High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 590: Chapter 259: The Opening of Puppet Highness_1

”Ladies and gentlemen!”

”Thieves of the timeline!”

”And the covetous ones from beyond this world, the ferrymen of souls, the peekers into the future!”

”Whether you are bloodthirsty Long-Lived Kind, hairy Resurrectors in graves, or beloved little cubs of Fenrir and Anubis — in any case, you moon-obsessed perverts, allow me to say...”

”Good afternoon, everybody!!!!”

As if to amplify the speaker’s momentum, following his last statement, a violent cacophony of music abruptly reverberated through the silent and deserted small auditorium. The previously extinguished lights came back to full power, even blinking a few times, giving everyone another startle.

After the brief flickering, the lights converged, illuminating the podium at the front of the hall.

A tall and slim figure slid out of the shadows while dancing a tap dance.

”Ta-da, ta-da-da, ta-da!”

”Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap!”

Four fingers snapped crisply intertwined with the rhythm of his foot movements.

Spinning, gliding, it swivelled its hips.

The reason I use ’it’ is that the figure spotlighted is a puppet, with a pale face, long eyes, and strangely upturned corners of the mouth.

It also has a long and pointed nose.

This puppet wears a black silk top hat, a crisp black tailcoat, striped trousers, shiny pointed leather shoes, and twists a slim civility cane in hand.

If judged by its attire alone, it looks like a magician from a circus. Naturally, all the young wizards present in the auditorium possessed no such misconception.

”Whose puppet are you? Why are you causing a disturbance here!” Xin Xiangbian — that senior official from the Hunting Committee who was in charge of pre-match inspections, that veteran — finally snapped out of shock.

”This constitutes a serious disruption of the demon hunting competition. If the faculty committee finds out, the only ending for you is to be torn into wooden pieces and thrown into the fireplace!” He angrily waved his detector and yelled into the puppet’s ear: ”Bring out your master! Don’t think you can hide behind a clownish puppet and be free of worry!”

The top-hatted puppet paid no mind to this senior official from the Hunting Committee, but simply slightly tilted its head, carefully avoiding the man’s spittle.

It didn’t even glance derisively at the veteran, instead, it kept its narrow eyes fixed on the young wizards in the audience wearing various hunting clothes.

”... Only staff from the Hunting Committee are allowed to be here! Now, you! Leave here immediately, right now!” Saying this, Xin Xiangbian waved his arm robustly, pointing the detector in the direction of the auditorium’s front door.

”Snap!”

The puppet lifted its arm and snapped its finger.

”Whoosh!”

A shadow sprang from the darkness, wrapped itself around Xin Xiangbian’s waist, and yanked him into the shadows behind the podium. In the darkness, a few screams and struggling noises could faintly be heard, but they swiftly faded into nothingness.

A slight rustling motion passed through the young hunters in the auditorium — up until now, most people still had no clue as to what was going on, and many thought that this was some sort of comedic sketch prepared by the Hunting Committee to help them wind down before the match.

After all, this was Hunting Ground Number One, deep within the first major university.

No one would consider certain disastrous possibilities at this point.

Except for Zheng Qing, the cost-free student of Jiuyou Academy, who had just awakened from a ’loss of soul’ state. However, even he wasn’t entirely sure what was happening — apart from that puppet standing on the stage performing.

If it’s just a puppet, it doesn’t seem to be a big deal, especially since the stands are just outside the wall, and within a hundred meters there are more than a dozen well-experienced registered wizards, Old Yao could even be outside, what could possibly go wrong!

Upon this thought, he decided to observe for the moment.

Of course, before doing so, he had discreetly communicated with the young wizards around him, making sure everyone was alert.

”No interruptions now, very good, very good.” The puppet murmured, idly tossing its civility cane into the darkness, then nervously chuckled a few times: ”A minor hiccup, doesn’t count, this part doesn’t count, cut!”

All was quiet in the small auditorium, and the audience watched it in a daze.

The puppet froze in the middle of its cane throwing motion for a few seconds, then ’click-click’ twisted its neck, and came back ’alive.’

It walked to the very front of the stage, spread out its arms, raised its head slightly, and declared in a dramatically choppy tone:

”I am truly honored to witness today’s life-and-death hunting competition!”

”I am your host, Puppet Highness of Night... Illusionary Shadow... Puppeteer... Of course, this name is a bit long, so I don’t mind if you simply refer me as ’Puppet Highness’ or ’Distinguished Host’.”

Having said this, it removed its head along with the top hat, twirled it around in the air a couple of times, performing an extravagant and formal ’head-removal courtesy’: ”As you can see, I am a puppet!”

The puppet’s head was spinning around on its fingertips, its facial expression was so indistinct that it was impossible to tell which part was the nose and which part was the mouth — accordingly, there was an added quiver in its voice.

But none of this was amusing in the slightest.

In fact, it gave off an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

Where there are people, there are eccentrics. There are always some reckless and uniquely thinking fools who lack a sense of discerning delicate moods.

”Pfft.” A low laugh echoed from the crowd in the auditorium, it sounded like a male wizard: ”Is the owner of this little puppet a sophomore in high school? The name is too funny!”

Zheng Qing nodded his head in agreement at this remark.

But he also couldn’t help but shake his head.

He nodded because indeed, the name was a bit too ’second-year’, but only those who could shamelessly announce such an embarrassingly flamboyant name in public, could no longer be explained with simple ’second-year disease’ — in Zheng Qing’s opinion, serious sufferers of the second-year syndrome have what can be considered cognitive impairment and behavioral deviance caused by brain dysfunction, it’s a sickness that needs medication.

He shook his head because he felt that now wasn’t the time to comment on the psychological state of this puppet.

”Tsk tsk,” The puppet host lifted its pointy nose, wiggling it in small increments, making a series of smacking noises from its mouth — it had already reattached its head after initial greetings.

”That won’t do, that won’t do.” The puppet raised a finger, tossing it in the air, then opened its eyes wide, stared at the young wizards in the audience, grinned widely, and revealed a massive and malicious smile: ”I just said, you can call me ’Night • Illusionary Shadow • Puppeteer • Puppet Highness’, or ’Puppet Highness’ or ’Distinguished Host’.”

”That is the rule.”

”RULE-NO.1, in the hunting ground, the words of the host are the rule!”

”Those who break the rules...”

The puppet raised its hand, lightly rubbing its fingers, and snapped again.

A giant mouth descended from the sky, ’awoo’ swallowed the male wizard who had just uttered the mocking laughter and then chewed a few times, splattering warm blood all over the ground.

The witches nearly screamed in unison.