Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Puppet (5)
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"Kyahahahahahahahahahahahahaha—!"
Oliver extracted emotions through Puppet's gaping maw, and it let out a scream.
It was like molten metal being forced down its throat—a shocking reaction compared to its usual composure under any attack.
The scream was so loud that dust clinging to the walls rained down in clumps—plop, plop.
Yet Oliver didn't stop. He kept drawing out the hellish emotions through Puppet's mouth.
Whether it was truly from hell, he couldn't say, but an instinctive possessiveness surged within him, urging him to extract as much as possible.
'More... more...! More...!!'
"Kyahak—!"
Finally, unable to endure it, Puppet swung both arms wildly, forcibly severing Oliver's extraction.
He'd pulled out a substantial amount, but it still felt insufficient. Perhaps that's why Oliver felt a faint flicker of irritation without realizing it.
Bang—!!!!
"Sorry, but could you open your mouth one more time?"
"...Guh!"
Oliver cloaked himself in the extracted emotions, then thrust his quarterstaff into Puppet's solar plexus as he spoke.
It sank deep; the sensation of bone crunching traveled up his arm.
"What... ? It hurts?"
"Does it?"
With those words, Oliver detonated Wrath Boom through the tip of his quarterstaff.
Wrath Boom
[Explosive outburst channeled through staff]
Boom—!!!!
It was definitely Wrath Boom, but its power and trajectory felt utterly different from usual.
Perhaps because of the emotions used as fuel?
Puppet's flesh scattered like mud, shattering into pieces everywhere. Yet even then, the chunks began clumping together to form a new body.
Thud. Thud.
Oliver approached Puppet and asked,
"Could you open your mouth one more time?"
Half-regenerated, Puppet responded to Oliver's request with a question of its own.
"...I apologize. You're no ordinary fool. What's your real identity?"
"Could you open your mouth one more time?"
Kukuku. Puppet let out its signature chuckle, then slammed a hand on the floor to draw out emotions.
Black Light emotions raced through the cracks between bricks. Oliver watched his feet warily, ready to move at a moment's notice.
But this time, it wasn't Oliver's footing that crumbled.
It was Puppet's. And with it, cracks burst open in the walls all around with a shrrrrk sound.
Through those gaps appeared the zombie horde they'd seen from above.
[Shadow Spike]
Shadow Spike
[Shadows erupt like spikes from infused Black Light emotions]
[Bind Shadow]
Bind Shadow
[Shadows bind and restrain approaching foes]
Oliver infused some of the extracted emotions into the shadows and chanted.
His shadow stretched out like weeds in all directions, tearing the surrounding zombies to shreds.
Shrrrrk! Shrrrrk—! Pababat—! Slash! Slash! Spurt—! Spurt—!
The zombies shattered in an instant.
But not all of them.
A few corpse puppets used the zombies as stepping stones, barely dodging Oliver's attack before lunging at him.
"Minion."
With that word, Oliver summoned his minion in a flash, intercepting the airborne corpse puppets.
The minion closed in instantly and fired Hate Bullets, cleanly blowing their heads apart.
Hate Bullet
[Hatred-fueled projectiles shatter heads]
Oliver cleared the zombie swarm and immediately pursued Puppet down the hole.
That was when it happened.
Kyahahahahahahahahahahaha—!!!
As if anticipating it, just as Oliver descended, a single corpse puppet was crawling up.
It was a grotesque form with a woman's and man's upper bodies fused like a centipede.
Fitting the theme, the woman's eyes on the head portion had gun barrels embedded, and her mouth held steel pincers.
Kahahaha—Boom!!!!
Without a moment's hesitation, Oliver smashed the corpse puppet's face with his quarterstaff.
The gun barrels in its eye sockets and the steel pincers in its mouth shattered to pieces—a personal shame.
Normally, he'd capture it intact for study.
But his curiosity about Puppet outweighed that.
"Hm?"
With the woman's head destroyed and immobile, the male upper body beneath detached and lunged at Oliver.
It extended its many arms, clinging tenaciously. Then, dozens more arms from trailing corpse puppets wrapped around Oliver, balling him up like a sphere.
Oliver, engulfed by the corpse puppets. That's when he heard it.
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
Tick-
Clock sounds from within each corpse puppet.
Instinctively, Oliver knew what it was: bombs.
Boomboomboomboomboomboomboom—!
The explosion erupted.
Not black magic, but conventional bombs—he was a beat slow to react as a result.
Well, no big deal?
Thanks to his Black Shield, he took no damage.
Emerging from the blast and landing on the lower level, Oliver saw countless corpse puppets.
All seemed finely crafted—at least saber-wielding corpse puppet quality.
"Oh... quite a few, huh?"
"C-grade, after all."
One corpse puppet answered curtly before charging.
Not just charging blindly—they moved in organized formation, as naturally as living people.
Rear black magicians and sniper corpse puppets provided ranged support with black magic and gunfire,
while saber- and axe-armed ones advanced in sync with the ranged fire.
Seven or eight attacks incoming at once.
Oliver felt time slow as he scanned his surroundings.
Threats closing in: shadows binding from the dark, bullets, Hate Bullets, black javelins.
Raiders and mutant corpse puppets scaling walls and ceilings.
Normally a serious threat, but buoyed by the extracted emotions' afterglow, Oliver felt detached, profoundly calm.
No—leisurely.
First, he used Bind Shadow to shatter incoming enemy shadows, then fired Hate Bullets to obliterate their hatred rounds and bullets.
The superior emotion quality let even casual shots pierce the enemy corpse puppets effortlessly.
Without pause, as if someone else moved for him, Oliver swung his quarterstaff naturally against close-range foes.
He uppercut a wall-scaling mutant corpse puppet's head, then timed Hate Bullets and shadow spikes to finish the others lunging in.
As close-range puppets shattered, the rears fell back. Oliver seized the moment, powering his legs to close the gap instantly and smash them all with his staff.
Shattering corpse puppets. Then—click.
The broken ones had activated the bombs in their hands.
Another basement explosion.
But even as dust billowed wildly, Oliver was unscathed. Instead, he extracted Life Force from still-intact corpse puppets to reinforce his Black Shield.
"........."
Oliver calmly surveyed the area.
Rumor had it another city lay beneath Randa's ground—and it seemed true.
By now, even Oliver couldn't gauge the basement's scale. What research had gone on here? He was truly curious.
'I have a rough idea.'
Oliver thought, peering at the faintly visible emotions, Life Force, and mana.
They hadn't been visible at first, but after nearly being devoured by Puppet, he'd started seeing them.
Kyahahahaha—!
Kyakakahahaha—!
Kyahahaha—!
Countless zombie hordes charged Oliver again.
Puppet seemed intent on draining the extracted emotions dry.
Oliver decided to play along—just enough to lull it into complacency—gathering emotions at his fingertips.
Kwagwagwang—!
Kwajik—! Kwak! Kwajik—!
Crunch—! Crumble—! Grriiind—!
Bang—!
After felling countless zombies, Oliver entered a room.
There were far more than expected, nearly exhausting his hard-won emotions. Fortunately, Puppet no longer fled and welcomed him.
"You've come?"
It gaped its massive, sack-like mouth, swallowing people whole.
By the aura from within, it wasn't just one or two.
"Yes."
"Sorry for running. Understand, I hope. I don't fight losing battles."
"No hard feelings. I think the same... More importantly, this place?"
Oliver glanced around the room. Some kind of lab.
"As you see, another lab. Coincidentally, the original owner... a mage... researched similar fields. So I'm borrowing it."
Sincere.
"What experiments?"
"Didn't I say? Reviving the dead."
"Ah, right. Any success?"
"...Somewhat? Hit a wall, so I handed solvers to demons for help. Things got messy. Asking again: what's your deal? Seen every type in centuries, but you're new."
"Just me. T-District solver... One question. Does reviving humans include crafting human souls?"
Puppet froze.
Oliver had nailed it.
"Can't just hand you to demons after all. How'd you know?"
Oliver looked up.
"Who knows? I can see them now."
With that, he tapped his quarterstaff on the floor.
Tap-tap. Emotions raced along brick cracks to the ceiling.
Bricks shifted—shrrrrk, shrrrrk—revealing a door.
Without hesitation, Oliver leaped toward it.
"Stop!"
Puppet stretched arms, shouting.
But Oliver was faster.
He scaled the wall into the hidden chamber, filled with massive flasks.
Each held emotions, Life Force, mana—vast quantities.
Hunting contaminated zone black mages and raiders? Maybe for this.
Most striking: the largest flask linking all others.
At its spherical center, a soul coalesced from human emotions, Life Force, and mana.
Not real, just artificial—but impressively refined, even to first-time Oliver.
"Impudent youngling, barging into my lab... I hid it well. How?"
Puppet climbed up, warning. Intense anger, doubt, curiosity emanated.
"Who knows? Suddenly visible. Sorry first—apologies for intruding. But I've used lots of emotions. Hate unfair fights, so need a refill."
With that, Oliver swung his staff, shattering the unstable 'artificial soul' flask.
Puppet's short scream, a dull rupture—the soul exposed. Oliver reached out, extracting it all.
Shooooowahahahahahaha—!!!!!
A truly immense amount.
Oliver discarded his usual restraint and efficiency, recalling his faint memory of fighting Yoanna.
Then scattered the vast emotions everywhere, blanketing the room.
"Ho... this—"
[-Shadow Spike]
Shadow spikes erupted at Oliver's call, assaulting Puppet.
Tearing it apart—the sheer volume amplified the power tremendously.
Until now, Oliver had always minimized force for efficiency. Not this moment.
Kyaaaaaaaah—!
Humans swallowed within Puppet screamed; its body regenerated instantly.
Recovery accelerated wildly—no more holding back.
Puppet squeezed its devoured humans for vast emotions.
Good thing he'd found this secret lab.
Puppet scattered its flesh into the air, unleashing myriad black magics.
[Finger Gun]
[Bone Bullet]
[Lip Spear]
[Skull Bomb]
[Contagion Hand]
Black magic blending emotions and corpses.
Manipulation and firepower mixed—far more efficient and potent.
Of little consequence to current Oliver. Instead of dodging the dozens of incoming attacks, he swung his hand.
"Devour it all. Eater."
Eater
[Amorphous teeth entity devours all incoming attacks]
An irregular mass of human teeth emerged from the Black Light, swallowing Puppet's assaults whole.
"Such—"
—Puk!
Before it finished, Oliver unleashed Shadow Spike again.
Dozens of sharp, slender shadow spikes pierced from all sides, then barbed spines erupted from them.
Shshshshshzzzt—!!!!
Puppet, skewered entirely.
Yet its expression was serene.
"Good... doesn't hurt."
"Still takes damage, right?"
Oliver tapped the ground with his staff.
Tap-tap. The spikes exploded.
Flesh sprayed everywhere, as before.
Oliver maximized damage as chunks scattered.
Pretending focus, he blocked Puppet's rear ambush.
"How? I hid the emotions."
"Told you—I can see now."
Oliver focused power into his staff, smashing Puppet.
Its body caved, damaged—but tough.
Puppet's flesh clung like mud, refusing release.
"Feels like I came to play and ended up working."
[Explosion Fury]
Explosion Fury
[Narrow-range, hyper-condensed blast eradicates all within]
Narrow but intensely compressed explosion within Puppet.
Everything in range vaporized like bear food—regenerating Puppet staggered back.
"Kuh...! Strong. Can't win."
"Thanks. That body must be tough."
Oliver machine-gunned Hate Bullets—not piercing, but shredding to rags. To prevent flight, Bind Shadow pinned legs; shadow spikes stabbed from all sides—a killing barrage.
Had to go this hard to suppress it.
Emotions filling the room dwindled amid the onslaught.
Fortunately, Puppet's regeneration slowed; its body became a rag.
Then.
Flesh bubbled from its core, shedding the ruined body like molting as it charged.
Tremendous speed—a half-beat late, but he countered.
"Minion."
Minion popped from Oliver's pocket, firing Hate Bullet at the leaping Puppet.
Not overwhelmingly powerful, but enough for the weakened flesh. Oliver thrust his staff the instant it faltered, detonating Wrath Boom again.
Boom—!
Explosion severed upper and lower body.
Puppet laughed.
"Kukukuku... Long life, wild things happen. Losing to a black mage not even a year in."
"Thanks to Puppet going easy with one hand."
Oliver gazed down sincerely.
"Oh... you noticed?"
"Fairly recently. Where's the real body...?"
"Sorry, can't answer that—sensitive."
"Ah, apologies... And for wrecking the lab. Didn't want to die, so rude."
Puppet eyed Oliver in utter bewilderment.
A gaze beyond comprehension.
"Apology... accepted. Messy, but saw something fun... Won't tell your secret?"
"Just T-District solver."
"Ironic—three denials... Fine, I'll buy it. Fun guy, see you next time."
Puppet's eyes dimmed, turning to ash as if done with business.
Oliver didn't stop it—just murmured regretfully.
"Forgot to ask why revive people."