Due to the collapse of the palace, most of the wine jars in the Dwarf Cellar were shattered, leaving only the last jar intact.

"Fortunately, there's one left for me!" Han Xing exclaimed in relief.

Even though Han Xing wasn't a heavy drinker, he understood the rarity of such aged liquor.

Of course, such a precious item must be taken away.

However, with the jar being a meter high and half a meter in diameter, taking it away was indeed a challenge.

So, Han Xing tried to store it in his backpack, and in the next moment, the black wine jar disappeared from its original spot.

"Oh? It really worked?" Han Xing was surprised.

Although the jar was large, it only occupied two slots in the space backpack.

Just then, a system notification appeared.

[Obtained Black Vine Wine (760 years), 230L.]

"Whoa! 760 years, did I read that right?" Han Xing rubbed his eyes.

When he confirmed the year on the item information, he was even more shocked.

He then looked at the note beneath the Black Vine Wine.

Note: The Dwarf Race has unique research in brewing, second only to forging, which is a talent that stands out in the Holy Spirit Realm.

Black Vine Wine is one of the Dwarf Race's best brews. Its ingredients include black vine from the Mysterious Forest, magic leaves from the Elf Forest, egg whites from the Giant Roc Egg, Ghost Soul Spring Water... combined with the Dwarf Race's unique brewing skill, it results in a jar of original liquid. The older the vintage, the more mellow the taste, beloved by Dwarf Nobility.

The brewing technology of the Dwarf Race is as outstanding as their forging technology.

The fragrance of the wine was intoxicating, even with the seal unbroken.

Moreover, this was a 760-year-old Black Vine Wine. If it were on Blue Star, one can't imagine how many drink enthusiasts would go crazy over it!

If it weren't for the imminent battle, Han Xing might have wanted to take a sip right then and there.

At this moment, Coal Ball was wagging its tail in front of Han Xing, as if asking for credit.

Han Xing patted its head and praised, "Not bad, your dog nose is really sharp."

By now, five minutes of the ten-minute preparation time given by the system had passed.

Han Xing quickly walked over to the remains of the six spiritual puppet carcasses and disassembled each one to prevent them from being destroyed by the impending battle's aftermath.

From these six puppet remains, Han Xing recovered a large number of fine iron arrows, then added a lot of special magic clay to his backpack, along with six damaged spiritual cores and some mithril and refined iron.

After doing all this, Han Xing took a piece of dried beast meat from his backpack, chewed it for a while, and swallowed it.

He had to hurry and return to his best state.

Time flew by, and the ten-minute time quickly passed.

[The third-stage challenge has begun, Survivor, good luck...]

As the prompt ended, Han Xing suddenly felt an unprecedented trembling beneath the palace!

Rumble~

Not only did the palace tremble, but Han Xing even felt the entire valley start to shake.

Then, a terrifying giant hand emerged from the center of the ruins, shaking off countless stone blocks and bricks.

A half-body slowly sat up from the rubble, like a giant who had been asleep for many years, awakened by some will today.

When it stood up, a colossal dark yellow being over six meters tall appeared before Han Xing.

The attribute panel of this monster also appeared in front of him.

[Enhanced Spiritual Puppet (Elite Level)]

[Level: lv7]

[Power: 64, Agility: 48, Spirit: 49, Constitution: 67]

[Remaining Spiritual Energy: 80]

[Remaining Defense Value of Spiritual Core: 300]

[Skills: Energy Bombardment, Rock Body (Passive Skill, reduces 30% of physical attack damage when attacked), Earthquake Shock (The spiritual puppet leaps high into the air and slams heavily onto the ground, causing a huge ground shock, dealing massive damage to enemies within range).]

Seeing the puppet's attributes, Han Xing actually breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, just an elite level."

He was really afraid that the system would suddenly toss out a leader-level monster, which would complicate things.

But thinking about it, the first two rounds of battles were already so tough, if a leader level appeared now, it wouldn't even be worth fighting.

Because, even he doesn't have confidence in soloing a leader-level creature.

If he couldn't pass, how many people could complete this hidden task?

However, even though it's an elite-level puppet, it can't be underestimated.

Because even ordinary spiritual puppets have defense comparable to elite monsters, so this enhanced puppet's flesh defensive ability nearing leader monsters isn't surprising!

The battle began, and Han Xing immediately entered a state of full concentration.

The familiar Wind Chasing Arrow started it off.

Ding!

This arrow bounced off the spiritual puppet upon impact.

Han Xing's eyes narrowed, as he expected.

This guy's defense was beyond that of stone, comparable to refined iron.

Without Coal Ball's defense reduction buff, this arrow didn't cause any damage.

The elite puppet, enraged by Han Xing's arrow, was about to launch an attack.

At this moment, Han Xing suddenly saw many purple lines appearing on Coal Ball's body, extending out as if connecting to another space.

This was the newly activated fifth skill of Coal Ball, Void Absorption.

The next moment, the black light on Coal Ball surged, and the entire wolf dashed forward, instantly appearing beside the Elite Puppet.

With the enhancement of the Power of the Void, all attributes of Coal Ball increased by 50%, coupled with the 200% speed boost from Void Flashes. At this moment, Coal Ball's movement speed even faintly surpassed the limit of a One-Star Monster.

Swish! Swish swish!

The Elite Puppet didn't have time to react, and more than a dozen claw marks appeared on its body.

Although it seemed not to cause much damage, each claw mark was emitting purple mist.

In an instant, Coal Ball stacked the armor reduction state to the limit, directly reducing its defense by 30%.

Compared to before reaching Level 6, wasn't this speed more than doubled!

At the same time, Han Xing also saw that Coal Ball's figure constantly flickered, often appearing beside the Spiritual Puppet's core. Every time it appeared, it took away seven or eight defense values from its core.

The Elite Puppet seemed angered by this annoying little creature, uttering a dull mechanical sound.

"Those who disobey Lord Kaelon's orders, die!"

The Spiritual Puppet swung its millstone-sized palm in retaliation. Compared to Coal Ball's small physique, if it got hit randomly by this, it would undoubtedly be smashed into pulp.

In such a situation, usually, without Han Xing's reminder, Coal Ball would rely on its instinctive combat awareness to evade.

But now it had no fear at all, enduring the Spiritual Puppet's attacks, and furiously outputting.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Although the Spiritual Puppet kept attacking Coal Ball, the strange thing was, its palm hit Coal Ball's body but had no effect.

It was as if attacking a mere shadow, and the Spiritual Puppet's hand passed directly through Coal Ball's body.

Skill: Body of Nothingness with a 50% dodge chance kept triggering.

Moreover, Coal Ball's attack rhythm was getting faster and faster. Each appearance left many wolf claw prints on the Elite Puppet, and that speed made even Han Xing on the side feel his scalp tingling.

Less than five seconds had passed since the battle started.

The core defense value of the Spiritual Puppet flowed away like water, directly dropping below 250 points.

Han Xing was dumbfounded from the sidelines.

He held the longbow, standing bewildered, watching Coal Ball perform alone.

After reaching Level 6, this little creature had completely transformed into a little boss, suppressing the Elite Monster in a one-on-one fight.

At this moment, the core device of the Spiritual Puppet was operating at its limit, with output power already at its maximum.

In other words, its "CPU" was about to smoke, yet even so, it couldn't keep up with Coal Ball's rhythm.

Han Xing suspected that if it wasn't for the Spiritual Puppet's lack of emotions, it might have gone mad by now.

Just then, energy suddenly gathered in the Spiritual Puppet's palm, and a terrifying aura erupted in an instant.

"For... Lord Kaelon!"

It chose to detonate the energy orb in front of its chest, determined to inflict mutual damage and severely wound Coal Ball!

"Watch out!" Han Xing exclaimed in shock.

Coal Ball was engulfed by the explosion's energy before it could dodge.

Boom!

As the smoke cleared, Coal Ball's figure flew backward.

Han Xing quickly rushed over, ready to assist.

However, he found that Coal Ball's aura not only didn't weaken but instead, the Power of the Void on its body began to surge.

Han Xing clearly saw that Coal Ball's fur had been scorched black from the explosion injury just now.

But now, these injuries were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, soon restored, comparable to the recovery effect of Han Xing using a Life Secret Elixir.

"This..." Han Xing stopped in confusion.

The next moment, the fully recovered Coal Ball charged towards the Elite Spiritual Puppet again like a moth drawn to a flame.

Han Xing muttered blankly, "Seems like there's nothing left for me to do here?"

At that moment, Han Xing saw Coal Ball's body suddenly turn transparent.

Ten Void Spikes became faintly discernible.

Then, the Void Spikes abruptly erupted, bombarding the body of the Spiritual Puppet.

Pu pu pu pu!

A dense sound of metal penetration rang out.

This strike, two Void Spikes alone reduced the Spiritual Puppet's core defense value by more than 50 points, and all the other spikes hit as well, causing extremely terrifying damage!

Han Xing saw that the right shoulder of the Spiritual Puppet was even pierced by a Void Spike, breaking the Mithril patterns, rendering its right arm completely useless.

At the same time, the core defense value had dropped to less than 100 points, and the Spiritual Puppet entered into berserk mode.

Its two giant legs, as thick as millstones, shone brightly with Secret Patterns, as if all energy was converging between its legs.

The next moment, the Spiritual Puppet leaped high.

Han Xing's face suddenly changed.

This was the third skill of the Elite Puppet, Earthquake Shock, a very terrifying area damage skill.

Without thinking, Han Xing rolled once, then quickly ran towards the edge of the palace.

"Coal Ball, run!"

...

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