Along with the others, Scarlett made her way through the hidden paths of Abelard’s Doll mansion that had connected to the secret laboratory. They’d climbed dark stone stairways, squeezed past tight passageways running behind the mansion walls, and now, they eventually found themselves exiting out from behind a large painting frame into a long lobby with painted walls and bright, magical lights hanging from the ceiling. There was a tall set of doors at the end of the lobby, with a doll guarding either side. Both dolls turned to them, but neither moved from their position.

Scarlett looked around. They were before the conservatory—or rather, the boss room—and had skipped most of this section of the dungeon. It wasn’t exactly optimal, at least not when looking at it from a loot-gathering perspective, but that wasn’t an actual issue. They could always backtrack through the mansion later, after they dealt with things here. It was easier doing things in that order, really.

She shifted her eyes to the two dolls, studying them for a moment.

To her artifact-empowered sight, the telltale signs of their weak points showed as small whirlwinds of movement in their magical defenses.

It seemed the [Tablet of Sovegrephor] had done its job. She’d used it on her [Charms of Apperception] before they left the laboratory since it could be useful to see these things in the upcoming fight. The new ‘level limit’ for the charms was unknown, but considering the tablet had been epic-tier, she wagered that the [Charms of Apperception] would now work against enemies somewhere in the 65-70 range if you went by the game’s power levels.

That should be enough for this place.

She gestured towards the dolls. “Sir Leon. If you would take the lead.”

The tall man gave her a brief look before readying his sword and moving down the lobby. Both dolls remained motionless until he was within a few meters of the doors behind them. Then, as if on command, both raised their blade-like arms and lashed out at the knight.

Leon’s sword lit up as he blocked one set of arms, the other doll being pushed back by a burst of light from the blade. A moment after, Fynn came rushing in like a truck, leaping at the second doll with both arms raised and glowing claws above his knuckles.

It shifted its focus to him just in time to block the attack. Then its head was knocked back as a small bolt struck beneath its eye, creating a thin crack in its marble face.

Beside Scarlett, Allyssa quickly got to reloading her crossbow.

Fynn jumped on the opportunity and slashed his claws through the doll’s left arm, almost tearing half of it off. Scarlett conjured a wall of fire to block its sight to the left, and Shin came striking with his sword from the right. The doll blocked the man’s attack without issue, and it didn’t appear afraid of Scarlett’s flames. That was its mistake though, as a second later, Leon’s sword came soaring through the firewall and separated the doll’s head from its body in one fell swoop.

Fynn quickly moved on to break apart what remained of the doll, as the rest of them shifted their attention to the second doll to distract it for long enough that Leon could finish it off as well. A dozen or so seconds after the fight had started, both dolls lay unmoving on the floor.

Leon turned back to Scarlett with a surprised look on his face as she and the others approached him. “Did you do that intentionally?”

“I presume you are referring to the wall of fire that I created? If so, then yes. It seemed a suitable way of handling things without wasting too much mana.”

He stared at her for a moment, then sheathed his sword and turned to the doors behind him. “I didn’t know you had experience with things like this.”

“I have had my butler tutor me on the subject recently,” Scarlett said. “While I am yet far from ‘proficient’, the understanding and knowledge his teachings have given me has proven indispensable.”

She glanced to the side, prompting the system to show her current mana stores.

[Mana: 3386/4698]

Up till now, she had afforded to be frugal with her mana, but this was where things would get serious. Placing a hand into her [Pouch of Holding], she pulled out the rusty [Fireguard Knife] and put it into her belt. She was still planning on having the item restored, but its effect of boosting her pyromancy—pyrokinesis included, it turned out—worked despite that. Her experiments had shown that the boost wasn’t that strong. Maybe a bit under 10%? But it was better than nothing.

It went without saying that she already had her other items equipped as well. [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs] was activated and amplified by the [Prayer of Salvation] bracelet, in addition to several health potions that she had at the ready.

She also pulled out two mana potions. The others waited as she drank both. The taste was far from pleasant, but it refilled enough of her mana.

[Mana: 4434/4698]

There were only two more where those came from, unfortunately. Not only were the materials rarer for these than for the health potions, but there was also a limit to how many mana potions you could drink before suffering some side effects similar to mana exhaustion.

She turned to look at the others. “Are you all prepared for what comes next?”

They all nodded their heads.

“Good. Then let us proceed.”

She gestured for Leon to go first. He walked over to the doors and leaned forward as he pressed his hands against them. Loud grating filled the lobby as the doors slid open to reveal what lay beyond.

The boss room was a large, circular chamber with a vaulted glass ceiling that showed the night sky and the stars above. Lining the walls was a veritable army of the dolls they’d been dealing with throughout this section of the mansion. At the center, jutting up from the floor, was a small glass dome with a green liquid inside, and attached to the top of the glass was a large emerald.

In front of the dome, seated on a chair facing the entrance, was yet another doll. Where the other dolls were human-like in their appearances, yet still clearly artificial, this one was almost indistinguishable from an actual person. It had long, blonde hair and a youthful appearance that would make most men—and probably some women—turn their heads. Scarlett really wouldn’t have thought it to be a doll if she didn’t already know of it from before.

The others in her party sent wary glances across the room, most of their attention focused on the doll in the chair.

After all of them had stepped inside the room, the space above the glass dome shimmered as a figure started taking shape. A billowing black robe was the first thing that formed, draped over a tall, bony, and half-translucent frame. Seeping out of the robes was a faint green glow, which eventually coalesced to create a gaunt face with a pair of intense eyes that stared right at them. Or rather, right at Allyssa.

The ghost of Abelard Withersworth had appeared.

Behind them, the doors to the conservatory closed shut.

Allyssa looked back at Scarlett and the others with a light nod.

Scarlett could guess the meaning behind it, signaling for her to go ahead. The girl had wanted a chance to do things by herself first, before they began for real.

As Allyssa took a few steps forward, the ghost of Abelard started floating down towards her.

Both Leon and Shin moved forward as well, seemingly ready to act within a moment’s notice if necessary, but Abelard didn’t even appear to notice them.

“Hmm. Orelia, is that you?” the ghost spoke as he approached Allyssa, studying her. His brows furrowed into a frown. “Why are you late? I sent word for you ages ago. Ages.”

“I… I came as soon as I could, Lord Abelard.”

His frown deepened.

“…Fine, fine. It matters no more. You are here now. Come. Sit.” He turned, gesturing towards the chair where the blonde doll sat. “We do not have any time to waste. Those fools do not understand the majesty of my work here, but that will not stop their meddling. They will be here any moment now, but I will not allow them to interfere with my work! Quick. Move your feet.”

Allyssa stayed where she was. “What are you going to do?”

Abelard stopped, slowly rotating in the air to look at her. “…What was that? Why are you dallying? This is no time for your nonsense, girl. Come, hurry.”

“But there aren’t any people coming here. They’re all dead. Can’t you tell me what this is first?”

He went quiet, his gaze turning steelier. Then his eyes narrowed. “…You think to trick me?”

“What? No.” Allyssa stepped back and raised her arms. “I’m not trying to—”

“Silence.” Abelard moved his hand.

Allyssa froze, then jolted forward as something escaped from her body. Behind her, a vague, barely perceptible shape of a girl in a flowing white dress took form.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes. That looked familiar…

Leon and Shin both hurried up to help Allyssa, and Abelard’s attention finally shifted to them.

The atmosphere around him took on a much heavier presence. “Intruders? In my home?”

He uttered a phrase Scarlett recognized.

“You fools. You have come to seek your own doom. This is my domain!”

Allyssa seemed to recover from whatever happened just in time as Abelard floated back to the center of the room, stopping to hover above the glass dome.

“Come, my dears,” he cried out and raised his arms into the air. “Show these intruders their folly!”

The blonde doll came alive, rising from its seat with a gracefulness that the other dolls had lacked. Its eyes focused on Leon as the knight moved in front of the others.

At the same time, three of the dolls spread around the room also took a step forward.

Rosa’s soft voice enveloped Scarlett as the bard started performing her magic. Three different tunes quickly replaced each other, and Fynn and the others all seemed to lean forward slightly, as if filled with energy.

Scarlett felt as if a state of pure focus washed over her. Not only Abelard, but all of the dolls around the room suddenly stood out like beacons to her, including the location of each of their weak points. Their presence almost called for her mind to notice them, and she only had to exert the bare minimum of effort to comply.

It was also immediately discernable to her that the movements of the three normal dolls had become slightly slower.

Next to her, Rosa let out a long breath. “Wasn’t sure that one’d work. Never tried so many at once before, but suppose there’s a first for everything.”

Scarlett glanced at her for a second, then turned her attention back to the dolls. The boss doll, the blonde one, was staring at Leon as its sisters approached from the sides of the room.

All at once, they sprang forward.

“Back!” Leon shouted as his sword lit up to meet the boss doll’s advance. A boom rang out as blade met limb. The shockwave from the blow was enough to send Scarlett’s hair flying.

It was best to leave that doll to him.

Instead, she focused her attention on the other dolls that were rushing towards them.

Fynn’s clothes shook as the wind soared up around him, and he ran ahead to face the two dolls that were coming from the right side of the room. Shin made to meet the last one coming from the left, which Allyssa had already started firing her crossbow at.

Scarlett took a few steps back, getting an overlook of the battlefield.

She was in no rush to strike at the dolls herself. While her magic could probably injure them if she struck their weak points, in the end, these dolls were too strong for most of what she could bring to bear without getting too wasteful with her mana. They weren’t much weaker than the last boss had been in the Howling Gale’s Haunt. As for the boss doll, it had been level 65 in the game. Leon should be stronger than that, theoretically, but it was still unlikely that he could afford to split his attention between it and the other dolls.

Raising a hand, she conjured a high-intensity Aqua Mine next to one of the dolls that Fynn was fighting. With its attention focused on him, the Mine blasted through part of its defense and destabilised it just enough for Fynn to avoid the twin attacks that came from both his opponents.

Scarlett then turned her attention to the left, creating a film of water around the head of the doll that Shin was fighting. It quickly heated up and created a cloud of steam around the doll, which afforded Shin a short opportunity to retreat from its assault. The moment after, one of Allyssa’s vials came flying and landed at its feet, spreading a black goo over the floor.

Scarlett lit the substance on fire, and the doll’s legs lit up like a bonfire as it made to follow Shin.

Continuing to split her attention between Fynn and Shin, she gave her support wherever needed. Shin was by far the one at the largest disadvantage, having neither the strength nor the speed to stop the doll’s advances, but with her help, Rosa’s magic, as well as Allyssa’s concoctions and crossbow attacks, they managed to keep him on his feet for the time being.

Their side did suffer injuries a couple of times—especially Fynn, who wasn’t wearing any real armor, and whose own defense wasn’t quite at the level where it could stop these dolls—but Rosa was quick to heal them with her songs. Any time she did, however, she had to halt one of her other effects for the duration.

Eventually, with Scarlett’s help, Fynn succeeded in separating one of his opponents’ arms from its body, but it had taken too much time. At least a few minutes had passed since the start of the fight, and they weren’t making any real progress.

Leon was still keeping the boss doll busy, their fight literally causing her ears to hurt with its intensity, but it didn’t look like it was ending soon either.

Everything about this fight had followed the formula she was familiar with from the game, including Abelard not joining the fight himself yet. That meant that, if things continued at this current pace—

“Go, my dears! Teach these fools the consequences of their actions!” Abelard shouted across the room.

Another two dolls standing by the walls started moving.

—it was only a matter of time before more enemies joined in.

Scarlett looked at Fynn and Shin. Neither could deal with any more enemies.

Leon seemed to have noticed this new threat as well. He turned away from his fight for just a moment, looking back at them. “Come over here!” he yelled and a shimmer of light left him, trailing across the floor to form a circular barrier between him and them.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes at it.

That might be able to keep them safe for a bit, but it wasn’t a sustainable way of continuing this fight.

She looked up at Abelard, who still showed no signs of entering the fight. She wasn’t even sure he could. Not actually. The real man might have been an archmage in life, but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d know how to fight. And what remained was only his ghost.

She turned to Rosa and Allyssa. “Go to the barrier, then close your eyes.”

Neither of them questioned her as they hurried forward to enter the barrier of light, sending worried glances at the two new dolls that were approaching. Both had been standing on the left side of the room and were moving to overwhelm Shin.

Scarlett raised a hand. A moment later, a conflagration of flames enveloped Abelard.

The intensity and brightness of the attack almost blinded her even though she looked away, and it nearly drowned out the echoing scream that left the ghost.

She only maintained the magic for a few seconds before dispelling it.

A slightly more translucent Abelard was revealed, now staring straight at her.

“You dare!” He waved his arms in a wide movement. A dark, green light escaped from one of the dolls Fynn was fighting and the one Shin had been dealing with, flying across the room and towards the ghost.

Both dolls fell to the floor, like puppets with their strings cut, and the lights formed into a ball before Abelard. He thrust his arms forward, and the ball shot out towards Scarlett, followed by the wails of a hundred souls.

A thin mist sprung up around her, and she reappeared several meters behind where the attack slammed into the ground. The green light roiled and clung to the floor like a thick miasma, with dozens of specter-like shapes taking form in it.

She ignored the surprised expression on Abelard’s face as she raised her hand. Identifying the weak spots of the specters that were about to join the fight, she summoned dozens of Aqua Mines. A moment later, a barrage of steam and flames embroiled the shapes before they could fully manifest, their incorporeal forms disappearing back into nothingness.

Her magic really was a good counter against these things. It also helped that Rosa’s buff made it a lot easier to handle so many Aqua Mines at once.

Not wasting any more time, she turned her attention to the two dolls that were about to reach Shin, creating a pair of firewalls just in time to distract them from bisecting the young Shielder. Then Fynn came running, leaping through the air and punching one of the dolls’ heads straight into the ground as he and Shin switched sides.

Once more, Scarlett began supporting the two of them against their opponents until a certain equilibrium was reached.

She then returned her attention to Abelard. He had moved away from the center of the room, but it wasn’t as if he could escape her range. She wasn’t sure if this would work more than one time, but…

Another sphere of fire swallowed the ghost as he let out another violent shriek. When the flames died down once more, the man was glaring at her with death in his gaze.

He moved his hands again and two more dolls fell to the floor, this time the two that Fynn was fighting.

Scarlett readied herself to dodge the ghost’s attack once more. But this time, Abelard wasn’t looking at her.

For a brief moment, her breath caught in her throat as he launched the next blast towards Allyssa and Rosa. The magic crashed into Leon’s barrier, pushing against and forming cracks in it. The barrier completely shattered to the sound of a thousand crashing windows, but thankfully, the magic dissipated along with it.

A scowl appeared on Abelard’s face.

“Go, my dears! Teach these fools the consequences of their actions!” he declared yet again, with the exact same cadence as the previous time. Two more dolls started moving.

“Go, my dears! Teach these fools the consequences of their actions!”

Another pair of dolls came to life.

A caustic smile found its way onto Scarlett’s face. It seemed this ghost was stuck in his ways, to a certain degree. That meant she could at least partially control the flow of what happened and when, which was exactly what she was planning.

A battle of attrition it was…