The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 58

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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 58
It wasn’t long before Ursina spotted her target.
For reasons unknown, the Gilit had put Ju Hyung-seon’s corpse on display near the entrance of their nest.
Of course, the body was not intact.
Poor Ju Hyung-seon had been severed at the neck and waist, split into three pieces. His heart had already been eaten away, leaving a gaping hole where it had been.
The Gilit had separated Ju Hyung-seon’s head, torso, and lower body, then impaled each on a sharp wooden spike.
‘Damn it. They really made a show of it, didn’t they? Why on earth would they do something so gruesome? Is this some kind of Gilit habit?’
Ursina puzzled over this.
But she had no time to dwell on it.
‘Finish this quickly. If I linger here too long, it’ll get dangerous.’
From the moment she set foot in the Gilit Nest, an inexplicable sense of dread had gnawed at Ursina. She wanted nothing more than to leave this place as fast as possible.
Hiss—.
Ursina’s shadow scaled the tree without a sound and seized Ju Hyung-seon’s head.
Normally, a shadow should have no physical power at all.
But Ursina’s shadow was different. This peculiar shadow pulled Ju Hyung-seon’s head from the wooden spike like yanking a radish from soil. Then it unhinged its mouth like a rubber sack and swallowed the entire head in one gulp.
The solid head vanished as though devoured by the shadow itself.
Ursina’s shadow moved to the adjacent tree.
Then her shadow stretched its mouth wide as a rubber pouch once more and swallowed Ju Hyung-seon’s torso whole.
‘Just the lower body left.’
As Ursina’s shadow approached the last remaining piece, a voice with an eerie tone echoed from somewhere.
“Keh-keh-keh-kehk. The bait worked perfectly.”
“Didn’t I tell you? If we tore apart that primitive’s body and put it on display, his allies would come looking. Didn’t I say so? Kee-kee-kee-kit.”
“We snagged four more for the price of one corpse. Not bad.”
These speakers were mature Gilit with three eyes each and eight tails.
Of course, Ursina didn’t understand the Gilit tongue.
Yet somehow, she grasped the gist of what they were discussing.
‘This is a trap.’
The instant Ursina sensed the danger, her shadow bolted away.
Chapter 6
“Hey? It’s running away? Kee-kik.”
“Keh-keh-kuk. Fun.”
One of the Gilit suddenly appeared and spat at Ursina’s shadow.
Splurt!
The saliva fired by the mature Gilit pierced through the cavern wall and embedded itself dozens of meters deep before Ursina could even dodge.
However, since Ursina was currently in shadow form, she took no physical damage.
Ursina’s shadow darted across the cavern floor like a lizard fleeing a predator, desperate to escape the Gilit Nest.
“Keh-keh-keh-kuhk. What are you doing?”
“Just playing around?”
“Stop fooling and laughing. We’ll lose our toy at this rate.”
Several Gilit pounded after Ursina’s shadow in heavy-footed pursuit.
Then another Gilit’s voice sounded from behind.
“Listen. The north entrance is already finished. Stop messing around and grab it already. We’re going to come in last at this rate.”
The north entrance referred to the northern section of the nest.
In other words, Sasaki, who was guarding that position, had been captured by the Gilit.
The raw strength of a mature Gilit far exceeded what Sasaki could handle.
Sasaki had managed to buy time by blocking the Gilit’s spit with his twin blades, but only because the creatures there were deliberately firing slowly and toying with him. If a mature Gilit attacked in earnest, Sasaki would be dead within mere seconds.
The same was true for the trio from Midland New York.
“Done. The Spell Array is complete.”
Alf shouted with excitement.
“Then fire it already. I can’t hold out much longer. Shoot it now. Ugh!”
Marie cursed at her twin brother.
Alf immediately activated the formation.
The Poison Magic that Doctor Chad had created with his full power was launched through Alf’s casting circle.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, a green mist spread from the eastern entrance of the Gilit Nest.
Before this deadly toxin, even the Demon Beasts of the Highland 6th Continent were helpless. Those exposed to the poisonous fog lost all sensation in their nerves and collapsed convulsively.
Doctor Chad had faith his poison would work on the Gilit as well.
But what happened?
“Keh-heh-heh. I waited to see what these primitive creatures would do, and this is all? How disappointing.”
“This is actually weaker than the poison from the widow spiders in the next territory over, isn’t it?”
The Gilit scoffed at the combined assault from Doctor Chad and Alf, then deliberately inhaled the green mist as if to flaunt their immunity.
At that moment, Alf’s Spell Array fired off another incantation.
This one was Curse Magic—designed to rot the target’s flesh.
But the Gilit were unaffected.
Their Bark Skin protected them.
Gilit Bark Skin did far more than boost physical Defense Power; it granted resistance to elemental magic, immunity to poison, and complete protection against curses.
As a result, the New York trio’s assault came to nothing.
“Growing tired of toying with these primitives, are we?”
“Shall we end this now, then? Kheheheh.”
Before the Gilit could finish speaking, a spiked tail streaked toward them at a speed that dwarfed anything that had come before, slamming directly into Marie’s Aegis.
Clang!
With the resonant crash of a cracking temple bell, the protective barrier shattered completely. Four of the eight Demon Spirit Stones that Midland New York’s master craftsman had embedded in the Aegis exploded simultaneously.
“Hraack!”
Marie vomited blood from her mouth, ears, eyes, and nose all at once, then flew backward.
“Wait—Marie!”
Alf rushed toward his sister in shock.
The moment he caught her in his arms, a second spike came hurtling through like lightning, piercing through Alf’s back and out through his torso.
“Ugh!”
Alf felt his entire body turn deathly cold, as though he’d plunged into the Arctic Ocean.
He doubled over, clutching his abdomen, and collapsed.
“This can’t be real.”
Doctor Chad muttered the words in disbelief. He was reeling from the Gilit’s terrifying power, confronted with the yawning gulf between their strength and humanity’s.
In truth, the visionaries of the Seven Sages—Doctor Chad among them—had once been confident that they had made a decent life for themselves on the Highland 6th Continent.
But now, having witnessed the true power of the Gilit, the strongest creatures on the continent, that confidence crumbled into dust. He understood, at last, that it had been nothing but delusion.
‘This is my fault. I underestimated the Gilit, and for it, I’ve sent my comrades to their deaths.’
Doctor Chad condemned himself.
Yet even in that despair, he did not forget what needed to be done.
He would activate Alf’s Spell Array in his stead, buying whatever time he could. And in those precious seconds, perhaps Alf and Marie could escape this terrible Magical Danger Zone.
But he knew that was impossible.
Whoosh—
A chill swept out from the Gilit Nest, and before Doctor Chad could even touch the Spell Array, several Gilit materialized directly in front of him.
They appeared as though they had teleported, their three gleaming eyes fixed on him.
“No—!”
Doctor Chad reflexively lunged for the Spell Array.
“Khehehehe. The primitive creature still struggles to the very end.”
One of the Gilit stomped on the back of his hand.
“Ahhh!”
Even a casual step had shattered his bones completely.
Another Gilit then flicked one of its tails, bringing the venomous spike to Doctor Chad’s forehead.
Click—
A grotesque loading sound echoed from within the tail.
‘It’s over.’
Doctor Chad sensed death approaching.
Then, in that instant—
“I knew you’d be this stupid. No backbone, no skill—how did you even think you’d make it to the Gilit Nest?”
A woman’s voice, tinged with a French accent and slightly husky, came from behind him.
Chapter 7
Her tone cut through the chaos like a blade.
‘Eleanor.’
Doctor Chad recognized the voice instantly.
Midland New York had a King and a Queen.
Eleanor held the position of Queen, and she was among the handful of strongest figures in the entire world.
Yet Eleanor was a dyed-in-the-wool white supremacist, and she and Doctor Chad had never seen eye to eye.
At the sound of Queen Eleanor’s voice, Doctor Chad felt both relief and despair wash over him simultaneously.
‘We’re saved. She’s here—Alf and Marie will live.’
That was the source of his relief.
The Burgundy Family, a distinguished house of New York, had deep ties with Eleanor stretching back generations.
So Eleanor’s appearance here could only mean one thing: she had come to rescue Alf and Marie, the family’s core members.
‘The Burgundy Family must have given her the Child Metal as well.’
Without it, Eleanor would never have found her way to this place.
The problem was Eleanor’s nature.
‘That racist would never save someone like me, a Black man.’
Doctor Chad sensed this instinctively.
Unlike the Burgundy siblings, Doctor Chad was Black.
Yet Eleanor despised Black people, Hispanics, and Asians alike. She didn’t even recognize Native Americans as equals.
Doctor Chad’s intuition proved exactly right.
“Tch, tch, tch. The Burgundy bloodline has truly decayed beyond repair. Running around with those darkies and brownies in some Seven Sages nonsense, and this is all you amount to?”
“Ugh.”
Eleanor’s crude words from behind set fire to Doctor Chad’s insides.
Then light flashed brilliantly—someone seized Alf and Marie by the scruff of their necks with brutal force.
The source of that explosive light was none other than Eleanor herself.
Voluminous golden hair. A plump, broad frame.
This matronly woman with a kindly appearance was Eleanor, the Queen of New York and one of the world’s foremost Ability Users.
The Gilit reacted to Eleanor’s arrival.
Whiiiissshh—
Dozens of attacks streamed in from all directions simultaneously. As if all that had come before were mere play, the Gilit now unleashed their venom at speeds several times faster than before.
Even the Queen Eleanor, New York’s supreme pinnacle, could not deflect the Gilit’s assault.
Instead, she deployed her specialty.
Eleanor’s Ability was Light Speed.
Of course, she couldn’t actually move at the speed of light. Unlike the Dragon-kin elite of the 5th Continent, who could truly perform near-light velocity assaults, Eleanor operated in a middle ground far slower than light but far faster than the sound barrier—and that was where she had set her speed record.
Eleanor’s unofficial best record was Mach 1,004.
Normally, flying between Mach 1 and Mach 5 generates a shock wave called a Sonic Boom.
Push beyond Mach 5, and the Sonic Boom gives way to aerodynamic heating from fluid viscosity, triggering chemical reactions.
In other words, surpassing Mach 5 means entering the Hypersonic regime.
But Eleanor had exceeded Mach 1,000—a speed that defied imagination.
More importantly, Queen Eleanor’s Ability wasn’t focused solely on velocity.
For Queen Eleanor to move at the transcendent speed of Mach 1,000, her body first had to be durable enough to withstand that velocity.
Just as developing advanced hypersonic missiles relies fundamentally on creating new materials that can endure air friction heat and the resulting plasma, Queen Eleanor’s Light Speed Ability required her body itself to possess extraordinary heat resistance and rigidity.
Naturally, Queen Eleanor possessed both.
The moment Eleanor snatched Alf and Marie by the scruff and fled far away, the Gilit’s venom struck the trajectory she had taken—pap, pap, pap!
Several Gilit leaped onto their airships and pursued Eleanor like a gale.
But Eleanor was faster than the Gilit’s vessels. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from their sight.
“Damn it. We toy with our prey and this is what happens?”
“Search now. Chase them down—find where they’re fleeing!”
The three-eyed, eight-tailed mature Gilit opened their third eyes, expanding their search range to the horizon.
Before long, Eleanor’s trail was spotted by the Gilit’s gaze.
“There.”
The moment the words left their mouths, more Gilit joined the pursuit. Now a total of fifteen mature Gilit chased Eleanor.
‘Damn it.’
Eleanor’s lips pressed tight.
Even the fearless Queen Eleanor felt her heart drop now.
Of course, Eleanor was confident she could easily shake off the Gilit.
But that was only if she were alone. Right now, she had two dead-weight lumps clinging to her, and these lumps couldn’t withstand her Light Speed Ability.
For this very reason, Eleanor couldn’t go all out.
‘Ugh, these useless burdens.’
Eleanor glared at the Burgundy siblings with displeasure, then activated an item.
Boom!
In an instant, a protective barrier erupted from the winged boots Eleanor wore, enveloping the Burgundy siblings.
These boots, called Hermes’s Wings, were Queen Eleanor’s most treasured S-rank item.
With the protection of Hermes’s Wings securing the Burgundy siblings’ safety, Queen Eleanor felt free to accelerate.
Boom—
The next instant, thunder-like detonations erupted behind Eleanor, and flames burst forth.
In the end, the Gilit failed to catch her, left as foolish as a dog chasing chickens.
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Junon
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(Co.) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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Without written permission from (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books, this book’s content may not be used in any form or by any means.

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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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