Chapter 28
Now that they were full and had regained their senses, the hunters seemed worried about the future. That was only natural. Having lost all hope, they began to think their lives were over. Hence, they?told Richard how they truly felt about him. However, things were different now. They now had to think about what would happen after they cleared the dungeon!
Richard could be an inexperienced and cocky kid, but he came from a strong family. They were nervous about how things would become twisted if they went outside.
“Hey...” One of the hunters awkwardly tried to talk to Richard, but the latter replied coldly.
“Shut up.”
“N-No. There seems to be a misunderstanding, team leader. I was just doing what that Fred guy told me to...”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up? Go away if you don’t want to be left behind!”
Richard’s voice was full of killing intent. The bloodthirsty air around him made the hunter back down.
“Did you fight?” Choi Yeonseung asked.
“......”
“Haha, We just have a misunderstanding.” The hunters hurriedly waved and denied it. Of course, Choi Yeonseung didn’t believe such an excuse.
“It sure does look to me like you guys fought, though. What’s the point in hiding it? Arguments are only natural when attacking a dungeon. I also used to fight with others a lot.”
The clan that Choi Yeonseung had joined was a good one, but it wasn’t without arguments. As long as there were people, there would be arguments! People argued over trivial matters, such as which dungeon to attack or which strategy to use. A good clan wisely solved these disputes. Choi Yeoncheung’s clanmates never held grudges and respected each other even during arguments.
In comparison...
‘They tried to kill each other here.’
Richard glared at the rest of the hunters as if he was going to kill them, and the rest of the hunters were squirming. He could easily guess what had happened from the way they behaved. Perhaps the other hunters tried to attack Richard.
-Master. What happened?
-They were trapped, so they probably had a huge fight with each other. Maybe they thought they had too many mouths to eat, so they told him to clear the road. Or they just fought because they blamed him...
-Humans are so pathetic.
-Odaigon. Your master is also human.
-Ah. M-Master, I didn’t mean to insult you...
“Well, I don't really care whether you fought or not. We should get out of this place first before solving your issues. If you’re done eating, let’s head out and finish the ghouls. I think killing the few I’ve missed will clear the dungeon.”
The hunters nodded at Choi Yeonseung’s words. Although they were worried about the future, they still had to escape from the dungeon. To be honest, they wanted to leave the dungeon and return to Earth, even for a moment.
Let’s go back!
***
“You’re called Odaigon, right? Y-you have such a great name—”
“Cleton, you jerk! Why are you acting so friendly with Mr. Odaigon? Aren’t you going?over the line?”
“You probably had a hard time wiping out the ghouls, Mr. Odaigon. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of the rest!”
“My heart aches so much that you have lost your memory, Mr. Odaigon! If you don’t mind, I’ll follow you around and help you!”
“? ? ”
Odaigon looked at the hunters with disgust. Since they stepped outside, he had been wondering if the hunters were crazy. Their eyes were flashing with desire! There was no way that?Odaigon, the wise goblin king, would be oblivious to their intentions.
‘If it wasn’t for Master’s orders, I would’ve told them to go away.’
“What’s wrong with them?”Choi Yeonseung asked Richard and Canean out of curiosity upon seeing their behavior.
“It’s hard to find good hunters. This is kind of cute.”
“I know that. By the way, why are you so polite?”
“You saved me, so I have to show respect. I can even get down on my knees. You’re also from 30 years ago, so you’re older than me...” “Uhuh. If you really are grateful, stop saying things like that.”
In reality, he could’ve been a few thousand years old, but Choi Yeonseung decided to?think of himself as?28 years old. His age on Earth should be calculated according to Earth's time!
“I didn't ask because I can't determine why they were clinging to a good hunter. I already know that much.”
In the world of hunters, skills were everything. Even an E or D-grade hunter could enter a higher-ranked dungeon if they were with a higher-ranked hunter. The rewards for such dungeons weren’t simply more expensive rewards such as rare and powerful skills. They could also get suitable skills that weren’t available in the market. To become stronger, they needed to challenge higher-ranked dungeons, and the easiest way to do that was to have a strong hunter carry them!
The way the hunters flattered Odaigon was cute. He had seen a lot worse!
“Odaigon?is good at magic and has lost his memory, so he probably seems like a good person to get close to. What I’m curious about is why they aren’t coming to me like that.”
“......”
“......”
Richard and Canean shut up at the same time. That was a difficult question to answer!
“Is it that hard to answer?”
“T-that’s... um... That’s because you’re a martial artist…”
“... No, is it really that bad?”
Choi Yeonseung was shocked.
Odaigon?was a great magician. Even if?Choi Yeonseung was a?magic user?as well, they wouldn’t come to him!
“To be honest, this is the first time I’ve actually seen a martial artist. There are so few of them.”
“Aren’t there quite a few hunters who use martial arts on the Chinese side? There are even A-grade hunters among them, like Li Yuyuan. What has he been doing these days?”
In 2009, when Choi Yeonseung left, China was the home of martial artists. Since they had a deep background in martial arts, many of their hunters were martial artists. If there were more martial artists, there would naturally be more support and research. In addition, Li Yuyuan, the only A-grade hunter among martial artists, was also a Chinese hunter!
“Uh...”
“A-about that...”
“? ?”
The two hunters grew speechless when Choi Yeonseung brought up Li?Yuyuan.
‘What is it this time?’
Choi Yeonseung suddenly became anxious. What happened...
“I’m sorry to say this, but... Li Yuyuan isn’t A-grade.”
“? ”
“I think it was in 2011. Around that time, the hunter rating manipulation incident broke out...”
It was a famous incident where closed-off countries like China and Russia manipulated?their hunters' ratings?to boost their own power! Bribing the examiners, manipulating the rating machine...
It was a shocking incident where C-grade hunters were advertised as B-grade and B-grade hunters as A-grade heroes. The countries that were involved were completely humiliated...
At this time, Li Yuyuan was identified as one of those hunters. It turned out that he was a B-grade hunter at best. The light and hope of martial artists around the world was a fraud! For the few martial artists, it was a very fatal incident. They gave up on martial arts while saying, ‘No matter how hard I train, I won’t be able to reach A-grade. Is there any answer in martial arts?’ or ‘The image of martial arts has been ruined too much for me to keep doing this.’
Hence, martial artists drastically decreased in numbers. By the time the shock was gone, it had become difficult to even determine if any hunters wanted to learn martial arts. Magicians could learn accumulated know-how just?by?asking anywhere, but martial artists didn’t have any of that.
Among the hunters, martial arts were like?lost antiques. When mentioned, they would usually react along the lines of, ‘Is anyone still learning martial arts?’ and ‘Martial arts? That was a skill before, wasn’t it?’
“......”
Choi Yeonseung was speechless after hearing such shocking revelations. No, this...
‘I even bought a picture of Li Yuyuan...’
Choi Yeonseung admired him! magic
‘Damn. I?thought he'd reach the peak-class stage before I could...’
Choi Yeonseung suddenly felt lonely. Thinking someone had already reached it before he could, he never felt like he was alone while he was training to reach the peak-class stage. However, he just learned that that person was a scam artist...
‘Those Chinese dare scam me with something like that?’
He directed his anger toward China, who played with his pure heart! Choi Yeonseung controlled his boiling anger, then asked another question. There was something far more important than martial arts right now: Earth’s current status. Was Earth really safe?
‘Did the prophecy of the goddess come true...’
“Did anything happen to Earth?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, uhh… Did new constellations suddenly appear and invaded our world?”
“Ah... Are you talking about what happened in 2011? It was a real uproar at the time. How did you know about that, though?”
. That was two years after Choi Yeonseung left for the Abyss. A huge number of demons and monsters invaded Earth, throwing the planet into great turmoil. They simultaneously appeared all over the world! Before that, there were only two ways monsters could reach Earth.
The gate connected to the Abyss, which opened at the North Pole.
The randomly appearing dungeon doors.
The gate only allowed monsters to pass through periodically, and the dungeons were safe for as long as the hunters cleared them before their doors opened.
However, the 2011 catastrophe was different. Temporary gates opened everywhere, unleashing violent demons and monsters that were different from those that escaped from dungeons. The monsters that came out of the dungeons just acted on instinct and were easy to deal with. Meanwhile, the monsters that invaded in 2011 moved exquisitely according to the demons’ commands.
And the demons only had one purpose.
Occupation!
They intended to take over Earth and offer its souls to the constellation they worshiped.
“!!!”
Choi Yeonseung felt his heart drop at the words. He was too late! He couldn’t believe the evil god constellations invaded two years after he left.
“What... What happened to Earth? Did the constellations manage to conquer it?”
“No. How could we be like this if that happened?”
“Then?”
“We stopped the invasion.”
“...S-Stopped it?”
“Yes. It required great sacrifices, but the world’s governments mobilized hunters to stop them.”
“.......”
Choi Yeonseung became momentarily speechless. If... If they managed to stop it…?Didn’t that mean he had nothing to do?
‘... What did I wander around the Abyss for?’
[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ doesn’t know how to comfort you!]
[The ‘Manipulator of Dreams and Desires’ says that something is strange. She says it would’ve been difficult to stop the constellations’ invasion with mortals alone.]
Upon listening to the two constellations’ advice, Choi Yeonseung returned to his senses.
“How did they stop the invasion?”
“Ah, we didn’t stop them, per se. It was more like we entered a truce. The evil constellations managed to occupy several places, but I heard they didn’t have the confidence to conquer any more territory. The damage they’d suffer would be too great if they kept fighting, so we made a truce.”
“A truce with the constellations? Did they keep it?”
“Everyone was worried at first, but they’ve been keeping their end of the bargain so far. Maybe it's because the other constellations on Earth stepped up and made an oath?”
“!”
‘I see. So that’s what happened.’
Choi Yeonseung and the other two constellations immediately realized what happened. Upon discovering Earth, the evil god?constellations?sent their subordinates to swallow it. However, the humans’ resistance was stronger than they thought. From the perspective of the evil god constellations, who could only send their subordinates since they couldn’t go out in person, they couldn’t help but feel nervous. There were constellations on Earth that had already gained humanity’s faith, and there was no way they would just stand idly by.
In fact, those constellations immediately launched a counterattack.
-An all-out war will be upon us if this doesn’t stop!
‘If they fought, they would destroy each other. Hence, they compromised and vowed to a truce. That’s certainly how constellations would’ve done it.’
Wandering constellations with nothing to lose like Choi Yeonseung would risk their lives to fight one-on-one battles. However, constellations didn’t fight directly in general. Even if they were in a conflict, they’d just send their household members to fight on their behalf. After all, they had a lot to lose!
That was what happened on Earth. The evil god constellations feared defeat or losing their newly occupied lands and subdued humans, while the constellations that arrived on Earth before them were afraid of defeat or losing the humans who believed in them.
As a result, a truce was made!
‘... No, doesn’t this still mean there is nothing for me to do?!’