"Would anyone like to come with me to fight Puppet?"
Everyone looked at Oliver with surprise at that question.
It was like witnessing a dog trying to attack a tiger.
And, maybe that was the correct expression.
Oliver, who had just become a Solver, was nothing more than a puppy when compared to Puppet.
Seeing everyone’s reaction Oliver suddenly remembered something Kent once told him about Puppet.
Eternal Puppet.
One of the greatest warlocks of this time and one of the executives of the Black Hand.
It was said that it is impossible to even estimate how long he has lived and some even say that his lifespan was longer than that of the empire.
Because of that, there were no fields he left untouched such as drugs, weapons, mercenaries, and illegal medicine, and it was said that he had connections with high-ranking people in every country.
All of them were rumors without substance, so half of them were treated as false rumors, but anyway, right now, Oliver asked for a duel with such a person.
"Are you… insane…?" said one solver, who was terrified and at the same time desperate.
“Yes? What…?”
"Who makes a bet like that…! Your opponent is Puppet!? And you bet with our lives?!"
Oliver looked at the man and said.
“Um…. I think you didn’t hear the conversation before, he was planning on killing us anyway. He just wanted to make us fight among ourselves and take us apart.”
"…You…you can’t know that for sure?"
"No. I'm sure. There was absolutely no intention of releasing us."
The man, frightened by Oliver's calm and composed attitude couldn't say anything back. It was the same with other solvers.
Oliver opened his mouth, checking the flask he had in his arms.
"I'm sorry if you got offended by my behavior. But if I had stayed still, Puppet would have instigated a fight between us, and in the end, we would have fought each other without any purpose. So please understand… I don't want to fight or kill anyone without any reason."
As if Oliver’s persuasion had worked, no one complained after that.
But still, they seemed to be reluctant to fight with Puppet, and Oliver didn't really care about it. He was planning on moving alone from the beginning.
Just as he was about to move, Knuckle Joe spoke up.
"Hey….."
"…? Yes, Mr. Joe."
"Don't keep adding those honorifics, it’s creepy. Just call me Joe.."
"Um….. Yes, I understand. Did you call me to say that?”
Sam grabbed Joe's shoulder, but Joe pushed back Sam’s hand and spoke again.
“Are you… going to fight Puppet?”
"Yes, because I made a promise? …If I break it, maybe he'll send all the zombies here right away."
“….Is it true that if you win, he’ll release us?”
"Yes. What he said was true, at least when he answered. Didn’t you see his emotions?"
“No, with my level I couldn’t see it. Only you saw it. Are you confident of winning?”
Oliver thought for a while before answering the question.
“Um… well. I can’t honestly say for sure, because he’s kind of a person I’ve never seen before.”
“A kind you never saw?”
"Yes, usually everyone is interested in winning against the opponent, but Puppet seemed different. He seems to be interested in some other thing. I don't know what that is."
Then, someone muttered.
"Ah, in rumors I’ve heard that Puppet was said to be interested in immortality."
“Um… Immortality?”
The murmurer carefully answered Oliver's question.
“Well, it’s just a rumor…”
Immortality……
It seemed like a plausible reason for Oliver.
According to Joseph's book, there were quite a lot of warlocks who were obsessed with that part.
He had also seen in books that even non-warlocks research or invest in immortality, and of course, there has never been a single case of success.
However, even if it was a plausible story, in Oliver’s eyes, Puppet didn’t seem like a person who was just obsessed with immortality.
Oliver felt like the scattered puzzles in his head don't fit together.
While Oliver was in the midst of deep thought, Joe interrupted.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt the conversation, but answer my question first. Can you win? …If you can't win, we'd rather take you down and negotiate with the Puppet."
At Joe's words, the fellow solvers and mercenaries took a stance.
His words were sincere to some degree.
“Well… I don’t know if I can win or not, but I will fight with the intention of winning.”
“… … okay? All right, then I will come with you.”
"Pardon?"
“I said I’m coming with you to fight Puppet.”
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Oliver went into the basement passageway to keep his promise to Puppet.
In addition to Oliver, Knuckle Joe, Dual-Pistol Sam, and Solver Stonefist Arthur also joined.
Joe said he would follow him, and Sam followed because he couldn't let Joe go alone, but why Arthur followed him, even Oliver did not know the answer.
When Oliver asked about this, Arthur answered.
"The reason? It's better to be with a real man who wants to fight than to be with bastards who tried to sell me."
"Um..…."
Oliver groaned.
He understood why Arthur felt that way. Even though it was for a moment, they fell for the Puppet's trick.
And of course, Oliver couldn't blame them for that, because each word Puppet uttered had something that shook people’s hearts for some reason.
His words had something that digs into a person's weak spots.
“Hey…… Can I ask you something?”
Sam with a pistol in both hands intervened and asked.
“Yes, tell me.”
Sam looked at Oliver and spoke with a troubled look.
"Ugh… There are so many things I want to ask you, but I'll ask you the thing I’m most curious about. How did you find out?"
“What?”
“How did you find out Jaby was a corpse doll… .. I didn't recognize it, even though I have good eyes."
"……"
Oliver went silent, not knowing how to respond.
Puppet's Corpse doll certainly belongs to the well-made category. It looked like a living person even though it pretended to be one, and it felt natural because it was well synchronized.
However, when Oliver looked a little closer, he was able to differentiate them.
Oliver want to say it was because of the difference in skills, but he felt that it would not be an answer that would convince Sam, given his emotional state.
So he answered in a roundabout way.
"I once met a person who was a disciple of Puppet."
"Disciple?"
“Yes, his name was Puppeteer Glyph, he said he was Puppet’s disciple, and I’ve seen him pretend to be a human using a Corpse doll. So I could tell the difference.”
“….Where did you meet him?”
“At the place where I stayed before, unfortunately, we disagreed on something and fought.”
“…Did you win?”
“Um, yes.”
"I'll ask you again. You knocked down Puppet's disciple?"
"Yes….. I was lucky.”
Sam, Joe, and Arthur looked surprised.
Oliver didn't quite understand why they were surprised.
"Then… do you have any concrete plans to take down the Puppet? I'd like to hear it because we've been following you this far?"
"There's no plan. Just meet Puppet and try to take him down? If I kill him, it will naturally neutralize the zombies outside."
Joe, Sam, and Arthur's expressions got distorted as if they did not like Oliver’s plan. But, they couldn't say anything. There was no other way for them to do this on their own.
Arthur, who had been silent for a while, spoke, as the conversation between Sam and Oliver came to an end.
“…I don’t know whether this will work, but from the warlocks I’ve seen, they are a kind that was weak in direct combat.”
Everyone's eyes turned to Arthur.
“Do you know something?”
"No, I don't know. I've met some warlocks on the battlefield a few times."
"A warlock? Were they a mercenary?"
“There were mercenaries, and there were warlocks who just came to pick up the corpses…. Even while collecting the corpses, there were those who sometimes tried to kidnap living people.”
“Have you ever fought with them?”
"I have… It was when one of our squad members got kidnapped. It wasn't a very pleasant memory. There were a lot of traps, and I think this time too there will be multiple traps… And by the way, Why did you guys come?"
Arthur suddenly asked, looking at Joe and Sam.
“What do you mean?”
"No, as for me, I followed this guy because I was pointed out by Puppet along with him, but I don't know why you guys are coming. Especially, the guy with the knuckles there."
Arthur asked, pointing to Knuckle Joe.
Sam replied in a displeased tone instead of Joe.
"What? Are you asking whether we're up to something?"
"Well….. All I know is rumors, and there are rumors that Puppet had a lot of disciples. So, huh?”
Sam grinned displeasedly, tightening his pistol, but Joe stopped him and calmed him down. And then he turned to Arthur and said.
"Don't worry. It's definitely not like that."
"is it?"
“Yeah, unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good teacher like Puppet. I, too, have to take risks to live. In my experience, it’s most dangerous to stay still, so I just followed.’’
Joe's words were half sincere, and Sam added one more word to Joe’s.
“Well, if we fight Puppet and survive, the value of our name will increase.”
Soon, the quarrel subsided, but the fear still prevailed.
Everyone didn't express it, but they were anxious. Even though it had been a while since they entered the basement, they couldn't see anything.
Since Puppet accepted Oliver's offer, they thought he'd come out soon, but they hadn't even seen a single trace of life since they started walking in the passageway.
They wondered if Puppet had changed his mind, but there was nothing they could do right away, so the anxiety within them kept increasing.
Oliver, who understood that everyone was getting anxious when there was nothing to talk about, brought up a topic to speak about.
"Um… the basement here is very well-maintained than I thought."
Oliver said as he looked around. As a matter of fact, the basement passageway they were walking through was in a neat condition built with cement and bricks.
At that moment, someone said.
"Originally, the basement passageway was built by the owners of this city, Wizards. It cost them some huge chunks of money."
It was an unfamiliar voice.
Everyone got startled and turned their heads in the direction the sound was heard.
There stood a man with a saber on his waist.
‘Puppet… . But how?’
Oliver thought for a moment.
He had been using the warlock’s eyes and had been browsing around the area since they entered, yet he didn't notice.
While Oliver was bewildered by the situation he was experiencing for the first time, Arthur, Joe, and Sam moved first.
Arthur gathered magic into the Golem prosthetic arm and then slammed his fist at Puppet who suddenly appeared.
The golem prosthetic made of stone and magical power flew like a cannon, and it was as menacing as a huge boulder.
However, surprisingly, Puppet swung the saber only once to cut off the Golem prosthetic arm.
Arthur said in amazement as he looked at his flying arm.
"Huh… Even though those hands crushed a golem they can’t handle a corpse doll…!!"
"Huhuhuhu….. Even though Golem is a B-class weapon, it's a little sad that you compared my work to such a thing, don’t you think so? How about calming yourself guys? I'm just here to talk-"
“Joe.”
Saying those words Sam pointed his guns at Puppet and shot him.
The bullets filled with black magic flew piercing the air toward Puppet.
Oliver was surprised by the unfamiliar but creative attack method but was even more surprised to see Puppet's action of slashing the bullets using the saber and avoiding them.
The fighting power increased incomparable to that of Jaby's time, and it seemed that the combat power as well as the fighting style differs depending on the corpse doll.
DUDUDUDUUDUDUDUDUDUDUDDUUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU.
Sam kept firing the bullets, but Puppet avoided every single one of them and dug closer to him in an instant.
“Maybe if at least one person dies, you’ll listen to me?”
“Yes. And that’s gonna be YOU."
With those words Knuckle Joe cut between his colleague and Puppet.
He fortified his body with black magic and attacked Puppet with sharper movements than when he had fought with Oliver in the past.
But the problem was Puppet’s attacks were sharper than his.
Not only did he lightly dodge Joe's fists, but he also did a surprise lower kick, and then swung his saber again, which went straight toward Joe’s head.
BAM!
Just before Joe's head got decapitated, Oliver in a black suit blocked Puppet's blade with his quarterstaff.
The blade was not strengthened with emotions so Oliver was able to block it, and if it had been strengthened, the quarterstaff would have got cut like a loaf of bread.
“Huhuhuhu…It’s you. Can you move away, I don’t want to kill you yet.”
“I don’t want to die either.”
Along with his reply, Oliver swung his quarterstaff.
Puppet skillfully stepped back, and his body movements were completely different from when he was inside Jaby.
Oliver wondered if that could be possible just by simply changing the Corpse doll, but for now, he decided to put the question aside.
Oliver used [Hate Bullet] while targetting Puppet.
Puppet cut every bullet of hate that came his way with his saber, then he said as if he finished analyzing it.
“Not only do you use manipulation and disease-type black magic, but you also use firearms skillfully…. What is your true identity?”
BANG———!
Oliver quickly closed the distance and spoke while swinging his quarterstaff.
"I’m also amazed. I also have a lot of questions about Mr. Puppet. How did you erase your presence a while ago, how can you use different attack styles, and where is your main body?"
"Huhuhuhu…. My main body?"
Puppet said with a laugh.
“We have a lot of questions for each other. Then, shall we talk for a moment?”
“Yes, that’s fine with me.”
Oliver said while pushing away Puppet's saber and trying to stab him with his quarterstaff.
Puppet skillfully stopped Oliver’s quarterstaff that tried to stab him with his saber, but that was not enough to stop Oliver.
[Las Bomb]
BOOM
A [Las boom] that was formed at the end of Oliver’s quarterstaff exploded and shattered Puppet's Corpse doll.
Processed skin, flesh, bones, and springs got scattered on the floor. But it didn’t bring any change to Puppet’s emotional state, he was as relaxed as when he was inside the shattered Corpse doll Jaby.
“Huhuhuhu, even if I had lost two Corpse dolls in one day, this is the first time in a while that I lost to the same person twice.”
Oliver asked, pointing the quarterstaff at the Corpse doll.
“Shall we talk now?”
“Yes, but not here, let’s change location.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Puppet placed his hand on the floor, from where the faded emotions in his hands moved quickly through the crevices of the floor.
Oliver felt a floating sensation beneath his feet, and soon the floor on which Oliver was standing collapsed.
"It's been a while since I've met a fun chap like you. Let’s have a Lon~g chat… huhuhuhuhu."
Oliver fell into the bottom of the basement along with Puppet’s Corpse doll.
(To be Continued)
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