Chapter 309: Chapter 309

In any case, the name of the skill wasn’t important at that moment.

‘My magic power... It has increased?’

Lee Changsik was really surprised. It was said that people gained superhuman abilities after awakening, but in reality, a hunter’s abilities were actually quite limited.

Hunters aged at a slower rate, but they still grew old eventually. Lee Changsik himself had retired because his aging had caused a decline in his magic power. He had always had a rather low amount of magic power, and it declined even more as he grew older…

However, at that moment… Even though he had been retired for a while, Lee Changsik felt the same level of magic power as during his prime. Actually, it seemed even higher than that, although by a slight margin.

‘Is this the power of a constellation?’

Sometimes, hunters evolved unexpectedly thanks to rare and special skills. Hadn’t Hwang Gyeongryong gained a rare skill on the brink of death and turned his life around?

However, the constellations from the Abyss possessed most of those special skills.

When he had heard the constellation name of the Undefeated Incarnation of Training, Lee Changsik had thought, ‘Yeonseung truly obtained the right name as a constellation.’ However, now that he actually felt Choi Yeonseung’s power, he was thrilled.

Choi Yeonseung had the ability to make trained mortals stronger. At first glance, it didn’t seem like anything special, but it was by no means an ordinary ability. It was hard to believe that it actually empowered Lee Changsik’s abilities, which had been steadily declining no matter what he did.

...Moreover, Choi Yeonseung hadn’t even done this on purpose. He would’ve mentioned it…

As a constellation with god-like abilities, Choi Yeonseung passively affected his surroundings.

“Hyung, did you stop because you got embarrassed by your nickname?”

Choi Yeonseung was dumbfounded, currently waiting. He hadn’t been confident about fighting Gu Guowu head on because his magic power was off the charts. However, once they actually fought, Choi Yeonseung realized that he could actually deal with him.

Even in the Abyss, Choi Yeonseung had fought countless opponents who tried to overpower him with raw power. Even if they had an infinite amount of magic power at their disposal, a weapon was only as strong as its wielder.

Trivial tricks like releasing magic power in the form of a dragon, creating a swamp of magic power, or scattering the power like tentacles didn’t mean much. What mattered was how used they were to the power itself.

‘The problem is that this is Earth.’

Choi Yeonseung hadn’t had to care about the surrounding area in previous battles, but he had to think about it this time. If this were China, he wouldn’t give a damn about destroying the surrounding buildings, but this was South Korea.

He had to absorb the opponent’s attack and fire it back at him, but in that case, the stadium would be reduced to rubbles and the surrounding roads would split apart.

Choi Yeonseung had to finish off his opponent with one blow!

‘At times like this, I actually miss the Abyss.’

-Successor, if you decide to abandon Earth and return to the Abyss, I won’t stop you.

-No. I can’t do that.

Choi Yeonseung brushed off the words of the goddess of sloth. Even if things were troublesome and he sometimes wondered whether it was worth the trouble to keep these humans alive, Choi Yeonseung couldn’t abandon Earth and humanity.

“I’m here!”

“No. 139!” exclaimed Choi Yeonseung with delight. He was glad to see Demon No. 139, even though he was late. In a situation like this, a subordinate like No. 139, who was at an A-grade level or higher, would certainly come in handy…

[The ‘Black Magician Who Shares Everything’ presents the Swamp of Darkness.]

[Your magic power is amplified!]

Suddenly, the sky grew dark and black magic power flooded the stadium in waves, swallowing the demons summoned by No. 139.

“...”

“Did you just summon them randomly without properly positioning them?” asked Choi Yeonseung as he looked at No. 139 in a dumbfounded manner.

Of course, when forming a team, one had to find an efficient balance between all positions: the close and long-range positions, the tanker, damage dealer, and healer positions, and lastly, the ground and aerial positions.

“Uhh… T-this… This is how we normally do it...” No. 139 made excuses without realizing it.

When demons summoned an army, they usually focused on style and dignity, not balance.

‘This bastard is useless.’

[The ‘Demon of Contract and Order’ is apologizing.]

The demon constellation was also watching the situation using the eyes of No. 139 and apologized on No. 139’s behalf. He had sent a competent demon to Choi Yeonseung in order to pay off his debt, but all he did was hinder Choi Yeoneung.

[The ‘Black Magician Who Shares Everything’ warns you to step back. He warns that ‘Endless Linked Explosions’ will fight alongside him.]

[’Endless Linked Explosions’ says it is not like that.]

[The ‘Black Magician Who Shares Everything’ has become angry!]

Choi Yeonseung was stunned to see the evil god constellations bickering with each other.

[The ‘Demon of Contract and Order’ says that the black magician constellation isn’t that type of constellation. It seems that he is very nervous.]

‘Is he trying to slaughter a bunch of people in another country because he’s nervous?’

As the number of evil god constellations increased, Earth became more and more ■-like.

Choi Yeonseung watched Gu Guowu’s breathing closely in order to predict his moves and grasp the overall situation. The moment Choi Yeonseung figured him out completely, it would be game over for Gu Guowu.

‘At once...’

Bam!

“Aaaghh! You really are the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor!”

Lee Changsik appeared once again.

Gu Guowu gritted his teeth. Based on his magic power, he could crush even an A-grade hunter. However, because of that annoying artifact, he just couldn’t get a hit on him.

Han Seha was impressed by how Lee Changsik overpowered the opponent despite the difference in power. This got her excited, her fighting spirit burning fervently!

‘Alright, I’ll show you something!’

She was also watching Choi Yeonseung, which further motivated her.

[The ‘Hound of Instinct and Liberation’ feels your motivation and is happy!]

[The power of the hound makes you stronger!]

This was one of the abilities Han Seha had gained from making a contract with the hound constellation. The ability to become weaker or stronger depending on her mood and motivation!

There were obviously some drawbacks to this ability, but the strengths were definitely evident in this situation. It was amazing to suddenly become more powerful than other hunters, even for a short amount of time!

Bang!

There was a roar and a flash of white light pierced through Gu Guowu.

Taking advantage of Gu Guowu’s distraction, Choi Yeonseung had condensed concentrated energy to the limit and charged at him with lightning speed, dealing the killing blow.

It was such a beautiful attack that even the spectating constellations admired it. It was an impeccable attack that only those who had cultivated their concentrated energy to the extreme could pull off!

“...Huh??? What????”

Han Seha looked around in bewilderment. Was this really the end of the fight? She hadn’t even done anything yet…

[The ‘Hound of Instinct and Liberation’ has become sullen.]

[Your strength is temporarily reduced.]

***

“I have committed a mortal sin. Please spare my life.”

Surrounded by angry Korean hunters, Yang Haifeng slammed his head to the ground and begged for his life.

Gu Guowu had collapsed, and the crisis had been averted. As for Yang Haifeng, he had managed to escape, even though he had several broken bones. However, he hadn’t been able to escape from the Korean hunters who rushed to him.

The incident was too severe to just brush it off by saying, “Haha, it’s an unfortunate accident for both of us.”

“Isn’t this bastard a Chinese spy? There’s no way that one of them had contracted with the evil god constellation and the other is innocent!”

“Yeah, let’s just kill him and say we had no choice!”

Any country was bound to be outraged when it came to the evil god constellations.

Those days, people were more threatened by the terror caused by evil god constellations than by the dungeons and monsters. In most cases, it was justified to execute a person that served an evil god constellation.

In other words, they could kill Yang Haifeng right here and say, “Oh, it turns out he was in the same group as Gu Guowu.” If they did that, there was a high probability that nobody would say anything.

Yang Haifeng had to pray for a miracle.

“I really didn’t know! Sob! Hunter Choi Yeonseung! You were with me!”

“Come to think of it, didn’t you leave when the match was over?” asked Choi Yeonseung without thinking.

At this question, the nearby hunters looked even more furious.

“No! We lost the competition, so I went to report it! We lost the competition!”

“Ah, yeah. That’s true. You didn’t sign a contract with the evil god constellation.”

Hearing that, the Korean hunters took a step back. They all belonged to different clans and had different ranks, but their expressions all indicated respect for Choi Yeonseung.

‘He’s truly amazing.’

‘There were no civilian casualties even though the stadium was destroyed like this…’

‘Honestly, if it was me, I would’ve escaped first...’

If monsters suddenly emerged in such a crowded area, it was normal to evacuate before fighting. Even a hunter would die if they were stabbed or cut. It was better to figure out what kind of opponent they were dealing with first rather than to attack hastily and die.

...However, it was moving to see Choi Yeonseung fighting alone against such odds while also evacuating civilians.

“Look over there. There’s also the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I truly stand with the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor...”

There was something heartwarming about seeing Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor Lee Changsik, a hero of the previous era, standing together with Choi Yeonseung, the hero of the current era.

Was this the pride of being Korean?

“By the way, isn’t Hunter Choi Yeonseung only a few years younger than the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor?”

“Shh. Be quiet. Appearances are important, you bastard.”

***

-Today at around 5 p.m., a person who signed a contract with an evil god constellation staged a terrorist attack at the Seoul Hunter Stadium. Twenty-three civilians were injured but were fortunately evacuated...

-The government is strongly protesting about this incident. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

-Chinese Foreign Minister Hu Fangyu declared, “This is an unfortunate incident, but there is no conclusive evidence that Gu Guowu signed a contract with an evil god constellation. The accident was prevented thanks to the Chinese hunters.”

‘This is insane...’

Yang Haifeng was dumbfounded as he listened to the news with hunter handcuffs on his hands.

That guy was crazy!

‘No matter what, this is terrible...!’

He didn’t say this because of the complaints and criticisms of foreign countries.

To be honest, Yang Haifeng also wondered if the relationship between the two countries would get worse following the incident. Even if the foreign minister took a dump at the UN General Assembly, it seemed that there was no way his reputation could become any worse.

Yang Haifeng was thinking about this because of the internal reaction in China. At the moment, the dissatisfaction of the people of China was so high that one could sense it just by walking around a bit.

-Hunters are the ones who take the most bribes, then politicians and public officials.

-Hunters are the most disgusting bastards. Maggots who cling to the party and enjoy favors!

The people complained about the hunters first because they indulged in extravagant luxuries instead of fighting to save people’s lives.

The hunters could avoid some of the criticism if they properly dealt with monsters, but recently, public opinion was at an all-time worst because of the disaster caused by S-grade monsters.

The party was so surprised that it actually publicly rebuked some of the clans, using them as an example of punishing bribery.

-Punish the following clans to eradicate corruption within the party!

ㄴAs expected from the General Secretary!

ㄴWhy do you pretend like you didn’t know about it when you’ve received all the money? Do you have no conscience or no brains? Isn’t the person in the photo with the hunters the General Secretary?

ㄴThese bastards must think we’re blind!

...Of course, it didn’t really work.

In the midst of all this discontent, the civilians saw all the Chinese hunters abandon the young prospects and run away.... On top of that, they had even said that the Chinese hunters were the best during the announcement??

‘...They'll get cursed into oblivion...’

Things turned out a bit worse than Yang Haifeng’s grim predictions.

Riots broke out everywhere.

[’Endless Linked Explosions’ is laughing loudly!]