The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11
Han Eol hadn’t opened his mouth once, yet grit crunched between his molars. Sweat poured down his forehead like rain.
Han Eol pulled a canteen from his side and moistened his mouth sparingly with water.
‘I have to conserve every drop. And the moment this canteen runs half-empty, I’m heading straight back to the blue fog. I’ll take whatever cursing the Pioneer Corps commander throws at me—as long as I’m alive.’
Han Eol checked his watch and receiver at regular intervals as he pushed forward a little farther toward the central mountain range.
Then came the moment.
“Gasp!”
Han Eol spewed blood from his mouth.
Before he could even process it, a projectile screamed through the air, punching through his backpack and back in sequence, grazing just beside his heart before embedding itself with a sickening crunch into his Protective Vest.
The projectile’s destructive force and momentum were so violent that Han Eol’s body lurched skyward and hurtled forward a good five meters.
Only because Han Eol wore an A-grade Protective Vest did he avoid having his heart torn open. The vest’s defensive power shifted the impact site just enough to miss his heart entirely.
The standard Protective Vests distributed by the 1st Pioneer Corps to new employees had only D-grade defensive capability—superior to the E-grade vests given to interns, but nowhere near comparable to A-grade quality. Had Han Eol not gotten lucky this morning and grabbed an A-grade vest, he would have died without so much as raising a hand in defense.
The moment Han Eol crashed five meters ahead, he pressed his body flat against the earth.
When Han Eol lay motionless, playing dead, a response came from far away.
From a distance beyond his line of sight—several kilometers away—a disc-shaped object shot toward him like a bullet.
Riding atop the disc was a grotesque creature: an inverted-triangle head, a frame tiny as a dwarf, and arms so long they dragged past its ankles.
This creature—this Demon Beast—stood upright on the disc hovering two meters high, looking straight down at Han Eol.
Second Highland Expedition II
Chapter 1
‘Please. Just go.’
Han Eol held his breath, feigning death.
The bipedal Demon Beast atop the disc had only eyes; no nose, no mouth.
“Λοοβ, νβη, ζζζ.”
Yet the creature produced an unintelligible sound.
To Han Eol’s ear, this wasn’t mere noise—it was something like language.
‘A Demon Beast using language?’
Han Eol was deeply startled.
Meanwhile, the creature lowered the disc’s altitude, drawing closer.
Even as it did, its long tail remained locked onto Han Eol’s head with precision.
At the tail’s tip was a deep hollow, and something fired from that hollow had shot through Han Eol’s back just moments before.
Han Eol was too frightened to open his eyes.
‘I have to do this. Come on, Han Eol—find the courage.’
He steeled himself, then cracked his eyelids open just barely, narrowing his eyes to the thinnest of slits.
Now the Demon Beast—the creature atop the disc—came into view.
‘A little more.’
As Han Eol focused his mind further, the creature’s spirit came into clear sight.
‘What is that—a stinger of some kind?’
Han Eol’s eyes narrowed to sharp slits.
Sharp, stinger-like protrusions around the creature’s spirit caught his attention first.
Then the same strange phenomenon Han Eol had experienced before unfolded once more.
The Demon Beast’s spirit suddenly transformed into a shape on a two-dimensional plane.
Han Eol observed the shape from three dimensions above.
This creature’s form was as follows:
The previous leader, Seol Rang, had hidden its spirit within three layers of defensive barriers, but this Demon Beast’s defenses consisted of only two layers—weaker than Seol Rang’s, it seemed.
Instead, the dark, jutting appendage—like a scorpion’s tail—was grimly conspicuous.
If an enemy attempted to strike at this creature’s spirit, that grotesque tail would surely deliver a devastating counterattack.
The stinger-like sensation Han Eol had glimpsed moments ago was likely this very tail.
‘And yet… I think I can pluck that spirit out entirely.’
Despite the excruciating chest pain and cold sweat, Han Eol discovered a glimmer of hope. As his will took hold, a full-color hand materialized from higher dimensions in his inner realm, and his thumb and forefinger clamped down—perfectly, decisively—on the creature’s spirit.
“Ββ!”
The creature suddenly grasped its own head. Its long tail flailed without direction, thrashing wildly.
It was like a beheaded serpent, its body writhing in blind panic.
Then Han Eol tightened his grip with full-color fingers.
Rip!
The Demon Beast’s spirit was torn free and absorbed into the full-color hand.
Now that he thought about it, all six Seol Rang spirits from before had also been absorbed into his inner realm.
“Β!”
Bereft of its spirit, the Demon Beast shrieked once and tumbled from the disc.
The now-masterless disc spun in dizzying circles before spiraling downward and crashing beside Han Eol.
‘Ugh… nngh…’
Han Eol squeezed every ounce of strength from his body and moved his arm. Then, barely managing to uncap the Potion hanging around his neck, he brought it to his lips and gulped it down desperately.
The moment the miraculous magical liquid flowed down his throat, a soothing sensation spread throughout Han Eol’s entire body.
The blood that had been pouring steadily began to slow.
The wounds closed rapidly.
And with that, Han Eol’s pain diminished noticeably.
The wound on his chest healed first, followed by the large hole that had pierced his back.
His torn blood vessels and muscles quickly returned to their normal state.
Most remarkably, the sharp spike that had been lodged halfway into Han Eol’s chest was expelled from his body.
All of this was the Potion’s doing.
The reward Han Eol had received for capturing six Seol Rang had saved his life.
Of course, the Potion wasn’t a cure-all—the recovery didn’t happen in a single instant. It took nearly ninety minutes before Han Eol was more or less healed.
During this time, Han Eol had no choice but to lie sprawled on the Wasteland, unable to move.
“Never again. I’m never setting foot in this Highland again. Never,” he gasped, tears streaming down his face.
Lying on the barren earth that roiled like a cauldron, Han Eol wrung out his tears.
Chapter 2
The human heart is a fickle thing.
Just moments before, Han Eol had sworn, “I will never enter the Highland again.”
But the moment his body recovered and he examined the spoils of war, his resolve melted like snow.
“Wow, look at this Demonic Spirit Stone. It’s at least 1.5 times larger than the leader’s.”
This particular Demon Beast, with its inverted-triangle-shaped skull, had two triangular Demonic Spirit Stones embedded in it—one at the throat and one in the chest.
The Demonic Spirit Stone at the throat was about the size of one joint on Han Eol’s thumb.
The one in the chest, however, was surprisingly large.
‘It’s bigger than what we learned about in training. And a bipedal Demon Beast with a physique so similar to humans—I’ve never even heard of such a thing,’ he thought.
Which meant that if he brought this Demon Beast’s corpse to the Midland, he would receive significant recognition for it.
Han Eol pulled a Space-Compression Vacuum Pack from his backpack and stored the Demon Beast’s corpse inside.
‘And this flying platform—look at this. There are Mana Stones embedded in it too.’
Remarkably, the platform the Demon Beast had ridden on had eight bluish Mana Stones embedded within it.
In other words, this Demon Beast possessed a civilization as developed as humans and knew how to channel energy into Demonic Spirit Stones to create Mana Stones.
Han Eol had no recollection of hearing anything like this during training.
‘This platform must be a relic the Sacred Group considers important. If I bring it to the Midland, I’ll receive a substantial reward,’ he thought, his spirits lifting.
Han Eol began to place the platform into the Space-Compression Vacuum Pack with glee.
Then, suddenly, doubt crept in.
‘Wait—could this raise suspicions? If they ask how someone with ability stats as low as mine managed to obtain such a relic, what will I say?’
There was a way to avoid suspicion, of course.
‘If I reveal my Special Ability, the problem would be solved.’
But Han Eol found the prospect unsettling.
‘I can see other people’s souls. Even before I entered the Highland and underwent DNA mutation, I could observe the souls of others. And after awakening this ability, I became capable of extracting those souls.’
In other words, an instant-kill ability.
Han Eol had awakened a terrible power—the ability to instantly kill any living thing.
‘But would people really praise me for possessing such a power?’
The answer was no.
From what Han Eol had witnessed of human nature so far, it was not so benign. A being capable of instant-kill like himself would inevitably inspire tremendous fear in those around him. And human nature being what it was, such a being would not be tolerated.
‘What if I could only use this instant-kill ability against Demon Beasts?’
Then people would do their best to treat him well and find uses for him.
‘But if the truth came to light—that I could instant-kill them as well?’
Then people would inevitably seek to eliminate him.
‘No one in this world could sleep peacefully with a monster like me sleeping beside them.’
Han Eol was no fool. For his age, he was remarkably perceptive, and his understanding of human nature ran deep.
‘No. This is too dangerous.’
Han Eol changed his mind.
He reopened the Space-Compression Vacuum Pack containing the Demon Beast’s corpse.
The body, which had been shrunken and compacted, returned to its original size.
Then, drawing the Ultra-Vibration Blade attached to the side of his shin, Han Eol began to carve out the Demonic Spirit Stones embedded in the creature’s throat and chest.
‘I’ll just take the Demonic Spirit Stones. That way, I can make an excuse without revealing my ability.’
Han Eol formulated his plan.
But to his surprise, the Demonic Spirit Stones didn’t come free easily.
The Demon Beast’s skin was tougher and harder than it appeared.
‘Unbelievable—skin this resilient. If I turn on the Ultra-Vibration Blade, it can slice through steel, yet this withstands it. There’s no winning in direct combat against a Demon Beast of this caliber.’
In Han Eol’s judgment, even the 1st Pioneer Corps Commander, who wielded a spiked shield as his core weapon, would lose in a one-on-one fight against such a creature.
To be honest, a close-combat fighter like the 1st Pioneer Corps Commander would struggle to even defend against the creature’s long-range spike attacks from a distance.
‘If it were the Pioneer Battle Corps Commander instead of the 1st Pioneer Corps Commander, well, that might be different.’
That was why Han Eol decided he had to hide his Special Ability even more carefully.
Suppose there existed a Demon Beast stronger than the 1st Pioneer Corps Commander. What if this Demon Beast even displayed combat prowess comparable to that famous Pioneer Battle Corps Commander?
Yet a New Employee like Han Eol caught such a creature without a scratch?
It was obvious this would stir up controversy from every angle.
‘I can’t invite that kind of trouble on myself. I won’t do it.’
Thack, thack, thack, thack.
Han Eol worked the blade with all his might.
The Ultra-Vibration Blade carved away the neck area surrounding the Demonic Spirit Stone, and then he sawed through the Demon Beast’s skin with steady, methodical strokes.
After more than an hour of struggling, Han Eol finally managed to extract two Demonic Spirit Stones from the creature’s throat and chest cavity.
‘Gasp… gasp… I’m dying. Is it because my Attack Power is only 3? I thought I was going to keel over getting these two out.’
Han Eol lay sprawled on the Wasteland floor, drenched in sweat.
In his grip lay a triangular Demonic Spirit Stone the size of two of his fists, and a smaller one the size of a thumbnail—both gleaming with a soft yellow light.
The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer
Author |
Junon
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260703071
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blog.naver.com/dreambookss
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@dreambookss
Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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