Chapter 18—Multiple problems II

Valor sealed the fifteenth sink with hardened paper, before he proceeded to clog the bowl beside him with thick cloths—blocking the interior tube inside. He then grabbed the plumber and pushed the clothes deeper.

"Are you done there?" Angela asked after she finished clogging the vent with thick sheaths of bed, she heaved a deep sigh before casting a spell. Cement came out of her hand and hardened the sheaths, making it difficult to move.

"Yeah, this should be our last bathroom. The kitchen and other places where they can come out are also now clogged. This should give us time to kill the boss after its location is revealed." Valor answered her while he wiped off the sweat on his forehead.

"So it is all done, wait... Didn't you say Rein is in the house? Should we get here and get her into this?" Angela suddenly remembered the girl that is currently inventing her machines.

"I'll go and get her. You go to Marcus and we'll meet up with the two of you, the walkie-talkie will be our communication. Hertz 120." Valor Said and ran with his phone turned on, the antenna was extended to his ears, while the static sound was heard.

---

With the metallic noise echoing from the room, her eyes didn't ceased with focus. She quickly wiped off her sweat and molded the piece again. "Ahh! Shit! What was that?" she suddenly said pained, as when she was about to hit the metal with her hammer again, her hand throbbed with unexpected pain.

So out of curiosity, she opened her palm; there she saw something bazaar. There are glowing white roots on her hand— thin as her hair, spread at the center of her hand with the radius of 1 centimeter, while they flickered in every second.

"What the hell!?" She asked surprised, seeing the glowing roots extending slowly made her ponder what it is.

But while she pondered what could these roots be, thoughts not hers were heard in her mind. Worried and hurried, it commands her to go out and join Valor quickly. With that, Rein in her confused mind instantly knew the gravity of the situation even without explanation, they could die in this manor.

"What the hell is happening!?" She asked again, hoping the voice inside her mind would answer. But none came and answered her, just pure thoughts to go out and rendezvous with Valor quickly.

With the realization no one will answer her, she clenched the new assorted riffle and jerked the forearm— it produced a click that indicated it's reloaded. "Whatever is happening, I need to get to safety."

She went to her door and slowly rotated the handle, with a sigh, she rushed out with the barrel pointed against the hallway. But no one was seen, only the faces of the paintings hanging on the wall. "Geez, these faces really scare me, they could jump out any moment and drag me." She commented while she continued on her way.

Five minutes later and her hand tightened with a serious gaze, her feet stopped and her sight focused at the near intersection in front of her— She can hear cushioned footsteps coming from the right. Rushing but light.

"Rein!" Along with Valor's shout when he turned left, the barrel of the assorted gun welcomed him. With the shadowed end of the interior, seen from the very hole of the tube, is the silvery tone of the bullet loaded inside.

"Raise your hand!" She warned, suspicious about the identity of the man in front of her, Valor surprised, heeded her command and raised his hands. Bafflement can be seen on his face.

"Wh-what are you talking about? It's me Valor." Valor quickly said, confused about the sudden hostile tone of Rein. Her finger positioned on the trigger, warning him she isn't joking.

"You aren't Valor. Who are you?" She asked him with calmed voice, ready to kill at any moment.

"Are you serious? It's me Valor, yo-your friend-" But with those words of reasons, she promptly plucked the trigger. Blowing off the head of the boy in front of her. "Valor would call me cousin, not a friend." She said looking down at the lifeless body, without blood nor flesh. The body quickly turned into wood.

On the roof of the manor, a being wearing a black hood was amused by the scene. "This girl is more bright than I thought, mere wooden puppets won't capture them anytime soon. I guess I'll need to use this 'body' of mine."

"A puppeteer is in the house, someone wants to invade. Shit, someone wants to kidnap us, this is bad, really bad." She analyzed and ran again in the hallway, she pulled the forearm of her riffle and the click was heard again. Indicating it is reloaded

She went left and right, before arriving at the door of the room where they ate before, She then started walking slowly. With Her hand ready to shoot those that will come to her.

"Rein!" While walking carefully, Valor's voice echoed in her ears. Ten meters behind her, panting with heaves of breath he settled. With this Valor's appearance, she smiled and went to him without a doubt. "We got to get out of here, there are people in the manor aiming for us." She then grabbed his hands.

She doesn't know how but she knows who is Valor and who is not, she has the intuition if he is Valor. Like before that something warned him that it wasn't him, an impostor with malicious intent.

She tried to pull him so that they can run together but Valor didn't budge, he looked at her and said, "I need to stay or many will get in danger, you should go and call for help."

"Huh? There are puppets in the house, pretending to be us and you want to stay?" She asked him confused, not knowing the reason why Valor wants to stay in this house.

Hearing this, Valor instantly became confused, "What? I thought the parasites are the only problem." He said, a bit frustrated about the happenings. Also persuading him to abort the mission and get out of this house.

"What parasites?" Rein hearing the words parasite became excited in this grim moment. Her spirit again bloomed with adrenaline.

Valor doesn't have time to lie so he explained, "there will be a wave of sewage monsters that will flood here, and they are all infected with the parasites that mutated them. And one parasite would mutate here in the manor to become their leader, so we are now trying to kill that parasite and save lives." Very brief, very short, and also complicated. But Rein seems to have gotten the tack of the situation, added the fact, her interface lit up with the beta-event.

"Wait, so- Hey! Valor duck!" Rein was about to repeat his phrases when she suddenly exclaimed, Valor paying attention reacted to her warn and squatted. He then saw a knife in horizontal slash traveling above him, nearly touching his hair.

Rein quickly aimed her rifle in shotgun mode and blasted the slasher away, a wooden puppet with a human build— the same height as them. Joints of metal, with a knife on the hand.

"The hell?" He asked after he stood up, looking at the wooden puppet. Lifeless, and motionless.

"That's a 3r-6t, F-grade. A puppet designed for close combat. It has a minimum power, but is really annoying because it won't stop moving unless you cut it into bits." Rein explained looking at the wooden body.

"Shit, and what do these autonomous puppets want?" Valor said bewildered, "this is bad, too many troubles are coming." He added while planning patiently.

"I think their target is us, you're the son of this town's general and I'm Rein Wingston, that alone is enough reason to kidnap us.". She answered while he slashed another puppet that came.

"Is there any way we can pass these things easily?" Valor asked while he slashed another one, looking forward and he saw more coming. And more are arriving.

"No, there is no escape to my puppets." But to his perilous question, Rein isn't the one who answered him. Instead, a hooded woman landed at the end of the hallway. She opened her prosthetic metal arm and magic circles started shaping on it. They rotated fast as Rein warned quickly.

"That's a summoning spell! She's summoning more puppets!" And with those words, larger circles appeared on the ground. Before more puppets started to come out of those circles.

With this scene, the two anspirings knew it is bad news. Summoning can only be used by those puppeteers of higher level, beyond the main path. This woman is surely one of those, "In the count three we will run." Within this forlorn situation, Valor remained calm and made a decision to escape. He knows their capability, unless he can figure out how to extract life force from the seedling, they won't stand a chance.

"No." But Rein disagreed, and looked at the woman processing with thoughts. So Valor gave Rein time and protected her from the puppets that came to them, he decapitated them away from their limbs. In exchange, Three seconds later and she finally processed her thoughts.

"Right, that woman there is also a mere doll." She said to Valor, while blasting the puppet that came near him. "So?" Valor asked and continued, "it didn't eliminate the fact that it's a level higher than ours, and that also killed all the reasons to fight her. That's only a mere doll, nothing would be achieved by fighting her." He reasoned with all the factors in mind, they'll only exhaust their mana if they fight that. Giving them a handicap by the time the parasites arrived.

"No, we won't fight her." She quickly replied after blasting another puppet, before taking out an orb. Blue in color with visible runes inscribed on it, and as big as her hand.

"Is that a mind ball?" Valor asked surprised, he had stumbled upon it once he was in the library. Its very description Is to animate an inanimate puppet, an AI in an orb— it can be said a treasure for path holders on their main path or even those higher. "Where'd you get that?" He asked her again and she replied, "just saw it lying on the table of mom... Well, that isn't important right now. If we can just get this to touch her, we can cut off the connection of the puppeteer and control the puppet."

"That lady puppet also controls these dummies." She added before blasting another one, "if we can do that, we will have the control of the whole army of puppets. We can then use that to fend off against these parasites you are talking about and kill the boss with the lady's aid."

Valor listening to her slashed a puppet before nodding, "I'll buy you time to get near." He agreed and looked at the woman, still summoning puppets to overwhelm them. "What do you want from us?" He asked, while slashing a puppet again that got near.

"What I'm doing is all for the glory of the Paradise, And your body Is what we need right now." The lad replied not hesitant, Valor who slashed another puppet knotted his brows, 'Paradise, That's the notorious terrorist within New Monarch. Shit, now it's the terrorist. The fuck is happening to my peaceful life?'

But he didn't say his thoughts, he drew a disgusted face, "heh, the notorious terrorist wants my body? Aren't you a little pedophile?" He said to her, but it didn't worked. "Your childish trance won't work on me kid, and I recommend you to just give up so no one will get hurt."

Valor smirked with her reaction and got serious, he just needs to buy time—and rein will do the rest. This lady for sure cannot injure them, base on her way of fighting— she for sure must have been commanded to get them unbruised.

Valor finally decided to move, he signed to rein as he wore his magic body, He exhaled steamed and glowing circles appeared on his chest. Seeing this, the lady reacted surprised. Though it isn't visible with her movement, she's surprised. "I thought the targets are a magic learner and hammer holder. Why is he a magic enhancer?" She murmured troubled.

Valor who slashed another wooden puppet started counting, "First breath, first move." A sizzle of steam came out of his smiling mouth, "let's do this." His words echoed in her ears.

"Trial!—The Dilemma in Raffvet.

Synopsis— Before the parasites hatched, your town was already in trouble. They are everywhere, and they are now making their move.

Mission:

-Defeat the Lady in front of you

-Investigate in your town"

[Major Trial triggered!]

[In order to trigger a Major trial, one must have the key trials. You have: Goblin Extermination! Mutation Alert! And The Dilemma in Raffvet.]

[No instructions will be given with every Major Trial, instead, you will be given the buff of [Knowledge].]

"[Knowledge]— As the events aligned, the future and the present will merge. It's all up to you."

"Power of the [Holy Tree] Activated: Two Weeks Span."

He slashed a Puppet when these appeared regards appeared, bafflement came after.