One-Eyed Monster

Let's rewind the clock a bit and see what exactly happened to Igor and his companions on Guru Mountain at that time.

Baharo's cry of "Run!" marked the beginning of their frantic escape. Although there were many paths down the mountain, they found themselves crammed together, funneling down a single route.

They had no choice; the downhill path wasn't one they had chosen. All they could do was race downwards, never daring to look back...

For if they did, they would glimpse the horrifying scene behind them. Those controlled by Wire Puppets had completely lost their original consciousness, turned entirely into Puppets for others. These individuals had become walking corpses.

No, to be precise, they had become walking piles of dismembered flesh.

This transformation began with a sparrow Igor spotted.

Though Baharo and Stan Sol managed to carve an opening in the formation of the walking dead, it was no easy task for Igor and the others to escape over this human mountain. The humans controlled by the Wire Puppets exhibited impressive combat skills. They maintained their formation, immediately filling any gaps if their ranks were broken.

Stan Sol's arrow of flame pierced one Puppet's belly. He had expected this to disrupt the creatures occupying the host bodies, but the Puppet showed no reaction to the blow, remaining rigidly in an attacking stance.

Even more terrifying was Baharo's encounter: when his flying sword sliced off a Puppet's arm, the severed limb sprang up and began to scuttle across the ground as if it had grown legs...

The reason Baharo and Stan Sol attacked so mercilessly was that these Puppets, controlled by the Wire Puppets, were long dead. Although these people had not been their allies in life, a sense of sympathy for their own kind stirred within them. Watching the bodies of their deceased kin being manipulated by these vermin was, to say the least, deeply unsettling.

May your souls find peace, Baharo thought. As he observed the severed arm moving about, his vigilance increased, and a wave of disgust washed over him.

"What is happening?!" Igor, who had just been kicked by Kadi, felt a surge of unease as he saw an arm rushing towards him.

"Those people have been consumed by the Wire Puppets," Axia, already fleeing, called back, not forgetting to impart this knowledge even at such a critical moment. "In other words, they have already departed this world for the Eternal Tranquility Realm."

Qi Liu and his group, being on the outskirts, were not obstructed by the walking dead. They took off running immediately, their speed putting the others to shame. A small troop of the walking dead broke from the main formation to pursue them.

"All these people... gone to the Eternal Tranquility Realm?" Igor couldn't believe Axia's words. He had initially assumed these individuals were merely practitioners of the Dark Arts (a thought that had already unsettled his Scale of Faith). But their sudden, inexplicable departure from this world was something he struggled to accept.

These vermin are so despicable! Igor fumed. He wished he could rip the Wire Puppets from those poor souls and stomp on them hundreds of times.

"More despicable than vermin are the human hearts orchestrating this," Baharo said, sidestepping an attack from one of the walking dead. With a downward slash of his sword, he separated its head from its body.

However, such attacks had minimal effect on the walking dead. The decapitated body immediately lunged at Igor.

Igor raised an arm to block, then pushed the headless attacker away. But he had no time to catch his breath; another one of the walking dead, mouth agape, lunged at him.

"Watch out!" Kadi yelled, his tail whipping as he kicked away the walking dead charging Igor.

The situation grew tense, especially for Stan Sol. Clad in his Flame Armor, he engaged the majority of the Puppets. This gave Igor and the others some respite. With Sol handling the bulk of the attackers, they only had to contend with a handful of relentless Puppets. Sol alone held back their entire Alchemy Array. A stalemate ensued: Sol and his companions could not break through the circle formed by the walking dead, nor could the walking dead overwhelm them.

This stalemate was broken by the appearance of a sparrow, which alighted gently on Igor's shoulder.

Igor was taken aback. Huh? Where did this sparrow come from? I thought there were no living creatures on this mountain besides us.

No one paid heed to Igor's question. The Wire Puppets had driven their hosts into a frenzy, making them even more violent. The controlled bodies, snarling and baring their teeth, lunged and bit. Anyone who failed to evade in time and was bitten would have no need to struggle further; they would die of shock on the spot.

Death itself was not terrifying; the struggle for survival was. Only the living could truly experience fear.

Igor and his companions, still in the grip of fear, desperately fought off the attacking horde.

As Sol's battle intensified, the enemy's numbers seemed to swell. The armless and legless Puppets showed no signs of backing down. Instead, they fought with even greater fervor, their ranks reinforced by new 'comrades' as they repeatedly charged Sol's and the others' defenses. After each attack, successful or not, the walking dead immediately returned to their formation. They were like boomerangs, flying out and then returning to their original positions, awaiting the next assault. Eventually, these dismembered attackers reformed their Alchemy Array. Soon, the severed arms, legs, and heads began to launch coordinated attacks once more.

The sparrow on Igor's shoulder watched the commotion on the mountain for a moment, flapped its wings, and fluttered back into the sky.

Igor's bewilderment deepened when, with a sudden SWISH, a swarm of gray rats and dark yellow-furred rabbits erupted from the hole left by the giant rabbit...

The rats and rabbits scurried towards the walking dead. The rats clambered onto their bodies, tearing at them with their teeth, while the rabbits bounded into the flailing arms and legs...

Soon after, a flock of sparrows descended from the sky, also attacking the walking dead. Now and then, an owl or two would join the fray...

What on earth is happening? Igor was utterly confused, completely bewildered.

This sudden battle between the walking dead and the animals took everyone by surprise.

The walking dead and animals engaged in a silent struggle.

One by one, rats, rabbits, and sparrows fell, but instead of leaving corpses, they vanished with a SIZZLE, dissolving into wisps of white mist...

The walking dead fared no better. Their bodies were torn to shreds by the rats, their limbs scattered by the rabbits...

Most importantly, unlike before, after being attacked by these animals, the walking dead didn't rally to reform their lines for another assault. This time, they collapsed to the ground, motionless.