I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 107: Puppets

The fortress lingered in the distance like a mirage, ever-present but unreachable, a monolith half-swallowed by the mist. As Vale and Jade descended from the cliff’s edge, the air grew colder, sharper. Each step toward the valley felt heavier than the last—not just from the terrain, but from something unseen pressing on them, thick and oppressive like storm-wrought air.

Their path wound through rocky switchbacks and crumbling ledges. Valleys gaped open below them like hungry mouths. At times, they had to brace themselves against jagged walls as loose gravel gave way underfoot.

It wasn’t long before the mist turned to rain.

Thin at first, a soft drizzle that clung to hair and lashes, but it built steadily into something more merciless. Sheets of cold water lashed at them as the wind picked up, howling down from the cliffs like a beast on the hunt.

Vale gritted his teeth and kept moving.

"Still think this is the right way?" he asked, his voice half-drowned by the rain.

Jade didn’t slow. Her clothes clung to her skin, soaked through, mud splashed across her boots from the climb. "Mist always gets worse near mana pockets," she said. "The fortress is likely drawing power from something below. That’s why this whole area feels cursed."

Vale didn’t reply, but he noted how her hands never strayed low, always half raised and ready. Even she was on edge.

They pressed forward in silence.

By midday, the path narrowed into a ravine—walls high and close, the sky a thin gray slit above. Pools of murky water filled the uneven ground, and thick vines curled across the rocks like veins beneath skin. Fungal growths sprouted from the walls—some glowing faintly, pulsing like beating hearts.

Vale reached to touch one.

"Don’t," Jade snapped. "Some of them spit spores. The paralysing kind."

He pulled his hand back.

"What kind of mushroom can paralyse awaken?" he wondered as he moved away from the fungus.

The ravine stretched on for hours. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the narrow space, a haunting rhythm broken only by distant growls and the occasional flutter of wings above.

Then came the real trouble.

They found the corpse near a bend in the path—a hulking beast, twice the size of a horse, felled with its spine cracked open. Blackened burns curled across its fur. Whatever had killed it hadn’t just attacked—it had dismembered it.

"Too big for those six-legged things," Vale muttered, eyeing the puncture wounds in its chest.

Jade knelt by the body, brushing wet hair from her face. "This was fresh. See the blood? Not congealed. Maybe a few hours old."

Vale looked down the ravine. The fog ahead was denser. "Whatever did this might still be close."

"Most likely," Jade said, nodding her head.

That earned her a glance. She didn’t elaborate.

They moved on warily, the path now slick with fresh blood and rainwater. The silence shifted—less natural and more expectant. Even the wind seemed to hush.

They were being watched.

At first, it was just a prickling in the back of Vale’s neck. Then, something shifted in the mist.

A blur.

No sound, no scent—just a faint movement.

Vale’s hand went to his sword. "Left," he whispered.

Jade didn’t ask questions. She spun low, her arm raised, as something lunged from the rocks. It was fast—humanoid in shape but boneless in motion, like tendons were pulling it in unnatural directions. Its mouth gaped open in a soundless scream as it barreled toward them.

Vale met it head-on, blade flashing. He caught it mid-lunge and drove it into the wall. Black ichor splattered across his chest.

A second came from above.

But Jade was already moving.

She rolled under its swing and sent an onslaught of slashes from her arm. The creature turned into a mist of blood as her ability decimated the opponent.

"Weak... Weirdly so," Jade said, deep frown on her face.

Vale nodded as he stared at the lifeless corpse.

"The system didn’t announce the kill," he noted in his head. It wasn’t often that such things happened. After all, the system never made mistakes.

Those things weren’t normal monsters.

"Any idea what those things could be?" He asked, looking at Jade, who was now kneeling beside the remaining corpse and searching through its insides.

"No mana crystal," she stated, "They seemed to be controlled from outside."

"Control from outside?" Vale echoed the words, "What do you mean?"

"What else?" She asked as she got up to her feet, "Those are puppets"

"Puppets?" Vale scratched the back of his head.

"You’ve never encountered a monster that controlled puppets?" Jade asked, almost surprised at his lack of knowledge on the matter.

"Is it a common thing?" Vale asked.

She paused for a couple of moments before answering.

"I guess not," she said, her voice low.

They didn’t speak much after that. Every rustle of leaves, every shift in the fog made their hands twitch toward weapons.

By evening, they found an overhang—a natural shelter jutting from the cliffside. It wasn’t much, but it kept the rain off. Jade started a smokeless fire using powder from her belt pouch and flint.

Vale sat near the edge, watching the mist shift below. He hadn’t seen stars all day. The clouds above looked more like bruises than sky.

Jade passed him a strip of dried meat. He took it, chewing silently.

After a moment, he said, "How many of those things do you think are out there?"

"I encountered an Unhallowed Monster that could control puppets. It had only four at the time... But I suppose the number can increase with the Rank."

Vale nodded.

"At least four..." Vale thought, "That wouldn’t be too bad"

They slept in turns, each waking to silence thick as a grave. Somewhere in the night, Vale thought he heard a scream in the far-off dark. But when he looked at Jade, she was already awake, staring deep into the fog.

They didn’t mention it in the morning, perhaps both of them thought they had misread or imagined it. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The rain had stopped, but the path was no easier. Thick mud clung to their boots, slowing every step. Twice, they were forced to double back—dead ends marked by collapsed rocks or trails so overtaken by vines that not even light could slip through. The air hung heavy with the stench of rot, and soon, Vale began to notice something unsettling scattered along the path’s edge.

They were small, smooth and pale.

Not animal bones.

Those were Human.

He crouched beside one set, half-buried beneath the gnarled roots of an old tree. The damp soil around them clung to the remnants like a grave that refused to let go.

"They were killed here," he muttered, his voice low.

"No," Jade corrected, her brow furrowed with a faint frown. "They died here. Probably waited out the storm and never moved again."

"How do you know?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

But Jade didn’t answer. She only stared down at the bones, her silence deeper than the woods around them.

That evening, they reached a ridge overlooking a narrow land bridge—the final stretch before the deeper valley, where the fortress lay shrouded in mist. But the bridge had partially collapsed, worn away by time or perhaps something less natural. What remained was no wider than a single person’s stance, and on either side yawned a drop so steep it vanished into the fog below.

Vale stood at the edge and stared, jaw tight. The memory of falling—plummeting alongside a crumbling bridge in his last trial—flashed vividly through his mind. His fingers twitched toward the hilt of his sword before he pulled them back.

Jade set her pack down and crouched beside a patch of dirt, pressing her fingers into the earth. "We’ll wait here. Get some rest and we’ll cross it in the morning."

Vale gave a slow nod. He wasn’t eager to step onto another crumbling bridge—not tonight.

There was no fire. Just cold darkness, and the quiet tension of something unseen waiting across the gap.

As they lay in silence beneath the shattered canopy, Vale finally spoke.

"Do you think going to that fortress is a good idea?" His voice was low, almost uncertain. Memories clawed at him—visions of the dark castle, the screams, the blood. So many lives lost. Since the moment he had stepped into that cursed place, death had followed like a shadow. A quiet doubt began to creep into his mind, whispering that maybe, just maybe, those people might still be alive if he had never come.

Jade didn’t look at him. Her gaze remained fixed on the stars, or what little of them could be seen beyond the mist.

Her voice came quiet, but steady. "It’s the only choice we have right now."

Vale stared up at the sky, fractured by clouds and shadow. After a long pause and a faint exhale, he murmured, "Then we’ll keep going."

And once more, the mist rose to swallow the stars.