Alpha quickly adjusted her tactics, and the remaining eighty or so mazes began to rearrange themselves into an even more complex multiple structure.
"Since simple traps are ineffective, let’s use a composite cage!"
Hundreds of her brains began to overload, unleashing an unprecedented level of mental calculation power.
The air in the entire arena became thick, as if reality itself was being twisted.
——Spirit Cage ・ Infinite Corridor!
This time, the attack was even more terrifying; eighty mazes connected with each other, forming a massive spiritual maze.
Any consciousness entering would get lost in the endless corridors until the spirit collapsed completely.
Explorer No.1 Golem and the sonic jellyfish began to show signs of difficulty, their movements became sluggish, as if trapped in some invisible mire.
"It’s truly impressive, Alpha, who is a native Apostle of this core sixth layer..."
In the VIP seats, several Apostles who weren’t participating showed interest.
At that moment, the Stand-In Puppet, which had been silent all along, finally moved.
It slowly turned towards the nearest consciousness maze, and its originally hollow eye sockets suddenly lit up with an eerie red light.
When the first consciousness maze attempted to invade the puppet’s "mind," something astonishing happened.
The maze began to shake violently, and its internal spiritual structure contracted frantically as if encountered its natural enemy.
Then... it suddenly collapsed.
"Impossible!" Hundreds of Alpha’s brains simultaneously emitted chaotic thought waves:
"What exactly is hidden inside that puppet? How could my maze..."
The entire arena plunged into dead silence.
All the audience widened their eyes, unable to comprehend what just happened.
A seemingly harmless puppet had destroyed the meticulously crafted consciousness maze merely by "staring"?
In the special seating for participants, the expressions of three Apostles became extremely grave.
"It’s not a puppet..." Delir’s voice trembled slightly: "It’s some special life form disguised as a puppet."
"My time perception is completely messed up..." Kro clenched his fists tightly.
The Stand-In Puppet slowly turned towards the next target, the red light in its eyes growing brighter, and its body began undergoing a sinister transformation.
"Alright, warm-up’s over, time to enter combat mode!"
Ron controlled the puppet to reveal its true form.
The exquisite wooden shell peeled away layer by layer like shed snake skin, revealing the bizarre structure of metal and flesh mixed beneath.
The body rapidly expanded, transforming from a less than one meter puppet shape into a monstrous figure over two meters tall.
The limbs extended and distorted, joints producing sharp metallic screeches.
The fingertips split open, growing bone blades as sharp as razors, each one gleaming with a bloodthirsty chill.
The most terrifying was its "face."
The originally blank face suddenly cracked open a huge slit, which quickly widened into a gaping maw.
Inside, rows of jagged teeth grew, each sharp as a dagger.
When that giant mouth opened, a mysterious liquid could be seen writhing deep inside, emitting a corrosive stench.
"That... why does it give off an instinctive sense of suppression?!"
Screams of panic came from the audience seats, and some sensitive Awakened even started to retreat.
These Awakened and mutations were naturally accustomed to frightening scenes.
They weren’t terrified by the sudden transformation, but rather had a reflexive reaction to the activation of the puppet’s "Hunting Evil" skills upon full release.
The transformed puppet let out a deep roar.
Then it moved.
The puppet sprinted like a specter towards the nearest consciousness maze, moving so fast that the trajectory was impossible to discern.
Its mode of movement was extraordinary, each step landing on critical nodes, as if knowing every inch of the battlefield thoroughly.
The first consciousness maze was cut open from the center by the puppet’s bone blade before it could even react.
Yet shockingly, the puppet didn’t simply destroy its target.
It extended another hand, extracting some kind of glowing spiritual essence from the crack in the maze, and without hesitation, stuffed it into its bloodthirsty maw.
The sound of "chewing" echoed throughout the arena, reminiscent of biting into some crisp, tender fruit.
With each devouring of spiritual essence, the aura surrounding the puppet grew increasingly powerful.
New rune patterns started appearing on its skin surface, and the glow in its eyes intensified.
"Is it... consuming?" Delir’s voice was incredulous:
"It’s treating Alpha’s spiritual construct as food?"
"Not just consuming..." Kempes observed the puppet’s transformation carefully:
"It’s learning, adapting, evolving. With each enemy it devours, it gains some growth."