Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 123: The Cursed Puppeteer 4

As he expected, Leifina's soul fragment was contained in the pink rabbit doll.

Woohyuk ordered Alphone to retrieve it, and as a result, Leifina recovered some of her lost memories.

However, there were still three soul fragments left, so Woohyuk couldn't rest easy yet.

“Is there any way to gather them all in one location, Alphone?”

“I haven't really made any promises like that with myselves. Because if we were to gather together and a single one of us got captured, it would be game over for us.”

Alphone said, sweeping her purple hair over her shoulder.

She was now part of Woohyuk's family and was in absolute obedience to all orders.

She didn’t even show a rebellious attitude, maybe because she had been beaten so hard.

“Then, we have no choice but to visit the entire place while making a round trip.”

“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help...”

"It does not matter. I brought you to recover the soul fragments in the first place.”

Although they were currently in a master-slave relationship, Alphone was still a prisoner of war.

She looked slightly dejected as if she were also aware of that fact.

“I will accept any punishment. But could you give me a chance to make up for my mistakes?”

“What can you do for me?”

“I know where a hidden treasure is. It's an item Angrboda cares a lot about.”

“If that’s the case, it should be in the chapel.”

“Angrboda is a witch who has once lost all of her treasures. So before she left, she prepared a few measures.”

Angrboda, the Witch of Greed.

She was obsessed with gold for an unknown reason.

According to the story in the fairy tale, it was said that she was greedy by nature, but that information wasn’t trustworthy as it was invented by wandering bards.

“Do you think that treasure has the same value as the life of my vassals?”

“Of, of course not. It may not make up for all my mistakes, but I hope it can lighten my punishment ever so slightly.”

Alphone immediately lowered her head.

Woohyuk glanced at her as he walked down the road.

“Tell me about Angrboda’s treasure.”

“It is the Hand of Midas. Once you wear it, anything it touches turns into gold.”

Alphone told the story of the Phrygian King Midas.

He had an heirloom that had been passed down from generation to generation, but he had neglected it for a long time because its ability was unknown.

But one day, when a great financial crisis hit the country, Midas went to the Witch's Forest to meet Angrboda and commissioned her to identify the heirloom.

“Angrboda recognized its powers with a single glance. But she didn't tell him the truth right away.”

Like the Witch of Greed she was, she wanted to monopolize the gold.

However, there was one problem. Only the members of the Phrygian royal family could use this heirloom.

“So did Angrboda seduce Midas?”

“Yes, she won his heart by getting a love potion from Kriemhild.”

Midas, now blinded by love, fulfilled all of Angrboda's requests.

He came once or twice a week to produce gold for her and protected the witch's forest from outsiders.

“As far as I know, Midas even turned his daughter into gold.”

“That was the beginning of the tragedy.”

Midas wasn't originally a bad king, but under Angrboda’s influence, he gradually became greedy.

So he violated Angrboda's warning and began to change the flowers in the garden into gold, but at that time the kingdom’s sole princess arrived and hugged him.

“The fact that he accidentally touched his daughter is consistent with the legend.”

“But the story after this event is completely different.”

When King Midas saw the princess turned to gold, he grieved.

So, in the end, he regretted indulging in the sin of greed, and wore plate armor and drowned himself in the river Pactolus.

When Angrboda learned of this later on, she secretly went to the river Pactolus and recovered the Hand of Midas. However, the Phrygian royal family line had been severed, and no one could use its ability anymore.

In addition, the God of Light listened to King Midas' last prayer, and all the existing gold turned to ashes and disappeared.

Angrboda was greatly shocked by this. She hid herself in the chapel and did nothing for a while. In the meantime all the flowers in her treasured secret garden withered away.

An ending befitting the Witch of Greed.

It was not known whether Angrboda loved King Midas, but one thing was certain.

‘She will definitely return to recover the Hand of Midas someday.’

He had to defeat all of the Witches of the seven sins.

If he absorbed all of their powers with Verserios, he could be given a new achievement reward or quest.

So the Hand of Midas was worth taking the time to secure.

“How stupid. Gold is a lot less valuable compared to love.”

“Haha, it depends on the point of view. Love is beautiful when it blooms like a flower, but becomes ugly when it withers and fades away.”

Aris and Petos shared their opinions.

Agnes was a dark spirit, so she just listened to the story without much thought.

“In any case, where is the Hand of Midas?”

“There is an old tree that is thousands of years old in the sanctuary. There is a big hole in it, and if you put your hand in and take out the scroll, you can enter the ruins.”

Apparently, she had created her own treasure house.

Woohyuk nodded and spoke again.

“I'll go find it when we’re done with this affair. But isn't it about time we arrived?”

“I can see it over there.”

Alphone's index finger pointed to a distant location.

A hut that looked warm and cozy.

However, it looked a little eerie because it was located in the forest, a bit far from the private house.

“Petos, do your job again.”

“Understood, Lord Asura.”

Petos approached it with a wide smile on his face.

Soon he reached his destination and knocked on the door,

“Who is it!”

A deep female voice came from inside.

‘She truly does sound like a mercenary.’

Each of the humans in whom Alphone had planted her soul fragments had useful points to them.

In the case of Angela, whom they had met earlier, she was an innocent girl, so she can easily approach her enemies without alarming them.

That was how Leifina had fallen into her trap.

She had sprayed a poison on the monelia flower and had given it to Leifina. It was a poison that reduced her resistance to debuffs and status conditions.

The female mercenary Rasha they were visiting this time also had the advantage of being able to mobilize friendly forces in the case of emergencies.

'If you act recklessly and let her escape, things will get complicated.'

If he used Petos' tracking ability, they could catch her, but there would be some turmoil on the way, and the other two soul fragments could notice them.

Of course, it was unlikely that he would let her escape, but Woohyuk decided to be cautious as this entire incident had happened because he had let down his guard.

“Ehem. I am the demon Petos, the vassal of Lord Dantalion. While Angrboda isn’t here, we have decided to receive the payment instead. We are in need of a lot of money these days.”

“What, Dantalion? I heard that moron had his ass handed to him by Asura.”

“I won’t stand still for that blasphemy. Who the hell are you to speak of my lord in such a foul manner?”

“I am Alphone, an executive of the Witch Church who serves Lady Angrboda! Even though I am in the body of a human woman due to some circumstances, I can easily prove it to you!”

Seeing a similar reaction to Angela’s, she would easily get caught.

As he waited for a while, the door burst open, revealing a woman with orange hair.

“Oh, are you the infamous flat-chested Rasha?”

“Wha, what?! How dare you... Wait, no. I'm Alphone! I said so just now, didn’t I?”

Alphone's soul fragment was confused.

She was confusing her identity due to the influence of Rasha’s soul, as well as the fact that Alphone’s soul fragment only had a few memories.

Petos kept pushing her even though he knew that fact.

“How are you going to prove it? You’re just the flat-chested Rasha in my eyes.”

“Stop saying I’m flat-chested! Just what aspect of me... Ah, why do I keep acting this... I'm not Rasha...”

“So who are you?”

"I am… Alphone... Lady Angrboda's faithful servant...”

“Are you sure you are Alphone? Now, let me ask you a question here. Do you remember where you first met Lady Angrboda?”

“…I don’t. I don’t remember. I’m just a fragment of Alphone.”

“Look at that. You’re just a liar and a fake. You were calling yourself Alphone seconds ago.”

"No! I… I…”

Rasha showed symptoms of schizophrenia as she grabbed her head with both hands.

Woohyuk attacked her without missing the opening.

Whack!

Thud!

Thwack!

“Aaagh!”

Rasha screamed at the continuous punches.

Alphone, who watched the beating, used the soul separation technique to absorb the fragment of her own soul.

“Where is the doll?”

“…In the drawer to the right of the makeup desk.”

Creak!

Woohyuk immediately opened the drawer and told Alphone to retrieve Leifina’s soul.

“Two to go.”

“Haha~! At this rate, I think we’ll be done before dawn.”

Unless an unexpected incident were to happen partway.

While Petos was laying the fainted Rasha in bed, Woohyuk turned his head toward the door and frowned.

“They must have noticed our strategy.”

"What? Don't tell me...”

Alphone looked puzzled.

There was no way her soul fragments would be so quick to notice.

However, the sound of the explosion subsequently cleared her doubts.

Booom!

It was definitely magic.

Their opponent was the female magician Gretel.

‘She must have brought Sylvanas, the huntress, with her.'

Since they didn't appear right away, it was reasonable to think that they were watching their movements.

It seemed like magic tools for surveillance were installed in the houses where the soul fragments lived.

'This is better. There’s no need to visit each house now.’

Apparently, they were planning to take the dolls containing the fragments of Leifina's soul as hostages.

Woohyuk expanded his senses and confirmed the location of Sylvanas.

'She’s hiding in the woods and watching over Gretel so that she doesn’t get attacked.'

It was an obvious plan.

As he waited for a while, he heard Gretel's angry voice from outside.

“I didn't think you would betray us! How can you do that? You, the owner of our main body?”

She was talking to Alphone.

Woohyuk decided to use her to confuse his enemies.

[Tell her honestly.]

[What? Then they will get absolutely furious...]

[No matter how angry they are, they won’t attack the main body.]

Soul fragments always tried to return to the main body.

It is impossible to stay in the body of another human forever.

At Woohyuk's words, Alphone nodded.

Afterwards, she looked out the window and began shouting.

“Why, you ask? I didn't want to die!”

“Even if you were to disappear, we would remain!”

“What’s the point of that?! If the main body dies, everything is meaningless!”

According to the original plan, they were to buy time and hold hostages to make Woohyuk surrender.

However, as Woohyuk unfolded his absolute space, the strategy didn’t go as they had intended, and she decided that surrendering was the next best option.

Anyway, it was more important for her to survive in this damned world rather than serving Angrboda.

At Alfone's detailed explanation, Gretel’s eyes widened.

“So we were just tools? Tools you could throw away at any moment?”

“You can join me again. We were a single entity in the first place.”

“I don’t want to disappear like this. I… I want to live more.”

The soul fragment’s sense of self was unstable.

So, although the fragment missed the main body, it seemed afraid that its current ego would disappear.

Before long, dozens of flame spheres flew towards Rasha's house.

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