Without warning, without sound.
The three members of the Stone Wall Team standing on the firepower platform were dismembered as if by an invisible long blade.
Everyone present maintained Gyo at all times, yet they did not see any Nen-related attack.
No fluctuation, no physical form.
The sudden phenomenon caused Beyond and his group's expressions to change slightly.
Pariston quickly glanced at the impact marks on Golem's cockpit, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Damage reflection..."
Beyond raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard something interesting.
The characteristic of reflection was the framework of his own Nen Ability.
And Pariston's speculation wasn't unreasonable, because only Golem and the three Emission-type Stone Wall Team's members had suffered the attack.
The others weren't stupid either and instantly formed a judgment.
However, the truly thorny issue was that they couldn't see the Scarecrow's counterattack.
But the good news was that external objects could block the Scarecrow's counterattack.
This could be seen from the cracks on Golem's cockpit.
"Don't rush to attack just yet."
Pariston reminded, then looked at the Scarecrow.
Suddenly, he felt something was off and carefully observed the Scarecrow's appearance.
Just then, the Scarecrow took the initiative to attack, summoning a large flock of palm-sized crows that surged towards Beyond and his group in the passage.
Golem instinctively raised his barrel. Even without his teammates' ammunition support, he could still fire Nen Bullets himself, though their power was weak.
Before pulling the trigger, he hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to pull the trigger.
However, before pulling the trigger, he first repaired the cracks in his cockpit.
Flames spewed forth, and Nen Bullets flew from the barrel, striking the incoming crow flock.
Instantly, the crow flock exploded in mid-air above the passage.
The Nen Bullets shredded the crow flock and then disappeared into the air.
Without the ammunition support of his Emission-type teammates, the power and durability of the Nen Bullets had clearly weakened significantly.
However, the power was sufficient to destroy the crow flock, though there was no remaining force to attack the Scarecrow afterward.
After destroying the crow flock, Golem remained highly alert.
The expected counterattack phenomenon did not occur.
Perhaps it was related to the number of attacks.
Golem said calmly, "I'll be the bait and draw out its weakness."
"Alright."
Beyond nodded.
They consciously stepped back, increasing the distance.
Golem intended to trigger the Scarecrow's ability mechanism once more, letting the others observe carefully to identify its weakness.
Watching his teammates retreat, Golem stood in the middle of the passage, coldly staring at the Scarecrow approaching over the crows.
He raised his barrel, and flames spewed forth.
Nen Bullets shot out, blasting the Scarecrow into fragments.
"One."
Golem counted silently in his mind.
When the Scarecrow regenerated, he fired Nen Bullets again, destroying it once more.
"Two."
Golem kept a mental tally of the number of times he defeated the Scarecrow, never ceasing his Nen output.
Outside the battle circle, Beyond and his group focused intently on the Scarecrow's movements.
Soon, Golem defeated the Scarecrow for the twelfth time.
But without surprise, the Scarecrow regenerated once more.
At the same time, the crisp sound of cracking glass echoed through the passage.
Several distinct cracks had once again appeared on Golem's cockpit, to the point of being on the verge of shattering.
When it was first attacked, the cracks hadn't been this noticeable.
This suggested that the counterattack damage from the Scarecrow, whose mechanism was unclear, might increase in power with each attack.
"Did anyone notice anything?"
Golem suppressed this concern, first glanced at his severely cracked cockpit, then asked his teammates.
"No," Beyond said with a frown. "And you all?"
Apart from Pariston, who had a thoughtful look in his eyes, everyone else shook their heads.
Even when mentally prepared, they still hadn't figured out how the Scarecrow was dealing damage to Golem's cockpit.
Moreover, the cracks appeared soundlessly, without any warning, exuding an eerie and chilling strangeness.
If that damage hadn't been blocked by the cockpit's reinforced glass but had directly affected Golem inside the cockpit, it would have been virtually unsolvable.
Seeing that Beyond and the others had found nothing, Golem was somewhat disappointed, then said gravely, "The count is twelve. Also, the damage from the second counterattack was clearly stronger than the first. I don't know how many I can withstand."
Muherr conservatively said, "I can see it's not very fast, so there's no need to get tangled up with it. We can just shake it off."
"Agreed. Fighting something with such bizarre abilities is more trouble than it's worth."
After some contact, more than half the team felt it was unnecessary to take on meaningless risks.
As they were voicing their opinions, the Scarecrow attacked again.
Aside from its unkillable nature, the Scarecrow's speed and the crows it released were, in Beyond and his group's view, very low threat.
Watching the crow flock approach, Golem again fired Nen Bullets, destroying the crows and the Scarecrow completely.
The next moment, the Scarecrow regenerated again.
Before understanding the situation, Beyond and his group didn't want to attack rashly and pulled back.
Pariston watched the Scarecrow, which was vaguely beginning to show some physical form, his eyes glinting slightly.
He noticed that the Scarecrow, initially entirely ethereal, after being repeatedly destroyed and regenerated, seemed to be developing some physical substance to its body.
Thus, he speculated that once the Scarecrow revealed more solid parts, they might be able to damage it.
But before that, they might have to endure the Scarecrow's counterattack at least five more times.
Judging from the cracks on Golem's cockpit earlier, the second counterattack's damage had only increased, not multiplied.
This meant the risk of eliminating the Scarecrow was actually acceptable.
Nevertheless...
Pariston looked at his teammates' reactions.
As Muherr said, since the Scarecrow wasn't very fast, they could completely avoid this fight.
After all, this wasn't an RPG game... defeating the Scarecrow wouldn't drop equipment or reward them with experience points.
Thinking this, Pariston remained silent for the time being.
Beyond watched the Scarecrow be shredded to pieces by Golem once more, pondered for a moment, then made a decision and said, "Let's scram."
Avoiding meaningless fights was always one of a Hunter's codes of conduct.
Defeating the Scarecrow wouldn't bring any benefits.
Beyond personally preferred to avoid it.
Hearing Beyond's words, everyone immediately concentrated their Nen into their legs, preparing to shake off the Scarecrow.
The first to move was Beyond, who turned and ran.
His action was the starting gun.
The others in the team followed closely behind.
They chose to retreat at the moment the Scarecrow was shredded.
When the Scarecrow regenerated, it could only watch blankly as Beyond and his group fled.
Avoiding the Scarecrow wasn't difficult, but it would lengthen the team's journey back to the surface.
What Beyond and his group didn't know was that the route they took after evading the Scarecrow might gradually be drawn towards a certain entrance, where a black shadow stood still.
Regarding the arrival of Coo, Law and his group in the Hide-and-Seek Dimension were also completely unaware.
Neither of her arrival, nor of her intentions.