Lord Of Puppets

Chapter 258 – Towards the meeting – Part 2.

"So... This is the place?" – asked the emperor as he alongside the vampire left the carriage and stood in front of the somewhat silent forest, alongside the empire elite knights.

"Yes sir... This is the destination we were instructed to come." – said the hooded knight.

"However-"

"It is a right place." – said the echoing voice female voice.

"!?"

"Whose there?!" – shouted the knight as every single one of the escorts got ready to fight.

"It’s me, you numbnuts." - said the echoing female as somebody was slowly walking out of the forest.

"..."

"Stand down." – said the emperor.

"NOW!"

"..."

The escort knights slowly put their weapons down as the figure finally made their appearance.

"I thought you would take your time or the whole chaos in the city would take you more than a day to resolve.... But I guess you worked way faster than I thought." – said Ariava who came out of the forest to greet the emperor and his group, while showing off her true form.

"Do you want to catch a breath or something? Or can we go inside already?"

"...No... We are fine." – said the emperor who was somewhat keeping his poker face.... But not completely, as he needed to clench his fist in order to stop it from shaking.

"Hm... Fine." – said Ariava as she turned around towards the forest.

"Then fallow me."

"Oh wait, do you want me to somehow conceal your carriage or something like that?" – asked Ariava.

"N-no... We will have some of our men just guard it alongside the horses." – replied the vampire.

"Okay!" – replied Ariava.

"Then come in. I will bring you to the meeting spot." – said Ariava as she began leading the group right into the forest.

And from the get go, the group could feel overwhelming tension on themselves.

Why?

Because the monster that could wipe them all out was leading the way.

It may had revealed their empty completely undefended back to them.... But at the same time, they were not foolish enough to even think to attack that monster.... Since it would result in one thing.

The massacre.

...

However, even though this "monster" was leading the way, she wasn’t doing really anything weird or suspicious.

She was leading the way slowly and steady, making sure that everybody will be able to traverse the forest territory without any problem.

She wasn’t rushing it or anything.... But.

The fact remained that she was leading the group deeper and deeper into the forested.... And before long, the tension would sky rocket.

"!"

"You don’t need to take out your weapons." – said Ariava as without even looking in the knights’ directions could tell that they were reaching for their weapons.

"They won’t bite or even lift a finger at you."

"..."

"Do as she says." – said the emperor, ordering the knights to stand down.

So... Why did the knights tried taking out their weapons?

The reason was simple.

They saw something in the distance.

A massive number of figures amongst the trees.

Obviously, that made everybody in the group nervous.... But again.

They had no choice but to move forward as the woman told them to.

"!?"

And as they came closer, they realized what those figures were.

Golems.

But not some few golems.... No.

It was a straight up massive army of them.

Different kind of golems, ranging from earth golems to knight golems were present.

Even boss type golems were present.

...However.

They were not doing anything.

The golems were not moving an inch no matter what.... And they formed two long walls with their bodies, creating a pathway for the group, which Ariava led the group through.

...

It was extremely obvious that they wanted to complain or straight up scream

YOU WANT US TO GO THROUGH THAT?!

That would be a very common reaction, considering that these very golems had straight up committed an act of genocide.

These very same golems that they walked between were the very same golems that committed the acts of the mass genocide that happened in Mevon territory....

But even so, nobody complained or raised questions, as they just walked nervous between the golems.

And there is really no point in asking why.

(But still... What the actual is she planning?) – thought vampire Korwan as the group continued heading deeper into the forest while being surrounded by army of the motionless golems.

(Why isn’t she doing anything?)

(By now she must had countless perfect opportunities.... And even now she has a perfect one0

(We are already extremely deep in the forest and we are now even surrounded by the golems.)

(Even with the empire elites, I don’t think we would have any chance at escape.... And she must be aware of that.)

(And yet... She is leading us?)

(What the fuck is going on?)

The vampire leader realized that the woman had and still possess countless opportunities to do "something" with the two leaders.

And yet?

She is not doing anything.

Which only terrified the vampire leader even more.

That lack of action.

...

However, it would became apparent why the "monster" was bringing the leader so deep into the dungeon.

"?"

(What is this thing?) – thought the emperor as the group arrived at the construction site.

(Is something like.... Are they building a base here?) – thought the emperor as the group went through the construction site and arrived at the other side of the wall.

"!?"

"Wait, excuse me if I’m speaking out of turn right now." – said the vampire.

"By any chance, are we holding the meeting inside of the dungeon?"

"Hm? Why of course." – replied Ariava.

"I mean, the one you will be having the meeting with isn’t just me."

"It is just dungeon master."

"What? Did you thought you will be only talking with me? I did pretty much said that this will be a peace meeting between you and the dungeon master from the start."

"Or what?"

"Are you thinking about running away now?" – asked Ariava with a smile on her face.

"NOPE! WE WILL ATTEND IT!" – replied the emperor instantly.

"Great! I knew you weren’t cowards! Common!" – said Ariava as she started leading way right into the dungeon.

The group with obvious hesitation walked towards the dungeon entrance.... Before then entering the dungeon all together.

(Is this really a dungeon?) – thought the vampire leader as he inspected the area around him, inspecting the dungeon interior and also noticing the golems standing aside, opening path for the group to pass by.

(I mean, the chances of the...)

(Fuck....)

(If this is really nothing like fucking with us and we are really dealing with a dungeon... Then aren’t we somewhat fucked?) – thought the vampire as he realized that trying to ’enslave’ the dungeon in the past may or may not had... Somewhat made his whole situation beyond hopeless.... Which somewhat made the vampire almost scream out loud in despair.

(No! Don’t give up yet! She hasn’t fucking killed us yet, so that means we still have a chance!)

(We still don’t know the relationship between the two, so maybe.... Maybe we are not truly fucked?) – thought the vampire as the group arrived in front of what appears to be a giant pair of doors.

"Okay. We reached the end." – said Ariava as she led the group to the reinforced door.

"Behind this spot there is a battle zone where a dungeon boss monster is waiting."

"But for today it will be used as our meeting location, so please ignore the golem with four arms."

"Anyway, please mind your manners when you are inside." – said Ariava as without waiting opened up the door.

The group fallowed behind Ariava with hesitation into the room... And upon their arrival, the group already saw a series of tables alongside several chairs, which were already prepared for the group’s arrival.

"!"

(Porai!) – and instantly upon arrival, vampire leader instantly spotted the missing pure vampire Porai, sitting near one of the tables in the middle of the room.

(So, she is really here!)

(And alive non the less!)

(Damn. So, they really did came here.) – thought Porai as she and the vampire leader made a direct eye contact.

"?"

(Wait... Who is that near her?) – thought Korwan as he noticed a figure sitting on of the bit bigger chairs, a humanoid creature made out of metal and iron which had somewhat carved out humanoid looking face.

A humanoid golem that was made in the image of a human.

(What is that thing?)

(It is not like the other ones...) – thought the vampire leader as he saw the mentioned four-armed golem, standing in the isolated corner of the room.

(The boss monster is there.... But if it is there.... Then what is that thing here?)

"Fallow me you two." – said Ariava to emperor and vampire leader.

"And rest of you, there is a spot for you there. We also prepared some food and water if you are tired so you can take a break." – said Ariava to the escort knights while leading the group towards the middle of the room.

"..." – the emperor gave a signal to his people to fallow the woman’s instruction and split up, while both the leaders approached the massive table where the humanoid golem and Porai were sitting at.

After getting at the table, the two men instantly sat down at their designated spots.

"Well then, thank you both for coming for this sudden out of place meeting." – said Ariava.

"I hope I wasn’t bothering you too much."

"But hey.... Let’s not dwell on it, shall we?" – asked Ariava with a wicked smile, which somewhat put the two men on guard.

"Anyway, introduction time."

"You are probably wondering who this guy here is, right?"

"Well, he is the one who you guys are at the war with right now."

"And the one that wants to bring the peace."

"Meet Thauma."

"The dungeon master of the golem dungeon."

[Thauma – Humanoid doll body]