Is This the World of Magic?

"Call me Betty!"

The puppet Betty shot Roger a glare. "I'm a creation of the goddess. What relatives could I possibly have?"

"Look at this description. Its head flew off, and it could still attack."

Roger pointed at the post in his hand and said with a smile, "See for yourself. Sapphire-like eyes, golden hair, a dress. Its head was blasted off by a Fireball, yet it could still move and even put its own head back on..."

"Kenuosencha! Get over here!!! Give me information on these people. Let me see whether any of them are believers!"

Betty stared at the post, her eyes wide.

Good grief!

It really did resemble her somewhat.

It actually seemed to be a puppet too...

And apparently a highly advanced one with intelligence...

She was genuinely curious, but using the Divine Kingdom's authority to overlook the mortal world required precisely locating a believer or fanatic.

"Um... is it possible that you put that book in confinement?"

Seeing Betty's eyes nearly pop out, Roger hurriedly reminded her, afraid that her head might fly off again... No, this time it might just be her eyeballs.

It was simply too horrifying!

Only after Roger's reminder did Betty come back to her senses.

With a wave of her hand, a black hole appeared out of thin air.

The book's endless chatter drifted out from within.

Yet it did not come out.

"Kenuosencha, come out!"

"I'm not coming out. I'll just be locked back in here soon anyway. This is nice too. A person... a scholar like me ought to spend time in such a secluded environment. I still remember when I first gained consciousness..."

"Enough. Help me check whether there are any believers where this post was made. I promise I won't lock you up again today."

Betty's voice echoed through the dark space, but the book still did not emerge. "Also, you can use the power of rules to restrict the spread of my voice!"

Roger could practically feel Betty's emotions building up. Fortunately, several minutes later, they really did locate the place where the incident in the post had happened.

One man, one book, and one puppet stared at the scene with entirely different expressions...

The original poster really had encountered a puppet, but compared to Betty, this one was far cruder and looked obviously fake.

The kind that triggered the uncanny valley effect.

As for intelligence, it seemed to possess some, though probably not much. It merely kept muttering:

"Hehe, are you here to play with Martha? That's wonderful! I'm going to turn all of you into rag dolls! Then we can be together forever!"

At some point, the original poster and his four companions had been forced into a corner, their faces filled with despair.

"Let's do this!"

The original poster gritted his teeth and chanted several ancient syllables. He bit his finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto a seed, then hurled it at the doll calling itself Martha.

Boom—!!!

A tremendous blast rang out as countless vines burst from the seed and wrapped around the doll.

As they drew closer, the barbs on the vines multiplied, their color becoming increasingly crimson.

The instant the vines bound the doll, light flashed in another person's hand, and an Ice Spear condensed into being.

The others had also been secretly preparing something.

A sharp whoosh tore through the air.

Attack after attack flew forward.

The Ice Spear pierced straight through the doll's chest, but under the crimson vines' control, the doll still seemed unable to move.

The other spells followed like shadows, smashing into the doll one after another.

Roars and explosions echoed throughout the entire space.

Smoke filled the air.

The attacks seemed powerful, but Roger and the others, watching everything from a divine perspective, knew they had still failed to work.

The hole the Ice Spear had pierced through the doll's chest quickly healed.

The other bombardments produced no reaction at all.

Instead, the crimson vines were affected by the attacks and began to teeter on the verge of collapse.

"Ah!!! You hurt Martha! You're not here to play!"

The doll's voice came from the dust. "I'm going to eat you! If you don't want to play nicely with me, then merge completely into my body!"

They had already thrown out their strongest spells, yet they seemed to have only enraged this thing completely?!

Fear appeared on the mages' faces.

Just then, the only person in the group who had not acted suddenly shouted:

"Wraith Puppet! This is a Wraith Puppet! At its core, it's a type of spirit body. Someone in Magic Space knows about this thing! To deal with it, we need corrosive spells or mental spells! And don't let it hurt you—it can directly damage our souls!"

"Corrosive spells?"

"Mental spells?"

Watching the doll emerge from the dust, all traces of its former "gentleness" gone, its mouth somehow widened to reveal a mouthful of fangs, the group immediately steadied themselves.

But that was apparently not the only change.

As the doll swung its arms, the surrounding stones, metal objects, and furniture all floated into the air, seemingly ready to be hurled at them at any moment.

This monster could actually wield mid-order magic power!

The original poster's face turned pale. After what seemed like an intense internal struggle, he finally steeled himself and clenched his teeth. "I have a magic item that can release acid. Do any of you have similar spells or magic items?! Those who don't, hold it back and buy me some time. I need two minutes to prepare!"

As he spoke, he pulled a gray-black container from his robes, somewhat resembling a teapot and covered in all kinds of runes. Pointing it at the doll, he began to chant.

The others still looked deeply anxious, but they seemed to have no choice. They could only grit their teeth and begin casting spells.

Various chants rose once more:

"Stone Impact!"

"Fireball!"

"Ice Spear!"

"Assault Gale!"

They repeatedly cast spells at the doll and at the stones and metal objects flying toward them, but too many things were closing in. They could not hold them off at all.

Second by second, the doll drew closer and closer.

Closer and closer.

Despair enveloped everyone.

They had never known two minutes could feel so long.

Just as the doll came within ten meters of them, leaving them seemingly no room left to cast spells, a wave of magic power suddenly rose beside them.

Countless streams of foul-smelling green liquid erupted from the "teapot" and surged directly toward the doll.

A continuous sizzle, sizzle, sizzle rang out, followed by piercing screams and thick white smoke.

It was as though the doll had been thrown into concentrated sulfuric acid, gradually dissolving away.

Just then.

The image before them suddenly vanished.

Roger could not help but freeze. "Why did you suddenly turn off the TV?"

"What TV?!"

"I mean, why did we suddenly stop watching?"

"What's there to watch? It's already over. Just a bunch of weaklings fighting each other!" Betty's tone was full of disdain. "One wraith, several Low-Order Mages..."

Roger spread his hands, having no idea what she was upset about. "Um, do all spells require chanting?"

"That's merely one way for them to communicate with magic power. If they were strong enough and had other ways to guide magic power, they naturally wouldn't need to waste time."

Betty had clearly misunderstood Roger. She thought he, like her, found those mages far too slow.

But then she heard Roger say, "Puppet, I suddenly have an idea. Do you think it might be possible?"