Ch.252Chapter 252 – Doll (2)

Is she responding to Phobia’s emotions?

The dolls’ movements began to intensify.

The dolls that had been moving according to biological joints were now moving erratically and expanding in bizarre ways.

Dolls with elbows and fingers twisting wildly, wolf monsters with jaws stretching grotesquely—they all began to blur my vision.

And I could tell at a glance that this wasn’t a sign of collapse.

Though their appearances became more grotesque, they were clearly stronger than before.

‘…Incredible magical power.’

Had she been holding back until now?

An enormous amount of magical power was pouring out from Phobia’s body.

Then Phobia’s waist bent backward dramatically.

“Huhu, huhuhuhuhuh!!!”

A disturbing laugh flowed from her.

And when she straightened her arched body, a change had occurred in her.

‘Her eyes have turned black.’

More precisely, the whites of her eyes had turned black.

Yellow pupils glowed within them.

And on her forehead, a small horn.

“I thought she was just a deranged woman.”

Apparently, what we were dealing with wasn’t simply a madwoman.

‘…Come to think of it, Mask called her a kinsman.’

Mask, who had identified himself as a half-demon, had called Phobia his kinsman.

So this woman was a half-demon?

“…Sorry~ I got too excited.”

Phobia said with a coquettish smile.

Then she casually pulled her hood over her head.

The horn on her forehead was hidden by the hood, and she put a finger to her lips and said,

“I was told to keep this hidden from the public. Keep my secret, okay?”

Phobia said, bringing her hands together.

Then she winked at me and said,

“I’ll be good to you. Darling?”

Phobia said, tilting her head slightly.

The movement somehow exuded a strange seductiveness.

“That crazy woman…!”

“Mr. Kay, don’t think strange thoughts!”

…Eve and Sera’s reactions were a bit odd.

They were emitting a fierce killing intent, unlike their usual selves.

That aside, I wasn’t having any of the thoughts Sera was warning against.

Looking at her behavior until now and her current appearance, how many people could possibly think in “that” direction?

‘That’s not what’s important right now.’

I needed to focus on the immediate problem.

We had to defeat this woman and eliminate the convergence point…

“Focus on me.”

Suddenly Phobia made that sound, then waved her hand.

Soon, threads extended from her fingers and flew toward the convergence point.

And when the threads touched the ominously glowing jewel there.

The sinister vortex immediately disappeared.

“What?”

I stared at Phobia, who had inexplicably neutralized the convergence point she had been protecting.

While I was dumbfounded by her sudden team-killing, Phobia clasped her hands together and said,

“Yes, that’s right. Look at me.”

Slightly repulsed by the burning desire in her eyes, I quietly asked,

“…Why did you destroy that?”

“Oh, they asked me to protect this.”

Phobia answered with a smile, as if just remembering.

“Oops, I wonder if I’ll get scolded for this.”

But Phobia didn’t seem to care as she smiled at me and said,

“But I don’t like it when my friend doesn’t look at me. Yes, that’s more important.”

“…Friend?”

Naturally, I’ve never been friends with this woman.

I have no memory of befriending this woman whose pupils are now wildly shaking.

“Dolls are my friends.”

Phobia said with a smile.

“You will become my doll. So you’re my friend.”

“……”

In her mind, has she already turned me into a doll?

Or does she believe it without a doubt?

“…I’ve heard that the thoughts of a madwoman are incomprehensible to ordinary people…”

Mask’s voice, who had approached without notice, spread quietly.

Then Mask looked at me and quietly asked,

“…Shall we retreat?”

Our mission was already complete.

Absurdly, thanks to Phobia.

“I’d like to, but…”

Our objective had been achieved.

But the problem was that woman.

“It’s obvious she won’t just let us go.”

More precisely, she wouldn’t let me go.

I could tell by the madness and greed gleaming in Phobia’s eyes.

‘…Do I need to eliminate her?’

Both to escape from here.

And considering the disasters she might bring in the future.

Just as I was quietly making my decision, Phobia began to move.

“You are mine.”

Phobia said, spreading her arms wide.

“Friends, children.”

At Phobia’s words, the dolls looked at her.

It must be the work of her fingers, which were moving incessantly even now, but I couldn’t know how it was being processed in Phobia’s mind.

“Let’s welcome our new friend.”

The dolls became a wave.

All the surrounding dolls began to rush in with grotesque movements.

Humanoid dolls running on all fours, a giant lizard suddenly leaping with two legs and its tail.

The corpse golems around us had become huge spheres rolling toward us, and a Tyranno monster that had transformed into an oversized face with only legs attached began charging, shaking the ground.

“How can they be so grotesque…!”

Sera’s face turned slightly pale, apparently exceeding her tolerance.

Then Eve shook her shoulders and shouted,

“Miss Seraphina, pull yourself together!”

Fortunately, Sera recovered quickly.

“…In this situation, we need to deal with this quickly.”

Eve muttered, biting her lip as if frustrated.

Soon she looked at me and said,

“We’ll somehow handle the dolls. Kay, go for the puppeteer…!”

“I’m counting on you!”

I immediately spread my wings and began flying toward Phobia.

A wolf monster quickly blocked my path.

“Out of my way!”

I swung my halberd wide, splitting the monster in two.

Without even watching the monster fall, I approached Phobia.

Then Phobia twisted her body and shouted,

“You came, you came, you came!!”

Looking at her, who seemed almost ready to dance, I swung my halberd.

In the current situation, the most certain and best move was to take down Phobia.

After all, the surest way to neutralize the dolls was to defeat the puppeteer.

With no guard forces now, Phobia shouldn’t have any means to block my halberd…

‘Danger!’

At the sudden alarm in my head, I quickly raised one arm above my head.

And before my eyes, an impossible scene unfolded.

Phobia jumped up in place.

With her head still looking straight at me.

While the rest of her body moved freely.

With a sudden quick movement, she dodged the halberd, and her leg bent at a bizarre angle as it flew toward my head.

-CLANG!!!

The impact resonated through my gauntlet.

‘Heavy.’

It was a heavier blow than I expected.

I thought if I had been hit in the head, I might have been unable to move for a while.

And if I couldn’t move…

“…What a cheap trick!”

I wouldn’t have been able to quickly cut the magical threads that had wrapped around the arm I had just raised.

And Phobia had already retreated far back.

I could see her head had rotated 180 degrees inside her hood.

“This is why I like hooded clothes.”

Phobia raised one hand above her head.

Soon her hand reached the head inside the hood, and her fingers moved as if turning a screw.

With a creaking sound, Phobia’s neck returned to its original position.

“When I exercise a bit, sometimes I can’t tell the front from the back of my clothes.”

Phobia laughed energetically.

“Was what’s here just a doll modeled after you?”

Unless she was a doll, she couldn’t move in a way that seemed to ignore joints like that.

At least, a human couldn’t survive with their neck twisted like that.

Was the real body elsewhere, and she had sent a doll in her own image here?

“No, no, no, no, darling.”

Phobia said with a smile.

“What’s here isn’t a fake or a proxy. It’s Phobia herself.”

“No way.”

A disturbing thought crossed my mind.

“You turned yourself into a doll too?”

“Yes!”

This crazy woman had turned even herself into a doll.

“There’s no reason to live in a weak flesh!”

Phobia shouted loudly.

“A more beautiful body, a sturdy body, one that doesn’t age or lose its beauty. Dolls are amazing, aren’t they?”

Phobia’s pupils shook greatly.

“So I became a doll. By myself. By my own decision!”

Phobia smiled.

“To stay with dolls forever, I had to become a doll too!”

With those words, Phobia charged at me.

She ran on all fours and tried to claw at me with her raised nails.

I cut through her nails with my magic sword and swung my halberd, as she continued to make grotesque movements while controlling the dolls.

Then I saw threads gathering around the nails I had clearly cut off, restoring them, only for those nails to be knocked away again by my halberd.

“Let’s dance!”

With those words, Phobia charged again, and soon our battle began.

Phobia’s nails targeted me, and threads continuously rushed in to turn me into a doll.

I cut and deflected the nails using my halberd and magic sword appropriately.

‘…In terms of specs, I’m far superior.’

It was unexpected that Phobia herself was a doll and stronger than I thought, but that didn’t mean she was stronger than me in my dragon armor.

Her first strike succeeded only because I didn’t know she was a doll herself and capable of impossible movements.

In actual combat, the advantage soon shifted to my side.

However, even with the advantage, Phobia didn’t fall immediately.

“Huhu, huhuhuh!!”

The fact that she herself was a doll was what dragged out the battle.

She wasn’t afraid at all.

Despite attacks that could have severed her neck multiple times, Phobia continued to smile and dodge those attacks.

Bending her joints grotesquely, sacrificing an arm.

It was a combat endurance ability impressive enough to frustrate any opponent.

And throughout all this, she continued to shoot threads at me.

“Become a doll!!”

“Shut up!”

I don’t know how many times I’ve cut through her threads already.

She didn’t care about her body being destroyed and continued to wrap threads around me.

As if she would put all her effort into turning me into a doll, more than her own life.

She charged at me with bulging eyes, as if nothing else mattered as long as she achieved that.

Because of this, a battle that would have ended long ago against a normal person continued to drag on.

“…In that case.”

I began gathering magical power in my arms and legs.

Then, after blocking Phobia’s attack with my halberd.

I swung the halberd wide and struck the ground hard to counter-attack.

Of course, Phobia escaped with a grotesque movement, and the halberd was embedded in the ground.

“An opening!!”

Phobia rushed in with a smile.

In an instant, her threads wrapped around my entire body.

As if she had been waiting for this opening.

It was an attack that extended instantly, as if she had been waiting for me to show a big opening.

“You’re mine!!”

Phobia approached me with a bright smile.

She brought her face close enough that a kiss would be possible with just a little more proximity.

Her unstable, shaking eyes were now fully focused on me.

And looking at such a Phobia.

I released the magical power in my legs.

“Huh?”

As the magical power in my legs was released, my body floated in the air.

Phobia also floated in the air along with me.

Because she had wrapped me in threads, she couldn’t respond to my sudden movement and was pulled up as well.

“Got you.”

I released the magical power in my arms to spin my body violently, and created a magic sword in my other arm to cut the threads.

Phobia, whose threads were instantly cut, fell to the ground and collapsed, and I pulled out the halberd that had been stuck in the ground with all my might.

A momentary opening created for Phobia due to the sudden aerial maneuver and fall to the ground.

I swung my halberd at her neck as she was still unable to get up from the ground.

“This is the end.”

If the blade of the halberd reaches Phobia’s neck now, everything will be over.

I brought down the halberd wrapped in red lightning toward Phobia’s neck like a guillotine.

Toward the brightly smiling Phobia, the halberd flew down.

-CLANG!!!

If only a small silver shield hadn’t intervened to block it.

I immediately retreated and regained my stance.

“…I was so close.”

Sighing slightly and thinking that nothing comes easy, I raised my weapon.

Looking quietly at the person who had intruded at this moment, I said,

“It would have been better if you had arrived a little later.”

“I can’t do that just for your convenience.”

A familiar yet cold voice was heard.

Silver feathers fell from the sky.

“I have arrived, heretic.”

Kara, with wings made of silver divine power, was descending.