Chapter 374: Foreign Invasion

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.

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…?”

I asked Seo-eun with a look of disbelief in my eyes.

…Seo-eun, I thought you were only doing my fan cafe, but now you’ve taken over all the communities around the world…

Se-eun replied in confusion.

“No… That’s not it! I’m just watching your Anglo-American fan cafe, and I just followed the link to this post from there, and I’m not happy.”

“…I have an overseas fan cafe?”

“Yes. If you add up all the members, it’s almost as big as the Korean one. It’s called Mango Love.”

“….”

At the unexpected news, I pulled my hair out.

…Well, whatever. Never mind. Based on the content of that post, is my history with Stardus the problem?

It wasn’t really a concern, since my abilities inside the Cathedral were limited to that…Well, it didn’t matter what I looked like on the outside.

Stardus, her identity was bound to be known, sooner or later.

A gem is a gem, and even if you keep it hidden, someone will eventually recognize its value.

Therefore, I was able to answer her with a smirk.

“Don’t worry, Seo-eun, time will pass and the story will fade away.”

Seo-Eun nodded her head in response.

“…That’s right.”

I’m puzzled by her sudden answer with a serious face.

Seo-Eun immediately clenches her fists, her eyes burning with anger.

“Because if I defeat Stardus, those words will disappear! Da-in, wait, I’m going to finish my new weapon, the Star Finisher!”

With those words, Seo-eun disappeared into the basement, her will burning fiercely.

“…”

…Well, whatever.

I decided to wait.

One day, everyone would know the power of Stardus.

If it was anything like the original, surely.

And a few days later, finally, the day came.

***

[BREAKING! The King of the Citadel, currently dubbed the worst villain in Europe, is reportedly on his way across the sea to South Korea! In response, the Association has issued an emergency evacuation order for the east coast…]

South Korea.

Unlike other countries, Korea was protected by North Korea from above and Japan from below. In other words, the country was quite safe from invasion by foreign villains.

But now, a crisis has finally come to Korea.

[…Korea is a nice place to live, so we’ll make it our base for the time being, and the Association should get out of the way.]

Castrum, the Lord of Iron Armor and Master of the Citadel, an S-class villain who was too violent for the European side to even make it into Cathedral.

He stands over two meters tall, and his armor is as solid as a castle. And he actually rides around in a giant flying mech.

He has no set territory, usually operating in Europe and Australia, but once he shows up, he doesn’t let up, and he’s coming to Korea.

…To be precise, experts analyzed that since he refused to be subordinate to Cathedral, he felt overwhelmed by having to deal with the Association and Cathedral at the same time and fled.

Anyway, it was a big problem that he was suddenly invading Korea.

It was especially frightening for the people, who had only ever faced homegrown villains and rarely foreign ones.

[Did you hear? When that villain Castrum appears, it takes five of Europe’s top S-class heroes to finally chase him away;;;; What about our country?]

[No, our country only has one S-class hero, Stardus, and he’s even stronger after inflation]

[Now I have no choice but to believe in Mangostick’s real loss insurance…]

[No, why would a big guy like that come to Korea, not Japan or China?]

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.