It was obvious at this point. Sofis could literally see the tug of the strings controlling her body. But that couldn’t stop her body from attacking the other three. The strings were barely visible, being only so because of the smoke. As she looked up, she only saw the dark ceiling of the hall, the strings stretching into empty space. There was no sign of a puppeteer, only a puppet dancing violently on the stage.
‘Cut… the… ropes.’ It was all she could say before the strings shut her up.
Her body first targeted Temia. The swordsmanship was extremely precise, grazing Temia’s face bits at a time and dodging all counterattacks. Again, it was treating its opponents as playthings, not caring a bit of either the opponent or the puppet’s desires.
Jorn and Gennai launched simultaneous attacks at its arms. Sofis’ body simply took a leap back and counterattacked with its legs. While Gennai was able to protect himself with his shield, Jorn was knocked back several steps and nearly fell into the abyss below. They were lucky the body itself wasn’t particularly strong.
Reorganising themselves, the three charged at it again. But all they did was to become easy pickings for the body, the sword piercing each of them just slightly and enough to bleed.
It looked at their distorted expressions, the result of its handiwork… and forced a smile on Sofis’ face while her eyes were wide with horror.
The three then opted to separate each other, creating more space to manoeuvre around and for at least one of them to reach the door. Noticing this new development, Sofis’ body retreated backwards until it was almost backed against the door, easily guarding it against any advances.
Gritting their teeth, the three of them readied themselves and attacked again. Though Jorn did manage to grab onto a few strings, his fingers were sliced by the thin material, and later quickly knocked back by the pommel of the sword. Temia and Gennai fared even worse as a simple kick sent them tumbling into each other, before promptly being grabbed and tossed away like garbage.
‘Sofis, snap out of it!’ Temia shouted as she struggled to stand. ‘You’re supposed to be a scholar, right? An intelligent person, right? Think of something to save yourself as well!’
But Sofis had no idea how. Her mind was well-versed in books, not in getting herself out of situations like these. She wondered if anyone even had similar experiences like her own.
She absolutely hated the situation she was in. Her own feeble body was being violently used as a tool against her companions. Despite being able to save her multiple times earlier, to now use her to turn against them like that was beyond any sick joke. She wanted to break free of these strings, but she had already lost control over everything save her eyes, ears and mind. She could still consciously sense everything around her, but that only made the torture worse. She’d rather be unaware that she was harming them than be the closest witness to the violence she was now inflicting upon them.
It was a pure cruelty that served only to make her suffer.
It was soon clear that none of their frontal attacks was working. Each of them had sustained injuries to various degrees. Jorn could barely use his dominant arm after being inflicted with dozens of shallow cuts. Gennai’s shield arm was at its limit after repeatedly blocking the sword’s attacks. Temia could barely see as her eyes were clouded with blood trickling down from her forehead.
If this continued on, it would only be downhill from there. None of them wanted to risk trying to die and revive again like before lest the law finally failed them.
‘So what now?’ Temia said, panting for breath.
‘I can still take a few hits,’ Jorn replied, wincing in pain at his wounds.
‘Go back, rest, regroup,’ Gennai ordered. ‘Whoever is controlling Sofis wants to protect the door. We can wait until we’re ready with a plan.’
But Sofis’ body wouldn’t let them formulate a plan.
It suddenly dashed forward, inflicting numerous shallow cuts upon Gennai, numbing him with pain. Temia and Jorn’s attempts to protect Gennai were met with the merciless sword, cutting open more wounds in their already battered bodies.
But it still chose not to kill them. Not yet, at least. For with victory so obviously at hand, a bit more fun was to be had.
Gennai still stubbornly held on to his shield as he gasped for breath and to distract himself from the pain. The shield, however, was feeling heavier. He was rapidly losing strength. Jorn rushed over to support him, but not before Sofis’ body attacked and left him with more wounds. With the two of them now huddled behind the golden shield, Temia, the least injured, was the only one still stubbornly standing.
‘Temia, get over here!’ Gennai shouted. ‘You’re too exposed—’
The pommel of the sword struck the shield like a hammer upon an anvil. Both Gennai and Jorn buckled, screaming as their arms nearly broke from the force of impact.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
‘You. Think. Too. Highly. Of. Yourself.’ Sofis’ mouth moved while tears streamed down from her eyes. Her arms were heavily bruised from all the exertion from the string, while her legs were barely even touching the ground at this point, instead half-hovering like a true puppet that could never stand on its own.
‘Is that so?’ Temia taunted. ‘Then why haven’t you broken the shield yet—’
Sofis’ body leapt towards Temia and knocked her to the ground. Sofis heard the wind knocked out of Temia’s lungs, but she could do nothing but watch as Temia struggled in vain. And even still it chose not to kill her.
Instead, it began madly striking at the golden shield, the sword violently slashing and hacking at it. Gennai and Jorn cowered under it, forcing it up with their backs. Every hit seemed to snap something in Sofis’ arm, every blow battering against Gennai and Jorn through the shield.
But the shield remained strong. Even as the sword began to dent and crack, the shield remained steadfast, firmly protecting the two men under its protection. Even as the noises of impact thundered and covered every other sound, the shield refused to surrender.
Soon, even Sofis’ body was beginning to slow. The sword had mostly broken at this point, so the pommel was used to instead punch at the shield. Her arm was grey with bruises and incredibly feeble, bouncing back with every strike. The intensity had weakened a lot, but the body continued on.
And Temia suddenly appeared behind and sliced off all the string binding against Sofis’ right arm. She had snuck up behind while the body was fully focused on striking the shield, all for this very moment to return control of at least a limb to Sofis.
Sofis screamed from the sudden feeling of intense pain, but inside she was immensely grateful for Temia’s act. Though her right arm was now useless, it was also free.
Gennai would not miss this opportunity. With a roar, he pushed the shield against Sofis’ body, staggering it a few steps back for breathing room. At this point, the body had become far too weak and slow to immediately react to any attack. Jorn threw a splinter of his old shield and it snapped one of the strings supporting Sofis’ other arm. Though it wasn’t nearly enough to completely break her free from control, it was enough to slow that arm even more.
Without any weapons, the weakened body was now far less effective at dealing wounds to the three treasure hunters. And without a strong body, the string was just… well, string waiting to be cut.
The three combined together and attacked from all sides, however taking care not to harm the body too much.While Sofis could now feel the pain of each attack, she endured it as much as possible, imagining it as obstacles before she could be fully saved. Her legs and arm still thrashed about, but it was far less effective than before.
At this point, the only viable tools were the golden shield and Temia’s sword. Working together side by side with Jorn to distract the body, Temia and Gennai took turns attacking the string. In the mess, Sofis’ body was occasionally struck and injured, but they had no time for apologies or regret. Sofis had to be freed.
‘Attack the legs!’ Gennai shouted. Shoving Sofis’ body against a wall with the shield, the body was essentially rendered immobilised, allowing Temia to deal a decisive strike with her sword.
But the leg moved.
Instead of only slicing the string, Temia’s sword struck into Sofis’ flesh, slicing the calf in the process. Sofis screamed in pain as the feeling of a leg returned to her. She could feel the blood trickling down from the wound, the sweat aggravating it further. Yet she had never been so overjoyed to receive this pain before.
The rest of her controlled body now hobbled with clunky movements, delaying the inevitable as the other three pursued it around. Finally, Jorn pounced on it, holding it down with his body weight while Gennai rushed to secure the other leg.
This time Temia wouldn’t make a mistake. The slice was clean, and Sofis now had control over three of her four limbs.
It was at that moment when an especially strong tug dragged Sofis’ body away from the three. Despite Jorn’s best efforts, he could only cling on as the strings pulled Sofis up into the air, dangling her just beyond Gennai and Temia’s reach.
And it was also then when Sofis began to feel pain in her arm. With some of the string having snapped, some of the sensation had been returned to Sofis. She felt the muscles and tendons stretching to their limit, the arm barely able to support her weight and Jorn.
‘Jorn, jump down!’ Gennai cried. ‘You’re going to snap her arm!’
‘Do you have something planned to save that arm, then?’ For the first time, Jorn protested against Gennai. ‘Because I have something planned!’
He pulled out a sharp stone shard, possibly from one of the exploding golems earlier.
‘Please hold on a little longer, Sofis.’ With that, he clung on even tightly onto her body as he reached for the string above her arm. Sofis felt her arm gradually separating from her body, but she bit her lips and endured.
One by one, the strings snapped. Bit by bit, the pain became more apparent. Blood trickled out of her mouth as she bit her lips harder and harder. But she had to endure.
Finally, the final string snapped. The two of them fell to the ground, Jorn shielding Sofis with his thick body through an embrace. Sofis had fallen unconscious at this point from the pain. One of her arms was heavily bruised, the other dislocated and dangerously close to snapping altogether.
But she was saved.
Though injured and battered, the four of them had won.
‘Let’s… rest,’ Gennai suggested.
His words were met with weak but enthusiastic nods.
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Going back to salvage what they could from the boat, they managed to grab at least some food and supplies from a chest that could be opened just slightly amongst the wreckage. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to support the few of them on the journey onwards.
A brief funeral was hosted for the rest of the treasure hunters, wherever they might’ve gone at this point. Jorn bravely held his tears back as the group held a prolonged silence for their companions.
‘See you all at the top,’ Gennai said.
It was a few more days before they continued to set off on their journey. Sofis was now hobbling with only one good leg, so she was assigned to be carried on Jorn’s back. Temia also suggested sharing the burden, which Jorn agreed to so long as it didn’t strain her too much. With bandages made with rags wrapped around their bodies, they walked towards the door to the next hall.
As usual, Gennai led the way. With a creak, the door turned, and it was time for the next stage.