NOVEL NEXT chapter 363 - Wandering Boss: Stalker
1.
She had made up her mind.
She would dirty her hands for Mark-Ⅱ.
She would cast aside her pride.
But then, Mark-Ⅱ had sent a donation message.
Telling her that her Mama was not that kind of person.
That while everyone else demanded a “wise” choice, her Mama was someone who could make the “foolish” choice alone.
‘I know.’
It was just a child’s naivety.
A child’s illusion that their parents could do anything.
A wish so childish, it was almost laughable.
And yet—
She wanted to protect it.
She wanted to preserve Mark-Ⅱ’s belief that her Mama was invincible.
The innocence Ha Eung Eung once had as a child, when she was thrown into the unfamiliar world of the martial arts society—
The pure faith she once held in the elders of her sect—
The purity she herself could not hold onto.
If nothing else, she wished that Mark-Ⅱ, who resembled her, could carry that innocence to the very end.
[Gwooooooohhh!!]
Before her stood the massive beast.
The Wandering Boss Stalker.
It no longer possessed even the ability to string together human words.
Not a shred of intelligence remained.
2.
[Story Mode]
Boogie Girl recognized it immediately.
A massive creature formed by the fused bodies of countless yokai.
And that enormous face—
It was the very same shape as the Bloodhound Tracker that had once hunted her down.
[What a foolish creature. Even after turning into that, it still seeks to serve as the Great Demon’s tool.]
[Does that monster still have any sense of self left?]
[The countless yokai devoured by the Pillar of Ascension— their hatred, rage, and despair—all of it is being led in a single direction by the Bloodhound Tracker’s consciousness.]
It wasn’t just the porter who had asked the question—everyone listening from behind them trembled in fear.
[At least that reckless decision to fight it wasn’t completely meaningless.]
Beside her, Tuttah was wailing, “Hiiiek! This is way too scary!”
The porter muttered, “Should we really be doing this…?”
Ignoring their complaints, Boogie Girl grabbed both of them firmly by the back of the neck.
Hands sprouted from her Jewel Sack, pressing against the ground as she lifted herself into the air, her stance as arrogant as ever.
[Look at it. Look at its frozen body.]
That high-handed, condescending posture—
And yet, in times like this, it was exactly what they needed to instill courage and suppress their fear.
As they refocused their minds and observed the Stalker’s body, the others began to notice it as well.
Patches of frozen flesh, cracks in its skin—remnants of the Yuki-onna’s attack.
[I see. That monster can’t move right now. If it tries to get up too quickly, a significant part of its body will break apart and fall off.]
[Then we can use this! If we make the dumb monster suffer before it moves, we win!]
The Stalker would need time to restart its movements.
One turn at the fastest.
Two to three at the latest.
Not a long time.
Even if they pushed forward with everything they had for six whole turns, what waited at the end was the Great Demon.
And if they couldn’t defeat the Great Demon…
They’d be trapped between the Great Demon in front and the Stalker behind.
A guaranteed wipeout.
But if they flipped their perspective—
If they had the strength to kill the Great Demon…
Then why couldn’t they use that same power to kill the Stalker first?
It wasn’t impossible.
Half-Demon Aria was a world of survival of the fittest.
And the Great Demon was, without a doubt, the strongest being in this era of Half-Demon Aria.
[Cowardly mole. It’s your turn.]
[Tuttah is not a coward!]
[I’ll punch you.]
[Hiiiiek! Tuttah is a coward! I don’t want to get hurt, so stop tormenting me by rubbing my forehead in circles—!]
[Ahaha. Tuttah, if you keep crying like that, you’ll get ugly.]
[Nooo! Nooo! Tuttah won’t get ugly!]
Tuttah, who had been crying rivers, suddenly held back his tears when the Wandering Merchant teased him.
[Tuttah will find a way to win this battle! But if Tuttah succeeds, no more forehead circles!]
Boogie Girl looked down at him with condescending amusement.
[No.]
[Hiiiiiiek!! That’s too cruel!!]
In the end, Tuttah whined for a long time before being subjected to forehead circles once again—
Only then did he finally come up with a strategy.
3.
[Player Mode]
The Silent Swordsman turned to her subordinates one last time.
Was this really okay?
Even though the operation put them all at risk, not a single one of them stepped back.
“Our lord has paved the way for us all this time, crossing swords with countless formidable foes.”
“Even we, the cursed Nakgui, still have some sense of honor.”
“If not for you, we would have died back in the capital anyway. We have no thoughts of retreating.”
“It’s terrifying, yes… But what choice do we have? The future behind us is far more terrifying.”
The Red Knight.
The Mighty Right Arm.
The Extreme Bear General.
Ya Cheon Myung Ryang.
Four of her generals stood at the front, each leading their own forces.
“It’s war!”
“Human! You have to win before the supply runs out! Come back alive, no matter what!”
As Tuttah raised the banner, the Wandering Merchant saw them off—
And at the same time, a rain of siege weapons and thrown spears fell upon the Stalker’s frozen body.
Crack. Crack.
With sharp sounds, the creature’s hardened flesh began to shatter.
The immense body of the Stalker trembled as the blows hit, but its massive head—its point of control—wrinkled with fury.
“Increase speed. We cannot allow its hands to face our rear!”
The cavalry riders, supported by one another, formed a wedge that intensified their destructive power.
With a powerful charge, their arms pierced through the frozen sides of the Stalker.
Crack!
Crack!
BOOM!!
The hand that had risen up in pain fell back, crashing downward with brutal force, killing numerous elite cavalry riders in the process.
But none of them faltered, not even as they watched their comrades fall.
“Over here, you damned monster!”
At close range, the Nakgui soldiers threw rocks, trees, and ice shards, targeting the vulnerable joints in the Stalker’s raised arms.
BOOM!!
The Stalker screamed in pain, yet despite its struggle, it couldn’t respond in time. The second wave of attacks came crashing down on its joints.
As its arms were raised helplessly, the Extreme Bear General’s soldiers attached ropes and stakes to scale the Stalker’s body, using it as a platform to climb.
[The Wandering Boss Stalker has abandoned its recovery stance under the barrage of attacks.]
Finally, under relentless pressure, the Stalker braced itself. It was preparing to counterattack, even at the cost of delaying its recovery.
The Stalker’s skin cracked open.
“As expected, the warriors are right!”
“The Grand Legion pattern has begun. Prepare yourselves!”
“We’ll squeeze every last bit of strength out of us!!”
The countless yokai absorbed by the Pillar of Ascension poured out like a broken dam.
‘There’s no way we can stop all of this without sacrifices.’
Boogie Girl’s hand tightly grasped the Silent Swordsman’s, whose sword was ready to strike.
“You’re not trying to do this in vain, are you? We all march forward to the death for a reason.”
“……”
“The only one who can deliver the fatal blow to that beast is you. If you waste your energy here, all the sacrifices of our troops will be for nothing.”
The Silent Swordsman nodded.
It wasn’t yet her turn to act.
Even though fierce battles raged between the Great Legion and all the forces, her task was to conserve her strength until the final phase.
It was ironic.
The contradiction in a boss fight where she swore not to abandon anyone, yet now, everyone was sacrificing themselves for her.
But the truth was, no one could avoid death.
And how one used their life was something they alone could decide.
If this was their decision, then she would accept it.
“Even if I lose both arms, my will remains with the commander! Please accept my true name!”
“If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll gladly sacrifice my life for the commander!”
As the number of [N O V E L I G H T] allies dwindled, the power of the commanders who had given their true names grew stronger.
The true name openings—an offering of one’s strength and will to help their lord accomplish their great mission, constantly forging red crosses.
No way. Why are the main characters doing the True Name openings for yokai now?
The experience is just melting away.
But honestly, since Silent Swordsman doesn’t use skill trees, the experience is pointless anyway.
True, but still.
Has anyone seen this many True Name openings in a group aside from the Baek Ryeong Shin-Gun main event?
I’m on my 87th playthrough and haven’t seen a group True Name opening aside from the Baek Ryeong Shin-Gun main event.
Seriously, the loyalty is off the charts.
The clash of legions continued.
But it was the commanders who would turn the tide.
“Come at me! I’m not satisfied with just the lesser yokai. If we’re to open the path for our lord, we must bring even the stronger yokai to their knees!”
As the Red Knight swung his spear, cutting down dozens of yokai in the process, a monstrous surge of power rippled through the enemy lines.
The powerful yokai, sealed away in the Pillar of Ascension due to the Great Demon’s betrayal, began to awaken.
As the Stalker began to draw upon the latent power sealed within the Pillar, the threat of the yokai’s awakening loomed dangerously close.
“The Heartkeeper’s risen, has it? Finally, it’s our turn to act.”
The Extreme Bear General’s capital defense unit was among the finest in the Great Demon’s army.
But the countless yokai, offered as sacrifices, weren’t enough to stop the oncoming tide.
To create an opening, the Extreme Bear General’s forces launched a devastating counterattack, pushing through the gap created by the sacrifice of their own soldiers.
“Go on. I’ll open the way.”
With many of their subordinates sacrificing themselves to clear the path, only the Silent Swordsman, Boogie Girl, and three porters remained.
“This is it. I can’t mistake the aura of my old enemy.”
Inside Boogie Girl’s wardrobe, the heart of the being they sought to protect was concealed.
And now, as the last of the yokai were drawn into the battle, only a few enemies remained to oppose them.
“It’s up ahead.”
Even with their dwindling number, Boogie Girl’s hands stretched out from her Jewel Sack, stopping the advancing enemies with deadly force.
With her comrades’ help, they pushed through every obstacle until they reached the ominous wardrobe, revealing the Bloodhound Tracker—the true form of the Stalker.
It was time to decide the outcome.