Chapter 34: Day 34

“Huh?”

Cheon Seo Ah exhaled slowly.

That had been the Explosive Demonic Poisonous Orb, infused with raw Demonic Qi drawn directly from her Golden Core.

Even if the puppet was durable, it couldn’t have withstood that.

Even if it had survived the explosion, the poison should have finished it off.

Her Demonic Qi, laced with a potent acid, could corrode anything. But…

Click…

Click, click…

An unsettling mechanical whirring emerged from the dissipating smoke and fog. A sense of foreboding washed over Cheon Seo Ah. She used Demonic Dragon Soaring to Heaven to retreat just as…

Slash!

Dozens of attacks ripped through the air where she’d been standing, leaving deep gashes in the floor, like claw marks. Cheon Seo Ah frowned.

“Why can’t anything be easy?”

She grumbled.

The puppet was clearly not normal.

Its body was partially melted, four of its six arms were gone, and one of the remaining two was mangled.

Its head was half-destroyed. If it were human, it would be dead.

Click…

Click, click…

As Cheon Seo Ah observed the puppet, it whirred again and lunged, the five fingers of its remaining hand extended like claws.

She realized that the attacks from the fog hadn’t come from a blade, but from those claws.

“What are you, some claw master?”

She taunted, but the puppet, ignoring her, simply attacked again, its claws slashing through the air, sending chilling waves of energy towards her.

Cheon Seo Ah swung the Black Wind Fan.

Whoosh-

Infused with her Demonic Qi, the Black Wind Fan created a gust of dark green wind that swallowed the puppet’s attack, melting it away.

Click?

The puppet tilted its half-destroyed head, as if puzzled by the disappearance of its attack. Even that action…

“Wow, they really programmed this thing well.”

It was just a pre-programmed behavior, designed to make the puppet seem sentient, to create the illusion of fighting a human, to pressure its opponent into making mistakes. But…

“A puppet is still a puppet. Especially…”

…one that’s this badly damaged.

Grinning, Cheon Seo Ah moved, her steps a blur as she traversed the Hidden Dimension.

Unlike the Stealth White Snake Steps, which emphasized stealth, this movement technique focused solely on speed. The Shadowless Steps.

True to its name, she moved with blinding speed, yet the puppet’s remaining eye tracked her movements perfectly. To think that it still functioned so well despite the damage. Just who…

‘Who created this puppet?’

She wondered.

A puppet this sophisticated must have a renowned creator.

If she had the chance… though the chances of the creator still being alive, or still in this realm, were slim… she would find them.

Obtaining the knowledge to create such a puppet would not only aid her revenge but also make fulfilling her deal with the Ninefold Demonic Mask much easier.

But right now…

“I need to focus on you, don’t I?”

She grinned.

The puppet, its mangled body somehow still mobile, stood before her.

It lashed out with its claws, sending chilling waves of energy towards her.

Swish!

Cheon Seo Ah responded.

Six Flicking Fingers Sword Art, Modified.

Twelve Poisonous Demonic Sword Lights.

She flicked her fingers, and twelve black sword lights, laced with poison, clashed with the puppet’s chilling attack.

Clang!

A powerful shockwave erupted, the puppet’s chilling energy mixing with Cheon Seo Ah’s poison.

Neither seemed to care, continuing their relentless assault.

Cheon Seo Ah’s fingers flickered, sending countless sword lights towards the puppet.

The puppet, its claws extended, slashed back, unleashing chilling attacks.

Sword lights and claw attacks collided, shattering, scattering, tearing apart the Hidden Dimension.

‘What the hell did they make this thing out of?’

Cheon Seo Ah thought, amazed. The puppet was getting stronger, its movements becoming eerily similar to her own.

‘Is it copying me? Mimicking? Or is it… learning?’

What kind of monster had created this thing? If she hadn’t used the Explosive Demonic Poisonous Orb earlier, what would have happened? If she had faced this puppet before it was damaged, she would have been torn to shreds.

But her fighting spirit remained unbroken.

A puppet.

It was strong, undeniably strong, capable of learning and adapting. But victory still belonged to her.

“Reaching your limit, aren’t you?”

She grinned. The puppet’s movements were becoming sluggish, and pieces of its body littered the floor of the ravaged Hidden Dimension.

It had reached its limit.

The puppet seemed to realize this as well.

Scuttle, scuttle…

Using its centipede-like lower half, it retreated, gathering its remaining energy for a final attack.

An immense chilling energy, not mere spiritual energy, but Ice Spiritual Qi, the kind wielded only by those with the rare Ice Spiritual Root, gathered in its claws.

‘This is insane.’

Cheon Seo Ah thought.

A puppet wielding Ice Spiritual Qi. What had its creator used as materials? Had they ground up a cultivator with an Ice Spiritual Root?

There was no time to ponder this.

The Ice Spiritual Qi in the puppet’s claws was growing, causing cracks to appear on its body, threatening to tear it apart.

But the puppet didn’t care, as if its only goal was to take her down with it.

“F*ck, can’t you just make this easy?”

Cheon Seo Ah also gathered her Demonic Qi, preparing for the final clash. They stared at each other, power surging.

Swish!

The puppet struck first, unleashing the condensed Ice Spiritual Qi. It resembled a hand of bone, reaching out to tear her apart.

Cheon Seo Ah responded.

Six Flicking Fingers Sword Art, Modified.

Mountain Crushing Sword.

She combined the twelve poisonous demonic sword lights into a single, massive greatsword.

Swish!

The hand of bone.

Whoosh…

The overwhelming, destructive force of the sword.

They collided.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive explosion consumed the Hidden Dimension.