CHAPTER 66: THOUSAND FACED SOUL STEALING WRAITH

Chapter 66 (Corrected)

Roy gazed at the lanky-armed attacker, eyes red with rancor.

Just... just now, the bastard had snapped his Epic stun stick!

Despite the grimness of the current situation, his heart couldn’t help but feel a prickling pain at the loss. Though not totally destroyed and still easily fixable, it was rendered useless for the course of this battle.

Grinding his teeth, his figure blitzed through the air, appearing before the slit-mouthed Variant — a silver baton already viciously arcing down with violent momentum.

And with brute strength so overwhelming, the enemy’s constitution didn’t stand a chance. The creature straight up spattered.

Steam rose from his grip on the baton — he had pushed the skill Bash to the very limit he could handle.

He reached for the broken, sparking remains of his stun gun, eyes twitching with loss and fury.

A mental wave bloomed, relaying information into his mind.

"TSK! So it wasn’t that the damned thing was that strong — it just had high elemental resistance!" Roy felt even more pain at this loss upon discovering that fact.

Sadly, he wasn’t able to dwell in sulking for long. Ears twitching, he detected heavy footsteps.

You see, regular Variants were weak and lightweight. They were rabid and numerous — almost endless, even. But despite the constant cacophony of footsteps, Roy could still detect the difference.

From the right: three extremely heavy. Then about nine from the left — similar to the scarred-lipped, long-armed foe he just pulverized.

And indeed, within seconds, the stronger Variants were within sight.

"Alpha! You and the rest of the squad handle those nine! I’ll deal with these three..." he quickly barked out orders.

He had to be realistic. Facing such numbers of strong foes — some immune to elemental damage — if not all twelve, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

And besides, he had to save his strength for the big wigs — the main player of this battle: the Finger of Gluttony.

Behind him, spearheaded by Alpha, his squad made way toward the approaching nine boss-level Variants on the left.

As for Roy, he burst into a blur, speeding toward the three massive figures.

Amalgamations of writhing, wailing faces stitched all over — and a plain face with wide, entrenched interlocking teeth, dripping with streams of drool.

Roy wasted no time, his baton swinging. The wrathful wails affected his soul somewhat, but not strongly enough — Roy could shrug it off.

Boom!

A rippling tide tore through one of the behemoths. Momentum did its work, driving it backward — but its tight connection to the earth remained, failing to fall, leaving massive trenches as it skidded.

Roy frowned at the sight... he hadn’t held back, but it was still zero damage.

Ocular skill Eyes of Truth flared — his eyes glowing unnaturally.

[Variant: Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Wraith

Banner: Throne of Evil: Gluttony

Corruption: 407]

Roy frowned at the weird stat display — no level, and only one attribute stat. Weird...

Then he remembered the system’s warning:

[Getting contaminated by corruption would lead to immediate loss of all privileges, orders, territory, stats, levels, and skills. Host has to be careful.]

Recalling those words, a chill ran down his spine. He definitely didn’t want to become like that.

Regardless, aside from casting Inspect, his skill Eyes of Truth saw the world in another light — seeing everything in truth.

He watched as the ripples caused by his attack were immediately dispersed and devoured by the writhing heads — meaning it was literally invulnerable...

Well, not exactly. His eyes glinted — one of the faces, the lighter one, and the only among them that remained still and silent as though dead — it was a weak point. It couldn’t disperse force.

So technically, any attack dealt from there would be enough to reduce the hulking abomination to paste.

The wind howled fiercely behind him as another was already upon him. Cadence bloomed — milky gold flowing like a torrential river — as Roy masterfully evaded.

Missing its prey, the massive punch continued on its path into the ground. And this brief moment of opening wasn’t wasted.

A silver baton mercilessly rammed into the side of the massive abhorrent — targeting precisely a dead face.

And as estimated, the creature burst into a shrill screech before exploding into a pool of black, putrid liquid — all its faces dissolving in the solution.

The other two were noticeably taken aback by this — to think their weakness was discerned so quickly.

Their gait became more wary, always in a stance that could easily protect their only flaw.

Roy’s eyes simmered with a mystic blue hue, as they trained on the distance.

And indeed, a small horde of towering, writhing-faced abominations made their way out of the crack.

He frowned. This many Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Wraiths could cause massive casualties in his army... so he had to be the one to weather this storm.

His figure blitzed into the air with a speed far surpassing what his stats had to offer.

Whisking past the two opponents who were warily protecting their weaknesses — unfortunately for them, their attempt at protection didn’t do shit.

As he passed their figures, both corrupted creatures groaned in pain as their frames collapsed into rancid pools of black rot.

Roy moved unimpeded toward the mass of Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Wraiths.

And here was the problem — the moment he got close enough, the combined wails of the faces on these creatures stacked together finally started affecting him.

A dizziness and blurring sight afflicted Roy. He tried biting his tongue to snap out of it, but the stacked effect was just too strong.

By now, his running had come to a skidding halt — as he tripped pathetically, face digging into the rotting, crusted soil.

Ah... no. If I don’t stop them... people will die... my people will die... I can’t let that happen, he struggled to string thoughts.

His breathing felt stifled, as the demonic wails of the incoming horde warped into something else in his ears.

It was as though countless whispers rang continuously and silently in his ears — sleep, rest, relax, give in... you can’t shoulder all the burden... you’ve been under constant pressure... you deserve rest... no one can fault you for that.

The tempting silent whispers continued. Worse — it was as though his entire being was bound in chains. Every move was strenuous and stressful.

This is bad... I-I need to do something. Though all his senses were dulled, the stifling stench of imminent demise was thick in the air as the horde drew closer.

He struggled to summon an item — and it appeared. A Legendary Horn appeared in his grasp, and he wasted no time blowing it as loud as possible, pouring Genesis Ether into the mind-stunning ability.

And finally — silence. The horde froze in their tracks, the wailing faces immediately going silent.

Regaining himself, he wasted no time summoning something else — which he threw straight into their midst.

And the smoke bomb erupted, clouding tens of miles...

Everything in the area was covered — blinded — well, save for Roy, as his glowing ethereal gaze shone through the flowing haze.