There were nearly a thousand of them. From a bird's-eye view, the arena seemed to be covered by a dense mass of black worms, all swarming towards David.
These were not ordinary rats–they were extremely fierce. Their sharp claws could scratch white marks on David's armor, and a single flick of their tails could almost throw David out of the arena by sheer force, and this was just the strength of one rat. Looking across the arena, the multitude of rats doubled the horror.
Whenever the Piper's music rose or fell, the rats would launch corresponding attacks. Everyone now understood that although the tune lacked energetic properties, the Piper could control these rats with his music.
David initially tried to prevent the Piper from playing. However, he later realized that even without the flute, the Piper could still control the rats with just voice and gestures. David then temporarily shifted his focus from the Piper and decided to deal with the rats first.
David came prepared for the Supernova competition, fully equipped with Alchemy gear and also possessing ways to counter Summoning-based attacks, such as a disease-inducing potion.
However, while David focused on dealing with the rats, he didn't notice a change in the Piper's music.
The tone, style, and rhythm remained the same, but there was an extremely subtle fluctuation of energy.
Even the audience and most permanent judges didn't notice this, but Angel, sensitive to these changes, caught it. This energy fluctuation wasn't magical but spiritual!
The spiritual power, flowing melodiously, slowly, and concealed, drifted towards David.
Unprepared, the spiritual power seeped under David's helmet, and immediately, David began to move uncontrollably, as if drunk.
Under the Piper's control, David, in a daze, stripped off his Alchemy equipment and began to dance among the rats.
At this time, the rats also didn't attack David but joyfully partook in the Piper's music, performing various joyful movements.
Furthermore, the rats moved strategically with the music, forming various patterns.
It was like a bizarre yet amusing musical play.
Finally, when David came to his senses, he was dancing his way out of the arena.
The match ended.
This match concluded swiftly, and although it involved joyful dancing, the majority of the audience was baffled. Even the judges struggled to determine the Piper's actual level of strength.
However, as Angel saw it, even without much climax in his performance, the Piper's victory came from his subtle incorporation of energy in his music while David was unguarded.
But on closer examination, the fact that the Piper controlled David using only spiritual power was truly terrifying.
It's known that spiritual power is a hallmark of transcendent Wizards, but for most Apprentices, using spiritual power to lift even a piece of paper isn't easy.
For the Piper to use spiritual power as an offensive tool against someone of his same level was no small feat.
It's likely that the Piper's Mental Power Value had reached a peak.
At least, Angel believed that among the Apprentices he had seen, most probably had a lower Mental Power Value than him, even Isril from the Bauhinia Vessel, who had a high value of 23, might be far below this Piper.
And far too few Apprentices had any defense against spiritual power.
Based on this observation, Angel believed that this Pied Piper could rightfully be called the dark horse of the event.