Chapter 248
Other enemy hunters, who weren’t really needed there, came for support, but Choi Yeonseung didn’t bother to show up. This caused the Red-Haired Spirit hunters to momentarily be confused. There was no reason for him not to come.
What was going on?
“Didn’t he notice?”
“How can that be?”
“Since he’s an A-grade hunter, it wouldn’t be strange if he had the ability to eavesdrop on our telepathic conversation.”
A-grade hunters were monsters, not humans. Thus, it was no wonder that these hunters didn’t know what was going on. Moreover, Choi Yeonseung was a martial artist.
“A martial artist could have such a skill...”
“That’s right. From now on, be careful when using telepathy.”
Meanwhile, the hunters of the Demon Clan that had gathered here were preparing to fight.
-We need to undo the damage we received earlier. Attack!
-But is it okay to advance so aggressively?
-The situation is different from before. We’re ready and we have more numbers! We have to kill at least one of them!
“They’re underestimating us so much that it pisses me off.”
“Do they really think they’re going to catch us off guard?”
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters were dumbfounded and burst out laughing.
It was hard to believe that the hunters from the Demon clan were hiding like that and thinking that they caught their enemies off guard.
***
“Hey.”
“Yes??”
Kim Wuseong, a Red-Haired Spirit hunter, was hidden behind the tower with a wary expression.
He was originally a brilliant swordsman who wielded double swords at a high speed and mercilessly used melee magic against his opponents… However, after taking a beating from Choi Yeonseung, he no longer dared to do so.
It wasn’t even because of the difference in stats or power. He was psychologically overwhelmed.
Some inexperienced hunters would get intimidated by monsters weaker than them and run away before even trying to fight. Kim Wuseong was now in the same situation.
However, he wasn’t a beginner when it came to this competition, so it was ridiculous for him to be in such a state...
‘Only those that also went through that can understand...!’
Kim Wuseong thought so and cast an extremely wary look toward the opponent.
-Na Euna! Come quickly!
-I’m on my way!
“I’m curious. Do you not talk to each other like this when playing?” asked Choi Yeonseung out of curiosity.
None of his teammates had contacted him, but that wasn’t surprising. Since Choi Yeonseung had never died, there was no reason for him to return to the main camp. Choi Yeonseung just kept killing monsters in the top lane by himself, and whenever he saw an enemy hunter, he approached them and killed them. That was all he did!
At first, he was just holding on while doing his own thing. Then, as he silently beat his opponents, he began wondering about something.
Weren’t they communicating too little? They could at least communicate with telepathic magic or something similar...
The enemy hunter replied, “Well, aren’t the other hunters currently busy fighting?”
“I see.”
“In addition, magic like telepathy can be blocked. That is part of the strategy...”
“Ah...”
“If you don’t mind, why don’t you go back to the main camp for once and reorganize? Surely you must be running low on stamina since you’ve most likely used quite a lot of magic power.”
“Nah, I can keep fighting if I’m careful about how much magic power I use.”
‘Aish, this monstrous bastard!’
Choi Yeonseung’s incredible tenacity frustrated Kim Wuseong.
After fighting back and forth with monsters and hunters like this, Choi Yeonseung should’ve gone back to his base and recovered, but surprisingly, he was still going.
Was he even human?
Kim Wuseong kept trying to persuade him.
“Why don’t you go back to your camp and change your equipment?”
“Um… Rather than going back now, I think it’s better to kill more monsters and gain more strength faster.”
“But if you overdo it...”
It was quite a strange conversation these two hunters were having, considering that they were enemies.
However, Kim Wuseong desperately tried to persuade him. He couldn’t do anything as long as Choi Yeonseung was there!
Choi Yeonseung blocked the front and killed monsters as they emerged, so Kim Wuseong was feeling suffocated. Even if they tried to fight him two against one, they would lose…
“Hmm.”
Choi Yeonseung once again obliterated the nearby monsters with a punch and quietly checked his internal energy. His internal energy was recovering quickly thanks to his farming the monsters around him.
At the beginning of the game, he had been downgraded to E-grade, but now he was around B-grade…?
In terms of martial arts strength, it was a first-class level, but it still wasn’t enough.
Bam!
Choi Yeonseung rushed toward the two enemy hunters.
The two hunters were stunned by his relentless attack, despite having a magic tower that protected them.
-Support the top lane! Support the top lane!
-... Didn’t Kim Wuseong go there? Why do you need support??
-It’s me! I’m the one asking for support!
-Are you nuts?! You only need two people there. How many more people do you want?
Oh Kwanggyu was dumbfounded.
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters were currently pushing the other two lanes, and those two were on the verge of losing the top lane even though they were two against one. It was shameful…
One of them stopped killing monsters off the lanes and headed for the top lane for support, but it still wasn’t enough.
“Let’s just go and kill him.”
“Are you serious?”
“Right now, those kids aren’t even thinking of leaving the range of their tower because they’ve gotten their asses kicked. Besides, we’re currently no less stronger than an A-grade hunter.
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters who were currently in the top lane hadn’t really gained power and were struggling because of that, whereas their teammates from the other two lanes had gotten quite strong.
They had killed the enemy hunters and monsters from around this area, leveling up in the process. They felt like they had already surpassed B-grade and were one step away from reaching A-grade.
Normally, hunters could reach such high levels only in the second half of the match. Therefore, the Red-Haired Spirit hunters were confident they were going to win this match even if they faced an A-grade hunter.
“Yes. It’s better to go and knock him down rather than let him keep getting stronger. Let’s see how they fight that they keep dying like that!”
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters were convinced that the enemy team had no way of recovering.
They were approaching the mid-game stage, and the enemy hunters had already been beaten numerous times and currently kept staying behind the tower. Meanwhile, the Red-Haired Spirit hunters had evolved to B-grade and were incredibly strong.
The fact that as many as six hunters were going for a single enemy was crazy, but it was worth it.
***
“......”
Lee Changsik’s mouth was wide open. So far, the match had progressed mostly as expected. Of course, Lee Changsik hadn’t predicted everything. The Demon clan hunters were a bit worse than he had expected, but Choi Yeonseung managed to exceed his expectations.
There was one reason why A-grade hunters, who were more monsters than humans, didn’t participate in the SSL. They weren’t used to fighting in a weak state.
A-grade hunters usually used their natural talent and inherent luck to break through the lower hunter ranks at a tremendous rate. Most of them were considered geniuses from the time their initial rating was assessed. Therefore, they couldn’t adapt when they were suddenly asked to fight with their strength restricted.
They could fight better than anyone else if they killed monsters, knocked down their opponents, and rose to A-grade in the game...
However, most of them wouldn’t have the patience to build up their strength like that. From that perspective, Choi Yeonseung was doing a surprisingly good job at fighting in this game. This was despite being a constellation!
‘I get it.’
Lee Changsik finally understood. Choi Yeonseung had been fighting fiercely in a weak state for a really long time, so this kind of power restriction didn’t really affect him.
Everything had been good so far. Then all of a sudden, the six Red-Haired Spirit hunters gathered in the top lane. There was no way Choi Yeonseung could beat them.
‘T-This...!’
He hadn’t expected the Red-Haired Spirit hunters to make such an ignorant move. No matter how much strength they had gained from killing the Demon clan hunters, this was insane!
Looking to the side, the executives of the Red-Haired Spirit clan were also puzzled.
“What are those bastards doing?”
“Just leave him alone and push down another lane to finish the match... What a pointless move.”
Those executives, who were just spectators, had no idea what kind of pressure their hunters felt. Their teammates in the top lane had sent calls every minute, saying things like ‘Please save me. Help me. He’s too strong!’ Few hunters could ignore such cries for help. Even though they were in the Otherworld, the suffering and horror that the hunters went through were real.
“Hmm?”
Choi Yeonseung was the first to notice it. He could feel the magic power rushing at him from the wide forest road next to him.
Given that he couldn’t see the enemy hunters, it looked like they had cast an invisibility spell. However, this kind of surprise attack didn’t work well against martial artists. If they wanted to catch him off guard, they had to trick all five of his senses.
Choi Yeonseung cast Origin of the Celestial Finger with a deafening noise coming from his fingers. Like a machine gun firing bullets, the energy cut through the air and tore apart the curtain of magic power.
“Kuk!”
“Ugh!”
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters, who had been creeping forward, groaned at the sharp shock. Even though it exploded over a shield, it was still a mess. If they had gotten hit by that...
“Why are there so many people here?” wondered Choi Yeonseung.
A Red-Haired Spirit hunter gritted his teeth and exclaimed, “Are you seriously asking that?!”
“I really don’t get it,” replied Choi Yeonseung.
“You don’t have to understand. You just have to die once! If you have the tiniest shred of empathy, then die at least once!”
They initiated their attack with those words.
Kim Wuseong and Na Euna, who had been hiding until now, pulled out their weapons and tried to fight Choi Yeonseung with melee attacks. Their level was very low compared to the other Red-Haired Spirit hunters, but they could still distract their opponent.
Two of their teammates rushed from behind them. They were typical medium-range damage dealers who swung their spears and launched shock waves.
Two of them were already attacking, and when another two hunters jumped in, things became confusing. Because this still wasn’t enough, the last remaining two hunters pulled out their artifacts and cast spells. They used everything they had in order to instantly finish Choi Yeonseung before he could react.
“Use your strongest skill so we can finish him at once!”
Everybody cast 5th circle magic, and magic power was swirling around them. 5th circle magic was high-level magic that one could use to blow up buildings and shatter the ground.
As the four infuriated Red-Haired Spirit hunters scrambled to use 5th circle magic, Choi Yeonseung became curious about something, and it wasn’t the reason why the Red-Haired Spirit hunters seemed to hate him so much...
‘What did the other guys do to make these four so strong?’
Choi Yeonseung had defeated the hunters on this lane and killed the monsters, but it seemed that his teammates had been struggling a lot.
‘Am I playing inefficiently? I’ll have to ask Hyung when I get back.’
Choi Yeonseung jumped into the group of enemy hunters at lightning speed, grabbed Kim Wuseong, knocked him out, and pulled him upwards.
A human shield!
-Curse That Stops the Heart!
“Hey... It’s me… Kuek...”
"I-I’m sorry!” The Red-Haired Spirit hunters instantly felt sorry and staggered when Kim Wuseong was the one who got cursed.
Nevertheless, Choi Yeonseung didn’t stop. The most important thing in a fight like this was to reduce the numbers. He had to take them out one by one!
Choi Yeonseung came in much faster and stronger than expected, which caused the Red-Haired Spirit hunters to become discouraged. His power was too much to handle. The attack came like a cannonball, and nobody managed to dodge it.
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters were shocked when two of them were killed in an instant.
“Don’t panic! He must’ve used up his remaining magic power with that last attack...”
-Star Absorption Method!
The movements of the Red-Haired Spirit hunters were too predictable. Perhaps it was because they had no experience dealing with martial arts. In comparison, Choi Yeonseung had fought so many hunters that used magic that this fight just bored him. He grabbed the two enemies closest to him and absorbed their magic power.
“What...”
“This...”
The overflowing magic power turned into internal energy. Then, sword energy came over and overwhelmed the surroundings. The remaining Red-Haired Spirit hunters realized how bad their situation had gotten!
“Well... You don’t seem to know how to deal with martial artists.”
Oh Kwanggyu responded with a firm expression, “Hunter Choi Yeonseung, there’s still something you don’t know about us.”
“Oh? What is it?”
Choi Yeonseung wondered if the Red-Haired Spirit hunters had something up their sleeve to make them so confident.
If this had been a real fight to the death, he would’ve killed them before they could use their supposed trump card. However, in this situation, he was curious enough to watch it. Did they have a really strong skill?
“... Everyone, scatter and run!”
Bam!
The Red-Haired Spirit hunters fled with incredible speed.
“...”
Choi Yeonseung was genuinely impressed.
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢