The body of the Puppet God had now come alive, though it lacked a soul and consciousness. When stimulated, it would still make some subconscious reactions, such as sneezing.
Just as Ye Chui, holding Debbie, was blown into the void sky along with the slime monster, Green and his group deep in the Nostril Deep Cave also suffered a terrifying impact at the same moment. Of the remaining more than seventy puppet warriors, half instantly fell. However, the frenzied attacking puppet bugs were also blown away in large numbers.
When the puppet body sneezed, its mouth and nose subconsciously expelled massive amounts of gas. This created a powerful suction force from inside to outside in the deep cave. Many puppet bugs and puppet warriors were directly blasted out.
Green steadied himself while shouting in surprise, “What happened?”
“Sneezing? My body can actually sneeze?” Jarvis was also extremely surprised. But his exclamation did not take much time. He immediately turned and led everyone deeper. “Many of those bugs were blown away. We must seize the opportunity!”
At this point, they had entered very deep into Jarvis’s head. Puppets differed from humans, but Jarvis had some understanding of his own body. The interior of the puppet head was intricately complex. He could vaguely discern the target’s location. Taking advantage of the weakened bug assault, he quickly led the group forward.
But soon, the dense swarm of puppet bugs chased from behind once more. Their advance slowed again. “If that could happen one more time, it would be great,” Resha said while casting her “Mama’s Got You” holy words. “Jarvis, how can you sneeze?”
“How should I know? I didn’t even know I had this function,” Jarvis shook his head. “But I think it’s probably when the nasal cavity receives strong stimulation that a sneeze occurs. Speaking of strong stimulation…”
“Let me do it!”
Guni immediately volunteered. She swung her vibranium greatsword, sweeping away several pouncing puppet bugs ahead. She leaped up. The greatsword, heavier than her own body, was raised overhead. With a hum, she swung it in a full circle and smashed it into the black wall beside them. “Sizzle.” Sparks burst forth.
Jarvis involuntarily sucked in a cold breath and subconsciously covered his nose.
Guni’s stimulation proved effective. After this sword strike, the Puppet God grew restless again. It hummed “mmm mmm” a few times from its mouth before sneezing once more with an “Achoo”.
At that very moment, Ye Chui, who had been blown into mid-air by the previous sneeze, was carefully protecting Debbie while slowly descending. His body was about to land. The slime monster beside him had been reduced to a puddle by the sneeze and was rapidly reforming. Just as they were about to touch the ground, the second sneeze boomed and blasted them back into the sky.
This sensation was simply too thrilling.
Inside the Nostril Deep Cave, the second sneeze once again weakened the bugs’ assault considerably.
This time, with preparation, far fewer puppet warriors were blown out. The group seized the time to press deeper. The cave they were in now grew increasingly narrow, only a few metres high and wide. The remaining members even felt cramped.
“You continue deeper. We’ll stay and hold off the puppet bugs!” the puppet elder decided promptly. He stopped with his tribespeople, ready for battle.
Jarvis did not stand on ceremony. He assured the puppet elder, “I will regain control of this body and revive all your tribespeople!”
Even now, the puppet elder still found it somewhat hard to believe. The sacred ground they had guarded for five hundred years was actually the body of this puppet person before them. Nevertheless, he nodded heavily. With clicking sounds, his right arm transformed into a Flying Demon Missile cannon. He turned, firing several rounds at the puppet bug swarm crawling along the walls. Amid booming explosions, he shouted, “Hold this position!”
“Hold this position!”
The other puppet warriors shouted in response, forming a battle array.
Everyone was moved by the puppet warriors’ resolve. Evans watched them and instinctively felt an urge to stay and fight the swarm alongside them. However, at that moment, Puppet Number Two, the female puppet whom Ye Chui had granted the “DJ switch” ability, suddenly approached Evans. She hugged his arm and planted a quick kiss on his lips.
The female puppet’s skin was icy cold and hard in texture. Naturally, it lacked the wonder of soft, warm jade. Yet Evans still froze on the spot. The female puppet had already swung her spear and returned to the puppet battle line.
“Little brother, don’t daze. We have a more important mission,” Bart pulled Evans’s hand in the dim light, reminding him. No one had seen the little action.
Thus, Evans followed Bart deeper while glancing back at the puppet battle line. He suddenly felt somewhat distracted.
“Big brother.”
“What is it, my little brother?”
“I think I want to fall in love.”
“Huh?”
Setting aside the little interlude between Evans and the female puppet, after a few more minutes of groping forward, a strange door appeared before the deep cave exploration team. The door was silver, with a large tree relief carved upon it.
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Jarvis approached the door and pushed hard. “This is it! Behind this door lies my soul magic array. This is also the most important part of my body. The God of Gods and the other gods bestowed countless blessings here. Ordinary people cannot enter at all.” As he spoke, Jarvis seemed to suddenly remember something important. He stopped pushing and said somewhat sheepishly, “It seems I can’t open it either.”
Everyone was stunned. No way. After all their hardships to reach here, were they to be stopped by this final door?
“If we forcefully blast it open, will it affect your body?” Fazhe stepped forward and asked.
Jarvis shook his head. “This is just a defensive measure. Blasting the door open won’t harm me.”
“Then let me do it.” Fazhe thought to himself that his moment to shine had finally arrived. His glory as the Tidal Empire’s top expert would return now!
At his words, the others made way.
Fazhe approached the door and tapped it lightly. The echo was crisp. He could tell the door was thin, but it bore a terrifying seal, making it hard to break easily.
But Fazhe had full confidence in his iron fist. He stepped back a few paces, took a deep breath, and powered up his puppet right fist. Fiery red patterns appeared. Neil beside him looked expectant. “Teacher Fazhe’s full-power strike. This is my first time seeing it!”
Yet Jarvis shook his head. How could a seal left by the gods be broken so easily?
He realised he had overlooked something. The one who could break these seals should be Ye Chui.
As he thought this, with a boom, Fazhe’s killing iron fist smashed onto the door. The surroundings trembled. A massive muffled sound rang in everyone’s ears. Yet the door remained unscathed!
“No effect at all!?” Fazhe’s expression turned awkward. His iron fist power came from a puppet god and inherently could break any seal. But striking this door, let alone opening it, he could not even leave a crack. He could not accept it!
Fazhe retreated a few steps again, gathered power once more. Boom. Another explosive strike. The door remained intact!
Again!
Again!
Finally, Fazhe stopped this futile effort, panting. His aged face was full of defeat. “Am I really old now?” he murmured.
Even Kerrigan felt some pity. She walked to the old man and patted his shoulder. “It’s alright. In my eyes, you’re always that imposing top expert of the empire. You’ve never grown old. But speaking of which, since we’re planning to be together now, you’re fine in that aspect, right?”
Those who understood her words around them froze in expression.
Fazhe’s old face flushed red.
Fiore asked somewhat puzzled, “Sister, what do you mean?”
“Fiore, the most important thing for us women is…” Kerrigan took her brother’s hand and said seriously. Fiore hurriedly interrupted, “I’m a boy.”
“Oh, right. I forgot. For you boys, the most important thing is to…” Kerrigan quickly corrected.
“Can we not discuss this topic for now?” Resha interrupted urgently. It seemed that after reincarnating as a puppet, Kerrigan, like Fazhe, had completely let loose. This tendency to veer into adult topics at the drop of a hat would shock anyone who knew she was once the empire’s Heavenly Empress. Though Resha usually dressed provocatively, her heart was still quite pure.
She said seriously, “We can’t always rely on little brother. At the final moment, we absolutely can’t be stopped by a door. Let’s attack it together with all our strength. With our current power, there must be a chance!”
At Resha’s words, everyone responded and prepared to unleash all their power in a combined attack on the door. Even the elf baby, always pulled along by Dragon Baby, understood Resha’s meaning and began to respond. Just as everyone prepared for an all-out assault, the elf girl toddled on her short legs to the door, let out a cute “Hah!” and kicked it.
With a click, the door swung open.
The group, poised for a full-power bombardment: “”
Fazhe, still panting, nearly toppled to the ground.
“Ha! I was so foolish just now!”
Jarvis reacted suddenly after a stunned moment. He slapped his forehead hard and pointed at the large tree relief on the door. “That’s the pattern of the World Tree. The seal on this door comes from the Life Goddess. Elf Baby is the new life of the Life Goddess reincarnated as an elf. So no one else can open this door. Even the God of Gods would need great effort. But for Elf Baby, opening it is effortless!”
