And as if things couldn’t get any worse, the system screen appeared floating in front of James again.
[New Main Quest Available]
[Name: The First Stone in the Path]
[Objective: Eliminate the Puppeteer (Rank S) and stop the large-scale infiltration of demons into the human side.]
[Reward: ▓▓▒▒░ ERROR ░▒▒▓▓]
[$@#%!&*() — REWARD_DATA_MISSING]
[Calculating penalty...]
[0x000000F]
[%$##!@]
[Penalty for failure: Instant death]
Reading that last line, James clenched his teeth.
’Instant death...’ he thought, frowning. ’Well... I guess that rules out running away.’
Then the Puppeteer moved one of his stumps.
And instantly, one of the strings pulled toward him the puppet whose head Faust had torn off just a few minutes earlier.
The demon held it up in the air in front of his face, contemplating it with an almost nostalgic expression.
"Ah, Charlie, I truly had a lot of fun with you," the demon said in a soft, high-pitched voice. "But all good things come to an end... and in this state you’re no use to me anymore."
Without warning, the center of his chest began to open.
The skin split into two halves, revealing an enormous mouth full of long, sharp teeth that opened wide.
The Puppeteer brought the puppet up to his chest, and that mouth devoured it in a single bite, grinding the wood between its teeth until nothing remained.
"Farewell, old friend," the demon said, letting out a sigh and closing the mouth on his chest.
Then, he slowly turned his head toward the three of them.
"But there’s no time for mourning," he continued, staring fixedly at Faust. "Because you three will make excellent replacements... especially you, little elf."
Faust took a step back, almost involuntarily.
But before the Puppeteer could add anything else, James positioned himself between the demon and her, sword in hand and an expression that left no room for doubt.
"Sorry, freak," James said in a firm voice. "But she’s not for sale."
The Puppeteer watched him in silence for a moment and then let out a mocking laugh.
"We’ll see about that, human trash," the demon replied, clearly amused.
Suddenly, all the strings tensed at once.
And the next instant, the puppets shot out from every direction, lunging at them at full speed.
Their wooden fingers, elongated like claws, seemed ready to tear apart anything in their path.
James responded immediately, launching forward and splitting the first puppet in two with a single slash.
Faust wasn’t far behind either, extending her palms toward a group approaching from the left.
"Flame Burst!"
A wave of fire hit them full force, engulfing several puppets in flames.
However, when the fire finally dissipated, all of them remained intact.
"What?!" Faust shouted, startled.
Seeing her companion’s attack had no effect, Rosalía stepped in immediately.
"Thunderbolt!"
The strike hit dead on, but the puppets barely shuddered before continuing forward.
"This is bad," Rosalía said, pulling Faust by the arm to drag her behind James. "They must have some kind of special resistance against magic."
"Are you telling me I’m the only one who can stop them?" he replied, splitting the group of puppets in half.
"I’m afraid so..."
The puppets kept coming, wave after wave, and James could barely keep up cutting them all down.
Every time he destroyed one, two more were already lunging at his back.
He barely managed to react in time, over and over.
"Faust," James said between slashes. "If magic doesn’t work on the puppets, try attacking the one-armed freak over there."
Faust didn’t need to be told twice.
She stopped wasting spells on the puppets and turned toward the Puppeteer, launching a barrage of ice spikes straight at his head.
The demon had to react.
He moved several of his strings and pulled a couple of puppets in front of him, using them as a shield to block the attack.
And with that, for an instant, that group of puppets stopped attacking James.
"Keep it up! Force him to defend!"
"Got it," Faust replied, launching spell after spell without pause.
Every time she attacked the Puppeteer, he had to pull a group of puppets aside to shield himself, which eased the pressure on James a little.
Meanwhile, Rosalía wasn’t holding back either.
"Warrior’s Blessing!" she exclaimed, sending the golden light over James once more.
Strength surged through his body again, and his slashes became even faster and more precise.
Between the three of them, they managed to establish a kind of balance.
James cut them down, Faust pressed the Puppeteer to pull puppets off him, and Rosalía kept him strong from behind.
But there were simply too many enemies, and James knew it.
For every puppet he destroyed, the Puppeteer seemed to have another ready to replace it, and he was already starting to feel the fatigue in his arms, even with Rosalía’s reinforcements.
’I need to do something, and fast,’ he thought, gritting his teeth as he split another puppet apart. ’In a war of attrition, that freak has every advantage.’
James’s gaze swept the battlefield until it landed on the Puppeteer.
He was still watching everything from a distance, calmly moving the strings while his puppets did the dirty work.
’If we want to get out of this, I have to go straight for him.’
James didn’t think twice, and taking advantage of a gap in the tide of puppets, launched himself toward him.
But far from showing the slightest concern, the demon stayed still and smiled calmly.
"Got you."
And all at once, every remaining puppet changed direction at the same time and lunged at James simultaneously, from every angle.
They came down on him like an avalanche, gripping his arms, his legs, his torso, immobilizing him completely.
No matter how hard he struggled, there were too many, and they clung tighter and tighter.
"Let go of me! You damn—!"
The strings pulled upward, and James was lifted off the ground, suspended in the air right above the Puppeteer, who watched him with an enormous smile spread across his face.
"Now hold still," the demon said mockingly. "I want to see how pretty you look on the inside."
The puppets began pulling him in opposite directions.
Arms one way, legs the other, with brutal force threatening to tear him in two.
James struggled with everything he had, but it was useless.
’Screw it,’ he thought, giving in. ’I’m going to have to use that...’
The strings kept pulling harder and harder, and he could feel his own body starting to give under the pressure.
Very soon he understood he had no other choice left.
Only one option remained.
"Incursio!"