Thirty seconds was more than enough time for Alec Thornhart. He'd battled Graul in the game before, and he knew that anyone below a 5-star ranking, even with forty companions, wouldn't stand a chance against him.
However, once a person reached an 8-star ranking, they could fight Graul to a standstill in a one-on-one duel. A 9-star ranking, if wielded skillfully, could even lead to an instant kill.
After all, Graul's true strength lay in his coordination with the Hellhound. If that coordination was disrupted, his individual combat prowess plummeted.
And precisely for this reason, Alec needed to act swiftly, eliminating Graul in the most direct manner possible.
The moment he cast the chain, Alec had already considered every battle plan. Without time to explain to the Stitched Abomination, he took direct control of its body.
The Stitched Abomination struggled for a moment, then went still. Though its interactions with Alec had been few, it understood that Alec wasn't the type to be overly controlling. If Alec were to advance as a Necromancer, it would surely be down the path of scholarship.
It didn't believe Alec was trying to usurp its new body in battle. Instead, this urgent need to control its form surely meant it had made a mistake in its fight against Graul.
With the Stitched Abomination's cooperation, Alec's control became seamless. The instant the Hellhound bit down on the chain, the chain suddenly twisted, shifting from a backward drag to a horizontal swing. This sent Graul crashing into the Hellhound.
Then, the Stitched Abomination's body surged forward along the chain, directly towards Graul.
Graul hadn't anticipated the Stitched Abomination charging directly at him. He was still operating on his past experiences fighting the Abomination, preparing to forcefully resist its pull.
When the Stitched Abomination lunged forward, Graul was caught completely off guard. With the Hellhound flung aside, there was no resistance in front of him. The moment the Stitched Abomination arrived, its hands rained down on Graul's head like a furious storm, giving him no chance to retaliate.
The Stitched Abomination was a strength-based melee undead. In just a few seconds, it couldn't swing its weapons many times, even with them sewn onto its arms.
After Alec controlled the Stitched Abomination to deliver ten consecutive blows, Graul finally reacted. The Hellhound, which had been tossed aside, roared and lunged at the Stitched Abomination.
And this was precisely the opportunity Alec had been waiting for. He knew Graul had three combat modes: Graul controlling the Hellhound in battle, the Hellhound rescuing its master, and the Hellhound going berserk after Graul's death.
Among these three modes, the Hellhound rescue mode was the only chance for them to be separated. At this point, Graul and the Hellhound's combat power were calculated independently.
In the original game, there was a saying: "Hellhound at the Demonhold Gate, kill the dog at six stars, kill the man at nine."
This referred to the strategy for dealing with Graul. If the Hellhound wasn't killed immediately, Graul's combat power would be equivalent to a 9-star ranking. If Graul was killed first, the Hellhound, activating its vengeance mode, would devour Graul's corpse, increasing its strength to a 9-star ranking.
Only by eliminating the Hellhound would Graul, to maintain sufficient combat power, expend a portion of his life and mana to open a portal to the Underworld, releasing approximately five Hellhounds for selection.
At this point, Graul's strength would drop to a 6-star ranking, and only then would killing Graul not provoke the Hellhound's berserk retaliation.
Alec knew this, which was why he had taken control of the Stitched Abomination's body.
Just as he had calculated, upon seeing Graul under full assault, the Hellhound didn't hesitate. It immediately lunged at the Stitched Abomination.
At that moment, Alec immediately activated the Stitched Abomination's skill, Masticate and Spew. A glob of green bile erupted from the Stitched Abomination's mouth, splattering all over Graul's face.
This bile was the Stitched Abomination's special energy, formed from the melted flesh of corpses within its body, and it had the effect of adhering to enemies.
As the Stitched Abomination spewed, the chain simultaneously wrapped around Graul. Then, the two blades on its arms stabbed into the Hellhound's two side heads.
The Hellhound, originally coming to rescue Graul, saw the Stitched Abomination release Graul and attack it instead. The three-headed beast didn't care how it was being attacked. Its two side heads ignored the danger and lunged directly at the Stitched Abomination's hands.
Seeing this, Alec, on the other side, was pleased. This was exactly the effect he wanted. For an undead, injury had no impact on combat effectiveness.
With its hands bitten, the Stitched Abomination showed no other reaction. It simply extended its hands into the Hellhound's mouths, directly gripping the throats of the two heads, and pinned the Hellhound to the ground.
The Hellhound had three heads. With two controlled, the middle one immediately bit at the Stitched Abomination's neck.
This was a normal reaction for a Hellhound; to it, a severed neck meant no survival.
But for an undead, this wasn't a vital spot. And Alec was waiting for this very opportunity. The Stitched Abomination's foot stepped forward, using this chance to plant itself on the Hellhound's back.
Then, the Stitched Abomination's entire body tensed, pulling backward. With a single tug, it brutally ripped off the Hellhound's two side heads.
After the two heads were torn off, crimson flames erupted from the Hellhound's wounds, incinerating the two canine heads into ash.
At this point, Alec breathed a sigh of relief. He withdrew his Undead Command ability, handing over control of the battle to the Stitched Abomination.
Now free, Alec didn't disengage from the fight. Instead, no longer controlling the Stitched Abomination, he had a broader perspective to observe the entire battle.
After losing its Hellhound, Graul, though free from the effects of the Masticate and Spew, seemed to have lost the will to fight. Many times, his whip lashed out at the Stitched Abomination, but without any force.
Alec had seen Graul in this state before. Back at the Demonhold Gate, after they had sacrificed nearly thirty lives to take down the Hellhound, Graul had been in this exact condition.
In Graul's mind, there was no thought of battle. All he wanted to do now was find a quiet place, open a portal to the Underworld, and summon another Hellhound to accompany him.