Second World



Jack remembered those children statues were the same ones as those decorated the garden and the main lobby of the mansion. Those living statues were chasing Stefan and Naomi with cute smiling faces and cheerful laughter, which made the entire scene eerily unsettling.

"What did you do?" Jack asked the two as they ran back.

"We didn't do anything! We just tried entering the mansion to search for the exit from the inside," Stefan explained. "These statues suddenly came to life and attacked us."

"Perhaps it is the defense mechanism of this mansion," Grace offered her opinion. She cast a healing spell on Stefan and Naomi, they had suffered damage from the statues.

Jack used his Inspect skill on those statues.

*

Happy Dolls (Special elite monster, magical), level 65

HP: 350,000

*

"They are just special elites," Jack said and dove into the group of living statues. He used Whirlwind Slash and Ice Ring, damaging them all. His Formless Flowing Sword Style danced around the statues.

Now that Jack could use his full power, he easily dispatched these living statues. Stefan and Naomi were awestruck seeing the ease Jack took care of these monsters. They knew Jack was strong but only now did they see the gap between them. They also understood Jack had not gone all out yet.

The others were also running back. They were also chased by the children statues from the other side of the garden.

"There are too many of them!" Naomi exclaimed.

"We can still deal with them," Jack said confidently. He noticed some rare elites among the newly arrived horde of living statues but not at an alarming number.

As he was about to engage this new batch of living statues, he noticed the broken statues from the ones he had vanquished quivered on the ground. At first, he thought they were the same as the night hunters, they didn't vanish as the slain monsters in the outside world.

Then, he saw these broken statues reform themselves and were back to full health again.

"F*ck! They are the same as the undying draugr in Thesylvania!" Jack cursed as he engaged the statues that came back to life.

"Yes, they are tethered puppets," Peniel agreed. "To be able to tether with so many, I think only Euphosine can do this."

"What are you two talking about?" Stefan asked. He and the others joined in combating the statues.

"We won't be able to defeat these statues no matter how many times we kill them," Jack gave them the bad news.

"Theoretically, we can," Peniel corrected. "These tethered beings drew their life force from their master's energy. If they are continuously being killed, their master would run out of energy at one point. Thus, ending the cycle."

"How long will that take?" Jack asked.

"Considering that Euphosine is powered by a divine heritage, you might need to fight for months… Or even years," Peniel replied.

'@#$%... Might as well don't say anything,' Jack thought with annoyance.

"This is pointless! I will leave you people to distract these things here while I do the important things," Master said.

"Do what important things?" Jack asked.

"Preparing so we can defeat the one that holds the divine heritage. I will go to the altar hall," Master said as his demonic wings reappeared. His body flew up, leaving the battle on the ground. He then took out a scroll and vanished from sight.

'Invisibility scroll again,' Jack thought. Having so many at hand, Jack figured Master must have created them using a recipe.

Jack heard Master's voice from above, "You should come with me. I hate to say this but even with my trap, I might not be able to deal with Euphosine alone."

"I need to go somewhere else. There is something I need to do first," Jack said.

"Are you two leaving us here?!" Stefan asked with worry.

"We need to," Jack said. "We can't waste our time fighting these things. They will just come back to live again. The owner of this dimension will realize something is wrong once she could sense the end match arena one day from now…"

"Probably less than one day," Master's voice was heard from above. He was still around. "With so much disturbance we have created, I think she would sense it sooner rather than later. Plus, you people are killing her tethered beings. The amount of energy that was sucked from her, even if it was minuscule, should draw her attention after a period. We should treat it as if we only have several hours left. That's why we have to hurry. I will be leaving now."

"Do you know the way to the altar hall?" Jack asked.

"Who do you think you are talking to? I have the layout of this mansion inside my head," Master returned.

Jack sensed Master's presence move away in the direction of the mansion.

"I have to leave as well," Jack said as he cast Soar. "Grace, Spring Crown, Uncle Freddie, take care of everyone here!"

"You will take us out of this place, won't you?" Freddie asked. He had lost all hope for some time. Now that a tiny hope manifested itself, he wasn't willing to see it go away. He won't be able to continue fighting if that happened.

"Don't worry. I will bring you all out. That's a promise," Jack said.

"I believe in you, Your Majesty!" Kramer shouted. He was fighting the living statues valiantly with his spear and shield.

"Don't worry, I will keep them all alive," Grace said to Jack.

"And I will try to not get bored fighting these same creepy things over and over," Spring Crown said.

"I hate to see you leave, but I guess it can't be helped," Stefan said. "I'm sorry I can't be of much help, and thank you for giving a shit about us. No need to be concerned, you do what you need to do!"

Stefan decided to be brave about the situation. The others expressed the same sentiment.

"Thank you, everyone," Jack said, smiling warmly. "I promise I won't let you all down."

He cast Invisibility. It had been more than three hours since he last used the spell. It was off cooldown. He then flew toward the manor's entrance. The happy dolls ignored him since they couldn't see him.