The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 57

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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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Episode 57
Originally, a strong bond naturally formed among Forerunners.
It couldn’t have been otherwise.
Forerunners are those who stake their lives exploring the upper continents of Highland. As a result, a sense of camaraderie naturally blossomed among them.
When you died in Highland, who would there be to deliver your corpse to your family?
No one but fellow Forerunners walking the same path.
Even without this concept of mutual aid, Forerunners had to exchange information with one another to make Highland exploration easier.
For this reason, Forerunners developed a tendency to create networks among themselves.
Ju Hyung-seon did not turn away from this current.
In particular, since Ju Hyung-seon had been the companion of the legendary Forerunner Lee Hyun, he possessed richer knowledge of Highland compared to other Forerunners.
Ju Hyung-seon, blessed with a sharp mind, actively leveraged his advantages to build a solid network—and what was born from that effort was Team Yeon.
Team Yeon, taking “Team” from English and the character for “connection” from Sino-Korean.
The principal members of this organization were as follows.
— Ju Hyung-seon in Midland Seoul.
— Dr. Chad in Midland New York.
— The twin Forerunner siblings, Alf Burgundt and Marie Burgundt, also in Midland New York.
— Sasaki, the swordsman, in Midland Tokyo.
— Ursina in Midland Zurich.
— And finally, Grimaldi in Midland Monaco.
These seven comprised the core members of Team Yeon.
These seven had already advanced beyond Highland’s seven continents and reached the sixth continent, where they were establishing themselves while aiding one another.
Of course, Team Yeon had general members and associate members in addition to the seven core members.
However, Team Yeon’s policy was that important matters be decided through the Council of Seven, composed of these seven core members.
Then, at the end of last month, Ju Hyung-seon met with disaster on Highland’s sixth continent.
The one who conveyed this news was Dr. Chad from New York.
The Council of Seven was immediately convened to discuss follow-up measures regarding Ju Hyung-seon’s tragedy.
“Shouldn’t we all pool our strength and recover his body? Let’s address this matter first.”
Dr. Chad raised the agenda at the meeting held online.
The Council members, their expressions somber, held up green cards to approve the agenda.
Of course, they knew well how dangerous Gerrit’s Nest was. They also understood that rushing in recklessly could result in even greater casualties.
But recovering a comrade’s body was something one had to attempt regardless of such risks. To turn away from it would mean that later, they themselves and their families would suffer the same fate as Ju Hyung-seon.
In the end, the Council members reached a unanimous conclusion and each signed the following record:
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We members of the Council of Seven pledge to search for Ju Hyung-seon’s body and make every effort to deliver it to his family, even at the cost of suffering losses.
Even if we fail to achieve our objective, we must attempt it.
If we cannot do even that much, there is no reason for Team Yeon to continue existing.
October 29, 2057.
(Signatories) Chad, Alf, Marie, Sasaki, Ursina, Grimaldi—six in total.
This draft of the record, written with emotional directness rather than formal precision, was prepared by Dr. Chad.
Below the document, the remaining six Council members, excluding the deceased Ju Hyung-seon, each appended their electronic signatures online.
Several days later, in early November.
Five members of the Council converged on Highland’s sixth continent.
All except Grimaldi, who had recently sustained serious injuries in Highland, had gathered to recover Ju Hyung-seon’s body.
There was no great difficulty in the group’s approach to the entrance of Gerrit’s Nest.
Since Dr. Chad had buried Mother Metal near the nest’s vicinity, the Council members executed the Guided Transmission without trouble.
But what came after was the problem.
Chapter 4
Crack-boom!
A deafening blast erupts.
Marie Burgundt’s magical shield, Aegis, shudders as though it might shatter.
“Ugh.”
Marie, struck by the impact, coughed up black blood in streams.
‘Damn. I didn’t expect it would be this intense.’
Marie ground her teeth hard.
In truth, Marie’s shield Aegis was an SSS-rank defensive artifact that should have sufficed against most threats even on Highland’s sixth continent.
The person who first obtained Aegis was a predecessor of the Burgundt Family.
He had brought an octagonal shield artifact excavated from Highland’s ruins to Midland’s greatest master craftsman and requested its enhancement.
That master craftsman had drilled a total of eight sockets around the rim of the ancient shield, then set eight Spirit Stones of different properties in perfect balance to create the ultimate masterwork.
Thus the name Aegis was bestowed.
It was a name taken from the shield wielded by Zeus in Greek mythology.
Thereafter, Aegis was passed to Marie, the younger of the Burgundt Family’s twin siblings, and by this day it stood renowned alongside Hyunmu in Midland Beijing and Svarin in Midland London as one of only three SSS-rank shields in the world.
Marie often boasted, “With Aegis in hand, I fear no Demon Beast across the six continents.”
Yet here she was.
Bang! Bang! Crash!
With each successive thunderous impact, Marie spewed black blood in torrents. The shield Aegis, which supposedly transmitted zero shock to its wielder even when struck dead-on by a missile, trembled as though it might shatter against the Gerrit’s long-range barrage.
And that shock transferred to Marie in full.
“Ugh. Can’t hold much longer. Fuck! Faster, faster!”
Marie snarled through gritted teeth.
Behind Marie’s back, flushed and straining, Dr. Chad and her twin brother Alf Burgundt sweated through their clothes.
“Marie, we’re almost done installing. Just twenty more seconds—no, ten! Just hold on ten more seconds.”
Dr. Chad shouted toward her.
Even now, he and Alf couldn’t spare a moment to wipe the sweat dripping from their chins as they labored to inscribe the Sorcery Array.
More precisely, it was Alf who inscribed it.
Dr. Chad would manifest various sorceries, then Alf would receive them and convert them into Array form—a seamless combination play.
Though the method demanded complex calculations and lengthy construction time, once complete, it produced the effect of dozens of Forerunners simultaneously unleashing potent sorcery—the raw power was staggering.
In fact, both Dr. Chad and Alf Burgundt were rare sorcerers who had awakened Abilities tied to Celtic mythology.
Dr. Chad in particular was a Celtic priest-rank druid, masterful in every manner of offensive sorcery, especially those of poison and curse.
On the other hand, Dr. Chad was also a professor of ancient history at New York University.
Alf Burgundt, conversely, had studied mathematics at the same institution and was a sorcerer specialized in two particular Array implementations.
First, the Amplification Array for magnifying power.
Second, the Projectile Array for automatic targeting and launching.
Until now, Alf had deployed his two Array types like booby traps, handily disposing of troublesome Demon Beasts.
Moreover, being a genius who could calculate even the most complex Arrays through sheer mental arithmetic, he had joined Team Yeon—an assembly of Forerunners—despite his inadequate physical abilities.
Yet now, even this genius trembled with tension.
The Gerrit refused to approach his booby traps, instead unleashing volleys from a distance.
‘Damn. Never seen a Demon Beast this cunning before.’
Alf shuddered.
He had no choice but to construct a specialized long-range Projectile Array.
Dr. Chad would manifest an offensive sorcery and hand it to Alf, who would reinforce it with an Amplification Array, then launch it as a special long-range Projectile Array toward the distant, hidden Gerrit.
But it was far harder than it sounded.
First, Alf had to embed a tracking function within the Array capable of identifying and pursuing an enemy he couldn’t even see at range.
He also had to ensure the Projectile Array struck its target swiftly.
What’s more, the cunning Gerrit seemed to launch long-range attacks at the Council of Seven’s Forerunners, then rapidly shift position.
‘To face creatures like that, I need to blanket their predicted movement zone with a spread of multiple sorceries—like buckshot. Bang!’
Juggling all these conditions at once caused steam to rise visibly from Alf’s brow.
In the midst of it all, his younger sister unleashed another volley of curses.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That’s already ten seconds! Am I supposed to let these Gerrit bastards riddle my body like a whore before you finish the Array? You slowpokes! We’re all going to die at this rate.”
Alf, well acquainted with his sister’s foul mouth, let it pass.
But Dr. Chad, being called a slowpoke by a woman young enough to be his daughter, felt his face blacken with mortification.
Well, he was African, so his skin was dark to begin with.
While the Midland New York trio drew attention to the east of Gerrit’s Nest, Sasaki from Midland Tokyo was performing brilliantly in the north.
As Sasaki drew near the Gerrit Nest, the creatures launched invisible high-speed volleys of saliva from afar.
Then Midland Tokyo’s mightiest swordsman, Sasaki, took his prized blades—the Thousand Man Beheader in his right hand and the Black Bone Blade in his left—and whirled them about like a tempest unleashed.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
Sparks erupted violently around Sasaki’s frame.
Remarkably, the swordsman Sasaki managed to deflect nearly every one of the Gerrit’s rapid-fire attacks with his blades.
More astounding still was that the Thousand Man Beheader and Black Bone Blade handled the Gerrit’s assault with greater ease than Aegis, one of Midland’s three legendary shields, could manage.
Truly, the power befitted Japan’s legendary Demonic Swords.
Yet even they had their limits.
‘Thump.’
A spine-bending spike of saliva burrowed through Sasaki’s defense, plunging into his right armpit and punching clean through his right shoulder.
Fortunately, Sasaki had angled the Thousand Man Beheader to deflect it, reducing the spike’s penetrating force to a fraction of its full power.
Had the attack struck with undiminished force, not just Sasaki’s right arm but half his upper body would have exploded like it had taken a direct hit from artillery.
Chapter 5
The Gerrit pressed their assault relentlessly against the stumbling Sasaki.
“Ugh, hack. Hack.”
At last, overwhelmed, Sasaki fell back.
The Gerrit showed no mercy to their retreating prey, tightening their pursuit and encircling Sasaki.
Cornered, Sasaki glanced briefly southwest and muttered to himself.
‘Ursina, I’m counting on your support.’
Sasaki now intended to slip away without drawing any further attention from the Gerrit.
That was it—Sasaki’s role was merely to attract attention.
And the purpose of the three-person team from Midland New York, led by Dr. Chad, was identical to Sasaki’s.
While the New York team drew the Gerrit’s gaze from the east of Gerrit’s Nest, and the swordsman Sasaki dispersed their attention from the north, Ursina from Midland Zurich would slip in from the southwestern flank and quietly spirit away Ju Hyung-seon’s body—such was the Council of Seven’s strategy.
Ursina had been given this crucial role because of her unique Ability.
Her specialty was breathing life force into shadows.
The moment Ursina began to fully exercise her power, something extraordinary occurred: her shadow stretched toward the Gerrit’s Nest in an impossibly long line, though the sun’s angle had not shifted at all.
When the tip of that shadow reached the Gerrit’s Nest, it suddenly detached from Ursina’s feet.
Ursina’s shadow, its hands fitted with sharp talons, slipped into Gerrit’s Nest as silently as a serpent scaling a tumble of stones.
The Gerrit here had carved out the interior of an enormous mountain peak entirely, hollowing it into a nest uniquely their own.
In doing so, the interior had become a labyrinthine network of thousands of tunnels and subterranean chambers, evoking the structure of an anthill.
Beneath the vaulted ceilings of these underground plazas hung what resembled red and blue nerve pathways, strung taut like power lines, through which a current-like substance flowed with a crackling hum: snap, snap.
Some of these nerve strands connected to the Gerrit’s airships.
These vessels had the flat profile of snowboards, their exteriors smooth and unbroken by any protrusions.
Around the airships, a pack of juvenile Gerrit with two eyes and one tail were playing with something.
When Ursina’s shadow stole a glimpse, the young Gerrit’s plaything revealed itself to be a creature with two horns.
But by now, that creature’s body had become tattered like a rag, appearing to be nothing but a raw mass of crimson flesh.
The young Gerrit were in the midst of a hunting game, spraying saliva at the meat.
Splat, splurt, splurt, splurt.
Each time thick globules of spit flew from all directions and embedded themselves in its body, the mass of flesh writhed in agony.
Ugh.
Ursina winced and hastily searched elsewhere.
The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer
Author |
Jyunon
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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G720:N+A063-20260703071
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Submissions |
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The contents of this book may not be 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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