This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢

Chapter 482  

‘I have to distance myself from him.’

It was imperative for a magician to distance themselves from a warrior who excelled at close combat. Jaldaran, the great elf magician, had dozens of ways to do that.

Teleport!

With a flash of light, Jaldaran’s silhouette appeared all over the battlefield. As he summoned his clones, Jaldaran cast his spatial movement magic on the area around Choi Yeonseung.

“I’ll make you regret asking for a duel against me!”

Along with those words, sharp stone pillars instantly appeared all around Choi Yeonseung, flying at him. This was no simple attack. Thanks to the spatial movement magic applied to the terrain around Choi Yeonseung, Jaldaran could launch stone pillars at his enemy like heat-seeking missiles.

No matter how fast their reflexes were, one couldn’t possibly evade such an instant attack.

“!?!”

Yet surprisingly, Choi Yeonseung managed to dodge the stone pillars that had emerged out of thin air. It was as though he had seen a few seconds into the future.

‘The attacks are more obvious than I expected.’

Being a veteran of combat, Choi Yeonseung was naturally unimpressed by Jaldaran’s tactic. During his time in the Abyss, he had encountered quite a few enemies who used magic like this.

Of course, Jaldaran was using the power of a constellation to cast spells much faster, but...

‘There are some things he can’t hide.’

The movement of his eyes, his breathing, his muscles twitching... Even though Jaldaran could cast his magic instantly and attack his opponent without giving him a chance to react, he was a living being. Thus, his body was bound to give out a few clues about his attacks.

Choi Yeonseung, who had reached the peak of martial arts, was adept at reading such signs.

[The power of ‘Future Sight’ becomes stronger due to the increase in the power of existence.]

[The power of ‘Future Sight’ becomes stronger due to the addition of the domain.]

[The power of ‘Future Sight’ is activated.]

And if he also used the power received from the goddess of balance, Choi Yeonseung could dodge Jaldaran’s attacks no matter how fast the elf acted.

Jaldaran’s method of fighting, which consisted of immobilizing his opponents and assailing them with complex spells, was terribly disadvantageous against someone like Choi Yeonseung.

The elf had no way of responding to an opponent who could foresee his moves before he made them. He had to come up with some kind of powerful magic or skill that could force Choi Yeonseung into a corner even if he predicted it.

Jaldaran was devastated that the magic he was very confident in was so futile.

‘How?!’

Jaldaran tried to move once again but stopped when his magic was blocked. The domain that Choi Yeonseung had dragged him into was a completely empty space. Thus, if the elf didn’t take into account that his enemy could see his movements at all times, all of his attacks would be blocked like the previous one.

‘He’s stuck.’

From this point on, Choi Yeonseung immediately switched to the offensive. The moment he paused, he figured out which of the Jaldarans was the real one. He fired his concentrated energy to quickly dispel the illusions.

Jaldaran hurriedly activated his defensive spells to counter it, but Choi Yeonseung’s disk-shaped energy pierced through the shield with its brutal destructive power.

Jaldaran couldn’t believe what was happening. His magic power was still overflowing, and there were many skills given by his constellation that he hadn’t yet used. He could still use a combination of spells.

However, he felt suffocated by his opponent, and he felt like he was losing his mind.

Why?!

Thinking about it, he felt like he hadn’t made any mistakes, so he didn’t understand why this battle was going downhill like this.

‘I was worried because of his reputation as a great magician, but it seems that he’s not that dangerous,’ Choi Yeonseung thought to himself.

Jaldaran tried to flee, but Choi Yeonseung knew the fight was already over.

Running away was a waste of time. Choi Yeonseung wouldn’t let his opponent escape and throw away this victory unless he was an idiot.

In order to win, Jaldaran should’ve immediately unleashed his most powerful and unusual skills against Choi Yeonseung. Instead, he had used his go-to magic to try to suppress his opponent, and Choi Yeonseung, who was proficient at dealing with magic, had defeated him immediately.

It was Jaldaran’s first time fighting a martial artist, whereas Choi Yeonseung had fought so many magicians that he couldn’t even keep count anymore.

Bam!

“Cough...!”

In the end, waves of internal energy surged into Jaldaran from all directions, causing the elf to collapse.

***

“I really had no bad intentions!”

“As expected of an elf, you’re great at talking!” Illaphael replied grimly while pointing her spear at Jaldaran. To think that this elf still had the audacity to blatantly lie even after taking a beating from Choi Yeonseung...

“A household member of a constellation came here without any bad intentions?”

“Sigh. Considering everything, I think it’s better to stop lying like this.” Lamart agreed with Illaphael, causing Jaldaran to panic even more.

“I came to find items at my master’s command! Don’t get me wrong!” “What items?”

“Human treasures... I was tasked with collecting human treasures...”

“That kind of tra... Uh, those precious treasures?!”

Illaphael was going to say, “Why would you look for that kind of trash?” but hurriedly changed her words when she realized that Choi Yeonseung was next to her.

“It can feel like trash,” Choi Yeonseung replied without much thought. “We have different cultures after all.”

“N-no... That’s now what I...”

“How can you treat the priceless history and treasures of humanity as trash? I definitely can’t.”

Lamart decided to take this opportunity to step on Illaphael.

Illaphael glared at Lamart, her wings quivering with rage. She should’ve just killed Lamart when they first met!

“Well, Illaphael has never been interested in humans, so it’s understandable,” Choi Yeonseung replied calmly.

He had been with Illaphael for quite a while, so he already knew what kind of angel she was. He wasn’t surprised at all about her opinion of Earth’s artifacts. 𝐟𝗿ee𝘄𝗲𝗯𝐧o𝘃el.𝐜o𝚖

However, his words caused Illaphael to tear up.

“Choi Yeonseung...!”

“It’s not that she isn’t interested in humans, but maybe she’s just looking down on them?”

“She’s free to do so.”

“No! Do you really want me to kill you?!”

With that, Illaphael tried to stab Lamart with her spear, but Illeya hurriedly stopped her.

Jaldaran, who was being held captive, took this strange situation as an opportunity and asked, “If you believe me, can I go back...?”

“No.”

Choi Yeonseung looked Jaldaran up and down.

“I have to check what treasures you obtained first. Show me.”

“I don’t have them on me...”

Illaphael immediately grabbed Jaldaran’s ring and threw it forward after sensing something about it with the power of her constellation.

That ring was connected to a storage dimension.

“Wait. This pottery is... Could it be Korean pottery?”

“N-no... It’s a national treasure of China.”

“Ah, then...”

Choi Yeonseung tried to keep a straight face. The situation would be a bit more complicated if it were a Korean treasure, but since it was Chinese...

“Why don’t you take it? You deserve it for all your hard work...” proposed Illeya.

“It’s not a bad idea.” Choi Yeonseung nodded. Even though she was a constellation, Illeya was serving as his subordinate on Earth, so she knew how to flatter him appropriately according to the situation.

‘It’s rather impressive how well she’s adapted to human society.’

Jaldaran found it absurd, but he couldn’t say anything.

“Wait. This old book...”

“That’s also a Chinese treasure...”

“Why are there so many Chinese treasures?”

“There’s many of them... It seems that you’re not going abroad a lot.”

“That’s a shame.”

Choi Yeonseung took the treasures as he spoke. It was better to keep these treasures for himself than to let a constellation from the Abyss have them.

-You really are becoming a worthy constellation, Successor.

As Choi Yeonseung was stealing Jaldaran’s treasures, the cat constellation urgently spoke up.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ says it found the metal cat!]

“!”

The cat constellation had found something that neither Choi Yeonseung nor the goddess had managed to find...?

-Maybe you saw something else?

[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ says it isn’t reliable...]

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ is angry!]

***

Just like Jaldaran, the metal cat was also serving the Explorer of the Stars, and it received the power of the constellation just like the household members.

The cat possessed the magic powers of the Explorer of the Stars, who was an excellent magic researcher and collector.

Thanks to those powers, the cat had managed to escape from Jaldaran and hide. Of course, it couldn’t stay hidden forever. It wasn’t just Jaldaran; the other household members of the Explorer of the Stars would also search for it. Thus, the metal cat contacted the constellations.

[The ‘Humble One-Eyed Archer’ rejects your offer.]

[He says he can’t give such special treatment to one household member.]

[...]

[The ‘Sculptor of Art and Patronage’ rejects your offer.]

[He says he can’t give such special treatment to one household member.]

[...]

Just as household members considered the conditions of the constellation, constellations naturally also considered the conditions of the household members.

Some mortals would pledge their allegiance in exchange for a bunch of services. One couldn’t make such an arrogant proposal unless they had the power and skills to back them up.

Constellations were well aware of how great a role one outstanding household member could play in the Abyss—great power, a new kingdom, capable subordinates, and so on.

However, the conditions of the metal cat were rather strange.

-Make me the master of a kingdom!

Of course, it was utter nonsense from a constellation’s perspective. Constellations didn’t even give that position to their most outstanding household members, so why would they even consider giving it to a monster?

No one would accept such a proposal, no matter how rare the metal cat was.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ offers to negotiate.]

The metal cat raised its head to look at the constellation. It was ready to listen to the conditions of the cat constellation.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ says there is no kingdom to give to you even if it wanted to.]

-...

The metal cat ignored the constellation like it was absurd and tried to look away.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ says that there is the ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’, a capable and generous constellation.]

[It suggests that you talk to him!]

-Do you really intend to entrust a kingdom to it?

The goddess of sloth was curious.

Of course, giving away a kingdom in order to gain an excellent household member wasn’t a bad bargain. However, even though it possessed rare and special abilities, the metal cat had yet to prove itself.

Who would make such a deal?

-Ah. Did the goddess predict the future?

[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ says she hasn’t seen the future yet.]

-The goddess didn’t see the future. Most of the kingdoms I can give away at this moment are weird.

Places like the Farm of Harmony, which the orcs were currently developing, or Illingars’ Great Forest were fine, but areas like Prisoners’ Industrial Complex were so strange that the metal cat would probably reject them.

There was also the strange and twisted kingdom he had acquired from the last constellation battle!

-I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to give the metal cat a kingdom.

-...I suppose.

Normally, constellations got rid of any kingdoms that didn’t align with their tastes and personalities, but Choi Yeonseung hadn’t discarded anything.

His decision to keep everything finally paid off.

-But what will happen if it refuses the Prisoners’ Industrial Complex?

-Then it can’t be helped. I can’t give away other kingdoms.

-Indeed... It’s a bit difficult to leave the farm and forests to someone you don’t know...

However, the metal cat immediately agreed even before Choi Yeonseung finished stating his proposal.

[The metal cat vows to do its best to serve you!]

[It promises to make the ‘Never-ending Explosion Industrial Complex’ a temple for the ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’.]

The monster’s joyful shout caused Choi Yeonseung to feel uneasy.