Chapter 230: Chapter 230

Choi Yeonseung wondered if Chen Xiezhi was acting because he wanted to leave China that badly.

‘No. I don’t think so.’

Firstly, the strength he showed while going berserk was real, and above all, an S-grade hunter like Chen Xiezhi could easily defect to another country. Of course, the Chinese government would give him trouble, but they couldn’t assassinate an S-grade hunter. All they could do was put pressure on the country who took him in. However, if Chen Xiezhi was to seek asylum, it would be in the United States or Russia...

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“By the way, this is the first time I’m seeing your face.”

“I am the A-grade hunter, Choi Yeonseung. We have all gathered here in order to defeat the torch dragon.”

“I see. Give me instructions.”

Chen Xiezhi had a professional attitude that one would have expected from his long years of experience. Despite having the S-grade rank, he was willing to let another hunter with more intel be in charge.

“By the way, it seems that there are many hunters here. Are hunters from other countries here?”

“They came at the request of the Chinese government.”

“What? Damn?!”

Chen Xiezhi was shocked. It was hard to believe that the Chinese government had asked other countries for help. Was China on the verge of collapsing?

“Ah! Perhaps it’s already been ruined and another party...?”

“No.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”

Chen Xiezhi hesitated and looked embarrassed. He wondered if there had been a revolution and the government party changed because of that.

“I see. It’s hard for you to lead so many overseas hunters. However, please endure a bit more for the good people of this country.”

“...? I’m not from this country.”

“You’re not?! Then why are you trying to help them??”

“...”

***

‘I’m in a lot of trouble...!’

Contrary to Choi Yeonseung’s suspicions, Huang Guangao, the one who had signed a contract with the Expert of Twisted Hallucinations, did not intentionally allow himself to get caught by the dragon. The power of the torch dragon exceeded the expectations of the constellation.

-Expert of Twisted Hallucinations. Please help me!

Huang Guangao earnestly requested help from the constellation.

Household members were able to receive help or strength from a constellation through sincere prayer. Initially, there were many eyes on him, so he couldn’t start praying right away. However, Huang Guangao was now in a dangerous situation.

He was trapped in the mouth of the torch dragon! Even though the dragon could kill them whenever it wanted, it was currently only absorbing their magic power as if playing with them.

“Magic... I can’t use it! Huang Guangao! Please help.”

“All the items...!”

If Choi Yeonseung had been in such a situation, he would’ve been able to deduce what type of power the torch dragon was using.

[The ‘World of the Torch Dragon’ is absorbing magic power.]

[The ‘World of the Torch Dragon’ is absorbing magic power.]

The inside of the torch dragon’s body was perfect to subdue its prey. The inner space of the torch dragon’s body was like a kingdom created by a constellation! Consequently, the hunters couldn’t do anything because the rules of the torch dragon took precedence. Starting with their artifacts, all their magic power vanished in an instant and they turned into helpless, ordinary people.

The Expert of Twisted Hallucinations was the only one Huang Guangao could rely on...

However, Huang Guangao became frustrated. ‘What? Has he abandoned me?’

Prior to this monster wave, Huang Guangao had received an order from the hallucinations constellation to get an outstanding achievement during the wave. However, it had been hard to focus because of the torch dragon’s appearance and because of the overall chaotic situation in China, but the fact that the constellation gave him an order meant that it was giving him some attention.

Now there was no answer...

Of course, the power of the torch dragon was blocking even the interference of other constellations, but Huang Guangao didn’t think about it that far.

‘Son of a bitch. Just as I thought, you can’t trust an evil god constellation. I should’ve had faith in a different constellation...!’

Bang!

There was a roar from outside and the torch dragon shook violently.

Bang, bang, bang!

“Is it an artillery bombardment?”

“There is no way that a monster like the torch dragon can be damaged by ordinary artillery fire! This... Help has arrived!”

It had to be powerful, high level magic used by hunters in order to inflict this much damage. Huang Guangao became even more certain when the torch dragon’s body contorted in pain. The Chinese hunters had come to his rescue.

‘That’s right. There’s no way they would abandon an A-grade hunter!’

-■■■■■!

Being in pain, the torch dragon finally opened its mouth wide.

“Come out!”

Chen Xiezhi immediately threw a rope, which was a powerful artifact called the Blood Soul Rope. The rope, which radiated a red energy, flew in, passed through the mouth of the torch dragon, and tied the hunters together one after another.

“I’m going to pull it!”

“You are wonderful.”

“What are you saying? You’re way better than I was in my prime!” Chen Xiezhi sincerely told Choi Yeonseung. He had just seen how Choi Yeonseung forced the torch dragon to open its mouth.

He landed on top of the torch dragon, stepped on the air, approached from below, and hit its chin hard! The monster that normally wouldn’t even budge when hit by anti-bunker missiles was now writhing in pain because of a series of punches.

Choi Yeonseung seemed ten times more powerful than the martial artists active during Chen Xiezhi’s era.

“Mr. Chen Xiezhi, thank you!” Huang Guangao gasped and expressed his gratitude when he was dragged out of the dragon’s mouth. Seeing that Chen Xiezhi was there, he guessed that the Chinese hunters were the ones who had rescued him.

“Everyone, thank y...???”

“Hey, you were about to thank everybody. Why did you stop?”

“N-No... Mr. Chen Xiezhi, why are you with these people...?”

“Can’t we just throw him out of the helicopter?” Han Seha whispered quietly.

Choi Yeonseung shook his head. “Send a message saying that we’ve saved Huang Guangao’s group. Tell them not to care about anything else and aim at the reverse scale.”

At first, the hunters were hesitant to launch an all-out attack against the dragon even after they broke its barriers because Huang Guangao’s team was still inside the dragon’s mouth. Now that they managed to rescue them, they had no reason to hesitate.

“Commence the attack!”

“Start the attack!”

A great deal of magic was ejected from the combat helicopters flying through the air. The firepower of the offensive team, which was formed by hunters ranging from B-grade to A-grade, was formidable. They could almost feel the torch dragon, which had previously ignored all of their attacks, panicking at the devastating attacks coming from all directions.

“By the way, how did you manage to get trapped in the mouth of the dragon?”

At Han Seha’s question, Huang Guangao replied with a distraught expression. “...I-I don’t know.”

“You’re an A-grade hunter, right? Did you try to get caught on purpose?’

“...It used a skill we’ve never seen before!”

Choi Yeonseung was intrigued by what Huang Guangao said and immediately asked, “Was it spatial magic?

“Probably.”

“It would’ve been quite bad if it had swallowed instantly.”

The dragon’s ability to teleport those around it into its mouth was simple, yet terrifying. The helicopters were currently able to fly because the torch dragon was huge and it moved slowly.

‘Wait. Is this my chance?’

Choi Yeonseung realized Huang Guangao was completely vulnerable as he saw his back. Furthermore, there were no other Chinese hunters present, the raid teams were attacking and couldn’t see anything, the aircraft was shaking like crazy...

If Huang Guangao attacked Choi Yeonseung first, the latter could use the excuse of self-defense to go for the kill.

-How are you going to get him to attack first?

-It’s a tricky situation, but the way to do it isn’t necessarily difficult.

Choi Yeonseung grabbed Huang Guangao and whispered to him, “I know that you’ve signed a contract with the Expert of Twisted Hallucinations.”

“...”

Choi Yeonseung nodded when he saw Huang Guangao’s countenance contort with shock, astonishment, and fear.

Usually, hunters who were exposed to have made a contract with an evil god constellation reacted in two ways. If their opponent was stronger than them, they would tremble and pray. However, if the opponent was weaker than them, they would attack first.

One would have expected someone like Huang Guangao to instantly attack.

“Please!”

“...?”

“Please... Turn a blind eye just this time! What do you want? Money? Artifacts? I’ll do whatever you want.”

“...????”

Choi Yeonseung was flustered by the unexpected response.

“Your master must be watching you, right?”

“He didn’t save me, so I’m going to abandon him!” exclaimed Huang Guangao, still angry with his master.

Normally, because he got caught serving an evil god constellation, he should’ve been executed or imprisoned. Regular hunters would’ve denied the accusation or they would’ve pretended to not believe in the evil god constellation by insulting it and leaving. Most evil god constellations were tolerant enough to allow that.

However, Huang Guangao seemed to not care about any of that and vehemently cursed his master. Doing such a thing meant that he was serious about abandoning the constellation.

“...I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but... Aren’t you abandoning your constellation too easily?”

“Even though I’ve evolved to this point, he didn’t bother to save me! I was such a fool to serve him... Choi Yeonseung, you are serving the Undefeated Incarnation of Training, right? Say something good about me to your master. If he allows it, I will serve him!”

“...”

Choi Yeonseung had a puzzled expression at the unexpected situation.

-Why? He’s an A-grade hunter, so he shouldn’t have to worry about his rank, right?

-This guy... Should I really accept him as my follower...?

-You don’t have to be picky when choosing a household, right? A great mountain shouldn’t refuse a handful of soil, and a sea shouldn’t refuse a small stream or river...

-Goddess of sloth, I like all hunters, but don’t use Earth proverbs in front of me...

The goddess of sloth pouted. She tried to use some of the nice words that she had learnt after a long time. She couldn’t believe he was giving her such a hard time.

‘Do I have to accept a guy who switches sides in the blink of an eye?’

Choi Yeonseung pondered on it for a moment. Come to think of it, there were already guys like Jerry Kuber. It didn’t seem like much would change if there were two people like that. It seemed like an A-grade hunter from China could be of use to him…

As Choi Yeonseung was dwelling on it, there were a dozen things going through Huang Guangao’s head.

‘This could be my chance!’

At first, Huang Guangao completely panicked when Choi Yeonseung found out his secret, but then he figured it would be better for him to switch sides and serve the other constellation. If both of them served the same constellation, Choi Yeonseung wouldn’t try to ruin him by exposing his secret.

Above all, wouldn’t Choi Yeonseung’s constellation care about his followers more than the hallucinations constellation? After all, how was Choi Yeonseung able to reach A-grade so quickly while he had been struggling to get C-grade?

It wasn’t just Huang Guangao who thought about that. Many people speculated that Choi Yeonseung was able to get that strong thanks to the constellation he served. The reality was that even a D-grade hunter could become strong in an instant if they received good support from a constellation.

Choi Yeonseung finally told him, “He said he will accept you.”

“Thank you!”

“However, you will be below me.”

“...Understood.”

“He said that you must listen to every one of my orders.”

“I understand.”

“Start by telling me your personal details. Tell me about your position in the organization, the secrets you know about the Chinese government, the list of Chinese hunters, and so on.”

“You must be joking, right? Isn’t this a bit too harsh?”

[The ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’ is furious at your distrust!]

“N-No! I’m sorry!”

Huang Guangao hurriedly apologized after being scolded by the constellation. Since he switched sides, he had to be more careful and show loyalty from the very beginning.

[The ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’ has declared that you must decide whether to believe in him or in the Chinese government party.]

“That... Of course, I will serve the constellation. However, opposing the party will endanger me in many ways...”

[The ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’ is furious at your distrust!]

“...I’m sorry!”

Huang Guangao suddenly became a bit anxious. He switched sides because he no longer trusted the hallucinations constellation… He tried to get away from a fox, but perhaps he came across a tiger.

‘What… There’s no way… This is how Hunter Choi Yeonseung managed to climb up the ranks. The constellation can’t use a hunter like me in such a trivial manner.’

[The ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’ is furious at your arrogance!]

“I... I’m sorry!”

‘Hey. This is kind of interesting,’ Choi Yeonseung thought.