George took the solidified fire oil, and his face burst into joy.
He hurriedly asked Lucas and the others to stand at the front, prepared the solidified fire oil, and immediately understood Bruce's intention as he fixed his gaze on the giant puppet's arm.
Bruce handed him the solidified fire oil and turned to look at the west side of the valley.
Seeing that everyone from the four camps, including Samsung, were in a precarious situation, he quickly called the six from Tony and rushed over.
The six from Tony and Clark could save their lives in that rock crevice.
It seemed like they arrived just in time, but luck played a larger part.
After all, they had only recently broken into the Axeheart Realm, and not to mention the people from Rogel Camp, the strength of those from Samsung, Banana, and the other four camps was much greater than theirs.
The giant puppet's strength aside, its size was truly enormous, its attack range was extremely wide, combined with its terrifying power, leaving almost no untouched ground in the valley at that moment.
The giant puppet had three remaining limbs; its left arm blocked the ones from Rogel Camp against the right side of the valley; two enormous feet stomped frantically on the Lumbering Realm members of the four camps including Samsung.
When they were trapped in the wooden house earlier, there were casualties among the five camps outside.
Rogel Camp was better off; they still had three or four iron implements to hold out for a while;
The other four camps weren't as fortunate; they were slightly weaker, and they didn't even have an iron implement at hand.
In just a short time, seven had died, leaving only sixteen people.
The remaining sixteen were still struggling to survive under the giant puppet's feet.
Boom…
"Old Huang, is the door not open yet?"
Sam barely managed to dodge the giant puppet's right foot with his son, retreating to the side, and urgently shouted to Ben behind him.
They were on the west side of the valley, which was near the door.
Ben, along with five others, was moving the large stones blocking the door.
Hearing Sam's anxious voice, he didn't dare to stop and continued moving while yelling back, "The stones are too big and too many; I can't clear them all at once. Hang on for a bit longer!"
Upon hearing this, Sam glanced back during a brief pause and saw that only half of the stone pile was cleared, and a thread of despair rose in his heart.
When the four wooden houses merged into this giant puppet, realizing that they were not a match for the wooden puppet together, they immediately scattered, with the Rogel Camp choosing the left side, the six from Harper choosing the right, and those from the four camps, including him and Ben, choosing the exit, which was the west side.
This choice made sense; with the giant puppet being so terrifyingly powerful, staying in the valley was certainly a dead end, so running towards the exit was the safe choice.
But the problem was, as soon as they ran, the giant puppet guessed their intention and punched the mountain above the valley entrance with one strike, causing countless rocks to fall and completely block the entrance.
With the hope of direct escape shattered, even in despair, they quickly devised a strategy, continuing with two groups.
He and Max led people to restrain the giant puppet's legs, while Ben and John led five to clear the rocks from the entrance.
The idea was sound, but in practice, the difficulty was apparent.
The giant puppet's strength was overwhelming.
Initially, there were sixteen, including him, tasked with restraining it, but in a short moment, six had died, leaving only ten.
In all this time, only half the entrance had been cleared, while six of them had already died; by the time the entrance was cleared, everyone might be dead.
It's no good, they had to think of a plan.
Or call Max and the seven back, and fight the giant puppet together!
"Father!"
Ethan's loud reminder brought Sam out of his trance.
He looked up sharply to see the enormous right foot of the giant puppet descending on him, the violent force compressing the air above, the momentum remarkably terrifying.
Hopelessness flashed through Sam's eyes; if that foot came down, he would surely end up as the six before, crushed to a pulp.
"Get out of the way, Father!"
In a split second, his son Ethan rushed over from the side, crashing into him and knocking him four or five meters away.
"Fool, who told you to save me…"
Sam shouted angrily in mid-air, berating his son's rescue.
But watching the colossal foot descend on his son, his face finally showed panic, as his anger turned to heartbreak, he let out a sorrowful cry calling his son's name.
Boom…
The giant puppet's foot stamped down without suspense, almost touching the ground.
This foot, not only shook the ground incessantly around, but shattered Sam's heart completely.
"Ah… Sam…"
Throughout his life, his proudest achievement was his son, Ethan.
At twenty-four, a Axeheart Realm, among all the camps surrounding Redwood Ridge, he was undoubtedly a standout, largely due to Sam giving up his own cultivation—whenever he had some Cold Beast Meat, he prioritized his son.
Such a carefully nurtured son now perished right before his eyes.
His feelings were imaginable.
"Father, I'm okay!"
A voice from beneath the giant puppet's foot made Sam pause, filled with disbelief.
But as he looked up, the sadness on his face immediately turned into great joy.
The giant puppet had suddenly separated a portion on the ground, then withdrew its foot.
The part that separated burst into flames on the ground out of nowhere.
Boom…
The wooden part was pushed open from below, and two figures appeared in front of Sam.
Seeing Ethan only spitting blood, still alive, Sam's face overflowed with joy.
He then turned to the one wielding a blade next to his son and solemnly bowed:
"Leader Bruce, your great kindness cannot be thanked enough. In the future, should there be any commands, I, Sam, will go through any death to fulfill them!"
Realizing Bruce might not know him, Sam hurried to add:
"I am Sam, leader of Samsung Camp."
The one who saved Ethan was naturally Bruce, who had just rushed over.
Bruce waved his hand bitterly at Sam, "Whether there will be a future is uncertain; I didn't rescue him intentionally, Leader Sam need not be so."
Sam knew it wasn't the time for talking, so he didn't speak, simply pulled his son over with gratitude still strong in his eyes as he looked at Bruce.
Meanwhile, Bruce's attention was entirely on the giant wooden puppet.
His rushing over wasn't actually to save Ethan.
Risking one's life for a stranger, he wasn't that noble.
His target was the giant wooden puppet.
While charging, he noticed that the giant wooden puppet, with its right arm severed by him, was left with only its legs and left arm, causing it to move erratically.
He realized that damaging the key parts of the giant wooden puppet's limbs might indirectly affect the control of the Wood Puppet Monster, so he ducked under its feet with the remaining solidified fire oil on his blade to disrupt its balance.
Sparing Ethan was merely incidental.
Just as he anticipated, things went as planned.
After the giant wooden puppet shed part of its foot, its legs became even more unbalanced, its stomping movements began to deform, and its strength was far less than before.
On the other side, George, who had received the solidified fire oil, seized the opportunity just like Bruce.
He climbed the giant wooden puppet's left arm, found its slimmest part, and chopped it down smoothly.
The severed left arm still showed many transparent white threads.
Those white threads, when touched by the solidified fire oil on George's blade, instantly ignited into sparkles, scattering everywhere.
The giant puppet's balance was already compromised by Bruce destroying its right foot.
With its left arm now severed, its body became teetering.
George wouldn't miss such an opportunity; he raced along the yet unbroken part of the left arm towards the puppet's head.
As he neared the head, he threw the last bit of solidified fire oil in his hand towards the puppet's face, followed closely by a slash of his blade.
The broken oil splattered across the giant puppet's face, and flames roared up.
As George's blade plunged into the head, the flames seeped into the wooden puppet's skull.
"Ah…"
An elderly, slightly enraged cry echoed above the valley.
Bruce looked up, his eyes turning immensely grave.
The voice, though aged, carried a curious rasping from wood chips that sounded hoarse yet abrasive, unmistakably to him.
The Wood Puppet Monster had finally shown its true form!
---
Above the valley, at the point where two mountains intersect, a shadow suddenly descended.
Behind the shadow, two more figures followed.
The two figures, one holding a sword, the other a saber, encircled the shadow from the left and right, falling from above, finally landing on the ground.
The first thing that caught everyone's eye was a disheveled old man with white hair.
The old man was also dressed in beast skin, his clothes stained and seemingly long-neglected.
He held a small knife in his left hand, a ball of white thread in his right, and a pair of blood-red pupils glared angrily at those present, appearing rather disheveled.
Following the elder down were the two figures, Lex and Matthew, who had not shown up until now, both looking solemn and slightly injured.
"Father… you…"
Among the people in the valley, the first to speak was George.
But his tone was full of disbelief.
Because the elder who fell from above the valley was his father, Steve.
He had just called out "father" when he realized something, and his disbelief quickly turned to anger and grief.
"Ah… my creation, completed after killing so many people, you've destroyed it, destroyed it! I will kill you, kill you all!"
The old man turned to the crowd, his voice filled with venomous rage, clearly infuriated to the extreme by those who had destroyed the giant wooden puppet.
"Leader George, this Wood Puppet Monster is no simple creature; even with the two of us working together, we're not sure we can defeat it. You five need to help!"
Lex also spoke, but the gravity in his voice sent a shiver through George's heart.
Since he began interacting with Lex half a month ago, it was the first time he'd heard such a solemn tone.
Bruce, who had been observing the three, looked up at the top of the valley, realizing the intersecting point of the two mountains was a good one to two thousand meters above the ground.
A flash of realization crossed his mind.
Initially, he thought Lex and Matthew had either left or were hiding, waiting to emerge as the "oriole" after they defeated the Wood Puppet Monster to reap the benefits.
It now seemed he had wronged them.
While they were dealing with the Wood Puppet Monster in the valley, the two must've been fighting it from above, and at such a height, it was normal not to notice any disturbance.
With this thought, Bruce's expression became more somber.
It meant that the Wood Puppet Monster had been controlling the enormous giant wooden puppet below while simultaneously fighting Lex and Matthew up above.
Judging by the injuries on Lex and Matthew, the Wood Puppet Monster hadn't been at a disadvantage.
Moreover, Lex took the initiative to ask for assistance from the five individuals in the Earthripper Realm.
The strength of this Wood Puppet Monster was likely beyond imagination!
"Leader Bruce, is there really no Solidified Fire Oil left?"
Bruce turned to meet George's hopeful gaze.
With a difficult expression, he shook his head and replied, "No, I only have two pieces left."
Upon hearing this, George's expression fell.
Bruce could discern the Wood Puppet Monster's strength from the injuries on Lex and Matthew, and so could he.
The Solidified Fire Oil was the ultimate weapon against Mimicking monsters.
Without it, they'd be in deep trouble today!