158 Puppets

The young woman’s Essence Wave erupted with even greater power as she focused it on her rapier and thrust forward. She did it not only once but four times, and for each, a tornado-like attack burst forward.

Those tornadoes were aiming at Orlando’s arms and legs. Although the attacks would not kill him, they would maim the man, granting the young woman the chance to take control of the teleportation matrix.

Orlando saw those powerful tornados coming his way, and while he kept smiling, his eyes were solemn since the tornadoes’ strength could cripple him. He took a deep breath as he unleashed the full might of his Essence Wave, and the power in it was much denser than what a Wave Warrior should have.

Simon and the other youths in the room were shocked to realize that the old man was a Wave Champion.

The young woman with the rapier also noticed that, but there was no fear in her gaze.

Although common sense dictated that a Wave Warrior could never defeat a Wave Champion due to the massive difference in their energy pools, cultivation had never been such a narrow path. You could not determine the victor of a battle merely by the amount of Wave inside their bodies.

Orlando also knew that which is why he took this battle so seriously. Just as the tornados were about to collide with him, something emerged from his space ring, positioning itself right in front of him and blocking the attack!

The young woman’s eyes widened when she saw that something had blocked her attack easily. Immediately, her instincts screamed with danger, and she jumped back.

“?Boom!”

.....

Just where the woman had been a second ago, a palm landed with so much force that it unleashed a booming shock wave.

The responsibility for that attack fell on a bulging humanoid creature covered in scars, measuring more than two meters tall.

“Impressive. It has been a long time since I had to get involved in a fight.”

Orlando spoke toward the young woman, and a burning Essence Wave covered his hands. Thousands of tiny threads emerged from his fingertips and reached the bulking humanoid creature, granting him control.

He did not say anything else before his finger twitched. The movements were minimal but made the bulking humanoid dash toward the woman with immense momentum.

Despite its massive body, the humanoid creature was incredibly fast and reached the young woman instantly. It raised both of its arms before bringing them down with immense force.

That bash had the strength to shatter every bone in her body, but the young woman managed to dodge the attack in the last second before countering with her rapier.

The winds around her body gave her impressive speed, but her rapier failed to surpass the defenses of the bulging humanoid. She constantly tried to distance herself from the enemy since a melee battle would not suit an Essence Wave Cultivator like her.

Unfortunately for the young woman, the humanoid was just as fast as her and attempted to bash her into the ground again and again.

Simon’s eyes glowed with thrill and awe as he saw that battle. A burning desire moved through his veins as he saw that bulging humanoid’s power and how Orlando controlled it safely from a distance.

For a coward like Simon, who desired power more than anything, controlling a puppet was the perfect battle path. Of course, the scion did not take into consideration the insane level of dexterity needed for that path or that it was almost impossible to take it being an Astral Wave Cultivator.

He was ready to ask for it once all this was over and became a proper member of the mysterious organization. After all, they would give him a path to the Wave King rank, so the puppet technique was nothing important.

Orlando knew that many of the scions were impressed by his unleashed power, but their thoughts could not matter less to him. Right now, he only cared about neutralizing the woman, which was proving more challenging than he initially believed it would be.

Luckily for the old man, the bulging humanoid had finally cornered the young woman, and there was no were to run anymore.

Orlando smiled as he controlled the bulging humanoid to launch a palm strike toward the young woman. That attack was not strong enough to kill her but would do enough damage so that she could not fight anymore.

However, just as everybody thought the fight was about to end with the young woman defeated, a burst of wind blasted the bulging humanoid creature to the other side of the room!

A sense of utter shock appeared in Orlando’s eyes when he saw how the young woman blasted his puppet away. Still, he regained his focus the next second, proving the might of his willpower.

The old man saw how the wind revolving around the young woman grew denser and adapted better to her body. It was as if another force was enhancing her spells.

The young woman did not stand still, and immediately after pushing the bulging humanoid out of the way, she flashed toward Orlando with speed much faster than before.

Orlando’s eyes widened as he saw the young woman coming toward him like a force of nature, but he kept calm and analyzed everything.

He did not know the exact source of the new power in the woman, but the extreme focus on her face and the slight sense of urgency gave him a hint of what it might be.

The young woman was almost close enough to unleash a certain death spell on Orlando when seven figures bathed in golden flames dashed toward her.

The seven golden guards she had defeated before had managed to return to battle, and they attacked her with everything they had.

Although the rest of the people in the room could not say for sure, the way those golden guards acted without fear of death hinted that they were possible under some type of hypnosis.

The young woman did not care about those guards’ circumstances since her life was on the line right now. She waved her rapier down, generating air needles that fell from the ceiling just like before.

Nevertheless, this time there was a special force enhancing those air needles, granting them enough power to penetrate the golden guards’ defenses.

“Ahhh!”

Cries of pain emerged from the golden guards as the air needles pierced their bodies, riddling them with deep wounds. Some were unlucky, and the projectiles landed in their heads, killing them on the spot.

The young woman flashed past the golden guard after neutralizing them. Just as the unique force enhancing her power was about to vanish, she unleashed a final spell by gathering all her Essence Wave into her rapier and thrusting it forward.

A tornado emerged from the rapier with a strength more than five times larger than the one she unleashed before and headed straight toward Orlando.

Initially, the young woman wanted to capture the old man alive in case this one had a special way to activate the teleportation matrix and also to use him as a hostage. She could no longer afford that luxury and would just have to find the key to the teleportation matrix in the old man’s corpse.

Unfortunately for the woman, Orlando brought another puppet from his space ring before the tornado could connect. This time it was a fat creature with a repulsively large belly.

The tornado landed on the creature’s body and began to drill into it, sending flesh and blood in all directions. Although the attack left a massive hole, the puppet fulfilled its purpose and protected the old man.

The young woman was shocked to see another puppet. She knew just how valuable those creatures were and did not think Orlando would have two of them.

Before she could even consider her next step, the bulging humanoid appeared by her side. The puppet had a deep indentation on its chest that affected its movements, but its body still had immense strength.

Orlando had retaken control of the bulging humanoid puppet while the young woman focused solely on the last tornado strike.

A palm strike landed on the young woman’s body, sending her crashing against a wall while puking blood due to the severe internal damage she had just received.

Orlando immediately dashed toward the young woman. Taking advantage of the fact she could not move, he put a device resembling a collar on the back of her neck.

The artifact sent an electric shock into the young woman’s body, leaving her unconscious and ensuring she would remain that way.

This chapter was first shared on the n(0))vel(b)(j)(n) platform.

It was only then that Orlando was able to relax. He looked at the dead golden guards and his wounded puppets and could not help but sight.

“I miscalculated her power. Who would have thought that such a young woman could cause so much damage.”

Orlando did not hide his words, so the other people in the room heard him, but he did not care and was just venting out a little.