One-Eyed Monster

The Dark Force was eager to devour Igor’s soul first. This desire was so intense that it caused a slight change in the rhythm of its command over the Puppet Soldiers. Ordinarily, this change wouldn’t have mattered, but at this critical stage, its impact was significant. After all, its current opponents were quite formidable, unlike those it had faced previously. The slightest disturbance in its rhythm would create an opening, an opportunity they would immediately seize to launch a counterattack.

And just like that, its momentary haste resulted in several of its Puppet Soldiers being obliterated by the enemy’s explosive Alchemy Array.

Although these Puppet Soldiers could be summoned repeatedly, doing so still drained its energy. Moreover, if its opponents managed to suppress its momentum, regaining it would be an arduous task.

It desperately wanted to devour Igor’s soul, but it was currently entangled by the Alchemy Arrays deployed by the Alchemy Workshop. It considered summoning other monsters to join the assault, yet it wasn’t entirely confident it could manage the situation if it did so.

What if the creatures I unleash accidentally kill a few? Who could I turn to for those lost stories? Who could justify this to me?

Therefore, it decided it was best to withhold the monsters it struggled to control.

This was precisely why it couldn’t devour Igor’s soul at that moment.

It wasn’t that it didn’t want to; it was simply that its opponents’ resistance was too fierce, preventing it from acting as it pleased!

It could only break them down one by one.

It seemed it would have to wait until its Corpse Eaters and Puppet Soldiers gained a clear advantage before it could implement its plan.

This delay was somewhat torturous for it.

But what choice did I have? For the sake of rich and varied stories, I had to suppress my frustration and endure.

Once I get the story of that young man, Igor, everything will be worth it.

The Dark Force was quite adaptable. It didn’t take long for it to rationalize this necessity.

Thus, it methodically arranged the formations of its Puppet Soldiers and Corpse Eaters, advancing strategically, step by step, aiming for victory with each move.

Meanwhile, the young Igor, whom the Dark Force considered an oddity, was also frantically searching for a breakthrough.

Whenever an idea struck him, Igor would feel a surge of elation. However, when he considered the difficulty of implementing these ideas, dejection would inevitably follow...

You see, such was Igor’s sensitive disposition. He constantly strove to find a viable plan, but his opponent was so overwhelmingly powerful that he couldn’t discern any weaknesses.

Unfortunately, these internal fluctuations were hard to detect, as such mental activities are inherently subtle. Otherwise, how could human emotions be so complex?

But Igor was unaware that the Dark Force had perceived every subtle shift in his emotions.

He was constantly thinking about how to find a breakthrough, and he overlooked these subtle details.

Indeed, he overlooked more than just this one seemingly trivial detail.

Igor didn’t realize that many people held high expectations for him. Everyone was resisting with all their might, but deep down, they had pinned their hopes on him.

Although this hope was intangible, it was undeniably present.

Even a proud individual like Kuyi Tulan found himself inadvertently factoring Igor into his array formation strategies.

They all reasoned that since Igor could conjure a Divine Beast like the Cloud Beast, he must be capable of summoning other Divine Beasts as well.

A Divine Beast, after all, was an extraordinary entity, previously confined to legends. For one to manifest now, conjured by this young man, perhaps hinted at destiny.

So, Igor was the key.

Of course, Igor didn’t realize this.

He certainly wouldn’t have realized that he was now encircled at the very center of various protective formations deployed by the others.

In other words, for a brief period, everyone shared a unified thought.

This unified thought was to protect Igor, at least for now.

They were determined to prevent the Puppet Soldiers and Corpse Eaters from easily reaching Igor.

It was for this very reason that the Dark Force couldn’t simply devour Igor’s soul.

To be precise, the Dark Force was finding it exceedingly difficult to even get near Igor.

All it could do now was direct its Puppet Soldiers and Corpse Eaters to try and approach Igor. However, Igor was shielded by Kuyi Tulan’s Alchemy Array, with formidable individuals like Kevin and Simon also nearby. The Puppet Soldiers and Corpse Eaters had no opportunity whatsoever to get close...

The situation was largely deadlocked; the Dark Force’s primary advantage lay in its superior stamina... However, this advantage had yet to become truly apparent.

But Igor remained oblivious to all this, deeply immersed in his own thoughts, unable to extricate himself.

He was much like Kadi, who was currently preoccupied with searching for the whereabouts of the Great Mentor and the Little Black Hands, paying no heed to anything else.

Neither of them yet knew that their ability to act with such focus was due to the sacrifices many others were making.

These contributions, though silent and unheralded, were nonetheless crucial.

If not for Kevin’s swift blades, Arnold’s space-time traps, the Alchemy Array from Kuyi Tulan’s Alchemy Workshop, and Simon’s elusive movements, how could an army comprising tens of thousands of Puppet Soldiers and Death Knights have been held at bay for so long?

True, all this was occurring within the Inner World, but the sheer numerical disparity of such a vast army remained a stark reality.

The Dark Force had once recklessly advanced in an attempt to capture Igor, but Kuyi Tulan’s explosive array had inflicted significant damage upon its Puppet Soldiers.

This outcome had made the Dark Force wary of advancing rashly again.

Igor, however, was oblivious to these developments; he was engrossed in recalling specific details.

Since his perspective had always differed from that of ordinary people, the details he focused on were also rather unconventional.

Igor began to recall what Kadi had told him.

Kadi had mentioned that when everyone else was ensnared by the Dark Force, and only he remained lucid, the Dark Force had shown no signs of panic or surprise.

More crucially, the Dark Force hadn’t chosen to attack him; it had simply chosen to tell him stories.

Furthermore, those stories were exceptionally lengthy. The Dark Force had recounted them from the very first person it devoured, all the way up to the several thousandth...

Throughout this entire narration, the Dark Force hadn’t paused even for a moment.

Of course, this in itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy, as many beings possess all sorts of peculiar habits...

What Igor found truly suspicious was a different matter.

It concerned an incident that had happened directly to him.

Igor recalled the time the Dark Force had attacked him, invading his Inner World and backing him into a corner from which there was no escape.

If the old woman from the Scale of Faith hadn’t intervened at that critical juncture, Igor would likely be in the same state as Hustace by now...

He remembered that the old woman’s method of obstructing the Dark Force seemed to be... telling stories.

Stories... it seems that’s the key.

I think I’ve found it...