Chapter 58: Puppet fight

Endless waves of puppets sprang out from the trembling ironstone floor.

The ironstone floor beneath their boots groaned under the weight of an ancient formation.

The Extreme Yang Metal Magnetic Array below their feet continued to rotate until the rock walls vanished, transforming the chamber into a massive arena.

Moon, Nox, Axe, and Oshan slowly gathered in the center.

Axe looked straight ahead the moment his back touched Moon’s. He murmured softly, "Baby, did you forget to give your husband something?"

Moon was puzzled.

His eyes swept around the puppet formation, his hands twitching alertly as he stabilized his stance on the shifting floor, ready to unleash a spell.

"Keep your sentences short," he muttered.

"Give me a kiss," Axe said seriously.

"..."

From the side, Nox scoffed, "Go kiss the statue."

Seeing that Moon remained unresponsive, Axe dropped his playful tone and extended his palm. "Pill."

Moon took out a vial, intending to drop a medicinal pill into Axe’s palm. But suddenly, he pulled his hand back.

Axe was puzzled, wondering, ’Did I finally piss this man off?’

But in the next moment, Axe’s head was yanked back. Soft lips pressed firmly against his own, instantly followed by the warm, melting bitterness of a medicinal pill.

Axe wanted to suck on those soft lips, but the touch quickly retreated, leaving behind a lingering warmth and a slick feeling.

Swirling the newly melted pill over his tongue, Axe chuckled as he stared at the back of the man who had already returned to his defensive stance—acting as if he hadn’t just initiated the kiss and shoved a pill past his lips.

Axe’s heart ached to pull him into a tight embrace, but the current situation forbade it.

Oshan clicked his tongue. "Are you two on a honeymoon? Kiss after you go to the afterlife. It will be soon anyway."

Nox shifted bitterly, thinking that Moon was truly being biased.

At this moment, the rotation of the platform beneath their feet ground to a halt.

With the twelve massive Nightshade Gold pillars locking into the ceiling, the pitch-black sky overhead emitted an oppressive energy.

The blinding light that had previously erased all shadows suddenly condensed, focusing directly on the center platform.

Dozens of iron puppets, identical to the ones Axe had fought earlier, began to assemble out of raw scrap metal and surging Qi.

"Tsk, they just keep coming!" Axe spat, flexing his ten razor-sharp metal claw blades as they gleamed in the dim light.

"They were running on the energy radiating from the liquid pool earlier," Oshan explained, sharing the data he had collected so far. "That pool was the energy source. Now, it’s likely the pillars. Drain them, and their power will weaken."

"The weak point is always the joints, which you already know, but there is also a chip in their foreheads. I don’t know what their exact function is, but that’s the core of their tactical decisions."

Nox and Moon nodded.

"We lost our weapons before coming inside," Oshan reminded them, gesturing to his bare hands.

Before Nox could even glance at him or offer them any equipment, the air shifted.

Twelve puppets simultaneously lunged at them, brandishing long swords.

Moon’s eyes narrowed.

This reminded him of the sword cultivators in his previous world, who were equally arrogant and ruthless.

It also brought back memories of the Legendary puppet refiner—the puppet master Miralia.

When the puppets struck, Moon abruptly ducked, completely bypassing a direct clash.

Instead, he rolled out of the way and hurled a bright Phantom Air Binder Spell toward the twelve pillars.

Thin blue strings of thread spread outward from his swirling energy in mid-air, engulfing one pillar entirely.

The Nightshade pillar was pitch-black, yet it strangely illuminated the surrounding area. With the air net around them, the light suddenly dimmed on that side.

One puppet halted in its tracks just as Axe’s claws dug into its neck. With a sharp twist, he snapped the puppet’s brittle neck.

He looked at Moon, his smile widening with wild ambition.

This worked.

Now that the pool was gone, the pillars were containing the remaining liquid energy.

’Huh? Interesting!’ he thought.

Moon did not stop.

He ducked under another puppet’s blade. Recognizing him as a major threat, six puppets immediately swerved to surround him alone.

Oshan was kept at bay, fighting off two puppets. His recovery was fast, but he was still not back to his prime state. His eyes darted around. Spinning on his toes, he landed right next to the puppet Axe had previously disabled.

Grabbing the broken puppet by its metal arm, he swung and hurled the heavy chassis straight toward the two puppets trying to ambush him. The metal collided with immense force, sparking fire everywhere, and all three puppets crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.

Meanwhile, Nox moved like a blur of shadow.

He did not engage in direct combat at all—he just kept running. One second he was behind one pillar, and the next second he was on the complete opposite side.

His chaotic movements left the tracking puppets completely confused as they kept rushing forward and swinging their swords at empty air.

The center statue remained perfectly still like a proper monument, until Nox suddenly leaped onto its thigh. Stepping right onto its crotch, Nox quickly scrambled all the way up onto its shoulders. The chasing puppets followed suit, scaling the monument to reach him.

"Impudent! You brat! Leave me alone!" At last, the statue’s metallic voice vibrated in deep irritation.

Moon, on the other side of the arena, had already trapped five pillars with his spell, cutting off the energy supply of five corresponding puppets.

Axe hacked at the remaining weakened puppets and pushed them toward the furthest corner where the platform’s rotation had initially covered the vault walls to create the arena space.

The giant statue shrieked, "You brats, come back! Don’t go in there; the cave will fall!" Its panicked voice echoed everywhere.

This was completely different from what the ancient entity had anticipated. It had expected to watch an elegant sword fight, not a chaotic brawl like this.

It was an utter humiliation for a seasoned soldier.

"Don’t you have any shame?! No one is allowed to take my inheritance like this!" Its angry voice vibrated through the chamber, and the illusory arena scene suddenly changed back into the original rock wall vault.

The pillars vanished instantly beneath the iron floor.

Axe sneered, crossing his arms. "You gutter rat, you have the guts to criticize us? You took our weapons first! Did you expect us to slash through your trial with bare hands?"

Oshan threw himself onto the floor, dead tired from lifting and throwing heavy puppets.

Nox slowly climbed down from the giant shoulders and stood beside Moon.

Moon, on the other hand, was simply squinting at the statue, deep in thought.

"You wanted to see our innate weapon?" he asked at last.

Moon sighed inwardly, taking a step toward the statue.

"Venerable War God, or whoever you are, are you unaware of many things in these passage of times? You are in a place where people can’t cultivate, and they have no innate weapons to swing."

He paused and then added, "They are werewolf."