The Villain's Cheat Code: When a Gamer Becomes the Evil God's Sidekick-Chapter 243: The Dollhouse of Fallen Puppets

"Will this really work?"

"Yes, use your hands to gently guide it out, but don't be too forceful."

"...Alright, I'll... I'll try."

Cocotte gulped as she looked up at the enormous object before her, slowly closing her eyes.

She extended both hands, gathering a shimmering energy that pooled in her palms like flowing spring water.

Natural essence quietly emanated from it, wrapping around her.

The two streams of emerald energy aimed at the Yade Divine Tree's heart, rolling past Cocotte and slowly moving toward its core.

When they made contact with the heart, Cocotte's body trembled slightly as she felt a surge of vigorous life force.

Then, she carefully turned her hands, causing the streams to accelerate and surge into the heart.

Bathed in the abundant natural energy, the tree's heart became more rhythmic and seemingly stronger.

After both streams had fully entered the heart, Cocotte let out a relieved sigh and carefully opened her eyes.

"Is it done?" Viktor asked softly, standing beside her and observing her relieved expression.

"Yes, more or less," Cocotte nodded, her expression still serious.

The tree's interior began to quiver as countless verdant branches extended from the surrounding wooden walls, forming green fruits.

In the next moment, natural energy flowed rapidly through the branches as the fruits swelled, expanding at a visible rate.

When the fruits finished growing, they emitted a pink glow, their emerald shells appearing crisp and translucent.

Looking at these mature fruits, Cocotte suddenly seemed to realize something and froze in place.

She whirled around, staring at Viktor with wide eyes as she demanded:

"Viktor! You brought me here just to make me bear children for you!?"

However, Viktor stood with his hands in his pockets, expression calm:

"Don't phrase it in such a misleading way."

He extended his hand, crooking his index finger. Countless branches swayed beneath the tree's heart following his gesture.

The emerald fruits fell simultaneously.

The transparent green shells shattered upon impact, exposing the pink bodies of newborn elves within.

Their eyes were vacant, movements sluggish.

Like dolls, the elves were casually manipulated by Viktor, walking toward Cocotte.

Looking at these zombie-like elves before her, Cocotte's mind was filled with confusion.

She could tell these elves had no thoughts of their own.

They were like puppets, completely lacking consciousness, unable to take any action without commands.

A question suddenly flashed through Cocotte's mind:

What use were these thoughtless, immobile elves?

"Merry."

Viktor stood beside her and called out softly.

As if summoned, a branch beneath the Divine Tree began to tremble as Merry Dim's white spirit emerged from the hanging dewdrop.

It circled twice in the air, leisurely selecting an elven body.

Then its eyes emitted a brilliant light, locking onto one body.

It gently descended to the ground.

That fluid-like body began to rise, the liquid on its surface rapidly transforming into the elf's form.

The elf's limbs shuddered as it stood straight, eyes focusing, instantly becoming a gentleman.

After completing this, she elegantly placed one hand on her chest and bowed deeply to Viktor:

"Your instructions, sir."

Cocotte stared at Merry Dim who had inexplicably emerged from the branch, her eyes wide as saucers.

What... what kind of creature was this?

Cocotte felt extremely confused, but she clearly sensed that the white spirit before her was definitely not an elf.

Although it had taken on an elven form, Cocotte was an elf herself and could easily tell the difference.

At this moment, Viktor spoke while looking at Merry Dim.

"As you can see."

He waved his hand, and the Divine Tree's dense branches slowly parted.

Countless human and demi-human bodies that had been created earlier hung from the branches, connected to the tree by a single cord.

They hung silently in mid-air, showing no response.

Cocotte stared blankly at those bodies, suddenly feeling dizzy.

However, as she examined the bodies more closely, she could sense the same quality in the humans and demi-humans as in the elves.

These bodies had no thoughts, not even faces.

Suddenly, Cocotte rubbed her eyes.

Wait, was that an illusion?

She thought she just saw a cat-girl who looked exactly like Viktor's sister?

However, with the demi-humans mixed in among the crowd, it became harder for Cocotte to distinguish.

Viktor lightly flicked his wrist, causing those doll-like bodies to fall completely.

He continued watching the vacant bodies and said: "Control them, give them 'movement'."

"Of course, not these four."

Viktor extended his other hand, pointing in the air to make four of the demi-humans return to their original positions.

As if they were his most precious collection.

This time Cocotte saw clearly.

Not only was Viktor's sister among them,

But the other three demi-humans with faces were people Viktor knew!

Cocotte stood frozen in place, feeling extremely shocked.

However, Merry Dim showed no concern for any of this.

She turned slightly, using gestures as precise as a carving knife to cut open the bodies' abdomens, extracting from within a mirror crystallized like snowflakes that encompassed every puppet's complete form.

Those humans and demi-humans without faces seemed to be activated by an electric current, silently raising their heads, though their blank faces remained unchanged.

Cocotte caught this subtle change.

Those bodies still hadn't been given any consciousness, they were merely puppets manipulated by an external force, completely lacking self-awareness.

However, unlike before, these lifelike puppets moved more fluidly, as if they had been given life.

Viktor calmly looked at Merry Dim and spoke in a somewhat detached tone:

"You should know what your work is."

Merry Dim nodded and bowed to Viktor again.

Behind her, those faceless puppets imitated Merry Dim, kneeling on one knee in unison.

"Of course."

"Following your will."

Viktor nodded and turned to look at Cocotte.

Cocotte was completely bewildered, still not understanding what Viktor intended to do.

"Remember the previous instance, Cocotte?"

Cocotte was startled, and hearing Viktor say this, her heart violently shook.

Those painful memories began to resurface in her mind.

One person, one night, a pair of hands, one miracle.

Cocotte recalled that night when she alone had opened nearly twenty dimensional spaces.

Those desolate dimensional spaces were like the loneliness in her heart, vast and unvisited.

The only signs of life were the flowers and green grass she had planted in every corner of the spaces with her own hands.

She had collapsed from exhaustion, like a spent little fish. The cloud had struggled to carry her but slipped due to fatigue, causing her head to hit the ground and develop a large bump.

She could only smile bitterly as she painfully climbed onto the cloud's back, healing herself in solitude.

She had never felt so exhausted before, her entire body and mind felt wrung dry.

The memory abruptly ended, and Cocotte's body involuntarily shuddered.

She suddenly realized, was this what Viktor meant by overtime work?

Seemingly seeing through Cocotte's thoughts, Viktor looked at her calmly and said firmly:

"Create more spaces, like before."

"Merry Dim will assist you."

After Viktor finished speaking, Merry Dim smiled very politely at Cocotte.

Cocotte stood frozen in place like she had been petrified and struck by lightning, her eyes wide with despair.

Then, Viktor's voice rang out:

"But don't try anything clever."

These words were meant for Merry Dim.

As soon as he finished speaking, white lightning flashed above the Divine Tree's heart, and a malevolent storm raged throughout the entire space.

Within the storm, a deep blue dragon gradually materialized under the mixed effects of magical and natural energy. Its flesh and bones were reconstructed as the dragon hovered in mid-air, riding the storm's power.

Its abyss-like giant eyes stared directly at Merry Dim with mountain-like pressure that was impossible to face directly.

Sensing the terrifying atmosphere of oppression, Merry Dim narrowed her eyes and met the dragon's gaze.

However, Cocotte became even more confused.

Holy crap, the Storm Dragon King?

She was far too familiar with this creature.

She had witnessed this magnificent beast together with Viktor when they first met.

At that time... Viktor had just arrived at the Magic Valley...

What happened after that was somewhat bloody.

Cocotte quickly shook her head, stopping the memory.

But how did the Storm Dragon King enter the Yade Divine Tree and merge with its heart?

What was going on here?

Cocotte's eyes were full of questions.

What strange things had Viktor been doing behind her back?

"And you, Cocotte."

Viktor turned to look at her and advised:

"Don't be lazy."

"Yes!"

Hearing this, Cocotte immediately sat up straight.

She didn't want Viktor to one day become displeased and merge her with some strange thing too.

At least when she wasn't being lazy, she wasn't lazy.

After Viktor had finished giving all his instructions, a sudden gust of wind swept through the entire Divine Tree space.

Clouds and mist rolled through, obscuring the entire space.

When the white dust settled, Viktor had completely vanished without a trace.

Seeing Viktor's departure, Merry Dim turned around and smiled at Cocotte.

In her eyes, what seemed to be a blue soul fire gradually rose.

"It appears we're colleagues now."

"Please take care of me, Your Majesty."

Cocotte looked at Merry Dim and felt a chill.

"Colleagues? I don't want to be colleagues with something like you that can't even determine its own gender."

"But that's how it is."

Merry Dim laughed softly, then a strip of flesh like a tentacle curled up from behind her, completely engulfing her.

The next moment, Merry Dim had taken on a different appearance.

He wore a black suit, tall and straight, with white gloves and holding a black ebony cane, appearing quite gentlemanly.

He removed his tall top hat and bowed to Cocotte.

Cocotte looked up at his head, only to see a crow's head.

Well... although strange, at least he wasn't in elven form.

Cocotte relaxed again, sitting cross-legged on her cloud while maintaining distance from Merry Dim.

At this time, Merry Dim had already raised his head and was looking at the Divine Tree's enormous heart, saying:

"Hmm... Mr. Viktor said my task is to arrange these 'masses' and design some scenarios."

"Although I don't quite understand what he wants, but..."

A flash of fanatical light passed through his eyes as he spread his arms, displaying an enraptured expression:

"However, I'm confident I can be a good director for this grand performance."

Cocotte's whole body trembled as she quickly turned away and sighed.

How did she end up working with such a madman?

Life isn't easy, life really isn't easy...

...

Gwen followed behind Henie, traversing through the mansion.

Lia had said Henie had a way to find Viktor, though she herself didn't know why.

Gwen watched Henie in her loose robes, and a strange feeling kept welling up inside her.

She wanted to personally open Henie's robes and see the body underneath.

However, Gwen's strong will as a knight prevented her from acting on this thought.

As Henie led Gwen along, she said:

"Miss Gwen, I've had a question I've wanted to ask."

Gwen felt somewhat confused, tilting her head as she watched Henie stop in her tracks.

Seeing this, she stopped as well.

Henie slowly turned around, looking seriously at Gwen and asked:

"Do you... like Professor Viktor?"