Chapter 23: Bloodstained Cheers

Cheers and applause filled the arena.

Kane leaned against the edge of the arena, slowly adjusting his breath.

All around the arena were scattered various fragments and parts, and the black liquid was about to contaminate the entire arena floor.

On the ground, there were various severed limbs and relatively intact corpses of distant puppets holding crossbows and bows.

And the puppets holding melee weapons either had their bodies shattered or were left with a broken head sparking.

The previous wave of 3 heavy-armor puppets wielding axes and shields, along with 5 harassing slender puppets, left Kane with little physical strength remaining.

Air walls, hardened spider silk, transparent arrows.

These also continuously consumed his magic power.

Looking up at the crystal hourglass in the sky, the sand particles in the upper container were down to the last layer.

As the creatures grew stronger, the rest time left for Kane in-between increased.

If not for these rest periods, Kane wouldn't be just resting against the wall now.

The last grain of sand began to slide down.

The competition begins.

The final glimmer fell down.

Five tall figures began to solidify, three heavy-armored puppets with shields and spears blocked the front, while two tall puppets wielding giant crossbows stood not far behind them.

Kane did not hesitate, nor could he afford to.

The previous waves told Kane the importance of initiating an attack first.

With a flick of his wrist, a strand of spider silk shot out, sticking to the puppet holding a shield in front.

Pulling hard, the puppet stood firmly rooted, unmoving.

But what Kane wanted was just that immovability; using the force, he directly pulled himself over.

Seeing Kane flying over, the three puppets immediately raised shields and positioned spears.

However, midway, Kane kicked off the ground strongly, flying towards the diagonal upper side of the puppets into mid-air.

In mid-air, Kane turned and shot a strand of spider silk with his left hand, sticking it to one of the distant puppets in the back.

He pulled himself powerfully towards the opponent.

That puppet, holding a giant crossbow, had just loaded a crossbow arrow. Though not as stiff as the slender puppets, the giant crossbow limited its speed.

And Kane took less than two seconds from start to finish.

In the process of pulling himself towards the puppet, Kane's right hand was already holding a long spear aimed at it, casually placing a traitor's mark on it.

The long spear stabbing from mid-air carried an overwhelming force, its ultimate penetration was unstoppable.

This puppet didn't react or have any chance to counterattack, getting its head pierced and pinned to the ground.

The death of a companion could not affect another puppet, as they had no emotions, only an empty void inside.

While Kane attacked another puppet, it coldly loaded a crossbow arrow.

Raised the crossbow, aimed.

The mechanical brain, icy emptiness, made its aim extremely precise.

Kane encountered only one such tall distant puppet in the previous two waves, according to his behavior of killing distant targets first, that puppet naturally didn't shoot an arrow.

Thus he underestimated the combat intelligence of such a puppet.

He turned around immediately after killing the puppet at his feet to dodge this upcoming attack.

But he hadn't just underestimated the puppet; he also underestimated the seemingly ordinary giant crossbow in its hands.

Kane's dodge was still a beat slow, the flying crossbow arrow shattered the exterior layer of his transparent heavy armor.

However, his slowness was just a beat; the arrow only managed to hit his left shoulder, tearing away a chunk of flesh from the edge.

Blood began to slide down his arm.

The intense pain sparked a flood of adrenaline, suppressing the agony.

Such sudden lethality stimulated Kane; for the first time since being reborn, he faced such danger.

The stimulated brain made him forget the pain, now eager to eliminate the source of danger.

During his turn to evade, Kane conjured a steel spear using magic power, twisting his waist and hurling the spear fiercely.

The transparent short spear sliced through the air, penetrating the puppet's body, pinning it to the ground, followed by more spider silk further immobilizing it.

Having finished this, Kane hadn't forgotten the three heavy-armored puppets slowly advancing from the side.

Turning around

He charged straight ahead, no longer conserving any remaining magic power, immediately conjuring a transparent cage to temporarily enclose two of the puppets.

Then he dodged another puppet's spear thrust, taking half a step back.

He marked the puppet with a traitor's symbol, shooting a web from his right wrist that tied a massive square transparent steel block to its shield, then spent magic power to restore its weight.

The sudden weight caused the shield to slip from the puppet's hand, and when it tried to regain it, the great shield hovered in mid-air, unmoving.

Kane wouldn't waste the opportunity crafted from expending substantial magic power, and swung the long spear towards the puppet's head, shielding the sky, drawing out a chilling glow that pierced through.

With a forceful yank of the long spear, the puppet fell.

Kane turned his attention to the two puppets trapped nearby.

The transparent cage was crumbling under the attack of the two puppets, on the brink of shattering.

Magic power continued to flow, separating them and reinforcing one of the cages.

The other puppet sensed the disappearance of the transparent walls and immediately charged at Kane with its shield raised.

Kane created various-sized blocks beneath his feet, then retreated.

The puppet rushed to Kane's former position, losing balance when a sudden object beneath its feet tripped it, and its repositioning leg landed on an irregular polyhedron.

That polyhedron was the last straw to break the camel's back.

Unable to maintain its balance, it fell to the ground.

Even while down, it didn't forget to place its shield over itself.

Kane charged, thrusting the long spear down, wedging it through the shield's gap.

The injury in his left shoulder forced him to exert with only one hand.

He stood a cylinder in the middle of the spear shaft, leveraging to lift the shield covering the puppet.

Give me a fulcrum.

An inexplicable force made the puppet unable to contest the shield's control, sent it flying.

Immediately, Kane thrust his spear towards the direction he just leveraged.

Kane wielded his spear to deflect, pushing aside the long spear aimed at himself.

The spearhead slid along the long spear towards the puppet on the ground, which could no longer resist.

The spearhead smoothly pierced its iron head, and under ultimate penetration, even the iron head had to resign.

Now only the last puppet remained, and Kane looked towards that direction.

That puppet was fiercely pounding the air, letting out resounding booms.

Kane paused briefly, his left arm soaked in his own blood, dripping down his wrist to the ground.

The intense pain could no longer be subdued, flooding his mind.

Kane couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.

He clenched his teeth, using magic play-doh to tightly wrap down from his shoulder along his skin.

Then he spent the remaining magic power to solidify it.

Due to the material's transparency, the gap on Kane's arm was clearly visible.

After treating the wound, he came to the backside of the cage.

First marked it, turning the shielding the sky's moderate penetration into extreme penetration.

The small cage left the heavily armored, shield-bearing puppet unable to turn around.

It could only pound feverishly at the air, the thudding clashes making it seem somewhat helpless.

Standing behind it, Kane decided to grant it freedom.

Dissipating the cage, not granting any chance, as now he couldn't afford to.

In the split second the cage dispersed, shielding the sky pierced from the puppet's back into its face.

Withdrawing the long spear.

The fallen body stirred up a cloud of dust.

Look, freedom.

Approaching the distant puppet pinned to the ground moments ago.

The short spear pinning it was long gone, replaced by a massive hole on its body.

Struggling within the spider silk, the massive hole in the torso exuded dark 'blood.'

"Thank you for giving me such a vivid and expressive lesson; to show my gratitude, I'll grant you freedom."

Stabbing down powerfully with the long spear.

The deafening cheers and roars from the stands echoed across the entire dungeon floor.