Lord Of Puppets-Chapter 149 – Dungeon Raid – Part 20.

(OKAY! THIS WAS WAY BEYOND CLOSE!) – thought Thauma who had a panic attack.

(I’ve had used up all of my mana! I thought it had failed! I’ve even lost conscious for moment!)

(I’ve barely had reactivated the core!)

(...)

(And....I failed.)

(I mean, the connection was established... But only one!)

(And extremely brittle one!)

(Even by using all of my mana I had on hand, I was barely able to connect it!)

(If that strike were to go any deeper, it would instantly detach the core I just attached!)

(If I didn’t regained conscious just in time, he would had just finished me off.)

(Still.... The core connection isn’t good!)

(I can’t move properly yet and the output is nowhere near acceptable!)

(...)

(Well, at least I no longer have a time limit.... But this body has lost its combat ability.)

(I need the new core.) – thought Thauma as it started walking towards the core room.

"!"

"STOP HIM!" – shouted Markus as he tried standing up, only to fall once again.

(Shit!)

(Bioilio potion does significantly increase natural regeneration when used, both healing the wounds and replenishing some blood... But that kind of regeneration uses up target own nutrients and fat.)

(Still. I wound are one thing, but the fucking blood!) – thought the man consciousness started fading.

(Adam....Fuck! He ain’t moving!) – thought the man as he stared at warrior body.... Not responding one bit.

"..."

"KILL THE FUCKER!" – shouted Markus.

"KILL THE FUCKER! HE IS TRYING TO RUN AWAY!" – shouted Markus at the adventure.

"KILL THE BOSS! HE IS TRYING TO FUCKING ESCAPE!"

The man shouted at the adventurers, causing them to notice the current situation.

Some of them tried to go and finish off the golem who was trying to run away, but Thauma creations stood in their way.

"SHIT! STOP IT! YOU FUCKING MORANS! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? GO! KILL HIM!" – shouted Markus as his vision started getting blurry.

(No! No! NO! NO!) – thought panicking Markus as he stared at the golem, slowly walking towards the pair of doors.

"Stop him....Stop....Him..." – said the man as his vision disappeared completely.

Thauma approached the door extremely slowly, dragging its barely functioning body.

The golem put its hands on the doors.

(Fuck....Can’t open it with force...Mana.... Activate.... Need to wait.) – thought Thauma as it tried opening its reinforcement door, trying to save us as much mana as possible.

(I’m hearing screams.)

(I’m hearing that man screams.)

(He was demanding my death.... He isn’t screaming anymore.... Is something going on? I don’t hear any footsteps behind me!)

(Should I use [Meditation]? It could.... No.)

(I need to be fully focused on controlling the body just in case the core starts acting up.)

The golem was no longer on the time with its body shutting down.... But there was still another time limit.

A time limit of the C-rank adventurers taking down the golems and going after the dungeon master.

The core that was attached to the golem body was barely working and it was barely attached.

Just push a little bit the sword that was still stuck on the golem back.... And that was it.

Thauma body would completely shut down and that would mean death for the golem.

Thauma was panicking, waiting for its mana to gather while also waiting to just hear anything.

It felt fear.

But it didn’t gave up.

"Shit! Push these fuckers back!" – shouted the voice of the adventurers.

"Deal with the crossbowman! Deal with these bastards first! They are trying to stop us!"

It could hear that.

It could hear the sounds of blades clashing.

The sound of screams.

The sound of battle.

With each passing second, the chances of even a single adventurer slipping past the golems increased.

...

But so did the mana gathered within the golem.

The doors don’t need a lot of mana, it only needs bit of mana and control it in specific way, causing the doors to open.

(Common! Common! Just little bit more!)

"..."

"..."

"!"

(There!) – the golem manages to gather just enough mana to pour it into the gate and start operating it.

"!?"

(Shit! Just using mana with this core is now a hassle!?) – thought Thauma as it almost lost its balance.

(Was the core not in such condition than I’ve thought? Or is it coming lose?)

(Dammit! I need to open it up quickly!) – thought Thauma as it began turning on the gears within the gate, before then finally opening the gate.

"!"

"SHIT! HEY! DO SOMETHING! HE IS MAKING A GATEWAY!" – shouted the beast-human as Thauma started entering the core room.

"Shit! [SWORD ART: HEAVY]!" – the beastman swung around his long sword with one hand and knocked back the knight golem, before then quickly grabbing his crossbow and aiming at the golem who was about to leave the room.

The beastman fired his weapon and managing to land a solid hit on the golem back of a head.

"..."

But that didn’t stopped the golem, as it just entered the room and the doors closed right behind it.

"!"

"SHIT!" – the beastman tried going after Thauma, but it was then suddenly shot from behind in his shoulder by the crossbow wielding knight golem, stopping the man.

"FUCK! JUST DEAL WITH THESE BASTARDS FIRST!" - shouted the beast-human as he helped out his comrade who was getting shot at.

The adventurers were unsuccessful and Thauma had managed to get into the core room.

However, that didn’t meant that they could just chase after the fleeing dungeon master, they still had to deal with the golems.

The golems.... Well, even without B-rank adventurers, these golems weren’t deadly enough for them.

The only problem was their sheer numbers.

If there was only like 3 or 4 of the adventurers, then they could have a big problem, with high chance of being wiped out.

However, there was enough adventurers to make sure that this wouldn’t be outcome.

The fight did lasted for quite some time.... But the adventurers had won without suffering a single casualty.... But it was visible that they had pushed themselves as pretty much all of them were exhausted afterwords.

"!"

"HEY! CHECK ON THEM!" – but even so, they didn’t stopped for a moment, even after they just finished off the last golem.

The two men, the beastman and beast-human quickly ran towards fallen Adam and the duo of B-rank adventurers.

"..."

"Shit.... He is dead!" – shouted beast-human who went to check on Adam.

"They are dead- NO WAIT! ONE OF THEM IS STILL ALIVE!" – shouted the beastman who realized that Markus was still alive.

(Shit! There is a lot of blood!)

"Hey! Does anybody have something for blood lose!? This guy will die at this rate!" - shouted beastman as he was checking Markus’s pale body.

"Shit! Forget him! Just go after the boss!" – shouted a human tank.

"He is right! It doesn’t matter if you save that bastard or not, as long as the boss is alive!" – said the dwarf tank as the adventurers walked towards the reinforced doors.

"H-hey! We can’t just leave him! He needs help!" – shouted beastman.

"And do you have anything that can restore lost blood!? I’ve already used my own potions and the healers are probably good as dead!" – replied dwarf as the adventurers started attacking the reinforced doors.

"..." – the beastman and beast-warrior, unsure of what to do had decided to go with the rest of the adventurers, leaving behind Markus who could die at any moment from the blood lose.

"Fuck! Why isn’t this thing opening!?" – asked pissed off human warrior.

"Calm down! The bastard opened up that door with ease, yea!? That means there is some sort of trick or it is just easy to open and we are idiots!" – shouted dwarf tank as he kicked the door.

"..."

"Say.... These golems don’t have any form of healing ability, right?" – asked the human warrior.

"Yea, they don’t." – replied dwarven tank.

"He is probably hiding in there in desperation."

(Even when Adam stabbed the fucker in the back, that thing reacted with a delay. That means it was already one foot in the grave.) – thought the dwarf.

(If he had any form of healing, it would had done it ages ago.)

The adventurers tried opening the set of doors.... But right as they tried, something clicked, alarming the adventurers as they quickly moved away from the door.

"IT’S OPPENING!" – shouted panicking adventurer as the door opened on its own.

The adventurers were confused and alarmed.

They knew that the dungeon master shouldn’t be able to fight back.

(SO WHY IS HE OPPENING THE DOORS ON HIS OWN?!) – they all thought the same thing, realizing that something was wrong.

And they were right to worry.

Because as soon as the gap between the doors was big enough, a giant ballista bolt flew through and right before anybody could react, the dwarven tank had his body pierced by the giant projectile as the dwarf then went flying.

"?!"

The adventurers upon seeing this tried getting away further from the door... But right as they did, two small spheres were suddenly thrown at them, which was then fallowed up with the said objects just blowing up, hitting multiple adventurers all at once, which also at the same time caused dust to kick up everywhere, creating a small cloud of it near the entrance.

In an instance, the adventurers’ formation was shattered.

"FUCK! DON’T PANIC! HE JUST WANTS TO-"

The human tank tried calming down the situation a bit, realizing that the golem was trying to spread panic and confusion around.... But unfortunately for him, the golem took him as its next target.

"?!" – the man felt the presence of the golem and instantly activated his defensive skill.... Which was the perfect call as the golem threw another explosive in his direction that blew up, unleashing a powerful blast of magic against the man’s shield.

(Fuck! Bombs?! He has fucking bombs!?) – thought panicking tank as he then saw something flying out of the cloud of dust, alarming the man as he positioned himself and getting ready to unleash another skill.

...

But it wasn’t a bomb.

It was just a rock.

And in the next moment?

A crossbow bolt pierced right through the man’s helmet, hitting him right in the face.... Which was then fallowed up with him just falling down dead.

"Shit! It can still fight!?" – shouted panicking tank.

"NO! GO FORWARD! THERE IS NO WAY HE COULD HAD RECOVERED! FINISH HIM OFF!" – shouted the warrior.

He was right.

Thauma did not recovered like at all.

It was still in half dead state.

But even so.

It has bombs.

Which he threw through the cloud of dust, blowing up adventures.

The warrior and the tank ended up being blown at the point-blank range, dealing critical wounds to them, while some of the adventurers that already got blasted by the first wave of explosions ended up being finished off by the very second wave.

"..."

"Fuck this!" – said one of the two warriors remaining who then started running away.

"!"

"W-wait for me!" – said the second warrior.

The two warriors tried making run for it, but as they did a crossbow two crossbow bolts flew at the pair.

One crossbow bolt missed the man at the front.... But his companion ended up being hit right in the leg, which resulted in the man crushing right down against the ground.

The first man didn’t even attempted to help his comrade as he continues running away as second bolt came his way, barely missing.

But the third bolt that came his way.... Hit the mark.

The bolt struck the man right in his back, causing him to fall down.

And right as he did, Thauma walked out of the cloud of dust, wielding a crossbow in every single one of its remaining arms.

The golem threw away its two crossbows that were used up and tried to look for the remaining adventurers that still had ability to fight... But as it did, a tank and warrior who were still able to wield their weapons rushed from the two different sides at the golem, who was completely caught off guard by the duo.

The two adventurers realized that the golem no longer had any explosives on itself nor it had any weapons it could use as it only wielded crossbows that weren’t ready to fire.

Thauma body was also in the same state as before, meaning that one solid hit should deal with the creature.

"!"

(DAMMIT!) – thought panicking Thauma.

...

But there was a problem.

The golem put a new brand core into its body.

And one that was full of mana.

[Earth Magic: Earthly Forged Blade]

As the two adventures got closer, the construct unleashed two blades of earth from its palms, which impaled the warrior and clashed with the tanks shield.

The tank tried raising up his hammer, ready to strike the boss monster and finish it off.

...

And here is another problem.

The weapon that the golem was wielding? The crossbows? They weren’t just regular crossbows.

They were double shot model crossbows.

And these crossbows could be prepared to fire two shots in the row.... Which the man only realized after the crossbow pointed right at this face and fired.... Piercing the man face... And killing him right on the spot.

"?!"

"..."

(Dammit.) – thought Thauma as its movement stagnated before then completely causing the golem to stop in tracks.

(Using magic in my current state is far too risky.)

(I shouldn’t had panicked and fire off those spells.... My body.... Shit.)

"!"

The man with injured leg realized that the golem stopped in its tracks completely, causing the man to start running while dragging his injured leg behind.

The man didn’t cared why the golem suddenly stopped moving nor he even cared to look behind himself.

All he cared about is running away.

"!"

"W-wait.... Help me!" – said the man who was struck in the back with a bolt and was still alive.

The man laying on the floor grabbed his comrade’s injured leg and tried forcing the man to help him.

But instead, he was meant with a kick to the mouth by the panicking man, who freed his injured leg and started making a break for it.

He ignored the man screams as he made his way to the entrance while the dungeon master started slowly recovering its mana, allowing it to slowly start moving once again.

The injured man ran and after few moments, he had reached the exit... But upon passing it, the man slipped.

On something.

He tried to quickly get up, but as he did, he saw a massacre.

The adventurers, the backline unit corpse, brutally destroyed and then stomped by the golem army than went by.

The man puked up a bit upon witnessing the scene, before then trying to quickly get up in panic and once again running.

And as he ran, through the filed of corpse.... He could hear it.

The screams.

The remaining adventurers that were blasted with explosions were being finished off by the golem.

Some tried to fight back even when they were injured... And so did the golem who was at the brink of death.

One warrior who took one of the explosions at the point-blank range tried attacking the golem, surprising the golem as it didn’t realized that the man survived.

(How!?) – thought panicking golem as it saw the heavily injured man just rushing at the golem who started regaining its movement speed.

Thauma tried using its crossbow, only for it to be instantly destroyed by the man axe.

However, the golem still had its second crossbow, which he shot and hit the man in the chest, finishing him off.... But at the same exhausting his last shot.

The golem body was still in pathetic condition and firing off two spells like it did before was risky move after it barely recovered mana after obtaining brand new core.

But even so, it didn’t gave up as it then picked up the weapons of the fallen adventurers and preparing to confront already half dead adventurers.

"Fuck! Fuck!" – and while that was happening, the injured man continues running away.

As he ran further, the screams of the people started getting faither and faither... And before long, he could no longer hear them.

"Ha...."

"HAHAHAHAHHA!"

"I WILL LIVE! I WLL LIVE!" – the man started laughing manically, telling himself over and over that he will live, motivating himself to keep pushing forward.

This motivation, this self-delusion was working in the man’s favor as it allowed him to push his body and ignoring the pain.

...

But unfortunately, it also blinded him, since he just walked into one of the trap tiles on the floor, causing a crossbow bolt to be fired, which hit the man right in his shoulder, making him to lose a balance upon impact and fall down.

"N-no!" – but even so, he didn’t gave up as once again he tried standing up.... But as he did, the man ended up triggering another trap.... And this time, it was a blade swung from the celling that decapitated the man on the spot.

The man that managed to escape the room ended up just dying like that.

As for the adventurers in the boss room.... They were silent.

All the remaining adventurers that were in the room were finished off by the golem.

And since nobody was defending Markus body anymore.... The golem was able to approach the unconscious man and just finish him off like nothing.

Every single adventurer that was in the dungeon was now dead.

Non managed to escape.

Not nor any managed even touch the dungeon core.

[Dungeon conquer party]

[Size: 77 people]

[Results]

[Total wipe out.]

[Number of survivors]

[0]