This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 33 Puppet Master vs. Puppet Master

"You came pretty fast. Come with me."

"Where to?"

Without responding to her, Ryuji used the puppet strings to make the girl jump onto the mechanical bird, and then swooped down and flew upwards.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

The girl clung to the mechanical bird, her hands tightly gripping Ryuji's thighs, letting out a terrified scream.

Long Er glanced back at her, his brows furrowing slightly.

Just as I was about to say something, the whistling sound above became even clearer.

Look up.

In the dim light of the torches, three black dots appeared.

As they accelerated toward each other, the black dot grew larger and larger until its appearance became clear.

A puppet that is over two meters tall and resembles a medieval knight.

Holding lances, swords, drills, and other vicious weapons, they raised their free left hands from a distance of more than ten meters.

"Don't attack, I'm here!"

Sarah shouted loudly.

But the puppets did not hesitate at all, and fired kunai connected by purple chakra threads from their left hands.

"How could this be!?"

Sasha stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Ryuji ignored her, focusing on piloting the mechanical bird. As the kunai came, he spun around and brushed past the gaps in the attacks.

The extreme speed was so great that the puppets didn't even have time to react before it swept past them.

"Huff huff..."

The wind howled, making it impossible to open one's eyes.

Sasha lowered her head and hid behind Ryuji's thighs, while Ryuji was completely unaffected.

He has tactical contact lenses installed in his eyes to work with his exoskeleton armor. These lenses not only shield him from sandstorms but also provide infrared vision and data analysis capabilities.

"call out!"

The mechanical bird instantly flew to the ground level, and Ryuji launched an attack without hesitation, breaking through the tower wall and flying out through the hole.

The knight puppet followed closely behind, constantly throwing kunai from behind.

Their kunai are attached to chakra threads, allowing them to be launched and immediately retracted.

Theoretically speaking, it can be launched indefinitely.

Countless kunai flew out, hitting nearby buildings and causing a series of explosions.

Ryuji piloted the mechanical bird, darting rapidly between the towers, dodging the relentless attacks from behind and the knight puppets that joined in halfway to surround and intercept him.

While the fighting raged above, the streets below remained brightly lit, with people singing and dancing, seemingly oblivious to the commotion.

Sasha called out loudly, trying to persuade his people to seek refuge.

But it's unclear whether her voice was drowned out by the wind or if no one wanted to pay attention to her at all.

In short, things will remain the same.

Long Er couldn't stand it anymore and sneered, "No matter how stupid you are, you shouldn't be so clueless as to not see the problem at all."

"What did you say?"

"Your subjects are all puppets on strings; they are not human beings at all."

"What!?"

Sasha stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Without saying much, Ryuji rode his mechanical bird over the Queen's people, severing the puppet threads hanging from the tower.

Instantly, the people who had just been singing and dancing collapsed as if they had lost their souls.

"How...how could this happen!?"

"Why are all my subjects puppets?"

"Then where did the real them go?"

Sasha appeared dazed.

You'll find out then.

As Long Er spoke, he observed his surroundings and muttered to himself, "We're quite a distance from the dragon vein now, so we can proceed with confidence."

After speaking, the mechanical bird made a 180-degree turn in the air, opened its large beak, and extended its six-barreled Gatling gun.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!!!"

The gun barrels spewed flames, and countless fireballs shot out, instantly destroying several knight puppets.

"Bang bang bang!!!"

The puppets chasing behind opened their mouths and fired chakra cannons.

Ryuji piloted the mechanical bird, swaying left and right to dodge the cannon fire while turning around the corner ahead.

Use the buildings to block the view and circle around to the enemy from the other side to launch an attack.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!!!"

Flames spewed out, fireballs flew, and knight puppets crashed from the sky.

However, the number of puppets hunting them down did not decrease; on the contrary, it increased.

"It's no use. For decades, An Lushan has been creating a puppet army. I don't even know how many there are," Sasha suddenly said.

As the saying goes, when there is no one to rely on, people will become self-reliant.

In the original work, the naive and innocent Queen of Loulan, who only knew how to rely on Naruto, also calmly thought things through for a while when she had no one to rely on.

She knew that only An Lushan, the puppeteer, could replace all the people of Loulan with puppets.

Although I don't know why he did this, and I can't believe it.

But the facts were right in front of her, and that was the only way she could think of it.

An Lushan had other plans.

Even his mother's death might be related to him.

"I didn't intend to take down all the puppet troops by myself!" Ryuji manipulated his mechanical bird to destroy several more knight puppets, then charged toward a tall tower.

On the balcony of that tall tower stood a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes, with a thick beard and an overweight build.

As the mechanical bird flew toward him, their eyes met in mid-air.

"I've found you."

Ryuji grinned, and the mechanical bird unleashed a fist-sized orange fireball.

The middle-aged man rolled over and jumped down.

Ignoring the explosion behind him, he raised his hands, and immediately a puppet flew over to catch him, sending him flying to the ground.

"You can't escape."

With a faint smile on his face, Ryuji turned and chased after the mechanical bird, its six-barreled Gatling gun continuously firing chakra of various attributes.

An Lushan fled while simultaneously manipulating his puppets to fight back.

But how can a mechanical bird designed specifically for flight and aerial combat compare to this humanoid weapon?

Whether in terms of flight speed or agility, the mechanical bird completely outclasses its opponent.

With such an advantage, Ryuji naturally wouldn't fight him head-on. Instead, he used his mechanical bird to guerrilla tactics, taking advantage of the terrain with its towering towers in Loulan.

No matter how many enemy puppets there are, they can only be continuously destroyed and fall to their deaths.

but……

"I don't have much chakra left."

If it's just flying, the mechanical bird doesn't need to consume chakra.

However, once you enter air combat mode, both affecting airflow acceleration and continuously firing chakra bullets will consume energy.

The enemy's puppets seem endless and are familiar with the terrain.

It's impossible to defeat the enemy in a short time by relying on guerrilla warfare.

"Then let's fight head-on, as you wish!"

With a confident smile on his face, Ryuji's mechanical bird understood its master's feelings and turned to swoop down towards the enemy from the front.

"You've finally agreed to fight me head-on!"

An Lushan roared in frustration, and several knight puppets charged forward, unleashing countless chakra cannons.

"Bang bang bang!!!"

The mechanical bird didn't dodge; several chakra cannons hit its target accurately, exploding in the air with sparks.

Just as An Lushan was about to celebrate loudly, a tall, slender figure burst out from the smoke and dust.

Under the moonlight, the silver strands of hair shimmered faintly.

"Drink!"

(End of this chapter)