatever Isaac destroyed.
"They’re support types," Warn said, tightening his grip on his sword. "That’s problematic."
"And since the Constructs are protecting them, we can’t go after the ghosts first," Beatrice said.
Isaac tried used Flame of Judgment skill to kill the ghosts from distance, but the spear passed straight through one of the ghostly repairers without any effect.
"Alright. They can phase through the attacks."