Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Stolas (Stolas) Race
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“The resistance is tougher than expected?”
“The National Intelligence Service or whatever it is doesn’t seem to be a pushover.”
“And?”
“They keep sending in more people. Humans are a dime a dozen anyway, aren’t they?”
“No issues securing the humans to throw at them?”
“The most effective way is to seal off a small city and draft people from there.”
“Picking out ones with families to make them volunteer for the missions, right?”
“That’s right. And we only use restraints on those without anyone to hold hostage.”
“Restraints don’t come free, after all.”
“Exactly. But it’s still the surest method. Even with family hostages, some betray us in the end.”
“Compared to that, those under restraints can’t betray us at all. If anything, they blow themselves up and benefit us.”
The lord of the Stolas race’s Earth expeditionary force let out a sinister grin.
There were multiple demon-possessed factions in Fuzhou, but the ones meddling in Korea were the Stolas race’s possessed bodies.
They selected people from the areas they controlled, gave them simple missions to sow social chaos, and infiltrated them into Korea using various methods.
Most of those infiltrators used fishing boats.
Fishing boats concealed by Awakeners’ abilities had a high success rate of reaching Korean soil.
Of course, many got caught in subsequent processes or self-destructed, but plenty still managed to hide until the end.
Those were the ones stirring up chaos in Korean society right now.
And sending minions into Korea wasn’t limited to that method.
Some bypassed demon independent zones entirely, entering through normal channels from other regions.
Diplomatic ties with China hadn’t been severed yet, so plenty of people traveled between Korea and China.
They exploited that, sending key mission operatives in with legitimate identities.
The Stolas race was attacking Korea on two tracks like that, but at its core, it was a human wave tactic.
Flood Korea with as many people as possible to create chaos, and ultimately seize the peninsula—that was the plan.
Other demon races were running similar ops against neighboring countries.
Demons knew full well there were limits to holing up in independent zones.
“But Fuzhou has been pretty noisy lately.”
“There was a disturbance in the underworld, right?”
“Yes. And in the same period, nearly a thousand of our kin went missing.”
“Our race took losses too?”
“The upper knight and his crew who were building power in the underworld—all wiped out.”
“That’s similar for the others, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Besides our race, three or four others suffered equal or greater losses.”
“No clue on the culprit yet?”
“That’s the weird part. Not a single trace.”
“Could be another race pulling strings.”
“True. We’ll need to double-check the ones claiming losses. If a force that big moves without a trace, it’s unlikely to be an external Earth species.”
“Exactly. High chance of that.”
“On Onbiroad, expedition forces don’t fight each other, but here on Earth, we’re at each other’s throats all the time. Probably because there’s no system constraints.”
“The non-aggression pact for the Earth expedition never happened.”
“They figured Earth would be a cakewalk. Possession guarantees survival even in the worst cases, after all.”
“Yeah. Even if the possessed body dies, you respawn in your home dimension body—that’s the biggest reason the pact fell through. And it was a reasonable conclusion.”
The Stolas expedition lord didn’t think that decision was wrong.
What’s the big deal dying on Earth? It’s not real death anyway.
But lately, that belief was starting to crack.
“There are rumors lately of people not respawning in their home dimension after deaths on Earth or Onbiroad.”
“No cases in our race yet, right?”
“The last clan member came from the home dimension ten days ago. We don’t know after that, but up to then, no such cases in our clan.”
“Well, not many of our clan have died on Earth anyway, so that tracks.”
“But over the last three days, our clan’s taken pretty heavy losses too. Not just in the underworld—quite a few went missing too.”
“Ah, then the results from those will tell us something.”
“Huh? What do you mean, my lord? Tell us what?”
“If any of the ones who died here don’t respawn, that means the usurper’s come to Fuzhou.”
“Ah, right. Deaths without home dimension respawns are mostly tied to usurpers.”
“If they just died normally, high chance it’s another race targeting our clan.”
The Stolas lord looked pleased, thinking he’d made a sharp deduction on the fly.
His subordinate nodded vigorously, admiration plain on his face.
A high-level social player.
The lord smiled, satisfied with the response.
But that was the last courtesy the subordinate showed him.
Flash! Slash!
“…!!”
“What? What’s going on?”
Crash!
In an instant, a blade like lightning severed the subordinate’s neck.
Right after, atop the possessed Earthling’s decapitated body, the subordinate’s spirit body materialized.
The Stolas race’s signature skeletal form.
Its chitin-plated body evoked a lizardman’s bones.
That was the Stolas race’s true form.
- Aaaargh! Aaaargh!
The subordinate clutched his head, screaming.
The mental scream, not vocal, was so agonized even the Stolas lord paled.
“This is the end.”
Amid it all, an unfamiliar voice filled the lord’s office.
The Stolas lord had possessed the chairman of Fuzhou’s top conglomerate, CATTL.
Yet now, in the chairman’s office on the 28th floor of CATTL HQ, a stranger’s voice rang out.
“Who’s there?”
The Stolas lord was more wary of whoever decapitated his subordinate than the voice.
Appearing out of nowhere for a one-shot kill.
And the subordinate’s spirit manifesting, screaming even after the possessed body died.
“N-No way... the usurper?”
The lord’s eyes, in the chairman’s body, frantically scanned the office for the intruder.
Click.
“Usurper? Is that what you call me?”
The office door opened, and Geon-woo stepped in.
Trailing him were nine jiangshi, excluding Seomryeong. Ilryeong appeared beside the screaming demon spirit.
“The usurper for real?”
“That’s what I’m asking—is that my title?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Why usurper? I didn’t steal your rights.”
“The seal-stealer. The one who disrupts the entire expedition. That’s why usurper.”
“Bullshit. If it’s usurpation, shouldn’t I take your authority too? I just take the seal—no other gains. What usurpation?”
Geon-woo scoffed at the Stolas lord like it was absurd.
Then a thought struck him.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t gotten a single seal on Earth yet. So you’re my first?”
= My lord, that sounds too lewd.
“H-How do you know I have the seal?”
Geon-woo ignored Ilryeong; the Stolas lord couldn’t hear her.
“I already know you’re the lord. So the seal’s with you.”
“H-How?”
“You’ll find out when you experience it. But first, let’s prepare for contingencies.”
Geon-woo nodded to Seomryeong.
She vanished in a flash, reappearing behind the lord to swing her blade.
“Fool’s errand!”
But the lord didn’t yield his neck easily like the subordinate.
Clang!
Seomryeong’s blade couldn’t scratch, blocked by chitin sprouting on the chairman’s neck.
Geon-woo spotted it.
“That looks like a bio-armor? Transplanting your demon bodies.”
“Kuahaha! It’s a disposable Earthling body anyway, but repurposed like this, it’s quite usable.”
The lord laughed loudly, emboldened that his chitin fully blocked Seomryeong’s blade.
“That assimilation rate increases over time, right? Until the human vanishes, leaving just a demon puppet.”
“You know your stuff.”
“You’re handing those out to non-possessed humans too, huh? They lose their human form the same way eventually?”
“It’d come out eventually; no point hiding it. They accept it knowing that.”
“To get stronger?”
“That too, but it works whether avatar or main body. A system power-up form.”
“I get it. For plateaued users, it’s a shortcut to instant power.”
Geon-woo had seen it before via Thousand-Armed Man.
The lord’s words filled in more details.
But no need to dwell.
They’d abandoned humanity—no room for qualms.
“But what about you? I heard full possession—is it real?”
Geon-woo shoved aside stray thoughts, focusing on the Stolas lord.
“No idea why you’re curious, but no reason to tell you. Worry about your recklessness instead. Kuahahahaha!”
The Stolas lord mocked him.
At the same time, the chairman’s office began to change.
Rumble rumble!
“Hm?”
Geon-woo frowned at the eerie vibe from the whole building.
“To dare step into my domain, you fool!”
The Stolas lord was now fully chitin-armored, bony all over.
No trace of the former CATTL chairman.
“This is nice. Should’ve done it sooner. Reclaiming my home dimension body lifts so many power limits. Only downside is this body’s Awakening ability is mediocre.”
Rumble rumble! Crunch!
Now the office walls, ceiling, and floor were all demon chitin.
Geon-woo’s telekinesis didn’t work on it.
= My lord, you okay?
Ilryeong, by the now-silent Stolas spirit, looked worried at Geon-woo.
‘Don’t worry—finish that one off. Move the jiangshi in the back.’
Geon-woo told Ilryeong that, then directed the rear jiangshi.
“Quite confident, eh? Try facing my subordinates.”
No need for him to step up.
Plenty of sturdy minions.
Plus, Geon-woo had scattered a hundred jiangshi throughout the CATTL building.
If needed, summon them all to the 28th floor.
But the Stolas lord’s next move rendered that moot.
“Your minions? No need. You’re all I want.”
The lord yanked Geon-woo toward the office floor.
Geon-woo sank like into quicksand.
“Huh?”
Telekinesis useless on the floor, Geon-woo got sucked right in.
The other jiangshi rushed to pull him, but their calves were sinking too, slowing them.
Sulryeong’s vines grabbed him, but without anchor, they dragged along uselessly.
Gongryeong used phantasm, Amryeong blinked to grab his arm—but they sank together.
= My lord!
Ilryeong called out in alarm.
‘Don’t worry—hold position. It’s that guy’s ability, but doesn’t seem dangerous. Like isolation.’
Geon-woo ordered the approaching Ilryeong, then sank into the chitin swamp with the Stolas lord.