Chapter 191
Chapter 191
“But I’m Korean,” Choi Yeonseung said.
The American hunters next to him looked embarrassed.
“Nationality doesn’t matter.”
“That’s right. Shouldn’t the whole world join hands in a crisis?”
“You’ll help, then?” the official asked in response, looking hopeful.
“No.”
“......”
The French officials’ expressions distorted when the hunters answered without even thinking about it for a second. However, the hunters’ reaction was understandable.
“A constellation has kidnapped him, then you should call an A-grade—no, an S-grade hunter. Why call us? It’s not like we can do anything about it.”
“We came here to kill monsters, not fight constellations.”
“The constellation didn’t appear in person! The household member—”
“That doesn’t really change anything. It’s still a constellation’s plan. To be honest, I don’t want to be involved in anything like this.”
A lot of time had passed since the great incident thirty years ago, but the hunters still carried fear deeply within them. The household members who led the evil god constellation’s invasion on Earth were as powerful or even more powerful than S-grade monsters. The hunters were prideful, but even they didn’t want to fight those beings.
‘Uh… I want to fight,’?Choi Yeonseung thought.
If he said that out loud, the others would have told him, ‘Wake up, Choi Yeonseung! The French are deceiving you!’
That was why he didn’t verbally express it, but from his standpoint, it was better to fight. It was rare for an evil god constellation’s household member to come to Earth. The more power of existence the constellation had invested in their household member, the stronger the latter becomes.
Choi Yeonseung would gain an enormous amount of power of existence in a single battle if he could defeat such a being. Moreover, he would also gather more faithful followers.
‘I can’t bring that up in this atmosphere, though.’
He knew how the minds of hunters worked. They came here to make money, not risk their lives for someone else’s country. He was certain they would never step up...
“Come forward and fight, humans.”
“...... ”
“What?”
The hunters turned their heads in surprise. Following the source of the voice, they found an angel behind them.
‘Adaquaniel?’
Choi Yeonseung initially thought it was the goddess of balance’s household member, but he soon realized the angel looked nothing like Adaquaniel. He was androgynous and beautiful, but his eyes were cold and aggressive. Sensing that they were in the presence of a powerful being, the hunters unknowingly shrank back.
“Perhaps... do you serve the Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons?”
“That’s right. For a human, you have good eyes.” The angel responded positively, but the hunters looked agitated.
Choi Yeonseung was the strongest of all the hunters that had gathered here. Ignoring him meant ignoring them all. However, Choi Yeonseung wasn’t really affected.
‘This personality is already above average in the Abyss.’
He had met all types of races in the Abyss, so he didn’t find the angel’s words offensive at all.
“What brings the angel constellation’s household member to Earth? You want us to fight? Who gave you the right to order us around?” one of the hunters sharply pointed out.
Constellations were like heaven for those who believed in them. However, those who didn’t weren’t as compliant, especially not toward just one of their household members. It didn’t matter how strong the angel was. They were on Earth.
“......” Instead of saying anything, the angel simply waved his hand.
Dozens of swords, shields, spears, bows, and other various weapons fell from the air.
“My master has given these weapons to you?humans. If you join the fight, you will have the honor of having them.”
“......!”
The hunters’ expressions changed. They couldn’t recognize the exact power of these weapons like Choi Yeonseung, but the hunters here were experienced in their own right. They could discern just how strong the weapons were.
.
‘This...!’
‘Extraordinary magic power is coming from them. Where did these items come from?’
The hunters were astonished. The weapons before them had a different level of magic power from ordinary artifacts.
4th circle? 5th circle? These artifacts could contain 6th-circle magic, which would mean they could be as powerful as A-grade hunters...
Seemingly noticing the humans’ agitation, the angel drove in a wedge.
“I won’t entrust the battle to you weak humans alone either. I will be in the front, leading the charge. You just have to take care of the rest.”
“... Okay. Let’s give it a try!”
“We can trust the angel constellation!”
The angel’s sudden appearance changed the atmosphere itself. Hunters from all over the world excitedly grabbed weapons.
“Wait. Who gets to pick first?”
“Let’s do it by age.”
“You want to pick in order of age? Where did you?get?that?”
“The order should be based on hunter rating. All non-B+ grade people can get lost.”
“Then Choi Yeonseung will have to pick first.”
“......”
Everyone looked at Choi Yeonseung. The hunters respected the strong. When choosing something like this, they couldn’t help paying attention to the A-grade hunters.
“I don’t really need any of those, so you all can go ahead and take your pick.”
“!”
“A-are you sure?”
“Are you going to force me to choose?”
“This jerk. Hunter Choi Yeonseung is giving way to us. Why are you talking nonsense?!”
The other hunters cursed at the hunter who expressed his worry. Meanwhile, the angel gave Choi Yeonseung a strange look.
‘He is a peculiar human.’
Choi Yeonseung also followed a constellation, so the angel couldn’t accurately gauge his power. However, he was clearly powerful. Humans had several A-grade hunters, but most of them were young, talented, genius types. In comparison, Choi Yeonseung reminded him of a skilled veteran.
Humans had short lives, so his kind was very rare. What bothered him was that Choi Yeonseung just kept to himself while the other hunters were greedy.
“You aren’t choosing?”
“I don’t really want anything.”
“......”
The angel’s eyebrows curved upward, expressing his dissatisfaction.
“What do you want? A sword?”
“No... I already have one.”
It was the treasure stolen from China... No, Hwang Gyeongryong got the Chinese treasure called the Sword of Goujian through a legitimate process. He also had the Heaven Reliant Sword, which was quite useful. Above all else, unlike magicians, items weren’t that important to martial artists.
Of course, having some would be great, but not having any wouldn’t really weaken them that much. That was why the poor hunters in the past had started learning martial arts in the first place.
“Tell me what you want. There is no way you don’t want anything.”
“No, I really don’t want any.”
“What about a martial art? My master also has some martial art books.”
“I don’t really want a book either...”
The Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons gave the angel a brief and simple order. He was to gather the hunters in France to stop and defeat the collector constellation’s household member. To help him, the angel constellation gave him items to lure the hunters with. However, Choi Yeonseung refused. This was quite annoying for the household member who had to obey his constellation’s order.
“I told you to take one!”
Now annoyed as well, Choi Yeonseung ignored him. The angel wouldn’t attack him unless he was crazy anyway since they had to join hands against the collector constellation. As expected, the angel looked furious but didn’t say anything else.
-Why aren’t you taking any?
-Well… There has to be something useful for me to take. I don’t see any that would be of use to me.
-Look for an item that contains the power of that constellation. There has to be some among those weapons.
-The way you are glaring at me now makes me think you will get mad if I talk to you again.
-Since when did you care about that?
***
The battle between hunters over items ended with Choi Yeonseung’s intervention. The consensus was that it would be better to pick by drawing lots than one by one.
“Isn’t this entire situation already over, though? The opposing household member has already appeared and taken over their target location.”
“Household members from the Abyss has just as much trouble leaving Earth as we do descending,” the angel calmly answered.
Marcaidel currently occupied an area near the Elysee Palace. He had spread out a curtain of darkness and turned the land inside it into a different world. Under normal circumstances, he could just kidnap the president and other government officials of a country and bring them directly to his constellation’s realm. However, it wasn’t that easy to go back and forth from Earth.
“He’s buying time to cast a powerful magic. Once he’s done, magic power will gather.”
“I see.”
Some magic required time to cast due to how powerful they were. Marcaidel was trying to use one of them right now.
“Don’t France have A-grade hunters? Where are they now?”
“One of them was forced to withdraw after being injured during the fight with the enemy’s household member. The other two can’t be contacted.”
‘Those cowardly bastards.’
Choi Yeonseung immediately realized what happened. The moment they learned about their fellow A-grade hunter getting injured, the other two A-grade hunters lowered their tails and hid. A country’s A-grade hunters had a lot of responsibility. In exchange for enjoying various privileges and preferential treatment, they had to be on the front lines during emergencies.
However, A-grade hunters were better than others when it came to judging situations. The household member of the opposing constellation had already kidnapped the president, set up a barrier, and taken down an A-grade hunter, it didn’t come as a surprise that the other two didn’t want to step up anymore. If they couldn’t be contacted because they had gone into hiding, they would be cursed at for a while. However, they wouldn’t lose their status as an A-grade hunter.
Insults were just momentary. Power was eternal.
“Isn’t that too much? Go find them—”
“A-grade hunters determined to hide are hard to find. Let the French curse at them. We should focus on the raid.”
Choi Yeonseung’s reply decreased the hunters’ complaints. The angel looked at Choi Yeonseung, seemingly acknowledging his skills. After all, the latter easily dominated the hunters of various clans. A hunter who could skillfully control people in this way was rare.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung,” Lane meekly called.
“?”
“Let’s retreat as soon as we find a reason to. You shouldn’t risk your life for the people in this place.”
“Didn’t you take some of the items the angel offered?”
“It’s a waste, but we can tell him to just take them back. I refuse to risk our lives for this.”
Unlike the many hunters who put their lives at risk in dungeons just for one artifact, Lane remained reluctant. He didn’t want to be reckless and foolish like the others.
“Even France’s A-grade hunters ran away. I hate that you have to take the lead because of their incompetence.”
“Incoming!”
Choi Yeonseung threw Lane back and fired energy forward. A huge, storm-like force smashed the monster approaching them from the darkness.
-■■■■■!
Witnessing monsters roar and appear from the darkness flustered the hunters.
“We haven’t even entered yet, so why are monsters coming after us already?!” a hunter asked.
“It seems his subordinates have come out of the barrier. Just ignore them and focus on the path ahead,” the angel coldly replied, intending not to waste strength on small fries. He had to enter the barrier as soon as possible and fight the household member. Nothing would change even if people died here.
“I guess I have to deal with these monsters if I don’t want to see people dying. Split into three teams and advance.”
“Didn’t you hear me just now?”
“Although we’re raiding together, that doesn’t mean I’ve given up my right to act however I want,” Choi Yeonseung replied while looking around.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung is right. You can’t order us around.”
The hunters from the United States immediately sided with Choi Yeonseung. The angel clenched his fists and trembled, not expecting that the humans would argue against him and insist on doing things their way.