Chapter 146 - Soul Doll

"Damn it."

Rynold was speechless. He tried to wrap his head around what had just happened, but unfortunately, something annoyingly wouldn't even give him time to catch his breath.

Evading another lunge, Rynold had to take care of the Duke first.

'What the hell is wrong with him?'

The attack patterns and overall behavior of the guy didn't seem to make sense. Or, at least, they don't match the way how the Duke acted before. It was only a matter of time for Rynold to figure out something was wrong.

But, he couldn't point his figure as to what it was.

Previously, the only attack that the Duke used was his black mist. It was concentrated cursed magic in the form of vapor.

But, right now, the man was throwing himself at him, physically attacking him with his own body. The attacks were significantly forceful too. It was as if the Duke's physical prowess was multiplied by several degrees.

'Calm down...'

Rynold let out a deep breath and faced the Duke. Getting worked up was no solution in figuring things out, not especially when he was in the middle of a fight.

Raising his gauntlets in front of him, Rynold was ready to fight on. For how long, though, was yet to be determined. Still, Rynold charged in.

With a quick swing of his right fist, the Duke managed to maneuver himself in a very perplexed manner. The Duke used the gauntlet as leverage and managed to somersault over Rynold like some over-qualified gymnast. From there, he used both legs and vertically kicked Rynold's back.

As Rynold was thrown back by several feet, he felt confused. Not by the force of the attack but by how the Duke did it.

'I thought he was old.'

Rynold spun back around and faced his assailant. However, immediately after turning around, the Duke was staring right in front of him. The distance between them was a foot.

Somehow, the Duke managed to close the gap between them in the brief moment that Rynold needed to turn around.

'Shit.'

Rynold tried to raise his gauntlets to defend himself, but it was too late. The fist that the Duke had thrown out was much faster than Rynold had expected. Throwing him, once again, a few feet back.

'Fucking hell.'

He couldn't help but curse from the blunt pain that he felt from the Duke's attacks. Really, it was uncanny to see a man in his late seventies be moving around like that.

Luckily, Rynold had the Mana Defense: Protecting Light. It still hurt, granted, but Rynold couldn't even think of how much more it would hurt if he didn't have the spell on.

As he stared at the Duke, Rynold couldn't help but notice the man was moving quite erratically. It wasn't like any movement Rynold had seen a human being could do before.

Even if the Duke had gained some massive increase in his physical strength, there would still be some human resemblance.

But that wasn't really the case right now.

The man's back was hunched by several degrees while he swayed side to side. It was weird even by Rynold's standards. If he hadn't known any better, Rynold would've mistaken the Duke as a beast.

While Rynold took two seconds to analyze the Duke's changes, the man lunged at him. While his attacks were powerful, how the Duke lunged at Rynold was rather straightforward.

Rynold shifted his abdomen to the side, making the Duke's claw-like hand completely miss its target. From there, Rynold quickly grabbed ahold of the Duke's hand and kneed the man's chest.

With the swift exchange, the Duke unintentionally spit out drool. Rynold, taking advantage of this, immediately threw the Duke to the ground.

As Rynold faced the Duke's back, he quickly slammed his Mana Gauntlet into the ground. Rynold was certain that the impact shattered the Duke's spine or at least caused some injury to it.

However, Rynold wasn't done.

He grabbed the Duke by the back of his shirt and threw him into the air.

What followed next was a series of attacks that Rynold used to make the Duke completely incapacitated. Rynold did not hold back. Not in the slightest. Using his grapple to maneuver in mid-air while throwing attacks at the Duke made Rynold feel cool.

With consistent punches and kicks Rynold threw at the Duke, he couldn't help but notice something abnormal in the man's behavior. Well, something abnormal on top of the Duke's already odd actions.

Any remaining sense of humanity that the Duke had was no more. Rynold was completely sure of it.

The eyes that had previously looked at Rynold with discontent were nowhere to be seen. Not only that but the Duke's face was disfigured by several degrees. The Duke's pale face was riddled with dark spots.

Rynold was sure that the man had been sick prior to their fight, but he was nowhere near this sick.

After noticing this, Rynold quickly slammed his Mana Gauntlets into the Duke with a backhand. The Duke was thrown back to the ground with great force, making Rynold sure that the Duke couldn't stand anymore.

"You're still awake, right? Talk. Now."

Rynold stood over the Duke that was lying on his back. Rynold made sure to have hit him hard enough to incapacitate him but not directly kill or knock the man unconscious.

However, the man didn't answer. No. In fact, the Duke answered with a gargle.

'Is he choking on his own spit?'

It was a fair assumption in this case. Rynold wasn't sure if the Duke was sane enough to actually answer. What the man was currently doing resembled a rabid dog, his mouth covered in foam.

'Scan.'

Rynold activated the extremely basic skill that he had for some time now. Through his experiments, he learned that the [Scan] skill didn't work on people. Elves and humans alike.

Still, Rynold had no other choice. And, consequently, the spell answered back and provided Rynold with a lot more information on the situation. Well, it wasn't good information, but information nonetheless.

===

[Soul Doll (Unstable) Lvl ???]

A being that lost its soul to corruption. Soul Dolls are made from living vessels with active Mana Cores. In the process, these vessels will lose whatever will and consciousness they have. However, this particular Soul Doll still has a sliver of its will left.

===

Rynold didn't have to read the whole thing to learn that this was bad. To make constructs out of living beings was very high-caliber magic. Even then, 'Soul Doll' was too ominous a name for a construct.

The Duke was now classified as a monster. It meant that Rynold would earn some benefits if he killed the Duke. Experience points. Loot. Those things made it easy for Rynold to separate human and non-human creatures.

But, right now, Rynold was at a fence.

"Say something."

Gritting his teeth, Rynold opted to reason with the Duke.

Since the description from Rynold's Scan said that he had some piece of his consciousness left, Rynold decided to give the Duke a chance.

Unfortunately, that was a bad idea. Rynold definitely did not know what he was in for, considering how unstable the Duke's current condition was.

The Duke did not respond at all. In fact, the man looked at Rynold with a completely nonchalant look on his face.

"Say. Something."

Rynold prodded on once more. He was looking down, directly at the Duke, who still had a blank expression.

Clearly, they were getting nowhere.

"I don't fucking get it! Why the hell won't you say something?! Nothing to justify any of your actions?! All of those people died! All of those fucking people died just so that you can get what you want! And yet you say nothing?! As far as I can tell, you absolutely deserved what happened to you..."

Frustrated, Rynold decidedly turned around. He had finally exploded. He couldn't easily keep in the thoughts that he had gathered up until this point.

It had gotten to the point where Rynold's heart could take no more.

Unfortunately, though, the Duke could not understand anything Rynold had just said. The man's soul was barely in his body as it is.

Therefore, so long as the Duke remained silent and abrasive, Rynold was only left with one rather unideal option.

Rynold wiped his face as he psyched himself up for what he was about to do. He let out a deep sigh as he turned around and faced the Duke, ready to put the man out of his misery.

But, just when Rynold turned around, the Duke lunged at him, jaw wide open. Reacting, Rynold reflexively turned his head to the side.

"Graah!"

The Duke's unhinged and untethered attack made contact directly with Rynold's left shoulder. He winced in pain as he raised his gauntlets to punch the Duke off of him.

However, it was of no use as the Duke latched on to him like a predator to its prey.

"Shit!"

Gritting his teeth from the pain, Rynold extended his drill and stabbed it directly at the Duke's abdomen. Following this, wisps of fire suddenly started to appear on the drill as it spun wildly.

'Augment: Flaming Spire!'

The sound of fire suddenly alighting the drill made for an intense attack, instantly repelling the Duke back several feet.

From there, Rynold kept Flaming Spire up and put it over his left shoulder, cauterizing the wound. It hurt like absolute hell, but Rynold had to push through.

Rynold's face donned a disgruntled look as he faced the Duke with great anger. It was then that Rynold didn't consider him to be a person anymore.

No, the thing that was standing before him was a monster.

As Rynold stared at the Duke, he noticed that the creature's wounds were healing at a visible rate. Soon, the Duke was now back in perfect condition.

'Tsk.'

Clicking his tongue, Rynold steadied himself as he prepared to fight against the Soul Doll. However, he couldn't help but feel a little self-doubt.

Rynold was, in a word, tired. Not to mention the gigantic wound on his left side, Rynold knew that fighting was not the best thing to do right about now. Even doing something as simple as raising his left arm was pure agony.

"This would've been a whole lot different if you could actually talk."

His words fell on deaf ears as the Duke dashed at him recklessly.

"Damn it."

Rynold anticipated the attack and dodged to the side once more; his movements have noticeably dulled.

The fight between the two continued for minutes. One side constantly throwing himself at his opponent while the other receiving said attacks poorly. During which, Rynold thought to himself what he could have done differently. What slight action would have alleviated the whole situation.

However, he soon came to the conclusion that the problem in itself was out of his hands. The man responsible was the ogre so-called "Skeem." This entire series of events was based on that one ogre.

'Whatever.'

Rynold threw a right jab at the Soul Doll, only for the man to dodge to the side and hit him back. He was getting pummeled, continuously so.

But still, Rynold continued to brace the attacks head-on and fight back. He even consciously decided to maintain Speed-form, as the Soul Doll was too fast for him to fight against.

The exchanges soon became more and more uneven. Rynold was consistently being forced back as the Duke's advantage gradually grew. The two continued on fighting until...

"I... I'm... s-sorry..."

An excruciatingly quiet voice suddenly rang Rynold's ears. The Soul Doll standing before him had suddenly stopped moving; the distance between the two was wide.

Rynold's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the Soul Doll whose expression seemed to have darkened. As Rynold tried to glance at the look on the Soul Doll's face, something dropped to the ground.

A teardrop.

The creature's, no, the man's eyes suddenly softened into regret.