abcnovels
Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Chapter 179
[You have seen through the essence of Kwon Yeongseung.]
[Kwon Yeongseung]
Level: 324
Strength: 366
Agility: 411
Physical Strength: 398
Magic Power: 408
Intelligence: 401
A-rank skill ‘Understanding Advanced Magic.’
B+ rank skill ‘Magic Power Recovery.’
B+ rank skill ‘Repeated Casting.’
......
‘That’s amazing.’
Considering his skills were this good despite not signing a contract with a constellation, he seemed to be born with talent. He even reached the A-grade rank without training. But that was it...
‘If this bastard had worked harder, Changsik hyung wouldn’t have been sworn at.’
Choi Yeonseung stared at Kwon Yeongseung. In fact, the grudge he felt wasn’t fair at all. Kwon Yeongseung wasn’t the only one to be blamed for the defeat. People had many expectations of Kwon Yeongseung because he was an A-grade hunter, but SSL had limitations to what a single hunter could do. In addition, being an A-grade hunter didn’t necessarily mean he could make full use of his abilities.
“Why... are you looking at me?” Kwon Yeongseung took a step back. He was certainly an A-grade hunter, considering he instinctively realized that something was strange.
“I’m bored. Come train with me.”
“Uh... Aren’t there other hunters?”
“None of them are A-grade.”
Choi Yeonseung’s words were hard to refute. However, Kwon Yeongseung didn’t back down so easily either.
“I’m a bit tired because I used a lot of magic power. Training in this condition could backfire.”
“I see.”
Of course, it didn’t work on Choi Yeonseung at all.
‘He is in very good condition.’
Choi Yeonseung was a master of martial arts and also had constellation eyes. Such a lie would never work on him.
“Do you know the best thing to do in this situation?”
“I should rest, right? At least until my magic power is restored...”
“No. That will make you weaker. I have perfected a special training that restores magic power and makes the body stronger.”
“... I’ll just rest.”
Kwon Yeongseung firmly drew a line. He knew he couldn’t beat Choi Yeonseung with words.
“Where are you right now?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t we in the base of Dragon Industry?”
“That’s right. Remind me, who’s the leader around here?”
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung.”
“That’s right. Train. Now.”
“......”
Kwon Yeongseung’s jaw dropped open. So right now...
Was Choi Yeonseung saying that if he didn’t train, he would be kicked out? He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t speak.
Kwon Yeongseung wouldn’t be kicked out because he refused to pay a large sum of money once they had gotten back or because he refused to give up loot from this dungeon raid. Rather, it would be because he refused to train with Choi Yeonseung.
The condition was so trivial that he hadn’t even thought of it, rendering him speechless. What was going on with this training?
-I’m sorry, everyone. Dragon Industry wants us to leave.
-Why? What did they ask for?
-He asked me to train with him, but I refused and said I had to rest. That’s why he told us to leave.
-... What are you talking about?
Even though Kwon Yeongseung was an A-grade hunter, he couldn’t just say that to the Korean hunters, who trusted and followed him.
“... I can train! I’ll go!”
“It’s nice to see you so motivated.”
Kwon Yeongseung grumbled as he walked away. Now that this had happened, he decided to give Choi Yeonseung a proper blow in the training room. He would make Choi Yeonseung realize that he didn’t have to train!
***
“The orcs are being cunning.”
“They usually aren’t clever enough to move in small groups and target our supplies.”
It was rare to find such intelligent monsters in normal dungeons. Moreover, orcs ordinarily only charged recklessly when attacking. They didn’t cunningly engage in guerilla warfare like this. However, the orcs in this dungeon moved surprisingly intelligently because their ruling constellation ordered them to.
‘Damn it.’
Joseph cursed deep down. He was confident in his constellation’s teachings, but he wasn’t the only one receiving help from such higher forms of beings. A constellation was also assisting the orcs they were facing. They already knew these unexpected circumstances could happen.
“Okay. It’s ahead of schedule, but it can’t be helped. Contact the other expedition teams and tell them to prepare for an all-out attack.”
“An all-out attack??”
“Yes. I’m sure the others know things will become dangerous if we keep letting things go this way.” They will cooperate, unlike before.”
“But Grant. Our enemies right now are quite formidable.”
The great fortress, the heart of the orcs, was located in the middle of the realm. To reach it, they would have to go through numerous fortresses intertwined like spider webs. If they attacked one fortress, the next fortress and the one after that would prepare and wait for them. They had to deal with so many orcs.
“Even if we move forward together, they most likely won’t listen to your orders.”
What Joseph wanted was for other hunters to take the lead and act as his shield, not for them to act on their own for their own sake. However, the other hunters had no reason to listen to Joseph’s instructions.
“Tell them that if they follow my orders, we will give them supplies. More importantly, I know the best way to raid this dungeon. They have to cooperate if they want to get out of here.”
Boasting that he knew the best strategy for this dungeon was bound to be attractive. Everyone was greedy when the escape route was open, but now that it had been blocked, returning to Earth without any damage became their main goal. Many hunters were bound to be tempted by his offer.
“Joseph, do we really have enough supplies to distribute? We have so many people to take care of already.”
“We can give fewer supplies to low-level hunters and technicians. We don’t have to give them all the supplies we promised anyway. We just have to buy some time.”
“!”
The hunters looked at each other in silence. This could turn into a bigger problem if someone were to discover it later. However, getting to issue orders to hunters from other countries was extremely tempting.
“... Okay. Let’s give it a try. I don’t want to stay in this annoying place much longer!”
The hunters acted as Joseph’s subordinates and contacted the other expeditions. The response they got was much more favorable than expected. Everyone was suffering from insufficient supplies and anxiety. Since he knew a definite raid strategy, they decided to join in.
However, not all expeditions joined. The expedition led by Choi Yeonseung and the Korean expedition that joined them flatly refused.
-We have plenty of supplies. We will launch an assault together with you, but we have no intention of taking orders. We will act on our own.
“Bunch of useless bastards.”
“Put up with it. It won’t do us any good to create conflicts for no reason. Everyone else will be joining us anyway, so it’s fine.”
“How did those bastards even get supplies?”
“They’re bluffing.”
“No. They probably aren’t. They’re from the Dragon Industry. Dragon Hwang is backing them up.”
As a former hunter, he would’ve invested lavishly in the expedition. Unlike other big companies, Dragon Hwang was quite eccentric.
“Damn. They have guts because they have such a huge investor. Who else refused?”
“The Chinese expedition.”
“What? Why?”
“They said they are the best and the most experienced, so it is only right for them to lead.”
“......”
“......”
The hunters were dumbfounded. They were already expecting the Chinese to refuse, but their reason was so bizarre.
“Did they really say that? Are they crazy?!”
“Leave them alone. They’ve always been this way.”
The Chinese hunters always acted based on their pride, even if they had to starve to death tomorrow. They probably behaved differently when working as individuals, but since they were here under the leadership of the party, they naturally acted like this.
“In any case, everything is ready. Gather all the hunters! We will launch an attack!”
***
“......”
Kwon Yeongseung lay on his stomach and gave a sideways glance. His eyes were almost closed.
“You aren’t pretending to faint, are you?”
“... Of course not.”
Hesitantly, Kwon Yeongseung stood up. The sparring in the training room had devastating results.
Defeat!
Choi Yeonseung specialized in single combat and was undefeated in the UHC, but Kwon Yeongseung didn’t expect to lose this badly. Using the hard-to-master space magic as his main skill, he tried to keep Choi Yeonseung in check by teleporting away to widen the distance and by manipulating several terrain features.
However, Choi Yeonseung avoided his attacks as soon as he felt the magic. Every time Kwon Yeongseung’s offensive failed, Choi Yeonseung took it as an opportunity to counterattack. It was now widely known not to engage in combat with martial artists of the same level.
Kwon Yeongseung tried to block Choi Yeonseung’s advances with magic somehow, but Choi Yeonseung still dug in despite having no magic. From that point on, he couldn’t help but feel as if Choi Yeonseung was just toying with him. Choi Yeonseung would pick him up whenever he got knocked down, shake him whenever he tried to use magic, and knock him down again whenever he tried to escape…
“I feel like you have very little experience fighting against people Why don’t you use some low-level magic? Don’t use high-level magic just because you have a lot of magic power.”
Choi Yeonseung had instantly seen through Kwon Yeongseung’s weakness. He was confident in powerful magic, so he only used high-circle magic spells. As a result, he had many gaps in between. A seasoned hunter should be able to keep their opponent in check by using weak but fast-casting and cost-effective magic in between. However, Kwon Yeongseung lacked that. It was because other hunters filled in that part for him.
‘It isn’t just about Kwon Yeongseung.’
Basically, raids had to be efficient. The role of A-grade hunters like Kwon Yeongseung would be to use powerful magic to break the monsters’ defenses and deal a fatal blow. They didn’t have to prepare magic to keep the opponents in check. These days, hunters were much more thorough when it came to the division of labor.
Choi Yeonseung didn’t care about that, though.
‘Your life is at stake, so shouldn’t you be prepared for every situation?’
“Uh… I will think about it.”
“Yes. I’ll go on the offensive, so start practicing.”
“Huh? No, I can practice on my own...”
“No. Didn’t you say that doing things right is more important? You said you learn by doing, so you should learn by doing.”
“I didn’t say I was going to learn by doing! Ack! Hey, you son of a—Aaack!”
***
When the two A-grade hunters exited the training room, the people at the base looked at them with respect. They found it so amazing to see two A-grade hunters working so hard. After all, one alone would’ve already been dazzling.
‘As expected, A-grade hunters are built differently. They train so intensely.’
Choi Yeonseung was supporting Kwon Yeongseung, who couldn’t even hold himself up properly. Some of the hunters who were relatively friendly with Kwon Yeongseung were puzzled.
‘Isn’t this strange? Yeongseung isn’t the type to train.”
‘Was he threatened?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous... He probably thought this was a good opportunity since they are both A-grade.’
How many chances were there for A-grade hunters to meet and get along like this? Kwon Yeongseung, who was usually interested in other things, was clearly feeling passionate right now. In contrast, the hunters of the Icarus clan looked at Kwon Yeongseung as if he was very pitiful.
“Tsk tsk...”
“Aren’t the Korean hunters too much? They’re not doing anything even though their colleague is getting bullied.”
“Looking at his face. He looks like he got beat up good.”
Today, they realized for the first time that they could feel sorry for an A-grade hunter.