The puppeteer rapidly retreated backward. At the same time, Locke summoned the Executioner's Hammer Mushroom from his astral ring, and the mushroom head portion of the mushroom hammer flickered with the spell model of the First Circle magic [Mushroom Heavy Hammer].

Locke swung the hammer at the First Circle wizard dressed as a puppeteer. The next moment, the other party urgently mobilized all eight arms of the puppet substitute in front of him, its entire body shrouded in magical white threads, flashing before him to block this strike.

In an instant, the gravity sphere erupted on this puppet. Even First Circle level magic alloy, adamantine, was deformed by the Mushroom Heavy Hammer magic driven by Locke's 4000 (3400+600) magical pressure in this instant, as if it were an overstuffed plush doll. The internal parts were squeezed and deformed by tremendous force from the middle, exploding outward. A large pile of precision parts crafted from adamantine and immobile iron all burst out.

'Even the adamantine puppet was smashed apart by one hammer strike. That mushroom hammer is very troublesome...' Seeing this scene, cold sweat flowed down the puppeteer's forehead. He understood he absolutely couldn't be hit by the mushroom hammer in the other party's hand, or he would die!

After more than a month of practicing meditation on the void warship, Locke's base magical pressure reached 3400, and because of multiple doses of Beholder Lord Potion, the independent circulation of abyssal energy in Locke's body had also upgraded from 500 to 600.

The ratio of abyssal magical pressure to Locke's normal magical pressure rose slightly again, reaching 0.176.

According to Locke's calculations, as long as the ratio of abyssal energy to his normal magical pressure didn't exceed 0.3, the problem wouldn't be too serious.

"Blocked it with a puppet?" In a flash, Locke's gaze locked onto the puppeteer. He stepped out again, lifting the mushroom hammer and smashing it toward the puppeteer's head.

Although his hammer strike just now was blocked by the puppet the other party controlled, the other party had exposed too much about themselves.

If the other party's permanent defensive field was defensive magic, then the other party's operation just now would seem very strange. They clearly could have used their permanent defensive field to take his mushroom hammer head-on, then controlled the puppet to attack him.

But the other party instead chose to use the controlled puppet to defend in reverse rather than continue attacking. This indicated the other party's permanent defensive field probably wasn't defensive magic. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

In the darkness, Locke's eyes noticed thread after thread of semi-transparent silk passing through the darkness, coming toward him. He slightly shifted his body, dodging them, then swung another hammer toward the puppeteer's direction.

The Executioner's Hammer Mushroom automatically extended its mushroom stalk and struck the puppeteer's body with one hammer blow.

In an instant, many adamantine component fragments exploded from beneath the puppeteer's wizard robe. Gears flew out one by one. Originally, what he called his main body was also just a puppet, while his real self ejected from this main body puppet and fled in another direction.

The puppeteer himself was of the halfling race, no more than half the size of a human. At this moment, this halfling wizard looked with an ugly expression toward Locke in the darkness.

"This guy's perception is too astonishing. He can see objects in darkness. We all underwent special training to fully master fighting in darkness. Moreover, his grasp of timing is extremely subtle, his perception even more astonishing. He completely saw through my little tricks."

"When did such a troublesome character appear in white wizard society? If I'd known, from the beginning, we should have included him in the sealing targets. We miscalculated."

The halfling puppeteer's permanent defensive field was of course not defensive magic, or rather, for this group of wizard airship pirates, pursuing defensive magic was meaningless.

This group of pirates pursued magic-like deception, able to steal all targets before everyone could react, then flee.

So, no one in their entire troupe set their permanent defensive field as defensive magic. All chose some auxiliary magic with strange and changeable effects.

And the magic in his permanent defensive field was called [Puppet Thousand Thread Silk], which could transform magical power into minute threads difficult for people to detect, attach them to people, wizards, objects, or some kind of magical creature, and temporarily control the other party's body for a few tenths of a second. This effect could even bypass that person's permanent defensive field, so although the effect duration was brief, it could often produce unexpected changes in battle.

But what the halfling puppeteer hadn't expected was that although Locke clearly didn't understand him, during combat, he had already avoided the traps he set twice.

A circus magician, if his tricks were all seen through, had nothing left to fear.

At this time, Locke also stared without blinking, his eyes tightly fixed on the puppeteer. The other party's deception was truly astonishing. In just two brief exchanges, they had already tried to deceive him twice. Sometimes he almost fell for it, completely relying on some instinct-like combat talent to avoid the other party's traps.

This might be some kind of Golden Twin-Headed Dragon talent ability. It probably wasn't just ordinary instinct.

Locke caught up, the mushroom hammer in his hand mercilessly falling toward that fleeing puppeteer. "You almost fooled me again. At first, seeing you control puppets, I thought you were a Transmutation School wizard."

"Seeing those fine threads you shot at me, ordinary wizards might preconceively mistake them for threads of some special material created by some Transmutation School spell, something like rubber threads."

"Even being touched wouldn't be a big problem."

"But your permanent defensive field is... Evocation School spells, right? The spells you mainly study should be manipulation-type sub-magic of the Evocation School, not Transmutation School transformation."

The puppeteer clicked his tongue, dodging Locke's follow-up attack while thinking of countermeasures.

His body nearly got hit several times. Just now, the mushroom hammer had even brushed his cloak, directly scraping off a large piece of the cloak on his body. This was truly a case where grazing meant injury and touching meant death. That heavy mushroom hammer was truly terrifying.

The halfling wizard regretted in his heart. Why did he take the initiative to kill Expert Salvador? If he'd known, he should have had someone else come.

The puppeteer was thinking of countermeasures. "Really troublesome. If competing in hard strength, that's not my area of expertise."

"Damn white wizard, when did they become so good at combat? It's just like fighting experts among us black wizards."

"Can't continue entangling with him. The other troupe members should all have gone to predetermined targets to loot spoils... Mutual assistance was never included among circus members. If I die here, absolutely no one will come to save me."

At this time, the puppeteer controlled the Puppet Thousand Thread Silk he had secretly thrown out during combat. Countless threads spread densely, all concentrating in his hands. The other ends of the threads were sometimes objects, tables, chairs, magic books, and some were even wizards who had unknowingly been hit by his Puppet Thousand Thread Silk in the darkness and were being secretly controlled by him.

At this time, these objects, magic books, tables and chairs, and wizards hit by his puppet technique, all under his Evocation School incantation, were temporarily controlled by him. Those wizards even immediately recited some brief incantations, using magic to attack toward Locke.

Simultaneously, the puppeteer strode away on his two short legs in another direction to escape. He knew the other party definitely had defensive-type permanent defensive magic. Although this strike could delay the other party, whether it could cause harm to the other party was hard to say.

He was just a thief among black wizards, not a professional assassin, so at this moment, fleeing first was best.

In this instant, Locke immediately deployed his defensive field [Life Force Field]. Emerald green crystal wall barriers surrounded him, blocking many spells for him.

At the same time, the fleeing halfling puppeteer cried out in alarm. He suddenly looked back and saw white triangular patterns circling on his wizard robe.

Looking more carefully, these patterns were all formed by mycelia, stamped on his body like a seal.

When was it?

Right, it was that time. That bastard's mushroom hammer brushed past his body. This magic was applied at that time.

The next moment, that mycelium brand seal formed a gravity sphere on his body. His entire person was directly sent flying. A magic artifact vest on his body actually cracked with a snap and was sent flying.

This was the Executioner's Hammer Mushroom's First Circle supporting plant magic spell [Mycelium Brand Curse]!

As long as one made contact with this mushroom hammer for an instant, the mycelium brand would attempt to transfer onto the other party and rapidly reproduce on the other party's skin or clothes in a short time, forming sufficient mycelia. These mycelia would then form a miniature array, which could then detonate on the enemy with power equivalent to a Mushroom Heavy Hammer strike.

So, the Executioner's Hammer Mushroom truly was a case where grazing meant injury and touching meant death.

In reality, a wizard with keen perception, astonishing combat instinct, strong hard power, and very solid comprehensive strength perfectly countered the Magic Thief Circus black wizards' style of fighting with feints and reality, winning with weakness over strength, and overcoming size with smallness.

The puppeteer was still covering his back and hadn't stood up from the ground. He had just lifted his upper body when Locke's mushroom head smashed toward his body again.

With a 'clang' sound, the gravity field of the remaining mycelium brand on his body merged with Locke's Mushroom Heavy Hammer's gravity sphere. In a short time, the power exploded to twice its strength, immediately sending the puppeteer flying.

If Locke's fighting style faced wizards with permanent defensive fields, he couldn't take them down in a short time because it required direct confrontation. But facing these circus black wizard thieves, he was instead a perfect counter.

Locke grabbed hold of the puppeteer whose lower limbs he had crippled and whose defensive magic artifacts had all been smashed apart. "Speak, what exactly is your plan?"

This was Locke's real purpose for definitely capturing the other party. If the Ptolemy family hired ordinary black wizard assassins, presumably at most they would try to kill Salvador, and Locke only needed to protect Salvador.

But the other party's purpose was obviously more than this. They even wanted to hijack this void warship. Wizards couldn't survive independently in the Second Sky, so naturally couldn't leave the void warship.

Therefore, Locke also needed to ask clearly whether the other party wanted to rob once and leave, or do something else to this void warship.

If only the former, then he only needed to protect Salvador. Everything else had nothing to do with him.

Locke heard a woman's scream from not far away. "Help... black wizards, you..."

Locke frowned. The situation was chaotic now. He looked at the puppeteer in his hand, fierce light flashing in his eyes. "I'll count three, two, one. If you don't speak, I'll immediately break your neck. If you make any unusual movement, as soon as I think something's wrong, I'll immediately break your neck."

"Three, two..."

The puppeteer's face was extremely pale. He knew Locke could do it. During the battle just now, Locke had tried to kill him several times without any mercy. The person before him was definitely a decisive person who acted swiftly and decisively. Under the threat of death, the halfling puppeteer screamed and said, "I'll talk, I'll talk. The leader and the others want to steal the most valuable core components of this void warship, then find a White Wizard Association branch to sell them for money. Things they can't take away, they'll blow up together with this void warship's energy core, that sun."

"This way, the White Wizard Association won't trace it back to our circus. Those wizards we forcibly exiled for one hour, when time is up, they'll appear in this Second Sky full of malice toward wizards. They'll have no way up to heaven or down to earth. Everything about our circus will be hidden in this Second Sky's boundless route..."

"The leader carries a Sun-Eating Strange Seed on him. As long as he throws the Sun-Eating Strange Seed into that artificial sun, this void warship will immediately self-destruct."

Actually, the reason the puppeteer was so cooperative was another reason. He really didn't want to die.

Black wizards were all selfish. Since he was now captured and the other circus members definitely wouldn't come to save him, he would certainly die together in this explosion.

The halfling puppeteer knew this precisely, which was why he spoke so readily. "This... Eye Demon Wizard, the leader has now captured the Plutarch family heir. The other members went to rob targets. The leader must have gone to this void warship's energy core—the artificial sun. It's estimated there are less than twenty minutes before this warship explodes."

Locke's eyes showed complex emotions. "If the warship explodes, what about your circus?"

The halfling puppeteer said, "Inside the void warship are many short to medium-distance small flight devices for escape..."

Wizard Salvador seemed frightened. He hurriedly groped in the dark and ran over, saying to Locke, "Breeder Augustine... I... I can't die yet. I still need to go to the Land of Six Towers to restore ecology."

"What do we do now?"

Locke clicked his tongue and directly threw the half-crippled puppeteer in his hand to Wizard Salvador. "Watch him. I'll go chase their leader. Don't worry, I won't let the black wizards blow up this void warship."

Wizard Salvador and this black wizard halfling collided with a crash. Both fell to the ground. Wizard Salvador immediately used a vine entanglement spell to firmly control this halfling, then looked toward Locke's direction and weakly called out, "Wizard Augustine, how could you leave me alone here..."

"And leave this black wizard... beside me..."

The strange old man Salvador suddenly seemed to think of something. He hurriedly felt for the lotus leaf on his head. Confirming the leaf was intact, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. "But truly worthy of us plant magic wizards. Wizard Augustine's combat power is indeed formidable."

"This is the power of plant magic wizards, the highest level among all magic."