79
Chapter 79
The match was decided in an instant.
With a light snap of the Old Man Fake Doll's fingers, the Werewolf Fake Doll's body was split in half.
"Whoaaa?! That guy is strong!!"
"Kuo...."
It seemed like he had used some kind of skill.
After all, Fake Dolls possessed skills just like living creatures.
More importantly, my expectations were completely wrong.
To think the Old Man Fake Doll would be stronger than the Werewolf Fake Doll.
And with such a massive difference in power that he could kill it in a single strike.
Why was that?
I definitely consumed a lot more Mana when creating the Werewolf Fake Doll.
Was the Werewolf Fake Doll a failure?
Or was it simply made a bit weaker, while its opponent, the Old Man Fake Doll, was a massive success?
...Hmm, I don't know.
I'd have to check on that later.
For now, the Old Man Fake Doll was promoted!
From now on, you will guard the Portal connecting the first and second floors!
Bow.
The Old Man Fake Doll bowed his head toward me.
I approached him and threw a Bear-Bear Punch.
Whack, whack, whack, whack, whack, whack!
A barrage of Bear-Bear Punches!
This guy needed a good scolding.
I clearly told him not to kill it!
How dare he disobey an order?
Every time he got hit, the Old Man Fake Doll bowed his head in apology.
My pummeling continued.
Discipline had to be strict...
Wait a minute, now that I think about it, he didn't actually disobey the order.
Unless everyone who can summon the Doll Encyclopedia disappears, the concept of death practically doesn't exist for Fake Dolls.
I stopped punching.
Then, I looked at the fallen Wolf Fake Doll.
The Wolf Fake Doll's body was split in half, but it was still twitching and moving.
Restoration was possible.
I just needed to infuse it with Mana.
Although the damage was severe, so the amount of Mana required for restoration would be no joke.
***
Was the Werewolf Fake Doll a failure?
I conducted an experiment to confirm this.
After infusing it with Mana to restore it, I pitted the fully recovered guy against the other Fake Dolls.
The matches were held one-on-one.
The result was a total victory for the Werewolf Fake Doll.
Excluding the Old Man Fake Doll, none of the Fake Dolls could beat the Werewolf Fake Doll.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a failure.
The experiment wasn't over.
After the one-on-one matches ended.
I ordered all the Fake Dolls to attack the Werewolf Fake Doll at the same time.
And once again, the mock battle ended with the Werewolf Fake Doll's victory.
Even with everyone attacking at once, they were no match for the Werewolf Fake Doll.
After confirming that,
I concluded that the Werewolf Fake Doll was sufficiently strong.
It was just that the Old Man Fake Doll was stronger than I had ever imagined.
Just how strong was this Old Man Fake Doll?
To test him, we decided to launch an all-out attack this time.
It wasn't my idea, but Ailee's suggestion.
"Kuooo! Die!!!"
"Woooong, woong!"
"...!"
Jjokkomi's flames.
Tosuni's Blood Whip.
The Puppeteer Doll's barrage of Toy Blocks.
In addition to that.
My Flame Manipulation skill.
And even Ailee's Blood Awl.
A variety of skills rushed toward the Old Man Fake Doll.
However...
Flash!
Suddenly, the Old Man Fake Doll's eyes gleamed, and every single attack we launched stopped dead in the air.
It was a sight that looked as if time had been frozen.
Of course, time wasn't actually frozen.
Only our skills had halted in midair.
"Whoaaa? That's amazing!"
Fox, who had just returned from taking a leak, marveled at the scene.
At that moment.
Snap-!
The Old Man Fake Doll snapped his fingers.
With that, our skills scattered in the air and faced annihilation.
That guy is a total cheat character.
"Hehehe, try blocking this! Shooting star launchhh!"
Fox launched her attack belatedly.
The starlight beaming from her forehead was blocked in the exact same manner as our skills.
"Whoa... Ah, I need to pee again. I'm going to go pee!"
Fox turned around and went to pee again.
Does she have some kind of bladder problem or what?
Anyway.
The Old Man Fake Doll was the absolute strongest.
It's reassuring that he's an ally and not an enemy.
***
One final experiment remained.
Would the Old Man Fake Doll be just as strong outside the Dungeon?
To answer this question, we decided to head outside the Dungeon and conduct a mock battle.
It was possible that the Old Man Fake Doll was only strong inside the Dungeon.
This was just my guess.
I suspected the reason the Old Man Fake Doll was so strong was due to the Dungeon's influence.
Just as he had wielded immense power with the help of his Soul Weapon while he was alive, I speculated that he might currently be receiving help from the Dungeon.
The possibility was high enough.
After all, this Dungeon had grown by absorbing the Old Man's Soul Weapon.
My guess turned out to be correct.
As a result of conducting a mock battle outside the Dungeon.
This time, the Werewolf Fake Doll completely overwhelmed the Old Man Fake Doll.
Just as I thought.
I wondered why he was so ridiculously strong.
It was the right choice to place him in front of the Dungeon's internal Portal instead of outside.
Well, anyway.
Inside the Dungeon, he was practically the strongest.
Therefore, I decided to keep the Old Man Fake Doll in charge of guarding the Portal leading to the second floor.
And so.
The Werewolf Fake Doll was in front of the Portal leading out of the Dungeon.
The Old Man Fake Doll was in front of the Portal leading to the second floor.
In this way, a total of two Gatekeepers were deployed on the first floor.
Ah, for reference, there is no Portal leading to the second floor yet.
I haven't made the second floor yet.
I plan to make it right now.
***
Exactly the way I wanted it.
By creating walls that connected the floor to the ceiling, the first floor was reconstructed into a maze-like space.
Next, I placed Guide Fake Dolls all over the place.
For the record, we didn't need any guides.
It turns out that any member of the Dungeon can instinctively find their way.
The Guide Fake Dolls were just for greeting guests.
We couldn't have guests like Tosun's Mom or Miss Vampire getting lost when they visited.
Two buildings were placed in the center of the maze.
A bear-shaped house and a warehouse.
I plan to give the bear-shaped house to the Fake Dolls as a shelter.
They needed some level of welfare, too.
Even if their bodies didn't require rest.
I'm not an evil employer, after all.
I decided to only store monster corpses in the warehouse.
It was safer to store the more valuable resource, the Mana Stones, on the second floor.
And after placing the Shelter Keeper Fake Doll and Warehouse Keeper Fake Doll in their respective buildings.
I consumed a large amount of Natural Mana Stones and completed the creation of the second floor.
"There aren't many Natural Mana Stones left from that huge pile."
Ailee muttered as she moved the Mana Stones to the second floor.
Just as she said, there weren't many Natural Mana Stones left now.
Although we didn't use all of them.
"We are beggars now."
It's okay, Fox.
We can just go back to that cave and get more.
"To use this many Natural Mana Stones... Creating a new floor is definitely not an easy task."
Ailee already knew about the Dungeon's floors.
I guess it's only natural?
Since she must have experienced various Dungeons during her days as a Monster Slayer.
And so, along with the Porter Fake Dolls, we gathered all the remaining Natural Mana Stones and went up to the second floor.
The second floor, which has now become our new home.
I made this place a much smaller space than the first floor.
The warehouse placed in the corner was also smaller than the one on the first floor.
Well, that size was no problem.
Since I only plan to store Mana Stones anyway.
Aside from the warehouse, I didn't build any other buildings on the second floor.
This was partly because we were a little short on Natural Mana Stones, but also because not having buildings wouldn't hinder our daily lives at all.
I made the floor extremely soft and bouncy.
You could basically consider the entire floor of the second floor as a bed.
"Kuoo, the floor here is so soft!"
"It's great for jumping around!"
"Woooong!"
Therefore, the second floor itself was basically our giant room.
No matter where we laid down, the soft floor would always welcome us.
There was one more reason I made the floor soft.
It was out of the expectation that if the Little Yellow Dragon bounced around following the others here, it might naturally learn the Flight skill.
Because the Little Yellow Dragon still couldn't fly yet.
"Yongyong... Zzzzz... Zzzzz-yong...."
The Little Yellow Dragon was still sleeping.
The Fake Dolls carried it on their backs all the way to the second floor.
I should pair it up with Fox when it wakes up.
Since Fox is enjoying jumping around on the bouncy floor the most.
"I am a flying Fox! I might just become a star at this rate!!"
"Woong, woong!"
"Hehehe! Flying pee launchhh!"
"Woong?! Woooooong!!!"
"I-it was a joke! Don't hit me!"
They sure know how to play.
Shall I join in soon?
Flying Bear-Bear!!!
***
The Teddy Bear, Tosuni, Jjokkomi, and Fox.
The four of them were playing around innocently.
The Puppeteer Doll sat down and stared at them blankly.
While petting the sleeping Little Yellow Dragon alongside Ailee.
"Everyone is so excited."
"...."
"But aren't you going to play with them, my baby? Mommy will take care of the Dragon Baby, so you can go play."
"...."
Normally, she would have played along with them.
Because hanging out with those cute monsters was always fun.
However, the Puppeteer Doll shook her head because she had something to think about right now.
Currently.
The Puppeteer Doll's eyes were entirely filled with the sight of the Teddy Bear.
While continuing to stare intently at the Teddy Bear like that, she thought.
Maybe.
The thought that perhaps the Teddy Bear had also undergone Reincarnation just like her.
Soon, the Puppeteer Doll slowly began to recall memories from her past life.