Even though he was supposed to be in his stealth mode at the moment, and the puppets shouldn't be able to 'see' him, he was still careful not to fall into a trap.
After all, he had already used a Medium Stealth Talisman and those SP points, it would be quite a shame if he had to waste more points, and treasures to deal with this situation.
With those thoughts in his mind, he proceeded forwards slowly and carefully but even after walking for 49 meters, there was no sign of those puppets inside the tunnel.
It was only when he finally passed the 50-meter mark that he suddenly felt that change in energy once again, and that his instincts finally started acting up again.
He wasn't stupid to not understand that this 50 meters mark functioned as some kind of switch for those puppets, and now that he had turned it on his whereabouts were discovered.
Without wasting time, he quickly took out one of his Escape Talismans and prepared it to be ready for use at any moment.
The reason why he didn't turn around and run immediately was because even though he had already activated the alarm his Stealth mode was still on.
Meaning that he still had a chance to deal with them, even though he had already activated the alarm.
There was no way he could lose time in that situation, so he quickly walked a bit forward, and then jumped to the tunnel's walls.
He felt himself like he was spider-man from the movies, but the truth was that he was much better than that.
In no time the puppets started running towards the 50 meters mark sign, only to fall immediately stop and freeze when they didn't see him.
Even the Puppets leader was the same as the others, even though he was turning around and trying to look around as much as he could.
Eric didn't have any idea if the puppet was just doing his duty diligently, or did it have some kind of indicator that he was still inside there.
But he didn't care, at the moment he was just extremely happy to be able to escape their 'eyes' and be able to hide himself right close to them.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhen it finally found out that there was no sign of the intruder, the puppet leader quickly separated the big team into smaller ones, with 10 Stone Puppets each forming 5 teams.
He personally decided to stay closer to the entrance, while the rest of the puppets entered deeper, and took position in equal distances ahead.
Not only that, but he placed all the weak guys around himself, in order to take the full brunt of a sneak attack if there was one, but also to hide his presence amidst them.
It was a great plan, that only some kind of military genius would think at that moment, and yet the one who did so was just a stone puppet.
Whoever had created that thing must certainly have some weird hobby, or a lot of free time on hand, because it seemed like this damned Stone Puppet had read the art of war.
It was certainly going to be difficult to deal with this damned situation, especially considering that once he started the fight, the other teams would join the fray as well, and would block his path.
It was a great strategy to face with him, especially considering that he was alone, but Eric wasn't frightened by its prospect.
As a matter of fact, he felt that this thing was extremely interesting, and he couldn't help to test his skills and abilities in this place.
First of all, he had to block the path of the reinforcements, as these guys would just add up to the fire if he wasn't quick enough.
Thinking like that, he prepared 3 hand-grenades on his left hand, while the right hand's forefinger was in between his teeth.
After calming, and fixing his breath for a few times, and resolving himself, Eric quickly threw those hand grenades towards the closest group of Stone Puppets, while he threw himself towards the Leader.
The puppets clearly hadn't expected such a thing to happen, but they weren't human beings to stay shocked for long, as they quickly jumped to attack.
Before long though, the 3 hand grenades exploded behind them, blocking the path of their reinforcements, as at the same time they weren't able to notice their target.
Eric was still in his Stealth mode, and he would be so until he made contact with one of these puppets, or an enemy in general.
The leader Puppet seemed to truly have the right to be the leader, as even though it didn't truly understand Eric's position, it jumped with a kick towards the most probable position.
These puppets didn't have fear, or other feelings, as they only knew how to calculate the situation, and then act accordingly.
But while they were both mid-air the leader puppet could only watch as Eric suddenly appeared out of nowhere, drew something on its chest, and then separated from her towards the rest of the puppets.
Since these puppets could easily overpower him with numbers, he didn't dare dilly dally around them, as he used one of those stone puppets as a platform to reverse his trajectory, turn around, and run.
This time since he was alone, he was much faster, and much more agile while facing these puppets, furthermore, these puppets were coming towards him just due to the pure function of following behind.
The puppet leader had suddenly stopped and wasn't moving in the least, and even less give them orders or make strategies.
But it wasn't time to be happy yet, as by that time the rest of the puppets were closing upon the distance, and he had only a few seconds to mark the leader puppet.
Thinking like that, he quickly concentrated more than 50% of his conscience on that damn puppet and thought that it would be enough.
But unfortunately, it wasn't, as while the connection was still less than half done, he heard that generic voice of his system,
! Warning! The Host's distance from the soul thread is reaching its limit. Please be careful! The connection will break once the distance surpassed 40 meters.
Damn!
This was what Eric was missing at that moment. A reason to keep him tied to this darned place, where these puppets were following to kill him.
Fu*ck!
If he wanted his efforts to not be in vain, he had to find a way to not only keep this distance but also turn around and close it somehow.
The problem was his conscience, as more than 50% of his conscience was sent towards that puppet leader, and the remaining 50% wasn't enough to help him maneuver these puppets.
But he couldn't give him his Medium Stealth Talisman, and his efforts until that moment in vain, he had to try to reverse this situation around.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThinking like that, even though unwillingly he managed to put one leg on the adjacent wall, and then use the momentum generated in the impact to jump high and back.
Since these puppets were extremely simple-minded, they hadn't expected such a crazy jump, and it was impossible for them to instantly control the inertia of running ahead at full speed.
The puppets below him could only try their best to stop and return, as Eric seemed to be flying above them.
But at that moment he felt that he might have retracted a bit too much from his soul thread to the puppet, and he almost lost connection with it.
He couldn't permit that to happen, he had to find a solution as soon as possible, otherwise, he would lose either his efforts and points or his life.
It seemed like it was impossible though as he would have to either give up from his life or from his efforts, there didn't seem to be a middle way where he could have both.
As he was about to lose all hope though, suddenly a strange thought and possibility appeared inside his head.
Conscience separation meant that he would have to do both tasks at the same time using only one brain, but there was something behind that, soul separation.
As long as he was able to achieve that, it would be the same as doing both tasks at the same time using two identical full brains.
He wouldn't have to separate the tasks anymore, as he could just try to do them at the same time. He had already practiced that damn art for so long, it was time for him to make a breakthrough.
Since this was a situation between life and death, it was an even better possibility for him to reach what he wanted.
Only when faced with great danger would the potential in one's body flare up and activate. He was hoping for the same.
He was afraid that if he thought about this a bit longer, he might grow cold feet towards the idea, so he decided to lose no time, and close his eyes on the air.
If it weren't for the deadly puppets below him, and his forehead oozing in sweat, people might even think that he was some kind of singer doing a jump at the crowd.
He had even closed his eyes in order to best enjoy the feeling coursing through his whole body. It must be extremely satisfying.
But the reality was much more different from the first view, as each moment put his life through more danger, and each heartbeat seemed to grow closer to his last…