Chapter 41
by GideonChapter 41: Hotel – 7
Listening to the Puppeteer’s occasional commentary beside him, Storm silently shifted his gaze toward the side.
He was just about to try moving away, hoping to put a little more distance between himself and this psychopath, when—
“It looks like we’re about to have a winner…”
The Puppeteer’s leisurely, somewhat peculiar remark had barely fallen when…
A bulky figure appeared right in front of them.
Calling it bulky was actually an understatement. In Storm’s opinion, calling it a mountain of flesh would not have been an exaggeration at all.
Layers upon layers of rotting flesh were piled together. Yellowish-white pus mixed with maggots wriggling between the layers of fat. The overwhelming stench of corpses hit them head-on, so foul that it almost brought tears to their eyes.
It was clearly visible.
The relatively pleased expression on the Puppeteer’s face abruptly froze.
Storm practically used every ounce of self-restraint he possessed to suppress the delighted, schadenfreude-filled smile threatening to appear on his face.
Suddenly, he felt that the stench wasn’t quite so unbearable after all.
Unfortunately, the “mountain of flesh” standing before them seemed completely unaware of its own disgusting appearance.
He lowered his head and opened his enormous mouth, his expression filled with relief.
Beneath his otherwise normally proportioned head, his jawbone had been broken apart.
Strands of muscle stretched between the broken bones, forming something like a fishing net that held what amounted to more than half of all the body parts in the entire dining area.
“I’ve gathered everything—”
As the “mountain of flesh” spoke, blood uncontrollably splattered in every direction.
And standing directly opposite him, right within the range of that blood spray, was the Puppeteer.
“…”
Just as the blood was about to touch the Puppeteer—
The smile on his face didn’t change in the slightest. With perfect composure and elegance, he simply shifted his fingertip.
Storm, who had been standing nearby with an outwardly dignified appearance while secretly enjoying the show: “…?”
Under an almost irresistible force, Storm struggled desperately against his body’s movements. His expression twisted into something almost ferocious from the effort.
Yet his body still charged forward without hesitation.
In a posture worthy of a warrior charging into battle for love, he positioned himself squarely in front of the Puppeteer and took the full force of the blood and body parts splattering directly onto his face.
Storm: “…”
Feeling the wet, foul-smelling substance covering his face, Storm finally regained control of his body.
His heart trembled. With an almost shaking hand, he wiped his face…
Maggots?
An unprecedented wave of nausea surged straight into his head. But when he remembered that his face was still covered in rotting blood…
Storm forced himself to keep his mouth tightly shut. His entire face turned deathly pale.
And then—
“Pfft!”
The Puppeteer made absolutely no attempt to hold back.
He laughed so hard that he nearly collapsed against the counter beside him.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
The continuous laughter delivered the final blow to Storm.
For the first time, he looked at someone with a genuinely icy expression and unmistakable murderous intent…
The mountain of flesh standing before him.
Don’t ask why he wasn’t directing that murderous gaze at the Puppeteer.
The answer was simple: he couldn’t win against him.
However, the mountain of flesh before him, which had managed to snatch so many “materials” from all the other NPCs present, was clearly no easy opponent either.
The Puppeteer was one thing, but what the hell was this human supposed to be?
Rage surged within the mountain of flesh. Especially when he noticed the encouraging, amused expression on the Puppeteer’s face, he finally abandoned his last remaining reservations.
He stared greedily at Storm.
A walking 100 points…
The mountain of flesh’s expression turned vicious. In the next instant—
The aura that had previously been at Rank A suddenly surged upward.
After Rank A+, came…
Rank S-!
All the body parts stuffed inside his mouth were swallowed whole. His exposed eyeballs became stained with a violent crimson hue. He opened his enormous mouth, unleashing such an immense suction force that it seemed intent on devouring absolutely everything—
“Shing!”
The sound of a long blade sliding back into its sheath rang out so quickly that even the Puppeteer raised an eyebrow.
He looked at the mountain of flesh, which hadn’t managed to last even a single breath against Storm.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Although he had already anticipated that Storm would win, he hadn’t expected him to win so quickly.
The Puppeteer hadn’t foreseen that.
Interesting—
As expected of the first player to trigger a promotion instance…
He suddenly felt that Storm might have even greater value waiting to be uncovered.
For example…
Using the connection between his alternate self and original self, the Puppeteer mentally poked Night Jiujui, who was still having a meal in the third-floor restaurant.
After transmitting the memories of the battle to her, he grinned mischievously.
【Are you tempted?】
Night Jiujui, who was indeed very tempted: “…”
An A+ rank player was completely within the range of people she could convert.
Considering the strength Storm had demonstrated, compared with the 1,000 points required to mark him, this seemed like an incredibly profitable deal.
Looking at the points the Princess had previously transferred to her on her status panel, Night Jiujui suddenly found that even the delicious food in her mouth had become rather tasteless.
【I want him.】
Her answer was decisive.
【Mm-hmm.】
The Puppeteer responded noncommittally. Then…
【Why don’t you beg me?】
Night Jiujui: “…”
Under Qing Guizhu’s lovestruck, bashful gaze from across the table, she silently tightened her grip on the handle of her dinner knife.
【Fine. I’m begging you.】
After all, wasn’t the alternate self still her?
Begging her alternate self was essentially the same as begging herself.
What did it matter?
This response actually made the Puppeteer, who had intended to tease her, fall silent.
Fine, then—
He gave in with a slightly indulgent, helpless sigh.
【Still at the restaurant?】
【Yes.】
Night Jiujui glanced at the food still occupying more than half her plate and added:
【If I eat slowly and chew properly, it’ll take about half an hour.】
Oh—
The Puppeteer fell silent.
He redirected his attention to the scene before him.
“Clap, clap, clap, clap—”
Amid the enthusiastic applause, which seemed to express admiration for Storm, everyone’s attention was drawn back to the Puppeteer.
“I’ve found him—”
He stood up and murmured softly. As he looked at Storm, it was almost as though he were seeing him for the very first time.
A vague sense of foreboding slowly rose in Storm’s heart.
And, sure enough—
In the next second, the Puppeteer broke into a grin so blood-red and sinister that it was difficult to describe.
He announced to everyone:
“You are the new doll I’ve been looking for!”
Storm: “…”
The hand holding his long blade trembled slightly.
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