Philip’s strategy was kind of simple and direct.
He used the most obvious and even a strategy that was already used by the previous teams. Energy consumption.
He wanted to make the puppet consume all of its energy before he took it down.
Just like one of the previous groups, he lured the puppet out to a different direction. But he didn’t use a stupid strategy like luring the surrounding creatures to deal with the puppet. He didn’t for one second think that Sam wouldn’t put up a contingency for such an obvious plan.
If he learned anything from his friendship with Sam over the years, it was to throw the convention out of the window.
So, the only thing he focused on at first was to lure the wolf out and keep it running. The wolf chased him. Even though it couldn’t fly constantly like Philip did, it still managed to leap that high and almost hit him with long ranged attacks a few times.
Philip was surprising at how fast the puppet was.
If he used his top speed, he could easily beat it. But he doesn’t know if he would be able to keep that up for too long. He figured it is better to be safe than sorry.
So, he kept the puppet on the hook and made it move. He only reciprocated with only ranged attacks.
Of course, Philip was not counting on dragging this as long as possible. It won’t be much of a victory if the chase went for all day long.
So, he prepared some traps beforehand. He used the hub to prepare some formation discs that could trap the puppet and he dropped them in the path of the wolf.
Even if the wolf was strong and it its senses were really good, it couldn’t avoid all the surprise traps.
And most of the traps were of ice element. Philip’s logic was simple, if the wolf puppet is using fire element, he will just use the opposite. Not because it might slow it, but it will definitely make the wolf expend more energy.
Also, the ice domain was always restrictive and stopped the wolf from moving for a short while.
Philip took this chance and used his ranged attacks to batter the wolf. They were not too strong, but powerful enough to make the wolf steady itself back, giving him chance to land another attack.
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And the battle dragged on. Not even once did Philip try to make a decisive move, nor did he try over the top attacks to capture the puppet. But as it dragged on, it surprisingly made the puppet slow down. It was a bit slow and gradual.
But it did work out.
Philip finally saw a deep gash appear on the wolf’s metallic surface.
Once he saw that, he knew he should double down on it. The attacks were relentless and he was almost sure that he could win. Until…
*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *BOOM*
He saw four other wolf puppets come at him from different directions.
"Fuck"
He cursed and didn’t even wait for a second. He ran away.
As he did, he wondered how Sam even made these puppets. They were as strong as a cultivator at the peak of second grade. And Philip is only at the middle stage of Divine plane initiation.
He couldn’t fathom a person of lower cultivation creating something that could take on a person with higher cultivation level.
That too, one that could act independently on its own and if he knew Sam well enough, which he believed he did… they could be mass produced.
’These guys are fucked’
That was all Philip thought. Because he knew Sam for a long time and one thing he observed was that Sam went after his enemies as quickly and decisively as possible. He was never the one to let his enemies stay alive for no good reason.
And more often than not, the massive cultivation different never stopped him.
But ever since they came to academy realm, Sam had limited his direct killing and focused way too much on his elaborate schemes. The hub, the coin scam, the flaming skulls… his actions were way too passive.
But now, he realized what he had been doing.
These puppets, are no joke.
Maybe Sam realized that he didn’t have the numbers to take on all the opponents the academy realm, its students and all the forces behind those students could have.
Now that he saw these puppets, he is worried what he brings out next.
Anyway, since Philip left the battle and gave it up, it was the loss for the team.
The elders looked at the whole video and were stunned.
"This doesn’t make sense. We tried to the ice domains before on these puppets, but they didn’t work. How did this guy do this?"
One of the elders exclaimed.
All these elders were not stupid enough to not realize what the obvious attack against these puppets should be. They did employ all kinds of tactics. But none of them worked.
"Maybe we need to ask him directly. What is the point of bashing our own heads?"
One of the elders said. And everyone else agreed. They indeed felt exhausted.
The message was sent, the next city was given up while the elders tried to get the information from Philip. The information did come and they were surprised to realize that the ice domain Philip used was just a tad bit different.
It was actually one of the inventions of the hub. The formation discs used to create the domain were enchanted with a spirit that explodes itself. This meant, the surrounding spirits will be effected, including the ones in the puppets.
That was second most obvious tactic Philip thought off. Since the puppet was acting smart, he might as well make it dumber and it almost worked.
"Give him full support. Follow his instructions and win the next round. Once we get a victory, promote that guy."
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And whatever instructions, the elders gave, they were followed to the tee.
Philip’s position was solidified.