[Puppet Master] Daugli

This passive effect might stack with the Battle Goddess Bracelet. If that was true, Li Chen's quadruple-damage proc would display terrifying power. This set truly embodied the Battle Goddess's straightforward style.

After upgrading their equipment, everyone's combat power soared, especially Grandis, who wore two pieces of the set. If she could gather the complete set, she might truly be able to fight a Dragon-Level disaster barehanded.

"Keep going?"

"Maybe there's more loot."

"We won't really die anyway."

"Let's go!"

Although Tony Stark's armor had been severely damaged, it did not stop them from exploring the higher floors.

The moment they stepped into the Doll Vestibule, hundreds of lifelike stone statues intimidated everyone. Deadpool knocked on a priest statue and confirmed, "They really are made of stone."

Deadpool vaguely sensed that those statues might truly have been made from living people.

He shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought.

"Using people to make statues? That's ridiculous!" Spider-Man and Iron Man questioned in unison.

"Don't touch them! They'll wake up—"

"Wake up?! Aren't these ordinary statues?"

They had no idea that these hundred-plus statues were actually enemies waiting to be activated.

As a native of Lad Continent, Grandis knew the Doll Vestibule's secrets inside out.

"This is the second floor of Sky City, the Doll Vestibule."

"As you can see, these statues were all adventurers who were defeated in life."

"They still retain their consciousness and are completely controlled by Puppet Master Daugli."

She paused briefly before adding, "This floor is an adventurer's nightmare."

The defeated would not meet death. Instead, they would be transformed into puppets forced to fight forever, until their bodies completely collapsed.

"Now that you mention it... doesn't that suddenly feel creepy?" Spider-Man unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.

His Spider-Sense was issuing frantic warnings, as if countless gazes were staring at him.

"You called it," Iron Man said as he entered combat mode. "They're moving."

The once-motionless statues had silently formed an encirclement, trapping the four of them in the center. The sight alone would have terrified an ordinary person out of their wits.

"The statues came back to life?!"

"That's so cool!"

"Damn it! This is completely unscientific!"

The three reacted differently, yet none of them showed fear. Only Grandis remained calm.

"Fine materials... when Master returns... they shall be offered to him..." The statues spoke in hoarse whispers, clearly regarding the four as new additions to their collection.

"Ha! They're looking down on us."

"Time to show them what we can do."

"The king of meat shields, Deadpool, is ready—charge!"

Wearing the Sunfire Cloak, Deadpool shouted as he slammed straight into the mass of stone statues like a burning cannonball.

Reborn as Deadpool

His two katanas had been melted by dragon breath during his battle with Lukas. Now, Deadpool simply fought barehanded, relying on the Sunfire Cloak's burning effect to contend with the stone statues.

"Jack Bomb!"

Twenty mage statues formed hand seals at the same time, scarlet fireballs gradually taking shape amid surging magical energy. Their porcelain-doll faces were all identical, but the blazing flames in their palms were enough to make anyone shudder.

"Come at me head-on if you've got the guts!" Deadpool spread his arms as if embracing the rising sun, allowing twenty fireballs to engulf him. The Sunfire Cloak's physical-defense boost did little against magic, and his enormous health bar was instantly emptied beneath the saturated bombardment.

"Is this guy putting on a show for us?" Nightwing spat. "Don't waste your resurrection armor. Focus on dealing damage!"

"Looking to die?" Grandis pulled back Iron Man, who was about to charge. "Your reactor only has 35% power left. Can that heap of scrap take concentrated fire?" Blue light flickered from his palm cannon through the gaps in his damaged armor, reducing him to a battlefield cheerleader.

"Back to life at full health~" The charred humanoid suddenly sprang upright, a new body emerging from the ashes with a peace sign raised. "I can play with these marble figurines until the servers shut down!" Before he could finish speaking, transparent, spiderweb-like threads suddenly wrapped around his limbs.

"Wha—" Spider-Man's voice caught in his throat as a burning left hook smashed into his mask. With a crisp clatter of scattering parts, he flew backward into the ruins, tiny flames flaring up on his suit.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The young man slapped at the smoking webbing beneath his arms before flipping back to his feet.

"My body's moving on its own!" Deadpool's neck bent backward at an unnatural angle as his right arm mechanically swung upward. "Watch out for the rising dragon punch!"

The Death Knight gave the warning in advance, and Spider-Man, having learned his lesson, quickly dodged. "What's going on, Grandis?"

"He's being controlled by Daugli's Puppet Strings. Cut those threads." Iron Man released Ark Energy from his palm, condensing it into a blade of light as he rushed forward. A flash of cold light severed every thread—and conveniently sliced off the Death Knight's head as well.

The head rolled across the ground. "You did that on purpose." "My hand slipped." "Yeah right. You're a rotten old man, and rotten old men are the worst." The headless body, spraying blood, rolled nimbly, picked up its head, and pressed it back onto its neck. The wound healed instantly.

The Death Knight's dual guns roared, bullets pouring over the stone statues like a rainstorm. The impacts rang like beads falling onto jade—all the rounds bounced harmlessly off their hard surfaces. In a sense, his firepower really was a little lacking.

"Interesting materials. All of you shall become my collection." As the childish voice rang out, they spotted a black dwarf standing high atop a stone platform seven or eight meters above them, with a view of the entire floor.

[Puppet Master] Daugli! As the BOSS appeared, the system display emerged as well:

1. Demon-Level Calamity ×1 (Daugli)

2. Twenty Class Stone Statues ×4 (Ghost Swordsman/Fighter/Gunner/Mage/Priest)

"Conjoined twins?" "More like a hydrocephalic freak." The Death Knight cursed the most fiercely. "You dared control me? I'm gonna shove your head up your ass and make you crawl around looking for your mommy." The frustration of being forced to attack his allies was even more infuriating than being a puppet on strings.

Daugli looked down indifferently. Countless adventurers had become stone carvings here; the four before him were merely new exhibits for his gallery.

His fingertips tapped continuously against the ground, as though Puppet Master Daugli were secretly controlling some mechanism.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Four scarlet stone pillars burst from the ground beneath them without warning.

Grandis leaped backward and barely escaped the attack range; Spider-Man dodged in time with his keen Spider-Sense; the intelligent system inside the Iron Man armor emitted a piercing alarm.

Only Deadpool stood frozen in place as violent energy instantly swallowed his legs. Thanks to the additional health granted by the Sunfire Cloak, the chatterbox did not die on the spot.

"Watch the tactical coordination! Deal with the mobs first!"

Grandis raised the Holy Light Cross high and charged into the stone statues. The weapon of white oak carved a fierce arc through the air. According to priest training rules, every apprentice had to master melee weapons while awakening the power of holy light—a true priest should charge into battle, not hide in the back casting spells.

"God! This is simply..."

"A humanoid meat grinder?!"

"The God of War incarnate!"

The three teammates stared dumbfoundedly at the center of the battlefield. Whenever the cross swung, a stone statue would shatter in response. Combined with the Battle Goddess set's enhancement effects, some attacks even erupted with quadruple damage.

The stone statues began to retaliate instinctively:

"Straight Punch!"

"Shadow Slash!"

"Explosive Flame Fireball!"

"Rising Slash!"

Although they retained only the basic skills of their classes, the dense barrage still troubled Grandis. Spider-Man immediately fired webs in an attempt to restrain them. "I'll control the field!" However, the control effect was useless against inorganic lifeforms. Deadpool dragged his mangled body along as he shouted, "Boss, need a meat shield? Twenty years of professional beatings!"

Deadpool knew perfectly well who the core member of the team was. He immediately decided to be a good lackey and mooch some points, perhaps even snag a few new pieces of equipment. "What's this about?"

Tony Stark was surprised to discover that he seemed to have become the team's unnecessary member.

After his energy was depleted, this mid-tier armor of his was nothing more than a moving target.

Other than following along and coasting, he was completely useless.

At that thought, the corner of Iron Man's mouth twitched uncontrollably.

He had been the main damage dealer, yet now he had fallen to the point of merely coasting.

Watching his carefully crafted statues be destroyed one after another, Puppet Master Daugli's rage grew fiercer and fiercer. "You destroyed so many of my works of art. You will compensate with your bodies!" "I will make you into my most perfect masterpieces." "Puppet Theater!"

League of Heroes headquarters, president's office.

All the members were diligently grinding the guild dungeon.

The generous Light Energy Points and equipment that could greatly boost combat power drew heroes from every direction. "Little Chen, come run dungeons with us!"

Tohka burst in energetically, followed by two stunning young women—Nine-Tailed Fox and Yan Lingji.

After experiencing Void Prophet Malzahar's attack, the two of them rarely went out. Their escape from that Void Descent last time had been pure luck.

After returning to headquarters, they immediately reported the intelligence on the Void creatures to Li Chen.

Li Chen could only put the matter aside for now. After all, he did not have a Three Realms Communicator. If the Void creatures truly hid themselves, who could find them?

"Run dungeons? Can't you form your own party?" Li Chen raised a brow.

Heroes normally teamed up with one another. Asking the president to lead them was a first.

Still, with his strength, carrying others through dungeons was indeed effortless—as long as it was not a God-Level disaster, everything was trivial before a max-level whale like him.

"Everyone says the dungeons are too hard. Carry me, please." "Wait? You can play like that?"

Thor, who had been sitting nearby looking dejected, suddenly came to his senses, his face filled with shock.

He had never heard of asking the president to clear dungeons for you!

Had he missed the perfect chance to cling to a powerful thigh...

Thinking of his previous agonizing experiences of dying over and over in Hell-level dungeons, Thor suddenly felt incredibly stupid.

"Carrying you all... isn't impossible, but..."

"But what?"

"Fine, it's nothing. Get ready, and I'll take you to run the Super Dragon Dungeon." Li Chen waved his hand.

If Thor had asked him to carry him through a dungeon, Li Chen would definitely have refused without hesitation. But since Yatogami Tohka was the one asking, he was free anyway, so taking her through three guild dungeons was no big deal.

"President, can we discuss something? Take me along too..."

"You've already used up today's dungeon runs."

"Then tomorrow..."

"No."

"Can't you make an exception..."

"If you're really that free, go find out why your brother came to Earth."

Annoyed beyond measure by Thor's pestering, Li Chen tossed him a photograph. The Ancient One had casually taken it while traveling. In the picture was Thor's younger brother—the "God of Mischief," Loki. He was meeting with Hydra members, and no one knew how he had made his way to Earth.

"Loki?! Impossible! I personally knocked him off the Bifrost!"

"I don't know about that. The Ancient One said there were energy fluctuations around him, so he probably isn't just some passerby who looks like him."

"Oh my God, I thought that kid was dead."

Thor actually showed a relieved expression. Although Loki had committed unforgivable acts, he was still Thor's brother in Thor's eyes—even if they were not blood-related. A thousand years of brotherhood meant this brother-obsessed man simply could not let go. Otherwise, he would not have spared Loki time and time again.

"Don't celebrate too soon. Your brother didn't come to Earth to make friends." Li Chen waved the photograph. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone looking for an organization like Hydra."

"That bastard! He still needs a lesson. I should use my hammer to knock some sense into him."

"I was originally planning to have Billy King handle this. Since you're back, I'll leave it to you."

Li Chen slapped the photo against Thor's chest, his tone calm. Loki's appearance meant that the Mind Stone was about to arrive on Earth. To keep his younger brother from being dragged into a philosophy club, Thor thumped his chest loudly.

"Leave it to me!"

"Don't screw it up. The location is Africa."