Chapter 120: The Demon Puppet Squad

As Grim gradually composed himself, he realized he was already standing at the center of that golden birdcage.

Through the cage bars, as thick as towering stone pillars, Grim faintly glimpsed the scene outside. Most striking was the terrifying venomous hag crouched before the cage, her enormous eyeball nearly filling half the sky—an utterly chilling sight.

Gazing across the vast cage space, which stretched three li in every direction, Grim saw Alice’s delicate figure rapidly teleporting closer to him.

He furrowed his brow.

For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he was trapped in some miniature pocket dimension or if the old witch had shrunk him down. But now was no time to ponder; rampaging Alice was just a few heartbeats away from storming in.

He had spent the earlier time lying low, honing his strength and tailoring a combat strategy suited for himself. Now was the moment to test whether that strategy was truly effective!

Grim swiftly armed himself.

Standing still, he brushed his right hand over his belt. A peculiar, exquisitely crafted staff—clearly no ordinary artifact—materialized in his grasp. Extending his left hand, the grimoire suspended by a silver chain at his waist flew into his palm and began flipping its pages with a rustling sound.

As vivid crimson halos flickered around him, multiple fire-based defensive spells manifested one after another: Phoenix’s Flame Body, Scorching Flame Shield, High-Temperature Force Field, Flame Reflect Damage, and more. Completing this suite of defenses, Grim pointed his Flame Lord’s Staff forward and shouted, “Ramoncarlina, Anyarose, in the name of fire...”

Countless red flames gathered from all directions in the void, instantly forming a towering fire giant over seven meters tall before Grim. Its blazing flames had shifted from ordinary scarlet to a core tinged with purple, signifying near-Warlock-level strength.

Yet this was only the beginning.

Numerous glowing particles burst forth from Grim’s storage belt, scattering in every direction. Amidst crackling elemental bursts, they coalesced into distinct elementals of varying shapes and sizes—some tall, some short, some stout, some lean—each a unique elemental puppet.

Most eye-catching was the Lightning Giant. Whenever it appeared, thunder roared and silver serpents of electricity danced wildly. Its tall, cyan-hued body clad in golden armor was wreathed in unruly silver lightning snakes.

As the Lightning Giant slowly ascended into the air, the fire giant strode forward to confront Alice. At Grim’s sides, water elemental particles swiftly condensed, summoning two near-Warlock-level water elementals.

Grim pressed his foot firmly on the ground beneath him. Though it appeared as stone slabs, it was actually a spatial barrier illusion. Unable to tunnel underground, he abandoned summoning the Earth Crocodile Hunter and Rock Python puppets and instead focused on the distant battle.

Summoning the Lightning Giant consumed seven points of his mental energy; the two water elementals cost six points. The Flame Shield and Fire Giant were innate abilities of the Flame Lord’s Staff, requiring no extra mental expenditure. Thus, with nineteen mental energy points total, Grim still retained six for emergencies, ready to decide the next puppet to deploy as the fight unfolded.

The Lightning Giant would take the lead assault, the Fire Giant would provide support, and the two water elementals would serve as hybrid offense and defense.

The water elementals were newly crafted by Grim using water elemental cores. They resembled towering, upright masses of water. They had no feet; their lower halves were thick columns of water, constantly splashing crystalline droplets at the base. Their upper bodies vaguely resembled humans—torso, head, and arms—but were rough and featureless, with no discernible facial features and hands formed by thick water columns.

Though unassuming in appearance, these water elementals possessed strange and formidable abilities.

The two water elementals immediately began sweeping beside Grim, each swing detaching a smaller water elemental from its form. In the blink of an eye, these duplicates transformed into perfect copies of Grim himself, identical down to equipment and spell effects.

Together, the two water elementals swiftly produced a total of twelve “Grims.” After a dazzling display of rapid repositioning, the Grim among the crowd smiled broadly.

Seeing so many lifelike versions of himself was enough to make Grim chuckle inwardly. It was almost overwhelming to see his image everywhere.

But that was not all. As the two water elementals continued their sweeping gestures, thick mists of water vapor rose, forming a hazy veil above the “Grims.” From outside, the silhouettes were indistinct, making it impossible to discern the true scene within.

At this moment, not only was Alice on the verge of collapse across from Grim, but the two wizards silently observing outside the cage showed varied expressions.

Wizard Anderson was first surprised, then gleefully malicious. What he had expected to be a one-sided slaughter had become unpredictable due to this mysterious youth’s sudden surge in power. Though he sensed his control over Mary weakening because of Grim’s presence and had long harbored thoughts of quietly eliminating Grim, in this moment, Anderson preferred to see detestable Alice suffer a bloody defeat. There was still plenty of time to deal with Grim later, so Anderson relaxed for the first time and silently rooted for Grim.

As one rejoiced and another fretted, the venomous hag Endo’s face darkened with uncertainty, unable to decide.

Damn it, what kind of abilities does this kid possess? Lightning elementals, water elementals, fire elementals—all near-Warlock-level puppets. Is this what he can wield and control? Could it be that Anderson, anticipating her arrival, had preemptively handed these powerful magical artifacts to Grim? But that made little sense. How could an apprentice at this advanced level command so many near-Warlock-level elementals?

Endo’s astonishment was understandable. Ordinary elemental puppets cost enormous mental energy to summon. Without the special optimization of chips and magical arrays, even a single Lightning Giant would consume most of Grim’s mental energy. How could he possibly maintain a squad of puppets in a battle of attrition with Alice?

Meanwhile, in a corner outside the cage, the sinister insect Entic silently watched Grim’s tactics, his heart roiling with waves that threatened to consume his entire being.

Damn it, damn it! How could this bastard possess such terrifying means?

Putting himself in Grim’s shoes, even Entic would find facing multiple near-Warlock elemental puppets a nightmare; let alone Alice, who had always fought alone.

As the onlookers outside the cage fixed their gazes on the impending fierce battle, Alice was nearing a breaking point.

The last time, the poor wretch beneath her command could only flee miserably. Now, Grim had summoned such a multitude of elemental puppets, seemingly ready to gang up on her. Her heart felt as if it were plunged into boiling oil—agonizing and incredulous beyond measure.

But there was no time to dwell on it. The Lightning Giant, surrounded by crackling electric serpents, charged forward.

In an instant, a powerful high-voltage current enveloped her entire field of vision. Unwilling to confront such a formidable elemental puppet head-on, Alice flickered away from her spot.

This time, her teleportation target was directly above that damned bastard’s head.

She was determined: after shaking off those pesky elementals, the first thing she would do was use her signature spatial slicing to cleave that bastard into pieces.

But to Alice’s horror, as she stepped through the trembling spatial waves and emerged from the void, the Lightning Giant appeared beside her in a burst of electric light. With a crackling roar, a lightning whip crackled, its electric glow wrapping the entire length, whipping fiercely toward her back.

Damn it! How is this electric man following me so closely?

That thought flashed through Alice’s mind, but before she could react, her form wavered and vanished once more.

Her previous move must have been too obvious, allowing the electric man to pinpoint her teleport location. This time, he would never guess!

With a mischievous intent to toy with her pursuer, Alice chose to reappear thirty meters behind Grim’s group. Just as she emerged from the void, she pulled her hands apart, preparing to unleash a spatial blade to strike the cluster of “Grims” hard.

But before the spatial rift in her hands could stabilize into the desired blade, the terrifying lightning whip again lashed from behind, savagely striking her spine.

@#&%¥...

At that moment, Alice’s heart filled with endless rage, yet deeper still was a bone-chilling dread.

How could this be? How was this mindless electric man able to predict her teleport points twice in a row? It was impossible!

Seething with resentment, Alice vanished again.

This time, she appeared sixty meters to the left of Grim’s group. Unlike before, she did not rush to attack but carefully scanned her surroundings.

Sure enough, less than a second after her teleportation, the powerful electric man appeared in a flash of electric light—still just five meters behind her!

Even with Alice’s cunning nature, she couldn’t help but curse out loud.

Her gaze swept over the “Grims” concealed beneath layers of watery mists, only to discover that each held a prophecies wand, quietly muttering incantations aimed at her.

Damn it! So it’s you who are behind this!