Chapter 2301: Struggle
*BOOM**BAM*
"ARGH.. f.u.c.k"
*THUD* *THUD*
The explosions from the attacks of the puppets, the screams and curses from the opponents as well as the heavy thuds from the movement of the puppets. The enormous room echoes with those noises as Sam looked at the whole scene unfolding with little interest.
Sam actually didn"t have any idea what would happen if he destroyed the core of the golden pillar or the lotuses.
He knew that things wouldn"t be smooth-sailing and something would definitely be triggered, but he didn"t know to what extent.
Still, this is a lot better than the worst-case scenario he had in his mind.
Sam looked at the tiles within the barrier.
The s.p.a.ce is not too big. There are not too many tiles inside the barrier for him to create the formation that he needs to defend against all the puppets outside. The most he can do is use the pillars to mess with the barrier itself and get out of it.
So, first he decided to do that.
He activated the pillars and joined them together before he landed on the only one pillar of the barrier that he has access to from the side.
The barrier trembled and opened up, making the formation moot.
*BOOM**THUD*
The moment he did, several puppets that were actively trying to get in, fell around him. Sam turned his shadow fusion on and disappeared from there. He landed on the red pillar nearest to him and started moving to the right side of the room.
That is where most of the puppets that he trapped are present.
At the moment, the three opponents are randomly moving about activating the red pillars. They are trying to create the defensive formations, but because of the sheer number, they are failing miserably.
So, before they mess up everything, Sam needs to do some damage control.
First, he started creating small barriers by utilizing the random pillars are erected in the middle of the room. Nothing more than the five pillars. If he is lucky enough, he managed to trap a puppet or two in the middle of it.
If he couldn"t, he just created the barrier, leaving it empty. He didn"t mind even if the golden pillars are stuck in the middle.
He noticed that even if the golden pillars are stuck inside the barrier, the lotus formations are not stopping. The barriers did work well. Even though the puppets are fast, only the avian model puppets like the ones that looked like birds are able to fly.
The remaining puppets, albeit powerful, most of them are not strong enough to jump past the barriers and of course, almost all of them are unable to climb past the barrier directly.
So, their movements are a bit restricted.
However, the things Sam did, not only hindered the puppets but the other three opponents also fell victim for it.
The Hel-Student who was also on the right side of the room was stuck between a few small barriers that Sam created. To his rear is one of the big formations which Sam created at the start.
At that moment, Sam swung past him and jumped over a few red pillars.
All of a sudden, the larger formation behind him opened up and it combined with a few smaller formations to envelop the whole area around him.
He also noticed that the height of the formation has been reduced.
Before he knew it, he is stuck inside a barrier formation along with around ten puppets. The puppets stuck inside didn"t try to break out of the formation. Instead, they are focused on the target they have among their midst.
The Hel-Student thought of his options and realized, escaping is the only way left for him.
But he is a tad bit too late.
*BOOM*
He is. .h.i.t by the attack from a puppet. He crashed face first into another puppet that crushed him. A guy who is supposed to third or fourth place at least in this compet.i.tion, had his head crushed and dead.
Too bad for the other opponents, they are not even in a position to take a look at this situation.
They are not even in a position to save themselves, how can they care about someone else? Sam didn"t stop there, he started joining more smaller barriers creating a chain. The barriers are all, almost empty. But within the chair, the Hephaestus-Academy student was stuck with a bunch of other puppets.
However, he is much more quick-witted than first guy. He immediately charged an attack and launched it at a puppet nearby.
The next moment, an invisible force enveloped him taking him away from there. He chose exit by disqualification without a second thought.
Now, only the Viswa-Student was left. He stook on a red pillar, while panting heavily. Sam on the other hand had a much more relaxed expression. He already figured out what the exit could be, so he doesn"t have to worry too much about energy conservation.
So, he just went all out.
However, that is in no way beneficial to this guy.
When he noticed that Sam is coming towards him after dealing with the two other guys, he became decisive.
But he has much more thought than the two before. He made a different and unexpected move. He reached one of the golden pillars nearby. This belongs to the third set.
He danced around while clinging to the pillar dodging the attacks. He managed to open one side pretty quickly. This even surprised Sam who was watching him quietly.
He clearly held back when dealing with the second set.
Once the surface opened, he took out a formation disc and just activated a couple nodes it
before shoving into that gap.
*BOOM*
The energy core and the lotus exploded.
By that time, he already disappeared from there and appeared at a different golden pillar. This
one belonged to the fourth set.
Sam hurried towards him with his shadow element, but before he could reach him.
*THUD* *THUD*
The new set of puppets fell down from the top and to his bad luck they landed right before
him, blocking his way.
*BAM*
Sam took the hit head on and was sent flying.
*BAM*
That didn"t end there of course, while he was in the middle of the air, he was beaten by another puppet and landed on the floor. When another puppet was just about to crush him, the red pillar erected from that tile.
Sam took that chance and jumped away from there. He stepped on two more red pillars while dodging the attacks, before he arrived at the golden pillar where the opponent is working. Sam didn"t do much and just a grabbed a hold of him before throwing him into the air.
*BAM*
An attack landed on that guy.
Sam checked the surface of the pillar, it is almost unlocked. There is only one lock left. He did
it quickly and a surface is done.
However, he couldn"t focus on these surfaces for long at the moment. He needs to finish the
puppets, one way or the other. He reached the nearest barrier and stood on the red pillar that
is part of that barrier.
He closed his eyes and jumped to another red pillar within was standing alone. After a couple of other jumps, he landed on another red pillar that belonged to the same formation.
*BOOM*
The formation barrier became unstable and exploded.
The puppets inside the formation were destroyed along with that, while a lot of puppets around the formation also took a lot of damage.
On top of it all, the red pillars are completely unscathed. Sam jumped on to the nearest one and started creating a new formation with them. This time, an attacking formation, something similar to a trap formation.
He stood in the middle and controlled the formation from within. As a few puppets stepped
in, he manipulated the energy of the formation. A huge force crushed the puppets to the ground and slammed them.
This is similar to a gravity formation, instead of increasing the gravity, it is just a pushing
force done by the sheer energy.
The puppets became immobile, however, Sam knew he cannot do it for long.
When a few puppets entered in, he just destabilized the formation once and left it.
*BOOM* Another explosion destroyed everything in the formation.
As Sam was about to do some more clean up, the Viswa-student appeared in front of him. He
attached a few pillars to the formation Sam was working on.
*BOOM*
The formation exploded in the middle making Sam fly like a broken kite. He managed to stop himself and landed on the red pillar barely dodging a puppet"s battering fist.
He looked at Viswa-student who once again went after a golden pillar, trying to destabilize it.
"f.u.c.k it."
Sam cursed and took out a formation disc.
*SWOOSH*
Within a moment he reached Viswa-student who was about to dodge his approach, but Sam
didn"t give him the chance. He attached the disc to Viswa-student"s body and activated the
formation.
The opponent disappeared from the spot, while Sam clung to the golden pillar. Viswa-student was taken aback as he felt the suction force take him away from this room.
Before he knew it, he appeared in a familiar tunnel. However, this is a tad bit different.
It is the same energy beam tunnel that Sam came through.
"What the f.u.c.k"
He cursed and stepped to the side, accidentally destroying one of Sam"s energy gathering
formations.
*SWOOSH*
The energy beam cut through his leg and made him fall down.
"ARGHHH...."
More and more energy gathering formations are destroyed and the energy beams were not
longer being restricted.
Viswa-student didn"t even get a chance to express his agony, before he was destroyed by the
beams