One of the combatant puppets managed to reach him and immediately swung their weapon in an arc.
Lucas effortlessly took a step to his left, dodging the attack. However he wasn't given any time to think much further, another attack swung at him, forcing him to continuously move away.
As he dodged, Lucas took his time to carefully analyze the combatant puppets surrounding him, searching for their weaknesses.
Several wooden puppets with varying weapons circled him and continuously attacked. And on his back, the others were trying to catch a proper opening to attack.
Without exception, all the combatant puppets were intent on harming him while covered with a formless and pure aura. The aura served as armor, covering them from external harm.
However, even with a full-body aura, there was no perfect defense. Since their bodies were fully covered in aura, one part was certain to be weaker than the rest.
To find that weakness, one must observe—not only with their eyes but also with their senses.
Lucas focused, his eyes constantly moving.
Feel the air as the puppets move. Hear the aura as it arranges itself continuously, moving and changing at the same time.
'...The others are still too far away, I'll settle with this amount.'
After a while, Lucas narrowed his eyes and finally finished analyzing.
Controlling the aura in his body, he reinforced his right hand while sending some to his left foot.
At that moment, a blur flashed as his body moved.
Crack—!
A loud crack echoed.
Lucas landed a chop to the combatant puppet near him while he raised his left foot upwards, knocking another combatant puppet behind his back.
'One, two.'
In both his front and back, the two combatant puppets fell down and broke into pieces.
Then he gathered aura on his palm and forged a long, formless spear.
Without a moment of pause, Lucas masterfully wielded the spear—swinging it in a circle as he precisely targeted the puppets' weaknesses.
Click—! Click—! Click…
Several clicks continued to echo as his spear grazed the wooden puppets.
'Three, four, five… fifteen.'
Thud—!
At that moment, countless wooden puppets fell before they could even get close to him.
Lucas withdrew his spear gracefully. He raised his head, observing the arena.
The puppets that surrounded him earlier were now lifeless caricatures, torn and broken from his precise counterattacks.
However, there were still countless combatant puppets that remained. More than he could count. It was like a boundless sea with no limit.
"There's still so much of you."
Lucas commented as he cracked his fingers.
"I suppose I have to get serious myself."
Crouching down, he picked up one of the weapons that a fallen combatant puppet was using earlier.
Its appearance was a long ax blade with a pike head on top. A halberd.
Gathering the aura on his palm, he reinforced the long weapon—covering its entirety with aura.
"I forgot how much better a real weapon is compared to aura-forged weapons. I haven't wielded one for years."
Lucas smiled softly, his hand gracefully swinging the halberd around.
"...I can't believe I forgot this amazing feeling. A feeling so free and light. I've been behind the scenes so long that I even forgot the feeling of unrestrained freedom a fight brings."
"I've grown too old and cautious. Perhaps the curse took a hit in my mentality a lot more than I thought. But I suppose… I'm back to being young again. It would be unfit to act like an old man on his deathbed."
At that moment, the air around Lucas changed drastically.
"Wouldn't you guys agree?"
Lucas stared at the sea of combatant puppets, his lips curling into a soft smile.
Right now, it was hard to make a distinction of his soft smile—whether it was gentle indifference, or maddened contortion.
If he were dangerous before, now he was much more than ever.
Woosh—!
Without warning, Lucas dashed into the sea of combatant puppets, his hand wildly swinging the long halberd around.
Gone was the elegance and grace of his attacks. It was replaced with primal and barbaric strikes, containing no technique but pure unrestrained form of attacks.
However amidst all of that—there was one thing that didn't change at all.
The precision of his strikes continues to be as accurate as possible, even in a different style.
Click—! Crack—! Click—!
In each of his strikes, a puppet fell.
Lucas merrily continued, his whole figure covered by the swarm of combatant puppets that surrounded him.
A graze of his halberd caused a puppet to fall. A full swing caused a wave of them to break apart.
To the divine statues outside witnessing such a surreal scene, the sight felt inconceivable—a human cannot possibly have such an inhumane ability in fighting, and yet the human in front of them contradicted that.
As though the human was an executioner of hell, he began to reap lives.
***
Crack—!
Stabbing the halberd beneath the arena, Lucas clinged to the weapon as a support to stand properly.
"Haa…haa…ha.."
Lucas heavily panted, feeling severe exhaustion consuming his body.
Behind him, the last combatant puppet fell as a loud thud resounded. In a bird's eye view, the arena was littered with thousands of broken wooden dummies.
The sight felt surreal. A man stood before a sea of fallen puppets, completely dominating the arena with his presence alone.
Lucas gradually calmed his breath down and recovered himself.
…It had been a while since he was forced to exert this much effort. The last time he did so was when he destroyed his home Kingdom.
While he was recovering from exhaustion, the divine voices of the statues outside the arena resounded once more:
[Seeker of the Soul, We congratulate you for passing the first test. You have shown us a remarkable and extraordinary performance, fitting of a Seeker of the Soul such as yourself.]
"...Spare me the flattery."
Lucas replied while spreading aura throughout his body to recover himself.
Undeniably, he was still annoyed being forced into a challenge he didn't know of. But the fight did benefit him greatly by showing him something he needed to change.
He realized that he had long forgotten his own self.
Years of sitting behind the scenes and scheming to take down the kingdom took a greater toll to him than he thought it would.
He needs to reevaluate his own mentality.
Since he woke up, he had been acting too prudent and cautious—justifiably so. But he needed to adjust his thinking a little.
It was fine to be cautious and prudent, but he shouldn't be too avoiding of risk and dangers.
He would arrive nowhere with that kind of mentality.
Always when he encounters something, he finds himself always thinking of how to escape first. He needed that to change.
'It seems the death curse left a bigger impact on me than I thought…'
Lucas frowned.
He faintly understood why he felt so cautious and prudent at each of his every action and thinking.
Due to his short lifespan in his previous life, when he realized he ended up with a new life with no death curse to limit him, he instinctively valued the chance of a new opportunity more than anything.
Instinctively, he felt that he couldn't waste such a valuable life.
But now… that needed to change a little. Don't misunderstand. He still valued his own life greatly and will still be cautious most of the time.
Lucas smiled.
But he will start using his mind a bit more—beyond than just thinking of how to escape and survive. Or perhaps use it a bit less.
Afterall, it wasn't like he was truly free. There was still the underlying mystery behind what or who transported him to this world.
[Seeker of the Soul, you have passed the Test of the Body. Destroying a thousand combatant puppets in under a measly hour. Please rest and you can proceed for the second test.]
"..What's the second test?"
Lucas asked.
[The Test of the Soul.]