Catherine followed Ronald as they ran forward.

The two of them moved along the city streets, squeezed through the entrance of the treehouse, and climbed all the way to the open balcony at the top.

Once they reached this point, the view unfolded before them.

Even Catherine's earlier questions no longer needed to be pursued.

Just by standing here, they could take in a large area and see the buildings being destroyed and forming barricades in the city.

Ronald's urgent actions were aimed at.

Reaching this vantage point to observe the specific situation in the city and hoping to confirm what the enemy was doing.

As for the outcome...

The scene they witnessed may not be good news.

Because within their view, the buildings in Hammond City were still being systematically destroyed, forming new barricades and altering the terrain.

Carefully observing this trajectory.

Ronald and Catherine did not find any characters or life forms directing or manipulating this phenomenon.

All the destroyed buildings seemed to collapse naturally or were shattered from the foundations by invisible forces.

Their previous assumptions got no validation from these scenes.

Watching the scene below, Catherine frowned and said:

"Is this guy invisible? Or are we fighting against some kind of rule?"

"Don't be hasty, let's wait." Ronald's mood was understandably not very good, but among the two, he was clearly more composed, so he didn't jump to conclusions, "Things might not be as simple as we imagine, we must be patient now."

Catherine nodded slightly, and both fell silent, focusing on observing the scene below.

...

Standing tall in the treehouse, Ronald and Catherine quietly watched the chaos unfolding in the city. They saw collapsing buildings and trees, accompanied by constant rumbling noise. Dust rose in the air, swirling up like earthy waves, slowly settling as if after fireworks faded.

Yet the enemy they sought to find was nowhere in sight.

After waiting for over ten minutes.

The long-lasting maze "transformation" finally came to an end under Ronald and Catherine's gaze.

Looking over now.

The city, covered in descending dust, had changed dramatically from its previous structure. Some destroyed houses became new roads, while debris turned previously passable areas into new obstacles.

Without saying anything else—figuring out a route in this new maze using previous experience was now a fantasy, even replanning it was a significant mental task.

Yet at this moment, Ronald no longer cared about these trivial issues.

His gaze was firmly fixed on a distant place, the spot where a building had just collapsed, the last one to fall.

As if trying to detect something peculiar.

Then, his efforts paid off.

Due to massive collapse of buildings and trees in the city, dust descended in a storm, almost engulfing all tangible entities. But at the spot Ronald watched, a gap erupted at the edge of the dust!

Even if its nature is unknown.

But something definitely emerged from there!

The distance between them was too great for Ronald to ascertain the exact details, but the presence of a tangible enemy was now certain. After all, the dust parted when it left the last ruins.

Ronald felt a big sense of relief.

If he and Catherine were actually battling a rule-based entity, this maze game would seem hopeless.

But now, while still unfavorable, there was hope.

Thinking this, Ronald let go of the railing he had been gripping, leaning back to settle into the rattan chair placed on the balcony.

Coincidentally, as he moved.

An off-screen voice echoed—

[Look over there! There's an invisible ghost!]

[The great adventurer finally discovered where the enemy slipped up!]

[Yet within this transformed maze, can he use his courage and wisdom to overcome the final challenge of this adventure?]

With the off-screen voice, Catherine approached and laid her right hand on Ronald's shoulder:

"Seems like the situation isn't too bad, at least we're dealing with a tangible enemy."

Ronald nodded somewhat fortunately:

"Who says otherwise?"

"Katrina, not to keep it from you, if we truly faced an enemy capable of self-modifying the environment to trap its targets, we might have to consider how to survive sealed for the next hundred years."

This sentence was meant half-jokingly, but Catherine responded quite seriously:

"Ronald, this is your problem to consider."

"For if we were really sealed, my mind could choose to go dormant, sleeping even for a thousand years wouldn't be an issue."

"..."

"Not being human sure has its perks," Ronald couldn't help but reply.

In the midst of Catherine's teasing, he rose from the rattan chair, continuing to look down.

By now, the dust clouds in the city had dissipated considerably.

The recently discovered unseen presence naturally hid again within the vast city.

However, having gained experience, Ronald was not worried.

Despite the unseen enemy vanishing in the large city, there were traces he could not erase.

Then, amidst the descending dust, Ronald quickly identified several key nodes. The dust concentrations there were slightly higher and had some flow.

What does this signify?

It indicates the air at these points has been recently agitated, causing the dust to not settle naturally.

Connecting these nodes and referencing the direction of the last collapsed building.

The trajectory of this unseen enemy's movement came clear in Ronald's mind.

Standing to the side, Catherine watched this unfold.

Yet the girl didn't interrupt Ronald's thoughts.

After some time, when Katrina perceived he had enough, she curiously asked:

"So? Do you have a plan now?"

Ronald nodded hard and responded confidently:

"Yes indeed, the preliminary idea is complete."

"Next, it's just the two of us in our final game of hide-and-seek!"