kscans

Chapter 63 - Battle with the Dolls in the Downpour

"The air is damp. ...A downpour is coming."

Emily, the Lizard Sage, looked up at the sky.

Potsu.

Potsu, potsu...

Potsu, potsu, potsu, potsu, potsu.

Zaa...

The tropical sky split open.

It wasn't so much rain falling as it was lashing down. The air grew heavy, and the muddy ground clung to their boots. A guerrilla downpour, characteristic of the subtropics.

"My precious dolls... they'll get wet."

From the mansion's balcony, Mel Aria murmured this as she closed the window with a smile.

Blonde hair, skin like porcelain. But her eyes alone were mad. The girl was hugging her human-shaped dolls, carrying them one by one into the mansion.

There was no pity, no mercy in her posture.

Soaked to the bone, Hero Ares, with his sword slung over his shoulder, smiled.

"Mamoru-chan, did ya evolve? Whoa... that's why you look so different, surprised me there. Your pals evolved too, that fire fatso is like a different person."

His lips curled up.

"But y'know. I've already crushed two reincarnators, Crow and Izabel. I've leveled up so much, this won't even be a contest, will it?"

The heavy rain ran down his cheeks. But his eyes were not smiling in the slightest.

Sinking his boots into the mud, Mamoru took a step forward.

"We won't know until we try!"

He gripped his sword, his magic erupting.

Behind him.

The troll girl with a head of burning flames took a step that shook the earth. A smile was on her lips, the fire of battle in her eyes.

"The rain doesn't matter! If we burn it, it'll dry!!"

Raising a staff of chained iron, the Lizard Sage, crackling with lightning, shrugged her shoulders. At her feet, a magic circle was forming with explosive energy.

"Water magic's efficiency drops with humidity. But... the enemy is under the same conditions."

Pushing his shield forward, the massive Orc Paladin let out a low growl.

"...Those human-like dolls, they're all moving on her will alone. They... they have no emotion."

The dolls moved with a slithering motion. Some walked as if collapsing from the knees. Some had their smiling heads tilted at an angle. Some had their arms bent backward, making a dragging sound as they approached.

"Here they come!!"

The rain drowned out all sound.

"Please... don't betray me... okay? Stay with me forever..." A girl stood on the stairs outside the mansion, without an umbrella. Tiris. The Dark Elf mage, her blonde hair completely soaked.

"If you move, I'll turn you into a doll right away."

Her feet did not move. Or rather, they could not. Whether her eyes were wet from the rain, or from something else, was unclear.

"Mamoru!! He's moving!"

Lightning flashed. Mel Aria's mansion lit up with magic, emitting an abnormal presence.

Before him, Hero Ares, soaked and gripping his sword, twisted his mouth and shouted.

"This is our fated confrontation, isn't it!"

"If that's what you say, then I'll gladly accept!!"

The moment their swords crossed, a clap of thunder roared.

Blood, mud, and magic mixed as the rain-soaked dolls smiled without expression.

The princess of madness watched the scene and clapped her hands as if she were watching a fairy tale.

"Wonderful... so romantic, my Prince."

The curtain of hell had now opened.