Moses was caught off guard by Kanzai's sudden act of kowtowing.
Before he could react, Kanzai slammed his head into the ground again, sending gravel flying.
If it weren't for the protective Aura wrapped around his body, Kanzai's fierce headbutting when he kowtowed would have definitely caused a cut on his forehead.
Moses quickly realized that Kanzai's kowtowing was more like an act of self-harm...
'It must be the effect of the Manipulation-Type Ability triggered by the ticking sound. But after fulfilling the ability's conditions, it can't cancel the target's Aura State, and the method of manipulating self-harm seems a bit... childish.'
Watching Kanzai repeatedly slam his head into the ground in an act of self-harm, Moses's fear of the ticking sound actually decreased.
The fact that the ability couldn't cancel the manipulated target's Aura means that the effect of the ability is not compulsory, but more suggestive.
Compared to Manipulation-Type abilities that could directly erase the target's consciousness, the suggestive abilities left more room for intervention.
Moses didn't immediately stop Kanzai from kowtowing.
Although Kanzai was harming himself at the moment, he had the protection of his Aura, so Moses didn't have to worry about his safety for the time being.
While remaining vigilant, he also paid attention to the status of the rest of the team.
Perhaps because the effects of the ticking sound had begun to take hold, the others, aside from Kanzai, also started engaging in various forms of self-harm.
However, everyone had a layer of Ken protecting them, and their self-harm methods were somewhat clumsy and careless, so there was no need to worry about their safety for the time being.
At the same time, Moses noticed that the ticking sound in his ears was growing louder, and the frequency was becoming more rapid.
He doesn't know why-
But Moses sensed a growing impatience in the increasingly rapid ticking sound.
'Is it because it saw that I haven't been affected?'
Listening to the ticking sound that was getting louder and louder, Moses kept an eye on his teammates while trying to locate the source of the sound.
He didn't dwell too much on why he wasn't affected by the sound.
It was likely due to the mental resilience effect of [Star of Mankind's Shine].
This might have been the first time he had benefited from the effects of mental resilience.
But the most important thing now was to find the hidden entity as quickly as possible.
Moses decided to take a risk, focusing his mind and trying to pinpoint the direction of the sound source.
Tick-tock, tick-tock-
The sound grew more frantic, as if trying to force all its frustration into Moses's ears.
But no matter how the sound changed, Moses remained unaffected.
The 186% mental resilience allowed Moses to resist the manipulation effects of the ticking sound.
'Found it.'
As the ticking sound became more and more noticeable, Moses finally pinpointed the direction from which the sound came.
However, he didn't act immediately. Instead, he discreetly controlled a shadow unit, using In to erase its traces, and quietly approached the source of the sound.
At this moment.
The last rays of sunlight bathed the coral-like rock formations scattered across the landscape. The numerous hollowed-out openings in the rocks refracted the orange-red light into bizarre, glowing orbs that slanted across the ground.
A figure darted through the orange-red light.
The figure was about the size of a basketball. Its upper body was a small, antique pendulum clock surrounded by finger-thick branches. Beneath the swinging pendulum, countless sand-like specks of light flickered.
Below the clock was an oval-shaped copper base, supported by several slender mechanical legs.
If one only looked at the lower half, they might mistake it for some kind of peculiar crab.
The ticking sound that Moses and his team had heard was coming from this creature.
It moved swiftly through the coral-like rocks, which were filled with refracted light orbs. The pendulum inside the clock on its base swung rapidly, and the ticking sound grew increasingly frantic.
From an outsider's perspective, it did seem rather agitated.
As for the reason-
It was exactly as Moses had guessed.
Because the ticking sound had no effect on Moses, the creature had grown impatient.
In an attempt to control Moses, it increased the frequency of the pendulum's swings and began moving closer to him.
However, this very action ended up revealing its location.
Through the vision of his shadow clone, Moses caught sight of this peculiar creature that could loosely be described as a pendulum clock.
Without hesitation, he directed the shadow clone to launch an attack from behind.
The pendulum clock moves in a way that's very similar to a crab, and its speed was impressive.
But it clearly hadn't noticed the shadow clone's approach. By the time it reacted to the shadow clone's attack, it was already too late.
The shadow clone's fist struck the pendulum clock.
Crack!
The impact caused the clock, surrounded by branches, to shatter into pieces. The specks of light inside scattered like sand across the ground.
The oval-shaped base that had been carrying the clock suddenly lost its power, stumbling forward a few steps before slowly collapsing to the ground.
After the shadow clone destroyed the pendulum clock creature, Moses quickly turned his attention to his teammates.
He saw Kanzai's forehead slam heavily into the ground, then he suddenly stop moving.
The same thing happened to other people, who all stopped their self-harming actions.
'It should be resolved now...'
Seeing the changes in his teammates, Moses thought to himself, but he could only wait for the final outcome.
But at this moment, a faint sound of wind came from above, and a humanoid figure fell straight down from the sky.
Moses's pupils contracted slightly, and although he did not sense any killing intent, he immediately prepared to counterattack.
However, the figure showed no intention of attacking Moses. Instead, it landed headfirst, like a stalk of green onion planted straight into the ground.
"A… person?"
Moses was startled and he carefully observed the figure that had suddenly fallen from the sky with alertness.
The other party was wrapped tightly in vines, with even most of their face covered, leaving only their eyes visible.
But it was clear enough that this figure is a human.
'But why had this person chosen to make their entrance by landing headfirst?'
'It was certainly... novel.'
Suddenly, Moses thought of a possibility.
'Could it be that this person was also affected by the pendulum clock's sound, leading them to take a self-harming action like jumping from a height and landing headfirst?'
'If I had destroyed the pendulum clock just one second earlier, perhaps this person wouldn't have had to do that?'
'Wait-'
'What I should be considering now was the origin of this person.'
'Could they be a native human from the Dark Continent?'
Moses's thoughts raced as he carefully examined the person who had fallen from the sky in front of him.
While feeling cautious and on guard, he also felt a hint of excitement.
After all, he is in urgent need of information.
The person who had fallen from the sky was none other than Don Freecss, who had been following their trail.
And indeed, as Moses had guessed, Don Freecss, who had just arrived, had also been controlled by the pendulum clock's sound and had taken the 'jumping from a height' approach to self-harm.
Now, he was feeling a bit awkward...
"What am I... doing?"
Kanzai's confused voice came from the side.
Moses glanced at Kanzai and answered enthusiastically, "You were kowtowing."
"???"