Unexpected Bonus

Moke forced himself up from the ground despite the pain. His chest throbbed, and he felt like he was about to cough up blood.

Protected by his subcutaneous armor, he had probably only broken two ribs. The good news was that injuries of this severity wouldn't keep him from fighting. The bad news was that his subcutaneous armor could probably only protect him from one more attack.

The suffocating pain surged over him just then. Moke had no choice but to reach out and peel the Balloon Puppet off himself like a sweater. Only then did he spit out a mouthful of blood onto the ground in front of him and gulp down great lungfuls of fresh air.

In the space of half a minute, Moke had first stripped off his upper-body clothing. Then he deflated the Balloon Puppet, folded its lower half inside itself, and used its remarkable elasticity to pull its upper half over himself.

He had to admit, Moke had some quick wits. He'd managed to come up with such a plan in mere seconds and successfully catch Lude off guard.

Unfortunately, the puppet was no longer usable.

To trick Lude, Moke had taken six bullets squarely. His body might have been fine, but the balloon he wore now had twelve bullet holes and was completely deflated.

After taking that punch, Moke had realized all too clearly that he couldn't beat Lude.

All his alchemical prosthetics might as well not have existed. The transplanted Lightning Falcon Nerve could barely keep up with Lude's movements. The strength of his Tendon Steel Cable and enhanced muscles, which he had once been so proud of, seemed feeble now. Even his tough subcutaneous armor had nearly been punched through with a single blow.

It was obvious that, although the Vessel had been designed from the outset to prioritize carrying capacity and stability rather than hand-to-hand combat ability, the other side's manufacturing was simply too good. Even in areas where it wasn't specialized, it was still incredibly powerful.

Moke immediately realized that his only chance of winning was the third nail in his hand.

The Voodoo Kingdom's exceedingly complicated casting process yielded unparalleled lethality. Whether an elephant or a mouse, an ordinary person or a spellcaster, even a massive Dragon Beast, would suffer a crippling injury in an instant if three nails were driven into it.

The teacher still has three puppets left, Moke thought to himself.

Three puppets meant support from three gunmen. After considering Lude's terrible fighting skills, Moke took a deep breath. It'll work. With the teacher's Secret Art to support me, it'll definitely work!

With that thought, he leaned against the wall and walked out of the kitchen, ready to go all out.

But when he returned to the front hall, he found only a group of diners crouching on the floor with their hands over their heads. Lude had disappeared.

What was going on?!

Moke panicked.

Just then, another window was suddenly smashed. A thumb-sized smoke bomb rolled in through the opening, and pale blue smoke instantly filled the entire first floor of the restaurant.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

Moke hurriedly looked around. The ordinary people beside him were collapsing one after another after breathing in the pale blue smoke. He quickly covered his mouth and nose, and just then, someone suddenly slapped him hard on the back.

Moke shuddered and sprang away, landing five paces off. He turned and gestured with the nail toward the figure behind him. Only after recognizing who it was did he relax a little.

It was one of the teacher's four remaining Balloon Men, shaped like a little girl.

"Teacher, what's going on?" Moke hurriedly wet a piece of burlap and covered his mouth and nose with it.

"It's a smoke bomb."

The little girl furrowed her brows. "More precisely, it's a special smoke bomb used by the Obsidian Hall. Just how much equipment has that damned Aleppo supplied to the enemy?"

"A smoke bomb..." Moke frowned behind his makeshift mask. "Teacher, smoke bombs don't put people to sleep!"

This time, however, his teacher didn't answer him right away.

Moke paused, then turned to look at the puppet. "Teacher, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"No." The puppet glanced at the people lying around them. "I just realized his smoke bomb wasn't meant for you."

"What... Oh no, it was aimed at you!"

Moke spun around at once. "Teacher, hide among the crowd. Don't show yourself. I'll go back and protect you right now!"

But the puppet only shook its head. "There's no need..."

A bad feeling suddenly welled up in Moke's chest. His pupils shrank to pinpoints as cold sweat trickled down his face. "Teacher, what do you mean...?"

"What I mean is..." The puppet paused before continuing. "You'll probably have to deal with him alone."

Old Matos looked at the tall figure before him, hands clasped behind his back, and smiled bitterly.

He pulled the syringe from his neck and rolled it slightly, then drew the Iron Sparrow revolver from his waist. "So the smoke bomb you used while targeting Moke was actually meant to deal with me?"

"You used a smoke bomb laced with the Black Tide Society's anesthetic while my attention was focused on Moke because you assumed I'd have the antidote?"

Lude shook his head slightly at the question and gazed at the old man. "I'm surprised you were hiding in this restaurant. At first, I was only trying to identify the Balloon Puppets that didn't need to breathe."

"I didn't expect to identify you as well. What should I call you?"

"Matos," the old man replied softly. He drew an Iron Sparrow revolver from his waist and pointed it at Lude.

Lude paid no attention to the gun pointed at him. He was simply curious. "Mr. Matos, I'm wondering: you could've just not injected the antidote and let me knock you out. Then I wouldn't have been able to pick you out of the crowd."

"Even if I could tell from the state of those inflated puppets that you were somewhere in this restaurant, I couldn't kill everyone inside."

"Then, after I dealt with your companion, you could've slipped away with the crowd and reported my whereabouts to Don Juan."

"So I'm curious. Why didn't you do that?"

"..." Matos was silent for a moment before replying, "Because if I had, my apprentice Moke would have died at your hands. You're not the sort to leave your opponents alive, are you?"

"No," Lude replied without hesitation. "But staying behind won't change that."

"I had to try."

Old Matos smiled and cocked his revolver. "Maybe I can leave you with a wound that'll prove fatal at a crucial moment. You never know."

"Besides, even the worst outcome would spare me the tragedy of outliving my apprentice, wouldn't it?"

"...I respect your choice." A trace of respect entered Lude's gaze.