Chapter 191 - A Soul Doll? Here?

"What the hell?"

Those were the last few words Rynold said before things went from creepy to downright terrifying. Because, as Rynold stood in awe, the humanoid creature's head started moving erratically.

Rynold hesitated. Against his better judgment, Rynold was still standing there like a deer caught in headlights. In complete shock and surprise, Rynold flinched as the head shaking became something creepier.

Like an owl, the humanoid creature turned its head — in an overly slow and emphasized manner, too. That said, the monster seemed aware of Rynold's presence as its head faced him while its body remained still. Rynold, on the other hand, wasn't impressed.

'This is some fucked up shit.'

The erratic movement stopped as soon as its head turned by 180-degrees. Its body faced the opposite of its head, much like an owl. It was the most unnatural thing Rynold had ever seen. And, unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

As the humanoid gazed into Rynold's face, Rynold gazed back. It was unintentional such that no part of Rynold would ever want to do something like that. But, alas, there he was, staring at the creature's face.

Or, well, that was supposed to be its face.

What Rynold expected to be some disfigured, absolutely terrifying face was instead something else. The face that greeted Rynold wasn't a face at all. Specifically, there were no eyes, mouth, nose, or any distinct facial features. It was blank.

The face wasn't a face at all. Rynold even squinted his eyes to make sure what he saw was true. The creature's bald head and the blank face were disgruntling. With a somewhat more focused look, Rynold could notice some things.

There were dents where its eyes should have been. Any sign of the nose or ears was gone. Lastly, the creature's mouth was still there. Although, Rynold couldn't tell what use it would have left after its teeth were gone.

What Rynold noticed wasn't much, he had to admit, but noting it one by one made Rynold shiver. It had even sent chills down his spine as he clenched his teeth in terror.

As it stands, though, it doesn't seem like the creature would be doing anything anytime soon. So, having the upper intellectual capacity, Rynold was the first to move. With True Caliber in hand, Rynold wanted to take the thing down in one swift attack.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be an option.

Soon as Rynold moved, the creature caught sight of this and opened its mouth. Rynold was confused as to what it was trying to do. But, that didn't stop him from raising his firearm and aimed it at the creature.

Thud!

Something suddenly knocked the wind out of Rynold as he nearly fell off the tree branch he was standing on. He quickly glanced around to see where it came from, but the trajectory and timing of the blast made it far too obvious.

His eyes landing on the creature's open mouth, Rynold's eyes narrowed in skepticism. The mouth the creature bore extended beyond human capabilities. Its jaw was now wide beyond reason, reaching the center of its torso. It had done all of this while its body was facing the other way.

Suffice it to say: this was beyond creepy.

In the brief moment that Rynold hesitated, the monster took this chance to fire another projectile. This attack would have been more effective in close range. But, Rynold wasn't going to give it that chance.

With that bastard of a creature standing still, Rynold knew what he had to do. His opponent was now an immovable turret; Rynold could easily counter this thing by moving around.

Now that he had a plan, Rynold shifted his weight to the heel of his feet. In doing so, Rynold let his balance go and plummeted to the ground, using gravity to his advantage.

As he freefell, Rynold looked at the creature. From where he was falling, Rynold could see the creature's mouth shift to where he was. There was no delay in following Rynold's movements at all.

'Shit.'

Knowing this, Rynold knew the only way out was to move faster or at least outmaneuver it. It won't be easy. But, it sure as hell would be doable.

Sparing no time, Rynold shot his grapple to a nearby tree branch. Using that as leverage, Rynold broke his fall and shifted his weight to swing himself around.

He then landed on another tree branch and glanced at the creature's movements. It was still following him. So, not daring to stand still, Rynold jumped from one tree branch to another. He wanted to find an opening, an opportunity that would kill this thing in one fell swoop.

'Damn it.'

The humanoid creature's targeting was too on-point for Rynold to shake. Even with the Accord Sphere's assistance, the thing seemed infallible.

Axiom scanned the trajectory of the invisible bullets. Dictum blocked them whenever Rynold couldn't dodge on time. Maxim was taking potshots at the thing, but it was to no avail. At this point, Rynold considered that the humanoid was more of a walking turret than anything else.

Rynold couldn't outmaneuver the target on his back. The Accord Spheres were only making the attacks more bearable. So, Rynold knew what he had to do.

Without hesitation, Rynold shot his grapple to the humanoid creature itself. The rope made out of Mana wrapped itself around his opponent as Rynold landed on the ground.

Feet planted, Rynold then pulled on the rope. With the line made out of Mana, it was unbreakable. So, without the slightest tinge of doubt, Rynold pulled until the damned thing fell on the ground.

Thud!

The humanoid creature fell to the ground and was now a few feet away from Rynold. With Mana Gauntlets extended, Rynold walked forward and stopped just before his assailant. But, before Rynold would go and kill it, though, he first had to do one thing.

'Scan.'

He wanted to do this all along, but Rynold never got an opportunity to use it. Thankfully, Rynold could now do this without any worries.

[Soul Doll Lvl 28]

Immediately noticing this, Rynold instinctively took a step back. His thoughts were a mess as Rynold kept rereading and rereading the window that popped up.

'A Soul Doll? Here? In Ark City?'

His previous encounter with a Soul Doll did not go well. The Soul Doll Skeem created left a sour taste in Rynold's mouth. The fight against it left an even worse feeling. As Rynold stood before this Soul Doll, he vividly remembered his fight against the Duke.

However, as Rynold noticed, there were some differences between this one and the Duke. One of which was the level of this particular Soul Doll. In which case, Rynold could actually see it.

If there were a significant level gap between a person and a monster, Scan wouldn't be able to see it. It was true for the Duke Soul Doll. The level gap between them at the time had been significant. Luckily, it was unstable, thus allowed Rynold to defeat it.

But, what about this one?

The Soul Doll in front of him was on the ground. Its open mouth was faceplanted on the grass as Rynold stood over it menacingly.

Whatever this thing was, Rynold didn't like it. The presence of a Soul Doll here worried Rynold. Sure, it was a Soul Doll weaker compared to the one he fought against before. But, a Soul Doll was still a Soul Doll. The level of Magic required to make one was something anyone could easily cast.

Standing over and watching, Rynold knew what he had to do. He even had the heart to do it. Pulling True Caliber out once more, Rynold steadied the firearm over the Soul Doll. He exhaled deeply as his eyes stared dead center on what he needed to accomplish.

"Rest in peace," he muttered underneath his breath.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of bullets emanated from the Soul Doll's body. Rynold had willed these two shots to implode from within the Soul Doll, killing the creature from the inside. And, as Rynold lowered his arm to see what he had done, he let out yet another deep breath.

A brief moment of silence ensued in the area. Rynold stood and closed his eyes. He wasn't religious, not in the slightest. But, he gave respect to where it belonged.

However, this moment didn't last very long as the sound of stomping entered Rynold's ears. He immediately turned around to see what it was, only to sigh in disbelief.

"Oh, it's you," Rynold casually mentioned as he waved his hand.

"Why did you run off on your own again?" Neana scolded as she jumped down from the shoulder of her golem. "We could've worked together, you know?"

Hearing these complaints, Rynold could tell that she was getting annoyed. It was understandable, Rynold thought, as he had done this to her more than once today. Anybody would've been irritated at this, but Rynold could only scoff and shake his head in response.

"Sorry," the tone of Rynold's voice was somewhat down, "It's a bad habit, I know. But, hey, at least I didn't get hurt this time around."

Rynold didn't make any excuses. He knew what he did wrong as he acted impulsively yet again. But, at the very least, Rynold managed to resolve this situation without any problems. All in all, it was a victory.

"Ugh, fine," Neana frustratingly moved past her irritation, "Just tell me what happened here."

The corpse of the Soul Doll was in the process of disappearing. Rynold was standing over it with an ominous presence. So, naturally, anybody that would see this for the first time would need an explanation.

"Uh...," Rynold, stunned, didn't know how to explain the situation. They didn't really have any experience with a Soul Doll. And, Rynold felt that he would only confuse Neana if he explained things from the start. With that, Rynold decided to oversimplify things.

"It's a monster. One that would've been trouble if we left it alone. So, I took care of it. It's not much trouble if you know what you're doing. But, anyway, we should get going."

Turning to the direction opposite from where they came from, Rynold started walking. But, Rynold stopped in his tracks after taking two steps forward.

"Huh."

"What's up?" Neana asked as she caught up to Rynold, who was standing not too far from her. She thought it was weird for him to stop like that for no reason.

Not needing to answer, Rynold just raised his hand and pointed forward. The slight difference in the distance suddenly made something visible.

Neana matched her gaze to where Rynold was pointing. And, almost immediately, she knew what Rynold was referring to.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah," Rynold nodded as he took another step forward. "Ark City, huh? I can't believe it took this long to get back here."

It's been almost a year since Rynold and the others left. Rynold hadn't realized it, but a part of him missed all the city life. The time when he was a student in the Academy wasn't easy. But, it was a lot easier than all the fights, challenges, and hardships he encountered over the time he spent in the New World.

But then again, a part of him was dreading going back. He stood on this small perch and watched over the city with a steady eye. Although he might never admit it, Rynold always found the Ark City skyline to be magnificent.

After taking in the sights for a brief moment, Rynold turned around.

"Let's go. We don't have all day."

"You don't have to be all serious about it," Neana snarkily commented, "Besides, do you even have a plan? What will you do once you actually get there?"

Rynold shook his head willfully as he started heading towards the stony path from before.