Chapter 27 – Just Now.
Charles hastily drove the horse in the darkness. After arriving at the warehouse near the southern port, he felt a bit exhausted.
"I need to train my stamina."
He wiped his sweat and confirmed his position in the darkness. The seventh warehouse from the southern port, the place where red bricks can be seen. With his night vision, he spotted the warehouse with the red bricks clearly.
It looked similar to many other warehouses, but this was the base of the puppeteer Hare. The port was the territory of the Fishermen’s Brotherhood, and to build a hideout in their territory without being detected showed the meticulousness of the enemies.
However, they had no idea that Charles’ mental world could penetrate the divination barrier without issue.
He was fully armed. The revolver was loaded with bullets, and the cutlass to be used as a weapon was hung beside the horse’s saddle. He wore the monocle over his mask, and a rope with a piranarecor (a mystical weapon) was tied to his waist.
There wasn’t any other armor, but this was Charles’ full armament for now.
Initially, Charles pondered whether to attack the port or not. He felt it would be risky since he’d be moving alone. He even thought about bringing Plona, but after viewing the screen through divination, he felt it.
"They are off guard."
They weren’t expecting anyone to attack. This was a golden opportunity. Feeling that it wouldn’t be dangerous to enter alone, Charles left Plona to protect the order members and came alone.
Charles felt his hands trembling. In a game, you could save and load anytime. But this was reality. Could he do it? He had to. He solidified his resolution.
If he couldn’t move forward here, he wouldn’t be able to face the greater dangers ahead.
He cast a spell, reaching out. Charles borrowed the power of his other self, the Muzoza*. At the end of his spiritual energy, a tremendous power surged as the spell was activated.
Pulling out Muzoza’s spear, the surroundings lit up brightly. When he threw it against the warehouse wall, it exploded, blasting the wall like a bomb.
BOOM!
The massive explosion and flash were blinding, but Charles initially kept one eye closed. His monocle-protected eye was completely shielded from the light.
He pushed through the flames and entered. Inside, he saw the puppeteer Hare and what appeared to be his follower, stunned. Charles was correct. They were unprepared.
“Hello?”
The puppeteer Hare, who shivered at Charles’ smile, immediately extended his spiritual energy to summon the puppets connected to his spirit. But Charles was faster.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Holding the revolver in his hand, Charles fired at them. He emptied the chamber in rapid succession, without missing a single shot.
He hit Hare with two bullets. One pierced his cheek, and the other grazed his neck, causing the carotid artery to spew a fountain of blood. The remaining four bullets hit the follower who leaped to intercept the shots.
"Puppeteer? Screw you! Taste the bullet!"
Hearing the manly shout of Piranarecor, Charles turned his eyes to survey his surroundings.
As usual, in the battles of spiritual beings, the fight was all about who landed the first blow. In the future seen through divination, Charles got decapitated because the enemy had preemptively struck, paralyzing him.
And how prepared you were determined victory or defeat. If Hare had no further preparations, he would die here.
“Urgh.”
The puppeteer spat blood. Upon closer inspection, the follower who blocked him seemed to have failed in his duty; the bullet that penetrated his body seemed lodged in his lung.
“Enemy! The enemy is attacking Lord Hare!”
From a distance, a follower of the Echelon of Salvation, alarmed by the explosion, approached and shouted. He held a pistol in his hand. Charles widened his eyes and signaled the cutlass hanging from his waist.
Soon, the cutlass moved faster than Charles’ signal, thanks to the autopilot effect. Spinning in the air, it slashed the follower’s throat.
As a fountain of blood rose, other followers appeared, and the cutlass automatically flew around, slicing them like radishes.
Meanwhile, Charles extracted the empty cartridge cases from the revolver’s chamber and reloaded with a moon clip while watching the wriggling puppeteer.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Reloading took two seconds. Just as he aimed to finish off the puppeteer again, a sound came from somewhere.
An eerie threat.
Something sped towards him at incredible speed, which he narrowly dodged. Upon evading, he saw it was a sharp metal shard.
Charles pierced the darkness with his vision. Yet, he couldn’t see where the sound came from. Such things could only be dispelled by another magical light source.
He launched a flare into the sky to secure visibility. As the previously dark warehouse lit up, he could see everything accurately.
Puppets stood horribly like display mannequins. Some were hanging like meat in a butcher shop.
The sight resembled a terrifying B-grade horror movie, evoking both fear and rage in Charles. More people had been sacrificed than the Serilda Linden he discovered.
One of the corpses hanging from a hook began to spread its arms, then placed its hand behind its neck. It began to release itself.
Suddenly, the reanimated doll tried to hurl a second metal shard at him. Hare’s spirit, still widely dispersed, was commanding the puppet.
"Killing the caster first is crucial."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Charles shot fallen Hare in the forehead multiple times. Though it was a perfect coup de grâce, the doll continued to stagger and move.
Charles frowned as he avoided the second flying metal shard by a hair’s breadth. It grazed his shoulder. The second shard was so threatening it barely made a sound bouncing off the rear.
Hare’s death was certain. Since the caster was dead, the moving puppets must have received automated commands. Right before dying, Hare gave the command to kill Charles.
The doll that fell off the hook staggered before standing upright. Unfortunately, it was in the position of an Echelon of Salvation follower.
The follower, seeing it rise, wore a confident expression.
"Yes! Get rid of that intruder quickly!"
But the doll’s target wasn’t Charles but the nearest follower. Staggering towards the follower, it ripped out his throat with insane strength.
Tearing out the throat, the spine came out attached.
"Damn…"
Charles understood what Hare did to the doll.
As he was dying, Hare bled too much. Without sufficient oxygen supply to his brain, he must have been unable to think straight.
Thus, he failed to give clear commands, likely ordering it to attack any living being.
"Creatures like butterflies or will-o’-wisp magic wouldn’t work on them."
Butterflies and will-o’-wisps respond only to living creatures or sentient beings. Hare’s puppet corpses seemed to have perception abilities without cognitive functions.
Charles observed the puppets detailedly. These seemed far stronger than the wild spiritual beings in the future seen through divination. But now, being unfinished, they possessed incredible strength yet moved as slowly as zombies.
As the fully completed puppets or the already created puppets began to mobilize, Charles and even the Echelon of Salvation followers were overcome with fear.
“Uwaaahhhh!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A follower of the Echelon of Salvation frantically opened fire at the puppet charging him. Despite the shock causing stiffness in its body, the puppet continued advancing.
Now it wasn’t a fight between followers and Charles, but a struggle for survival against dolls that united Charles and the Echelon of Salvation followers.
“Magic created through death. To break it, I must find its source.”
If left unchecked, these crazy zombies would swarm through Metropol until shattered, causing massive carnage.
Charles hadn’t anticipated Hare using magic like this, but he quickly found a solution: finding the sacred relic of the Echelon machinery.
Looking around, Charles spotted a well-preserved large coffin.
“Gaaaaaaa!”
As a doll lunged at him, he cast Muzoza’s spear without chanting and moved without delay. The cutlass, having flown back, aided Charles by attacking the charging puppets. He discovered even the priority order, a smart weapon indeed.
With the cutlass’s help, Charles soon reached the coffin. It seemed very sturdy. Not enough time for Muzoza’s spear. How should he handle this?
Then, a doll suddenly dropped from above. A surprise attack that neither Charles nor the cutlass could counter.
Slipping instantly, Charles deflected the doll’s hand and retreated. Back against the enormous coffin, a quick idea struck him.
As the doll charged, Charles dodged its punch at the last moment. The doll’s immense force shattered the coffin.
Immediately, the spinning cutlass decapitated the doll and went on to pursue another target.
Good. Solved it.
Charles found something out of an SF story—numerous lines. If wires, it’d make sense, but surprisingly, these were blood vessels.
All these blood vessels supplied blood to something near the chest of the being lying in the coffin.
And Charles saw the figure. A young man with a rather handsome but desolate face. The man who looked in his early-to-mid-30s was Jonas Shaft.
He was the head of the Echelon of Salvation. Currently a vegetable, absorbing the “seed” from the sliced machine to wield its power.
A uniquely designed silver cup lay on his chest. Heart-shaped but split in two, one side embedded with a beautiful ruby, the other with a chilling sapphire.
Blood vessels connected to holes all over the cup.
"The Sacred Relic of the Echelon Machine!"
Also known as the ‘Sacred Grail Artifact.’ Charles knew this sacred grail’s effects very well. In any Metropol universe, this was a unique item he encountered often. He had even used it while playing as Jonas Shaft.
Charles immediately called the cutlass and severed the blood vessels connected to the sacred grail. Blood spurted everywhere.
Like tearing open blood bags, blood fountains gushed from vessels connected to the grail, and Charles was drenched as he pulled out the sacred artifact.
He knew this item would be promptly sealed by the order if it were a relic due to its horrifying nature.
Wrapping the sacred grail in a cloth piece he carried, Charles endured the brief searing pain and spike in enlightenment as he touched it.
"Urgh!"
Ringing and hallucinations started. And beyond, Charles saw a figure. The silhouette of something massive and unfathomable in the abyss.
