Old People Don’t Hold Hands - Chapter 174



Only Krnovel

Episode 174, The Puppet Show of the Dead (3)

The black puppeteer seemed annoyed as we skillfully avoided his hand.

Open your eyes wide.

Gyaaa …

He screamed in agony.

Whether or not, I still just kept my weapon fixed and stared at the guy.

He raised his hand without hesitation as if he didn’t like us.

They started to make every effort to somehow suppress us standing on the stage.

“Miss Diana!”

“Yes! … … Switch!”

Choaaaak!

Except for Biella, which should be at the rear first.

The four of us change places in succession to confuse the black puppeteer.

I tried to attack the hand that had been struck down, but it wasn’t easy.

The moment we can attack is the small moment when the bastard is about to attack us.

There was only that moment.

That’s why it might be best to price the bastard’s head.

There were two crucial reasons why this could not be done.

Firstly, because the Black Puppeteer’s body is so large.

I had to almost fly to get a price on his head.

It might be possible since Nowen among us has the Zero Gravity enchantment, but even if he goes up to the shoulder… … .

Covered in the ceiling, but invisible.

I would get tangled up in those red doll strings again and never be able to fly any higher.

And secondly.

Somehow I managed to get through the red puppet string and hit the guy’s head in EndWorld.

No matter how hard I tried, no damage was done above the bastard’s shoulders.

So, the main body is the hands and arms that have the red doll strings tangled around them.

For this reason, let’s prioritize the damage to his hands as much as possible.

The guy raised his hand and grumbled, as if he was still angry.

At the man’s gesture, the dead began to descend onto the stage on puppet strings.

Of course, they are unlike the ‘real’ dead who are wearing doll masks.

It was just a clone he made.

As we quickly caught the dead, the red doll strings hanging from the captured dolls became tangled and formed a cocoon.

As the trap was created, the Black Puppeteer began to attack us even faster.

As if trying to stop or prevent Kochi’s revival.

If we leave this alone, the Guardian will be deployed in the middle of the battle, just like with the Flame Archmage.

If this place is left unattended for a certain period of time, the guardian of this place will appear inside.

When the black nightmare wakes up.

… … And when the black nightmare awakens, conquering the puppet show of the dead will become even more of a headache.

That would be the case, since the current black puppeteer only had physical patterns that used puppet strings.

It wasn’t a black nightmare.

As its name suggests, ‘Black Nightmare’, it applies area-wide or random personal debuffs.

The moment the bastard’s debuff reaches 3 stacks, he falls into the abnormal status ‘Nightmare’.

And if you fall into a ‘nightmare’, you will become incapable of fighting.

In addition, the Black Puppeteer will attempt to attack the characters in the order they fall into the nightmare state.

I had to do everything I could to prevent the birth of the black nightmare.

So we attacked the red goch as quickly as possible.

The black puppeteer notices this and reaches out to me.

Nowen, who had stepped forward, blocked the bastard’s attack.

In the meantime, my method of attack was to prioritize Kochi.

Kagagak, kagagak, kagagak―!

So, Nowen, who had strengthened his body and emitted a golden aura, accepted the hand of the black puppeteer.

After the Black Puppet Master tried to stop it, he pulled away from the hand that was struggling with Nowen.

But he reached out to me again in a hurry.

This time, Inogen came out and blocked the bastard’s hand.

Even though Inogen, who had transformed his limbs into the form of a dragon, was able to block it, it wasn’t easy.

While Inozen was blocking, Nowen joined her again.

The two people bought time for each other.

Kang, Kang, Kang, Kaang! Jaeng―!

I broke the protective shield of the gochi that only applied physical attacks.

As soon as the shield is broken.

“Goodbye.”

He brought in goods and burned the ark.

As the disaster that had bloomed from the shoulder blade flowed in, it was burned to the ground without a trace.

The black puppeteer watched Kochi burn in the fire.

Gyaaa …

I screamed again.

The moment Kochi was set ablaze, the Black Puppet Master’s rampage would begin.

As if to prove this, the black puppeteer’s eyes turned red.

The bastard started reaching out to us more often and attacking us.

As a bonus, the range of attacks he could make with his hands had also expanded.

But if you think about it the other way around… … .

Also the hand of the guy who can do the most damage.

This means that you can attack more frequently and more easily.

Based on the bastard’s changes, we quickly evaded his attacks and started counterattacking.

After focusing on the back of his hand and attacking him several times, he would sometimes lose his sense of balance and rest his hands on the floor… … .

This was the perfect opportunity to squeeze a deal out of him.

As I took advantage of the gap and pushed in more damage, the bastard’s wrist gradually began to become tattered.

The bastard eventually lost his balance completely and fell over.

The guy who had his upper body pressed to the floor completely lost his sense of balance and fell face down.

He was just glaring at us, breathing heavily.

… … This was the exact timing of the execution.

If you attack its hand at this point, it will regain its sense of balance and stand up while screaming.

If you use a hidden gimmick, you could finish him off right away.

That’s when the guy completely lost his sense of balance and fell over.

I mean, cutting off that bastard’s head.

Normally, no matter how much you poke, it doesn’t take any damage.

The only time he fell on his own.

I was able to damage the bastard’s neck.

And if you succeed in cutting off the neck at this time.

After suffering damage so great that it was impossible to quantify, the bastard died instantly.

So, as soon as the bastard fell, I cut off his head as if I had been waiting.

At that moment, the bastard’s neck had to be cut off by my hands.

The gaze that had been glaring at me with wide eyes could not help but gradually turn white.

As the bastard died, a portal slowly began to appear on the fallen platform.

I grabbed the branch that was floating above the portal that had bloomed on the bastard’s body and left the place.

“… … Surprisingly, there wasn’t much damage.”

Diana muttered as she looked at the body of the black puppeteer, completely drained and limp.

“After all, there weren’t any normal monsters here.”

As I said, there were some who were spared from harm thanks to the nature of the puppet show of the dead.

“… … Plus, it’s probably because we’ve grown up.”

This reason also could not be ignored.

If you came to the labyrinth just before and saw the puppet show of the dead.

Because the damage would have been even greater than it is now.

I looked at the black branch in my hand for a moment.

… … So, just now, I’m talking about the branch I got after defeating the Black Puppeteer.

And then I handed the branch I was holding to Diana, who was next to me.

“Why are you giving this to me… … .”

Diana accepted the item without thinking and looked at me with a puzzled look.

I just looked at Diana and answered like this.

“If you eat the Black Puppeteer’s Branch, your weapon proficiency will increase significantly.”

Strangely enough, if you eat the Black Puppeteer’s branch, your ‘Weapon Control’ stat will increase enormously.

In addition, the branch that could increase ‘weapon control’ could only be obtained here.

In addition, the only one who had difficulty using the weapon and was not yet fully skilled at it was Diana.

Perhaps if you eat this branch, you will be able to attack more freely based on the abilities you gain from it.

Diana also felt the need to hear my words and nodded quietly.

Since then, I have swallowed the black eggplant in one bite.

As soon as she swallowed it, a black aura surrounded her, then quickly disappeared again.

… … This was the proof that the power of the branch had been completely absorbed.

After Diana consumed the eggplant, we set up camp on stage again.

As soon as the black puppeteer appeared, dolls were scattered around as if nothing had happened.

No, it was possible because the dead person had disappeared.

They probably won’t show up until the cataclysm happens.

At that moment, I was lighting a bonfire in the center, thinking that I could rest comfortably.

“Oh, what a relief. I never thought I’d meet adventurers here.”

… … Someone’s voice was heard.

So, it’s not the voice of one of us, it’s an unfamiliar voice.

I quickly stopped lighting the bonfire and lifted my upper body to look up.

There were four adventurers standing there, wearing gear similar to ours.

They were all men who were close to middle age, quite old for an adventurer.

As we looked at them with wary eyes, the adventurers waved their hands as if to tell us not to misunderstand.

They all took off their military gear and showed one shoulder.

… … It seems like there are adventurers there.

It was engraved with the mark of the successor of the gods.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. This is what we are.”

I still seemed wary of the adventurers’ introduction, keeping a close eye on them.

“… … Can you swear an oath? These days, there are so many things that make it hard to trust people.”

“… … Isn’t that a reasonable request? I swear by God’s name that I won’t harm you.”

From then on, adventurers began to swear in the name of the god they worshipped that they would not harm us.

……okay.

Since the sign and the name of the god mentioned on the other side do not match, we can let down our guard to some extent.

Since they are coming out in a humble manner, we decided that there was no need to be overly cautious, so we relaxed our bodies.

There was a sigh of relief over there.

“… … Then can I just get some fire and use it? I haven’t had a meal in a long time.”

“… …Isn’t there anyone who can handle fire?”

“That’s a coincidence. He said he had a stomachache and didn’t come along on this labyrinth trek.”

… … Hmm.

Well, it’s not like lending us the fire will harm us.

Let’s step aside and use fire obediently.

“… …Thank you!”

The adventurers took their places next to us, carrying their backpacks.

I started preparing a meal over the fire.

“… … Would you like a bowl each?”

Well, they did recommend some ready-made food over there.

There’s no reason to get food from someone you don’t know well.

It’s not like we have a food shortage.

“No, we will take care of it ourselves.”

“Ah, I see. I see… … .”

The adventurers looked disappointed at my answer.

Anyway, we started preparing the food our way.

From then on, adventurers are adventurers.

We were eating our food and by chance we struck up a conversation.

I had to stop for a moment.

therefore.

“But how did you end up here?”

To such a simple question.

“Ah, that’s right. I happened to use the portal on the third floor and ended up falling right here. What the heck!”

… … He kept giving such suspicious answers.