Chapter 5 The Puppeteer

Suren wasn't surprised that the assassin appeared behind him out of nowhere; he had expected it.

He decisively ripped open his leather jacket, and the two puppets, one emitting a chilling wail, the other a grotesque laugh, flew towards the enemy. Their hands cracked open, revealing black, poison-tipped dagger blades.

The assassin staggered, seemingly unable to process why he had suddenly lost focus for a moment. He bit his tongue hard, instantly clearing his mind. But as he looked at the poison-laced blades approaching, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"Clang!" Sparks flew.

The assassin blocked one puppet's dagger, but felt another wave of disorientation wash over him: Not good!

Instinctual self-preservation made him lean back as far as possible. At that moment, the other puppet's dagger sliced past the assassin's cheek. A slight sizzling sound accompanied the tearing of a seam in his hood.

"These dolls are strange!"

The assassin recognized something was amiss. He was about to reach out when he saw the two puppets fly back as quickly as they had come.

A missed strike; time to retreat.

At that moment, Suren, the manipulator, revealed a hint of regret on his face. He thought, "Second-tier professional, not so easy to hurt, after all..."

The assassin across from him looked at Suren, a grave expression in his eyes: This is no ordinary puppeteer!

...

Even before rescuing Lena from the mimic attack, Suren's mind had been reconstructing the events of the assassination attempt.

He had suspected that there might be a mole within the group.

But the instructor, August, should be above suspicion.

Otherwise, the assassins wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to kill Lena. As an instructor, a second-tier professional, he would have had countless opportunities to kill Lena directly.

Instead, the assassins chose to strike in the grotto, meticulously applying a special scent to Lena, using mimics to hunt her... All of this, presumably, was due to August's protection, forcing them to resort to such desperate measures.

Furthermore, Suren had noticed another suspicious detail.

He was sure that August had been close to the group, yet this powerful individual had died without making a sound, which seemed rather unbelievable.

After all, the instructors at the Black Tower Alchemy Academy were carefully selected powerhouses. Even if Instructor August was ambushed, he should have been able to send out a warning signal before dying.

He hadn't understood why before, but now that he knew Daniel was a traitor, it filled in the missing piece of the puzzle.

Suren could even reconstruct the entire battle in his mind.

At that time, Daniel had left the group to plot against August. As an assistant, he could easily get close enough to launch a surprise attack, using his special talent, [Magic Nullification], to suppress August. But with his strength alone, he couldn't kill a second-tier professional. So Suren concluded that there was at least one other second-tier professional, skilled in stealth, among the assassin team.

Therefore, when the lurker appeared behind him, Suren wasn't surprised.

...

Against a second-tier professional, especially an agility-enhanced lurker, firearms were almost useless.

Having witnessed the "Red Devil" Grolon slice bullets in half with his blade, Suren didn't think his "Gun Master" profession gave him any advantage against a second-tier professional.

So he decisively abandoned firearms and, for the first time, revealed his professional ability: Puppet Manipulation.

But Suren wasn't an ordinary puppeteer.

The "Weird Puppet Master's" most important skill was crafting various strange rune puppets.

The two dolls at his side, covered in blue runes, one with a red-and-white smiling face, the other with a blue-and-gold crying face, were none other than two basic Weird Puppets, the [Howling Doll] and the [Grinning Doll].

These two little things weren't like the stiff, lifeless things you'd find in a puppet show. Controlled by Suren's nimble fingers, they seemed to come alive, their limbs dancing joyfully, their joints twisting with flexibility. Even the expressions on their terrifying faces were lifelike, blinking, grinning, angry, wailing...

Like two specters, they danced in the darkness, emitting eerie laughter...

Their mere presence created an aura of terror that instantly enveloped the area.

Of course, these little darlings weren't just cute on the outside; their curse effects were extraordinary.

Both Weird Puppets were mental-type curse objects. One used sonic attacks, the sound of which would affect a person's mind; the other used visual attacks like the spider-monsters, inducing hallucinations by staring at the smiling face.

Suren had known a fight was coming, so he carried the dolls on his back as a precaution.

Although his puppet-making skills were still rudimentary, and the two Weird Dolls were of low quality, their attack range was small. But that was enough to cause brief mental impairment to nearby targets.

That was why the lurking assassin had suddenly stumbled and revealed himself; he had been affected by the two Weird Puppets.

...

"Gone again. That guy's talent must be related to stealth: [Talent C-025-Chameleon], [Talent B-077-Invisibility], or the rarer [Light Absorber]..."

Suren narrowed his eyes, staring into the darkness, where the second-tier assassin had once again vanished.

He didn't dare to be careless. The two puppets continuously emitted mental fluctuations, laughing and crying, to make sure he wasn't killed from close range.

But clearly, even though the Weird Puppets had strong curse characteristics, their strength was still far below that of a second-tier professional.

Suren didn't believe that these two Weird Dolls could keep him alive against a second-tier assassin.

After all, against an assassin skilled in stealth, attacks weren't limited to close-range assassination. Assassins were also adept with various ranged weapons.

No matter how careful he was, the current situation was almost certainly fatal for Suren.

But...

While Suren had no chance in a one-on-one fight, they weren't the only two in the grotto!

The dark grotto beneath Old London wasn't human territory, but the domain of mutated monsters.

If he didn't have a chance, he would create one!

Suren had made such a commotion in the cave, the [Mutated Ghost-Face Spiders] hidden in the shadows would have been long since ravenous.

He glanced at the dark mass of spiders above him, a cold smile spreading across his face. "Hehe, now we'll see who can survive among the monsters..."

Potions to block monster senses were hard to find, but bait to attract mutated monsters couldn't be easier to obtain.

Fresh human blood, corpses... those were the best things.

Daniel's corpse on the ground was steaming with blood, and the "attractant potions" that Suren had smashed earlier were releasing a pungent odor.

Since the monsters were enemies, and the assassin was an enemy, how about a three-way battle?

"He" liked the feeling of dancing on the edge of a blade.

...

Suren knew almost everything about the monsters' traits and had countermeasures ready, but the second-tier assassin knew nothing.

These were mutated monsters, which meant they hadn't been seen outside this place.

Mental attacks were bizarre and unpredictable, leaving no room for error. Once controlled, death was certain.

And at that moment, the spider-monsters didn't disappoint Suren.

The eight-legged monsters hung upside down from the ceiling, moving extremely fast.

The first thing they did wasn't to attack the three humans in the cave, but to scuttle to the entrance of the tunnel and spew out spider silk, blocking the escape route in the blink of an eye.

"Sealing the tunnel? This isn't the kind of intelligence ordinary mutated monsters possess. There must be something 'weird' hiding among the monsters..."

Suren raised an eyebrow slightly at the sight.

He had always felt a cold, sinister gaze on him from somewhere in the darkness, sometimes there, sometimes not. Now, seeing the spiders' unusual "door-blocking" behavior, he immediately guessed that there was something "weird" in the ghost-face spider group!

But that was exactly what he wanted.

He hadn't planned to escape anyway.

Whether he was going to retrieve the scythe or not, he would have to go deep into the spider swarm and fight. Whether they blocked the door or not made no difference.

He couldn't escape, and neither could the assassin.

Perfect for a three-way free-for-all.