abcnovels
Chapter 343
Chapter 343
Chapter 343
The battle ended with that final attack.
The constellation’s clone couldn’t withstand Choi Yeonseung’s devastating attack and collapsed. Even though the tiniest fragment of his body could detonate a powerful explosion, the clone didn't manage to trigger any explosions because of Choi Yeonseung’s power.
Thump!
The ground shook and a cloud of whirling dust rose. The clone fell silent.
Endless Linked Explosions, the raucous and belligerent constellation, finally went quiet. It was clear that he suffered extensive damage after his clone fell.
“The power of a constellation... It’s beyond imagination...!” Xia Ling exclaimed in awe.
Almagoria had encountered a few constellations during his time in the Abyss, but he had never felt the difference in power so clearly as he did now. Having witnessed it from up close, he finally understood absurdly powerful constellations were.
No matter how much magic he knew and how skillful he was, he was nowhere near close to a constellation’s power level. He couldn’t compete with a being that could alter the world with their own will!
“It really is amazing!”
[The power of faith is pouring in!]
[Your power of existence has increased significantly!]
Choi Yeonseung also received some messages. This battle had boosted his power of existence quite a lot. He wasn’t aware that foreign reporters had gathered on the outskirts of the city, so he figured that all the faith had come from the people who had watched the battle from the city center.
Seeing Xia Ling gazing at him in awe, it was clear that he was one of them.
“Can you feel the power of the Undefeated Incarnation of Training?” Choi Yeonseung asked quietly.
Xia Ling nodded in admiration. He was so mesmerized by Choi Yeonseung's power that he didn’t even care that Choi Yeonseung didn’t address him respectfully. Of course, Xia Ling would be an idiot if he expected Choi Yeonseung to still bow down to him even after witnessing what he was capable of.
“It’s absolutely amazing! The power of the incarnation of training is truly incredible. I can’t believe he raised a household member like you.”
“Indeed. If you want to believe in the incarnation of training...”
“But the most astonishing thing was the appearance of the Master of Slowness and Silence. That’s what I call absolute power!”
“...?”
Choi Yeonseung realized that something was wrong with Xia Ling’s reaction.
“Master of Slowness and Silence! If you are still looking here, please answer my call! I was just an arrogant vampire. Once I saw Your Majesty, I realized what true power is. If you give me a chance to follow you, I will be loyal! I will dedicate my very soul to serve you, Your Majesty!”
[The ‘Master of Slowness and Silence’ says... In order to follow him in the future... You will have to be slower and quieter.]
“Of course...” replied Xia Ling in a low and slow voice. It seemed like he had already adjusted his behavior.
Choi Yeonseung was dumbfounded by this.
‘After working so hard, I let someone else get all the praise...’
Even though it was Choi Yeonseung who had fought hard and won the battle, the vampire was more impressed with the slowness constellation. It was a rather upsetting situation...
-Winning too much can be more detrimental than defeat... That’s enough.
-...That’s right.
Choi Yeonseung agreed with the goddess of sloth. He had already attracted too much negative attention from the explosion constellation, and he would’ve become way too suspicious if he had been recognized as the true victor of this battle.
No matter how good Choi Yeonseung’s relationship was with other constellations, it was rare to receive such support. It was probably better for the Master of Slowness and Silence to attract the attention this time instead of Choi Yeonseung.
The constellations watching this fight would be more wary of the Master of Slowness and Silence, even though Choi Yeonseung was the one who had fought.
[’Arrogant Light Elf’ recognizes your value.]
[He says it was a great fight.]
In response to the Arrogant Light Elf, Choi Yeonseung bowed his head slightly. They didn’t really get along, but since the elf had helped him like this, expressing a bit of gratitude was the least Choi Yeonseung could do.
Even though Choi Yeonseung was a constellation, he had grown up in a capitalist society as a human.
[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ says he was moved by the way you defeated evil.]
[He says he is looking forward to seeing you fight in the future.]
Choi Yeonseung bowed his head again.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ says she won’t talk for a long time.]
[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ wonders why the goddess is talking like this when he isn’t her household member.]
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ tries to ignore it.]
‘...This is depressing...’
[The ‘Warrior Stained with Madness and Blood’ asks if you felt his power this time.]
Choi Yeonseung pretended not to see that message.
After he finished making a contract with the Master of Slowness and Silence, Xia Ling approached Choi Yeonseung. The latter was still bitter that someone else reaped the benefits of his hard work, so asked angrily, “What? Do you have something to say?”
“Yes! I am very grateful for what you did. If it hadn’t been for you, my territory would’ve burned down and my people would’ve been killed or injured.”
There would probably be a lot of disagreement about whose land this was, but Choi Yeonseung didn’t want to get involved in this any more than he already had.
He nodded in agreement as he was getting ready to take the hostages with him.
“Yes, be grateful.”
“I intend to resume my reign over this kingdom, and I won’t forget what you’ve done for it and for its people.”
“I suppose so.”
Choi Yeonseung let the vampire’s words get in through one ear and leave through the other one. At this point, he didn’t even know what the vampire’s words implied.
***
-China is giving up on Guangzhou? Temporary withdrawal of military units...
-The US vehemently denounces China for contracting with an evil god constellation... “Contracting with an evil god constellation to invade your own city is a horrible atrocity”...
-China dismisses the US’s accusations regarding Guangzhou as completely “unjustified”.... A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called it “twisting the facts in a malicious and manipulative manner”...
“It’s the same even decades later.”
Choi Yeonseung looked indifferently at the news as though he was bored to see the same thing every time.
Of course, it was great if a raid ended successfully and with no damage, but if it failed or the damage was severe, the tradition was for the parties involved to blame each other. If multiple countries were involved in a raid, they were eager to blame someone else for the damages.
The countries in Northeast Asia certainly had a knack for blaming others. Out of all of them, China had always been the king of blaming others for their own mistakes. As for Japan, they were the best at claiming that their mistakes weren’t mistakes, but malicious fabrications of other countries.
Even Russia was the quiet powerhouse of “We’re better than those two other countries, so give us this...”
‘We’ve gotten to the point where such insane behavior is actually the norm...’
As usual, the Chinese government stood their ground with an aggressive and defensive attitude, but this situation was too severe. In terms of diplomatic relations and international security, being caught making a contract with an evil god constellation was like being caught secretly making and testing nuclear weapons.
No matter how hard they tried to shift the blame onto someone else, they couldn’t succeed!
Perhaps this was why the Chinese government tried to say, “This was just the terrible behavior of several military officers.”
Considering that China would normally deny the accusations outright, it was amazing that this time they actually admitted what they had done, at least partly.
-US President George pays tribute to A-grade hunter Choi Yeonseung, who led the raid, calling him the “hero of humanity.”
-A-grade hunter Charles O’Connor pays tribute to Choi Yeonseung, calling him the “greatest hunter of all time.” He also said that “it is blasphemous not to promote him to S-grade.”
-Will humanity be blessed with another A-grade hunter?
“Uumm...?”
Choi Yeonseung was puzzled by the unexpected response. He had already expected to be praised by a bunch of people.
Normally, after a raid was finished, it was a national rule in many countries to praise the hunters who had contributed the most in the raid, saying things like “Wow, such an outstanding job!”
Of course, after being in the field for long enough, hunters realized that such praise didn’t mean that much.
-If you are going to praise me like that, you should support me...
-Compliments are free, so I’m just going to wash my mouth.
Even when receiving high praise from their own country, it was difficult to have the government cooperate with them. It was even more so in terms of international cooperation.
Like many others, Choi Yeonseung also had little expectations. After all, he hadn’t really received anything substantial after the last Rutherford raid despite his A-grade strength and enormous corporate lobbying power.
It had gotten so hard to get people to cooperate with him that he even developed a habit of swearing.
‘It’s easier to just not have expectations.’
The goddess of sloth was curious about the prospect of a promotion.
-Wouldn’t it be nice to become an S-grade hunter?
-Um... Yeah, it would be great. It would make my name ten times more valuable than it is now.
There were dozens of A-grade hunters out there, but one could count the current S-grade hunters on their fingers. That was how meaningful the rank was.
However, Choi Yeonseung could see the hunters’ levels, so in terms of skill, he didn’t think that the difference between A and S-grade was that big. Of course, he didn’t think they were the same level either. A-grade hunters were roughly level 300-400, and S-grade was even more than that.
However, having the right level didn’t mean becoming an S-grade hunter right away. After all, hunters couldn’t see their own levels anyway.
Achieving S-grade was a matter of politics. On paper, the position was given to A-grade hunters who had accumulated a great deal of expertise, but the committee had a lot of sway in the selection process.
The promotion to S-grade required the unanimous vote of five committee members. In other words, the promotion had to align with the interests of the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom, which made achieving S-grade virtually impossible.
-What about the current S-grade hunters?
-They’re all from the first generation.
Back when the Abyss gate was opened and people started dying left and right, even the crooked committee members were forced to cooperate. If they hadn’t cooperated during the crisis, they wouldn’t have received the help that they desperately needed. Thus, they decided to promote to S-grade the hunters that made achievements that had to be publicly acknowledged.
Thus, Hwang Gyeongryong was promoted to S-grade for averting the crisis. Chen Xiezhi also managed to reach S-grade due to China’s strong insistence.
However, a lot of time had passed since then. Much to the surprise of those from the first generation, people had changed, for better or for worse...
These days, instead of running away when a monster emerged, some nut jobs took out their smartphones to broadcast the monster on social media until the hunters came. People weren’t as afraid of monsters as they once had been, so many countries felt like they no longer had to cooperate with each other.
Given the development of magic and the increase in the number of hunters, those five countries couldn’t all unanimously agree on promoting someone to S-grade.
-S-grade would be great, but I’d have no regrets if I never reach it. I heard from Gyeongryong hyung that he actually doesn’t have much authority anyway.
One would naturally assume that S-grade hunters had all the power in the world, but in reality, their authority wasn’t that great.
-What do you mean you want to mobilize the lower-grade hunters? If you have this type of authority, why don’t you call the A-grade hunters?
-Hey... Even if I try to mobilize them, they will veto it or say they’re being hospitalized.
-...Can’t you threaten them or beat some sense into them?
-I could do that with one hunter, but how could I go against dozens of them? Forget it. They won’t come.
The reality was that not even the power of an S-grade hunter could do anything.
-It’s enough to just continue to grow my reputation. In fact, I’m currently the most famous A-grade hunter.
Choi Yeonseung didn’t mean to be arrogant or anything like that; he was just stating the facts. His reputation was bound to rise since he had been helping people without taking any breaks and without making profit out of it.
Moreover, much to his surprise, the reporters had actually broadcasted his fight live during the last raid...
Even the Chinese government had paid close attention to it and even sent him a letter of appreciation.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, are you there?”
“?”
Someone knocked on the door, so Choi Yeonseung got up, puzzled, and answered the door. An angel with a familiar face stood before him.
“Adaquaniel!”
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, I am really impressed with what you have done this time. As expected, my master...”
“No, Adaquaniel. This task was supposed to...”
...And they proceeded to compliment each other for around thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, the goddess of sloth yawned and the cat constellation scratched at the ground with its claws in annoyance.
[The ‘Manipulator of Dreams and Desires’ tells you to just date each other.]
-Why are you saying something so ridiculous and rude?
Choi Yeonseung sharply reprimanded the manipulator constellation. Then he looked at Adaquaniel and asked, “So what are you here for?”
“That... I’m here because I want to learn something from you”
“Yeah, anything! Is it martial arts?” Choi Yeonseung answered excitedly. If Adaquaniel wanted to learn martial arts, he would teach her as much as she wanted.
“I want to learn how to invest.”
“...????”
However, her answer completely flabbergasted him.