Chapter 321: Chapter 321

“Why are you sorry? Everyone makes mistakes in life. It’s understandable,” said Choi Yeonseung.

“Thank you!” exclaimed Louis.

Gong Shai fell after being hit and was shocked by their conversation. She was the one who should’ve said “Everyone makes mistakes,” not the people who hit her.

Gong Shai staggered to her feet. She locked eyes with Choi Yeonseung and exclaimed, “The Korean government…!”

“Huh? What about it?”

“...I’ve always been grateful to them.”

“...Riight. I don’t know why a foreigner appreciates the South Korean government, but in any case, I understand.”

The other hunters admired her attitude. Even after taking a huge hit, she still clung to her strings of reason. In order to survive the power struggles within the party, Chinese hunters had to be at this level of shrewdness.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your display of appreciation, but can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure, hehe. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“I want to take over this place.”

“...”

“...”

Choi Yeonseung’s words were so brazen that the hunters in the room couldn’t believe their ears. Sure, Gong Shai was a terrible person, but… Wasn’t he even worse?

“W-what do you mean by that...? You know that if there is a clash in a dungeon, the person who comes first has priority.”

At the beginning of the raid era, there had been numerous clashes between hunters during dungeon raids. As a response to that, various countries had come up with international laws meant to prevent those conflicts.

Of course, those laws weren’t very effective. After all, hunters generally didn’t respect any laws. However, in the case of high-profile raids, hunters had to have a really good reason to do anything shady. In situations like that, hunters usually respected the rules.

One of the common rules was to give as much priority as possible to the person who occupied an area first in order to not provoke a fight in the dungeon raid.

“Yeah, I know about that.”

Choi Yeonseung naturally knew about this.

Gong Shai was relieved by his reaction.

“Phew, alright. So you won’t...”

“No, I’ll just do it regardless of the rule.”

“...”

“...”

“If you feel it’s unfair, come at me. I won’t back down,” Choi Yeonseung said firmly.

Once an A-grade hunter issued a provocation so blatantly, there wasn’t much that anyone else could do. They could either fight, and obviously get beaten up, or surrender.

The Chinese hunters were forced to reflect on what they had done.

But what was this hunter doing?! It was a terrible thing to silence other people through force... What a barbaric thing to do!

Bam!

Choi Yeonseung punched a nearby hunter in the face. Even though it had been a light punch, the hunter flew to the side and coughed up blood.

Choi Yeonseung’s strength was truly terrifying.

“W-why? Why?!”

“Aren’t you fighting?”

“No! I surrender! I was about to surrender!”

“Ah, okay. Thank you.”

***

The Chinese hunters who had come first were kind enough to explain the layout of the second floor… Surprisingly, there was a boss monster on this floor.

“There’s a boss monster on the second underground floor?!” exclaimed Louis in astonishment. He was shocked by this.

Choi Yeonseung wondered why he was so surprised and said, “It’s not that unusual for there to be a boss on the second floor. It’s meant to be a surprise for anyone who raids the dungeon.”

There were all types of dungeons in the Abyss. Among them, there were many types where the boss monster waited at the entrance.

For Choi Yeonseung, this aspect of the dungeon didn’t come as much of a surprise.

“W-wha... Is that so? Shouldn’t the boss be in the deeper parts of the dungeon? If it’s at the entrance... I don’t think this is going to work...” muttered Louis. He felt like this made absolutely no sense.

“On this note, the boss monster isn’t the master of this dungeon.”

“That’s probably the case. After all, you can’t clear this dungeon by just killing that boss.”

The selling point of this dungeon was to have hunters come to its deepest parts. There was almost no point in killing monsters, which was why not even the Chinese hunters had tried to kill that boss.

The general goal was to actually avoid that monster and go further down into the dungeon.

“So this floor is circular? The boss monster is in the center of this circle, and there are a bunch of rooms surrounding that circle.”

The rooms of this floor were set up in a circle, and in the center there was the boss monster. This was the layout of the second underground floor.

The hunters wanted to avoid this boss monster, so they avoided the center of the floor. They just moved around the rooms.

“Then it should be easy to get through. Why are you still in this room?” asked Louis.

Choi Yeonseung had a pretty good guess why the Chinese hunters hadn’t advanced through the rooms.

‘I guess they’re not ordinary rooms.’

“The rooms... They’re tricky...”

“Isn’t that still better than having to fight monsters?” insisted Louis.

At that, the Chinese hunters became indignant.

“Anyone who hasn’t experienced it wouldn’t know!”

“This is why Korean hunters are...”

“...”

Louis was about to hit someone.

Choi Yeonseung asked curiously, “What kind of rooms have you come across?”

“One of the rooms close to this one is the Blood Room.”

“Ah, I think I know about it. How many people have to enter the room for it to activate? Can only one person come out?”

“How...?!”

“I’ve seen similar things on the floor above. I guess this is the preference of the explosion constellation.”

“Aside from that, there are other rooms with terrible traps that you have to avoid at all cost...”

“Not a single hunter has returned from the Lava Room.”

The Chinese hunters kept grumbling; all the misfortunes and hardships they had bottled up so far just came to the surface.

On the second underground floor, there were many dangerous and suspicious rooms. Moreover, the rooms on this floor weren’t fixed in one place; rather, they kept changing and moving. Thus, it was only natural that the hunters were stuck and stayed in one place.

“Ah, so that’s why you’ve all gathered here?”

Choi Yeonseung finally understood what was going on. He had wondered why there were a bunch of empty supply boxes piled up in one corner of the room. It turned out that those boxes were there because the hunters couldn’t move from here!

Gong Shai answered, “Exactly. We’re trying to share the supplies fairly and evenly, but saving it for the future...”

“W-what...?!”

“She took all our food!”

Gong Shai’s brazen words infuriated her subordinates. They had so far pretended not to mind her terrible behavior, but a lot of anger and dissatisfaction had accumulated.

“It had to be done!”

“What are you talking about? Was it necessary to only care about yourself?”

“Shut up,” Choi Yeonseung intervened. “Grab that over there and share it among the hunters.”

Louis was puzzled by Choi Yeonseung’s words.

“Do we really need to give it to them?”

“...”

“...”

Hearing that, the Chinese hunters inwardly cursed at Louis.

Choi Yeonseung, an A-grade hunter, turned out to be generous, but the other hunter was terrible. What a bastard he was!

“Don’t go too far with the food. After all, it’s not ours. It belongs to them, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Here, take it.”

Louis threw the supplies at the Chinese hunters, who received them with tears in their eyes.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“We won’t forget this generous gesture!”

Choi Yeonseung sat down on the side, watching the Chinese hunters dig into the canned food. Then, he said, “Alright, this is good. Eat quickly and get some rest. I’m going to kill the boss monster.”

“...Huh?”

“What’s with this reaction? Didn’t you guys say you wouldn’t forget my generous gesture?”

“...”

***

‘Is it a rock giant?’

Choi Yeonseung could feel the presence of the monster the moment he stepped into the center of the second underground floor.

There was a huge stone pillar in the center of this floor.

In the Abyss, giants boasted unique physical abilities. Among them, the rock giants had a very strong defense, and many constellations coveted them.

A monster like this also matched the explosion constellation; it took more than physical strength to withstand the explosive power, and the rock giant was powerful enough to do just that.

-Oh! A guest has come.

Thump.

There was a heavy thump as the massive pillar suddenly awoke as a rock giant and rose to its feet.

-I am the servant of Endless Linked Explosions.

“What’s your name?”

-You shall learn my name if you manage to defeat me, human.

The rock giant wasn’t disrespectful, but it wasn’t friendly either. Giants were dignified Abyssal races, so his respectful attitude wasn’t surprising.

“Can I ask what your constellation has ordered you to do?”

-Prevent all intruders from advancing.

“What if you fail?”

-If I can be restored, my master will revive me. Otherwise, it would be the end for me.

“Can I fight together with others?”

The rock giant chuckled at Choi Yeonseung’s question. He seemed to like this question quite a bit.

-Of course! It’s rather arrogant for a human to fight a rock giant by himself.

“I see.”

Choi Yeonseung turned on the telepathic artifact and asked the other hunters where they were.

-Where did you all come down?

-I came down to the second underground floor and was caught in a place called the Hunger Room. This room is very tricky, so I think it might take a while until I manage to escape from it...

-Alright, if you manage to escape, come to the center. I’m dealing with the boss monster.

-Huh? Hunter Choi Yeonseung! Together..

Bam!

At that moment, Choi Yeonseung suddenly disappeared.

The hunters behind him were bewildered. They hadn’t expected him to suddenly attack without saying a word.

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”

They tried to get his attention, but their yelling was drowned out. The rock giant had launched a counterattack.

Bang!

The rock giant swung his fists incredibly fast for his massive size. On top of that, the explosion constellation had bestowed one of his powers on him.

[The power given by ‘Endless Linked Explosions’ is activated.]

[The body of the rock giant has exploded!]

“!”

One of the rocks that made up the giant’s body exploded. However, Choi Yeonseung used his footwork skill to dodge backwards.

‘Why is he fighting like that?’

Choi Yeonseung had met all types of enemies in the Abyss, but monsters that fought by destroying their own bodies were quite the rarity.

Choi Yeonseung asked incredulously, “Won’t it be hard for him to recover from that explosion?”

-It doesn’t matter! There’s no need to worry about the enemy.

The rock giant’s plan was simple. He would wait for the right moment and detonate a part of himself!

Of course, Choi Yeonseung wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such attacks. He had fought many opponents that were trickier than this rock giant.

Choi Yeonseung disappeared again and re-appeared in various parts of the area, one split second at a time, as if he were teleporting.

As Choi Yeonseung pushed his footwork to the limit and tremendously increased his speed, the rock giant could no longer keep up with his movements.

-!

“Now, how will you respond to my speed?”

-Be quiet!

The rock giant shouted at Choi Yeonseung, perhaps because his pride had been hurt.

Mastering martial arts meant that one could move more efficiently than their opponent even if they were physically weaker.

If Choi Yeonseung could deceive his opponent’s senses and prevent them from predicting any of his movements, he then could dominate the battlefield with slower movements.

He had fought like this countless times in the Abyss before awakening as a constellation, so Choi Yeonseung had effortlessly bewildered the rock giant.

-Ghaa!

The rock giant swung his fist, but Choi Yeonseung caught it and flung it to the side, throwing the rock giant off balance and sending him flying.

Bang!

The rock giant rolled over and ultimately slammed into the wall. His facial expression wasn’t visible, but for some reason, Choi Yeonseung felt like he was blushing with embarrassment.

-Wait. This technique is...

“?”

-I’ve heard about it from a snake. Isn’t it a martial art?

“...I think you misheard.”

Choi Yeonseung instinctively denied it, but the rock giant wasn't convinced. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

-It really seems like it’s a martial art...

“No, it’s not. It’s magic.”

-No, this is a martial art. Are you the household member of the Undefeated Incarnation of Training? I heard that the rock snakes worship the incarnation...

Choi Yeonseung was slightly relieved by those words. Fortunately, he hadn’t blown his cover.

-Successor, if you were in anyone else’s shoes, would you actually suspect that you are a constellation?

The goddess of sloth reassured Choi Yeonseung that he had nothing to worry about. No one in the Abyss would think that constellation would be roaming on Earth under the disguise of a servant!

In fact, just by thinking about Choi Yeonseung’s situation, the goddess of sloth found it absurd.

-You would also find it absurd... You would think that nobody would do something like that.

-I’ll check what you were about to say later.

Choi Yeonseung once again turned to the rock giant. The expression of the rock giant softened slightly.

-I met a friend of the snakes here. I’m glad we’ve crossed paths. I shall formally greet you.

“I-I see.”