Chapter 276: Chapter 276

“Gerrity, are you crazy?!”

Joseph urgently yelled at Gerrity, trying to stop him, but he didn’t listen.?True to his moniker, the ‘Puppeteer,’ Gerrity seized control of the hunters around him, dragging them into battle.

The hunters of the Western Shields, just like Gerrity, suddenly turned around and attacked other hunters.

-Enhancing Strength, Hardening Skin, Mid-ranged Magic Shield, Agile Step, Keen Senses!

Gerrity’s special ability was to make hunters several times more powerful by quickly overlapping enhancement magic under three circles. As an enemy, he was surprisingly cunning and fierce.

The hunters didn’t get stronger only by a bit. Their attacks were now ten times stronger.

“I can’t take this any longer. We have to deal with them!”

“Yes!”

Joseph’s subordinates immediately took out their artifacts at their captain’s command.

The only hunters under Joseph were individuals who swung their weapons at others without hesitation. They were cold-blooded people willing to do anything in order to accomplish their goals!

The moment the order came out, the hunters under Joseph attacked without mercy.

Sparks flew off the blades of the hunters as they clashed, as if magic spells were exploding between them.

‘What are they doing?’

“Have they been affected by mental magic?”

“It doesn’t matter any more. We have to kill them now!” Joseph spoke firmly.

They didn’t know what kind of magic was causing this, but the most urgent problem was that an A-grade hunter had been hit by it.

If Gerrity had fallen victim to the magic of a weak monster, he didn’t deserve to live anyways… It was even more of a problem if he had been affected by a strong monster.

He had to quickly get rid of this troublesome Gerrity in order to deal with that monster. If they didn’t do anything about this, the number of enemy puppets would only increase.

***

‘Did he make a contract with an evil god constellation?’

Choi Yeonseung was taken aback by the scene.

A fight had suddenly broken out between the hunters on the other side! Given the situation, nobody was responding. To be more precise, nobody could respond.?Two A-grade hunters were leading their subordinates to fight to the death, and there weren’t many people who could step in.

-He didn’t make a contract with an evil god constellation.

-That’s right. It was the same the last time I saw him.

If there had been any household members of an evil god constellation here, the situation would’ve been catastrophic.?The moment such household members interfered, many of the A-grade hunters gathered here would get injured or killed.

Both the government officials and Choi Yeonseung had been aware of this possible scenario, so they had done a thorough background check on everyone beforehand. On top of that, they had also conducted a bunch of tests. Besides, wasn’t Gerrity an A-grade hunter? He had no reason to make a contract with an evil god constellation.

“I don’t think anyone will step up. Let’s go and kill them!” Hwang Gyeongryong urged firmly.

Hearing this, Chen Xiezhi replied with great satisfaction, “It’s a very good idea, young man!”

“Y-Young... my age...”

“Huh? Why are you acting like this when you’re just a young man?”

This conversation worried Choi Yeonseung. He obviously couldn’t let this rampage continue. At this rate, not only would one side of the siege collapse, but many hunters would also get injured or killed.

They had to put an end to it! The problem was...

‘There's something weird.'

Choi Yeonseung’s gut feeling was telling him to not rush in.

Choi Yeonseung had become a constellation after hunting many monsters in the Abyss, so he knew how difficult it was to deal with monsters.

All the monsters from the Abyss had a variety of unique characteristics.?Even Choi Yeonseung could get seriously hurt if he rushed in without knowing what kind of monster he was dealing with.

‘If this isn’t the doing of an evil god constellation, it must be a monster that’s caused this. What type of monster could do this?’

-The alganto?

The alganto was a monster that looked like a cephalopod and was considered A-grade on Earth. It wasn’t its size and physical strength that made it dangerous, but its skills.

The monster could control its opponents through the mental waves it emitted.

Hunters unaware of this skill would stab and kill each other in the alganto’s dungeon, leading to a catastrophic amount of damage on the hunters’ side.

-No. It’s not an alganto’s doing.

Even though the alganto was known for its mental magic, Gerrity could’ve definitely blocked it. After all, he had artifacts all over his body...

-Besides, the alganto doesn’t have the ability to hide.

-What about the ghost knight?

The ghost knight was a monster that had never been seen on Earth.

Compared to the rich history of the Abyss, the history of Earth was rather insignificant. Thus, there were many monsters that hadn’t yet been discovered on Earth.

Of course, Choi Yeonseung had faced it before, and if he had to give it a rating, it would be around B+. The strength was closer to C-grade, but its skills were quite tricky to deal with.

The ghost knight had the ability to gain complete control of someone’s body, and it also used a stealth skill to blend in with the surrounding environment when at a disadvantage. It was a nasty monster that sneaked into the battlefield in the middle of a fight.

-The ghost knights can’t hide their aura, and I can’t feel its energy. At any rate, it’s never even been seen on Earth.

-Just because it hasn’t appeared yet doesn’t mean it never will, right?

-That’s true but...

The goddess of sloth was certainly right.

The monsters that appeared on Earth were rather weak compared to the monsters that terrorized the Abyss.

On Earth, humans made a fuss by classifying the monsters with grades, but there were many monsters in the Abyss that were much stronger than the A or S-grade monsters on Earth.

Choi Yeonseung speculated that this discrepancy resulted from the fact that Earth was a separate realm from the Abyss. Even though these two realms were connected through the gate, weren’t there supposed to be some restrictions on what monsters could emerge on Earth from the dungeon?

There was no way that the rampaging monsters could control their power, so it seemed like a pretty plausible guess.

However, things certainly wouldn’t stay that way forever.?As the gate’s power became stronger, Earth and the Abyss were getting closer and closer, so it wouldn't be strange if stronger monsters appeared.

-You’re right, but in any case, I don’t think it’s the ghost knight.

The Observer Who Returned From a Cold Place, who had descended in Illeya body, looked at Choi Yeonseung with an intrigued expression.

“Are you talking to your constellation?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He says he doesn’t know who the enemy is.”

“Neither do I. Do you want to just go and eliminate them?”

The observer constellation spoke with Illeya’s voice, but it sounded more cheerful and lively than usual. On top of that, the constellation’s manner of speech was slower and clumsier than Illeya’s, making her voice sound even stranger.

“I think we should at least figure out what monster’s causing this before we rush in.”

As Choi Yeonseung and the observer constellation were discussing strategy, Gerrity screamed in pain as he was stabbed in the chest by Joseph.?Like a cold-blooded hunter, Joseph had swung his longsword without mercy.

-Blessing of Iron Blood!

The blood-stained longsword emitted powerful magic power as it received the constellation’s blessing. It was clearly an artifact received from a constellation.

‘Did they subdue it by themselves?’

It was great news!

“???”

Suddenly, a different voice could be heard coming from Gerrity’s mouth, one that was clearly not his, and Choi Yeonseung’s eyes widened.

Had he really signed a contract with an evil god constellation?

-No... No!

“This...!”

However, the goddess of sloth and the Observer Who Returned From a Cold Place reacted differently from Choi Yeonseung.

Based on the unusual reactions of the long-lived constellations, Choi Yeonseung assumed that they were about to face an abnormal opponent.

-That’s... It’s Demiargas, the spirit king!

-It’s the first time I hear his name.

-That’s because you’re a young constellation, Successor!

Since there was practically no way for mortals to defeat beings born as constellations, the constellations of the Abyss usually weren’t afraid of their opponents unless it was another constellation like themselves.

However, monsters that were savage and powerful enough to scare off even the constellations sometimes appeared in the Abyss.

Those kinds of monsters didn’t awaken as constellations, but their skills and overall power were equal to or greater than those of a constellation!

Choi Yeonseung remembered the powerful monsters he had defeated. Some of them might have become constellations had they lived for a long time.

-So it’s that kind of bastard? Goddess, is there any reason for you to be scared?

-He’s not the type of monster that threatens constellations. But he... he’s really dangerous!

There was a reason why the goddess was scared of this monster.

Demiargas was known as ‘the spirit king.’ It was rare for a monster to receive a moniker with ‘king’ in it.?Demiargas hadn’t received this moniker because of his strength or his level, but because of how much damage he had inflicted on the kingdoms of other constellations.

-He has killed and injured many household members with his skills. He has also inflicted tremendous damage on the kingdoms of many constellations...

-Is he that strong?

-Yes. He doesn’t have the power to directly fight constellations, but he’s strong enough to lay waste to their kingdoms.

To sum up Demaargas’ skills, he was essentially the absolute master of mental skills.?The physical strength of an alganto was relatively weak, but it was still considered an A-grade monster due to the one mental magic skill it used.

In comparison, Demiagras could use a dozen more mental magic skills in a much stronger form.

It didn’t matter if Demiagras’ victim was a household member, a subordinate, or anything else. Once they fell under his spell, the victim forgot all about their original master and did whatever the spirit king told them to, completely mesmerized by him.

-The enraged constellations formed an alliance and went as far as to execute him directly. How the hell is he alive?

-I guess they failed.

“He’s Demiargas. Do you know about him?”

Choi Yeonseung replied, “Yeah, I just heard about him.”

“Huh… Your master didn’t seem like an old constellation though...”

Choi Yeonseung tried to keep a composed expression as the observer constellation cast him a suspicious glance.

He couldn’t reveal too much information about him. He knew that the observer constellation was interested in him, but that was precisely why he had to be more careful.

“That’s not important right now. ”

“Do you know his weaknesses?”

-He has a spirit body.

“He has a spirit body.”

Demiargas had a ghost-like translucent body made up of negative energy.

It was tricky, but Choi Yeonseung could still land hits on him. He just had to use his concentrated fist energy or the power of existence. Since there were several constellations here, he had many excuses to use his power of existence.

“It doesn’t matter. I can still knock him down.”

“It’s not a matter of knocking him down. The problem is that he has the possession skill. If you give him any bit of time, he’ll jump into someone else’s body in no time.”

In fact, after Gerrity had fallen, the other hunters had also gone berserk, displaying their fierce powers.

Demiargas had changed bodies.

‘He knows how to control minds, and once he’s at a disadvantage, he changes his body… It’s like an epidemic.’

One could call this a mental plague. If left unchecked, he would quickly infect the surrounding area and cause a disaster. The hunters gathered here went crazy one after the other...

.

Bang!

Choi Yeonseung launched an attack. The moment he vanished and charged forward, the observer constellation shouted from behind him, “He won’t come out unless you knock them all down at once! Before dealing with him, everyone around here...”

Choi Yeonseung didn’t say anything back, but he thought he understood what the observer constellation meant.

In other words, she suggested getting rid of all the surrounding hunters before they got possessed.

‘What crazy nonsense...’

Naturally, Choi Yeonseung had no intention of doing something like that.

‘I’ll quickly subdue the nearby people and pull him out before he can switch bodies!’

Choi Yeonseung flew in quickly and blew away the hunters around him. Those hunters had several enhancement spells on them, but even so, they didn’t stand a chance in a hand-to-hand fight with Choi Yeonseung.

Despite having enhanced physical strength, magic, and agility, they all still got blown away.

I want you! I want you! Come to me!

Demiargas saw Choi Yeonseung’s body and instantly became obsessed with it. As he urged Choi Yeonseung to approach, he released a tremendous amount of magic power. He instantly seized control of all the nearby hunters, making them lunge at Choi Yeonseung.

‘So he’s been holding back this entire time...!’

Choi Yeonseung was shocked.

He thought the situation was under control because the other hunters were still fighting, but the monster had preserved his strength up until now.

Now that the situation escalated like this, he had to deal with all the hunters in one blow...!

-Shadow Crown!

There were times when a disciplined body reacted faster than the mind.

That was the case right now.

The power of the Noble Crown Collector quickly emerged from Choi Yeonseung’s body and penetrated the surrounding hunters.