Ch.162Chapter 162 – Flying Dragon (1)

“Ahahaha!! Where are you? Where are you?!”

Phobia shouted as she demolished a building.

Since I kept hiding, she was forcibly destroying buildings using her spider.

‘What a brute.’

I emerged from behind the building where I was hiding and climbed back onto the roof.

And at that very moment, Phobia spotted me.

“There you are!”

Phobia shouted, and the spider suddenly flipped its body upside down.

Seeing the spider start to shoot a ball of web, I quickly rolled to the side.

The missed web ball landed on the roof with a splat, sticking to it.

‘I definitely can’t get hit by that.’

I saw an abandoned bird’s nest on the roof get stuck when hit by the web ball.

If it hit my leg, I would clearly be stuck to the ground, unable to move.

And as I noticed a dark shadow looming over me, I quickly jumped to the side.

“Ahahaha!!”

Phobia laughed cheerfully as she crushed the building.

Unlike before, she seemed to be supplying more magical power to the doll, causing the roof to collapse instantly.

Thankfully, the people here had already fled.

However, as I retreated, a question crossed my mind.

‘Is all this really necessary?’

Even if it was Phobia’s whim, destroying buildings indiscriminately would only waste energy.

‘Wait a minute.’

I reconsidered what I had just thought.

‘Phobia’s whim?’

Something seemed to click.

I quickly shot an arrow and immediately ran without waiting to see the result.

I knew she would block it anyway.

“Ah, you’re so good at running away, this is getting too difficult~.”

Phobia said with a laugh.

Glancing at her, I could see her licking her lips.

“I’m honestly getting tired of this game of tag.”

Phobia said as she suddenly spread both hands toward the ground.

Threads emerged from her fingertips, drawing a magic circle on the ground.

Soon, the magic circle began to glow.

“For you, I’ll bring out some more of my prized collection.”

Without asking for my opinion, Phobia said with a smile.

And various magical beasts began to appear from the magic circle.

“Did you open a magical beast museum or something?!”

I shouted as I saw the magical beasts appear.

To be precise, these too seemed to be dolls, with ball joints and no sense of vitality.

Phobia laughed, apparently not caring about my complaint.

“You know what? These guys are quite rare despite how they look!”

Phobia said with a laugh.

“Don’t be shy! They’ll be your friends!”

As Phobia shouted, the doll beasts began to move.

The first to charge was a unicorn doll.

It tried to stab me with its sharp, massive horn, so I quickly dodged. Then a white eagle with four wings dive-bombed toward me.

Next, a white buffalo and lion charged, followed by a wolf with blue fur.

‘She really collected them from all over!’

I avoided the jaws of a white crocodile, and an elephant with four tusks threw a turtle made of jewels.

When a two-headed snake jumped to bite me, I kicked it away, only to have a rabbit holding a dagger charge from behind.

“You shouldn’t focus only on them, you know?”

I quickly ducked my head, and the spider’s leg barely grazed past me.

Rolling away to escape their range, I soon found myself surrounded by ten beasts encircling Phobia and her spider, all glaring at me.

“They’re not as meticulously crafted as Arachno, but I think they’re quite an excellent collection. Don’t you agree?”

“This is insane.”

The giant spider and Phobia were trouble enough, and now ten magical beasts were added to the mix.

“There’s so many of them. How many more of these things do you have?”

When I complained with my question, Phobia smiled brightly.

“I have lots~!”

“Aren’t you going to put that one back?”

I said, pointing to one of the magical beasts.

Seeing it, Phobia’s eyebrows twisted slightly.

“When did that happen?”

“I kicked it earlier.”

The snake had only one head.

Of course, that’s normal for ordinary snakes, but this snake originally had two heads.

One head had been shattered when I kicked it earlier.

“…My collection…”

Phobia’s demeanor changed.

She began to genuinely rage.

But then she immediately smiled cheerfully and said:

“Well, it’s fine! I can fix it!”

As she said this, Phobia moved her hand, cutting the thread connected to the snake. It drew a magic circle and the snake disappeared.

Then she smiled brightly and said:

“With Arachno, ten should be enough anyway!”

“So you say.”

I muttered quietly while looking at Phobia.

‘I can’t keep fighting like this.’

I had no idea how many more dolls she had.

Moreover, my heart was starting to ache.

“Maybe I should go for broke now.”

I glared at Phobia while conscious of my aching heart.

“Have you given up? You keep muttering to yourself!”

Phobia said with a laugh.

“It’s time for you to become my doll!”

Phobia laughed as she moved her magical beasts.

And then.

I threw a punch at the charging rabbit.

-BOOM!!

“Oh my?”

Phobia exclaimed in surprise.

“With one blow…?”

While Phobia was shocked, I moved quickly.

I grabbed the charging unicorn’s horn, broke it off, and sliced its legs with my halberd.

I stomped on the crocodile’s jaw, crushing it, then used my arms and legs to tear it apart further.

I slashed the wolf and lion with my halberd and threw my mace at the buffalo, smashing its head.

-BWOOO!!!

The elephant began to charge, and the eagle dropped the turtle.

I caught the surprisingly heavy turtle, dodged the elephant’s trunk, climbed onto its forehead, and smashed its face with the turtle.

Then I grabbed the body of the eagle diving at me and crushed it with sheer strength.

“What is that?”

“What do you mean?”

Red sparks flew from my heart.

“What is that?!”

A momentary bewilderment crossed Phobia’s face.

“Arachno!”

Phobia sent the spider charging forward.

Judging by her shocked expression, she hadn’t expected the situation to reverse so suddenly.

And toward the charging spider,

I threw a punch straight at it.

-BOOM!!

“Huh?”

A dumbfounded sound escaped Phobia’s lips.

The spider’s body lifted backward, then toppled over.

“What?”

Phobia examined the spider in confusion.

Looking at where my punch had landed, bewilderment showed on her face for the first time.

“How? What is this?”

“It’s simple, really.”

I pointed my sword at Phobia.

Small red sparks were now crackling all over my body.

“I’ve just been managing my stamina while fighting until now.”

After saying that, I quickly charged at Phobia.

In an instant, the spider stood up and swung its leg.

But I moved faster than before, dodging it and swinging my hammer to strike its leg.

-BOOM!

“Arachno’s leg?”

Phobia began to look alarmed.

She started to look at me differently.

“What’s with those red lightning sparks? And why are we suddenly losing…?”

Phobia muttered, unable to keep up with the situation.

Looking at her, I casually replied:

“Your dolls are certainly strong, but…”

The weakness I discovered after fighting for so long.

The greatest flaw stemming from Phobia’s nature as a puppeteer.

“They can’t move beyond what you perceive.”

No matter how fast they move or how strong they are.

The dolls can’t move beyond what Phobia perceives.

If Phobia is slow to recognize something, their reactions are correspondingly slow.

If she applies force when she shouldn’t, they use force; if she withdraws force when she shouldn’t, they withdraw force.

Since it was Phobia moving them, not the dolls themselves, the dolls’ reaction speed and attack methods depended entirely on how Phobia perceived her opponent.

From the beginning, I couldn’t go all out because of my heart condition, so Phobia’s tactics and the level of her dolls’ movements were adjusted to match my non-full power.

Moreover, after engaging in ranged combat with my bow for so long, Phobia’s sense for close combat with me had become dulled.

As I passed by Phobia’s shocked face, I changed my weapon to a scythe and aimed for the spider’s legs.

Specifically, I targeted the narrow space between the legs where the carapace might not fully cover.

As I swung the scythe, two more of the spider’s legs were severed.

I smiled as I watched Phobia retreat the spider in panic.

And internally, I started counting time.

‘But I can’t fight for long.’

Even though I had paced myself, I was approaching my limit.

The slight pain in my heart was starting to sound an alarm.

‘I need to end this quickly.’

I swung my weapon rapidly, intensifying my attacks.

“Arachno!”

The spider extended its chelicerae to bite me.

I jumped to avoid them, then used my leg strength to crush them.

The spider retreated and shot a web ball.

I blocked it with my greatsword, then changed to a dagger to remove the web from my sword.

The spider swung one of its legs wide to strike me down.

I changed my weapon to a halberd and engaged in a test of strength.

-CRASH!!

“Ah, this might still be a bit much.”

My arm tingled slightly.

But I ignored it and applied more force.

My heart beat frighteningly fast and strong, and the red sparks all over my body intensified.

As I lifted the spider’s leg, its massive body rose again.

Then I swung my halberd and severed the leg.

“Arachno…!!”

Phobia wailed.

She cried out as if unable to accept this reality.

Ignoring her screams, I stepped on the spider’s body and leaped up.

“I’ll cut you in half!”

I changed my weapon to a greatsword and brought it down on the spider with all my weight.

The spider’s hard body began to split in two.

“Oh no!”

Phobia, who had been attached to its forehead, quickly tried to escape upward.

My sword continued to cut through the spider, eventually bisecting it completely.

Soon the spider’s body fell apart in two halves.

“To cut Arachno’s body…”

“I’ll do the same to you.”

I changed my weapon to a sword and approached Phobia, pointing it at her.

She backed away, staring at my sword.

“No, no.”

Was she imagining the fate coming for her?

Phobia’s gaze fixed on my sword.

“It can’t end like this…”

Phobia said as she reached into her garment.

I rushed forward quickly.

One strike would be enough to cut Phobia’s body.

“It’s over!!”

I thrust my sword toward Phobia.

“Or so you thought?”

At that moment, Phobia smiled.

And a shadow jumped between us.

-MOOOO!

“Damn it!”

The headless buffalo blocked my sword with its body.

Like the spider before it, the buffalo’s body was split in two.

And it didn’t end with the buffalo.

The dolls I had destroyed earlier suddenly clumped together and formed a barrier between Phobia and me.

“What is this…!”

“Hmm, a meat shield?”

Phobia said with a smile.

Then she reached into her garment.

“What are you trying to do?!”

I quickly threw my sword at Phobia.

However, she stared directly at my sword, and a magic circle appeared in front of her, deflecting it.

Then Phobia pulled out a jewel from her garment.

‘What is that?’

I saw the purple crystal I had seen before, glowing dangerously.

“This crystal, you see, was made by Somnus and me.”

She said with a smile.

“Its basic purpose is to attract monsters, but…”

I could see Phobia channeling magical power.

The jewel’s light grew stronger.

“If I infuse more of my magic, it can be used like this.”

-SCREECH!!

Suddenly, a loud cry came from the sky.

I quickly looked up and shouted:

“Wyverns!”

I rolled to the side to avoid a wyvern swooping down with its claws.

Meanwhile, Phobia had grabbed onto the wyvern’s leg and moved away, climbing onto another rooftop at a distance from me.

“This seems too difficult, so I’ll be going now!”

Phobia said as she pulled something out of her garment.

Recognizing it as a scroll for activating magic, I quickly shouted:

“Stop right there!”

-SCREECH!

As I tried to rush forward, another wyvern, different from before, dove down to intercept me.

And somehow, a third one had joined, making a total of three wyverns flying near Phobia.

“Ah, but it would be a shame to leave without a parting gift!”

Phobia said as she suddenly raised her hand to the sky.

Threads began to wrap around the three wyverns.

“I’ll leave you a present!”

“What…!”

Then Phobia tore the scroll.

A warp gate was created, and Phobia quickly entered it.

“Oh, right! You! What’s your name?”

“Why do you need to know my name?!”

When I shouted angrily, Phobia laughed and called out:

“You’re the first to corner me like this!”

“What…”

“I’ll definitely add you and your women to my collection!”

Phobia said with a smile.

With what might appear to be a benevolent smile, she said:

“See you next time!”

“Damn it!”

With those final words, Phobia’s body disappeared through the warp gate.

And then.

-SCREEEECH!!!

“She left this monster behind?!”

The threads unraveled, revealing what was inside.

The legs and body remained the same.

It had an extra pair of wings, making four in total.

Three heads and three tails were attached to a single body.

And the joints of its body were made of spheres, just like the dolls I had encountered.

-SCREECH!!

The monstrous wyvern doll soared into the sky.