The others heard Lila’s suggestion and agreed it made sense, all turning to look at Kael.

  Theoretically, it should work. Many stationary monsters in the wild could be cheesed this way.

  However, this was a Hidden Realm. The monsters here had their own logic for survival.

  Kael didn’t answer Lila right away. He stopped, scanned his surroundings, then raised his bow and used a skill on a patch of grass in the distance.

  [Phantom Barrage]

  A damage number floated up from the targeted area.

  -17,363

  However, the mawflower didn't rise from the ground.

  Kael pointed toward the spot. “There’s a mawflower over there, but it’s still passive. We have nothing to target.”

  Lila nodded but didn’t give up. “You could use Manual Mode. You don’t need a target to shoot arrows in Manual Mode, right?”

  Seeing she was still insistent, Kael drew his bow and fired again.

  -14,839

  -45,265

  -14,029

  ...

  Just as everyone thought they could kill the mawflower without taking any damage, a new number suddenly appeared over it.

  +100,000

  It healed for 100,000 HP in an instant.

  Orion gasped. “Damn, what a cheap monster!”

  Kael lowered his bow. “Monsters of this type only enter a combat state within a certain range,” he explained. “Outside of that, they’re non-combative. As long as we can't one-shot it, it’ll just heal back to full.”

  Everyone nodded in understanding.

  “But we don’t all need to go in,” Kael continued. “Hazel, you pull the monster. Rena, you follow behind her. Orion and Lila, just stay back and watch.”

  The group agreed. Orion first cast [Sigil of Warding] on both Hazel and Rena, boosting their defenses. Hazel then raised her shield and slowly advanced, with Rena keeping a 10-yard distance behind her.

  When Hazel was about five yards from the hidden monster, she let out a sudden shout.

  [Taunting Roar]: Enrages all enemy units within a 5-yard radius, forcing them to attack the user. Armor +5000 for 3 seconds.

  As expected, a mawflower shot up from the ground and struck at Hazel.

  -1

  -1

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  -1

  The mawflower couldn’t even penetrate her defense. After three seconds, Hazel’s 5000 armor bonus disappeared. The Mirage Mawflower struck her again.

  -1025

  To Hazel, who had nearly 30,000 HP, it was nothing more than a tickle. Her current physical defense was over 5000. With the +1000 from Rena’s [Inner Fire] and +1200 from Orion’s [Sigil of Warding], her total defense was over 7000. The Mirage Mawflower’s normal attacks were useless against her.

  From a distance, Kael and his clones unleashed a barrage of damage, finishing it off in fifteen seconds.

  [System: You have slain Mirage Mawflower and gained 1,000,000 EXP.]

  This time, apart from various materials, it only dropped a single level 30 epic item. Just as he thought, after the first kill, the drop rates were abysmal. And this was with Kael’s Luck stat maxed out. If it were any other team, they probably wouldn’t have even gotten a rare drop.

  As this Mirage Mawflower fell, the scene before them changed once again. The beautiful, endless grassland vanished, replaced by a gruesome landscape littered with bones. It was a terrifying sight.

  “Ahhh!” Hazel screamed and clung tightly to Rena, who was also trembling, too scared to open her eyes.

  Lila’s brow furrowed. Clearly, the nauseating scene before them far exceeded her expectations.

  Orion, however, had the opposite reaction. He walked over to the mawflower’s corpse with curiosity. Beneath the flower's roots, a round object was partially exposed. Orion reached down and dug it out, revealing a skull—a green skull.

  Holding it, Orion beamed. “Haha, a [Verdant Skull]! I’m rich!” He then dangled the skull in front of Rena, who recoiled in disgust.

  Hazel, on the other hand, gradually overcame her fear. She pointed at the skull in Orion’s hand. “What’s that thing for? You’re treating it like a treasure.”

  Orion shook his head smugly. “This Ghostskull has many uses. It can be ground into a powerful crafting material, or the whole thing can be used to set up an array.”

  “An array?” Lila walked over. “Like that materialization array you used at the bottom of the Pool?”

  Orion nodded. “This one is much more powerful than that.”

  Hazel’s interest was instantly piqued. She let go of Rena and went to Orion’s side. “Hey, little wizard, can you set one up and show us now?”

  Orion was speechless at the nickname. “Hazel, my dear, could you use a different title?”

  “Okay, Big wizard.”

  “I…”

  Kael walked over, interrupting them. “The Wraith-Weed you wanted is in this Hidden Realm. Go find it yourself.”

  “Really!?” Orion was ecstatic. Wraith-Weed was an essential material for revival sigils. He immediately lost interest in teasing Hazel and began searching the area.

  After that, the group encountered a dozen more Mirage Mawflowers. With their previous experience, they dealt with them easily. After crossing the area that was beautiful on the surface but littered with skeletons underneath, the team arrived in a new place.

  Before them stood rows of mawflowers, standing upright. There was no scenery, no hiding. They just stood there, each one separated by over a hundred yards.

  Unlike the green Mirage Mawflowers from before, these came in various colors. Some were rainbow-colored, others gray.

  The one closest to them was a gray mawflower.

  Kael quickly warned everyone, “Slow down. Watch your spacing.”

  Hazel was in the lead, with Rena about 10 yards behind her. Lila and Orion followed, with Kael at the very rear. He estimated the distance to the mawflower.

  100 yards...

  80 yards...

  70 yards...

  50 yards...

  40 yards...

  Suddenly, Kael felt a strange disturbance from behind. He turned to see a tall wall of thorns that had sprung up, trapping them. The dense thorns glowed with a green light, an unnerving sight.

  THUMP!

  A loud impact sounded from the back of the formation. It was followed by Hazel’s scream.

  “AHHHHHH!”

  A black shadow flashed past Kael.

  THWACK!

  The shadow was pinned to the thorn wall.

  -985 (Physical Damage)

  -1500 (Poison Damage)

  -1500 (Poison Damage)

  ...

  It was Hazel. She had been struck by a giant nut and sent flying. By the time she scrambled to her feet, she had already lost over 10,000 HP.

  [Nut Blast]: Deals 10,000 physical damage to a single target and knocks them back.

  [Thorn Wall]: Deals 8000 damage to anyone who touches it and inflicts 1500 poison damage per second for 5 seconds.

  Kael turned back to face the mawflower.

  [Fruiting Mawflower]: Level 32

  HP: 1,000,000

  Physical Attack: 9020

  Physical Defense: 1050

  Magic Defense: 4060

  Attack Range: 60 yards

  There was no escape.