Ch.158Chapter 158 – Puppeteer Phobia (2)

Following Phobia’s command, the dolls began rushing in all at once.

I deflected the spear of the first doll that charged at me, sliced it with my sword, and cut through its hood, revealing a fully armored soldier inside. It was the uniform worn by the city guards.

‘They even got to the guards!’

Clearly, they must have been caught while on patrol and turned into dolls. Just as I made that assumption, another doll lunged at me from the side, and I threw a punch. As the doll fell backward, its hood came off, revealing the face of a woman with heavy makeup.

Glancing to the side to assess the situation, I saw a normal-looking man appear from Eve’s sword strike, and the doll Sera had thrown was wearing a maid outfit.

Meanwhile, Beatrice was swinging her iron chains to protect Christina, sending multiple dolls flying at once.

Even the clothing of these dolls varied widely.

“Did you really turn anyone and everyone into dolls without discrimination?!”

“Hey, that’s not true!”

Phobia shouted as she watched her dolls being defeated one by one.

“I have standards, you know? Pretty ones, nice personalities, I consider all sorts of things!”

“Yeah, right!”

I switched my weapon to a spear and hurled it directly at Phobia, but several dolls threw themselves in front of it to block the attack.

Of course, the impact pierced through the dolls’ bodies, causing them to collapse, and in that moment, the spear returned to my hand.

“I guess decorative ones aren’t suitable for combat after all?”

Phobia said with a smile. Then she began snapping her fingers.

“Well then, how about these ones~?”

As Phobia snapped her fingers, the three hooded figures who had first attacked us began moving faster.

The hooded swordsman quickly approached me and started swinging his sword.

-Clang!

I deflected the enemy’s attack with my spear and quickly counterattacked. The hood retreated rapidly, and at the same time, I noticed another one shooting arrows, so I quickly turned my head to avoid them.

“Magic Missile!”

Sera began providing covering fire. Noticing this, the hooded figure with the staff used some kind of magic to intercept the Magic Missile.

Then a ball of water came flying, and Christina’s shield blocked it.

“Kay!”

“I know!”

Responding immediately to Eve’s warning, I swung my weapon to deflect an arrow. Beatrice caught a sword thrusting from the side with her iron chain, and Eve jumped on the chain to stab the opponent with her sword.

The hooded figure dodged the attack. However, they couldn’t completely evade it.

-Slash!

Eve’s sword cut the opponent’s skin and sliced through the hood. The face of the doll was revealed. What appeared was someone with light green short hair and long ears…

“An elf?!”

I heard Eve’s surprised voice. And Phobia answered with a laugh.

“Yes! An elf! Isn’t she pretty!”

With the sound of her applause, the remaining hooded figures revealed their faces. Two more elves with similar faces and similar hair appeared. The only difference was their hairstyles. The one with the bow had twin tails, and the one with the staff had a ponytail.

“When I visited the elves’ forest, these three sisters attacked me! I made the youngest one into a doll because she was pretty, and then the older sisters came at me one after another!”

Phobia laughed as she pointed to the elf with the staff, the elf with the bow, and the elf with the sword in that order. All had expressionless faces.

“The youngest, an excellent elf mage! The second sister, an excellent hunter! The eldest, an excellent knight! These three sisters! Aren’t they amazing!”

“No way…”

The arm of the elf called the second sister moved slightly. Looking at her exposed armpit area, I could see something like a sphere embedded there.

“You don’t even discriminate between races?!”

“Oh right, they sing really well too. I added a singing function!”

Phobia clapped her hands. Suddenly, the faces of the three elves, which had been expressionless until now, changed. Faces stained with fear and terror. And their mouths opened.

“Please kill me, please, please, no more…”

“No, no, I don’t want this, living like this, not even truly alive…”

“Sisters, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s my fault, my sisters too, please, kill me, kill…”

“Aren’t their voices pretty!”

At Phobia’s bright voice, I unconsciously tightened my grip on my weapon. Then Beatrice’s voice was heard.

“So those elves are also…”

“Yes! They’re alive! Of course they are, since I turned them into dolls while they were still alive!”

Phobia smiled brightly. The elf knight, the eldest sister, turned her eyes toward Phobia. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

“Please, please kill me, this is, now…”

“Why? Don’t you like it? But now you’ll never grow old and die! I put my heart and soul into it, and if I wanted to, you could even have children!”

Phobia said with a smile.

“Since your brain is almost intact, you still have all your original skills and experiences, right? There’s absolutely no problem using magic and swordsmanship!”

Phobia approached the knight with a smile. Only terror could be seen in the elf knight’s eyes.

“Don’t look at me with such a frightened face~.”

“No…!!”

The elf knight’s pupils began to shake violently with fear.

Phobia made an “Oh right” sound and brought her hands together.

“Since you have such a pretty voice, it gets a bit boring hearing only these words, so let’s see…”

I felt something like threads of magical power shooting from her fingers. Seeing this, the elf knight’s eyes widened.

“Stop, stop, doing as you please, now that…”

“Sister?!”

The desperate voices of the other elves could be heard. And the elf knight’s face changed. With an extremely happy expression, she began to drool.

“Aah… aaahn… Lady Phobia… thank you…”

Unlike before, the elf knight’s mouth continued to open with an ecstatic expression.

“This… thank you so much for giving me a body that can live forever.”

“Doesn’t she look happy?”

The elf knight was smiling. Smiling brightly.

Except for the single tear rolling down her cheek, whether from joy or misery, it was impossible to tell.

“What do you think life is?!”

I changed my weapon to a bow and shot an arrow. It flew past the fallen dolls, grazed the ears of the elf knight and hunter, and headed toward Phobia.

But the arrow was blocked by the youngest elf, who activated magic while crying. As if answering me, Phobia exclaimed brightly:

“Collectibles!”

“There’s a limit to treating others like toys!!”

It wasn’t that I suddenly developed a love for elves or was burning with humanity.

But still.

I couldn’t help but explode with anger at seeing those whose basic dignity had been trampled upon.

“Huh? You don’t like it? I thought this looked pretty good.”

“Shut up, you lunatic!”

Even the usually composed Eve was angry. The smiling and crying elf knight swung her sword at Eve, and Eve began exchanging sword strikes with the knight. To help the elf knight, the elf mage shot a water ball while crying.

“I’m just having fun!”

A ball of fire flew and collided with the water ball. The area was suddenly covered in steam from the evaporated water.

Through that gap, Beatrice quickly rushed toward the elf mage. A rock arrow, seemingly shot by Sera, targeted the elf archer, and Christina blocked the archer’s arrow.

“Kay!”

At Sera’s shout, I quickly jumped toward the enemy. Eve was blocking the knight’s sword. Beatrice was blocking the mage’s magic. Sera and Christina were blocking the hunter’s arrows.

Without any interference, I broke through them and ran toward Phobia, smashing other dolls that tried to block me while crying.

I changed my weapon to a halberd and swung it at Phobia, who no longer had any dolls to protect her.

“Wow~.”

Phobia said that while clapping her hands.

-CRASH!

Suddenly, a spider appeared, breaking through the ground. At the same time, the spider grabbed my halberd with two of its front legs, causing my attack to fail.

“What the hell is this thing?!”

“This child’s name is Arachno!”

Phobia shouted with a laugh. She was already sitting on top of the spider.

Looking closely, the spider also had magical threads attached to it.

“It’s a doll I made from the queen of giant spiders from a distant land! Isn’t it cool? Something that stirs men’s hearts, you know?”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

I swung the halberd horizontally.

-Clang!

“What kind of material is this?!”

“It’s different from the decorative ones, very different!”

Phobia proudly exclaimed. My tingling hand told me that this thing’s durability was clearly different from the other dolls.

“Arachno is a child I put my heart and soul into making!”

Phobia’s triumphant voice could be heard.

“Its role is Chariot!”

The spider began charging with its front legs raised. The word “chariot” was no lie; it was rushing forward, crushing the floor and walls with its legs.

I somehow managed to block the spider’s front legs with my weapon and deflect them, but immediately the creature rotated its body and tried to knock me away with its hind legs.

“Tch!”

I barely avoided the legs and rolled back on the ground. I struck the spider’s legs with my halberd and occasionally swung at Phobia sitting on top, but the spider was determined to protect her at all costs.

“You damn spider!”

After exchanging several blows with the spider’s legs, I threw my halberd through a momentary opening. The halberd spun through the air as it flew.

“Ah, I wonder if this can’t be blocked normally?”

Phobia said nonchalantly. Suddenly, threads extended from various parts of her body.

“What?”

“I think it’s going to take some time to capture all of you alive~.”

Most of the threads from Phobia’s body embedded themselves in the spider.

“Arachno, get stronger.”

Saying that, Phobia began to mount the spider. In an instant, the threads pulsated, and the spider’s legs began to grow larger. Larger and sharper-looking carapaces began to grow from its body.

“Arachno gets stronger when it receives my magical power~.”

Phobia says with a smile.

“Try to handle this.”

With Phobia mounted on top, she moved her hand once. In response, the spider’s legs were raised.

“Damn it!”

I used the halberd to block the spider’s leg.

-CRASH!

With a heavy sound, my body was sent flying backward.

“Damn it!”

I forcibly stuck the halberd into the ground to prevent my body from flying further.

-SCRAAAPE!!

As the halberd cut through the ground, my body flew backward and barely stopped.

“Too slow~.”

“Crazy.”

The speed had increased too, and the spider was approaching me, smashing through buildings. I barely avoided the spider’s leg that was about to strike me by rolling on the ground.

“Kay! Let me help—Whoa?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!”

Sera tried to rush toward me but retreated with a scream.

Standing up, I saw an arrow stuck in the ground near Sera. The elf hunter had prevented Sera from coming to help.

She wasn’t the only one. Beatrice and Eve were each blocked by their opponents who either obstructed their path or blocked them with their bodies, preventing them from coming to me. Christina was backing away because the hunter had somehow produced a dagger and was targeting her.

“Distracted?”

Suddenly, with a strange tearing sound, long chelicerae began to protrude from the spider’s head. Startled, I quickly retreated as the spider’s chelicerae sliced through the air where my body had been.

“Damn, I almost got cut in half.”

As I regained my posture and looked at the opponent, Phobia was looking at me with her finger on her cheek. Then she smiled as if she had just thought of something.

“Hmm? Don’t worry about getting cut. I can just attach a new body for you anyway.”

Phobia said with a bright smile.

“Right now, maybe two arms… ah, but that might throw off the balance.”

“Insane.”

In this situation, she’s already thinking about attaching something to me.

Wary of her, I assessed the situation behind me.

Eve and the elf knight were still engaged in one-on-one combat, and the elf hunter and mage were fighting as a pair against Beatrice.

‘I need to keep this crazy woman and her spider occupied.’

I thought as I watched Sera and Christina supporting Beatrice. With their support, there was no reason Beatrice couldn’t defeat the dolls.

I thought if I could stall for time and force a situation where we could attack together, we could win.

Just as I was thinking that…

“KIEEAAAK!!!”

“What is it now?!”

Looking up at the sky as I shouted, I couldn’t help but clench my teeth.

Giant wyverns were flying in the sky.

“What are those…?”

“Aah, they’re here, they’re here.”

Phobia said with a smile.

“They’re the ones who will clean up the unsightly things.”

Phobia smiled brightly as she took something out from her bosom.

On her hand was a purple gem emitting an ominous light.