abcnovels
Chapter 278
Chapter 278
Chapter 278
[The ‘Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield warns that it is dangerous if you enter hastily and end up possessed.]
“That... It makes sense.”
Even though he was really disappointed, Joseph decided to stay put like his master had ordered him. He realized it was the best course of action.
Seeing the way in which an A-grade hunter like Gerrity was getting beaten, Joseph realized that those involved in this fight were insanely powerful, far above his previous expectations.
“Choi Yeonseung, take this!”
“???”
Choi Yeonseung, who was competing against Demiargas for the control of the humans, was taken aback when Joseph suddenly threw his artifacts at him.
What was he doing? Had he lost his mind?
“They’ll come in handy!”
“Suddenly throwing them like this...”
However, despite his complaining, Choi Yeonseung acted right away, almost instinctively. He asked the hunters taken over by the Shadow Crown to pick up the artifacts from the iron-blooded constellation one by one.
“D... Do I also have to listen?”
A reporter with a camera was flustered and looked around while also holding a dagger.
Choi Yeonseung had taken control of the hunters, but now he was doing the same thing with the civilians.
[The ‘Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield’ grants strength!]
“!?!”
Even ordinary people who couldn’t awaken were bound to display power that surpassed most hunters if a constellation gave them strength.
Exasperated, Gerrity exclaimed, “Just give me the order to kill!”
Gerrity and his subordinates were now being controlled by Choi Yeonseung’s skills. Obviously, Choi Yeonseung had to control them so they wouldn’t get possessed by Demiargas again, but...
They couldn’t help being frustrated.
Gerrity thought that the best way to deal with this arrogant monster called ‘Demiargas’ was to make sacrifices. If they annihilated everyone around here, Demiargas would have nobody to possess and no way to escape.
However, Choi Yeonseung was going to subdue the reporters, knock them out, and use Shadow Crown again. This was only going to slow down Demiargas, not kill him.
How could Choi Yeonseung know what Demiargas was going to do in the meantime?
“What? Are you asking me to kill you?” asked Choi Yeonseung with an incredulous tone.
Was Gerrity asking Choi Yeonseung to kill him?
Of course, killing him would definitely make things easier. If he did that, Choi Yeonseung could retrieve the Shadow Crown ability he had used on Gerrity and his subordinates. Any advantage like that would be helpful in this fierce confrontation with Demiargas!
He just hadn’t expected a selfish bastard like Gerrity to sacrifice himself.
“I... I wasn’t talking about myself! What the hell are you talking about?” Gerrity exclaimed with a red face.
Choi Yeonseung belatedly realized what Gerrity had actually meant.
‘This crazy bastard...!’
How could Choi Yeonseung make the decision to kill an A-grade hunter in this situation? There were so many other humans who needed to die first!
“Kill those reporters!”
“G-Gerrity?”
The reporters who heard Gerrity’s words were horrified upon learning what his true colors were. Of course, they already knew that Gerrity was a son of a bitch, but they were still shocked by his blatant disregard for their lives.
“What the hell are you saying? You would actually kill them, wouldn’t you? Just… Shut up!”
“Ooof...?!”
Gerrity shut his mouth at Choi Yeonseung’s powerful command. The shadow crown draped over his head compelled him to obey.
‘This is actually pretty good.’
Choi Yeonseung took a liking to the power of Shadow Crown. Was this the fun of magic?
He had only been using martial arts all his life and had never been interested in magic. However, now that he was using magic, it seemed quite appealing.
-Is this the appeal of magic…? It doesn’t look like it...
[The ‘Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield’ grants strength!]
[The ‘Observer Who Returned From a Cold Place’ grants strength.]
[...]
So far, Choi Yeonseung had been struggling against Demiargas, but now the constellations offered him their support. He was surprised by this unexpected gesture.
‘Huh, I didn’t expect them to step up like this.’
-Please concentrate! This guy is terribly annoying.
However, despite the warning of the goddess of sloth, Choi Yeonseung was gradually gaining the upper hand.
First of all, Choi Yeonseung could counter Demiargas’ mind control ability with Shadow Crown. It was truly unfortunate for the monster to cross paths with an opponent who possessed such a power!
With more time at his disposal, Demiargas could’ve infected hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people and increased the scale of his rampage exponentially. However, Choi Yeonseung had gotten in his way and suppressed him before he had managed to do that.
Furthermore, Demiargas had lost his useful translucent body since he had been defeated by the constellation. At most, he could take over Gerrity’s body, but even that wasn't terribly useful…
As Choi Yeonseung received support from the constellations, Demiargas was quickly pushed back. The monster realized the severity of his situation when Choi Yeonseung used Shadow Crown to overpower the rampaging people.
‘It’s getting dangerous!’
As the number of infected creatures diminished, Demiargas’ power also grew weaker.
Even though Demiargas had escaped back then, there was no way these constellations would let him escape a second time. This time, it was likely that Demiargas would meet his end if he lost the fight.
“!”
The few people that Demiargas still controlled suddenly collapsed. They all had a shadow crown on their heads.
Seeing this, the monster completely gave up.
‘What?’
Choi Yeonseung didn’t like that his opponent showed weakness. When fighting a monster, the most dangerous moment was generally when it was backed into a corner.
At this moment, a powerful wave of mental power burst forth.
‘...Did he have this ability too?’
Demiargas compelled all of his scattered clones to move toward him. His power suddenly increased, and simultaneously, so did the range of his mental abilities.
-This... I didn’t know about this…
-How can you say that?
Choi Yeonseung found it ridiculous that the goddess of sloth hadn’t known about this, but in fact, all the spectating constellations were seeing this for the first time.
Demiargas determinedly aimed for the next target to possess. He left the immediate encirclement and aimed for the place where there were mostly hunters.
Moments ago, Choi Yeonseung had still been able to stop the small number of hunters affected by Demiargas. However, it now became clear that the Shadow Crown couldn’t keep up if the monster spread out to hundreds of hunters.
‘I found it!’
Among the many creatures, Demiargas found the perfect target.
He didn’t even have time to see if it was a monster or a human. His intention was to take control of this being and then gather more puppets.
-Running Space!
However, the moment he tried to possess his target, it used teleportation magic.
Demiargas suddenly found himself in the center of the battlefield where he had just been fighting. This unexpected turn of events was the first time in this fight the monster was visibly panicked and unable to move.
“I got him! Finish him!”
...!
***
Even while Choi Yeonseung had been fighting a brutal battle in the center of the battlefield, multiple fights had been going on around him.
Aside from Demiargas, there had been many other monsters from the dungeon.
Hwang Gyeongryong checked the siege, listened to nearby reports, and took full command of the hunters. It would be ridiculous if the other monsters escaped because they only focused on Demiargas!
However, Hwang Gyeongryong still kept an eye out for Demiargas. He couldn’t afford to completely disregard the monster, since it had a power that couldn’t be compared to anything they had ever seen.
If they didn’t properly deal with him, the damage would spread uncontrollably...
“!!!”
At this moment, Hwang Gyeongryong could feel it. He could feel that Demiargas had suddenly gathered together all of his scattered puppets and used his power to aim for a place full of people.
“...That piece of shit!”
Without even thinking, Hwang Gyeongryong used his power to move and deny the monster access to the other people.
There was no guarantee that Demiargas would necessarily aim for Hwang Gyeongryong, but he was sure the monster would do so if his objective was to possess a strong body.
‘It hit!’
As he felt a powerful spirit invade his body, Hwang Gyeongryong gritted his teeth and used teleportation magic. He appeared right in front of Choi Yeonseung!
“I got him! Finish him!”
[The ‘Observer Who Returned From a Cold Place has used the power of Permafrost.]
As expected from an experienced constellation, the observer constellation acted immediately. She froze the entire area around Hwang Gyeongryong before Demiargas could react.
At the same time, Choi Yeonseung used his power of existence to subdue Hwang Gyeongryong. He didn’t know what Demiargas would do with Hwang Gyeongryong’s body.
“We got him!” exclaimed the observer constellation, her voice filled with relief.
It was amazing. If this mortal hadn’t stepped forward, Demiargas might’ve managed to drastically increase his numbers once again.
“And now… How do we get rid of him?” Choi Yeonseung asked.
“Uh...”
“...??”
Choi Yeonseung was taken aback by the reaction of the observer constellation.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“...You have to destroy the body that contains him.”
“...No. That won’t work. I just have to use the power of a constellation to get rid of what’s inside.”
The power of existence was an almighty power, so there was no way it couldn’t remove this one entity that had invaded Hwang Gyeongryong’s body.
What the observer constellation was suggesting… She was asking him to kill Hwang Gyeongryong.
“Would Demiargas have done so much damage if he could be destroyed by using such a power? He only managed to inflict so much destruction because such methods didn’t work.”
The iron-blooded constellation also agreed with the observer constellation’s words.
[The ‘Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield’ says that in war, one has to make sacrifices. He firmly urges you to destroy the body.]
“You shut up.”
[The ‘Iron-Blooded General Who Shakes the Battlefield’ is angry at the insult...]
Hwang Gyeongryong was stunned as he realized what situation he was in.
“Don’t... Don’t tell me there’s no other way…?”
“Why the hell did you use yourself as bait!”
“I don’t know, you bastard! I didn’t want to do it either! I did it because you’ve influenced me!” Hwang Gyeongryong choked up.
He had led a selfish and comfortable life, but then Choi Yeonseung appeared in the picture.
His younger brother moved around the Abyss to protect humanity, doing good deeds everywhere he went. Meanwhile, Hwang Gyeongryong was stuck in his corner for rich people. Even though he was alive, he had felt for a long time that his soul had died.
The observation constellation came up with an alternative.
“If you can’t kill him, then seal him in the realm of a constellation. That would be better.”
“Seal?”
“I have frozen Demiargas with my power, so he can never come out on his own. If you keep him away from others and continue to use your power on him, won’t he fall one day?”
“...”
-I think that’s actually possible.
Choi Yeonseung nodded while pondering on it.
Instead of killing Hwang Gyeongryong, it was a hundred times better to leave him in his realm and attempt to slowly remove Demiargas from him.
Hwang Gyeongryong tried to comfort Choi Yeonseung. He could imagine how painful this was for him.
“Hey, it’s fine. It doesn’t make a difference where I am anyway. I’ll just take a look at the Abyss this time.”
‘There is nothing but orcs...’
Choi Yeonseung suddenly felt terrible. Hwang Gyeongryong seemed to be looking forward to the Abyss, but the only ones to talk to in his realm were the orcs and the goblin king.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get Demiargas out of your body as soon as possible.”
Choi Yeonseung was visibly sorry for Hwang Gyeongryong, which made for a good disguise for his real identity. After all, what constellation apologized to their own household member like this?
“Uh... Wait a minute.”
“?”
Hwang Gyeongryong hesitated.
“Given my… cough… injuries, I can’t really fulfill my official duties. ”
“I see. Given how large of a company Dragon Industry is, we need to be careful. Should I call the CEOs and give them your instructions or something?”
“No... I want you to take care of it for me.”
“...Huh?”
“What’s with the huh? Who else am I going to trust to do this??”
Hwang Gyeongryong looked at Choi Yeonseung in disbelief.
-Is it okay for a constellation to do such insignificant tasks for his household member?
[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ says it isn’t an insignificant task. It’s a very important job on Earth.]