Chapter 171: The Legendary Puppet

"You, you can't do this."

Just the thought of his soul being clamped, soon to be bound and imprisoned within the crystal ball, subjected to unimaginable torture and devastation, twisted Barton's complexion slightly.

It was so unafraid of death because it knew that after its demise, it would be welcomed by the god of the Frost Giants and ascend to the divine realm.

Now, the outcome was not what it desired.

Garon smiled lightly, gazing at the tiny pitch-black soul.

The soul of a legendary giant was a rather precious magical material.

Whether for collection or use, it was a matter to be delighted about and remembered.

"Your soul and body will be my first legendary giant trophy, but not the last."

After saying this, without looking again at the despair on Barton's soul, Garon willed, and the attraction of the Soul Cage suddenly increased several folds. The miserable green light enveloping Barton's corpse quickly contracted, eventually becoming a beam of green light that trapped its soul and zipped into the crystal ball.

Stretching out his claw, the intelligent Soul Cage flew up, landing between Garon's fingers, rotating leisurely.

Within the crystal ball, a bewildered giant soul could be seen.

Barton struggled inside, trying to break the crystal ball and escape, but the power of its soul had no chance of breaking through under this evil legendary artifact.

Then, Garon's gaze became serious, and he began to utter spells.

Obscure and somber chanting sounds emanated from him.

Threads and wisps of gray-white death aura sprouted from within the crystal ball, condensing into chains that stretched towards Barton's soul.

Barton's soul did its best to dodge, but in such a cramped space, it was caught by the omnipresent gray-white chains in a second or two.

The crystal ball lit up.

Spell runes rose and fell within it, appearing and disappearing, eventually forming a rune-made collar that fitted around Barton's soul's neck.

"Enslave Soul!"

Garon intoned deeply.

A vast amount of magic flowed in like water, the Soul Cage shining with a blinding and evil brilliance.

The rune-made collar instantly tightened, merging into the skin upon contact.

At this moment, Barton's soul screamed in agony, as if struck by unparalleled pain.

It wanted to struggle, but its limbs were clamped by chains, immobile.

The soul's gaze shifted dramatically, a myriad of emotions interwoven within, churning non-stop: despair, regret, unwillingness, fear. But after two or three seconds, its gaze became calm, finally settling on a puppet-like mechanical expression, emotionless.

Garon let out a long breath, ceasing the infusion of magic.

The crystal ball flashed slightly, then he stored it within the dimensional space.

Then, Garon turned his head, looking at the lifeless massive body of the Dark Frost Giant.

With a sweep of his claw, he cut the ice crystal binding the corpse into numerous pieces.

Thud! The giant's body fell like a mountain collapsing, heavily smashing onto the city wall's ground, stirring up circles of dust and ash.

Garon watched all this, his gaze firmly on the Dark Frost Giant's body.

Whoosh! A gust of wind, still warm, blew by.

As if stimulated by this wind, on the remaining arm of the Dark Frost Giant, the fingers trembled slightly, then with the rapid passage of time, this trembling quickly became intense, spreading to the entire eighteen-meter-tall iron tower-like body.

The Dark Frost Giant's muscles trembled, slowly standing up amidst the howling, harsh wind.

The tall body blocked the snow, expressionless. "Your will, my lord."

The newly risen Barton kneeled on one knee, lowering its head, speaking to Garon in an emotionless voice.

Garon remained silent.

He observed the state of the Dark Frost Giant, marveling.

"Harlis's creation is truly impressive."

"It can enslave even the soul of a legendary creature, controlling its body through the Soul Cage."

"However, its limit is enslaving one legendary soul at a time; it could enslave about a dozen souls of higher beings at once."

Garon stroked the sandpaper-like scales on his chin, pondering.

The Soul Cage, now imbued with his mental link, was his legendary item, thus he could directly control Barton through this mental link.

"This dead body, filled with dark power, can still exert strong combat power."

"Hmm, it should be able to exert about eighty percent of its strength when alive, and since it fears neither death nor pain, overall, it might be even higher."

"Pity I don't know the necromantic spells to strengthen corpses; otherwise, with some training, it might become even more powerful than when it was alive."

Barton silently knelt in front of the silver dragon.

Inside the battered Frost City, the frost giants who had miraculously survived the attacks of the wolves and dragons saw this scene, their eyes filled with thick despair, utterly disheartened, the last bit of resistance and struggle draining from their bodies.

At this moment, Barton only possessed simple intelligence, lacking the intelligence and thought response of a normal legendary creature.

Equivalent to a legendary strength battle puppet.

However, the enslavement by the Soul Cage wasn't one-time.

Over time, it would continuously imprint necromantic runes, gradually affecting the opposing soul, subtly wresting control bit by bit. After a certain period, Garon would obtain a truly legendary servant.

Then, Barton's consciousness would fully recover, not much different from when it was alive.

The only difference would be its wholehearted devotion to Garon.

"Still wanting to return to the divine realm to complain, huh."

Garon looked satisfied at the black giant kneeling on the ground.

Although he wasn't afraid of a giant deity who couldn't descend to the material plane in true form, being targeted by one would inevitably lead to endless troubles. According to Barton, it was a loyal follower of that deity.

For a legendary strength follower, even a deity would take considerable notice.

However, Barton's current state is considered alive, not dead.

Whether the giant deity would notice one of its legendary followers encountering a great disaster was hard to say.

"Rise, repair your body."

He issued a simple command.

Barton stood up emotionlessly, picked up its severed arm, fitted it back to the shoulder, then evil light shone on its body. Amidst the flashing lights, the arm's severed part grew flesh buds, slowly healing.

The hole Garon had poked in its head was also repairing.

The creature enslaved by the Soul Cage would gain certain undead characteristics.

Barton, a dark guardian of the dark and evil alignment, quickly completed the transformation and modification of its body.

Unafraid of bleeding, unflinching from pain, fearless of death.