Chapter 374:

Chapter 374:

Stardus, the protagonist of this world, and the only one who can save it.

Officially, she possessed two powers: physical strength and flight, but in reality, she alone possessed the power of the stars. In other words, there was more to her than meets the eye.

Most notably, extrasensory perception. It's most closely related to the ability to discern the truth, which is never shown in the original...and even the ability to see the future.

And, perhaps most importantly, the ability that actually defines Stardus, growing her powers.

‘...Though it's pretty much a rule of comics everywhere that the main character grows over time.’

Stardus was special.

While everyone else only uses their abilities a little better when they grow, her abilities directly become stronger as she grows.

That's why she could have been the heroine...The problem was, the other villains were always stronger than her. Every time she progressed, there was always another villain with a higher level of skill.

Of course, this allowed her to keep growing... but the process was exhausting.

Hence, the reason I terrorized her as her arch nemesis. Instead of killing or allying myself with the other villains, I put her through trials of my own.

Anyway, the power inflation event that happened in the original story.

Since the issue that depicted that event ended with Stardus being incredibly powerful at the end...I was secretly looking forward to it as a reader. I thought, "Is this the end of the sweet potato, the beginning of Stardus' cider binge, the real story?”

...Of course, there was no such thing, and what readers got was a Reaper-like villain slaughtering people under Stardus' watchful eye.

Anyway, even with that in mind, post-inflation Stardus is incredibly strong. Arguably the strongest in PvP outside of Celeste.

‘Especially...’

Now that I'm in charge of her, she's even stronger than she was in the original, and she's practically at the pinnacle of power among heroes.

The problem was, the world didn't know it yet.

This is probably because the original Stardus didn't act internationally, only domestically, so there's no subjective comparison. How much stronger Stardus is than others. Even though there was the battle at the Moonlight Gate, it only moved him up to the top 50 and she was not further discussed.

"Da-in, I told you not to play with Stardus alone, didn't I?"

"...What is it, what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

"Look at this."

Seo-eun, who had now grown her white hair down to below her shoulders from her previous short haircut, tugged on my hand and showed me her phone.

And there it was, a post.

*

[Author: Villainrules]

[Why is the villain named Egostic an executive of the Asian branch of Cathedral?]

His only villain activity so far has been against a hero named Stardus in South Korea.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

How is a villain who has only barely stopped one hero a key player in Cathedral?

Even if he did stop Moonlight Gate, I don't get it.

=[3 comments]=

[Nate]/[Yeah, that makes sense.]

[Cellestia]/[Could Stardus be just as strong? I'm not sure.]

[MangoIsLOVE]/[One thing's for sure, you've never watched any of his broadcasts. LoL.]

...

*

It looks like they've turned on an in-site translator...It was showing me an English-speaking community site that I had never seen before.

And

"....."

I looked at it, and my expression became serious.

"...Seo-eun."

"Yeah. How about we forget about Stardus for now and find another hero..."

"No, more than that, you've finished reading all the English ones...?"

After seeing his path, everyone fled to Seoul.

There, a huge black castle floating in the air was approaching, casting shadows on the city streets.

And finally, a giant figure jumped from the castle.

-Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

A terrifying-looking Western man, clad in full body armor, landed in a cloud of dust, smashing through the concrete.

He then walked through the clouds, pacing the streets with an expressionless face.

"Hmm...I guess all the rats got away."

As he said that.

"Hmm?"

In front of him, he saw the figure of a woman standing in the middle of the street.

Her blonde hair was flowing, and she was looking at him with a stern face.

"You must be the hero of this place. Hmm, but are you alone?"

And then he's looking down at her with his massive body, exuding an immense sense of power, and saying it with a look of amusement.

Stardus turned to Castrum, still looking unimpressed.

"Foreign villain, I warn you for the first and last time: leave this land. Unless you want to die."

"....What? Hahahahaha!!! I'll give you credit for having the nerve. I see my name is not yet known in this tiny land....Okay, fine. I'll show you."

With those words, he spread his legs and took a stance.

-Kuwahwahwahwahwahwahwah

Suddenly, a nearby window shattered, and the wind rushed in, shouting at Stardus with such gusto that she could almost hear it.

"Yes!!! Hero of a small country. I, Castrum, will show you right here, right now, why I’m called the Iron Lord!"

And with that.

-Koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo

He charged at Stardus with tremendous speed, as if a great castle were charging at her.

And so, the fierce battle began, but a few minutes later.

"Hmph...!"

Kaaaaaaaaaah!

He was flying helplessly through the air, his gigantic size belied by the blow from Stardus.

Just like that.

"Phew..."

Stardus landed on the ground and wiped the sweat from her brow as she watched him collapse, his head hitting the top of a building and not even moving once he hit the ground.

Stardus had taken down Europe's worst villain, Castrum, in a matter of minutes.

And just like that, the battle against the much-ballyhooed Iron Lord was over.

*

[?]

[What did I just fucking see?]

[What the... is this]

[It's over...]

[????????]

*

...leaving nothing but bewildered question marks in the on-air chat rooms of the stations that were secretly filming the spectacle.

That day, Stardus was, unsurprisingly, on the front-page newspapers of news organizations across Europe.