Seeing her opponent's corpse puppet dodge the World Hammer by a hair's breadth, Dulas frowned. She quickly realized that while her uncle's corpse puppet might be subpar, in essense it was still in the Demon Emperor realm—and, crucially, being controlled by a skilled Armix demon merchant. She reminded herself not to underestimate her opponent.
What caught her off guard, however, was just how seamlessly her Frosling corpse puppet responded to her commands. Manipulating it felt almost effortless. 'Just like Master Crafter said,' she thought, her lips curling into a small, impressed smile. She recalled his instructions: by using the preset commands he shared with her demon codex, she could command the puppet to craft weapons and armor mid-battle and use them with remarkable efficiency. Even more fascinating, if she could imagine an item clearly and convey it to the puppet, it would materialize her vision in real time using its Glacier Silk Skill.
For now, Dulas had chosen to stick to basic commands that came pre-programmed with the corpse puppet. But after witnessing how quickly and flawlessly it crafted the enormous hammer with its Glacier Silk skill—transforming the raw glacier threads into a item in mere fractions of a second—her confidence surged. Maybe it's time to get creative, she thought, determination hardening her features. 'Let's teach Uncle a lesson he won't forget.'
Meanwhile, the Armix demon merchant watched her reaction closely. He couldn't help but feel a flicker of fascination with the capabilities of her Frosling corpse puppet. Impressive… but no matter how extraordinary the puppet is, it has weaknesses, he reminded himself, suppressing his admiration.
Noticing Dulas momentarily caught in thought, he seized the opportunity. 'Counterstrike, aim for the neck!' he commanded mentally. His unarmored Frosling corpse puppet lunged forward with precision, targeting the joints in its opponent's armor. The Armixian merchant knew full well that his puppet lacked the strength to penetrate the SS-rank mechanical ice armor covering Dulas's champion corpse puppet. Instead, he aimed for weak points, hoping to finish the armored puppet before it could react.
The arena grew tense. Even the crowd, who had initially erupted in awe at the sight of the SS-rank hammer being crafted so effortlessly, had fallen silent. Their eyes darted between the slender, nimble attacker and the hulking, armored defender. The subtle whirring of the puppets' movements and the sound of cracking ice filled the air, heightening the anticipation.
Dulas's frown deepened as she snapped back to attention. 'He's aiming for the joints… crafty move, but I'm not about to let you have your way.' Her Frosling puppet shifted subtly, preparing to counter the incoming attack by swinging its colossal hammer in a wide arc.
But in a blink, the Armixian's corpse puppet vanished from its path, reappearing behind Dulas's armored puppet with unnerving speed. It delivered a swift and devastating kick directly to the armored puppet's neck.
The crowd collectively gasped, expecting the armored puppet to falter—or worse, crumble. Instead, to everyone's shock, the armored Frosling corpse puppet stood tall, entirely unfazed.
The real surprise came after the impact when the puppet's leg, the very one that struck the armored puppet, began to freeze. A visible sheen of ice rapidly crept up its limb, and as soon as it touched the ground, the frozen leg shattered into countless glittering shards of ice. Forced to balance on one leg, the Armixian's puppet looked visibly compromised.
"What the heck is going on?" "It's the Winter Valley's Glacier Plague!" "I get it now. The armored Frosling's armor is laced with Glacier Plague—what a creative way to weaponize the Frosling's natural immunity to it!"
"Hold up, Aren't you forgetting that the opponent is also a Frosling corpse puppet? How the hell is the Glacier Plague freezing its body parts enough to shatter them on impact? That doesn't make sense!"
"You're right! That shouldn't be possible!" "If my observation is correct, there are two reasons for this anomaly. First, that unknown demon merchant likely used Frost Liquid Rule Power from the Frosell Realm to enhance the Glacier Plague's potency. Second, the Chaos Dwarf who created the other puppet must have used an incompatible method to strengthen it. Sure, it's sturdy, but clearly, that sturdiness came with a terrible cost—as we just saw."
"Holy crap. Since when did non-native demon merchants get this good at crafting? To think he accounted for all this when building his puppet—I can't freaking believe it."
"The more I watch that demon merchant's puppet in action, the more impressed—and greedy—I feel."
"Can't blame you, I feel the same way."
"Heck, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that it was crafted by some no-name demon merchant from the far corners of the dark realms that no one's ever heard of!"
The crowd buzzed with excitement and speculation, their awe and curiosity building as the battle continued to unfold.
"It seems I should have asked for more," the Armixian muttered under his breath, his six pairs of arms folding and unfolding in rapid succession. Then, with a resigned shrug, he added, "Anyway, a deal's a deal, and I've been paid. So, I'll deliver. Here goes nothing—Spiritual Interference Technique!"
As he chanted, his six pairs of arms came together in a precise, ritualistic motion. A shimmering, ethereal beam shot out from his body, streaking toward Dulas's armored corpse puppet.
Before she could react, the beam struck her puppet squarely. Instantly, Dulas felt her connection to her Frosling corpse puppet severed, like someone had yanked a cord from her mind. Panic surged through her, her heart pounding as she tried to re-establish the link.
The Armixian, meanwhile, smirked triumphantly, his confidence radiating. "And that's how you—"
But his words caught in his throat as the armored corpse puppet suddenly moved.
With shocking speed and precision, the puppet swung its massive World Hammer, its icy form glinting under the arena lights. The hammer arced toward the one-legged puppet before its master could issue another command. The impact was devastating.
The hammer struck the one-legged puppet squarely, launching it across the arena like a ragdoll. It slammed into the wall with a deafening crash, shards of ice scattering in all directions.
The armored puppet didn't stop there. It charged forward, relentless, and began raining down blow after blow with its hammer. Each strike was a symphony of destruction, reducing the one-legged corpse puppet to a pile of shattered ice shards.
The arena fell into a stunned silence.
Dulas stood frozen, her eyes wide with disbelief. The Armixian stared, slack-jawed, his earlier smugness replaced by sheer confusion. Bigold leaned forward, gripping the edge of his seat as if trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
Even the judges, typically composed, were startled, their tails frozen mid-air.
And the crowd? They erupted into a chaotic mixture of gasps, cheers, and frantic murmurs.
"What just happened?" someone in the stands finally blurted, echoing the thoughts of everyone present.