Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 885 Puppets of Deception: Retreating

Puppets, all the soldiers that had fought against the Elais forces that attacked the base were indeed puppets.

Of course, they were not normal puppets, otherwise, the Elais forces and the mysterious team would have noticed it right away.

With the combined powers of Solis, Lumi, and Reign, they were able to create puppets that acted like regular people and even had the strength of the average soldiers. None of the three could create such life-like beings by themselves, but together, they were able to do so.

This had been a part of their plan for a while.

Let the enemies strike, and wait for them to show their powers while fighting the puppets, risking nothing during the process.

Lumi and Solis were masters of illusions and tricks, with the two of them working together, they were able to create puppets that they could control. The puppets looked similar to regular people, but their movements were not good at all.

By placing illusions over them, they were able to make them look exactly like the soldiers of Irason, and Reign was the one who gave the final touch.

He gave them souls.

He used hundreds of souls that he had captured in the past and placed them inside the puppets, allowing them to act similarly to regular people. There was no need to even spend much energy on controlling them as simply giving them a command was enough for them to do what was needed.

In a normal situation, none of the three would use something like this.

After all, they all spent a ton of energy, and mana, as well as some things that cannot be replaced easily.

Both Lumi and Solis spent materials to create the puppets and place illusions on them by drawing some runes on their bodies while Reign had spent a lot of souls that he would not be getting back.

After being placed in the puppets, they were free from him, and upon being destroyed, the souls would leave the bodies and go wherever souls went, without him being able to capture them again.

The mysterious team and the Elais forces, now faced with the revelation of the puppetry, looked at Reign and his team with a mix of surprise and wariness. The illusions had served their purpose well, and the enemies had revealed more of their abilities than they might have intended.

Now, with them being surrounded, they were in quite a tough spot compared to before.

Reign smiled, but the enemies were unable to see his smile as he, as well as all 7 of his teammates, were wearing robes that concealed their appearances.

The mysterious team was wearing the same robes, and for some reason, even during a battle when they were moving incredibly quickly, the robes would not move, they would still continue concealing their appearances.

The tension in the air escalated as both sides assessed the unexpected turn of events. The Elais forces and the mysterious team found themselves surrounded, with the revelation of the puppetry leaving them in a precarious situation.

Reign, maintaining his calm demeanor, addressed the surrounding enemies, "Well, well, everything went quite well."

"This is the first time we met, although I can't see any of your faces, it doesn't matter."

"Surrender peacefully, and we may spare you the trouble."

"After all, we are all here for a mission, even if you fail it, it's better than to lose your lives, right?"

The hooded leader of the mysterious team, realizing the disadvantage they were in, exchanged a glance with the other members. Without uttering a word, they simultaneously activated a hidden magical array embedded in their clothes

In an instant, the mysterious team vanished from their current positions, leaving behind an afterimage of shimmering light. The sudden disappearance caught the Irason and Elais forces off guard, creating a momentary lapse in the encirclement.

Reign, unfazed by the sudden disappearance, grinned. "Clever, but it won't save you."

"After all, you did leave your comrades behind, what will the Elais kingdom say when they find out?"

Before Reign and the others could say more, two arrays suddenly appeared below the two groups of Elais forces, teleporting them as well.

Just as the enemies were about to regroup, a voice echoed from all directions, seemingly coming from the air itself. It was the hooded leader of the mysterious team, addressing both Reign's team and the Irason forces.

"We value our lives more than an unnecessary confrontation. This battle is one that is too risky as victory would come with a great cost."

"Consider this a tactical retreat, you have done well to prepare such a trap, the next time we meet, things will be different."

With that, the mysterious team, utilizing their advanced magical array, teleported to a safe distance from the Irason forward base. The sudden departure left everyone present in a state of surprise and confusion.

"Tch, they prepared quite well." Reign said with a smile on his face.

Contrary to how the mysterious team saw him and the others, none of them had any robes on and their appearances were not hidden at all.

The same went for the mysterious team. After being teleported away from the base, they immediately used another array to summon the Elais forces as well before quickly moving away from the base.

None of them, not even a single person, had a robe and they were not hiding how they looked like.

The aftermath of the encounter left both the Irason and Elais forces in a state of heightened alert. Reign and his team, alongside the Irason forward base commander, assessed the situation and exchanged glances.

"They retreated strategically, leaving us with more questions than answers," Reign remarked, his gaze fixed on the empty battlefield. "But at least we've gained some insights into their abilities. Theron, what's the status of the base?"

Theron, having resumed his monitoring duties, responded, "The defenses held, and the base remains secure. No signs of further enemy presence at the moment. But they've seen our capabilities, and we can expect them to return with a more cautious approach."

Reign nodded, acknowledging the analysis. "True, we need to stay vigilant. The Elais Kingdom has witnessed a portion of our strength, the puppets will still be effective in the future, but I don't know how much."

"It's a shame we never got to see the faces of the otherworlders however." Reign said with a sigh as the Irason commander, as well as some of the Tier V combatants near him, glanced with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we weren't able to see what they looked like, those robes perfectly covered their bodies and faces, making it impossible to notice a thing."

"What robes, they weren't wearing any robes, sir Reign." One of the Tier V combatants said from the side as Seraphina and Gideon, who were with them as well, stared at the Irason forces in confusion.

"No, they were, what Reign said is right, I couldn't see any of them."

"No, we were able to see them, none of them were hiding themselves under a robe sir, I, I'm a bit confused right now." Another Tier V said as the Irason commander, as well as Reign and some other people, went quiet.

"The system?"

"Definitely." The Irason commander replied to Reign before looking at his men.

"I saw the otherworlders, but I can't remember what a single one of them looked like, can you?"

The men all started remembering what they saw, and to their shock, they truly weren't able to remember what any of the 10 looked like.

"It's … it's a haze, their faces, even their bodies seem to be obscured by some sort of mist in my memories, but … I could have a sword that there was no such thing around them when they were here." One of the men said before Reign sighed.

"It seems the system doesn't wish to let us know of each other's appearance." 

"We can safely assume that the enemy also wasn't able to see how we looked like."

"But why, why do such a thing?" Gideon asked Reign who shook his head and sighed.

"The system loves doing such things from time to time, making an already complicated challenge even more complicated and annoying," Theron said as he arrived as well.

"I can't find them with my wards, but plenty have been destroyed as well, they seem to have found them."

"So, if the system doesn't want any of us to know how the other person looked like, it might be because knowing how they look like will make the mission more difficult, perhaps a person there is someone you know or somebody you hate and wish to kill no matter what."

"In both cases, they can be a bother to the team, a liability."

"I took a good look at those ten, none of them are familiar to me, their fighting style, their appearance, well, the little I was able to see and figure out, none is familiar to me in any way." Reign said as he thought back on the person wielding a sword and using ice powers.

If he wasn't completely certain that it was a man, he might have truly believed it was Mia.