Chapter 325: The Puppeteer Subjugation Battle

Chapter
325: The Puppeteer Subjugation Battle

Instinctively,
I felt it.

This
meeting, barely five minutes underway, was heading for disaster.

Judging
by the looks in their eyes, neither side seemed willing to budge.

Watching
Celsia step forward protectively, puffed up like a balloon, I
thought:

—How
can I trust that demon bastard who already stabbed me in the back
once?

Trust
isn’t something that appears and disappears so easily.

You
might barely earn it even risking your life together exploring a
Labyrinth, but the Puppeteer had already betrayed the thread of faith
woven by the Contract.

It
takes a very long time for fractured trust to recover.

Having
already caused a major ruckus once, the outcome of this meeting might
have already been decided.

‘Is
now the chance?’

The
Puppeteer had left the base on his own, alone.

I
surveyed our forces.

Celsia,
a greatsword warrior in her 50s with experience in the lower levels
of the Labyrinth, Denshi, a versatile supporter, and, most
importantly, Idelbert, who had finished recovering.

In
addition to the Knights and guards scattered outside.

Celsia
must have thought:

It
wouldn’t be strange if the Puppeteer, who had already broken the
Contract and changed his mind once, changed his mind again later.

Even
now, one zone is in chaos and many are suffering because of the
Puppeteer.

Why
not eliminate a clear evil, worthy of being called a demon?

It
might be better to execute the Puppeteer now and eradicate the
unpredictable danger.

“I
see.”

The
Puppeteer, hearing Celsia’s words, murmured with a look as if he were
looking at someone pitiful.

“Hundreds
of years ago or now, the royal bloodline doesn’t know its place.”
Click.

The
moment the Puppeteer snapped his fingers, Magical threads flashed.

Clang!

Celsia,
raising her greatsword, barely managed to block an attack aimed at
her neck, and the battle began.

KWA-AAAAAAAAANG!

The
oversized axe imbued with Divine power and Mana and Idelbert’s
gauntlets slammed into the table where the Puppeteer had been sitting
just moments before.

The
clear explosion and the dust from the dirt-floor camp obscured the
view, but I caught the Puppeteer’s movements within my range of
perception.

WHOOSH!

The
bolt Denshi fired pierced through the cloud of dust.

My
gaze followed its trajectory, fixed on the Puppeteer at the end.

The
Puppeteer’s body, moved by Magical threads, tore through the tent
ceiling and was suspended in the air as before.

The
bolt Denshi fired was also frozen in mid-air as if time had stopped.

I
clicked my tongue, using Weakness Detection magic on the Puppeteer,
who had caught Denshi’s bolt with Magical threads.

‘What
is this?’

Swoosh—
Swoosh—

The
focus of the Weakness Detection magic, which had been targeting like
the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, lost its way and bounced around
when it touched the Puppeteer.

Even
Idelbert’s weaknesses had been detected, but this Weakness Detection
magic wasn’t working.

There
were cases where my skills were lacking and I couldn’t see the
weakness, but this was the first time a weakness bounced around like
this.

‘Does
this mean there are no special weaknesses in that puppet’s body?’

No,
that wasn’t it.

Something
was wrong.

[Don’t
look at the body. It’s just a puppet.] I listened to Bunny’s briefing
in my head.

The
exterior was a beautiful human woman to anyone who looked, but when
you took it apart piece by piece, the Puppeteer’s body was very
different from a human body.

The
redness and softness of the skin were just elaborate finishes.

Even
the slightest movements of the joints were perfect puppets controlled
by Magical threads.

[Then
isn’t it impossible to kill him completely?]

The
Puppeteer can possess those afflicted with the Puppet curse in the
form of a ‘Link’.

As
long as tens of thousands of puppets exist, isn’t the Puppeteer
immortal unless they are all killed?

[Heh
heh. You still don’t know something.]

He
chuckled softly at my question.

[The
fact that you can’t see the weakness means that the weakness is
hidden that much more cleverly. Widen your view, Balkan. It’s your
specialty.]

As
I was thinking about Bunny’s words, the Magical threads the Puppeteer
launched came to capture me.

—Let’s
go together.

The
Puppeteer’s voice was conveyed along the threads.

—Let’s
go together. Come to me with your slave.

The
voice was filled with intense obsession and greed.

—Tell
me about the Hero’s appearance that I haven’t seen. I’ll show you the

Hero’s
appearances that you haven’t seen. Don’t you want to see the Hero,

Mother
Earth? I can show you. In return, your…

Slash!

I
swung my axe in a straight line, cutting the threads that carried the
voice of the vile younger sister stalker, and took a step back.

I
stepped back from the flow of battle and once again surveyed the
situation.

Outside,
I could hear the sounds of battle from the Knights who had realized
that a battle had broken out inside the tent and that the
negotiations had failed.

Perhaps
the Puppeteer was moving the imbeciles, the rioters, and the other
puppets in the Outlaw Zone to prevent their joining.

Inside
the tent, the battle was still in progress.

PA-A-A-A-ANG!

Idelbert
and Celsia, the warriors, were trying to drag the fight into close
combat by unleashing gusts of wind or jumping, but the Puppeteer
remained suspended in the air, not giving them any distance.

Even
when they occasionally rushed in with explosive speed, their approach
was limited because countless threads bound their bodies.

WHOOSH!

Even
when Denshi, who had a proper means of ranged attack, fired his
crossbow, it was only blocked by Magical threads.

‘First,
I have to attack those threads.’

The
Magical threads that moved the Puppeteer’s puppet body, attacked us,
and blocked attacks.

I
had to cut those threads first to approach the Puppeteer.

‘…Huh?’

Only
then did I feel a strange sense of incongruity.

‘A
body without weaknesses. Why is he blocking attacks?’

If
it really was a body without weaknesses, there was no need to block
our attacks.

The
Puppeteer could ignore the puppet’s body being damaged, cut down the
others with Magical threads, and then possess Denshi and take me
away, and that would be the Puppeteer’s victory.

But
he wasn’t possessing Denshi, and he was focused on preserving the
puppet’s body.

‘…Power
source?’

Mana
to manipulate the Magical threads.

A
place to contain the scattered Magical Energy.

Just
as I kept Mana and Divine power in my heart and dantian and drew them
out whenever I needed them.

‘If
that puppet’s body is acting as a kind of power source and
warehouse?’

Weakness
Detection magic reacts when there is a clear weakness, and a power
source can clearly be seen as a weakness.

But
if that power source is evenly and delicately divided throughout the
body.

Weakness
Detection magic would have no choice but to bounce around without
catching any one clear weakness.

‘There’s
no reason to protect the puppet’s entire body so desperately.’

If
I had a hypothesis, I had to test it, and to do that, I had to break
through his defenses.

“Injure
him!!”

At
my shout, Idelbert’s cat tail and Celsia’s armored body twitched.

“Just
make one small wound!”

Hearing
his disciple’s cry, the master immediately slammed the black cat tail
into the ground.

KWA-A-A-ANG!

When
the ground was struck so hard that it created a small crater, large
rocks flew into the air along with the dirt.

“Huuuuh—!”

Celsia
swung her giant greatsword like a baseball bat, smashing the rocks
floating in the air.

KA-A-A-A-ANG!

The
sound of metal and stone colliding created a huge explosion, and
dozens of sharp stone fragments shot towards the Puppeteer at a
fierce speed.

“Tsk.”

The
Puppeteer clicked his tongue and swung the puppet’s arm, causing the
Magical threads to move in clumps and pull something in.

“Kuh-heuk?!”

“My
body, my body is moving on its own!!”

Three
unnamed guards with Magical threads piercing their entire bodies were
pulled in front of the Puppeteer.

CLANG!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

“Kuaaaaak!”

The
stones hit the armor they were wearing, making a cheerful sound.

The
armor hit by the stones was dented in several places, but it wasn’t a
major injury.

The
guards, thrown away again by the Puppeteer’s gesture, rolled on the
ground.

“…”

The
Puppeteer couldn’t laugh, even though he had successfully blocked the
attack.

“Heh
heh! I grazed him!”

Denshi
reloaded his bolt with an excited voice.

In
the timing when the Puppeteer was using the guards as meat shields to
block the attack, Denshi had succeeded in hitting the tip of her toe.

Pshhhhh…

The
Puppeteer’s Mana and Magical Energy leaked out from between the
severed little toe.

According
to Bunny, the Puppeteer’s ‘real body’ had already been destroyed by
the Hero.

The
puppet in front of me now was a kind of power source, a warehouse to
store the Puppeteer’s Mana and Magical Energy.

If
the puppet’s body was destroyed and all the Mana and Magical Energy
escaped…

What
would happen to the Puppeteer?

“…Ah,
really…”

Judging
by the low murmur as if he was angry, it seemed that at least some
proper damage could be done.

“Since
you’re the Hero’s brother, I was going to take you as gently as
possible…”

Shhh!

The
Puppeteer’s Magical threads instantly sealed the wound, suppressing
the escaping Mana and Magical Energy.

At
the same time, an eerie Magical Energy began to be contained in the
Magical threads she was moving.

“…It’s
all your fault if you’re dragged away roughly like a dismemberment
dildo.”

“Alright.
Then you.”

Swish—

I
pointed the axe blade at the Puppeteer and shouted. “It’s a
dismemberment onahole type. You stalker bitch.”

And,
I activated the newly acquired blessing.