"What is happening here, Gilbert? This is not what we expected!" Jin looked at Gilbert and then at Cassian with a shocked expression, unable to change his tone.
There was supposed to be one person at rank S- and a slightly stronger puppet. Due to the merging, both should be much weaker than expected.
"Jin! Change of plans!" Gilbert spoke in a low voice, handing Jin a small metal cylinder.
"I will distract the intruder for a minute. You must place this cylinder at the back of the puppet's head! Remember, the success of this mission now depends on you!"
Killian lightly slapped Gilbert's back, wanting to help as well, "I'll double that time. Use all your strength, don't leave any skill unused, trust my words, and you won't lose!"
Mana intensified around the trio at that moment, and they were about to move, "What about the guard merging with the doll? He's much weaker now but still has combat power comparable to us!" Jin complained about the sudden change in the situation but didn't slow down his movement; he had to succeed no matter the cost.
"That guard can't be more than five meters away from the puppet, so fighting him should be easier for you. The main plan was for Lyra to handle him, but..." Gilbert stopped talking at that moment and immediately rushed towards Sebastian.
"We'll continue this conversation when we get out!"
***
=+=
I felt a bit dizzy when I crossed the gate, but I didn't vomit this time.
I felt the terror of the place as soon as I arrived, the ominous aura in the air and the loud crying from outside filled me with dread. The floor was built from gray stones, in a style similar to old Europe castles.
It was clear I was in a throne room; using the term "hall" instead of "room" seemed more accurate.
There was a giant metal door at the end of the hall, with seals that strangely resembled the Sloth Seal, but were also different.
A gray brick staircase began to rise at the last quarter of the hall, leading to a strange rectangular device mounted on the wall. A doll in the shape of a man was hung there, his facial features suggesting he was around twenty at most, but his hair had turned white from old age, or perhaps it was natural.
One of his eyes was open and glowed dark red, the other still closed.
There was a seal similar to the Sloth Seal on his forehead, but it was almost transparent and about to disappear, opposite to mine – which glowed as if in its youth.
The rest of the things in the room were not in my favor...
The pressure around me intensified as I reached the hell everyone spoke of, and I felt my body being crushed from all sides.
I was forced to activate the Sloth Seal to relieve myself at that moment, the golden light from my forehead should have drawn attention, but no one paid me any mind. I saw a person with a majestic appearance like Sebastian, sitting in front of the white-haired puppet.
He turned his back to the puppet, and his features expressed the intense pain he felt. The strong aura around him continued to decrease at a tremendous rate until it stopped at around rank A+.
"This?" The man opened his eyes and pointed at me.
"An anomaly that broke the curse of the tree and the father. You need to assign some puppets to extract information from him or break his mind." Sebastian struck the back of my neck intending to knock me out, but the Sloth Seal saved me.
'It's good that I activated it in time, losing consciousness in this place is not promising at all.'
"Use any method you see fit, but don't forget to check-"
A high magical energy surged from the hall's gate at that moment, and three unfamiliar figures appeared.
Sebastian's expression darkened as an unknown person interrupted his speech, but his eyes also filled with curiosity. Who in this hell has the authority to enter here without prior permission and knocking on the door? Especially during the merging process!
No one, clearly…
Three people with different appearances entered the hall, and it was evident that they were all puppets with mechanical arms. I specifically looked at the person in the back, who seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't recognize him immediately.
'Jin?!' It took me a while to identify him; his appearance had changed completely from what it used to be.
His facial expressions, the way he looked around, even his body structure had improved.
It was as if he was now an upgraded version of his former self. Strangely, he was now accompanying the person who captured us when we arrived at the center of the island.
'What's going on?!…' I became confused, unable to interpret what was happening around me.
The three exchanged silent conversations for a few seconds, then each moved in a different direction without wasting a moment.
Sebastian threw me aside to block one of the their attacks, and I immediately recognized the attacker. It was the pale man who defeated Jin and me outside the tree... the one who brought us here.
Why is this puppet fighting its masters now? Has there been a rebellion? And is Jin with them?
Although I didn't care much about Jin's situation, he might be the most trustworthy person in this strange place.
"Overhead strike! Then an axe kick from above!"
The third person at the back of the team shouted, predicting Sebastian's moves astonishingly.
Despite the significant power difference between the puppet and Sebastian, the latter couldn't land a real hit even after a long time had passed.
All because of the support from the person in the back…
Amid all this chaos, I felt I could also provide some support.
I took out my weapon from the storage space and started performing the Sloth moves with all my might, avoiding affecting the three puppets.
***
Sebastian blocked Gilbert's strike at an impossible angle and immediately launched a counterattack, but as usual, it missed.
'The person predicting my attacks is troublesome; I need to get rid of him...' Sebastian thought, quickly coming up with a solution, and charged towards Killian with all his speed.
He felt a strong wave of sloth overwhelm him suddenly; something like this wouldn't usually affect him, but he hadn't slept a single night in the past four months, and fatigue was accumulating.
However, he successfully resisted the sloth's invasion of his mind, though it slowed his movements and disrupted his usual sharpness.
For this reason, Gilbert managed to stop Sebastian's charge, which nearly killed Killian - their only support.
Gilbert realized just how useful Killian was, regretting not placing him in a more advantageous position had he known about this excellent ability. Without him, they would have lost long ago.
For some reason, Sebastian's strength wasn't as expected from the start. He was extremely powerful in the first few seconds but then became much slower.
He frequently closed his eyes and had difficulty moving, as if he were about to fall asleep at any moment.
Despite everything, two more minutes and Gilbert would reach his limit; Jin had to finish soon.
–
Not far away, Jin's sword was getting covered in mist just like before, but at a much slower rate.
There were two reasons for this: the first was that he had used the ability a little while ago, and the second was that his current opponent was much stronger than the massive doll guarding the door.
His opponent's movements were sharp and extremely skilled, making it difficult for Jin to do anything.
Even though the opponent was forced to fight in a narrow space, reducing his power to rank A+, the guard was still an expert with skills at rank S-.
Incidentally, the guard's strength had decreased significantly, but his skills' power had doubled somewhat.
Most of the guard's and Sebastian's skills were ones that affected the mind.