Chapter 232
Judging from the reactions of the other hunters, it seemed like methods to conduct raids hadn’t changed that much. Most of the hunters were shocked.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you helping? You bastards behind me, remove the accessories around your neck if you don’t help!”
Han Seha rushed in quickly while urging the other hunters to follow suit. The hunters regained their focus and nodded. No matter the situation, whenever Hunter Choi Yeonseung did something unexpected, they had to adapt to his strategy.
‘Was Illaphael mistaken about him?’
Amelia followed while having irreverent thoughts about the angel. No matter how much she tried, she found it hard to believe in Choi Yeonseung. In this situation, it seemed like retreating was the correct...
“!!!”
Despite the worries of all the high-level hunters, Choi Yeonseung immediately finished off the torch dragon.
Bam!
Concentrated energy flashed from Choi Yeonseung’s fingers as he approached using Origin of the Celestial Step. Upon landing his hit on the torch dragon’s reverse scale, blood started gushing from it.
-■■■■■■■!
“Uhhhhh...?!”
“The... the last hit?”
The bewildered hunters stared at each other in a shocked manner. They had prepared for a fierce fight with the S-grade monster and were determined to kill it, but…
No one expected such an anticlimactic end to the fight.
***
-The torch dragon has been slain!! Reporting again. It has been confirmed that the torch dragon is dead!
“It’s amazing!”
Diao Zijian, who had been listening nervously from a distance, unintentionally let out a cheer. He was usually a calm individual, but this raid was bound to make him anxious, given that the stakes were high for the Chinese government. They had to bow their heads to various countries and overseas companies, request help from foreign A-grade hunters, and put up with all the problems that occurred in the meantime.
-Are you actually calling foreign hunters? Why would you do that? Chinese hunters are the best in the world. Diao Zijian, have you grown senile?
-Maybe he took bribes from the foreign companies. Who knows what’s behind it?
‘Those brainless scumbags with no conscience!’
Diao Zijian wasn’t so weak as to be affected by what other people said. However, the critique of those who had risen to the top ranks of the party was absolutely ridiculous. They really believed they needed no help.
‘The young members of the party are terrible.’
In a way, it was reassuring for him. When young party members entered, their identities were evaluated and they had to go through various tests of loyalty. However, even after they passed, they would be considered dangerous if they were seemingly smarter than the party members. Therefore, the party kicked out any ‘dangerous’ individuals.
The only young people who rose to the highest ranks within the party were those with a good status and zero brains. They truly believed that Chinese hunters were the best in the world and hated Diao Zijian for requesting help from overseas hunters.
‘But I don’t care.’
If his plan failed, he would get attacked by his political enemies. However, if he succeeded, no one would dare criticize Diao Zijian’s decision.
“Report the damage.”
-Eight of the combat helicopters WZ-20 have been seriously damaged...
“Um. It’s possible.”
Each of them was an expensive weapon, but Diao Zijian wasn’t one to get angry just because a few combat helicopters were damaged while fighting an S-grade monster.
-The heavy weapons and drones at the scene were damaged when the torch dragon crashed.
“I don’t need you to tell me about such trivial things. The hunters? How many Chinese hunters have been hurt?”
Diao Zijian urged the other person to tell him the most important details. As a member of the Party Central Hunter Committee, the most important thing to him was the hunters. They were the ones who supported his power and might!
-......
“Why aren’t you answering?”
However, the person on the other end of the radio was hesitant for some reason. Diao Zijian had a bad feeling about this.
‘What?’
“Why are you silent? Answer me!”
-I-I’m sorry… I-It seems that the torch dragon used a rare wide-range skill before it died.
Diao Zijian sighed heavily. It seemed that because of the torch dragon’s wide-range skill, the hunters either got severely injured or killed.
‘Shit. If the overseas hunters die, we’ll have to pay a lot of money to each country...’
“Stop beating around the bush and give me the numbers. If you try to conceal the facts again, I’ll twist your neck.”
-Over 70% of the hunters that were at the scene are missing.
“...”
Diao Zijian froze.
***
“Isn’t it weird that those who disappeared still haven’t returned even though the torch dragon is dead?” said Kwon Yeongseung in disbelief. Everyone had gone missing except those who weren’t caught in the blast and those who were following Choi Yeonseung’s orders.
At first, the hunters thought that the torch dragon teleported them into its stomach or mouth, but they were left speechless when they finally realized what had occurred.
“I think they have been banished to the Abyss.”
Choi Yeonseung was the calmest out of the entire group of hunters. He came to that conclusion after he quickly cut open the fallen dragon and checked its stomach.
“They’re not here. I guess it’s safe to assume they’ve been sent in the Abyss.”
“That’s nonsense. It’s difficult enough to move something ten meters, let alone...!”
Space magic was difficult to use and required a lot of magic power. It was quite challenging for the caster just to move its target a few meters. And yet, the torch dragon sent those hunters into the Abyss, as opposed to its stomach? It was hard to believe.
“It’s not a constellation...”
“An S-grade monster can do that only if it uses all of its power.”
The torch dragon couldn’t react in time when Choi Yeonseung charged at him, so it was possible that the dragon managed to send the hunters into the Abyss by using a lot of magic.
“They’re all dead, right?”
“Hey...”
Kwon Yeongseung patted Han Seha while looking around, signaling her to keep quiet. The Chinese people looked like the sky had collapsed. It was to the extent that they had no idea how to recover from such tremendous damage.
“Four A-grade Chinese hunters are gone.”
“Four people? That’s terrible.”
Choi Yeonseung clicked his tongue. In South Korea, there were only three A-grade hunters that were active, so the disappearance of those four Chinese hunters felt like the power of an entire country had just vanished.
“...Wait, is Huang Guangao gone??”
“Didn’t he charge forward earlier?”
“That idiotic bastard”
Choi Yeonseung found it ridiculous. Even though he put up with that bastard and accepted him as his subordinate, Huang Guangao couldn’t stand his authority and charged forward, ultimately disappearing in the Abyss.
“The atmosphere is so grim. What should I do?” asked Kwon Yeongseung with a suffocating expression. Normally, when an S-grade monster was killed, nobody would say anything if he yelled and rejoiced. However, given the current situation, bullets would fly if he tried to celebrate. It was so bad that the Chinese officials were debating whether to hang themselves or shoot themselves in the head...
“We have to do what we have to do.”
“And what is that?”
“Let’s dismantle the monster. They’re Chinese. They’ll take away everything that’s useful in the blink of an eye.”
“...”
Kwon Yeongseung was dumbfounded, but Han Seha clapped her hands and agreed.
“As expected, you’re not someone who gets swayed by his emotions!”
“There is no need to praise that... The Dragon Industry employees in China will come here, so we need to quickly dismantle it and separate it into parts. I’ll give you your shares later.”
“Thank you...?”
In the meantime, Amelia and the hunters who served the angel constellation approached them with expressions just as grim and bewildered as the other hunters. Their reactions were only natural given that a large number of offensive hunters had just disappeared.
“Thank you, Hunter Choi Yeonseung. These hunters managed to survive thanks to your judgment.”
“Don’t mention it. Even if you say this, I have no intention of compromising when it comes to the torch dragon’s rewards. If you want to take it, you’d better pay a fair price. Ah, right. Dismantling it also costs money.”
Choi Yeonseung had been frugally dismantling only the parts of the torch dragon that he and the Korean hunters could take. Dismantling monsters, especially large ones, was quite a complex task, and technicians were usually in charge of it. Choi Yeonseung was a first-class technician when it came to this task. He figured that something done well shouldn’t be free.
“...I didn’t come here because of that. I just wanted to thank you.”
“Oh, really? I see.”
“I can see why Illaphael speaks so highly of you.”
“...”
No matter how he thought about it, Choi Yeonseung thought he was being made fun of.
‘Is he trying to ridicule me in a subtle way?’
-I don’t think so.
‘I feel bad because it must be a backhanded compliment.’
“The damage might’ve been great, but we’ve managed to kill an S-grade hunter. I think it’s fine if we rest and rejoice for today. Don’t push yourself too hard. I think you should take a break.”
Choi Yeonseung had a puzzled expression while holding a flashing blade.
‘Does it seem like I’m overdoing it?’
-It seems like you overdid it...
“That’s right. You’d better go and rest. It’s just a matter of setting up a sentry in case of an unexpected situation.”
It wasn’t just Han Seha. The other hunters of the Icarus clan also stepped up.
Choi Yeonseung looked fine, but it was quite unnatural to dismantle the monster right after the raid instead of resting.
Chen Xiezhi nodded from the side and said, “Yes, as you get older, you have to be more careful about your health!”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung was taken aback for a moment. So right now… Was he being placed in the same generation as Chen Xiezhi? So if there were categories of elderly, middle-aged, and young hunters, was he now considered an elderly hunter?
‘...I shouldn’t think too much about it.’
“Yes. I’ll just check the items and then take a break.”
The dragon had scattered many items befitting of its rank. There were magic books and equipment with all types of skills attached to them. When multiple clans and groups teamed up in a raid like this, keeping track of these things was most important.
Several hunters had already taken out their smartphones and were filming.
‘It’s much better than I thought.’
Choi Yeonseung used the eyes of a constellation and quickly started analyzing the rewards. In order to come out on top when sharing the rewards later, he had to understand their value in advance. In a way, it could get more difficult to fight for the rewards than to fight an S-grade monster.
“...!”
[Precious Orb with the Power of a Scaled Dragon: You can acquire the skill ‘Scaled Dragon’s Power’ when using it.]
As he was scanning the rewards, Choi Yeonseung was surprised to see a heavy white bead. It was a simple yet overpowered ability. He absolutely needed to get that item, even if he was to give it to a household member.
‘I have to manage my facial expression.’
When sharing such powerful rewards, it was essential that he maintained a poker face. An experienced hunter could recognize what rewards other hunters wanted just by looking at their faces.
This battle for rewards was more intense than a regular auction!
“Hey.”
“!”
Choi Yeonseung was startled when someone called out to him from behind. Even though he was a constellation, he was bound to be surprised.
“Why did you take that meat?”
It was Chen Xiezhi who spoke to him. He was puzzled by the fact that Choi Yeonseung took some meat from the torch dragon. Choi Yeonseung cut off only the good parts in order to feed the hunters who had suffered.
“I’ve taken it in order to eat it.”
“You can eat that?”
“I can eat it if I cook it well.”
“Can I try it?”
“It’s fine, but... Many Chinese hunters have disappeared… Is it okay to do this?”
“What about the Chinese hunters?”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung realized that Chen Xiezhi was acting strange, and his eyes suddenly became cloudy.
‘Is this guy sane only when he fights...?’
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