Capítulo 11: Chapter 11: Puppet Creation
While everyone was stunned by Sunan's swift and decisive action, he himself wasn't entirely satisfied.
"If my spiritual power were a bit higher, that Acid Splash would have killed the Iron-Swallowing Beast," he thought with a hint of regret.
He pointed again, and another Acid Splash shot out, hurtling towards a beast like an arrow.
Sizzle!
Although the beast dodged in time, the acid still struck its side, corroding a large chunk of its flank. Its movements were visibly hampered.
Seizing the opportunity, Kyi dashed forward, slicing the beast in half with his sword.
The brothers worked together seamlessly, quickly taking down four Iron-Swallowing Beasts.
Their success bolstered the morale of the others.
The remaining beasts, sensing danger, began to retreat.
"Don't let them escape! Stop them!" Kyi shouted.
The knights charged towards the fleeing beasts.
Sunan narrowed his eyes, targeting the last beast in the group with a Sleep Curse.
To his surprise, the beast remained unaffected.
"The spell didn't work?"
Sunan was taken aback.
Just then, a beast suddenly leaped, seemingly merging into the rock wall and vanishing. The movement was so fluid that no one had time to react.
The other beasts followed suit, disappearing into the walls one after another.
As the last beast prepared to escape, Sunan snapped out of his daze. A faint light flickered in his eyes.
The beast's graceful leap abruptly halted, its body frozen mid-air as if held by an invisible force. It struggled in vain, unable to break free.
"Kill it!" Sunan commanded.
The others, who had been staring in disbelief at this bizarre scene, finally reacted, attacking the immobilized beast.
Crack!
The beast's body shattered in mid-air.
"Sunan, you just..." Kyi looked at Sunan, his eyes filled with wonder.
While the Inferior Dragon Blood Potion was within his understanding, the magical feats Sunan had just displayed were beyond his comprehension.
Sunan, knowing what his brother wanted to ask, calmly explained, "It's a spell."
A spell!
The others pondered this word, feeling as if a whole new world was unfolding before their eyes.
Sunan, paying no attention to the others, hurried over to the remains of a bisected Iron-Swallowing Beast and crouched down to examine it.
Moments later, a strange expression crossed his face.
"Is something wrong?" Kyi asked, noticing Sunan's expression.
Sunan shook his head and stood up. "I think I know where these Iron-Swallowing Beasts came from."
He had already suspected something was amiss when the Sleep Curse failed to take effect.
There were generally only two situations where a creature could be immune to a spell.
One was having sufficiently high spell resistance, such as dragons.
Dragons were known for their innate spell resistance; adult dragons could be immune to all spells below the third-ring.
The other was a creature whose life form made them immune to a particular spell.
For example, elemental creatures, undead creatures, and puppet creations were all immune to Sleep Curse.
The Iron-Swallowing Beasts clearly fell into the latter category.
"I initially thought they were metal-based lifeforms, but it turns out they are puppet creations."
During his examination, Sunan had discovered enchantment runes within the beast's remains.
Naturally born creatures wouldn't have such runes.
The only explanation was that the Iron-Swallowing Beasts were artificially created!
And the only ones capable of creating puppets were wizards (or apprentices)!
"There's most likely a wizard's legacy deep within this mine!"
Sunan was ecstatic.
He had originally planned to search for a wizard's legacy after being promoted to a level 2 wizard apprentice, but he never expected to find one near Blackrock City.
This was an incredible surprise!
As Sunan explained his findings, Kyi and the others were shocked.
They never imagined that these Iron-Swallowing Beasts, with their knight-level combat strength and ability to burrow into walls, were actually puppets created by a wizard!
Magical potions, terrifying spells, powerful puppet creations... all these things that were unimaginable to ordinary people were actually the work of wizards!
What kind of group were they?
The more they learned, the more they felt the mystery and power of wizards.
Legend had it that thousands of years ago, wizards ruled the entire continent, creating an unprecedented golden age.
They used to think it was just a myth, but now it seemed that it might have been a real event!
Lost in their thoughts, the tunnel fell silent.
Sunan, paying no mind to the others, sat down on the ground and began meditating to recover his spiritual power.
He had expended nearly all of it in the previous battle.
Considering there might be more battles ahead, it was best to recover before continuing their exploration.
About two hours later, Sunan finished meditating.
The group continued their advance.
Fear stemmed from the unknown.
Now that they knew the origin of the Iron-Swallowing Beasts, their fear of these monsters diminished significantly.
Especially after killing five of them in the previous battle, their morale was at an all-time high.
However, to their confusion, they didn't encounter any more beasts as they progressed.
"Where did those monsters go?" Jorton wondered, smacking his lips.
Kyi also frowned.
If the remaining beasts were simply hiding, there was nothing they could do.
Trying to find a group of wall-burrowing beasts in these dimly lit, intricate tunnels was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Sunan pondered.
High-level puppets possessed self-awareness and artificial intelligence comparable to humans, but the Iron-Swallowing Beasts were clearly not among them.
They were low-level puppets, likely following a specific set of instructions.
For example, when encountering an enemy they couldn't defeat, they prioritized self-preservation.
This explained why previous lords had failed to exterminate them.
Faced with a group of cunning monsters who were experts at hide-and-seek, even a Great Knight would be helpless.
However, just because previous lords were helpless didn't mean Sunan was.
He closed his eyes, concentrating on sensing the energy particles in the air.
If he wasn't mistaken, these Iron-Swallowing Beasts were likely guardians of the unknown wizard legacy hidden within the mine.
If they could find the location of the legacy, the beasts would surely appear to stop them, and then they could annihilate them all.
And the place where the wizard's legacy was located would definitely have a much higher concentration of energy particles than other places.
As long as they followed the areas with higher energy particle concentration, they would likely find their target.
Soon, Sunan opened his eyes and pointed to the tunnel on the right. "This way."
Kyi was momentarily stunned, then immediately reacted, leading the way without hesitation.
The others followed closely behind.
Along the way, the group stopped and started.
Every time they encountered a fork in the road, Sunan would stop to sense the energy particles and decide the direction to proceed.
After an unknown amount of time, they suddenly stopped.
This time, it wasn't because they encountered any monsters or found a fork in the road, but because there was no more road.
To be precise
, a dark, heavy door blocked the tunnel.
The closed door sealed off the entire passage.
Estado de energía semanal
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