Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 641

Chapter 641: Chapter 640: The Might of Soul Puppets!
“Go forth! Tear it apart, crush everything in your path!”

Sterl’s face twisted into a determined scowl as he issued the command.

In an instant, nearly 30 million restless soul puppets burst forth from the Purgatory Space, charging ferociously toward the slime barrier constructed by the broodmother.

The sheer number of soul puppets darkened the skies, covering an area of over a hundred miles. The overwhelming energy of their onslaught caused the atmosphere itself to turn cold and oppressive.

Though Boris and the others could not perceive the soul-level spectacle taking place, they felt an eerie chill seep deep into their hearts, as if it had gripped their very souls. A shiver ran through them, leaving them visibly unsettled.

The tens of millions of soul puppets, like an unstoppable flood of spectral force, surged forward and crashed violently into the slime barrier.

Immediately, a massive eruption of secretions occurred, with large portions of the barrier disintegrating into ordinary, inert sludge. The once-potent material lost its supernatural properties and fell slowly to the ground like lifeless waste.

At the forefront of the assault, some soul puppets were obliterated by the hidden gray energy lurking within the secretions, dissolving entirely.

However, the core essence of these soul puppets—their true spirits—remained locked within the Purgatory Space. As long as Sterl lived and the Purgatory Space remained intact, these true spirits could rapidly absorb void energy, reconstitute themselves, and return to the fray.

Sterl monitored the cycle carefully. The soul puppets, weak as they were—each possessing only a fraction of the strength of a normal living creature—could fully regenerate in less than three seconds. Once reformed, they immediately charged out of the Purgatory Space again, relentless and unafraid of death.

Lacking thoughts or consciousness, the soul puppets were like mindless fanatics, following orders without hesitation or fear.

Under Sterl’s meticulous control, the army of tens of millions of soul puppets completely enveloped the massive barrier, hundreds of meters thick.

“Tsk, tsk… I really underestimated the power of these soul puppets,” Sterl remarked in surprise, his voice tinged with excitement and joy. “When their numbers reach a certain threshold, the effects they produce are truly astonishing!”

He couldn’t help but reflect that refining and absorbing these soul puppets in the past might have been a waste. Even so, he valued his own strength far more than any external tools. Still, their performance now proved they were a tremendous asset.

Before his eyes, the silver-white barrier, which had remained unshaken even after enduring the power of hundreds of Celestial Stars, was now visibly deteriorating. Chunks of it were falling away steadily, as if peeling off layer by layer under the relentless assault of the soul puppets.

Even with the barrier’s rapid regenerative ability, it couldn’t keep pace with the relentless suicidal assaults of tens of millions of soul puppets!

This barrage was even more terrifying than the broodmother’s own soul torrents. Unlike the broodmother’s forces, these puppets would reform within three seconds of destruction, returning wave after wave with no respite, giving the enemy no opportunity to recover.

At this point, the broodmother inside the barrier seemed to sense an overwhelming threat.

It had never expected to encounter someone like Sterl—a being who countered everything, a walking nemesis of all creation.

Initially, the broodmother had detected the intense danger emanating from Sterl and had chosen to avoid direct combat. Instead, it opted to erect this massive barrier to keep him at bay while it continued devouring this layer of Hell, progressing its mission as part of a larger plan.

But now, it had no chance to continue its task.

At this rate, the barrier, which had been imbued with the majority of its strength, would inevitably be worn down and breached by the unending onslaught!

Suddenly, the broodmother unleashed a terrifying, ear-piercing shriek that reverberated across much of this layer of Hell.

The scream carried a mixture of chaotic emotions and a horrifying power aimed directly at the soul.

Boris and the others shuddered violently, their faces twisting in pain as an excruciating headache gripped them. Their vision blurred, and their consciousness wavered.

“A soul attack?”

Sterl also felt the reverberation, but his soul’s strength had grown significantly since before.

If he could withstand such attacks in the past, they now posed even less of a threat. He remained entirely unscathed, his resolve unshaken.

However, the same could not be said for his soul puppets.

Like balloons exposed to a scorching flame, they burst and dissolved in an instant, utterly powerless to resist.

In mere moments, hundreds of millions of soul puppets were annihilated, significantly reducing the overwhelming tide that had blotted out the skies.

“These insect-based puppets are still too fragile,” Sterl muttered, shaking his head with a hint of resignation.

He knew the soul puppets were far from invincible. Against opponents with mastery over soul-based abilities, these puppets were as vulnerable as delicate ants.

Even so, they were proving highly effective against the slime barrier.

The broodmother’s actions only confirmed that the soul torrent posed a severe threat to it.

Sterl’s lips curled into a faint smile as he resumed directing the soul puppets into their frenzied assault.

Wave after wave, the relentless puppets surged forward, crashing into the barrier without fear, as if determined to tear it down at all costs.

Sterl’s soul puppets possessed a unique immortality; no matter how many were destroyed, they would instantly reform and rejoin the battle, much like the broodmother’s relentless swarms. The difference, however, was that Sterl’s creations seemed even more extreme in their resilience.

“Let’s test the effectiveness of these enhanced puppets,” Sterl mused.

With a subtle thought, dozens of brilliant, radiant soul puppets appeared before him.

These puppets were crafted from the refined souls of the Silver Mantises, Earth Wolves, and the fusion monstrosity that Sterl had previously enslaved. Compared to the surrounding cannon fodder, these soul puppets exuded an aura of incomparable strength.

The soul quality of even a single Silver Mantis, after all, was at the level of a high-tier divine authority. Though their soul size was only about one-five-hundredth of a true high-tier divine entity, their raw quality far outclassed the weaker puppets.

Among them, the puppet formed from the soul of the fusion monstrosity was the most formidable. Merely standing there, it radiated an overwhelming soul aura.

“Go. Show me your power,” Sterl commanded calmly.

At his order, the elite soul puppets let out silent roars and charged toward the broodmother’s defenses.

On their path, every weak cannon-fodder enemy that dared stand in their way was obliterated instantly, reduced to mere specks of nothingness.

Upon reaching the barrier, the elite puppets began their assault with terrifying precision and efficiency.

One Silver Mantis puppet slashed furiously with its scythe-like blades, severing the soul-level connections between the broodmother and her secretions. With every cut, the secretions transformed into inert waste, falling uselessly to the ground.

The efficiency of these elite puppets surpassed that of tens of thousands of ordinary soul puppets combined.

Even more surprising was their resilience against the mysterious gray energy contained within the secretions. Unlike the weaker puppets that were instantly destroyed upon contact, these elite creations were only slowly eroded by the energy. At their current rate, they could last for at least half a minute in direct combat.

As for the puppet crafted from the fusion monstrosity’s soul, it was on an entirely different level. Like an unstoppable butcher, it unleashed its brutal power with devastating ferocity.

The monstrosity ripped open a gaping breach in the barrier, forcing its way deeper and deeper. Within moments, it had penetrated several dozen meters into the barrier, leaving the surrounding secretions no time to regenerate under its relentless assault.

“Ahhh!!!”

At that moment, another soul shockwave erupted from the broodmother.

This wave was even more ferocious and vast than before. Its power overwhelmed everything in its path, instantly obliterating even the Silver Mantis puppets. They dissolved and disintegrated without any resistance, vanishing into nothingness in mere moments.

The few Earth Wolf puppets managed to withstand the assault but were severely damaged, their offensive power significantly reduced.

As for the thirty million ordinary puppets, they were obliterated in a single wave, leaving not a single one intact.

Even the soul puppet of the fusion monstrosity bore the brunt of the attack, its surface riddled with countless cracks, teetering on the verge of collapse.

“Finally lost your temper?”

Sterl murmured, shaking his head slightly. Even his own powerful soul felt the impact of the shockwave.

These enigmatic creatures clearly had exceptional proficiency in soul-related abilities. He even speculated that some among them specialized in soul attacks.

Cautiously, he cast a glance at Boris and the other gods.

They were in dire straits after enduring two consecutive soul shockwaves. Their faces were pale, drenched in cold sweat, their eyes unfocused, and their consciousnesses on the brink of collapse.

In their current state, fighting back was out of the question. Simply keeping themselves alive was already a remarkable feat.

“What a useless bunch…”

Sterl sighed inwardly, though he couldn’t entirely blame them. Soul power was notoriously difficult to master. Even for gods, it was an obscure and elusive domain.

Considering the creatures’ overwhelming strength, which had already surpassed the upper limits of what ordinary gods could handle, their reactions were understandable.

In other words, the problem wasn’t with his subordinates—it was that their leader was far too monstrous in comparison.

Shifting his focus away from the struggling followers, Sterl turned his attention to his Purgatory Space.

This ability, born from pushing his limits, never failed to surprise him.

Even after losing so many puppets at once, the regeneration speed of the true spirits within Purgatory Space remained unaffected.

In a mere three seconds, the thirty million cannon-fodder puppets were fully restored, once again filling the entire Purgatory Space.

As for the Silver Mantis puppets, while their recovery was slower, it was still far better than he had anticipated. They required about a minute to fully regenerate.

The most critical factor was that throughout this entire process, Sterl hadn’t felt even the slightest depletion. It was as if the energy required to regenerate these puppet souls was being drawn from some mysterious external source.

“No wonder this is considered a forbidden ability. It’s truly terrifying,” Sterl muttered, a mix of awe and unease flickering across his expression.

Even though Soul Prison’s Eerie Eyes was his own talent, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of fear toward its power.

Simultaneously, his curiosity and yearning for the Endless Void and the Infinite Realms grew stronger.

What kind of wonders and brilliance might exist in those vast and boundless worlds?