The Ex-Machina in Dimensional Travel

Because next, countless black stakes poked their sharp tips out of the mud beneath their feet like bamboo shoots after rain, then rapidly burst from the ground and shot toward the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the sinkhole was filled with densely packed, uneven black stakes, each at least five meters long.

At this moment, Xiu Er, who had long since returned to the sky, calmly looked down at the scene below. His gaze was focused somewhere among the "black bamboo" in the pit.

There was a black "sphere" there.

A jagged "spiked ball" formed from black stakes. Yet upon closer inspection, one could see that it was already covered in cracks, its surface caked with mud as though it had rolled through the mire.

In truth, that was not far from what had happened.

First, he had created a defensive diversion on the outside, then wrapped himself in black stakes and hid underground, avoiding most of the damage while faking his death so he could launch a surprise attack once his enemy relaxed?

Watching the spiked ball rise from the muddy water, Xiu Er analyzed the other party's motives.

The dense cracks covering the sphere proved that it had endured an enormous impact. However, Xiu Er, who possessed information on Servants, did not believe that Vlad III, a king, would resort to a "surprise attack."

But it did not matter. He did not care about his enemy's true thoughts.

He did not deny that such actions were acceptable. After all, in a life-or-death battle, there was nothing forbidden, and that was not necessarily a bad thing.

But for proud Heroic Spirit Servants, aside from certain exceptions, such a method would probably be considered beneath contempt.

As Xiu Er analyzed the logic behind his enemy's actions, he did