Chapter 265 : Master Of Puppets

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The 2★ skill he had acquired was terrifying.

[Master Of Puppets] [Ultimate – 2★]

[Description: Using Mental Power, overpower your target and make it your puppet if it dares look into your eyes. Your Mental Power capacity and efficiency increase with mastery.]

As often with ultimate skills, the description was simplistic. However, the effect it had on Seventy's power was immeasurable.

‘Just with this skill, my mental strength has surpassed everyone here… except maybe Sora.’

Seventy glanced around once more, searching for his next opponent. When his gaze landed on Fifty-Two, a slight smirk appeared on his lips.

‘With Hundred Thirty’s help, I should be able to take him down,’ he thought.

However, before he could even relay his intention to his puppet, he felt a searing pain in his chest. Looking up to confirm his suspicion, he saw Fifty-Two’s displeased and disappointed stare.

[STOP!]

He immediately raised his hand to stop Hundred Thirty and sent a telepathic order as he charged toward Fifty-Two. He began healing himself and tried to reassess the situation.

‘That bastard used [Remote Bomb] on my heart to try to kill me…’ After a brief moment assessing the damage, he let out a sigh, realizing that the 2★ long-range damage spell had nearly put him out of commission.

“Look at me one more time, and I’ll destroy you. Even if it costs me the win today.”
His big brother’s cold, threatening tone left no room for doubt.

‘That brute invested everything into a single technique—and even upgraded it to 2★… If he uses a little more mana, I’ll be dead next time.’ Seventy quickly calculated his odds and decided it wasn’t worth it.

‘I need to target someone else.’ he decided.

Wanting to get the most out of his technique, he turned toward Seven Hundred Seventeen and shouted, “Congrats on your victory, Seven One Seven!!”

Hearing the strange comment, the latter turned and looked in his direction. But before he could reply or even understand what was happening, Seventy followed up with a phrase that boomed like thunder in his mind:

[Be my sword, and slay my enemies today.]

Once again, his opponent tried to resist—only to fail. Seven Hundred Seventeen quickly joined his side, and together with two others, they moved toward the next competitor.

A few minutes later, Seventy stood above all his brothers, with five of them under his control. He couldn’t handle a sixth ally of that level, but he deemed his current power and control sufficient.

‘I won’t be able to look them in the eye next time we meet, but it’ll be worth it anyway. Not counting the five behind me, I’ve already eliminated thirty alter egos…’

'Sora limited us to 10,000 [Soul Pearls], and this space allows us to freely convert that energy into other forms to restore our reserves. I was forced to use part of that to recover from injuries...’

In the minutes leading up to now, every clash between equally strong sides resulted in both parties ending up drained. These duels usually eliminated both fighters and gave the advantage to those who could regenerate energy—or who had come prepared with much greater reserves.

Panting from the energy drain and the intensity of the fights, he observed the ongoing battles.
‘Fifty players have enough gas for one more fight. And only around thirty players still have their full [Soul Pearl] reserve… ’

Seventy, who had an exceptional amount of Mental Energy, had been conserving his strength from the start and had only used a tenth of his 10,000 [Soul Pearls].

Looking toward Fifty-Two, then quickly turning away when he saw him lift his head, he clenched his fist. ‘He has no way to store energy, and he can’t even kill more than one or two players—yet everyone avoids him like the plague!!’

‘Just because they know they’ll get one-shot if they provoke him.’

Trying to find the flaw in the strategy of the one who had wounded him the most during the battle, Seventy had a hunch that Fifty-Two would likely be among the final ten players.

‘I would’ve gladly sent all five at him, but he’d have time to kill me first…’

As he reviewed all the ultimate skills of his “allies,” Seventy failed to notice the purple gleam in their eyes fading.

Sensing his link with them rapidly breaking, he spun around at breakneck speed and leapt back to get away from the five players who were regaining control of their bodies for an unknown reason.

But as he fled frantically, a tremendous pressure crashed down on his back. His body, still moving at high speed, came to an abrupt stop.

Seventy felt his spine snap—and caught a glimpse of one of his brothers, a close-combat specialist…

“I’m sorry…” He barely heard Three's words in his mind before he was launched back where he had come from…

As he flew toward them, the five former "puppets" had already regained control of their bodies and were each preparing a ranged attack…

Seventy immediately tried to activate his skill, [Master Of Puppets], but it refused to respond.

‘Oh shit… I’m screwed.’

Realizing his fate was sealed, Seventy didn’t even try to fight back.

‘To disable [Master Of Puppets], you need at least a supreme skill or a 2★-rank ability… I don’t know who has that kind of power, but it’s not the brute who broke my back, nor any of the five I was controlling. So I’m being attacked by seven players at once? What the hell?’

As many forces focused their strikes on him, all the surrounding fighters couldn’t help but raise their heads toward the candidate now being assaulted by multiple others.

To answer the crowd’s confusion at this sudden chain of events that didn't seem to abide by the rules—something happened.

Hundred Thirty’s sword froze, and he was blasted away from the area near the four others. In the same way, the four others were interrupted as well.

Seventy let out a relieved breath.

‘Was I protected by the rules? That was close…’ and started healing his body as fast as he could.

He looked in the direction of Three, the one who’d landed the brutal kick on his back, and saw him rushing in at full speed.

‘If he hits me again, I’m dead… And if I’m right about what’s happening…’

Realizing there might be a way out, he took a gamble.

He stayed still for a little longer and let Three charge straight at him.

And at the last moment…

[STOP! JOIN MY SIDE]

Surprisingly, this time, [Master Of Puppets] activated once more.

Three's body froze just meters from him, and the purple gleam appeared in his eyes.

‘Whoever’s doing this disables their skill the moment I’m attacked, to avoid breaking the no-team-up rule… Crafty little bastard…’

As he rapidly recovered from his injuries, Seventy scanned his enemies, trying to pinpoint who was behind such precise interventions…

However, he never took his eyes off his new “ally,” Three, watching him closely—like a ruler fearing a coup.

And the inevitable happened after barely five seconds… The purple gleam vanished from Three's eyes, and he looked disoriented…

“If you attack me again, I’ll control you. Got it?” Irritated by how things had turned, Seventy threatened Three.

Three quickly retreated, but Seventy didn’t seem any more relaxed.

‘[Master Of Puppets] costs a lot to activate and little to maintain… If someone keeps forcing me to cut the link every time, I’ll be drained dry in under a minute.’

‘I need to eliminate whoever’s targeting me before I rebuild my group.’

He scanned the battlefield and noticed something strange.

‘One. Two. Three. Four. Five…’

In front of him. Behind him. To his left. To his right. And below him. Five players were moving toward him—and all of them looked furious.

“Don’t be sore, guys…” Sensing their hostility, he tried to ease the tension.

It didn’t work.

The five players were the very ones he had previously targeted and controlled.

“You’re dead, Seventy.” Six Hundred Twelve said flatly.

“Don’t waste your breath.” Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine clearly agreed.

“I might’ve forgiven you if you had gone easy or played defensively… BUT YOU ATTACKED EVERYONE AND DRAINED MY FUCKING ENERGY RESERVES!! YOU EVEN MADE ME BURN THROUGH MY 10,000 SOUL PEARLS!!”
Hundred Thirty was very pissed. He even added, “YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! CAN’T YOU FIGHT WITH YOUR FISTS LIKE THE REST OF US?! DID YOU HAVE TO PLAY TRICKS ON US?”

Despite being the target of five of his brothers, Seventy didn’t get angry.

He sighed.

‘I was so close, but of course one of them had to have a power that hard-counters mine... It pisses me off to admit it, but now I’m really screwed. These five are sturdy bastards—and among the stronger ones of my brothers… Recruiting them actually backfired!’

Noticing Three join the fray and position himself above, he muttered, “I guess this is karma… A shitty combat method comes with a shitty death, I suppose.”

Turning toward Four Hundred Fifty Six, who was observing the group from a distance, he sent a telepathic message: ‘And you… don’t think I haven’t noticed you. You’re the one who kept canceling my skill and pulling strings from behind the scenes, aren’t you?’

Seeing a smirk form on his brother’s face, Seventy shook his head.

‘That little shit’s is the one stirring up trouble all over the battlefield, and bothering strong players.’

'Should I give him a parting gift?' He wondered.

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