Chapter 318
There was a reason why the angel constellation was perplexed. He had actually asked Illaphael about this before he had invited Choi Yeonseung to participate.
[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ says that if you dislike it, he will send someone else on the mission.]
The angel constellation had heard many things from other hunters, so he had no intention of forcing Illaphael. No matter how strong the two of them were, making two people who didn’t get along work together would be counterproductive.
-...No, Master.
However, Illaphael had insisted on going. Firstly, it would’ve been shameful to refuse to carry out his master’s order for such a trivial reason…
Secondly, Illaphael couldn’t bring himself to dislike Choi Yeonseung. Of course, if Choi Yeonseung had screwed up during the battle of Paris and Illaphael had saved the day, he would’ve certainly said, “Hah! You lowly human trash!” However, even then, he wouldn’t have had a reason to dislike Choi Yeonseung.
However, during that battle, Illaphael was actually attacked by the crown constellation’s household member, became a puppet, and almost compromised the mission.
Then, Choi Yeonseung stepped in and saved his life. No matter how much angels looked down on humans, he couldn’t have said, “I still don’t like you!”
[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ asks if you are okay with it.]
-There is nothing to worry about. If I put my mind to it, I can instantly get along with a human. We’ll make peace and make sure that the mission goes smoothly.
[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ says he will believe in you.]
...However, the result was the opposite of what he had expected.
The angel constellation seriously wondered if he should summon a household member to replace Illaphael. However, it was clear as day that Illaphael would get hurt by this…
***
[Entering the Second Abyss Kingdom.]
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ supports your struggle!]
[’Endless Linked Explosions’ promises immortality within this realm.]
‘What an annoying guy.’
Choi Yeonseung entered while lightly insulting the constellation in his head.
The first underground floor was a dungeon that looked like a cave. The ceiling was relatively low and the path was winding.
-Did everyone come in?
-Yes.
-We’re in.
Each hunter entered with an artifact containing telepathic magic. It was expensive, but it was nonetheless essential for the raid.
-Let’s gather up first. Scan your surrounding area and share the data... Wait. How did he use this drone?
Choi Yeonseung pressed the button. The drone whirred and took flight.
[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ says it is the other button.]
‘Ah. Thank you.’
-...Successor...
The goddess of sloth was dumbfounded. How could a former human be less knowledgeable in regards to technology than another constellation?
-Hey, I’ve been wandering around the Abyss for ten thousand years. I can’t adapt to every single technological advancement.
Choi Yeonseung operated the drone and turned on all the high-tech equipment he had brought with him. The drone would follow him and record the surrounding area and signal if there were any hunters around.
Contrary to the first generation of hunters, nobody in this day and age entered a dungeon naked, without any equipment or information. In this era, hunters had a more scientific approach to raiding dungeons.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”
“Oh, I’m lucky.”
Beep beep-
Choi Yeonseung caught the signal. In front of him, Louis Wang from the Mount Hua Sect rushed over while waving his hand.
Fortunately, they had landed in the same place.
“Ugh, it’s such an annoying dungeon. This place is like a maze. I heard that there are traps in some places...”
“Yeah, the constellation went above and beyond with this dungeon.”
Choi Yeonseung tapped lightly on the cave wall. However, it wasn’t just tapping; it was filled with internal energy.
Just like he infused his internal energy into the opponent when he struck them, Choi Yeonseung released it into the wall and made it flow through it. As long as he had the ability to control his internal energy like that, he could scan the other side of the wall or any areas connected to it!
“Amazing!”
Louis gazed in admiration. As a fellow martial artist, he could tell that Choi Yeonseung’s technique was incredible. Instead of using magic, he just used his internal energy to reveal the area beyond the wall!
Louis couldn’t help admiring it when he saw something like this.
“So it’s blocked over here, but it’s open over there.”
“Amazing!”
-...Excuse me, Hunter Choi Yeonseung? You’re using the drone, right? If you don’t want to find the way, you can send the drone to scan it...
A hunter from the household of the angel constellation spoke telepathically to Choi Yeonseung in a bewildered manner.
Finding his way through the dungeon and making a map was a tedious task that required the most effort. Surely he wasn’t just exploring the dungeon in a carefree manner, right?
Even though he was an A-grade hunter, he was still human. He had to preserve as much power as possible to prepare for future battles or surprise attacks.
Louis was furious at the reaction of this hunter.
-You’re a magic user who doesn’t know anything! Drones are naturally great for understanding the terrain, but it’s almost impossible for them to detect stealthed monsters! Hunter Choi Yeonseung is doing this with that in mind!
-Ahh...!
-I’m sorry. How dare I question it!
“...”
Choi Yeonseung flinched as he tried to press the drone button.
‘This bastard Louis is a bit of a nuisance.’
No matter how much he told them to speak to him in a carefree manner, the hunters of the Mount Hua Sect never dropped the politeness. From age to social position, they could never overcome this gap!
Choi Yeonseung suddenly remembered the time he had taken Odaigon around the Abyss. He knew from countless experiences that even deferential people could turn out to be a pain in the ass.
***
Illaphael was joined by Amelia, the A-grade hunter from the United Kingdom. No matter how much the angels belittled the humans of Earth, the treatment changed when it came to A-grade hunters.
Amelia had achieved many things, which was why Illaphael respected her.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung isn’t in danger?”
“No, he didn’t fall.”
After a few minutes…
“By the way... Hunter Choi Yeonseung isn’t in danger, right?”
“...”
Illaphael asked that question every five minutes or so. Amelia was perplexed by his persistence. No matter how much he despised Choi Yeonseung, wasn’t this just too much?
On top of that, it was rare for A-grade hunters to find themselves in danger on the first underground floor.
‘...But he’ll get angry if I say this.’
Amelia knew how Illaphael was. He would get mad if she brought this up.
“...Amelia. I have a question.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“I’ve suddenly become curious about this. What do humans do in order to reconcile with each other?”
“...”
Amelia was slightly taken aback by Illaphael’s question. Why did he want to know that?
“Usually… Well, they start by admitting their mistake.”
“I see. Then? What’s after that?”
“Then they apologize. If the other person accepts your apology, you’ve made up with them...”
“What if they don’t accept it?”
“If they don’t accept it… Well, that’s it…”
“What?! How can you say that?!” Illaphael huffed.
“!?”
Amelia couldn’t understand why Illaphael reacted like that all of a sudden. What was wrong with him?
[Offer the blood of one person (0/1)]
“!”
Amelia was surprised when she came across an intricate stone door.
An artificial gate lay in the cave. It didn’t look like an ordinary door from the outside.
Moreover, the conditions for passing the gate were terrible.
Offering the blood of one person?
“This is so ridiculous. It’s just a weak attempt to pit humans against each other,” said Illaphael contemptuously.
The explosion constellation promised to save people with his power if they died in this dungeon, but that didn’t make death any less horrifying.
Once somebody got killed, a lot of hatred and resentment would build up between the hunters. Moreover, it was hard to trust the explosion constellation to begin with. Nobody actually believed that the explosion constellation would save them from death.
Their lives were worth too much to take such a risk with the explosion constellation.
At the end of the day, these gates were clearly designed to instigate violence and hatred among the hunters.
“We could find another way.”
“There’s no need to take a detour. This gate is pissing me off, so I’m going to break it.”
Illaphael spread out his wings as he held a glowing spear in his hand. Dazzling magic power gathered at the tip of the spear, causing Amelia to gaze in awe.
No matter how infuriating and arrogant Illaphael was, everyone had to respect him because of such powers.
-Extinction Sacred Spear!
Bang!
With a loud thud, Illaphael smashed the stone door. His strike contained not only magic power, but also the power of existence of the angel constellation.
There was no way that the stone door would withstand such an attack, even if a constellation had made it.
“...”
“...”
A huge rock stood behind the shattered stone gate. It looked like it was a precautionary measure in case anybody managed to pass through the gate by brute force.
Perhaps because his ego was slightly bruised, Illaphael released even more magic power.
“Illaphael, let’s just find another way...”
Bang!
***
[Offer the blood of three people (0/1)]
“This is great!”
“...What? The conditions are messed up! Why would you think it’s great?”
Choi Yeonseung was taken aback by Louis’ reaction. Had he started worshiping a blood constellation?
“Ah, it’s not like that. It’s just that there are Chinese hunters all over the place. We could just catch any one of them and sacrifice them...”
“...That’s an awful thing to say. Get out of the way!”
Choi Yeonseung walked up to the door and placed his hand on it. Everything was silent for a while, but suddenly, the stone door started to melt away.
‘Poison!’
Louis was surprised.
There were few people who learned martial arts, and among those, there were even fewer people who learned techniques that dealt with poison.
Of course, some people used poison magic, but it wasn’t common at all for martial artists to store poison energy in their bodies. There was a huge drawback to it compared to other martial arts, and it wasn’t even that useful to begin with…
However, Louis changed his mind as he witnessed the poisonous attack used by Choi Yeonseung. On second thoughts, wasn’t it worth it to learn a poison technique?
“Alright, it’s melted, but wait a bit. The poison is strong.”
“Yes!”
Choi Yeonseung recovered the poisonous energy. The mist dissipated, revealing the hunters waiting in front of it.
“I’ll deal with you!”
Louis drew his sword. Most of the hunters in here were Chinese.
It looked like they could communicate telepathically with each other, so it was clear that the hunter in front of him was the enemy… No, it wasn’t clear yet, but it was safer to assume that they were enemies.
“Reveal who you belong to!”
“Sh-shaolin Temple...”
“!”
Louis’ eyes widened.
Among the Chinese hunter clans, the Shaolin Temple clan was the puppet of the government! They were also the ones who had trampled on the Mount Hua Sect!
‘Oh, please come at me!’
Louis looked at the opponent excitedly. If this person attacked, he would show the opponent the ferocity of martial arts.
“P-please.”
“?”
“Please give me something to eat...”
“...”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung and Louis looked at each other in bewilderment.
***
Gulp gulp.
Choi Yeonseung took out the ingredients he brought with him and cooked with all his heart… Actually, he didn’t do that. He just took out the dungeon rations, which were just canned food.
The Chinese hunter hurriedly opened the can and stuffed himself with meat. He didn’t even know what kind of meat it was, and frankly, he didn’t care.
Normally, he would’ve eaten something like this with rice or bread, but he was so famished that he ate it plainly.
He still wasn't full, so he put potatoes on top of biscuits and sprinkled peanut butter on them. It didn’t even matter to him how it tasted. It was obvious that he just wanted to fill his belly as quickly as possible.
“Is this how Chinese people usually eat?”
“...No! We usually eat very well!” retorted Louis with a stunned expression. He wouldn’t have minded other insults, but he couldn’t stand hearing that Chinese food wasn’t tasty.
“It’s because you didn’t come to the right place. Our local cuisine...”
“Ah, you’re right. The jajangmyeon was really delicious.”
“...That’s not Chinese cuisine, but...”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing!”
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel