Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Seal's Effect is Different?
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A moment later, Geon-woo found himself facing the Storath Lord in a space enclosed entirely by chitin.
Gongryeong and Seomryeong had been pulled in along with him, but only Geon-woo and the Storath Lord remained here.
It seemed the Storath Lord's ability had shaken them loose midway.
"Where are we?"
"A sub-dimension."
"Bullshit!"
"What?"
"If it were a different dimension, I wouldn't still sense the things I do. Sub-dimension my ass."
"Urgh."
The Storath Lord's face twisted at Geon-woo's words.
It was oddly fascinating to see such an expression on a skull-like visage.
"Looks like some kind of isolated space created in one of the building's rooms."
"Not bad."
"But is that it? Nothing else?"
Geon-woo glanced around, not bothering to hide his disappointment.
The space they had been transported to was a sealed chamber surrounded by chitin.
Ceiling, walls, and floor—all formed from the glossy chitin typical of insects.
Beyond that, there was nothing.
"That recklessness of yours will be your end."
The Storath Lord sneered at Geon-woo's nonchalant demeanor.
This was his prepared domain.
It might seem empty, but the traps he had set were already active.
"Kill me? Who, me?"
Geon-woo remained utterly unfazed by the warning.
He shot the Lord a glare as if offended, then began striding toward him with deliberate steps.
"You worm!"
Kwaduduk! Kwajik!
The Lord willed the floor's chitin to seize Geon-woo's ankle.
Just as Geon-woo could manipulate the earth with his psychic power, the Lord could freely reshape the chitin.
But the chitin gripping Geon-woo's ankle shattered like dry cornstalks, failing to halt his advance.
Puseok! Puseok!
"What? How?!"
The Lord's eyes widened in shock, trembling.
"I've got some strength. This won't hold me."
Ppak! Ppakak!
Geon-woo crushed the broken chitin underfoot as he spoke.
"Sure, but soon enough..."
The Lord clung to hope.
This was his domain, filled with a poison crafted by his power.
A deadly toxin even his fellow Storath kin couldn't resist.
"Oh, if you're banking on poison, give it up."
Geon-woo addressed the Lord as if it were obvious.
"What?"
"I'm resistant to a lot of things, but poison barely touches me. Even if it gets inside..."
Jeureureureuk! Drop, drop!
As he spoke, Geon-woo gathered the toxin in his body at his fingertip and forced it out.
A purple so dark it looked black oozed from his finger onto the floor.
The poison hissed, melting the spot where it fell and belching acrid smoke.
Pasususu!
"No... how?!"
The Storath Lord reeled once more, stunned that his poison was useless.
Without it, he had no way to fight back.
"I can see those eyes darting around. What, planning to run?"
Geon-woo noticed the shift in the Lord's demeanor, the way he scanned for escape.
"This can't be. It's no ordinary poison. Living venom! With mutation effects, no less!"
The Storath Lord bellowed, refusing to accept reality.
But that changed nothing.
"Looks like you've got nothing left. My turn."
Kwajik! Peobeong!
"Ugh!"
The words barely left his mouth when Geon-woo's figure blurred, leaving a long afterimage.
That afterimage ended at the Storath Lord.
Geon-woo's fist smashed through the chitin plating on the Lord's chest, hurling him back.
"It's not over!"
Geon-woo charged after the flying Lord.
The superhuman prowess of his Jiangshi body, amplified by Mana Propulsion Technique, let him pursue his own strike.
He arrived just as the Lord slammed into the chitin wall, unleashing another punch.
The powerful blow met the rebounding Lord.
Kwaaang! Kwaduduk!
"Keurk! Cough!"
Geon-woo followed through, driving the Lord into the chitin wall like he was embedding him there.
The Storath Lord's chitin armor crumbled around his body, and he vomited blood.
"Die... oh, wait, no."
Geon-woo reared back for a finishing blow to the Lord's head but stopped short.
Instead, he summoned a Soul-Exorcism Talisman from the dimensional space and slapped it onto the Lord's forehead.
"Hope this works."
The talisman worked on about half of the delirium-possessed Demon Race hosts, but had little effect on fully possessed ones.
Its lack of effect on the host didn't mean it couldn't deal with the possessing Demon soul.
The Storath Lord was fully possessing CATTL's chairman.
With luck, it might even save the man.
-Kwaaaaaah! Kyaak!
The moment the talisman touched his forehead, a Demon spirit erupted from the Storath Lord's body, shrieking.
The exorcism's force targeted the soul, not the flesh.
No spirit could endure it.
*Ilryeong!*
Having applied the talisman, Geon-woo mentally summoned Ilryeong.
As a spirit body, Ilryeong could be called from anywhere in the same dimension.
The ability gained when Heavenly Brain Multi-Heart Subdue Spirit Art reached eleven stars was still active.
= My lord! Are you al... Ah, you've subdued the enemy.
Ilryeong appeared, initially worried for Geon-woo, but quickly assessed the situation: the talisman on CATTL's chairman's forehead and the Storath Lord exposing his spirit form, screaming.
"Turn that one into a Jiangshi Spirit."
Geon-woo nodded toward the Storath Lord.
= Yes, my lord.
At the command, Ilryeong flew over without hesitation and affixed a new talisman to the Storath Lord's forehead.
The Lord froze, unable to resist.
"Hmm."
Geon-woo scanned the Storath Lord's memories flowing in through Ilryeong.
*Too bad. If this were Onbiroad, I'd get a skill out of it.*
On Earth, turning Demon spirits into Jiangshi Spirits yielded no skills.
Just fragments of their memories.
*Still, as a lord, he has solid intel on the Demons invading Earth.*
Among the influx of info on the Demon Earth's expeditionary force, plenty proved useful.
The biggest haul: bio-armor.
Memories poured in on how to inject it into humans—not hosts—to ultimately transform them into Demons.
= My lord, it's done. What now? Worth keeping as a Jiangshi Spirit?
Ilryeong, having converted the Storath Lord, asked Geon-woo.
"Creating domains with chitin, teleporting within them..."
Geon-woo recalled the Lord's abilities.
Possessing him as a living Jiangshi would grant access to them.
= Useful for defense.
"Yeah, but it's tricky without prep time."
= Then keep him in reserve? Convert to living Jiangshi when defense is needed later.
"Yeah. Let's do that."
Normally, reserve Jiangshi Spirits couldn't be maintained long.
Without a soul-link to Geon-woo, they dissipated quickly.
But Geon-woo and Ilryeong had devised a storage method using Yultren's preserved souls.
Inspired by the devices holding those souls.
It consumed resources and effort, so no mass production, but invaluable for keeping worthwhile spirits.
"For now, the Storath bastards are dealt with..."
Geon-woo watched Ilryeong store the now-Jiangshi spirit of the Storath Lord, muttering, then fell silent.
= What is it, my lord?
Ilryeong tensed at Geon-woo's hardened expression.
"This is interesting."
Geon-woo chuckled at the question.
= Pardon? What...
"The ownership of the Storath expedition seal has transferred to me."
= The system recognized your total victory over the lord?
"Probably. But the issue is, this seal's different from Onbiroad's."
= How so?
"All Storath who came to Earth are under its control."
= So you can command the Storath Demons' spirits?
"Nah. Think of it as a gateway. Storath spirits enter Earth through it and draw power from the Demon dimension. Cut it off, and..."
= They can't come to Earth. And the ones already here?
"They wither and die. Their link to their true bodies in the Demon dimension snaps completely."
= I see.
"Means I need to go seal-hunting."
Each seal claimed neutralized one Demon incursion.
No need to hunt down every possessed host individually.
It wouldn't end the invasion entirely, but it'd inflict serious damage.
"Guess I owe Paeng again."
Force was one thing; for intel, Paeng was Earth's best.
She was the queen of the world's underworld networks.
= What about the Storath seal, then...
"Already sealed off the Demon dimension link. Storath lost expedition rights to Earth."
= Understood. And the seals from Onbiroad...
"No use for them here. Natives might differ, but without a way to transfer, it's moot. Still, should spread the word there."
Earth rules might not apply, but natives could find ways.
Past seal-holders might've been assassinated too soon to figure it out.
"Arms bend inward, anyway. Seal-hunting on Earth takes priority."
With that, Geon-woo decided to extend his stay in Fujian Province.